Week 73 Adversity

Monday 3/20/2017

We were able to get our usual P Day weekly preparations done. It wasn't a too eventful day. We were able to have a Nerf war for the zone activity. 

Tuesday 

In the morning after our studies we gave Elder Dodd/Sparto a ride to the mission office. We grabbed some lunch then dropped them off. We did a service were we smashed a members old electronics. We headed to the Tuesday dinner appointment with the Jensen's. We went to the church for ward council, but it was canceled. We did some finding for the night we met a guy named Frits and we taught him the restoration. He listened to it, but didn't really accept our invitation. 

Wednesday 

We started the day after studies with some finding. We didn't find anyone home. We went to do a service but we had to postpone it till the next day. We helped Elder Hansen/Cook with a blessing then had dinner. After dinner we did some more finding we met the Para family and we taught them the restoration, they listened to it they are a great family. We met up with Sister Avila and shared a quick message with her. We were going to meet with the Valencia family but they weren't able to meet. 

Thursday 

Our day started with district meeting we focused on one of the fundamentals of missionary work teaching people, not lessons. We also discussed how important it is to have the spirit while teaching. Elder Westerguard gave us a call to help take some more cars from the dealership. We hurried back to help finish a move that we had going on. After our dinner we went out and tried to see some people before the end of the night. 

Friday 

In the morning we had service at Rise Against Hunger with the A3 Elders. It was a busy day they had a lot of events to get ready. Brother Nagrohow brought us to lunch at Cali Tacos. We went back and finished up as much as we could before we had to leave. We had a meeting at the mission home. After dinner we went to see the Valencia family. 

Saturday 

We did some weekly planning that absorbed a lot of our time. Two former missionaries were visiting so we met them at Joe's. We stopped by Glenn's house but he didn't answer which was kind of surprising. We had a dinner at Del Taco before we went to go see Jessie. We read the Book of Mormon with him and talked about church attendance. We stopped by Glenn's house again before the end of the night to see if he was home. There was no answer which is surprising. So we tried to see if we could get in, but it is a fortress. Then we tried the neighbor that keeps an eye on him, they weren't home. We decided we are unsure of what happened and that we should try again tomorrow, if he isn't home to maybe call the police. 

Sunday 

Brother Boltz had a couple of friends he brought to church. We were able to talk to them a little bit and setup appointments with them. Elders Fisher/Pearson/Beddes/Crowmar were visiting for a farewell talk of a recent convert along with the two former missionaries. We got a call during sacrament meeting. Turned Glenn was dead in his house the whole time. We stopped by his house after church and talked with his family members, we also offered our help. Our dinner was with Bishop Gonzalez. After dinner we helped move a piano before we went in for the night. 

Adversity 

I'm losing at things I have already said and not said. I may have already said this before. It is part of God's plan to have adversity. While living in mortality we experience adversity, this is the trials, disappointment, sadness, sickness and headache. These things will bring you growth spiritually and temporal. There is different sources of adversity with many causes. The way that you are able to bear and progress is turning to the Lord. This will ease the struggle and refine you for the better. 

Week 72 Enter the Way

Monday 3/13/2017
It was a pretty typical P day we did some grocery shopping at Aldi and P day activity was sock soccer and gator ball. We did laundry and dropped off Elder Dodd/Sparto at the end of the night. We exchanged and I went to the A3 ward with Elder Sparto. 

Tuesday 

We got called to do Mary's in the morning. The zone leaders gave us a ride. After Mary's we went back and Elder Sparto felt sick. A member dropped off dinner and we exchanged back at the end of the night. 

Wednesday 

In the morning we went to the Fullerton/Placentia zone conference and helped the Westerguards with the cars. We inspected and checked fluids/tires. We had lunch then went back did some studies before dinner. We did some finding before we met to do a pass off but he wasn't home. 

Thursday 

We went out and started our day with some finding we met some good potentials to see later. We called and confirmed dinner. We then later found out she lived in Utah, we were a little confused on what happened that the number ended up in the dinner calendar. We stopped by and saw Braden. We setup a time to meet with and share the restoration with him. He is really friendly and open to listening. We had dinner at Cali Tacos. After dinner we tried to see if any people were home but no one seemed to be home. We did stop by to see Glenn and remind him about church and the ward activity. We ended the night by stopping at Joe's and we saw Elder Hugies Trainor.

Friday 

In the morning we had Zone conference. We focused a lot on the benefits and blessings of study journals also how to do them. We got introduced to the Easter initiative #Prince of Peace. We also focused on the power of the first vision. After we took Elder Dodds and Sparto to dinner and stopped by Joe's before our ward activity. They had a movie night and played the movie Moana. President Taggart cleared us to watch so that was cool. After Elder Hugie went back and packed for exchanges. I stayed in the area with Elder Richard.

'This is a picture Mom added for him, from Zone Conference. It was posted on his mission page.' 

Saturday 

We did a lot of finding for most of the day we were able to get some return apps for next week. After lunch we did district finding in the A2 sisters area we were able to meet Urea who was pretty open to what we shared. We setup a return appointment and met back up and reported what we found. We dropped off Elder Dodd/Sparto. We did some more finding and met a guy named Mahommed who is French. We had dinner with Bishop Gonzalez at a sushi place. We met with Jesse and addressed some of his concerns. Right now he is complacent. He has the goal of getting sealed to his family but is resistant to getting baptized. We exchanged back at the end of the night. 

Sunday 

In Sunday school the discussion was on missionary work. That was a good topic. It was a good elders quorum with five in attendance. We had a good amount of visitors that were vacationing in sacrament meeting. After church we had dinner with the Brother Irving. We hurried to a pass off with the Spanish elders but it fell through. We ended our night with weekly planning. 

Enter the Way 

John Chapter 14

5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

How do we enter into the way of Jesus Christ? We enter that pathway to Eternal life through baptism. When we are baptized we show our willingness to follow his example for us. We promise to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. Thus is an important thing all too often missed. We should always be striving to do the things he would have us do and remembering him. We promise to keep the commandments. When we do this it helps keep us separated from the world and stand as a witness of him. We also promise to serve the Lord. We do this through serving our fellow men. When in the service of our fellow beings we are in the service of our God.

Mosiah 2

17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

Love you all 

Have a great week

Elder Caleb S. Bailey 

Week 71 Opposition in all things

Monday 3/6/2017

After our studies we went and picked up Elder Dodd/Sparto. We did some grocery shopping. We also checked out some of the local shops. We went to Pday activity at a park and played some ultimate Frisbee. We grabbed some dinner and then dropped off Elder Dodd and Sparto 

Tuesday 

After our studies we had a service where we helped move some furniture. We got some haircuts before lunch. We were able to do a little finding before dinner with the Jensens. We finished the night with ward council we taught about the covenant pathway and implementation in the ward. It went really well and they set some plans to better use it. 

Wednesday 

After studies and a quick lunch we gave a ride to the mission office. After we dropped them off we had President Interviews. Sister Taggart reviewed what we went over in zone training. We talked about our purpose, our authority and power. And being a successful missionary. With President he talked about our study of Jesus Christ. President Nelson has completed his study of Jesus Christ in 6 weeks. We did some finding before dinner with the Bryant's. After dinner we went with Brother and Sister Vargas. We saw the Torres family and talked with them about coming to church and starting to read the book of Mormon again. We met up with the Samoan Elders and saw four young men. We got they feeling they were not comfortable with palongis (White guys) teaching them we will see how it goes. 

Thursday 

We had district meeting in the morning after our studies. We discussed the Doctrine of Christ and putting people on date. We went to lunch at Panda express. We went to the mission  office to help pick up some new cars from the dealership. They loaded a group of missionaries in one of the big vans. We had a little wait for them to sign paper work and get keys. We got the car checked stuff and headed back to the office. As we were driving back I realized I didn't have my wallet. We went back I didn't leave it at the dealership, turned out it fell out of my pocket in our car. We picked up Elder Dodd/Sparto then dropped them off and headed for dinner with the Baldwins they made really good food they showed us their collection of money from all over the world. We talked with them about stake conference. We went and saw Brother Valencia we talked about his smoking he isn't ready to quit, he has decided. We are planning on getting him to read and pray better, it should help him. We saw Jessie and followed up and invited him to the temple walk. 

Saturday 

We did our weekly planning in the morning after tour studies. Brother Valencia let us know he was going to be able to make it to the Temple walk. We went to their house and they drove us there. We were a little late but it was a good experience. He is trying to prepare himself to go to the temple with his family. He has to overcome his addiction to smoking. We headed back and hit some heavy traffic. We had dinner with the Hernandez family and we played a quick game with them. We finished the night at Glenn's reminding him to come to church. 

Sunday 

We woke up it took us some time to realize it was a daylight savings. We had a good discussion in Elders quorum just us and Brother Bryant. One of the Torres boys was able to come to church. He bore his testimony about how he was thankful we stopped by and said that we wanted him to come back to church, which was really cool. After church we went back and finished up weekly planning to end the day. 

Opposition in all things 

There is always opposition in all things. This provides for the Plan of Salvation to move forward. The opposition provides us with choice or agency. In the garden Eden Adam and Eve were given that. They had the tree of Life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

2 Nephi 2:15 And to bring about his eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter.

We are given these things to gain experience in this life. 

2 Nephi 2:11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

Love Elder Caleb S. Bailey

Week 70 The faith of a 5 year old and the patience of a grandmother

Monday 2/27/2017

We started the day by helping the assistants with a move it was fun to figure out how to take a sleep number bed apart. We took Elder Sparto/Dodd to the mission office to get some stuff. We hit lunch at Alohas with Elder Boyle/Park. We went and did some needed shopping at a few places then dropped our stuff off. We did a little finding before dinner which we picked up. We did our laundry at the end of the night. 

Tuesday 

After studies we went and picked up our laundry. We came back for lunch then Joe's. We went and did some finding we were able to see a family and teach them a lesson. We got a call to go pick Dodd and Sparto. They were on foot so we got them food since they hadn't eaten all day and dropped them off. We went to dinner with the Jensen's and finished the night doing a ward missionary correspondence meeting with Brother Vargas. 

Wednesday  

We went out and did some finding in the morning then we picked up Elder Dodd/Sparto to bring them to the church we hit Joe's for lunch. After we dropped them off we tried to see more people. Dinner was with the Nelson's he was cool he had his own kiln and he sculpts metal. We had ward council which was interesting. We ended our night trying to see more people 

Thursday 

We started the day with zone training. We talked about chapter one of Preach my gospel. We talked about the authority of our call and how to receive the power to effectively share the gospel with those that we come in contact with. We looked at some of the examples of great missionaries in the scriptures and what they did to teach those they saw. We also discussed what a successful missionary is. After we had lunch a Buffalo wild wings. We went out and did finding till dinner. It is hard to catch people it seems. We had dinner with the Baldwin family. We had a good talk about not being of the world and building a strong foundation. We were able to see Glenn before the end of the night. We headed in a little early since we have to get up way early for the temple. 

Friday 

We woke up at 5, got ready and picked up Elder Dodd/Sparto. After our temple session we took some pictures before we departed. We had lunch at shakeys a pizza buffet place. We hit Pday activity and we had some good sports going. Joe's for dinner and the we dropped Elder Dodd/Sparto off. 

Saturday 

We started the day after studies with weekly planning we were able to do a little finding before dinner then we had stake conference Elder Bruce Gent came. It was a good stake conference he had them put questions on the board for the speakers to answer which was cool. 

Sunday 

We started our say with stake conference. There was some good remarks from Elder Gent. There didn't seem to be a focus of the conference. We had dinner with Bishop Gonzalez. He gave us a lot of people to go and check on in the ward. 

The faith of a 5 year old and the patience of a grandmother 

Elder Gent shared a story of giving his son a blessing. After he gave the blessing to his sick son his son went and laid on their couch. He was in the kitchen with his wife and his son comes in three minutes later saying that was a stupid blessing. His son had the faith that he would be healed in at least two minutes. The thing that his son was lacking was patience. So with the faith of a 5 year old and the patience of a grandmother great things could be brought forth. 

Love Elder Caleb S. Bailey

Week 69 Commitment

Monday 2/20/2017

We finished packing up the apartment then waited for Elder Westover/Jones to come pick some stuff out. We started to get a barrage of calls and texts from the Tongan Elders wanting the keys to the apartment. They got the apartment we closed. We dropped some final things off to the new areas. We stopped by the mission office to get the keys swapped. Then we met up at Joe's. I got with Elder Hugie and Elder Wright stayed with us till his companion was able to meet him. We went to Hometown for Elder Meyers going away lunch. We went to the church and Elder Hugie and I picked up Elder Sparto and Nelson. We dropped off our extra car, then went to Pday activity. The night consisted of helping Elders finish exchanges, unpacking and then Joe's again. (Joe's ice is a regular stop now since it is right across the street from our apartment and it is free) 

Tuesday  

In the morning we went out to go and see some people no one seemed to be home.  We hit Joe's for lunch. Then went back out to find for the rest of the day we went to see a referral but as we were walking Elder Hugie realized he didn't have the keys, we arrived at the car. We found the car was running. I guess we could call that a miracle that it wasn't stolen on a busy street of the shady city of Anaheim. We visited Glenn, he is a riot he has a grenade in a gun safe held closed with painters tape so he is pretty cool. He really likes Dr Phil and Judge Judy. We did some more finding till dinner with the Jensens. We had ward council. Which ended the night. 

Wednesday 

We started the day with helping a family move into the ward. After the move we went back grabbed some lunch and headed to the mission office. Elder Hugie had to go to the district leader meeting so during that I went with Elder Russell/Haynie/Cortez to Mary's kitchen we went back and all of the district leaders were good so we headed to Placentia and eventually all of our companions got there, then we headed back to our areas. We tried some people before we had dinner with the John's. They had a hamster and snake which we had to see of course. After dinner we did some finding and helped Elder Thomas/Sami move a washer. 

Thursday 

In the morning we had district meeting. We picked up Elder Sparto/Dodd. Everyone got there and there was carpet cleaning going on. So we had to change buildings. We stopped by Taco Bell to get some breakfast on the way to the other building. We talked about working with younger people of our wards. They are able to use social media and it is a great benefit. We hit Joe's again before dropping off Elder Sparto/Dodd. We did some finding and picked up dinner from Jeremiah. We gave Jeremiah a blessing before we left then invited him to share his testimony on social media. We were able to see Brother Valencia with the Bishop and we did a stop smoking program with him. 

Friday 

In the morning we got a call after studies, we gave Elder Sparto/Dodd a ride to the mission home. After we went to lunch at Red Robin with the Tongan Elders, we ate about 30 baskets of fries. We went back after and did our weekly planning and Brother Hernandez got us Hong Kong express. We went out and did some finding we met Antonio and taught him the restoration he was fairly accepting. We stopped by Joe's at the end of the night Elders Thomas/Sami and Nelson/Park were there. 

Saturday 

In the morning after studies we went out finding. We were able to see a few people we hit Joe's for lunch. After lunch we continued our finding we had dinner with Bishop Gonzalez at a Mexican place. After dinner we were able to see Jesse and we taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We worked on him keeping commitments and set a date for him to work towards. 

Sunday 

In the morning we had church it is in an interesting order, Sacrament meeting is last. We went back and had a small lunch. We had dinner with the Irving family. After dinner we had a pass off lesson cancel. We finished the night stopping by Glenn's to see why he didn't come to church. 

Commitment 

It is interesting to see how when our investigators keep the commitments we extend they change. We invite them to do the simple things that build their faith. As they build their faith it brings them the desire to repent or change. This in turn brings their conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Conversion brings a change into a new creature. 

Mosiah 27:25–26

25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;

26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

Repentance sometimes isn't comfortable 

We had dinner with one of the ward leaders this week. After our meal we shared a message with them. After I felt to invite them to start having daily family scripture study and prayer. I had no idea they weren't having it. So I invited them, with some apparent discomfort they committed to start. Repentance isn't painless, we have to undergo some discomfort to feel the joy it brings. 

Love Elder Caleb S. Bailey