It's a great week to be a missionary

We received a little rain--such a blessing

Hi Mom :)

It's a great week to be a missionary!

I must have forgotten to mention Zone Conference last week. We were taught by the Assistants to the President, the President and Sister Hall.  They were all amazing and I received so much revelation for our work here. They really hit home on teaching simply and that is just what we needed to hear this week.  Especially with all the investigators we have.  We won't have time to beat around the bush.

So to get it out of the way, we went to the doctors for my headaches. They were just getting to hard to handle with diet and ibuprofen. I have stopped eating a lot of food like peanut butter, cheese, avocado, chocolate, MSG, and a bunch of other chemicals to see if that will help.  I guess there are foods that can sometimes be a trigger to headaches.  In a month I will start adding them back into my diet to see if they are triggers for me a not.  It’s a bummer because I eat pb&j’s all the time and avocado is so good ha-ha but I am excited to see if it will help.

The doctor was not a good experience.  I have never felt so judged in my life.  Especially from someone who is supposes to me know my background. He gave me little to no comfort on why I felt the way I did and honestly acted like I was wasting his time.  I am use to people treating me like that when I proselyte but I guess I expected different from a doctor.  All said and done though he gave me a prescription and we are hopeful to see the results :) Sister Flinders is a great nurse and seriously an angel.  She will make sure I am ok.

So enough of that…things this week were awesome!  One of the many highlights was our exchange with the assistants!  It was awesome!  I was with Elder Harris and Elder Spears went with Elder Garland.  I got to stay at their pad and work in Santa Clarita. It is so white down there. SO white ha-ha I felt weird.  I learned a lot on how to be a better missionary and Elder Harris taught me so much.  I felt super blessed because that doesn't happen very often that they go on exchanges outside of leader companionships. Plus their apartment is HUGE!  Two bathrooms and a racquetball court in the gym.  It was like a vacation.  Santa Clarita is a pretty nice city.  A change of scenery was a tender mercy.

Elder Harris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa Clarita--Quite a view

Juventino was baptized yesterday by our ward mission leader Hermano Lico.  Gosh it was perfect. I was so happy for him.  His family was there and the ward came to support.  He even asked that I confirm him next week.  Oh it was a great day.  And even better we got our new investigator to come with us and watch the baptism.  Seeing a baptism is powerful; so, so powerful for new investigators.  We are excited!

So happy to hear from you Mom! Things are going well, I am safe and doing well.  My resolve to be the best missionary I can has never been stronger :) Thanks for helping me grow up to be the missionary I am today.  Love you!

Elder Bagley

Mormonism...A hit!

Enjoying the chopstick Mom sent for Chinese New Years--Italian style!

Gung Hay Fat Choy with a Mexican twist!

Elder Spears conquers Goliath

Fasting, Praying and Studying = Miracles

Hello Mother :)

Wow, it’s so refreshing to sit down and get the chance to read your emails. They are always so great. I am happy we get to email the way we do.

Well, things here are just chugging right along. A lot of fasting, praying and studying which really means a lot of miracles! We were blessed to find 8 new investigators this week; the highest weekly record for me so far in my mission. I feel really blessed that the Lord trusts me with his children in this way. I am happy about the opportunities we will soon have to teach and invite these people to come unto Christ. 8 is just a number but it has power when you think that could be 8 new missionaries, 8 bishops, 8 primary teachers, 8 worthy temple attending members. It truly is exciting. You never know what the Lord has in store.

Whatever the Lord has in store it is good. Oh it is so good. I could never imagine doing the things I am doing right now in this moment on my mission. For one I am living responsibly on my own away from home and friends. I can speak Spanish and understand those around me (I taught Elders quorum yesterday. How crazy!). I am receiving revelation that is so personal and so precious every single day. Not a day goes by that I don't receive more "light and knowledge". Whatever we go though it will be good, it might not be good now, but it will be.

Elder Holland says blessings don't always come quickly or in the way we imagine them but for faithful members of the church, they come. I can testify that is true and that the Lord wants to bless us every day. Oh it's great to be a missionary.

I have had a lot of opportunities to give priesthood blessings out in the field. Just yesterday I confirmed a recent convert to the office of a priest and gave him the Aaronic priesthood. It is such a blessing to hold this never ending power to bless. Truly that’s all it is, God’s power given to man to bless.

I cut my hair again. Not as short but it is still pretty bad. I basically gave myself steps on the side of my head. I didn’t even mean to. Hopefully president doesn’t notice...I am getting better though. I'll come home and give Paula a run for her money :)

We fasted twice this week. Once for a special blessing on our ward mission leader's father and the other time to double baptisms in the mission and stop the drought in California. The first was just Elder Spears and I but the second was a mission wide fast. We are so excited to double our baptisms. With the new investigators we are finding it is only a matter of time until someone wants to get wet :)

Fasting as a missionary is hard. Oh it is so hard. Elder Spears is bigger and stronger than me and so his body really can handle the 24 hours but for me it is a huge sacrifice. But I am grateful I get to give up food and water, endure the pain and show God that these things I fast for mean more to me than the food and the water. It is a hard but a beautiful thing. As yestderday's fast was ending it started to rain outside, first time in a while that California has gotten rain...fasting works.

We recieved a phone call from the Los Angeles Temple Visitor Center.  It was quite a shock.  Mitch had asked the sister missionaries to call us and get a number for a referral.

 

Sorry, I didn't give you a heads up about the visiting center. The sister missionaries taught us and we got to go around and see a bunch of beautiful videos. It was so spiritual to just be taught and to not be the one teaching. The whole time I was just thinking about Samantha and how much regret I have for not sharing the gospel with her more fully. So I gave them the referral and your number and they said they would figure it out. They can call anywhere in the world and send missionaries everywhere it is actually really cool. I knew you might not know a lot of her information but I now know that the Lord wants her to have an opportunity to hear this message and so when I get home that’s what I'll do. I actually can't remember what any of the street names are from home so I'm not much help. Don't give it too much stress. But do look for other opportunities to share the gospel.

I asked Mitch for an update about his other missionary friends.

 

In response to your question I only keep in contact with Noah weekly. He is doing great and is such an amazing missionary. Every email he sends is just packed with testimony and growth. I send a group message every now and then to the other missionaries I know...Kevin, Sam, Brady, Tyler, Tyler, but it is hard to find time for them and I am sure it is the same with them. But, we send pictures and everyone is doing great. I hope Amy gets better. She always took care of everyone back home. I hope someone can return the favor to her now.

I still get headaches now and then but it’s no bother. I try to stay on top of what I need to do to not get them. Honestly it’s the least of my worries.

Well, everything here is just great, just so great!  I can speak Spanish, I can pray, I have a great companion, I have a testimony, and I have made temple covenants. I have so much. I am so excited to be a Latter-day saint for the rest of my life. Nothing would give me more joy. I love you Mom. I love everything about you, past and present. Thanks.

Elder Bagley

140,000 schoval unti hotsause...not cool. But yummy!

Fancy dinner!

My fridge and my "fridge" of a companion

Temple day

Elder Bagley swapped P-days on us.  He had P-day today (Tuesday) instead of Monday because he and his companion got to go to the temple.  In their mission they get to go to the temple for their birthdays and it just happened that it is his new companion's birthday.  Anyway here is the latest from the San Fernando Valley.

Hey Mom,

Thanks for the wonderful email. Sorry this week as well I will be sending my email a little late. Hope you haven't been worrying or anything. Also small caution before I start. We have been fasting and attending the temple and so my mind and body are just toast. I am not responsible for any errors or the spaciness in this email.

Sorry the weather is so bad over there. Here it is fine temperature wise but the air quality is not  so good. We don't watch the news so we don't know much but I think there are fires or something going on not to mention all the potheads here. They aren't helping the pollution much ha-ha.

The pollution make for beautiful sunsets!

 Great to hear about Dad's new calling. I know he is going to kill it! I wish I could sit in for a lesson or two. Let me know how it goes. Tim was companions with me for home teaching and now he gets my senior companion! Funny full circle.

My new companion, Elder Spears, is just great. He is huge and his favorite foods are raspberries and honey. I am companions with a bear :) He and I work great together and just as Alma said we too have seen many miracles wrought in this land.

 

Elder Spear doing laundry.

Crazy to hear that I have been out in California 100 days. It feels like nothing...wish it could feel the same for you but I am happy to hear you are keeping busy with your goals! That’s awesome, way to go! You'd be the perfect investigator. But since you are already baptized you'll just have to be the perfect member. I am proud of what you are doing, keep it up :)

It is really great to teaching the Plan of Salvation.  It is such simple doctrine, that we are children of God. When you look and teach from that view point a lot of the "life questions" make more sense. Where are we going, where did we come from, why am I here? When we learn and know that we are children of an all powerful and loving Father in heaven. It starts to click easier.  Be prayerful and you will learn what your class needs to hear.

Sorry if this email is rough, I am struggling to even type and I have to keep looking over your email to see what to write about, what's new and what's going on over here.

FYI I can grow a half beard and a nasty stache in a day. It's awesome that the time when I can't have facial hair is when my body decides it’s down with it. What a drag. 

We have found 5 new investigators this week and we have seen miracles in all the cases that we found people to teach. Our old investigator Juventino is getting baptized on the 11th of Feb. Although he is now out of our area and not "our" investigator I am happy another soul is coming unto Christ because of the seeds I planted. He bore his testimony in class and it was really humble and powerful. I am excited for him.

As you know we went to the temple today. It was wonderful, just as it always was at home. When it was all done though I wanted to leave fast. To get back to my work with the living.

One miracle I want to share is we found his happy, happy, happy man named Iven. We set up an appointment and told him to invite his family when we came by. Turns out he has a lot of family. I was blessed with the opportunity to teach close to 13 people in one house. They were having a birthday party but when we came in everyone cleaned up the cake and grabbed chairs to sit and listen to our message. People can truly recognize us as servants of the Lord. And on top of everything I was able to teach them in English. It was a beautiful lesson and I felt as close as I could get to my version of the Sermon on the Mount. It was such a tender mercy.

I truly see miracles everyday out here. I stand tall next to prophets of old because this is the same work. I gain power and faith from the testimony of those prophets "from the dust." This work is eternal.  It is beautiful and simple. I am so happy that you are a part of it with me.  Love you mother.  Love you so much.

Elder Bagley 

Elder Bagley and Elder Spear...I'm in a car area now!

Our ride is a little bit nicer than the ole Tarus

Got to enjoy a day at the temple.

Welcome to the Zebra apartment!

I have a love/hate relationship with holidays that fall on a Monday.  I love them because in most cases it means that I won't have work but, I hate them because it means the libraries are closed and I won't get an email.  That was the case this past Monday being Martin Luther King Day.  I thought I was prepare and I knew what was coming but I wasn't.  Last Veteran Day we got an email from Mitch about the same time (1:00) as usual on Tuesday so I thought that would be the case this time too.  I kept checking my emails through out the day and nothing.  3:00pm rolled around...nothing.  4:00pm...nothing.  By 5:00pm I was convinced that we weren't getting one.  Finally at 7:00pm we got one.  It's short but it's worth it.

How great it is to get to write you :) I loved the story about the Sharple kid ha ha so funny.(One of my library student loves when we dismiss to checkout books because "It's like being voted off the island".) I don't have a lot of time because we need to get to a cena (dinner) here pretty quick but I just wanted to fill you in on everything!

I am now companions with Elder Spears.  He is wonderful.  I love him already.  He was in my old district so we have seen how each other works and that has really given us an advantage.  He is from a itty bitty town called Craig Colorado.  His ward boundaries are bigger than the mission...so basically its a super small town.  He reminds me at times of Sam.  He likes to hunt and hike,outdoors kinds of stuff.  His heart is two times the size of mine and his love for others is hard to comprehend.  We are going to do a great work here :)

I am moved to a car area now but what really happened is I stayed in the same area just moved apartments.  I am in the same ward and have a lot of the same area just minus some here and there and add some elsewhere.  It's nice to still be in a familiar area where I know the people and the work.  I feel so so blessed.  Our apartment is basically the Garden of Eden to me.  SO nice ha ha.  Dishwasher, CD player, oven, and a sweet zebra painting.  I love it.  Don't worry I packed and transferred everything just fine ;) (I was sure he would leave something because I'm the one who packed for him the first time.  It looks like he's growing up.)

My desk

My kitchen

The Zebra Painting...pretty awesome

Elder Spear on moving day!

I am so happy to hear how excited you get about teaching your class.  Even if its hard sometimes.  There are days here when I feel like I am just casting pearls to the dirt all day because no one will recognize how great our message is.  But at the end of the day I start to notice how truly beautiful the pearls are.  They start to shine differently and mean so much more to me.  My appreciation of them changes and I feel grateful I get to carry a whole bag of them everyday!   Don't lower your expectations for your lessons.  Your pearls are beautiful and important.  Love your class and they will feel the Spirit.  Proud of you :)

Sorry, I don't have much more time.  We are doing great here and I really feel so blessed to have not only worked with Elder Speth but to have this new opportunity to work in the same part of the vineyard just with a different servant.  The Lord truly watches out for his missionaries.  He knows us perfectly.

More to come next week

Verdadero y fiel

Elder Bagley  

San Fernando Valley

Last P-day with Elder Speth. We went hiking well it was more of a walk but the view was incredible.