Earthquake central, but all is well

WELL HEEELLOOO (read it like Mrs. Doubtfire)

So great to hear from you my dear Mother. Your words are such a refreshing break!

First off, thank you so much for the birthday package. Man it was great :) Every package I get I am reminded how thoughtful and creative you are. We love the CD. It is beautiful. The jam also is golden. Elder Spears appreciates it. Sometimes he is more bear than human. The Cake in a Can (that’s what I’m calling it) was a swing and a miss. I think it might have been because I got the package a little late. But I loved the effort! Means a lot.

So I read Lu's email about the earthquake concern so I will share with you what I sent to her.

Words of our dear President:

"Yesterday morning there was a 3.9 magnitude earthquake centered at the north end of our mission by Castaic Lake and this morning there was a 4.7 magnitude earthquake centered just beyond the southern boundary of our mission.  Welcome to California!"

Earthquakes are awesome.  We are expecting a 7.7 aftershock pretty soon here. So down to contact with "the end is near" scriptures.  It reminds me of D&C 38:30, “if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.”

We all have the proper preparation to be safe. Emergency preparedness packs, water, and safe havens. The Lord will not let us be hurt.  BUT California might just slip into the ocean...bunch of wicked sinners over here ;) All is well. The work goes on :)  No damage.  We actual had the earthquake while we were praying.  Unfortunately we weren't the cause of it, although that would have been awesome.

Thanks for all the news about the family!  I love hearing about all the going ons :)  I actually see a lot of you in my dreams all the time.  Sometimes you are helping me contact and then times you're speaking Spanish.  It always takes a couple minutes to shake it off in the morning.

I don't know what I could say to sum up this week.  We were 8 shy of talking to 300 people which makes us really happy to see.  But most importantly we picked up 9 new investigators.  The Lord has finally rewarded a portion of our faith and work and we now have people to teach again.

One Hermana in specific sticks out.  We found her knocking doors and had a lesson with her.  We found out she has been to church various times in Utah, Salvador, and California.  She told us she was praying that the missionaries would find her so that she could be baptized like her son was.  We set a fecha with her on the 30th of Marzo and are excited for the opportunity to be a part of her progression to that amazing life step.

This week was a little weird to be honest.  I realized that I don't know how to react to seeing miracles.  All I know is the work part.  It is a humbling experience to receive the signs of your faith even though you pray and work for them.  My nightly prays are very humbling.  I work every minute to find people to teach and I expect those prepared people to surface, but when you actually find them...it reveals a lot about the character of our Father in Heaven.  His love and power to bless his children with the miracles they need.  I told God I was going to work. I am just happy he lets me.

Love you Mom.  Thanks for preparing me with your example to be the kind of missionary God needed at this time.  I am constantly reminded of precious moments growing up that didn't hold value then but now become power beams for my testimony.  Give the family my love.

Verdadero y fiel

EB

6 months!

This is the email I received on Monday.
 

HI MOM :)

So brace yourself because I am not going to be able to write a lot today.  We just came in to send President our emails and then we have to get back to work.  I will write on Wednesday though.  That is when we could get a member to take us to the temple.  When we visit the temple we just have our Preparation Day on the day the visit is.  I love you! Talk to you then :)

Elder Bagley

Okay, so I patiently waited for Wednesday to come...alright not so patiently.  This is the email I received today.

 

Buenas Madre :)

So great to hear from you. Sorry it is a little delayed. It is hard for me too.

Good to hear about how great things are at home!  I am always glad to hear about people reading the blog and what not.  I hope I can live up to the expectations.  So crazy to think I have 6 months in the field when I just got off the plane yesterday.  Time truly is flying by.  I am glad I have lived my mission without regrets.  It really helps to look forward to the next year and a half!

Alright this week has been a roller coaster!  Thank you so much for all the love with the birthday wishes and cards.  I haven't got your package yet but the Zone Leaders haven't been to the office yet.  I am sure it's all safe.  Getting all the cards made me feel so loved and so happy to see all the support I am blessed with.  I give thanks to everyone!

We didn't get the chance to go to the temple today.  We went but it was closed.  It broke my heart but we should have called before to double check.  That being said I don't know when we can go now.  We'll figure it out.

Things concerning with missionary work are the "roller coaster" part of this week.  We are really working hard but not seeing any results from it.  We broke our record with 215 contacts this week and I will be the first to say that we are getting a lot of practice with contacting people.  Man it’s just grand.  But we just need to work a little bit harder on the "having faith to find" part.  The bad part that comes with talking with more people is receiving more rejection.  It's been a lot of saying "God is still working on that one" and then moving on the next.

Faith has really been on my mind lately.  It's a hard thing to understand.  Part of me wants to say that with faith comes power to do God's will and is God's will not for me to baptize?  Is that not my purpose as a missionary?  Or is my purpose just to try my hardest and gain whatever testimony results from it?  I don't think that’s quite it either.  If I remove my sight from baptism then I lose my purpose as a missionary.  Whether I baptize or not, that is my goal.  That is what I have told God I am going to do.  That is faith to me.  That is being a missionary.  Not just trying to pick up whatever life experience falls around me as I try my hardest but settle with not baptizing.

Something I love that has really stuck with me is a story from Elder Eyring.  He came to a man who asked for a blessing of healing and he asked the man "Do you have the faith to be healed?"  The man replied "Yes of course."  Elder Eyring waited a bit and then said "Do you have the faith not to be healed?"

I have the faith to baptize.  I have 6 months under my belt and I have not found and brought someone into making that first covenant.  That being said my faith and my goal does not change.  I have faith to baptize but I also have faith not to.  I control my action, God controls the miracle.  I will work my hardest to bring souls unto Christ, and who says I have not already, I may never know. But at the end of it all I want to say I had unfailing faith in my God, not that I watched a miracle of baptism happen before my eyes as I stood faithlessly idle.  Faith is hard.  And I am learning about it more and more but one thing I do know is how to work.  So that's what I am going to do.  I'm going to work.

Love you Mom.  You are everything.

Elder Bagley

Elder Spears was really thirsty after fasting!

The Cervantez Family bought me a cake! Hermano and I celebrated together.

Rain, rain and more rain

I am no longer a teenager.  What the heck?!

HI MOM :)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and thoughts. They mean so much. I haven't checked the mail or anything but I am sure everything will get here fine. I have the best family. Thanks for all the love from everyone.

Thanks for all the news about Kevin, Dad and the birthday party. I hope Kevin is safe. That is some scary stuff. Nothing would be more frustrating than having political unrest when you're trying to work. Tell Dad I am proud of him he's doing amazing things. I am sure Rogan is going to be pretty sad though…tough life being a dog. Eat a lot of cake and pie for me :)

  
Things here are pretty wet!  I wish I could say that’s because of the baptismal font but sadly that’s not the case this week.  It has rained and rained and rained. Ha-ha it was quite the adventure.  Cali basically had a heart attack.  No one knows how to drive in the rain or anything.  It was great…flash flood warnings and everything.  We contacted for about 12 hours total between the two days and found a very small number of prepared people.  But it was so fun ha-ha, cold and wet but fun.  Hopefully our future wives appreciate the effort.  I guess when you knock in the rain your wife gets more attractive..here’s hoping! 

Also random side note; a companionship in my district contacted Mila Kuniz at Target.  She's not prepared for the restored gospel but it was a good shot.

We had some small changes in our District with a new elder and a new sister. They seem awesome, Elder Buck and Hermana Evans.

So long story short for the week it’s been a lot of contacting.  213 people talked to and 1 new investigator.  Woof. It’s hard to see that but nothing is more peaceful than coming home and knowing I tried my hardest to share the gospel with everyone. The blessing from this work and effort will come, they always come.

Our mission is seeking permission from the first presidency to use iPads. So that might be a future tool we can use to find and teach.  I am excited.  It really will change the way we work. But who knows if we will even be approved.

Headaches are doing well. I ran out of medicine and haven't had any really strong headaches. Plus I am eating peanut butter again, its heaven. So that’s great news.

Sorry it's kind of a short one this week. We have a few appointments we are trying to get to. We are working hard. Oh so hard. And I love it. I come home and just collapse every night. Praying and praying that God will trust us with someone who truly is seeking the truth that comes from the restored gospel. Missionary work at its core is love and I am loving missionary work.

Thanks for everything Mom. This birthday will be the best one yet.

Elder Bagley

An average home in the "hood"...boarded up windows included

This ones for you Mom

Study time...Elder Spears prefers to do his studying on the floor.

The blessings always come!

Tender mercies and placing seeds

No this is not me.. it's Elder Bautista cooking chicken for the first time on an exchange.

Good day Mum!

Working on my Scottish accent...I just got done emailing Elder Thackeray. I guess he's rubbing off on me!

Things here are going great! Sounds like the same situation for you as well! Good news with Dad, bad news with Lu. We had to get our tired changed too! We got a nail in it and it took them 3 hours to get us back and going! Bunch of armatures...It was hard not just hopping back there and doing it myself. But we left them with a good patient impression of what Missionaries are!

That’s so great to hear about Zak.  I brag about him all the time out here. I can't wait to hear what he will do in Korea. How nuts :)

Two sisters from our ward have received IPods to help with the work.  I asked Mitch if he was going to get one too...That is nuts to hear about the IPods!? I don't know if our mission has any plans on receiving them but that would be cool. Our neighboring missions here have a few IPods so maybe with time we will. That would really change the way we do missionary work but the Lord has always been at the front, using technology to advancing in spreading his message.

So best news of the week...WE FOUND OUR KEYS. I almost cried. Legit starting watering up. It was such a simple tender mercy. The Lord answers prayers. So long story short I was able to open the mailbox and get your Valentines as well as the goodies Nana sent. Both were greatly appreciated. The "Yoda best" especially. Thanks so much. It made spending valentines with a dude a little bit better ;)

Tender mercies!

Birthday wise I have a few weird requests. Could you send some homemade raspberry jam? It's Elder Spears favorite and I think he would get a kick out of trying ours. Also a CD case holder thing so we could organize our music a bit better would be nice. Oh and some elders have a CD called "the Masters Touch" By David Glen Hatch. I think that’s his name. Anyway if you can't find it no biggy. And anything else you feel I need. Honestly going to the temple is the best gift I can think of.

Things here have been a little rough. I'll be honest. The headaches are fine but everything else is a little trying. We talked with 146 people this week, found 21 potentials and picked up 0 new investigators. It was hard. We are placing seeds and working hard to find that one person who truly is searching for the truth. It just seems they are hiding really, really well ;) We have dropped a lot of the investigators we did find this last month and the one investigator who was progressing pretty well has turned to the dark side and decided he would rather find fault in our doctrine then truth. Its heart breaking but it frees up our time to find those who will receive us.

Although in my little plot of the vineyard things might be a bit bleak we had 2 baptisms for our ward yesterday and the work is still in motion. Scotland, Italy, Japan, no importa! Este es el obra del Senor! No matter what I do in my part of the vineyard the Lord is still one step ahead in preparing the way. He is the head of this work.

Love you Mom! Thanks for all you do. Your testimony is inspiring. Tell the fam I say hi or hola, whatever fits your fancy. Until next week :)

Elder Bagley

Weekly planning is rough. I couldn't do it with dress pants on so I went half and half.

This is the talent show with the ward! We sang "The Prophets Pray" to the tune of "If You Could Hie to Kolob." Rocked it!  We sounded awesome.

Supporting Dad's new job already!