Dear Fam
Well, here we are again. Thanks to all who wrote this week, I can't
tell you how much I love hearing from the fam. I'm always glad to hear
that all is well for the Baileys wherever they may be.
Last night, as I was anticipating writing this e-mail a thought came to
mind. Their is absolutely no amount of words, or no level of skill in
using those words that can describe the vast majority of my
experiences in Jamaica. Yesterday, was one of those days that can only be fully
understood by experiencing it. You'll never be able hear the voice of
Princess the way Elder Simmons and I did. Nevertheless, I will attempt
a description not only of that moment, but of yesterday's church
meetings on a whole.
As you all know, we had fast and testimony meeting. This is always a
big week in Jamaica that would make even the most seasoned missionaries
nervous about whether or not something crazy is going to happen. On
top of that, the week was extra big for Falmouth because we were
switching from 2 hours of church back to 3. We were slated to start at 10 am.
By 10:30 we had a grand total of 6 people at church (President Smith,
Sister Christie and her son Mikey, Brother Ogle, and the
missionaries). We decided to attempt a combined Priesthood and Relief Society
meeting. Elder Simmons and I taught chapter 2 from the Joseph Smith manual
(we're trying to catch up since we didn't have these meetings in
January). Class arguments are not limited to, but included the following:
whether or not the Holy Ghost conforms to our physical body when he
dwells in us, whether or not their is a 2nd coming every 10 million years,
and how we get to truly know God. As the appointed teachers (D&C
88:122) Elder Simmons and I did our best to maintain control of our little
class (which added 4 more people over the course of the lesson).
Unfortunately, Brother Ogle's false doctrine comments proved to be enough to
thwart the entire intention of the lesson.
My frustration was curtailed for about an hour as boredom took over
during Sunday School. President Smith taught, and I'm pretty sure
everyone was asleep within 15 minutes (our numbers had reached 12 at this
point). President Smith is a good man, but he certainly hasn't learned to
capture anyone's attention in the setting of a lesson.
As Sunday school came to a close, the inevitability of testimony
meeting drew near. The grand finale of church in Falmouth this week
certainly measured up with the previous two hours. A non-member named Brother
Riley had been talking at the stand for about 10 or 15 minutes when I
leaned over to Elder Simmons and said, "Absolutely nobody is listening
to him." Elder Simmons responded, "I'm pretty sure he's not listening
to himself." That got both of us laughing a little bit. We tried hard
to control ourselves, and kept it pretty much in check. That is, until
Princess made her way to the stand.
"I like to praise the Lord. Praise the Lord?!?!" The congregation
(now 13 strong) responded with their own, "Praise the Lord!" She babbled
for a few minutes about things I can't recall (probably because my
memory can only handle what she did to close her testimony). With her head
cocked back and her eyes closed she began to sing (or something like
unto singing). It was some pentecostal/revival type song and I can't
adequately describe how bad she was at singing. Elder Simmons and I lost
it. This time, for good. It's difficult to hide in a congregation of
13 people, so our laughter must've been apparent to all. At one point
I was able to look up with a straight face for about 2 seconds before
she went for the high note. Again, I lost it. Nobody commented on our
laughter, which was comforting because we felt pretty bad.
The performance proved to be the climax of the meeting and everything
seemed to calm down after that. I hope this account doesn’t make me
look discouraged concerning our little Falmouth branch. Elder Simmons
and I have coined this the “trial of our faith†week. We’re
seeing tons of miracles everyday, and still have full confidence that the
Lord is going to help us build this unit and leave it much stronger than
we found it.
In the field this week we found more new investigators than in any
other week of my mission. Many of these new people came in the form of
great families. We’re particularly excited about the Fosters. A few
days ago we were walking through a neighborhood called Zion when we
spotted a man on his veranda playing piano. We went to talk to him and
wound up teaching him and his 18 year old daughter Listina. He was great
throughout the lesson and after the closing prayer I felt prompted to
talk about how nothing happens by chance and that we were led to him by
the Lord. He then shared with us that a couple days prior to our visit
his wife had a dream that some Christians came to minister to the
family. We’ve since met his wife, and she’s pretty golden too. That is
the Foster family.
Their have been many other great things happen this week. I’m very
grateful to be with Elder Simmons now. He fits in absolutely perfectly
with the Bailey sense of humor (and he loves the same kind of music as
me). We’re very similar in a ton of ways, and I’m glad I get to
end my mission in peace. I’m having tons of fun, and can’t wait to
see everyone real soon!
Love ya
Elder Bailey
P.S. Our flight home got pushed up to March 18. I hope that doesn’t
throw too many people’s schedules off. A mini Bailey family reunion
would be awesome.
P.P.S. I forgot to tell you last week that I was on the radio. A talk
show was set up in the town square of Falmouth. They beckoned me over
and I refused at first. Than, they turned their audio on so the whole
square could hear and said we were running scared. I turned to go
back and actually had a pretty good interview that was broadcast all over
Jamaica. It was pretty awesome.
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