Dear Elder Bailey,
We
had a wonderful trip to California. Thank you for sending such a
wonderful testimony to your Grandparents. It is so hard to know what they
think. Grandpa's hearing is getting so bad, I doubt that he really hears
much in conversations. He mostly guesses. Grandma has a real
problem with short term memory. She can converse with you and hold her
own for a time, but she won't remember that you just had that conversation with
her five minutes ago. She is rather frustrated. They are both pretty
healthy, though, and seem to be doing well for now.
Our
last day was spent having a lovely time at the beach at Corona del Mar.
The water was warmer than expected and so beautiful.
Then
we went to eat at a cute 1950's diner for lunch. Cami
and Greg enjoyed their sandwiches.
And
then on our way to do more sight-seeing in Los Angeles, we got rear-ended on
the freeway. There was a lot of congestion. We slowed down, the
lady behind us slowed down, but the lady behind her did not.
Ouch!
We are all okay and made it home safely, but the car is now in the shop getting repaired.
Dad
and I went to one day of BYU Education Week. We went to a few outstanding
classes. The ones we enjoyed the most were about Abraham Lincoln.
His honesty and willingness to do God's will were amazing. Another class
we thought was good, and quite entertaining, was about "Five Reasons
Joseph Smith Could Not Have Written the Book of Mormon." The presenter was
from Texas and had an engaging Southern accent. We
only attended his last class, so we missed all of the build up from the
previous classes. He had advertised all week that he had a surprise for
the last class.
A
former member of the Church who thought he was a hot-shot journalist had
approached the presenter by claiming that anyone with any journalistic skill at
all could have written a piece of fiction better than Joseph Smith's
"fictional" work: the Book of Mormon. So the presenter
challenged him to write a short story like the First Book of Nephi in just a
few days and keep to specific parameters. Some of the things he had to
include were:
1.
Narrative, inspirational story about a family that leaves the Middle East and
travels to an unknown land.
2.
Include 3 completely original place names and 6 original names of people.
3.
Write in Biblical style.
4.
Must be just 3900 words.
5.
Must be first draft with no editions.
If
he took the challenge, the presenter would pay him $500 and all of the usage
rights would be given to the presenter.
The
guy accepted the challenge, and the presenter showed parts of the
"masterpiece" to the class. It was incredibly lame. Even
one of the made-up names was "I, Nephi" spelled backwards.
Simply ridiculous.
Fortunately
the presenter saved the class time by going on to bring the Spirit back to the
topic. We know the Book of Mormon is a translation by the gift and power
of God, through his prophet Joseph Smith. It is too bad that so many
people list to follow the adversary, but cannot leave Joseph or the Book of
Mormon alone. They have to continue agitation.
One
great story about missionary work. Another presenter told about how his
daughter recently returned from her mission in Tennessee. She worked with
a part member family where the wife was LDS and the husband was a minister of
another Church. The wife told the missionary that she felt that she would
be the one who would make a difference in whether the husband would listen to
their message. It had been 12 years of missionary lessons and never would
the husband really listen. On one visit he was persuaded to come in.
"We won't bite...come on in," the Sister Missionary said.
After the lesson and some back and forth discussion, the Sister said to the
husband, "Do you catch?" He said, "Of, course, I can
catch." "Then, CATCH!" She tossed him the Book of
Mormon. Once he had it in his hands, she said, "Read it."
Some
weeks later, the Sister Missionary asked him, "So what did you
think?"
He
answered quietly and under his breath, "I know it's true."
She
said, "What?" (trying to get him to speak up)
"I
know it's true."
He
was soon after baptized. He even brought some members of his congregation
with him. Unfortunately, there were protesters at his baptism (angry
members of the old church) that were disruptive enough that the police had to
come to keep the peace.
The
presenter said that the wonderful news was that his daughter and their family
were traveling out to Tennessee in a few months to go through the Temple with
this good couple. How great is that?
I
just love wonderful inspirational stories!
Have
a wonderful week,
Love,
Mom
From
Elder Bailey:
Well,
this week was pretty good. We taught a
17 year old investigator that we have not met with in 3 months because she
lives outside our area. She wants to
come to our ward. She is super golden
and wants to be baptized but we are waiting on parental consent. Mom said yes and Dad said, “I will think
about it.” She knows the Bible super
well and recognizes the Spirit, and knows the Book of Mormon is true. She is trying to take the time she has
waiting for her parents to say, “yes,” to build a good gospel foundation. We
taught about tithing, and she already knew what it was and explained it to
us perfectly before we taught it. It was
awesome!!!! Brother Taylor came back and
we are setting up splits in our wards this week. We are going to get a lot of work done this
week.
