03/26/2018

This week was a pretty goodweek here in Veracruz, we got a lot of work done this week. The fun thing that happened this week is that we had transfers and the other companionship in the area got a transfer and we got a new sister missionary. It was a great great blessing for us this week. 

So anyways the second day the new sister was here, she tried to take away four of the people we were teaching. So I called her in the middle of the day and said, calm yourself sister this ain't gonna work. So I told them we were gonna have a meeting in the church the next day and we were going to put some limits in the area. The next day I divided the area between the two of us and boom we aren't having any problems between the two of us anymore and we are actually getting along. So anyways the thing we are now facing is that I gave myself the portion of the area where we have really never have worked so we are gonna go in there with nobody over there in our teaching pool. This is gonna be a fun week, and we are just going to go and contact a bunch to fill our schedule. But its nothing new cuz I've been doing this for the most part of my mission so hey it shouldn't be too difficult.

Another thing that I've been working on this week is trying to help people have a better attitude about everything, and keeping everyone cheered up. So anyways I've been talking to people during the day that are here in my district and just checking in. Now when I call at night I always start off with a joke and they also have to think of a joke to share everyday, and it actually helps cheer people up. And we also talk about what good things happened this day, and how can we look for more good things in the day. I have been doing this just to try and keep people happy, cuz if they aren't happy then they really wont have the success God has prepared for them. 

I also just like talking to President about this as well. He once asked me why I always answer that I'm doing Perfect when he asks me. And I told him its because there's no reason for me not to be perfect, yeah its hard and challenging but hey I'm still doing perfect cuz I cant change that. Sometimes yeah they are just words, but when I say the words I can just feel my mood and my mentality get a whole lot better.

So hey when you are feeling down and out just think in your head, or say it to someone that its just hard right now but I'm still doing perfect and I promise that it'll actually help out a ton.

"Church is true go be awesome."-Anne Bagley

3/19/2018

This week was a pretty good week down here in Mexico. It wasn't too hot her,e but it was pretty darn humid, but hey what can you do? We worked hard but in a different way this week. 

We have been working hard like every single week, but we started to just get really stressed and a little uptight with each other. So we decided to go and take a deep breath, and this week we said hey we are gonna work really hard, but if we feel ourselves getting stressed we gotta take a breath and just relax and enjoy ourselves for a bit. So whenever we would get stressed we would stop what we were doing and take a breath then usually we would start to contact, but in a fun way. So we would try to connect whatever they were doing with the Gospel, so a lot of stuff was like this, "good afternoon sister, I see that you are washing your dog. Would you like some help." They'd say 'no' like always, then I'd say, "So sister why do you wash your dog?"  They'd say, "Well to keep it clean and healthy, no?" And I"d say, "Well yeah, that's why I washed my dogs, but hey do you know that just like your dog you need to wash yourself of sins? We are missionaries and as missionaries our job is to help people wash themselves clean of their sins..." and so forth. So anyways we just started to enjoy ourselves and the thing is, when we were relaxed and enjoying ourselves the people we talked to also just relaxed and accepted us into their house to talk to them. 

So at the end of the day we were happy and felt tired, of course, but we just felt like hey what a great and fun day. So at the end of the week we had a lot of success, and we expected to have a total of like 12 people in church. But only 7 showed up, but hey still a great week. 

Also something super cool that happened was that I contacted a reference that I had sent to this area a year ago. So anyways I was teaching a family when I was in el Aeropuerto, but they didn't all live in Torrentes. So I sent the reference. Anways I go and I contacted them this week and they accepted me right into their house, and I was actually really shocked. So we start talking and it turns out that her daughter got baptized after I left the area, but she still hadn't, neither her son. So we start teaching and she's super receptive, and its funny cuz she like hated us a year ago and blew us off. But then we invited her to be baptized and she said "If you asked me a year ago I would've said no, but I've changed and yes I'm gonna be baptized on that day." It was super super cool and it made me realize that God called me to these two areas to help join this family together forever. 

"Church is true go be awesome."-anne bagley

3/5/2018

This week was a pretty good week. Full of unexpected changes of plans and terrible insurance companies. Well I think in all of this week we had a total of like a full day in the area working, and other than that just terrible, or other things out of our control that had happened that kept us out of the area. But hey that's the story of the mission, no? And I just focused this week on the attitude that I have with some things here in the mission, and just with some other people as well.

So anyways as I got to talking with my district about why they were struggling as well as the zone, I boiled it down to like one thing that's most important. The people that are struggling the most are the people that just have a terrible attitude. I'm just known as a person that,  "well you just don't care about the people that's why you never get down and out." But the people that will stop and listen to my reasoning its because what good does it do to be down and out in the mission? It literally does no good whatsoever. I am a firm believer that if you are sad and down then you will literally never have the success God wants for you in the mission or in this life. He wants us to be lighthearted and joyful.  And yeah a bunch of bad things are gonna happen in this life, in the mission, but that doesn't mean its the end of the world. So if its not the end of the world then you have no reason to be sad and out. That's why I'm rarely down, because there is no need. 

So anyways I get talking and today when I was talking to a missionary about this (and he's known as a missionary that's always down on everyone and himself), I was trying to explain this to him. Trying to cheer him up in my way. But he didn't want anything with it, and just asked what was happening and why he couldn't have success in the mission. And I said,  'Well let's think together.  I started asking questions to try to help him out and the question that got under his skin was "how many times a week are you studying in your companionship?"'  He said well only two times a week. And I explained well if you do it every day, then you're gonna see that just by your obedience you're gonna see a lot more success. Then I shared a story about when I saw this change in my mission. And his response was "Yeah, I don't care, but do we have permission this Monday to go to the ruins?" And my response, "Well I don't know--they haven't told me.  But I do know that you won't have anybody with this attitude. See ya later."

The point of this story is just this--If you have a bad attitude, if you're always down, then you will never accept the help from other people, because you "know that nobody can help me out". So its just a pride issue when you get down on yourself. And you just gotta have some faith that God's at work and in a little while we will see the results, but in the meantime we need to stay positive and keep on working and working with others to find this work of God.

That's all I got for this week, Have a great week

"Church is true go be awesome."-anne bagley

2/19/2018

This week was a good week for the most part, and we got a bunch of work done here in Torrentes 2. We honestly worked really hard and it  payed off for the most part. The bad thing of the week is that I got super, super sick and just puked all over the place one day, and I successfully pulled off my first double dragon. Other than that-- well it was just trying to get better which like always is a really slow process. I'm doing great though.

Well what else happened this week...Ah yeah, I remember one thing. So I really really do hate hearing from missionaries that, "you don't know cuz you've never been in this area, so you don't know how hard it is here. Nobody--literally nobody--will accept us here." So I was always hearing this from one missionary here, and it was  just getting on my nerves.  So Tuesday we had an activity in his area with the whole zone. And during this activity an elder and I offered to work for the day in the area that was "super hard" and just a "dead area." With his laugh  and smerk on his face he gave us the map and said good luck, cuz if he couldn't find anybody in this area then we definitely couldn't. And I told him, 'Well I know I can't but we'll can see you in 3 hours'. So we went and started working the area, and just contacting the people. At the end of three hours most of the people that we were talking to accepted to receive the missionaries back into their homes and some actually had baptismal dates. 

We went back to give the report and I tossed the references that we had gotten during the day and the people on the guy's lap and told him the areas not difficult, its the missionary that's difficult. And then he just started to make excuses that well no we just got lucky that day, or that we were lying about all of the results that we had or just stuff like that. I just laughed and said stop talking and swallow your pride and admit that you aren't so great as you think you are. The point of the whole thing wasn't to throw it in your face it was to help you and show you that really if we go into it thinking that Gods gonna help us find some people we are gonna find the people.

The point of this story isn't to show that I don't put up with peoples' complaining, it was to show that God really does fulfill His promises. The promise that we get when we enter an area is that God is really preparing people to except this message that we share with them. The only thing we have to do is look for them and be diligent and of good cheer in order to find them. The best thing is we always have this promise as missionaries and just as normal people. God is preparing some people around you to help and to share the gospel. The responsibility I have and that you all have is be ready and share the gospel with these people. In the last days we will be next to them and if we didn't share the gospel God's gonna ask us why.

"Church is true go be awesome"-anne bagley

we will never get the chance to do it ever again...

This week was a pretty good week here in Veracruz, Mexico. It wasn't too hot, but man the sun was hitting us so hard, and we got 'purty' dang dark. But we kept on working and kept fighting--but to be honest we had terrible results. But that just means we gotta work even harder this upcoming week.  So its gonna be pretty darn fun. We started the week off great yesterday and we killed it and it was super fun. 

This week was also super duper hard with this district. I'm currently trying to find how I can still be nice but pressure these people to work hard and fulfill their purpose. But I believe that between me and my leader we have figured out the way to get it done. We just gotta follow the example of Jesus in this. I love the story of when Jesus, after his resurrection, comes back to visit the apostles and they are fishing and not "gathering His sheep." And its not because fishing is a bad thing, its just not the best thing that you can be doing at this time. So anyways the thing we are thinking of doing is just be super hard with them and be honest about what they are doing. And its not cuz we want to force our authority on them or anything its just because we want them to really fulfill and feel good about their work. Also because we have two years of our lives to do this, and we will never get the chance to do it ever again, so we need to do our best to be proud of it. 

We can also look at it and compare it to the life of Christ. He was a full time missionary for 33 years, and He did everything possible, and is doing everything possible still, to bring people to his Father and be saved. So I personally don't think its impossible to give all you got for two years to bring people to our Heavenly Father. Well it isn't to hard if you really have a testimony of the things that you are teaching to the people. Another excuse that I always get is "Well I was just super tired." The thing that I've been thinking is this--Do you think that Jesus was tired when he went to the Garden to suffer for our sins? I think so. And when he finished with that do you think He was tired? Well yeah even more, no? And then He gets taken and judged by the world and spit on and hit and whipped and a bunch of other terrible things. Do you think He was tired? I think so. But what did He do? He took up his cross and finished with his mission, and entered into His rest afterwards. So when people tell me it was because they were tired its not a good excuse. We can do anything that He is asking us, because its His work, and He will help us. So when we are just way too tired, pick up your cross and fill your purpose and then you can rest after the week on Monday. 

We can also apply that to our everyday life. We all have things that we don't want to do, but we need to do. To help us get past this we need to make the decision to follow the example of Jesus Christ and complete the things we promised to do. Its a hard thing to do but its worth it all. And the thing is its never too late to take up your cross and follow God and follow His commandments. 

This week was another good week.

This week was another good week. 

I got transferred and it was really awesome. I'm finally out of Orizaba, but they returned me to the Port, and I'm opening up another area once again. This will be my 4th one in a row. But its all good because this area is really awesome, and the people are super nice, and we have a lot of work.

This week we are actually going to have a baptism--the first one in this area, and we have a baptism planned out for every single week already. Its pretty darn fun. We also are contacting a ton as well as finding a bunch of people. Its actually really funny, cuz when I was calling my district and stuff and then my leaders they said, 'Wow-- we don't know if you know, but you've been here for a week and you have more investigators than the whole zone'. It was super super funny. 

But we don't feel like we have enough people, so we are planning on doing a bunch of stuff this week--well mostly my companion--I'll be doing exchanges to help the other areas, and doing some corrections with them. 

The thing that I learned this week was just to have some hard work, and also you need to do hard things to progress in this life. I had to do some pretty hard things this week--one of which was pretty hard. Not hard physically but mentally and emotionally it was pretty difficult. But man was it so worth it. The President told us that we needed to dump some things at the foot of the mountain if we wanted to make it to Zion. And he said it was like leaving the goods things that maybe aren't necessary in the mission to help become the missionary God wants for you. So that's what I did and it was pretty awesome. And its for the small and little things that great things come to pass, and I have seen that recently. 

That's all I got for this week. 

Have a good week. 

Love you all.

"Church is true--go be awesome."-Anne Bagley

2/5/2018 catch up (again)

This week was a pretty great week for the most part. We worked hard and had a little bit of success. So that's a good thing, no?

The thing I learned this week is that old habits start young in the people. So Saturday we were planning out the day and I felt like we needed to go and pass by someone that usually is never there at this hour, and also to pass by later in the day. So we go over there and this guy is just hammered drunk--like passed the funny stage drunk. Anyways, we start talking to him and he told us what had happened. He tells us that he was about to kill himself when we showed up. So we stayed by him for an hour or so, and then I said, 'Well, we gotta go. But we will pass by later.'   I also took all of his whiskey, drugs, and all the things that would do harm, and put it all in a black bag and we left. jajaja 

So we pass by later and he is doing a little better, so I give him a little tongue-lashing, and then we put him to bed cuz he is still a little buzzed and hadn't slept for like two days. 

The thing that we also learned was that he had started this habit of drinking when he was younger, and when he had problems he would just get drunk, or when he wanted to be social he drank, or if he went to a party he drank. He didn't start out a drunk though. He just did it first to socialize and all of that, and then it progressed into something that he could no longer control. As time went by he couldn't live without drinking at least a few times a week, and then every once in a while would just binge. I learned that you always gotta be checking yourself and your actions. Because just like him, the small actions that our friends are doing can turn into something that destroy your life further down the line. Nobody starts drinking or doing something with the intent of going bad, but a lot of the time that's what happens--it just escalates. 

The same thing can happen with us if we do good things. If we pray, read, just follow the commandments, it becomes an addiction. And its a great addiction, we start feeling that there is no way to live without these things. And there's always something missing if we don't have it in our life.

That's all i got for this week. Sorry its a little boring buttttttt....

"Church is true, go be awesome"-Anne Bagley