The End of the Beginning

 Hello everyone!

This is the final week of my missionary training before I leave for Knoxville, Tennessee. I will be flying there on Tuesday, January 12th. This experience has changed me so much as a person and I am extremely grateful for it! I have loved getting to know all of the other missionaries in my district and the teachers these past few weeks. I will definitely be sad when I see them go, even though I have never met them in person. Here are a couple pictures of them we took as a group. The first was with all of us and our teacher Brother Rasmussen. The second is with our other teacher Brother LeFevre and all the sisters dressed like him as a joke. In the third picture, we created a couple of small posters with all of Brother Rasmussen's favorite phrases he says a lot. I hope I can eventually reunite with these people in the future, but in person. 

One of the greatest ideas or concepts I have learned throughout these four week is that peace and comfort comes when we rely on God. In Mathew 10;39 it reads

39 ^aHe that findeth his life shall ^blose it: and he that ^closeth his ^dlife for my sake shall find it. 

In Matthew 11: 28-30, it also says; 

28 ¶ ^aCome unto me, all ye that ^blabour and are heavy laden, and I will give you ^crest.

29 Take my ^ayoke upon you, and ^blearn of me; for I am ^cmeek and ^dlowly in ^eheart: and ye shall find ^frest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is ^aeasy, and my burden is light.

These have become my favorite scriptures these past few weeks. There have been some difficult times during the MTC, but when I relied on Him they were taken from me. I have learned new ways of dealing with stress that honestly work way better than my usual ways. This past week I also learned that a mission should be more just two years. We should allow the mission to change us as people and to become better than we left. I hope to "lose my life" or focus on the needs of others for these two years, so that I can become a new person in Christ. I can't wait to share my knowledge of this gospel with people of Tennessee and I know this will be a great experience. 

One of my goals this week has been writing 5 things I am grateful for each day. I was recently challenged by another missionary to include these in my emails. I will share the top 5 biggest things I am grateful for during this MTC experience. 

1.) I am grateful to spend more time with family before I leave on my mission, which would not have happened under normal circumstances.

2.)  I am grateful for the missionaries in my district that have been such an inspiration to me these four weeks 

3.) I am grateful for the teachers that have really cared about our learning and showed true compassion towards us.

4.) I am grateful for scriptures, including the Bible and Book of Mormon, which have provided so much guidance recently for me.

5.) Finally, but most importantly, I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave all of us the chance to return to our Father in Heaven and the strength to change ourselves to become better.

This was definitely a longer email than usual, but thank you for reading!

Note from Mom:

I've been asked quite a lot lately if I am sad that Bailey is leaving soon. As of right now, we have two days which is hard to imagine sometimes. Yes, there have been one or two times when I start tearing up thinking about it. However, I am mostly excited for him. He has already lived away from us at school for a year. We would Facetime every Sunday and I would stalk him on Life 360. ;) Things will not be much different now, except there is no stalking! He might be grateful for that. I would send him out for three years if it meant I was able to read his thoughts like those above. This is priceless.