What Lack I Yet

On Saturday we were so blessed to have Elder Neil L. Andersen of the

quorum of the twelve apostles with us. All 187 missionaries in the

Arkansas Little Rock mission came to the North Little Rock church

building for the meeting. First we packed into the gym to take a

picture with Elder Andersen, shook his hand on the way out, and then

moved into the chapel for our devotional. I was asked to participate

in a special musical number in the program with three other

missionaries. I sang a solo in front of an apostle. I don't know if I

was more nervous about Elder Andersen sitting two feet behind me or

the nearly 200 missionaries sitting in front of me. But alas, we got

through it. The devotional was incredible and the presence of the

spirit was undeniable. Something that one of the speakers said really

tapped at my heart, which of course was the spirit telling me that I

can improve. He said that there is truly a difference between "going

on a mission" and "serving" a mission. As I've thought about that,

I've been able to relate it to a story in Matthew 19. A man comes to

Jesus and asks Him what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus tells

the man to keep the commandments. The man replies that he already does

that and asks, "what lack I yet?" So, Jesus tells the man, "go and

sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.. and come and follow me".

The story ends that, "..when the young man heard that saying, he went

away sorrowful: for he had great possessions". I'm learning that it's

not enough to just go on a mission. The Lord asks us to give ALL THAT

WE HAVE, EVEN OUR WHOLE SELF. "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If

any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his

cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it:

and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew

16:24-25).

This week I read the parable of the laborers in the vineyard that

Jesus gives in Matthew 20. He compares the kingdom of heaven to a

householder who hires laborers to work in his vineyard. The

householder goes out and hires laborers in the first hour of the day

and promises to pay them one penny. The householder goes out again at

the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour and finally the

eleventh hour to hire laborers. At the end of the day, each of the

laborers is paid the same amount, one penny. Well, the laborers who

began at the first hour aren't very happy about this and begin to

complain. The householder responds by saying, "Friend, I do thee no

wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is,

and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it

not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil,

because I am good?" (Matthew 20:13-15). As Jesus says at the beginning

of the parable, this is meant to relate to the kingdom of heaven. He

explains that "the last shall be first, and the first last: for many

be called, but few chosen" (Matthew 20:16). The Lord offers the same

reward to all who will labor (follow Him), no matter how late they may

come. This is a concept that I've been able to study many times, but

while pondering it this week a new principle impressed me. I had the

question come into my mind, "what happens after the eleventh hour?"

Well, the answer is the twelfth hour. The twelfth hour, when the sun

goes down, and the days work is done. A scripture came to mind from

the Book of Mormon which says, "..I beseech of you that ye do not

procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this

day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we

do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of

darkness wherein there can be no labor performed" (Alma 34:33). Yikes.

"Then cometh the night of darkness" or the twelfth hour "wherein there

can be no labor performed" and no Heavenly reward to be earned. I know

that the Lord is continually reaching out to each of us, desperately

hoping we will let Him in so that He can reward us with eternal life;

a reward none of us could ever earn or deserve.

I want to bear to you my witness that our Eternal Father in Heaven and

His son Jesus Christ live. Sins can be forsaken, burdens can be

lifted, and heartache can be comforted through the atoning sacrifice

of our Savior Jesus Christ, the Holy One of Israel. One day we will

stand before our God to be judged of our works. When we have faith in

that, it changes the way we live. I can testify to you that this life

is the time to prepare to meet God. If you will humble yourself and

pray to your Father in Heaven in the name of Jesus Christ for

forgiveness, you will feel Him reaching out to you to pull you out of

whatever you may be dealing with. I know this is true, because I've

done it and I've felt it. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It

contains the fullness of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. It is

plain and precious, and it is true. Life is too short and eternity is

too long to not do the right thing. I testify of these things in the

name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Much love,

Sister Bailey Guthrie

Jesus Christ is Joy!

There are a lot of good things happening in the mission field and in the Arkansas Little Rock mission. Last week we had a zone conference in which the AP's announced some exciting news. Our mission is moving into a new phase of missionary work where we will be able to use Skype and FaceTime to further the work of salvation. Pretty cool! Also, this upcoming Wednesday there will be a worldwide broadcast to announce and discuss changes to the missionary daily schedule. I've heard some rumors about the changes, but I'll keep y'all in suspense until next week. Most exciting of all, this Saturday Elder Neil L. Andersen of the quorum of the twelve apostles is coming to speak to the ALRM! 

Side note, the atonement is REAL (study Alma 34, Alma 36 & Psalms 38).

Yesterday in relief society our lesson was focused on the talk from the last general conference titled, "Joy and Spiritual Survival" by President Russell M. Nelson. This talk really impressed me, and I wanted to share a few quotes from it. President Nelson talks about how even when life is difficult and the world around us is in chaos, we can find joy and peace because of Jesus Christ. 

In the talk President Nelson tells the story of some of the early saints of the church who endured much persecution, but found joy in the journey. He says, "Life is filled with detours and dead ends, trials and challenges of every kind. Each of us has likely had times when distress, anguish, and despair almost consumed us. Yet we are here to have joy? Yes! The answer is a resounding yes! But how is that possible? And what must we do to claim the joy that Heavenly Father has in store for us? Eliza R. Snow, second General President of the Relief Society, offered a riveting answer. Because of Missouri’s infamous extermination order, issued at the onset of the grueling winter of 1838, she and other Saints were forced to flee the state that very winter. One evening, Eliza’s family spent the night in a small log cabin used by refugee Saints. Much of the chinking between the logs had been extracted and burned for firewood by those who preceded them, so there were holes between the logs large enough for a cat to crawl through. It was bitter cold, and their food was frozen solid. That night some 80 people huddled inside that small cabin, only 20 feet square. Most sat or stood all night trying to keep warm. Outside, a group of men spent the night gathered around a roaring fire, with some singing hymns and others roasting frozen potatoes. Eliza recorded: “Not a complaint was heard--all were cheerful, and judging from appearances, strangers would have taken us to be pleasure excursionists rather than a band of gubernatorial exiles.” Eliza’s report of that exhausting, bone-chilling evening was strikingly optimistic. She declared: “That was a very merry night. None but saints can be happy under every circumstance.” That’s it! Saints can be happy under every circumstance. We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year! My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives".

I love that last sentence. No matter what our circumstances are, we can have hope and find joy by focusing on the savior. I invite each of you, right now, to grab a piece of paper and a pen. Make a list of a few of the things that bring you joy. True joy. Once you're done, review your list and ask the question "are any of these things effected by the circumstance of the world?" I can testify to you that the things in this life that will bring us true joy are not of the world and therefore cannot be corrupted by it. President Nelson goes on to say that, "For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy! His joy is constant, assuring us that our “afflictions shall be but a small moment” and be consecrated to our gain". 

Find joy everyday, everyday, everyday.

Much love,

Sister Bailey Guthrie 

P.s. The work is good. Miracles every day. Charlie (see last weeks email) will be receiving the priesthood and a patriarchal blessing next Sunday. Paragould is on fire. 

Lord, save me

Hello everyone, how's it going? This email is really long so I'll just jump right in. On Tuesday morning Sister Cook picked us up to take us to Pocahontas for district meeting. On the way out there she noticed a woman sitting on the side of the highway in the freezing cold and brutal wind. Sister cook whipped the car around and offered the woman a ride. She was trying to get back to Paragould to see her kids and had been walking for like two days. Sister Cook is such a good missionary. She explained the restoration to the woman and we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. On Tuesday night sister hall and I took a trip out to Jonesboro. We jammed to mo tab the whole way. We stopped in Brookland to see a less active sister in the branch. She has been sick for about a month. We called her the other day and told her we would pray for her. When we saw her that night she said, "y'all must have prayed for me because the morning after you called I felt so much better". Prayers are answered. The first thing we did after studies and lunch on Wednesday was go to visit a member of the branch and his mom. His mom was really nice but wasn't interested in learning about the church. We told the member that we had missed him at church recently and he told us that he wanted to have his records removed from the church. Long story short, he had so many out of this world ideas about life and God and the gospel. At one point he said that Noah (like Noah and the ark) was an alien. He also asked sister hall if Obama was a part of her patriarchal line. So, that was wild. The day got better after that though. We have been teaching this man, Charlie and his wife Tina. We found Charlie a couple of weeks ago, which was a miracle. We were looking for a potential investigator in our area book and they weren't home, so we tried the house next door. Charlie answered and said that he had been baptized 35 years ago into the church and that we could come back sometime. So, on Wednesday we had a lesson with them which was SO good. We talked about Jesus Christ and His atonement and the spirit was so strong I started to get weepy a couple of times. Charlie shared with us that 35 years ago (before he was baptized), he went through the hardest time and the lowest low of his life. He said he prayed one night and pleaded with Heavenly Father to help him and that the next morning the missionaries showed up at his door. He told us that it has been a similar situation recently as he has been feeling in a rut and asking God for guidance. And then we showed up at his door after 30 years of no contact with the church. Charlie said that he has the same warm feelings now that he had 35 years ago. Stuff like that makes you realize how aware our Heavenly Father truly is of each of His children. "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?" (Matthew 18:11-12). Thursday was a really slow day overall but we did have a miracle! Most of the day we tried so hard to have lessons with our investigators and less actives but everyone was busy, not home, etc. We tried everyone. Multiple times. Anyways, the other day brother VanFleet told us that he had met a couple of Marshallese women at a gas station on Kingshighway. They asked him if he was Mormon and when he told them he was, they said they wanted to come to church. He gave them his number so that they could call for a ride to Book of Mormon class on Wednesday, but they never ended up calling. Brother VanFleet didn't really know where they lived besides an apartment complex within walking distance of the laundromat on Kingshighway. So, sister hall and I decided we would try to go find them. We drove up and down Kings and only saw one apartment complex, so we decided to try it. We walked around the front part of the complex trying to look for signs of Marshallese life. We didn't feel that we should try knocking any of the doors on that side of the building so we began working our way towards the back. As we did, we saw a woman walking down from the upstairs apartments. We asked her if she knew a woman named Norma. She pointed to herself and said "that's me". We were shocked. We had prayed for Heavenly Father to help us find them. I guess we just didn't expect to find them that fast! The highlight of Friday was that brother Les and Ma fed us steak and baked potatoes for lunch (which is actually called dinner in the south apparently). I don't think I've had steak sense I've left home. It was soooo good. We talked about the Bible and Jesus and had a good time. It's cool to be able to feel the spirit with people from other denominations when you're talking about true doctrine. We have had a lot of lessons with Richard this week. In one of them we read Mathew 7:24-27 which says, "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it". I love these verse and the principle of building yourself a firm foundation to support you in trial and against temptation. We talked about how studying the scriptures, praying, coming to church, getting baptized, etc. all build our foundation in Christ. I asked Richard why he wanted to follow Jesus Christ. He said it was because of everything He has done for him and that Jesus is like the ladder between him and heaven. We talked about how Jesus has asked us to follow Him and be baptized (2 Nephi 9:23). In response to the subject of baptism Richard said, "we will see" and he keeps saying "maybe next time" whenever he doesn't keep a commitment that we extend. I testified to him that I KNOW what it's like to always say, "we will see" and "maybe next time" ("Maybe next time I'll do better. Maybe tomorrow I'll change. Maybe someday I'll repent. We will see") and how miserable it is to live that way. That you just have to decided, "enough is enough" and that TODAY is the day you're going to change. Now is the time to repent and be better. From now on you'll follow Jesus Christ and never look back. I have been thinking about the atonement a lot this week. This morning I read in Mathew 14 where Jesus walks on the sea and the disciples are afraid when they see him. The verses read, "But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" (Matthew 14:27-31). I like to think of the wind and waves that caused Peter to sink as sin, fear and doubt. As Peter began to sink he cries, "Lord, save me". There's no phrase, in my opinion, that better illustrates our plea to the Savior as we drown in the sorrow of sin. And immediately Jesus stretches forth His hand and pulls us out, where we would otherwise sink. A few things that I've learned about the atonement are 1. "His hand is stretched out still" (2 Nephi 15:25) 2. "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more" (D&C 58:42) 3. Although we can be fully forgiven of our sins, the consequences of our actions don't always go away immediately. Like Peter, after being pulled out of the water, was presumably still wet and cold. BUT, he was no longer drowning. I am so thankful for the atonement. 

The highlight of this week was that Charlie and Tina came to church!!!!!!!! 

I love y'all and I want you to know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. The atonement is real. Use it everyday, everyday, everyday!

Much love,

Sister Bailey Guthrie

PICS

Marshallese dresses
Marshallese flag
Marshallese food
More compi
The district 3

Throwback to face timing my fam

"Yea, Lord, we do love thee"

Woke up to snow on Friday morning! and had to stay inside most of the day because the humidity melts the snow and the freezing cold turns it into ice 

Sister Hall and I have had a really great week. The work is so good in

Paragould. I hope I never get transferred. We have had a lot of

lessons with investigators, some good visits with less active members,

found new people to teach, and put two new people on date to be

baptized; Sherlie, who we met through a bible and Book of Mormon

referral and Richard, the nephew of our recent convert Norma. They

both have accepted the invitation to be baptized on February 5th. When

we invited Sherlie to be baptized she said, "absolutely!" and wrote

the date on her calendar. So cool! Life is good when there is a lot of

work to do. On "the district" (missionary training videos), Elder

Moreno says, "I don't get why I'm so happy. It kind of weirds me out,

'cause I'm tired like all the time". Hahaha that is exactly how I

feel. On Sunday we were able to go to the Searcy stake conference. The

stake presidency was being reorganized so there were two general

authorities that came, Elder Carter and Elder J. Devn Cornish. Elder

Cornish gave the talk in this past general conference titled, "Am I

Good Enough? Will I Make It?" It is one of my favorite talks from that

session. If you haven't listened to it, I invite you to! I got to talk

to Elder Cornish for a minute before conference started. It's cool

because when you're Mormon the general authorities are like

celebrities to you. Anyways, Elder Cornish gave a great talk on

Sunday. It related so well to my favorite talk by Elder Holland, "the

First Great Commandment", which I had listened to earlier that

morning. Elder Cornish talked about the number one thing that we can

do to develop greater faith in God the Father and in His Son, Jesus

Christ. He said that the way we can do this is by keeping the sabbath

day holy. It was funny because he said, "if you're like me you're

probably saying AND....... what else? But that's it. Keep the sabbath

day holy". He talked about how each of the Ten Commandments really

just points back to the first which is, "Thou shalt have no other gods

before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" (Exodus

20:3-4). Elder Cornish explained that although we don't worship

statues, the "graven image" or "God" that we so often worship and put

before the one true God, is our self. We need to show God that He is

the only one that we worship by always putting Him first. A great way

to start is by keeping the sabbath day holy. "Remember the sabbath

day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou

shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy

manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that

is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:

wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it" (Exodus

20:8-11). Now, this can seem easy to do until Super Bowl Sunday rolls

around, or we are reeeallllyyyy hungry on fast Sunday, or we are just

too tired to go to church. I've been guilty of all of these in the

past. What are we saying to the Lord when we can't even keep His holy

day, holy? We are saying that we put football, food, sleep, etc. above

our God. How wrong is that? Something I've learned as a missionary is

how great it is to receive chastisement. "I know that the words of

truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them

not, for they love the truth and are not shaken" (2 Nephi 9:40). I

know that the message Elder Cornish shared with us was true and

inspired of the Lord. I hope we will all covenant with our Heavenly

Father to be more diligent in having no other Gods before Him. In my

favorite conference talk Elder Jeffrey R. Holland says, "My beloved

brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will

be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in

that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked

Peter: “Did you love me?” I think He will want to know if in our very

mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did

we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest

commandment of them all-“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy

heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all

thy mind". Elder Holland goes on to say, "..the voice of Christ comes

ringing down through the halls of time, asking each one of us while

there is time, “Do you love me?” And for every one of us, I answer

with my honor and my soul, “Yea, Lord, we do love thee.” And having

set our “hand to the plough,” we will never look back until this work

is finished and love of God and neighbor rules the world". If that

doesn't encourage and motivate us to press forward and remain loyal to

the Lord our God, I don't know what else will. Yes, it's not easy.

It's really hard. But personally, I would rather be tired and have joy

than be tired and feel guilt and sorrow. Our living prophet Thomas S.

Monson once said, "May we ever choose the harder right instead of the

easier wrong". Howard W. Hunter said, “If our lives and our faith are

centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever

go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered

on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be

permanently right". I testify that these things are true. I testify

that Christ lives and He loves us. He knows knows every trial and

every heartache perfectly. He will not always deliver us, but through

His atonement we can find the strength to endure. I love Him, and I

will continue to serve Him.

Much love,

Sister Bailey Guthrie

Paragould For Life

First of all, last Monday there was a tornado warning and Sister Hall and I didn't know it so we went out in the rain and storm to be missionaries and what not. We got drenched and we also jumped a canal full of water. We survived so its fine. 

Well, transfer weekend really

had me nervous this time around. I've been in Paragould for four and a

half months now, and many suspected I'd be kicked out. But alas, I'm

staying! Our whole district gets to stay exactly the same for another

round. The Harmon's, who served here for six months, came into town to

visit and pick up Emma this weekend. They are taking her to Utah to

live near them in an assisted living home. The Harmon's were able to

come to a few teaching appointments with us and it was just like old

times. I keep forgetting already that it is a new year, but I am so

excited about 2017. I'll be a missionary every day of this year! Time

is going by so fast already, I can't believe it. The missionary white

handbook says, "The period when you are able to serve the Lord with

all your time and all your efforts is extremely short. Use it fully

and wisely. Such an opportunity is a privilege". I'm starting to

realize how true that is. I've set some goals and resolutions for this

new year to help me remember how short my time as a missionary is, and

to work hard with no regrets. In this mission we set goals with a

system called VGPA. The V stands for vision. So, first we try to

visualize who we want to become, what we want to achieve, etc. The G

stands for goals. We set worthy goals to push us to become better and

work harder. The P stands for plans. We make plans of how we will

achieve our goals. The A stands for action and accountability. Action

because we have to start somewhere, with ways to set our plans into

motion, and accountability because, "When performance is measured,

performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the

rate of improvement accelerates." -President Monson. I've loved this

system so far and especially having a vision. In the talk, "the fourth

missionary", Lawrence E. Corbridge says, "You have a choice. You can

decide what kind of missionary you will be. More importantly, you can

choose what kind of person you will become. Do you think about that?

Do you think about and plan for who you want to become?". He goes on

to talk about how Jesus Christ asked a similar question to the

disciples that had been called during His ministry among the Nephites.

Jesus asks, "What manner of men ought ye to be?" and replies, "Verily

I say unto you, even as I am". I love that. We are supposed to

continually strive to be more like the savior. I believe that if we

can't see a vision of ourselves as someone who follows Him, emulates

His light, develops His attributes, feeds His sheep, etc. that we will

one day look back on our lives with regret and sadness as we have

failed to become "even as He is". Our branch president gave a really

insightful talk about goals and eternal progression in sacrament

meeting yesterday. He said something that I have come to know is true

through certain experiences. He said, "In life and in the gospel

especially, if we are not progressing we are digressing". I like to

think of it as walking up an escalator that is moving down. You can't

stop walking upward and just stay in the same spot. You will start to

move downward. So, keep pressing forward y'all. "Wherefore, ye must

press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect

brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye

shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to

the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life" (2

Nephi 31:20). I pray that as we set worthy goals and resolutions that

we will consider the words of our Lord, Jesus Christ in 3 Nephi 13. He

says, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and

rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; But lay up for

yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth

corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where

your treasure is, there will your heart be also". May our hearts and

minds be set on heavenly things at the start of this year. "Straight

is the gate, and narrow is the way", but our father in Heaven intends

for us to make it; in fact that is His work and His glory, "to bring

to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39).

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL. Make it groovy.

Much love,

Sister Guthrie