It's not even Easter, but HE IS RISEN!

Happy Monday! 

I'm excited to talk about my week. It was a good one! I

think sister Lange and I were able to recognize more miracles and

blessings this week. They've been here all along, but we have tried to

open our eyes to them this week and it's increased my faith. God is so

merciful and so involved in our lives. He really loves us. 

We have been striving to be completely prayerful and "spirit led" in

everything that we do. I made it a goal this week that if we are ever

not sure what we should do about something (where to go, who to visit,

what to teach, etc.) that we will kneel down right then and offer up a

prayer. Let me tell you, it happens a lot because we know nothing.

It's been incredible to seek for inspiration constantly from the Lord,

and then get it. I'm learning so much about inviting the spirit and

recognizing the promptings it gives. I've been thinking about how

useful it will be for the rest of my life to know this pattern of not

knowing what to do, praying, seeking answers from God, listening for

the spirit, and then acting upon the answers I receive. It's much

easier to have confidence in the choices you make when you know that

they are in line with the will of the Lord. One of the times that we

applied this pattern of receiving revelation was on Wednesday night.

We had a member out with us to go teach a family of recent converts to

the church. We had been trying for weeks to set up appointments to

take this specific member to and finally, this was the week! Well, the

family we were going to teach cancelled their appointment. Sister

Lange and I were devastated and panicked, but we kept our cool in

front of the member. We looked at each other and knew what we needed

to do. We looked at our back up plans and then said a prayer. We

prayed and asked the Lord who needed us that night; who we could

teach; who we needed to go see. After the prayer we sat quietly for a

few minutes. Eventually we felt pretty good about trying a few

different people, but at the last minute one of our investigators came

to our mind. So, we added her to the plans and headed out. Well, no

one that we had in our plans answered!! Not even the specific

investigator that we thought of answered. Why would the Lord tell us

to visit someone, knowing that she wouldn't be home? We continued to

follow our plans and we talked with everyone that we could along the

way. Our last plan was to try one of our investigators, Jenell. She

didn't answer so we headed back to our car. As we were about to get

in, we saw a young man sitting in his car. I felt like we should talk

with him, so we did. Well, as we were talking with him, Jenell pulled

up! She invited us inside and the member we had with us was perfect

for her. They had a lot in common and the member talked to Jenell a

lot about church and how it will fill all of her families needs. The

lesson went great and we realized that all of the things that we had

felt prompted to do that evening led us to be in the right place at

the right time to have a lesson with Jenell. Jesus Christ has said, "I

know my sheep, and they are numbered" (3 Nephi 18:31). 

On Thursday night we had dinner with Elder and sister Beheshti. Elder Beheshti is

an area seventy and they are in our ward. They are powerhouses. They

had recently taken a trip to Jerusalem (what a dream). They had

brought back shells from the Sea of Galilee and smoothed stones from

the place where David slew Goliath, AND YOU KNOW WHAT???? THEY GAVE

THEM TO US. Man, I wanted to cry but I held it together. "And Jesus,

walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter,

and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were

fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you

fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed

him" (Matthew 4:18-20). The shell from the Sea of Galilee is a

reminder that I am called of God to be a fisher of men and the

smoothed stone gives me strength to slay my giants (trails) every day.

How cool is that? Another spiritual experience I had this week

happened on Saturday morning as I began reading from Luke chapter 24

in my personal study. This is a chapter that talks about the

resurrection of Jesus Christ and as I read the words, "Why seek ye the

living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen", tears began to

fall. The spirit overwhelmed me and I knew without a doubt that what I

read was true. I know that Jesus Christ suffered, bled, and died for

our sins and that on the third day He rose again. He actually lived

again. His spirit returned to a glorified and perfected body of flesh

and bone. Jesus is the Christ and He lives. My mission is to testify of Him.

I hope that y'all have another great week and look for opportunities

to strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ and His teachings. 

I love

you!

Pictures

One dolla hot dogs pleaseeeee

Largest spider known to me

She attacks me every day??!!!!!

Shell from the Sea of Galilee and smoothed stone

View from uncle bakers house

Also got a super old copy of the Book of Mormon this week

MIRACLES

The theme for this week is faith + works = miracles. We had a leadership training meeting on Wednesday and the instruction was inspiring. President talked about how faith and works bring miracles. We talked about the many examples of this from the scriptures and how we can apply it to our missionary work. We also talked about the doctrine of high love and high expectations which applies to everything!!!!! Heavenly Father has high love and high expectations for us as His children. We should have high love and high expectations for those under our stewardship, our companion, and ourselves. When we do, miracles happen. This week I've tried to apply those two principles especially and it's been so cool to see God doing work. On Friday we went on an exchange with some sisters and the sister I was with is a brand new missionary. Once I got to her area I felt so strongly that the things they had planned to do for that day wasn't what God needed us to do. I told her that I felt like we needed to do some finding so we started to adjust the plans. Just as we did, a young boy rode up on his bike and asked if we were Christians. He asked us to meet his mom and teach them about Jesus. We taught their whole family about the Restoration, invited them to read the Book of Mormon, and invited them to be baptized. As we were leaving the new sister said, "does that happen often?". I said, "it can, but only when we are in line with God's plans". So cool. That night I invited the sister to pray over the map of her area and pick a street to knock every door on. The street she picked ended up being the wealthiest in the area; she was terrified. We covenanted with the Lord to knock each door on the street and prayed about how many people we needed to invite to be taught. The spirit told us three, and we set out. Guess how many people on the street answered their doors? Three. One of them was the sweetest lady who had friends who were members of the church. They had invited her to church before. She invited us to come back and teach her next week and even said she'd order some pizza. Miracle. Sad that it's not my area, because pizza but it's ok. Another miracle wrought by faith and works happened in the eleventh hour of our week. On Sunday things weren't lookin' so good for getting someone to church. We had a pretty tough week of dropping investigators who weren't willing to keep their commitments, but we still had faith and were confident that we worked hard throughout the week. So, we were in Sacrament meeting and two men in suits walk in during the announcements. We walked into gospel principles class after the meeting and there they were, so we sat in front of them and introduced ourselves. Keith is from Houston and Rob lives in Little Rock. When talking, they used terms like "ward boundary" and "your area" so we assumed they were both members and told them it was good to have them there. Rookie mistake. We didn't really think much of it until we got home after church and got a phone call from Keith saying that his buddy Rob would love to take the discussions... ohhhh my goodness! Miracle. We asked when we could come by and they said "Would this afternoon work?" YUP. So we got a member and headed over about a half hour later and had a lesson with them. Turns out, Rob does this thing where he lets people stay with him while they're passing through town and Keith had business he was doing in Little Rock and ended up staying with him. Keith's a member and has a wife and three kids. He had been talking to Rob about the gospel and found out that Rob is a real spiritual guy and strives to live a Christlike life. They read some of the Book of Mormon together and began talking about the plan of salvation. So we go and we have a great lesson with them focused on the plan of salvation. Then that night we got a text from Keith saying, "Great job today Sisters! Keep after Rob, he's totally ready! Commit him!". We're meeting with Rob again on Wednesday. It's so undeniable that that was a miracle from the Lord. He knows exactly what He's doing all the time. Sometimes we don't have to know it all, we just have to have faith and move forward. "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). Jesus is the Christ. I'll never doubt, I'll never question it. 

Sister Bailey Guthrie

905 Kierre Dr. 

North Little Rock, AR 72116

Sweeter is the Work

I think I'm starting to adjust to my new area. Someone told me that it

takes six weeks to adjust to something new which is ridiculous because

that's a whole transfer! I could be in a new area by then. It's been a

little tougher to adjust to this area than it was to adjust to

Bartlett, but it's getting better! I'm learning to love it and praying

for charity every day. The ward is great and so are the people. Not

bad, just different. We've seen some cool miracles this week. On

Tuesday we had a meeting for President and Sister Hansen to introduce

themselves and instruct. Man, it was a great meeting. They are so fun

and involved. They care so much about us all and are just ready to do

whatever they are asked. Presidents instruction was so good. He talked

about how his favorite thing is knocking doors. I was able to relate

in that aspect. I love talking to people and not knowing what the heck

is going to happen from door to door, especially here in the South.

Anyways, President told us a story about an experience he and his

companion had while serving in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He said that they

hadn't been finding anyone new to teach for a few weeks. One day he

and his companion made a covenant with the Lord that they would not

return to their apartment until they found a family to teach (that

included skipping lunch and dinner if necessary). They knocked doors

all afternoon and into the evening with no luck. They decided to stop

by a grocery store and bought some ice cream sandwiches. When they

left the store they saw a family pull up next to their car. They ended

up sharing their ice cream sandwiches with the father and kids while

the mom went into the store. They ended up teaching and baptizing that

family. I was so inspired by his story, specifically the part about

making such a direct and faithful promise to the Lord. Sister Lange

and I felt strongly that we should follow the same pattern that day.

We prayed and pondered about different streets that we could go to to

find someone to teach. We felt the spirit confirm a street to us and

we made plans to go there that evening. We covenanted with the Lord

that we would knock every single house on that street, and we did. I

think God sent us to that street for more reasons than one and the

first being that it was the most difficult finding experience of my

mission so far. If you can think of a religion, there was a member of

that church on this street. We were torn apart and shut down by person

after person. We had a lot of "sweet is the work" moments. I even

started to tear up a little bit after leaving the house of a couple

who maliciously attacked some of our sacred and treasured beliefs.

However, despite the adversity we keep walking and we kept knocking. A

few houses before the end of the street we met a sweet brother and

sister who were interested in the Book of Mormon and in having us

return to teach them. We have an appointment scheduled with them for

tonight. I'm thankful that we kept our end of the deal and were able

to see the Lord do the same. "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be

also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and

on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels

round about you, to bear you up" (D&C 84:88). President Hansen ended

his instruction by saying, "my goal is that not one single person who

the Lord has prepared for us, goes unfound. If that number is 1000,

glory be to God. If that number is 10, glory be to God; there is no

difference". He's a powerhouse and I'm thankful to have him. I've been

blessed with the two best mission Presidents. We had a great day

yesterday also. Our investigator Lawrence came to church!! He brought

his Book of Mormon and stayed for all three hours. We are so excited

to keep teaching him. Last night we were able to see so many miracles

as we worked hard and were in line with Gods schedule. We were in the

right place at the right time to get in contact with a lot of our

investigators and help them progress. We also found a new investigator

to start teaching. She had been found a few months ago by sister Lange

and a previous companion. We knocked on her door and she came outside

with Book of Mormon in hand ready to talk about it. She asked about

its origin and significance and we were able to teach and testify of

both. She then shared with us that she was struggling with the loss of

a family friend. Sister Lange shared Mosiah 16:7-9 with her which

says, "And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the

bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death

should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection. But there

is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting

of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of

the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened;

yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more

death". She was so impressed with our knowledge and understand of the

word of God. I'm thankful that in this mission, we learn to know the

scriptures. As we continued talking with her, she briefly and randomly

mentioned that she is American Indian. The spirit hit me like a ton of

bricks. I said, "did you say that you're Native American?". She said

yes. The spirit inspired me to testify to her that the Book of Mormon

is a record of her people. We have a return appointment scheduled with

her for Thursday. I'm thankful that I've read the Book of Mormon and

that by the power of the Holy Ghost I've come to know of its

truthfulness (Moroni 10:5). I want it to fill the world!!!! A few of

the best things about missionary work are the work itself, the spirit,

seeing people's lives change, inviting people to read the Book of

Mormon, and testifying at every opportunity. I love being a missionary

and I'm thankful for all of the mistakes, trails, blessings, answers,

revelations, and experiences that have led me here. The church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church

on the earth. The Book of Mormon is scripture and it testifies of

Jesus Christ. God, the Eternal Father, lives. Jesus Christ is His son.

It is only in and through Him that we are saved, after all that we can

do (2 Nephi 25:23). The spirit of truth will lead us to all truth and

testify of Christ (John 15:26). Happy Monday. Mucho love.

Sister Bailey Guthrie

905 Kierre Dr.

North Little Rock, AR 72116

Beautiful companion

Someone in Glenwood drew a map of the entire Book of Mormon #lit

Shout out to my friend Steph who baptized the crap out of Glenwood, AR

a couple years ago

Trust God

Kaitlyn and Caleb who we were teaching in Bartlett got baptized last week!! So proud of them

One By One

The weeks are going by so fast. I feel like I'm in a time warp. This

week was so fun and exciting! On Wednesday we had our last meeting

with President Wakolo before he, Sister Wakolo and Jasmine left the

mission on Thursday. It was an emotional day for everyone. I'm going

to miss seeing that man all the time. He's taught me so much and I'm

definitely in debt to him. I think I learned one of the most valuable

lessons from him on Wednesday as he concluded our meeting. He pointed

out to us leaders that the phrase "one by one" is used three times in

the Book of Mormon during three different events of the Savior's

ministry in America among the Nephites. He gave us the references for

all three and then explained to us that "one by one" is how we need to

minister as leaders in the mission and members of the church. Our

biggest impact is made one by one in the lives of those we serve. The

next day I took it upon myself to study each scripture where it says

"one by one". As I read each verse I prayed and asked Heavenly Father,

"what do you want me to learn from this?". The spirit taught me so

much in that hour of study. The first scripture is 3 Nephi 11:15.

Jesus Christ had just appeared to the multitude in America. He invited

each one of them to feel the nail prints in His hands and feet and the

wound in His side. The verse says, "and this they did do, going forth

one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes

and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear

record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that

should come". I learned from this verse that even though we can't see

Jesus Christ right now and haven't felt His hands, feet and side, we

can still receive a sure witness of His divinity and reality by the

power of the Holy Ghost. I learned that when He comes again, every

person will know who He is; that He is God. "Yea, every knee shall

bow, and every tongue confess before him. Yea, even at the last day,

when all men shall stand to be judged of him, then shall they confess

that he is God" (Mosiah 27:31). The second scripture which uses the

phrase "one by one" is in 3 Nephi chapter 17 verse 21. At this time

Jesus Christ blessed all of the little children and prayed for them.

From this verse I learned that little children are alive in Christ

(Moroni 8:12). I learned that to inherit the kingdom of God, we must

become as a little child (3 Nephi 11:38). I learned that to become as

a little child means to be "submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of

love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to

inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father" (Mosiah

3:19). The last scripture in 3 Nephi which uses the phrase, "one by

one" is in chapter 18 verse 36. Jesus Christ touched each of the

twelve disciples that He had chosen and spoke to each of them. From

this verse I learned by the spirit that I am chosen. That I am a

chosen daughter, a chosen servant, and a chosen minister of the

restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I have felt Jesus Christ touch my

heart and speak to my soul. He is my Savior and Redeemer and my

perfect friend. He set the example of ministering "one by one" and I'm

so thankful. He ministers to me every day. "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? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he

rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went

not astray" (Matthew 18:11-13). President Wakolo's final invitation to

us was to become more like Jesus Christ. That is my invitation to you

today. On Thursday President and Sister Hansen (our new mission

president and wife) entered the mission. On Friday we got a text from

the Assistants asking us if Sister Hansen could go out teaching with

us on Saturday. We were so excited!! We found out it was also her

birthday so we bought party hats from the dollar store. When we went

to pick her up we got to meet her and President for the first time. I

LOVE THEM! Man, I didn't think I could ever love anyone as much as

President and Sister Wakolo but President and Sister Hansen already

have a piece of my heart. They are so fun and are already doing

amazing things for this mission. President Hansen served in the

Arkansas Little Rock mission in the 70's and he keeps saying, "I'm

happy to be home". We are happy to have him home. Sister Lange got a

crazy rash and blister this week from something while walking and I

have a cold. It's greeaaattttt. I love sister lange!!!! We have a hard

time going to sleep because we talk and laugh too much. HAPPY 4th of

JULY Y'ALL!!!!! I'm so thankful for the independence of our country

especially because without it, the true church of Jesus Christ would

not have been able to be restored in the 1800's by the Lord through

the prophet Joseph Smith. God blessed America a long time ago and I'm

so thankful. "Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation

shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and

from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of

the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things

which we have written" (Ether 2:12). Have a happy and safe holiday.

Much love from the beautiful south.

Sister Bailey Guthrie

905 Kierre Dr.

North Little Rock, AR 72116

Pic with President Wakolo Excuse the tears (seen and unseen)

 

Happy Birthday!!!

Little Rock Central High School (the Little Rock nine)

Sister Lange's disease

Welcome Home 

President Faulkner said, "you're in my A group sister Guthrie"!!!! I hope that's a good thing

Don't know what either of us are doing #lovemymom