The Greatest Journey of My Life, and For My Life

Some of you may know that I actually hit my 18 month mark as a missionary a few weeks ago. I am blessed to have had almost 19 months to serve as a full time missionary and over the past year and a half I’ve thought occasionally upon my last and extra three weeks in the mission field. I assumed that God had a specific purpose for this extra time I was given. This week I was able to see clearly one of those purposes. I had an experience that, I’ll admit, shook me. I don’t know if I’d say that it completely shook my testimony but after a short encounter I found myself beginning to question and maybe even doubt some of the most basic truths of the restored gospel that I treasure deeply. I’ve had many experiences that have tried and tested me throughout my mission and I’ve been able to endure them well, but this experience really effected me negatively. I found myself in a dark place. I learned a lot this week about prayer, revelation, and the Holy Ghost. I prayed so much: seeking comfort, guidance, and answers from God. At one point I was on my knees for what felt like forever and became so frustrated at my lack of “feeling something” or receiving an impression that I got off my knees and abandoned the prayer all together. It was really discouraging but the verse, “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.” (D&C 6:36) was on replay in my mind. The next day I was praying again and received an impression. It was that my act of praying was important, but what was more important is what I would choose to do after getting off of my knees. Would I give up on studying the scriptures and keeping the commandments and working hard? Would I do nothing and wait for God to show me a sign? I realized that the answers to my questions and worries weren’t going to come while on my knees. God requires us to act in faith before He makes Himself known unto us. So, I got off my knees and went back to work. I prayed some more and enveloped myself in the scriptures. I kept moving forward and I can testify to you that God did visit me. He did comfort me. He did give me answers and assurances. He is real and He does love me. I learned from my experience this week how important it is to fill ourselves spiritually so that when trials, temptations, questions, and doubts come we don’t completely crumble under pressure. I was so taken off guard by the doubts that without warning flew across my mind and, after the fact, realized that I was spiritually unprepared for that affliction. There was more I could have been doing to spiritually “fill my tank”. The counsel from Helaman is to, “..remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall” (Helaman 5:12). We have to continue, every day, every decision, to build our foundation in Christ and the points of His doctrine that are true. I’ve gained a witness that the words of prophets of old concerning faith are true. Alma teaches, “And now as I said concerning faith-faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21). Moroni said, “I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6). 

This last week of my mission has been one of the best. Many spiritual lessons were taught and countless testimonies were born. I love the members of the Oxford ward and am heartbroken to leave them. I’ve experienced true joy, happiness, and peace this week. I’m so thankful for my sweet comp sister Chapple! She’s been such a blessing to me these past two months. I’m thankful to friends and family who have supported me every step of the greatest journey of my life and for my life. 

I’ve spent the past 18 months testifying of our Eternal Father in Heaven, His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the restoration of their church through the prophet Joseph Smith, the divinity of the Book of Mormon, the reality of the plan of salvation, the power of faith, the ability to repent, the peace of forgiveness, the happiness of righteous living, the blessings of obedience, and the possibility of obtaining a joy that can never end. I’ve been changed forever by the gospel of Jesus Christ. His grace was, is, and will continue to be sufficient, even for me. If these words aren’t a convincing witness of the reality of Christ and His ability to change then I hope the rest of my life will be. I’ll never, no never, no never forsake the things I’ve learned and the person I’ve become. 

I love each of you and am so looking forward to being reunited with my family on Wednesday. 

Sister Bailey Guthrie

Arkansas Little Rock mission 

God is Love

This week was so fun! We were able to do our info booth on campus for three days. We went out into groups of college kids and asked them to come write on our boards about what Jesus means to them and how they know that God loves them! We got a lot of participation and had some good conversations. On Wednesday this week we went on exchanges with the Walnut Grove sisters and I was in Oxford with sister Friend. A member in the ward had given us a referral for a family that he met through work. On wed. we were able to go over and teach the family and were were so surprised and excited about how open and prepared they are. We talked about the Book of Mormon and where it comes from. Towards the end of our lesson I felt the spirit so strongly and felt prompted to testify that the Book of Mormon teaches what the purpose of life is and that there is life after death. I teared up and just felt so strongly that the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith is a prophet, Jesus is the Christ, and the plan of Salvation brings peace. I love the gospel. I love the church. I love being a missionary. I’ve still been reading the Book of Mormon recently looking for manifestations of the love of our Heavenly Father. So many things testify of His love. In 2 Ne. chapter 26, Nephi says, “For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in darkness. He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation. Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price” (2 Nephi 26:23-25). I love y’all.. see ya soon;)

 

"Whom Say Ye That I Am?"

Hello everyone, 

sorry I didn’t get the chance to send out a letter last week! The past two weeks have been amazing! 

So many miracles I’m excited to talk about. 

This week we taught our investigator Alex. He is from Mexico and last week he told us that he called his parents in Mexico to tell them about meeting with us. He told us that his mom cried when she heard the news! So tender. We had Sister Rivest out with us to teach Alex about the plan of salvation. Sister Rivest was so in tune with the spirit and really took the time to ask Alex about himself and to discern his needs. She’s a huge example to us. We talked with Alex about how we are all free in life to choose liberty and eternal life through the great Mediator who is Jesus Christ, or captivity and death through the devil (2 Nephi 2:27). We taught about the Savior’s earthly ministry and atonement by reading in Mosiah chapter 3. This chapter contains some of my favorite verses about Jesus Christ. 

5 For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.

6 And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.

7 And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.

8 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.

9 And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.

10 And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.

11 For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned.

12 But wo, wo unto him who knoweth that he rebelleth against God! For salvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.

13 And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them.

While reading those verses we were able to teach Alex about the creation of the world, the fall of Adam and Eve, the atonement of Jesus Christ, and the hope of repentance. Alex cried as we promised him that he can truly be forgiven, healed, and changed. It was my favorite lesson of my mission so far. The Holy Ghost was with us in that room. On another occasion this past week we were going to have dinner with one of my favorite families, the Arntsen’s. We had planned to knock on some doors before dinner and were led to a house where a young mom answered. We began to introduce ourselves and the church and she said, “it was a good day for you to come because we are about to go to my aunts funeral”. We felt impressed to share Mosiah 16:8-9 with her which reads, “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”. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and she said, “where are those verses you read?” so we marked them for her! We told the Arntsen’s about our experience and after dinner they sent us a screenshot of a post the lady had made on the neighborhood Facebook page about how kind we were. It was so sweet of her and we were definitely meant to meet her. We have been teaching a family who is from Myanmar which is somewhere in the world, i don’t really know where. The language they speak is Burmese! There is not a Burmese translation of the Book of Mormon which is sad, but they are an amazing family and are so sweet to us. We had a lesson with them last night and Lia got to come with us. I was so blown away with her comments and testimony. She testified of Jesus Christ and the Bible and the Book of Mormon and especially PRAYER! She testified that when she learned about the gospel and began putting in work to find out if it’s true, her and Grayson’s life started to get better. What a living, breathing, loving testimony. I love her with all of my heart. This upcoming week we get to do something so fun! Our mission payed for us to be able to have an information booth on the Ole Miss campus so that we can actively approach people and share the gospel with them! We started it this afternoon and it was a HUGE success. We talked with so many people and conquered many fears of talking to kids our own age;). 

This weekend was the Memphis stake conference and Elder Costa of the seventy visited. All of the talks were amazing. Elder Costa talked about Jesus Christ and how important it is to learn of His life and teachings. He talked about how, many times in the New Testament, people or groups of people question, “who is this?” referring to the Savior. Elder Costa posed the question, “who is He to me?”. I’ve been pondering that question ever since. Over the past couple of days I’ve read through half of Matthew seeking to better understand who Christ is and who He is to me personally. In Matthew chapter 16 Jesus asks His apostles, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-17). To me, Jesus Christ is my Brother, Healer, Savior, Rock, Redeemer, Grace, and Friend. I know that He lives; Not because flesh and blood have revealed it unto me but because my Father in Heaven has revealed it unto me through the Holy Ghost, and I’ll never deny it. Jesus is the Christ.

Sister Bailey Guthrie