The Blaze Has Begun

It's been another great week in Paragould. "The blaze has begun" -Sis

Hall. First of all, Thanksgiving in the south is no joke y'all. The

people here in Arkansas do a couple of things exceptionally well: cook

and eat. The Mayfield's invited us to their family thanksgiving meal

in Oak Grove on Thursday. They had two big tables full of food and

desserts. Sister Mayfield's daughter made some candied sweet potatoes

and I think it became my new favorite food. It was Kathy's birthday on

Thursday, so after lunch at the Mayfield's we headed over to her

place. We brought her a big plate of food from lunch (because we knew

she didn't have anyone to eat with) and a birthday card. She LOVED it.

We are blessed to have so many opportunities to serve in sweet and

simple ways. I think spending some time with her probably meant more

than the card or food did. After seeing Kathy we went over to a less

active couple's home for dinner. After dinner we had a lesson about

the word of wisdom. It really wasn't going well at first. The wife

just didn't understand that the word of wisdom is a commandment and

that not drinking coffee is a part of it. As we talked I just kept

praying for a miracle and for understanding. Heavenly Father answers

prayers. Suddenly, everything just clicked for her. She said "well

that's a pretty simple thing to do when He has done everything for

us". I felt the spirit so strongly as she testified to us of that

truth. She asked us to throw away all of her coffee and tea. Sister

Hall has been so sick this week. She took some of her cough medicine

before studies on Saturday and she was faded haha. She was looking

down at her watch and tapping it for 20 minutes. Then when our

personal study ended she told me she saw a man in the corner and that

she couldn't lift her pen up off of her notebook because it was a

magnet. I about fell out of my chair from laughing so hard and sent

her to bed. Although this week was crazy with Sister Hall being sick

and other random circumstances we still saw countless miracles. The

highlight of the week had to be Sunday morning when Kathy entered the

waters of baptism and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was such

a good day. After she was baptized she yelled "YAY" (which expressed

mine and Sister Hall's feelings well). We have grown to love Kathy

like a sis and seeing her become the newest member of the Paragould

branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder-Day Saints was a really

special experience. To top it off, we sang "The Spirit of God" in

sacrament meeting. The spirit was SO strong and it was a personal

blessing to me. I had been asking Heavenly Father some questions

through out the week and the answers came as my heart burned. An

overwhelming sense of peace and assurance came as well. "And I will

pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may

abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world

cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye

know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not

leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:16-18).

Side note, I read a scripture about karma the other day. Alma 41:15,

"For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be

restored".

"This Christmas season, follow the example of Jesus Christ and

#LIGHTtheWORLD. Visit Mormon.org for simple ideas to share His light

through service during the month

Happy Thanksgiving Week Y'all.

Gummow, Green & Guthrie

Happy Thanksgiving week y'all. 

I don't have a lot of time today but I do have a funny story to tell. So, on Sunday morning one of our investigators, Kathy, called us to let us know that she couldn't come to church because her dogs ran away. Kathy is getting ready to be baptized but she needed to come to church for the second time before she could be. So, Sister Hall, Sister Clarke, and I asked the elders if we could take the car before church to help her find her dogs. When we got to her house she had found one of the dogs, baby girl, but her other dog D.O.G. (yes, his name is dee-oh-gee) was still missing. We drove around looking for him and eventually found him. However, he was not having any of it and wouldn't let us get close at all. Looking around for something, anything, in the car that might help, we found a plastic bag full of ribs that the elders had left in the car from the night before (silly elders). So, we used ribs to lure D.O.G. in and eventually we got him back inside Kathy's house safe and sound AND we got Kathy to church (only 20 minutes late haha). "Thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people" (Alma 24:27). 

Sister Clarke is being sent to Otter Creek in Little Rock this transfer and Sister Hall and I will be staying here in Paragould. Our biggest goal is to set p-gold on fire over the next 6 weeks (figuratively not literally probably), so stay tuned. 

Much love y'all,

Sister Guthrie

Frog legs at the Mayfield's 

 

It's finally getting cold

Prettty Random but SO GOOD.

This week has been pretty random, but so good. We have been trying to focus on getting less active members back to church and helping the active members get involved in missionary work, along with the usual finding and teaching we do. 

On Tuesday we visited a less active member in the branch. There was a young man at her house named Jay. From the moment we walked in, he was so interested in learning about the gospel. Sister Hall and Sister Clarke talked to the less active member while I basically taught Jay every lesson. Not really, but close. He asked so many questions and kept wanting to know more and more. He said he wasn't going to be able to remember or pronounce "Guthrie" so he now calls me "Sis Gut". It's so cool to find the people the Lord puts in our path. Tuesday night we went over to Emma's to celebrate her birthday, which was so fun. We talked and ate pizza and coconut cream pie. Wednesday started out pretty rough. No one would answer their doors to us. So, we decided to go to the waffle and pancake house for dinner. That helped solve the "locked door" blues. On Friday during our weekly planning a baby bird flew into our window and fell on our balcony. He was laying on his back for a while and wasn't doing so good. After some time he got on his feet. There he stayed for about 30 minutes. Finally, Sister Hall went out there and nudged him with a leaf. He flew away into a nearby tree. Also on Friday, we met a 94 year old lady named Belle while trying to visit a less active member. Belle asked us if we wanted some "greens". We said "heck yeah" and followed her inside her apartment. She gave us two Walmart bags FULL of leafy mustard greens and another bag full of protein shakes. It was so random, but so awesome because we are on a health kick right now (we decided this post pizza, pie, pancakes, and waffles). That night I made a salad with the mustard greens and man, it was spicy. It tasted like hot honey mustard. Friday we also had another small miracle happen. We found where Nicholas, the Marshallese boy in our branch, lives. He didn't move to Springdale. In fact, he barely moved a couple of miles. 

This week I read Alma chapter 24 during one of my studies. This has become one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon for multiple reasons. The Anti-Nephi-Lehis are righteous and have repented of their sins but their brothers, the Lamanites who are still wicked, are preparing to come against them in battle. The Anti-Nephi-Lehis decide that they will not fight against their brothers and commit sin against God. "Now, my best beloved brethren, since God hath taken away our stains, and our swords have become bright, then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren" (v. 12). So, they decide to burry their weapons as a testimony to God that they would rather die than commit sin. "And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace" (v. 19). Now, the wicked Lamanites do still come upon them and begin to kill them, as they refuse to fight back. Over 1000 men were killed before the Lamanites realize their sins. Once they do realize what is going on, many of them repent and join the Anti-Nephi-Lehis. Verse 26 says, "And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved". First of all, that is quite the positive outlook to have immediately following the death of a thousand and five of your people. That they are righteous so "it's all good". They were so confident in the plan of salvation that they had no doubt that their brothers were with God. I also love the outward expression of an inner commitment that the Anti-Nephi-Lehis show by burying their swords. They knew that their weapons (sins) had been cleaned and they had no more desire to fight (do evil). I hope that we will always allow the atonement of Christ to cleanse us of our sins so that we can burry them and move forward with faith. 

Yesterday was the best day of my mission so far. It was a day full of miracles. So many of our investigators came to church and Norma was baptized! It was such a special day. The spirit was so strong and my heart was filled with joy. During sacrament meeting Jay leaned over to me and said, "Sis Gut, why are you always smiling all the time?". The only response I could come up with was, "because I'm happy" and that is so true. I'm so happy. I have new life and hope every day through the Savior and His atonement. I'm on the Lord's errand and I have the peace that comes with knowing that I am in line with His will. 

ijela ke mon jar ien emool. ijela ke jisos kraist emor raini. (I know the church is true. I know Jesus Christ lives.)

ij yokwe yuk (I love you),

Sister Bailey Guthrie 

#sisgut

Pics

1-Birthday party at Emma's 

2-Looking like we live in an insane asylum because bed bugs 

3-Texts that save missionary lives 

4-"Why have you not been baptize" -Nacho Libre 

5- Bur

  

  

  

BED BUGS 😮 🐞 🔫

No, the subject line is not a joke. 

We have bed bugs. 

On Wednesday night I head screams from the other room as Sister Hall and Sister        

Clarke found bugs on their mattresses. Luckily, there weren't any on

mine. However, we have had to spend a large part of this week

completely cleaning and de-bed bugging our apartment. We might as well

have just set the apartment and everything in it on fire, which would

have been faster and more effective. On Thursday we had to be in West

Memphis for a doctors appointment so Sister Cook drove us down there

and took us out to lunch. We were reunited with Sister Lange in West

Memphis. After the doctors appointment Sister Cook drove us across the

Mississippi into downtown Memphis so that we could see the city. The

Mississippi River is HUGE. We had a miracle lesson this week. A

preacher in his garage gave us a referral for his neighbor, Billy down

the street. We taught Billy and his family the restoration. The spirit

was so strong. The Lord promises in D&C 11:21, "Seek not to declare my

word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed". I've still been reading in Alma this week and man, oh man, there's a lot of good stuff in that book. In chapter 14 Alma and Amulek are out on their mission among the Lamanites. Many are converted because of the work and sacrifice of Alma and Amulek.

I'm a missionary

However, the remaining wicked people begin burning the believers. In verse 12 Amulek turns to Alma and says, "Behold, perhaps they will burn us also". Alma replies, "Be it according to the will of the Lord. But, behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us not". I was stopped right in my tracks while reading that verse. Alma was not only completely willing to die for the Lord (if it be His will), but he was willing to live for the Lord and continue in His work. In this time and world that we live, I wonder sometimes if it is more difficult to live for the Lord than it would be to die for Him. To truly, completely, with no exceptions, LIVE for the Lord. To surrender ourselves and our will to Him. To continue in His work, whatever it may be that He has called us to do. I want to follow the example set

by Alma and Amulek of unflinching faith and follow in their footsteps of devoted discipleship. I love my savior. I am thankful for His sacrifice. I know that all things can and will be made right, because He lives.

I hope y'all have a great week. Don't let the bed bugs bite.

Much love,

Sister Guthrie

LOTS AND LOTS OF PICS

  

Kathy and her porch

Awkward family photo

Glutes and Gospel

Happy Halloween! 

Lots of good stuff this past week. On Monday we went out to Crawley's Ridge State Park with our district for pday. We hung out and enjoyed nature. Arkansas is so pretty. The weather has been perfect again this week. Starting Tuesday we were on bikes. Man, my legs are SORE. Glutes and gospel people, glutes and gospel. I feel like a real, hard-core missionary during bike week. We've been grinding through the hills and ghetto of Paragould. Multiple times this week I thought to myself, "it's a good thing my mom can't see where I am right now". We are still preparing Norma for baptism and she impresses us every day. This week I have been reading in Alma. In chapter 8, Alma the younger is on a mission and tries to teach the people of Ammonihah but is rejected. He starts to leave town when an angel appears to him (the very same angel who appeared to him as a lad and told him to stop trying to destroy the church). So first of all, that's cool. This time the angel tells him to go back to Ammonihah. So, Alma heads back (with some reluctance and worry I'm sure)  and enters into the city. He's been traveling for a while so he's hungry and tired. Alma sees a man and asks the guy to help him out. This guy ends up being Amulek, who already knows that Alma is a prophet because an angel told him so in a vision. So Amulek receives Alma into his home and takes care of him. Reading this story lead make me think of D&C 84:88, "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". How applicable is that verse to this story? I've always loved that verse but relating it to Alma being received by Amulek has given it even more meaning. There are people out there prepared to receive you and I. They are ready to hear the gospel and they are ready to join us. That gets me pumped to be a missionary. 

On Thursday night we ate dinner at Brother and Sister Mayfield's home.

They fed us fried catfish, fried cornbread (hush puppies), fried green

beans, fried okra, and french fries. I'm officially a missionary in

the south. On Saturday we had the branch Halloween party which was

really fun. Norma and I dressed up as each other. She wore her best

dress and my name tag and carried around her Book of Mormon and Bible.

I wore a dress from the Marshall Islands and a flower in my hair and

carried around a Bok In Mormon. 

Overall, this week has been a lot like

every other week of my mission so far; full of disappointments,

outweighed by miracles and blessings. God is good. Arkansas is the

bomb. My good friend Brother Les said something yesterday during

gospel principles class that pulled on my heart strings. He said, "you

venture out and you realize there's nothing else out there. So you

come home. You come back to Christ, because He is the only way". I

love that. Shout out to my fellow "prodigal sons" who made it back

home and back to Christ.

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Guthrie

913 S. 22nd St. #6

Paragould, AR 72450

The One and Only Paragould

This past week was equally as "all over the place" as the last. More

of our sweet Marshallese friends have moved. One of our investigators

tried to bible bash us. Many of the people we teach are dealing with

trials and illness that we have no control over which has lead me to

evaluate my testimony and conversation. 

Am I 100% confident that theatonement is real and can heal us? 

Can I look someone in the eyes who is tired of living and being in pain 

and tell them that Jesus Christ has felt it all? 

Do I believe that "the Lord (will) strengthen them that they (can) bear up their burdens 

with ease, and.. submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord"  (Mosiah24:15)?

I can say that I do truly believe in Jesus Christ and the power of His atonement. 

If I didn't, I don't think I would be here.

Being a missionary has opened my eyes in so many ways. After serving

the Lord full-time, even for the short amount of time that I have, I

never want to go back to a life of "when I feel like it" discipleship.

I'm learning that that's just not how it works. We have to ask

ourselves if we truly are converted. Has the gospel of Jesus Christ

"wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more

disposition to do evil, but to do good continually" (Mosiah 5:2)? Can

we say that we "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all

thy soul, and with all thy mind" (Mathew 22:37)? In the talk by

Jeffrey R. Holland titled "The First Great Commandment", I like to say

that Elder Holland throws down. He recounts the story of Christ

visiting His disciples, who have returned to their former lives as

fishermen, after He is resurrected. Jesus asks Peter three times, "do

you love me?" to which Peter replies that he does. Elder Holland

describes in his own words Christ's response. "What I need, Peter, are

disciples-and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and

save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith.

I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our

Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do". Elder Holland goes on to

say, "We have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating

our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an

encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again

to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection

of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of

it". I love that. We're either all in or we're not. Don't we owe it to

Jesus Christ to be all in? Our savior who has given everything, even

His own life, that we might live? 

As President Wakolo often quotes from the hymn 

How Firm a Foundation, "I'll never, no never, no never forsake."

The work is still sweet in Paragould and the blessings are

as plentiful as ever. We see miracles from the Lord's hand in our work

every day, every day, every day. The refiners fire is hot but, "there

is no growth in the comfort zone, and there is no comfort in the

growth zone".

Much love,

Sister Bailey Guthrie

913 S. 22nd St. #6

Paragould, AR 72450

You Know Better than I

Me, Greeeeeenie-Sister Hall, Sister Clark

Train the Trainers (our training meeting), went so great this week. Part of me felt like I should've been getting off the transfer bus with all of the greenies on Tuesday. I feel like I was just in their place, because I was. I love President and Sister Wakolo so much. Every time President Wakolo speaks to us he says, "Elders and Sisters I rejoice with you in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you for what you do but mostly we thank you for who you are". On Wednesday he said,

"I am with you. I'm all in. Through and through. I love you."

Man, he gives me strength. We went out and knocked doors twice while we were in North Little Rock. The first time, Sister Clarke and I were together before the new missionaries arrived. We met a Buddhist man who escaped from communist Laos by swimming 5 miles to Thailand with a

couple of shirts in a plastic bag and his papers rolled up in a plastic tube. Man, he was cool. Sister Clarke and I finally got to meet our trainee, Sister Hall from Colorado. She's awesome and has a strong testimony. 

This week has just been kind of all over the place.

There have been extreme highs as well as lows. When we got back to Paragould from training we found out that Ranly, who we baptized, moved away (reluctantly) with his aunt and uncle. My heart broke a little bit. Luckily, they have a Marshallese branch where he moved and we are going to make sure the missionaries in that area find him. Norma is still doing really well and we had the coolest lesson on Saturday. We talked about the restoration and prophets. Her sister in law, who is a member kept showing us pictures of her nephew. It was really random and we were kind of confused at first. Then, she showed us a picture of him and 5 other men in white shirts and ties. As we zoomed in to the right of the picture we saw President Wakolo. Wait for it. As we zoomed in to the left of the picture we saw Tad R. Callister and David A. Bednar. We about died. It was at about that same time that Norma told us that her daughter is 10 and is a member. No wonder she's been getting so stoked about the temple and eternal families. That same night we were able to see a man that we had met a couple of weeks ago through knocking doors. He's just a really great guy with the cutest little kids and we are so excited to start teaching them. Last night we went out with Sister Harmon and met another awesome new investigator. Not long after that we got a text from one of our progressing investigators asking to meet at the church. We had a feeling that something wasn't right. She is going through a really difficult time and will be leaving town. It was really hard to hear her talk about everything she's dealing with and also to say goodbye. It's hard to understand and accept the trials some people face in this life. I think as missionaries we have to be able to see people the way Christ sees them so that we can confidently testify that He is the way. That no matter how dark and lost you feel,there is hope through the savior Jesus Christ. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, "It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines”. I believe that is true because I've felt it in my own life. I've seen the atonement and

Christ's love save countless souls, including my own. "I've let go of

the need to know why, for you know better than I".

Much love,

Sister Bailey Guthrie

Little Rock bridge over the Arkansas river

Coolest picture ever!