This week was interesting! We had Mormon helping hands on Saturday which was really cool. I have never done that before. We were supposed to do it last year, but Elder Kasen and I were already committed to help a family move so we didn't make it to the big organized project. It was pretty cool. We got to wear the cool yellow vests you see on the news and on the world report between conference sessions :) We helped this little old lady paint her house. She could barely stand. She had to have her care taker come help her walk out to say thanks to us. It was really neat. Her garage, and door frames and window frames were all messed up, so we sanded them all down and painted them for her. Her house looks a ton better now. She was very appreciative of our help. Service really gives you a good feeling inside :) I was on the sanding crew. I really wish I would have took a picture but I didn't have my camera :( so me and a couple elders were covered in white paint dust from head to tow. Her house was pretty old too so chances are it was lead paint. That's just how California rolls. for basically all day Saturday and Sunday I was sneezing and coughing out white pasty stuff. Pretty sure I have lead paint dust all up in my lungs. So if I get lung cancer in a few years, its because I served a mission :)
Last night we went up to Whittier for a baptism. That was super cool. It was a family that Elder Roberts taught. It was weird to be back up there, so close to my last area. I wanted to go visit some people again, but I couldn't so we didn't. :) It was very cool to watch this family come unto Christ and be completed by the Gospel. Start their new journey together towards sealed eternally. I love watching baptisms.
I learned a really important lesson this week. More of realized I learned it a bit ago. In 3 Nephi 12:44 Jesus tells us to "love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you/" So me and Elder Roberts were out and about. It was like 8:30 and our set just fell through. I HATE knocking doors that late. We resolve to go by one former investigator we had written down. So, we go and knock it. This dude, probably about 27 or so answers and cusses us out. He says that we better not knock his door again and he does not appreciate us stopping by and just goes on this big ole rant. It really made me sad. Starting a mission, you really learn how to cope with discouragement and rejection, then I finally got to the point where I wouldn't get down on myself at all or anything like that when rejection happens. It happens a LOT, but this guy made me sad. I was thinking about that long and hard for a while. One morning I was studying in Preach My Gospel. In Chapter one it goes over our purpose as missionaries and how to define success. In there it says "Some may not accept your message even when they have received a spiritual witness that it is true. You will be saddened because you love them and desire their salvation." I LOVE that line. It hit me hard. That's why this guy bothered me so much! Because I love him! He just didn't even give us a chance. A year ago, I would have gotten discouraged, a months ago I would have just shrugged it off, a week ago I got truly sad that we were rejected because I do love this man I don't even know and he didn't even give us a chance to help him be happy. To me, that was a major bench mark in my mission. It helped me to see that I am finally becoming the missionary I need to be.
Transfers are this week! Crazy how fast time flies! So, if you ahve anything you want to send to me, do it so it gets here before Saturday! :)
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lloyd
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Week 64
So this week was super good!! But to be honest, I'm not quite sure what happened! haha. I was just thinking back, and it seems like we had no time to work!! We did find 4 new investigators so that's super cool! they have lots of potential and will make good members of the church in a few weeks!
So the week didn't really start til Wednesday because Tuesday was P day for the temple. Thursday we had District meeting and weekly planning. Then Saturday we had zone Conference which was super good! We learned a lot about teaching plain and simple truths followed by an inspired question. It was super good! It is really hard, but it is a very good way to bring the Spirit to a lesson and get the investigators thinking. You can really get to know them better and understand they're thoughts and desires and we can best help them. I now can only ask where was this training a year ago?? It was super good! Then Sunday we had church. This week there wasn't the most amount of Proselyting time. But it was still a good week and we used every minute we had to find some more people to teach! I love it here!
3 Nephi 18:21 reads "Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed." This is really good. Family prayer really is a good way to strengthen our families immensely. I know that as you all pray together in your Families that you will grow together and be stronger. There will be more trust among your families and you will see great blessings. I invite you all to pray together in your families.
So the week didn't really start til Wednesday because Tuesday was P day for the temple. Thursday we had District meeting and weekly planning. Then Saturday we had zone Conference which was super good! We learned a lot about teaching plain and simple truths followed by an inspired question. It was super good! It is really hard, but it is a very good way to bring the Spirit to a lesson and get the investigators thinking. You can really get to know them better and understand they're thoughts and desires and we can best help them. I now can only ask where was this training a year ago?? It was super good! Then Sunday we had church. This week there wasn't the most amount of Proselyting time. But it was still a good week and we used every minute we had to find some more people to teach! I love it here!
3 Nephi 18:21 reads "Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed." This is really good. Family prayer really is a good way to strengthen our families immensely. I know that as you all pray together in your Families that you will grow together and be stronger. There will be more trust among your families and you will see great blessings. I invite you all to pray together in your families.
I love you!
Have a good week!
Thanks for the apple!
Love,
Elder Lloyd
Week 63!!!
Hello!
So, this week was super good! We went to the temple this morning so that was super good! I really do love the temple! It is such a sweet place. It is always so nice to go and learn something new, and to feel the Spirit there. It always strengthens my testimony to go. It is crazy to think, it has already been three months since the last time I went! Time really is speeding up and it is crazy! I just don't know what to do anymore...
So, we found a new investigator this week. Her name is Maria. She is super prepared. Her son got baptized a few months ago and the English ward told us to go by so we did. It took a while to track her down, but we did. We taught her the restoration. She loved it, and just said how it all makes sense and how she has never heard of it. She was raised a Catholic, but called B.S. on it and left it behind. She feels bad because she didn't raise her kids with Christ. So, she is super willing to learn now. She was so impressed that she told us she went to work the next day and taught it to all of her friends! So, we will keep teaching her and hopefully she will get baptized. It is super cool!
Me and Elder Roberts are doing awesome! We get along great! He is more or less settled in now. We are here working and ready to go!
1 John 1:7 reads "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us all from all sin." Me and Elder Roberts found this scripture the other day planning a lesson. It is super cool. Really, as we walk with Christ, we do have fellowship with each other. We have friends with the same standard who can help build us up and comfort us in times of need, and we can do the same for them. Also, with Christ we can be clean from our sings. Truly miraculous is the Atonement. Only by and through it can we be made whole. May we all walk in the light of Christ.
So, I have been up since 4:00 AM and kind of having a hard time remembering what else happened this week, so I guess I will be done.
Have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Lloyd
So, this week was super good! We went to the temple this morning so that was super good! I really do love the temple! It is such a sweet place. It is always so nice to go and learn something new, and to feel the Spirit there. It always strengthens my testimony to go. It is crazy to think, it has already been three months since the last time I went! Time really is speeding up and it is crazy! I just don't know what to do anymore...
So, we found a new investigator this week. Her name is Maria. She is super prepared. Her son got baptized a few months ago and the English ward told us to go by so we did. It took a while to track her down, but we did. We taught her the restoration. She loved it, and just said how it all makes sense and how she has never heard of it. She was raised a Catholic, but called B.S. on it and left it behind. She feels bad because she didn't raise her kids with Christ. So, she is super willing to learn now. She was so impressed that she told us she went to work the next day and taught it to all of her friends! So, we will keep teaching her and hopefully she will get baptized. It is super cool!
Me and Elder Roberts are doing awesome! We get along great! He is more or less settled in now. We are here working and ready to go!
1 John 1:7 reads "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us all from all sin." Me and Elder Roberts found this scripture the other day planning a lesson. It is super cool. Really, as we walk with Christ, we do have fellowship with each other. We have friends with the same standard who can help build us up and comfort us in times of need, and we can do the same for them. Also, with Christ we can be clean from our sings. Truly miraculous is the Atonement. Only by and through it can we be made whole. May we all walk in the light of Christ.
So, I have been up since 4:00 AM and kind of having a hard time remembering what else happened this week, so I guess I will be done.
Have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Lloyd
Monday, April 14, 2014
Week 62!!!
So this week was super good!
Elder Gil went up to Pico Rivera and I stayed back to hold down the fort. Elder Roberts came down here to serve with me! He is a cool guy! He is from Logan, Utah and has been out for 10 months or so. It really is nice to be with a companion with more time in the mission again. It really makes things easier as he has some experience behind him. I really do look forward to serving this transfer with him! We are here and ready to get stuff done!! It's funny to be with another white companion. You'd think it wouldn't make that much of a difference, but it does. Whenever we introduce ourselves its funny. We say we are the missionaries, Elder Lloyd and Elder Roberts. They say "oh are you brothers?" we say "no, just friends" they say "but you have the same name and kinda look alike. You look like you could be brothers" "Elder means missionaries and Roberts and Lloyd are our last names." "you really do look alike" its funny. I look like every white companion I have served with :) It's also funny when they come to the door and say "sorry, no speak English" in a thick accent and we start speaking in Spanish. Sometimes they are impressed, sometimes they look at us like great, they speak Spanish. its a good time.
I really hope you all watched conference. It was sooooo good!! I loved it! It was seriously one of the best ones I have watched! I took a ton of notes!! One of my favorite talks was by President Monson I believe. It was about love. It was sooo good. He talked about what love is and what it means to us and what we should do if we love our fellow man. I really did enjoy it immensely. I cannot wait to go back and study the talks when the new Ensign comes out. I'd like to invite you to do two things. First, If you watched conference, I invited you to go back and re study the talks. If you didn't watch it, I invite you to first watch it, then restudy the talks :) and secondly, I invite you all to choose one thing in your life you can do to strengthen the love you have for your fellow men. Do unplanned acts of service, smile at them, do anything. Malachi in the old testament says in chapter 2:10 "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother" We truly are all brothers and sisters. It's about time we start treating others as such. Pray tonight and ask Heavenly Father what you can do tomorrow to show more love and make someone's day a little brighter. I read half a book once about filling peoples buckets with positive thoughts. I never got a chance to finish that book before my mission and its been too long to remember all of the analogy it used, but fill someone's bucket with something positive. as you prayerfully consider what you can do better, the Spirit will whisper to you something you should do and who you should do it for. I know that to be true. I know that Heavenly Father is anxiously waiting to help you help His other Children. All you need to do is ask.
Elder Lloyd
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Week 61!!!
So this week was super good!!!
I wasn't transferred so you all can send me letters!! Elder Gil is going up to Pico Rivera though! He is in the same ward I came here from! He is in the area right above the one I was in. So that's pretty cool! It's pretty lame how they split us up though!! But hey, we went out with a bang!!
Angel was baptized!!! So that is super cool!! I am so glad he took that step! I am sooo happy for him and his family!!! Hopefully soon they are going to get sealed!! so the baptismal service was pretty cool. First the first speaker was 20 minutes late so we were kinda freaking out. We called and she said she was coming. So then, right in the middle of the service, an earth quake sets off. So the bishop is all "protect the children!!" Everyone is all freaking out and stuff. The speaker wasn't too happy. Then we all went outside for 10 minutes. So yeah, that was lame. Lol. But in all the service was really good. It was very spiritual. I know that the work in which I am enlisted is a work of God and that He does lead and guide what His missionaries do if we let him. I know that what we are doing out here is eternally important and the people I meet will be eternally blessed. I am so glad I served a mission.
So, General Conference this weekend. You should all watch it! Mosiah 15:11 reads "Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God." I want you all to watch General Conference and hear the words of the living prophet and apostles on the earth today. Not a lot of people know that there is a living prophet on earth today. Those of us who do know that cannot take it for granted. As you prayerfully watch conference I promise you that you will receive direct revelation on something you need, a question you have.
I wasn't transferred so you all can send me letters!! Elder Gil is going up to Pico Rivera though! He is in the same ward I came here from! He is in the area right above the one I was in. So that's pretty cool! It's pretty lame how they split us up though!! But hey, we went out with a bang!!
Angel was baptized!!! So that is super cool!! I am so glad he took that step! I am sooo happy for him and his family!!! Hopefully soon they are going to get sealed!! so the baptismal service was pretty cool. First the first speaker was 20 minutes late so we were kinda freaking out. We called and she said she was coming. So then, right in the middle of the service, an earth quake sets off. So the bishop is all "protect the children!!" Everyone is all freaking out and stuff. The speaker wasn't too happy. Then we all went outside for 10 minutes. So yeah, that was lame. Lol. But in all the service was really good. It was very spiritual. I know that the work in which I am enlisted is a work of God and that He does lead and guide what His missionaries do if we let him. I know that what we are doing out here is eternally important and the people I meet will be eternally blessed. I am so glad I served a mission.
So, General Conference this weekend. You should all watch it! Mosiah 15:11 reads "Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God." I want you all to watch General Conference and hear the words of the living prophet and apostles on the earth today. Not a lot of people know that there is a living prophet on earth today. Those of us who do know that cannot take it for granted. As you prayerfully watch conference I promise you that you will receive direct revelation on something you need, a question you have.
This car blew up at Angel's baptisim...
Have a good week!!
Love,
Elder Lloyd
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