Week 48!!!

Hello Everybody!

This week was super good! It was definitely a bit strange being away from home for Christmas for the first time in 20 years, but it was a very good Christmas present to see my family for the first time in just shy of one year (via skype), and talk to them for probably the fastest 43 minutes of my mission...

I've decided I really like Christmas season. Usually, I don't care for it. Maybe I take after Charlie Brown and my dad, but it really bugs me how commercialized it all is. I really do find a lot of fun in finding the right gift for someone, but this year, without that, I really spent a lot more time focusing on the Savior and really learned a lot. But, maybe that is just the missionary in me. It was really a special experience to be one of Christ's personal missionaries and go around for His birthday and testify to others who do not have the Gospel in their lives how they can utilize the Atonement and become happy. The entire purpose of why Christ was born. It was also kind of a special experience to sit down in the house of a very generous member on Christmas day and over live video invite my family to come closer to the Savior and partake in the blessings there of, and do so in a lot more feeling and sincerity then just a letter can portray. For about a year now, I have been dreading Christmas. Seeing how it is generally a time of family, but mine are still far away, but looking back, although this may seem cliche, this was probably one of my best Christmases ever as I really got involved in missionary work, and served. Bringing to others, what is, in my opinion, the best gift I could bring. The gift of the Gospel of Christ. The gift of eternal happiness, the gift of salvation, the gift of being sealed to your family for all eternity. I testify as an ordained personal representative of Christ, that He lives, that he did come into the world to make it possible for us to return to live with our Father in Heaven. I testify that He loves you more then you can comprehend, that you can ALWAYS come unto Him and be made clean from your sins. Moroni 6:8 reads "But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven." No matter what you feel inside, the Savior is here. He will come unto you if you will come unto Him. You will be forgiven if you seek to be. I exhort all of you, no matter where you are in life, to come unto Him and be made whole and reap the happiness and blessings that will come.

I leave this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Week 47... TRANSFERS!!!

Hey guys!!

So this week on Friday me and Elder Gil had exchanges. I served for 24 hours with the District Leader. We had a few very interesting thoughts and conversations we shared with one another. One of which I will try to briefly recreate here.

So for Companionship studies he started out with "Christmas is next week. What are you going to get Jesus for His birthday?" We started comparing notes a lot back and forth, discussing in depth what we will get Jesus for His birthday. 2 Nephi 2:27 states " Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." So what do we really have to give? "all things are given them" so everything is a gift unto us. So we cant really give anything to Christ because its all His anyways. But the first of that verse also says "men are free to choose" so we have our agency. The only thing that we really own. So, this Christmas I exhort you all to keep this in mind. Not only remember Christ, or the "true meaning of Christmas" as everyone says, but to remember that the only thing you have to give Him is your agency, so do it. "Choose liberty and eternal life" choose to honor Christ and do the things you know He wants you to do. Choose to love Him and in doing so keep His commandments as He illustrates in John 14:15. I hope that you all have a very wonderful Christmas and that you all really will remember Christ and all He has done and what that means to you.  

This is the degrees on Christmas day!

Thank you so much for all the support!

Love,

Elder Lloyd

Week 46!!!

Hey Everyone!!

How are you all doing? Is everyone getting ready for Christmas in like a week and a half?! Crazy!! I seriously cannot believe that it is already the end of the year. Time has completely flown by. It is really kind of cool to look back over the past year and see all the good times, hard times, and growth. It really is neat.

This week was good! It was a rather odd week though. Well, we did odd service. So a lady in our ward that we have been trying to get back to church, the friend of Alma, is going through a rather rough divorce right now. It is super sad. So then she got word that her lawyer is helping out her soon to be ex husband. So, she calls us up one afternoon and asks us to come help her translate a ton of legal stuff from English, the language is written, to Spanish. The language she speaks. It was really kind of difficult. I'm sure you have heard from missionaries that they get a good grasp on the "church talk" in the new language. Well, they are right. Turns out, all the legal stuff isn't "church words".... but thankfully God makes up the difference for His servants. A few times I said stuff in Spanish that I didn't know before but it felt right. Elder Gil, who's parents are from Columbia, looked at me surprised and said "I knew your Spanish was good, but I didn't know it was that good..." I smiled and said "Yeah, well me neither" It was super cool.

Another cool story: so this same member brought another friend to church today. It was super cool. After the meeting, we talked to her. She told us how she absolutely loved the services, and wants to learn more and join our church. Her only complaint was it was far away. Timidly we ask where she lives, not really wanting to know the answer. She says in Torrence. Right in the middle of the Los Angeles mission. Super lame we can't teach her, but on a happy note, some other lucky set of missionaries will get the referral. I hope they aren't knuckleheads and get the job done with the Spirit.

A lot of what happened this week really just set the stage for an AWESOME week this week, starting out with tonight booked full of appointments. I am really looking forward to this coming week. Really, every week here is a little better, but regretfully, a little faster.

Alma 30:8 reads "For thus saith the scripture: Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve." I really don't have much to add to that. Choose today, right now, as you are reading this who you will serve. There is no middle ground. As the world turns darker, choose where you stand. Will you serve Jesus Christ and accept the blessings and long term joy and happiness? Or will you choose Satan, which may offer short term pleasure, but in the end, long term misery. I pray that you will choose a life as a disciple of Christ, as this is the way to eternal happiness.

Thank you all for all the love you have shown me and my family week to week.

Love,
Elder Lloyd

Week 45!!!

Hey Everybody!

This week was a pretty good one! I enjoyed it a lot. We did a lot of finding still this week but that is okay. We are finally making some headway.

Kind of a cool story about that. So Saturday night, all of our plans fell through which is lame, but it happens. We don't exactly have enough people to fill up the evening with backups and such. We were riding by to get to a members house to ask for referrals and Elder Gil turns down to go to another members. He comments to me how it is cold outside, and this member is closer. So, we go visit her. We kinda talked for a little bit about how some things in her life are going, then I pull out my bible to read James 1:5 which reads "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." This is the scripture that Joseph Smith found that inspired his prayer that ushered in the First Vision and the Last Dispensation. My intentions were to share it, explain the significance of it, bear testimony, and ask for a referral when the Spirit is there really strong. I find the verse, then the small talk stuff kinda dies down, I ask if I can share a scripture, and there is a knock at the door. Then, this member's friend, Alma, walks in. So, not knowing anything about this friend or her religious background, I share the scripture and explain the significance of it in a little more detail then originally planned, then Elder Gil came in with a very sincere testimony on the First Vision and explained the Book of Mormon, then the member bore her testimony on the Book of Mormon and what is means to her. Alma LOVED it. It was honestly one of the most powerful lessons I have been in. And, it was all impromptu! She graciously accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and is very excited to read it. I feel like its safe to say that it was the Spirit guiding us to this members house when Elder Gil decided to stop. Afterwards, me and Elder Gil had a long talk amongst ourselves about the Holy Ghost and how He guides us without us even knowing a lot of the time, and the miraculous nature of the events that night, and how it is one of those "miracle finding stories" you always hear missionaries talk about and you want one. This is exactly the experience we both have been praying for.

I would like to invite you all to take James' promise and if you lack wisdom, pray about it. God really will answer your prayers and help you to come to know the truth.

Thank you all!! Especially this Christmas season! I really appreciate all your kinds words and support!

Love,
Elder Lloyd

Week 44!!

Hey Everybody!!

This week was good! I'm not going to lie, it wasn't the best thing in the world to have Thanksgiving without all the family.   But hey that's all good. if i really wanted to be home I could have went home :) It really wasn't all that bad. We were able to keep distracted by the 4 dinner appointments we had! If that doesn't fill you up I don't know what will... I haven't been that full my entire life except back in July when I did an exchange with an Elder in the Samoan Ward!  

So kind of a cool story. We have been doing a LOT of finding the past week. That is really all we have been doing. A lot of the time, It seemed really really fruitless. okay it didn't just seem, it was fruitless. Last Saturday we had a "blitz" in the sister's area in our zone. That means all the missionaries in our zone split up one area and knock it to death. We almost didn't go because we had one of our only lessons of the week scheduled but we really felt like we needed to go. So we exercised our faith and decide we need to go. We were going to see if we can reschedule the lesson, it really can be a risky move to do it but we were going to try. Then the lady actually called us and said something came up at work so we rescheduled it because of her. Or so she thinks. So, we went to the blitz. It was kind of annoying to be knocking in someone else's area when we don't have people to teach in our area but it is where we needed to be. So, we go through the rest of the day Saturday. Then Sunday we went to Church and a family walks in. Turns out they live in our area but Elder Gil didn't know that. She is a member but is less active and he isn't a member. So, because we exercised our faith and went where we needed to be, God provided for us a family we can teach. We haven't been by yet, but this week we will go and talk to them.

Alma 34:41 reads "But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions." I like it a lot. It has actually helped a lot. To me it says something to the effect of "hey Elder Lloyd, you may not be teaching right now as much as you'd like to be, but be patient. You will find." I also find it interesting how it says "have patience" as opposed to "wait patiently." Patience is key in our hard times. But, so is our efforts. We cant sit on the sidelines and wait for them to pass, we need to be actively engaged in bringing about the change we want.

Thanks a lot for all your love and support! Especially in this Holiday Season. May we all keep the true meaning of Christmas near our hearts as we celebrate this year.

Love,

Elder Lloyd

Week 43!!!

This week was pretty good! It's stinkin cold down south though!!! Its closer to the beach so its more humid and has the ocean breeze. This week it was cloudy and rainy for most of the time. The first time I've really seen that here in California. I have no idea what the degrees were like outside, but I'll tell ya what, I never thought I'd find myself getting cold in California... I think I've been here too long... haha
So, my new companion is Elder Gil. He is a super cool guy! He is new in the mission, just finished up training and they sent me in to make sure his trainer did it right. May have been their mistake. I guess we'll see! :) He was raised in Utah, born back east but both of his parents were born in Columbia so he has super good Spanish which is never a bad thing.

We had a zone conference this week. Elder Packer of the 70 came to us and talked a lot about family history. It really was super cool! I learned a TON about why its important and how we can use it to invite the Spirit super strong. When you speak of ancestors, from you parents to your far back ancestry, its almost impossible to not have the Holy Ghost testify to you of the importance of families, and the eternal significance. That is what the Spirit of Elijah is all about. I have an invitation, all who read this go tell someone a story about one of your Grandparents. Maybe tonight at dinner take turns sharing your favorite memory of your grandfather to your family and pay attention to your feelings. I promise you you will feel the love of our Father in Heaven as you do. If you cant at the dinner table, call a friend on the phone and really give it a try. I promise you as you do, your personal testimony of the importance of families and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will increase.

As far as the work here, its not the fastest I've seen it before. Okay, not even a little bit. Lets just say we are doing a LOT of finding. That's okay though. finding is always good. I really do have a super good feeling about this area and this transfer. Me and Elder Gil are getting along great and having a blast, and getting stuff done all at the same time! As of now, I don't have any good stories to share, but I do know that the Church is True and that me and Elder Gil are here for a reason. Now we just gotta find out why and be ready to be the tools in God's hands when we find out. I Love my mission so much. Even the slower weeks like this week are still remarkable. I really thank God everyday for the chance I have to be here.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says "In every thing give thanks " I firmly believe that. I actually saw that on the side of a bible church and liked it a lot.   Especially this week with thanksgiving and all that, remember to pray and thank our Father in Heaven, who gave us all we have.

I love you all!

Elder Lloyd

Week 42!!!

Hey Everyone!

This week went entirely too fast. The day I have been dreading comes tomorrow... transfers...

I have a lot of friends going home this transfer who have fulfilled their 2 year missions and are ready to return to their families.

Missions are really interesting. The biggest roller coaster of emotions I have ever been on.

So, tomorrow morning I will ship out of Pico Rivera and head over to Cerritos.

I really liked the time I spent here with Elder Lund. We really got along great better then a lot more then my other companions, and we met a lot of really cool people here. I made a lot of like long friends here, and I feel very privileged to be part of their lives and to be able to share my testimony with them.

It isn't ever fun leaving an area, but the Lord has better plans for me elsewhere. There are more people for me to touch. Elder Lund will definitely keep working good with the people here.

So, my new address is

16221 Cornuta Ave, Apt. 30
Bellflower, CA 90706

So as far as the work goes, we didn't have very many lessons. Gloria and her daughters are still on track to be baptized next Sunday!

Love ya all!!

Every transfer there is a fireside for the departing missionaries. This is me and Wendy. We took this picture at that fireside.

I almost forgot! Alma 34:33 says "and now as I said unto you before as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore 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" So, repent before it is too late! :)


Love,
Elder Lloyd