I am so sorry that last week I forgot to warn you guys that
on the last week of the transfer our P-Day is switched so it is on Wednesday
and not on Monday, we find out Tuesday night about transfers and if we are
staying or going so that just gives us all of Wednesday to pack and makes it a
P-day instead of us just missing a day of missionary work. Don't worry! I'm
still alive and you still get to read my emails ;) I knew you were worried.
This week has felt super long because of the P-Day delay but it has been a
great week none the less!
Tuesday: EXCHANGES! We had another exchange on Tuesday and I
got to go back to Grandby! I seriously love Grandby! This week I was with
Sister Sterling and this was her last transfer which was really sad because we
got along super well and now she goes home! Dang it! Anyway, we started the day
by visiting the ward mission leader who has baby cows! I got to play with them!
It was the best! We did some more service and that was great and then we went
around visiting potential investigators, investigators, and less active
members. At one point we were driving down this little dirt road and we both
saw a turtle crawling across the road and we both freaked out and Sister
Sterling pulled over and we both jumped out of the car to find this turtle. We
found him and named him Randy and gave him to a member to take care of. It was
hilarious!
Wednesday: On Wednesday we had District Meeting and Sister
Sanders and I were asked to give instruction. I was REALLY nervous. I have
barely been out a month and I did not want to stand up and give instruction to
all of these awesome missionaries who know what they're doing. But we did it
and it actually went really well! Sister Sanders is awesome and she is really
good at knowing when to save me from not knowing what to say and knowing when
to let me struggle for a minute! It's been awesome! On Wednesday nights we do
an English Class for foreign students and it's really where we just talk with
them and help them practice talking in English and at the end of it Sister
Sanders and I give a short thought and tell them that they are able to meet
with us or ask us questions if they have any. There's this guy that comes,
Ross, and he has the biggest crush on Sister Sanders and it's so funny! We
shared our message and he said he liked it and then we somehow got on the topic
that we could be getting transferred and he was like "please don't! I
really adore.... you're company!" It was so funny!
Thursday: We had a lot of good lessons on Thursday and it
was so fun! Alec, our investigator, took us out to breakfast and we had a
lesson about tithing and fast offerings and talked about how he was feeling
about his Sunday baptism! He said he was super excited and it was a good
lesson. We went through what his baptism would be like and he asked me to
speak, I was really nervous and really humbled. I felt so honored that he would
want me to be a part of it! We had a lesson with another investigator and it
was our first lesson with him. He was really neat and had a lot of cool
thoughts and comments about the Restoration which is interesting because he is
Catholic. I love Catholics but they don't usually enjoy the Restoration lesson,
but he did! We scheduled another lesson with him so we will see how he
continues! Thursday night we got a text from our District Leader, Elder
Durrant, and he asked us to set a new investigator goal for the week that would
stretch us, force us to have faith in Heavenly Father to provide and force us
to act more than we normally would. Our usual goal is three new investigators
and we usually get a few new investigators but we very rarely get three. I
always assumed it was just because three is a lot of people to find every week!
Anyway, they asked us to pick a number of new investigators we could have by
Sunday night. Going into this I was like "Yeah! five is a solid number! I
can do like five!" We prayed about it and both felt like we needed to set
a goal for eight new investigators. I was a little defeated before we even
started because it's usually a struggle to even get three, but we decided it
was going to push us! We already had two we just needed six more.
Friday: On Friday we did service and then we went on campus
and talked to just about anybody that would give us the time of day. Sister
Sanders and I would find two people sitting in the same area and split up and
talk to them. No one was interested in what I had to say. Everybody Sister
Sanders talked to set a return appointment. I was a little bitter. Finally I
decided that it was because I didn't think we could get eight new
investigators. So I changed my attitude and talked to the first girl I saw and
didn't get a return appointment. We finished out the night with a couple of
lessons and it was really good! We met with our investigator named James, it
was our third lesson with him and we are still working on him believing in God.
We've been afraid to push him too much so we haven't until this lesson. We just
started asking him the questions we needed to, "Do you believe in
God?", "Do you want to know if God is real?" and it ended up
being the best lesson we have had with him.
Saturday: Saturday was weekly planning so we spent a long
time in the apartment planning our week. After dinner Sister Sanders felt
really strongly that we needed to go visit a guy who we tracted into about a
month ago. We drove across town to see him and he wasn't home. We decided to
check up on a couple other potential investigators in the area and as we walked
up the stairs to visit one named Emily her two neighbors were outside smoking.
We said hi and started talking to them and one of the girls, Tiffany was so
excited that our job was to build faith in Christ and she was like "tell
me about it! Fill me up! Build my faith!" So we talked to her about it and
she set an appointment for a few days later! (In case you were wondering she
was new investigator number 6)
Sunday: Sunday was awesome! We went to church and then had
some meetings! After that we went to the stake center and started setting up
for Alec's baptism. Alec came and got changed and we walked him through how
everything was going to work again and it was awesome! The program was
beautiful, everyone did a great job, I did the best I could on my talk and it
ended up going pretty well! Alec was baptized and the spirit was so strong! Oh
my gosh. It was a moment I will never forget. Afterwards Alec got up and bore
his testimony and it was just awesome. The spirit was so strong. After the
baptism we talked with him for a little while and he was just the happiest
human I'd ever seen! It was very humbling to be able to be a small part of his
journey. After the baptism we went tracting. Hoping to find those last two new
investigators. We knocked a lot of doors and they were either uninterested or
not home until the last one. I knocked the door and this really pretty woman
opened it, I explained to her what we were doing and asked if she had a minute,
she said no but that we could come back another time and she would love to talk
with us. New investigator number 7! It was dark so we went home and and looked
through our area book, basically a binder full of information about people. We
decided to call to see if we could get our last investigator. The first guy we
called answered and set an appointment with us! EIGHT NEW INVESTIGATORS! It was
so cool!
Monday: On Monday we went to District Meeting and then we
went tracting. I have said this a million times but I am not a huge fan of
tracting. However, I prayed to be more willing to do what God would have me do
and I definitely saw that. As we went door to door and knocked and literally no
one wanted anything to do with us I realized that for the first time I didn't
want to beat my head against a wall while I was tracting. That sounds silly but
it really was the first time that I was willing to tract and didn't dislike it
and think about how uncomfortable I was the whole time. Once we got back to the
car I was so grateful I just started crying. It was such a blessing.
This email is way longer than usual because of the two extra
days but I just want to let you all know how much God loves all of you. He
hears and answers prayers and he supports us always. He helps and loves us
through whatever we are going through and he hopes that we will turn and rely on
him. I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all of you and that I get
to be a missionary. I LOVE being a missionary and being able to wear Christ's
name on my name tag. I strive everyday to do what he would have me do and to
represent him in a way he would be proud of. I love this gospel, I know that
it's Christ's gospel! Have a great week!
--
~Sister Madisen Lloyd
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