This week has been an experience! It's been one of the
harder weeks of my mission. I definitely had some high points but for some
reason I was really anxious and homesick. I managed to make it through so all
is well.
Monday- P-Day! We accomplished all of the needful things and
a little extra ;) Then we went to FHE and Sports Night! We had several
investigators there so it was awesome to be able to make contact with
them.
Tuesday- Service! I love our Tuesday service! The lady we
volunteer for is named Rose and she is so good to us! She is one of the
friendliest people I have ever met. We spent a lot of the afternoon on campus
talking to people. Not a whole lot came out of any of the conversations we had
but that's okay because we were at lease being productive and trying. That
night we went to Institute and had some investigators there so we got to stay
and listen and we talked about Infant Baptisms and what it says about them in
Moroni 8! It was an interesting topic!
Wednesday- Wednesday was a really good day! We had a
lot happening. That morning we went on campus for a while and talked to people
and that was really positive! We got a couple of potential investigators and
talked to one, very interesting, guy. He had some skewed opinions about the
church and Joseph Smith... I won't go into detail but it was interesting to see
how people get confused. He had very interesting ideas about faith as well.
Whenever we tried to correct or testify he would talk over us so we ended up
just leaving. Then we had a lesson with our investigator, Audrey. We taught the
Plan of Salvation and it was very interesting because she already believed that
we lived with Heavenly Father before this life and that is one part of the Plan
of Salvation I have never had someone already believe in! It was awesome! Later
on we tracked down a few less active members and had some good conversations.
It's so sad to see that so many people are willing to fall away for the
smallest reasons.
Thursday- Thursday was bumpin! We had the table that morning
and we didn't get to talk to a whole lot of people because there was a table
next to us who had people dancing in front of it so it made it a little
difficult to talk to people over the music. After that we had a lesson
with Brooklyn, who we tracted into about a week ago. She was awesome! She grew
up Southern Baptist and she said that in her house when she was younger you DID
NOT talk about the Book of Mormon. We left one with her and she said she would
read it and try to make sure she remained open to the idea that it could be
true. Which is awesome! That's all the Lord asks of us! After that we had a
lesson with our recent convert, Samuel. He's so awesome! We talked about the
priesthood and he agreed to start getting ready to receive it! Exciting times!
We also met with Olivia. We love Olivia! We talked about the Word of Wisdom. We
asked her to live the word of wisdom and she agreed! It was the first time that
we have invited her to do something that will push her a little, so we are
praying that this will help her to see a difference in her life and help her
feel the spirit so she can receive revelation! Lastly we had a lesson with
James! He's one of my favorite people. We talked (again) about how God is our
loving Heavenly Father and he just was not feeling it. We decided we were going
to pray with him and ask if God loves him and so we did and it was so awesome!
He said "I saw the sign language sign for love in my head" and we
were like "that's awesome!" and he said "well... yeah... but I
didn't really get an answer..." I wanted to bang my head against the wall!
We helped him see that that was his answer and he left. We were a little
worried about how he felt about that lesson until he texted us that night and
said "Hey! Tell Lloyd thanks. because of her I realized that I love myself
in some weird way." I almost died! I was so grateful. It was
awesome.
Friday- On Friday we had Zone Conference which is where
President and Sister Loveland come and talk to us as a group and instruct us. I
learned so much about light and how God is fighting our battles. Up until this
point in the week I was pretty gloomy, I wouldn't say I was grumpy but I
definitely wasn't cheery. Sister Loveland talked about light. She showed us a
picture of a landscape and told us to talk about the light in the picture.
Sister Sanders and I talked about it and I said "there's only as much
light as the hills allow to be there" and right then the spirit was like
"Exactly you dummy!" okay, he didn't actually say that but I realized
I was only going to have as much light in my life as I allowed to be there. The
reason I was grumpy is because I was choosing to only focus on things that made
me grumpy. I wasn't allowing light in. It was a really cool moment and I
decided to change my attitude!
Saturday- On Saturday we met with our recent convert, Alec.
We had a really good conversation about the priesthood and the responsibilities
that come with that. He is really awesome and had a lot of good questions and
insights. He agreed to start preparing to recieve the priesthood and also
informed us that he and his girlfriend are planning on getting married next
year in Ireland and Sister Sanders and I are invited... guess who's taking a
trip to Ireland next year! ;)
Sunday- Sunday was awesome per usual! I love Sundays.
Sacrament Meeting was really good and I felt the spirit so strongly. It was
amazing! Then after church the second councilor, Brother Cane came up to me and
said "Sister Lloyd, I'm calling it in." I was so confused and
everyone started freaking out. I couldn't figure out what was happening. He
assigned me to give a talk this Sunday on "moms and missionary work"
so I'm going to have to do some studying and figure out how I want to tie those
two together!
Monday- P-Day! I got a haircut! It's not a good haircut! No
pictures will be sent :) Just kidding it's not that bad... but it's not
good.
I have had such an interesting week and the thing that
stands out to me most that I want to testify of is that we have as much light
in our life as we allow. God always fights our battles and he always provides
what we need, whether it's food or blessing or joy it's always there. However,
if we are not worthy or if we are ungrateful then we will not see the things
that the Lord has placed in our lives to bless us. Allow Him to bless you!
Allow yourself to be happy and to see light and to know that God is looking out
for you. I love the Lord and I know that he looks out for me! I'm just not
always great at recognizing it. "Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of
hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause..." (Jeremiah
50:34) Our Redeemer is strong and he will plead our cause! Rely on Him and you
will never be let down! I love you all! Have a great week!
~Sister Madisen Lloyd
Pictures!
Picture 1: I got to see Sister Naegle at Zone
Conference! I love Sister Naegle! Picture 2: Sister Sanders and I helped set up
for a Cinco de Mayo party! Picture 3: A picture by the MSU Fountain
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