July 19, 2017
Once upon a time there was a Sister missionary who spent her
first few transfers going on exchanges in Grandby, Missouri. While she was
there she met a sweet little boy named Hyrum who wanted her to get transferred
there. She told him to pray really hard for that to happen and that God would
decide. Well... God hears prayers and answers them too and so Sister Lloyd is
getting transferred to Grandby, Missouri. I leave tomorrow morning. My heart is
really heavy as I have spent the last few days saying goodbye and packing up. I
have dearly loved my time in the Springfield YSA and I hope that I have had as
much of an impact on the area as the area has had on me. I love the people and
the work I do for them but I am excited to start my new adventure in a town
that is quite the opposite from where I'm at now. Grandby, Missouri is a TEENY
little town that have a number of cows that rivals the number of people there.
It is very country and it is going to be a great adventure! My new companion's
name is Sister Snyder and if you have read my emails you may recognize her name
because we have been on several exchanges together and are very good friends. I
am so excited to see why the Lord is sending me to Grandby!
Monday- Prep Day! Nothing too super exciting! Just a lot of
preparing. Go figure!
Tuesday- On Tuesday we had service with my dear friend Rose,
after that we exchanged companions for the day! I was with Sister Pierce who is
brand new! This is her first transfer and she is already a power house
missionary. We had a really good lesson with our investigator, Brad. We taught
the Plan of Salvation. It was really awesome! He has done a lot of... research
and so while we were teaching he casually asks "so is outer darkness like
with this or is it somewhere else?" I was surprised to say the least and
then we had a really good conversation about outer darkness. Haha! We were
waiting for our next appointment when we got a phone call that said Charles,
the guy we were waiting to meet with (he is a less active member), got in a car
wreck on Sunday and wouldn't be able to make it because he was in the hospital!
He did NOT want us to come visit because, in his words, "I'm not dressed
decent". So we went on campus and talked to people instead. After that we
went home and had dinner and then went tracting. While we were biking we came
across a car that had the keys in the outside key hole of the car door. We
didn't want to just leave it so we, through a long series of events, got a hold
of the campus patrol so that they could get the keys to the right people. When
we biked by the next day the car was gone... hopefully to the right people!
Tuesday night Sister Moser and I were back together and we got a text from our
District Leader asking us to instruct on the role of prayer in conversion the
next morning. THAT'S NOT ENOUGH TIME TO PREPARE.
Wednesday- Wednesday morning we went to District Meeting and
Sister Moser and I instructed. The Lord definitely blessed us for trying to be
obedient and do things that we are asked to do because we both gave decent
instructions! It was so good! After that we went on campus and rode the campus
bus and talked to people on there. It was so fun! That night we had a lesson
with our investigator Justin and he is always good to talk with. We just can't
seem to get him to keep commitments. We finished the night by biking home and
trying to talk to people as we went.
Thursday- On Thursday we went to visit a new investigator
that we just found and we had an awesome conversation with him about Christ and
the Book of Mormon. It was so awesome. the rest of the day we were weekly
planning and that is always pretty boring. That night we had a lesson with
Samuel about the ten commandments. Samuel is so awesome and he shared really
cool thoughts about how the commandments are protectors for us and not
restrictions. How they allow us to use our agency to make wise choices and
after that we can continue to us our agency to choose! It was a great
lesson.
Friday- On Friday we started the day with Service at the
Food Pantry and that is always fun. They always like us to warn them when one
of us might be leaving and I had a feeling I would be and so I let them know
and they were really sad. One oldish guy named Tim was like "You can't
leave! We all like you so much! You're sweet face needs to stay here for at
least six more months!" It felt good to know that I was so dearly loved by
the people in the area. I dearly love them too. After that we spent most of the
rest of the day tracting. We knocked so many doors in the heat it was a little
ridiculous. That night we went to visit Charles, our member, in the hospital.
He is doing well and the car wreck may have fractured his back but it didn't
fracture his sense of humor! He is doing well. He can stand and walk a little
so he is doing well. That night we had ice cream with another less active
member who told us that she is improving! She has been working so hard to
overcome her path and she is almost done! We were so excited! She told us that
she is moving to Oregon to be with her mom who is an AWESOME lady and we were
so excited for her.
Saturday- On Saturday we did service for Jina at her store.
After that we had a lesson with a guy named Kavon. Kavon was someone that other
missionaries handed off to us because he is YSA and he is so awesome! He has a
baptismal date for the 29th! (I'm so sad I'm going to miss it!) The rest of the
day we did some tracting!
Sunday- On Sunday we went to church and it was awesome!
After church we had a lesson with an investigator named Antwain. Antwain is
awesome, he used to meet with missionaries and his life got really busy so he
stopped. We just recently picked him back up again and we read from the Book of
Mormon with him and invited him to read from it daily. After that a member
drove us 45 minutes to Bolivar to meet with an investigator who some other
missionaries passed off to us because she is YSA. We taught the Restoration and
it was a really good lesson! By the time we got to know her, taught her, and
drove home it was time for us to go home!
Monday- The Monday that isn't Prep Day is always incredibly
long. We started the day by going on campus and there really weren't that many
people there so we went and did some service at the Food Pantry again. We went
home and watched an AWESOME missionary broadcast by Elder Neil L Anderson where
he talked about finding. Something that stuck out to me was that he said that
there are people EVERYWHERE who are ready and willing to accept the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. I think that that is such an AMAZING promise. If I am willing to
work to find and open my mouth then there will be someone ready to hear it no
matter where in the world I am at. After we watched the broadcast we went and
rode the campus bus and talked to people. We got off in the town square to try to
talk to people and there was SO MANY PEOPLE and live music. We were nervous and
didn't know what was going on and then we asked someone. It turns out there was
a Christian Rally! All of these Christians from so many different faiths got
together to sing together and worship God! It was amazing! I got a little teary
that there were so many good people there. This one guy came up to Sister Moser
and I and started talking to us about how hard his life has been we reassured
him that God loved him. After that he walked away but a little later he came up
to me while Sister Moser was talking to someone else and asked me to "pray
over him" I always get uncomfy when people ask me to pray OVER them. I
just always think how hard that would be because I'm so short ;) But I prayed
with him that he would be able to feel God's love and peace and be able to feel
joy. He thanked me! I offered to send missionaries to meet with him and help
him feel of that love and peace and he said "mmmm, no thanks. I'll stick
with my denomination." *face palm* That's okay. Jesus still loves him.
That night we had dinner with the SWEETEST lady! Her name is Barb. We met Barb
when we were lost and looking for an address and she loves us! She wanted to
feed us so we had dinner with her and it was so good! She made us beef
stroganoff on rice, which is my FAVORITE FOOD EVER. It was such a good night.
We finished the night be catching the very end of FHE. That night we had
transfer calls. It was one of the hardest nights of my mission to find out that
I would be leaving my home for the last 5 months and the people I've come to
love. I cried and cried and didn't get a lot of sleep. Just tossing and turning
and worrying.
Tuesday- Tuesday I woke up and was SO tired. crying and four
hours of sleep don't help a person to function. But I got up and did studies.
I've been reading in Jesus the Christ and I read this story about "a
nobleman" who comes to Jesus and asks Jesus to heal his son. This nobleman
did not have faith yet but he wanted his son to be healed. Jesus told him that
he could not build his faith on miracles. The man again asked Christ to come
see his son or else he would die. Christ told him to go home, his son would
live. In faith the man turned and went away. The book explained that this man
did not run home immediatley to see if Christ had been truthful, despite his
son being on the verge of death. Instead he took his time. The next day the man
was walking home and his servants met him on the road. They had been sent to
tell him that his son was miraculously doing better. When the man asked when
the improvement had begun it was the very hour when Jesus had assured him that
his son would live. This hit me hard. I hope that I can trust God enough that
as they tell me to go to Grandby that I can have the same reaction this man
had. That I will be able to act in faith and trust Christ. The rest of the day
was good. We had service in the morning with Rose and she cried when she found
out I was leaving and asked me to please write them letters sometimes. The
other lady, Lee, who we volunteer with bought me a cute dress as a going away
gift (we volunteer at a thrift store) that afternoon we had a lesson with out
new investigator Kavon. We taught him and his two friends. That night we had
institute and it was so good. The lesson was awesome and I had a chance to say
goodbye to a lot of the YSA. It was sad but I am so blessed to have such
wonderful people who I love and who love me.
This week and especially the past few days I have thought so
much about trusting. Trusting friends, trusting companions, trusting parents,
trusting leaders, trusting God. What an awesome privilege it is to hold
someone's trust and be able to keep it. It's a blessing! What a blessing it is
to know that God trusts us. He sent us to Earth with the ability to choose, he
trusted us with bodies and trusted us to take care of them. He trusted us to
take care of the Earth and he trusted us to choose to follow him. I often find
myself doing what God has asked me to do and saying "Fine, BUT I'm
trusting you." How silly of me! Trusting God should not be a condition. I
should always trust God and know that it is a privilege to have a Heavenly
Father who loves me enough to be aware of and have a plan for me. He trusted
me, the least I can do is trust Him. I hope that I will be able to keep God's
trust and that he will be able to know that Sister Maddie Lloyd is someone that
He can rely on. I hope you all think that Sister Maddie Lloyd is someone that
you can rely on. I love you all so much! You are amazing. Trust God and he will
direct thy paths.
~Sister Madisen Lloyd
13258 Racoon Rd.
Grandby, MO 64844
Pictures:
Picture 1: Sister Moser and I found Drury Lane
(do you know the muffin man) Picture 2:My Sister Friends! Picture 3: Kyle and
Courtney (the two members who threw me a surprise birthday dinner last
week) 
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