Aggressive Driving and Bible Bashing and ticks... oh my

August 21, 2017

Well what a week this has been! There's been a lot of ups and a lot of downs but at the end of it all I love everyday.

Monday- Can you guess what Monday was? P-DAY! We did all of the needful things. We washed our clothes, bought groceries and emailed. What a good day! At the end of the night we had dinner with the Lemons! What a stellar day.

Tuesday- On Tuesday we had a pretty good day We didn't have the car which is always an adventure so we found ways to be productive anyway. We called people, set up appointments did companionship study! All the time we were doing this my leg was itching right behind my knee, super weird. All of a sudden as I'm itching I feel a bump. What on earth could that be? I look to see what it is and it's a freaking SEED TICK. Fun fact, I've never had a tick before. So I start panicking and my dear companion was kind enough to pull it out of my leg. But, of course, the head didn't come out so she had to take tweezers and dig it out of my leg. All the while I'm crying and she's assuring me I'm going to be fine. I have a very kind companion. By the time this ordeal was over it was time for dinner. Our members are so kind to come pick us up for dinner when we don't have a car. The members we had dinner with are a gluten free family and they are really good at cooking gluten free things so I always am excited to eat there. When we got to their house there was a big bag of gluten free baking flour on the table and Sister Byrd (the member who was feeding us) said "We have this bag of flour for you so that you can make cookies or pancakes or muffins or whatever you want." I just about died I was so happy. I thanked them profusely. After dinner we went and tried to visit some people but no one is home when the missionaries come to visit.

Wednesday- On Wednesday we had District Meeting, which meant we got our car back! Oh happy day! After District meeting we headed down to Neosho because Sister Snyder has been having some back problems and so we went to the chiropractor. I just read my Jesus the Christ and we had a great old time. After that we headed home and went to the Lemons for dinner. After the chiropractor Sister Snyder was hurting pretty bad so the Lemons helped her by having her use an ice pack. The Lemons are basically our Granby parents and so they take good care of us. It was a really good day.

Thursday- On Thursday we had to drive to Joplin to get our Tiwi installed in our car. For those of you who have not had the opportunity to find out what a Tiwi is, let me tell you about it. Tiwi is a little box that is stuck to our front windshield of our car and it monitors or driving. It tells us to "check your speed" when we go to fast or when we are hitting bumps to quickly or our RPM's get too high it informs us we are using "aggressive driving." I have never had a problem with Tiwi (however, I do get a few more "check your speed"s than I probably should)  it's just something to help me drive well but a lot of missionaries HATE Tiwi. The guy who installed our Tiwi was really nice and we gave him a pass along card before we left. Hopefully he will watch the video and decide to meet with missionaries! While in Joplin on our way to get our Tiwi installed we did get to drive on Historic Route 66 so that was really fun! :) After Tiwi we headed back to Granby and to dinner at a members house. We got to dinner and we find out there are two non members there! Score! So we ate dinner (salmon, crab legs and shrimp with fresh fruit and corn, so yummy!) and it was great. After that we went to go visit this old man who is a member of our ward and he was sleeping so we left him a note and then we went home to do our weekly planning. While we were planning we texted our investigator to ask when we could come see her and she told us she was having a really hard time and had lost her job so we hopped in the car to go see her and try to uplift and encourage. We had a really good talk with her and we got to meet her daughter who is so sweet. We ended up inviting her daughter to meet with us as well and she said yes! So we got a new investigator! :)

Friday- On Friday we did service at the Newtonia Library and that was good as always. After that we headed to see the old man we tried the day before and we got to see him. We sat down to talk with him and his caretaker was there. We had scheduled to do service the week before but no one could take us and it was too far to bike so we had to cancel and his caretaker just went ham on us. She told us that when we "decided not to show up" that he did it himself and wore himself out and it could have been really bad for him. We tried to explain we gave him few days notice and she wouldn't have it. So we let it go and kept trying to talk to him. We started talking about the spirit world and his caretaker pipes up again and just starts trying to Bible bash us, and asks us where we found this in the Bible and when we tried to show her she wouldn't let us talk. We tried to wrap up the visit because it was a bad, contentious situation and we were both angry when she starts in about how the members of our ward are not fulfilling their duty because they are not coming and taking care of this man's lawn. She basically tore us apart. So we sat quietly and took it and then when she was done assured her we would tell our ward of her concerns and that it was time for us to leave. We were so mad. One of the hardest things about being a missionary for me is that when stuff like that happens I am still a representative of Jesus Christ so while I normally would have put on my boxing gloves and gone a couple rounds with her, I can't. I am learning how to turn the other cheek and forgive and love my enemies. It's not an easy lesson for me to learn. After that we went and had a lesson with our investigator, Sean. It was a really good lesson and we ended up setting a baptismal date for the 22 of September! We are really excited about that! :)

Saturday- On Saturday we had a good day! We started the day by having breakfast at the Lemons, they are so kind to feed us so often. As we were leaving I was trying to start driving on wet grass and we were in a little bit of a rut so I had to give it some gas to get us out of the rut and freaking Tiwi decided I was angry and gave me an "aggressive driving" *eye roll* The car wasn't even going about 5 mph, so annoying. Then we went and did service picking up some dead baby turkeys and then we headed home and got ready for the rest of our day. In the afternoon we went to a carnival called "howdy neighbor days" and we set up a table with some elders and tried to talk to people! It was really cool because we were back a ways and not a lot of people were coming and talking to us but this one guy came strolling back and was just looking at our picture of Jesus we had on our sign and he starts talking to us about how he's looking for a  Christian church and how he wants a reverent place to worship. I told him "you should really give our church a try and he said he would! I didn't have the address for the building in Monette so I got his number instead. It's always cool when prepared people find the missionaries as they are led by the spirit. That night we had a lesson with our investigators Jess and Steve and it was one of the best lessons I've had on my mission. They asked us if instead of teaching them or reading with them if we could tell them why we choose to believe what we believe and basically why we are doing what we are doing. As we talked and shared with them they shared really personal things with us. I can't share a lot of details but I can say that I am so grateful for strong people who have a desire to come closer to God. It seriously makes all the difference. 

Sunday- On Sunday we woke up and went to ward council which was good as always and then church started! I love church. I love being able to sit and feel the spirit and learn from other people's testimony and experiences. We have been trying to figure out how to work with the ward during the times we don't have a car and so we tried sending around a different kind of calendar when people could pick when they give us rides to the things we need to get to instead of us just sending texts and asking and I think this is going to work better which is a huge blessing. After church we met with our ward mission leader and we were able to talk about the work and how we can get the ward more involved. I'm super grateful for a ward mission leader who is so willing to help. After church we had lunch with some members and it was good! After that we went home and studied because we didn't have time to before church and studies are important. After that we went to dinner with the Lemons (different Lemons from the same family, the son of the other Lemons). Earlier this week Brother Lemon, Darrell, and I were talking and he said something that has been on my mind this week. He said "If you want to quit and go home when the days are good then that's fine, quit and go home. But don't quit when the days are bad." That really struck a chord with me. There are always going to be hard days, on a mission, as a parent, just in life. There are always going to be bad days. But you can't quit when the days are bad. If you're going to quit something quit when the days are good. If you're having a good day and what your doing still doesn't bring you joy then okay, find something else to do. God intended for his children to feel joy, not muddle through. But when the days are through quitting can't be an option. Opposition comes in all good things, but the good outweighs the bad. I thought that was a really cool thought and have decided that this is my new life mantra (i learned that word on my mission, I think I just used it correctly but I'm not positive). 

Well, I hope that y'all know how much I love you and I hope that y'all will push through the bad days so that you can enjoy the good. Don't give up because the days are hard. If you're going to quit quit when the days are good and life is going well. Jesus Christ didn't have an easy time, so we shouldn't expect to. I love y'all and I hope that the days are good. Have a great week! :) 

2 Timothy 2:3

"Thou therefore endure hardness; as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 
Keep on enduring my fellow soldiers, God loves you and I do too. 

--

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Team Jesus

August 14, 2017

Hello my lovely friends! I hope all is well! Life here in Granby is so good! I feel like these weeks just fly. Every Monday I'm amazed it's Monday again. 

Monday- On Monday we had P- Day. We washed our clothes, cleaned our house, grocery shopped and emailed. All of the usual fun things that you do on Monday. That night we had dinner with some members who drove us to Neosho for dinner (there's only one resteraunt in our area so we have permission to drive the 20 minutes to Neosho for dinner with members). They took us to get tacos and they were so good! After that they bought us ice cream and drove us home. As they were dropping us off the member we were with (who happens to be in the bishopric) asked us to speak on Sunday in church. Dang it. We accepted and went inside, did comp study and went to bed. 

Tuesday- We started out the day by doing a lot of work in our area book again. Re calling the people who didn't answer last time and trying to find new people that we didn't call or that we need to go visit in person. It's a lot of paperwork to read through and look at but it makes finding people a lot easier. That evening we went with some members, the Powell's, and helped Brother Powell to do his home teaching. Then they took us to dinner. While we were at dinner the lady we were going to meet with after dinner texted and cancelled, which we were bummed about, but it gave us an opportunity to go and knock on a door or two. 

Wednesday- On Wednesday we had District Meeting. Which was awesome! We talked about working with our ward councils and also some ideas on questions we can ask when we are talking to people that will make them think. It's really cool when we get to practice with other missionaries because they always have way better ideas than I do which helps me improve! After that we all went out to lunch because one of the Elders was going home! He finished his mission! A really nice member paid for the lunch of all ten missionaries which was SO kind. After that we went home and did some tracting. We had dinner with some members that night, the Lemons, and that was fun as always. They are really kind to the missionaries and we love them dearly. After dinner we tried to visit one of our investigators but she wasn't  home so we headed home, did some companionship study and went to bed. 

Thursday- On Thursday we had weekly planning. We got to plan our week and do some online training. We printed out the talks we had to study for our talks and we planned the rest of our week. Weekly planning is so bitter sweet because it is so boring to me but it makes the rest of our week go so much better. We also got a chance to work on our talks which was good. That night we had dinner with the Keeling's who are members in our ward. They are so good to us and we had a really good dinner with them. We talked about counseling with the Lord and the importance of that. They took us home and we finished weekly planning.

Friday- On Friday we did a LOT of service. We started by doing service at the Newtonia Library and then we did service at Leanor's house and THEN we did service for some people who own a quilting shop. It was a lot of service but it was good! After we finished all of our service we were able to go home and work on our talks a little bit more before dinner. We had dinner with The Rollins family and it was a little tender mercy from heaven because she made a sweet pork barbecue, Café Rio copycat recipe and I have missed Café Rio like you wouldn't believe! That night the lesson that we were going to have cancelled which was really sad but we got to use that time to try to see an investigator, she wasn't home, and then we stopped in and talked to some members who live in the area! It was a really good day. 

Saturday- On Saturday we got to finish our talks for Sunday as well as plan our Gospel Principle's lesson. It was good. After that we hopped on our little bikes and went tracting. While we were riding up our road these little Chihuahuas came running from out of this house and this one chased Sister Snyder for a solid three minutes. I was laughing really hard and she was screaming and pedaling as fast as she could. She had ended up behind me. She was okay, the dog didn't get her. Just scared her. We finally got to a house we felt like we should knock on and we got off our bikes and walked up the drive way and the guy who lived there came out to meet us. We talked with him for a really long time. Probably an hour and he was interesting. He had some interesting views on the Sabbath and Sabbath day observance. He also had some interesting ideas about a prophet. He told us that he should wear a robe and should not walk up stairs... it was an interesting concern but I don't think it's one he can't get past. We left him with a Restoration pamphlets and set up a time for us to come back next week. After that we biked home and got ready for our dinner with some members of the ward. They were awesome and made us grilled chicken which was really good. That night we typed and printed our talks and went to bed. 

Sunday- I love Sundays on a mission. We went to church and were super busy all three hours. We spoke in Sacrament meeting and that was good and then we taught Gospel Principles during second hour and then Sister Carter, a member of our ward, needed someone who could lead the music in primary. Lucky for her Sister Lloyd had quite a few awesome Young Woman's leaders and one of them taught me how to lead music.  So I got to go to primary and lead the music. It was so fun! We played a game and we danced! I miss primary! After church we had lunch with some members and they were awesome and then we were able to do a little bit of studying (because we don't have time before church) and then we had dinner with some members. After dinner we went to scone night. Scone night happens once a month and it's where different members have people from the ward over. They invite less actives and non members and some active members and the missionaries. It's a cool opportunity to be able to interact with them in that environment. After that we came home and went to bed.

 

Lately I have been thinking a lot about something that people keep saying to or around me "You can't run faster than you have strength" this is something I didn't pay a lot of attention to the first couple times I heard it but I have heard it so consistently lately I started to notice that it just stuck out to me. I love this concept. I think that a lot of times we try so hard to do everything that we feel we are expected to do and we just. can't. We can't do everything that everybody expects us to do all the time. We have to have priorities. This is something that a mission has taught me. Priorities are important and even though you may not be doing everything you want to do, or everything everyone else wants you to do, if you are doing what the Lord NEEDS you to do then you are doing enough. We don't need to burden ourselves with unrealistic expectations, we just need to know the strength we have and do the best we can with it and trust that if it's not enough, God will strengthen us. I know that Christ loves us and I know that through His Atonement we are able to be more and accomplish more than we could on our own and I am so grateful for the strength I receive from the Atonement of Jesus Christ each day. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Pictures: Picture 1: Sister Snyder and I waiting for our ride after district meeting Picture 2: Sister Snyder and I splurged and bought $5 Walmart shirts because we are both on team Jesus, we're pretty cool. Picture 3: Us on our bikes!

I've never claimed to be clever.

August 7, 2017

Well, I've never claimed to be clever and I won't start now! This week was a good one and an adventure for sure. I had so many cool experiences this week. 

Monday- On Monday all the missionaries in our Zone went fishing! It was way fun! We went at a place called Roaring River and it's basically a stock pond and a stream. It was good and I caught a trout, all by myself! ;) Dad you taught me well. Monday night we had a really good dinner with some members. They were really nice and made some gluten free cashew chicken and then for dessert they had a "special surprise" when they served it to us it was chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup and part of a Hershey's chocolate bar in it. When they gave it to us they said "someone told us that the new sister really likes chocolate." I was so happy and I couldn't stop laughing. 

Tuesday- On Tuesday we had service in the morning and then we went and looked up some former investigators. We visited some members, The Endicotts, in the afternoon and then we invited their  less active son to come to church on Sunday. After that we had dinner with some members who are gluten free and so we talked a lot about gluten and the adventure that is a gluten free lifestyle during dinner. That night we went to see another less active member named Greg. Greg was super funny to talk to because he is super into painting action figures and then playing this war game with them and his friends. I didn't even know that was a thing. He showed us some of his action figures though and he does a great job. When he found out I did archery he said I should join a larping club and I told him I would definitely think about it. Maybe I could be the new queen of larping! 

Wednesday- On Wednesday we had a good day. I went through and called all the former investigators we had phone numbers for in our area book and asked them if they would ever want to meet with us. Some were nicer than others and we even found two that said they would meet with us again which was very exciting! Hopefully those end up working out. That night some members gave us money to go get dinner so we got to go out to eat which was fun. Sister Snyder got these banana pancakes with white chocolate and caramel and I got steak so we were both really happy. :) That night we helped one of the members in our ward do his home teaching, we visited Sister Hendon and she was very kind. She told us that she is working with a lot of non members and that she needs FIVE copies of the Book of Mormon to hand out! We were so excited we could hardly stand it! :) 

Thursday- Thursday was fun. We had interviews with out mission president on Thursday and we were supposed to be there at ten. Sister Snyder woke up and did our morning routine and around nine Sister Snyder checked the phone and we had two missed calls from our mission president. Which is not good. We called him back and he informed us that the schedule had changed and we were supposed to be there at eight and it's a thirty minute drive to get there. We panicked and ran to the car and drove there as fast as the speed limit would allow us to. Turns out no one bothered to tell us that the time had changed and so we were an hour and a half late to interviews. Oops. It was really cool though because I was able to talk to my mission president and his wife one on one which is a rare experience, it only happens once a transfer. And I always feel of their love and concern for me as their missionary. They are amazing people. One thing I thought was really cool was that my mission president asked me if I see The Lord's hand directing me as I go about doing his work and I said yes. He asked me if I record those experiences in my journal and I said that was something I was working on being better at. He strongly encouraged me to record those and promised me that I would be able to see more miracles. As I have tried to act on that promise I have seen it be true. I have definitely seen more examples of the Lord directing me as I have tried to record them. After interviews we went back to Granby and had a good dinner with some members and then we got to have a lesson with some of our investigators. It was a really good lesson and we were able to read with them. We invited them (again) to read daily and as we promised blessings the spirit was so strong. I KNOW that reading the Book of Mormon daily brings blessings.

Friday- On Friday we had service at the Newtonia library and then we had service for Leanor. Both were really good! I enjoy both of those services a lot. After that we headed to visit one of our investigators and then a less active member of our ward. He is older and pretty sick which is sad but he loves the missionaries. After that we went home to do weekly planning and part way through Sister Snyder and I both got really sick. We had food poisoning! We still aren't sure what from but it was not fun and we were pretty much down for the count for the rest of the day. 

Saturday- On Saturday we had a really cool opportunity to drive down to Bentonville and then drive with our mission president to Tulsa, Oklahoma. While I was in Bentonville I  got to see my beautiful friend Makenna who lives there and that was such a tender mercy! After that we headed to Tulsa and we got to go to a special confrence. It was with the General Relief Society President, Young Woman's president and Primary President. It was such a cool opportunity to listen to them speak. They are amazing representatives of Jesus Christ. We listened to them speak specifically to the missionaries and then to the YSA in the area and then we headed home. By the time we got back to Bentonville it was midnight and Sister Snyder and I still had about an hour to an hour and a half drive home. Sister Loveland came up to us and asked where we were staying and we said we were driving home. She said that we were going to stay the night with her and President Loveland and so we got to spend the night in the mission home which was fun!

Sunday- We have 7:30 ward council and still had to drive home from Bentonville so we woke up at 5:30 and showered and got in the car and headed back to Granby. We showed up to church pretty tired and muscled through. After church we had lunch with some members in the ward and then we had to give our truck to the elders. Some sisters in the mission wrecked a car that was going to go to some elders close by us. Now the elders don't have a car so we trade off weeks with ours until the mission buys them one. It's kind of a bummer because Granby is really country and has high speed limits and no sidewalks so biking is going to be an adventure. But we gave our car to them and then came home and finished weekly planning. 

This week has been so cool and full of so many awesome experiences. I have been pondering a lot about what Sister Cordon the general Young Women's President said when she was talking to us. She said that we are children of God and he sent us HERE. Not just to Earth but to where we are now. He sent us to our families and as a missionary he sent me to Granby, Missouri. That was such a cool thought that as long as I am following what God would have me do I will be EXACTLY where he wants me to be. What a blessing it is to have a Heavenly Father who loves us enough to be that aware of us. I would encourage you to make sure you are following God so that you can be exactly where he intended you to be and recieve all the blessings he desires to give you. I love you all so much! Have a great week!

~Sister Maddie Lloyd

 

Pictures! 

Picture 1: Me and my trout! :) Picture 2: We got pulled over on the way home from the confrence for not having our taillights on, we gave the cop a pass along card ;) ​​​​Picture 3: Our Special Dessert the members gave us

 

 

 

 

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~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Paige

July 31, 2017

Well this week has been an adventure for sure! But a good one as usual. I am always amazed at how quickly P Day roles around. This week I am severely lacking motivation to email, I don't know why, I've never had this problem before so forgive me if my email is not as good as usual (not that my emails are ever incredible). 

Monday- Monday (as usual) was P-Day. which is always good! We did everything we needed to to be ready for the coming week. After that we went and had FHE with some members and less actives. It was awesome! We had a really good time and were able to uplift, encourage and hopefully teach. It was awesome!

Tuesday- On Tuesday we started the day with service at the Newtonia Library which was fun! After that we had lunch and then we had a lesson with some less actives, the Mahurins. Technically Sister Mahurin is the less active and her husband is a non member who would be baptized if he didn't have a smoking problem (I feel like everybody in Missouri has a smoking problem). We talked to them a lot and made some really good progress, hopefully he will be better at not smoking this week. Later that night we had a lesson with our investigator Sean who is awesome! We talked about the priesthood and helped him to understand what it is and how the offices work a little better. He is so sincere. The rest of the night was really good. We had dinner with some members and then we tried to visit some less actives.

 

Wednesday- On Wednesday we went on exchanges and it was awesome because I got to be with my first companion, Sister Sanders! I love her! We had a great day. We taught a little girl who's parents are less active. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and we had a really interactive lesson. After the lesson we talked with her and asked her if she wanted to be baptized, she said yes! I was so excited. She will hopefully be getting baptized on August 19th. After that Sister Sanders and I did some tracting. We found one man who was absolutely NOT interested. To us his words "not at all." But we also found a lady named Juanita who is really old but so kind! We taught her a mini restoration lesson on her doorstep and she said we could come back! It was awesome! That evening we went and visited a less active old man who is a little, different. But he is very nice and he LOVES the sister missionaries. It is so funny. He told me that he was adopting me as his granddaughter so that's fun! He is a very sweet old man. 

Thursday- On Thursday we had Zone Conference. President and Sister Loveland came and instructed on finding and ways we can find that are not just tracting. It was a really good day but it was a long day of sitting and taking notes. We got done in time to go to dinner and then to go and tract a little bit before the end of the night. 

Friday- On Friday we went and did service for the Newtonia Library again and then we did service for an old lady named Lenor. Lenor is a very sweet old (and I mean OLD) lady who lives in a house that is very old as well. She had us help her with canning and while we were in her kitchen we found a DEAD RAT. It had been just under her counter for who knows how long, but a very long time. It was disgusting. Sister Snyder and I didn't want to tell her because we were afraid she would make us pick it up and throw it away but we decided it was better to tell her. So we did and she did NOT make us pick it up!  #tender mercy For the rest of the day we did weekly planning.  

Saturday- On Saturday we started our day with service for some members. They have a bunch of turkey barns and they said they would need some help feeding. We showed up at eight to help feed and they put us to work PICKING UP THE DEAD BABY TURKEYS. I almost threw up. We picked up over three hundred. Oh the things I do in Missouri. Later we went and visited some less actives who are struggling, Phil and Donna. Just a back drop for this story, Phil is nuts. So we went to visit them because it's Donna's birthday and they invited us for cake. We told them I couldn't eat it but we would come and Sister Snyder would have some and Phil says, "oh! is that why you're so slim?" I just about died I was laughing so hard. We had cake with them and talked about the priesthood. It was a good conversation. As we were leaving Phil stops us and says to Sister Snyder "are you feeling buzzed yet?" and then starts laughing. He was joking that he put weed in the cake. (What is it with Granby and weed?) I was a little nervous but he eventually gave up and said he didn't put any in. Thank Heavens. 

Sunday- On Sunday we had a really good day! We went to church and Sister Snyder and I taught Gospel Principles and it was on sacrifice and it was really good. After church some members fed us lunch. After that we went tracting and saw Juanita. She was so sweet. We taught her the restoration and she said she would read the Book of Mormon. We ended the evening by spending some time with Paige's family, the Talbotts and trying to help and encourage them. 

This week has been awesome, I have loved it. I have spent a lot of time thinking about obedience and motivation. Something really interesting that Elder Holland talked about one is he said something along the lines of Salvation is not a CHEAP experience. How can we expect to have it easy when Jesus Christ never had it easy. I have thought so much about that because there are days when it is NOT easy. When I'm homesick or tired or  whatever the case may be and I just want to quit. I want to take the easy route. I am so grateful for a Savior who was willing to do hard things and to take the hard route. I'm so grateful for the ability I have to choose not to take the easy route and I'm so grateful for family and friends who are kind enough to support me in my journey.  I love you all so much and I just want to share a great scripture I found. 

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed but not in despair:

Persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed."
- 2 Corinthians 4: 8-9

Love you all! Have a great week!

Pictures: Picture 1: Me with a baby bunny! Picture 2: Sister Snyder and I with a baby turkey Picture 3: Sister Sanders and Sister Lloyd reunited at last Picture 

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~Sister Madisen Lloyd