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
--
~Sister Madisen Lloyd
No comments:
Post a Comment