"Jesus is bigger than my circumstances!"

October 23, 2017

This week was so great! I had so many concerns! 1 I hadn't seen my camera since I left Granby and I did NOT want to lose the pictures from the first half of my mission! 2 My Tiwi card (the card that I need to be able to drive the mission cars) was missing! Yes, I lose things a lot. I know. It's fine. and 3 I have felt SO overwhelmed with adjusting to a new area. BUT Today a member texted us and he found my camera in their car! It fell out at some point! My Tiwi card got mailed to me today! And I'm filled with a peace that one way or another I'm going to adjust to this new area and be able to fulfill my purpose! I'm such a blessed person!

Well... one cool thing that happened this week was that we were tracting and we set a time that we were going to be done tracting... 4:15. So finally 4:15 comes around and there is ONE house left on this street. No doors had been very nice to us, I really didn't want to knock any more doors, but I felt the spirit say "just do one more! It'll be okay". So I grumbled a little and Sister Fife and I went and knocked this door and it was a super nice lady! She used to be Methodist but saw some problems and stopped going to church. She said we could come back! That's a new investigator! Yahoo! I walked away chuckling and just thinking "Man, God really has a sense of humor." 

Another cool thing that happened this week is that when I was listening to General Conference I kept noticing that something that stood out to me was using technology for righteous purposes and this week my mission found out that we are turning into a technology mission! Weird! In a few months every missionary in my mission will have a smartphone that we will use as a daily planner an area information book and a lot of other things and when we are transferred the information will stay in the area and the phone will come with us! I don't totally understand it yet and I don't have a lot of details but I am very excited to use this to further missionary work! 

Also I hit my 8 month mark on my mission yesterday!

Well I'm sorry that this week's email is so short but my thought for this week is the words to my favorite Primary Song, it's been stuck in my head for days now and it's made me try a little harder to be a little better so I'm going to share it with you. "I'm trying to be like Jesus, I'm following in His ways. I'm trying to love as He did, in all that I do and say. At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice, but I try to listen as the still small voice whispers:

Love one another as Jesus loves you. Try to show kindness in all that you do. Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, for these are the things Jesus taught." 

Are you trying to be like Jesus? I think this is something we could all do a little better. I definitely could. I love y'all! Have a great week!

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Just two Idaho girls living in an Arkansas world

October 16, 2017

 

This week, was crazy. So many things!

Thursday: Thursday was transfer day and that was so bitter sweet. I hoped on the transfer bus and rode to my new area... Mountain Home. Let me tell you about my one of a kind area. :) Mountain Home has about 12,000 people and is a huge retirement community! I'm happy to be here! Excited for my adventures. I met my new companion, Sister Fife who is amazing! She is from Blackfoot, Idaho and is a total sweetheart. We get along fantastically. That night some other sisters came and spent the night so that we could do exchanges the next day!

Friday: We had exchanges! I met a lot of people... most of which I can't remember their names because I have met about a billion people in the last 5 days. So details will be vague. But I did meet one investigator named Craig, who is super awesome. He had a baptismal date and then got really sick and so we went to visit him and set a new baptismal date with him for November 11. Exciting stuff! Then Sister Montoya (the sister I was on exchanges with) and I had a lesson with some new investigators. They were so nice! They own 62 birds and are trying to make a bird breeding business which is pretty neat! We taught them the Restoration and they had TONS of good questions! It was awesome! The thing I thought was neat was that the lady we were teaching, at the end of our lesson, looked at her husband and said she thought it was so cool that we could pick up each other's sentences and pick up teaching where the other had left off and how most religions you can't do that because everyone has different answers. She talked about how inspiring that was that we bothe had the same beliefs and the same information. We got to testify to her that it was because Jesus Christ's gospel is the same across the world. Not just from person to person, even though we can receive personal answers to things. We invited them to be baptized when they came to know that what we taught was true and they accepted! It was so cool!

Saturday: The day Sister Fife and Sister Lloyd ACTUALLY got to be companions. Because of exchanges we hadn't spent super long together so we actually got to get to know each other which was cool! We spent the morning doing service which is always good and then we spent the rest of the day weekly planning. It was a little overwhelming to plan for a bunch of people who I don't know and haven't met but it was good and I'm excited to meet them all! 

Sunday: On Sunday we had church which was good! I introduced myself to so many members it's not even funny and have told everyone where I'm from so many times it makes my head spin. After church I was super sick with a cold so we spent most of the afternoon inside, until dinner with some awesome members. I don't remember their names but they were really really nice! We invited them to write their testimonies in copies of the Book of Mormon and look for opportunities to give them to people and they said they would try! Super cool! That night we went and drove out to the house of a less active that neither of us knew. We knocked on the door and she answered and didn't have any pants on! I was so surprised I about died and it was hard not to laugh (I laugh when I feel uncomfy). I expected her to say it wasn't a great time but she said "Sisters! Come in! Let me find some pants!" Then she spent the next five minutes wandering around trying to find pants and I just tried to keep from laughing. Life as a missionary is such a fun adventure! After she found some pants we had a really nice talk for the rest of the evening and we even scheduled a time to come back, hopefully this time she'll be expecting us. ;)

Well friends, this week was so good and my thought for this week is that God loves you. Sorry it's short and sweet but i's all I got for ya. I love y'all! Have a great week! 

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Picture: Sister Fife and Sister Lloyd 

I'm going Home.... Mountain Home.

October 11, 2017

MOUNTAIN HOME, ARKANSAS! Well friends. I've worked my whole mission for this and I've finally made it to where they are going to let me serve in Arkansas! In the mission we call this "going to the motherland" and I'm so excited! A little piece of me is going to stay in Granby and probably will never leave Granby. I have made tons of friends and I love these people so much but I am excited for my new adventure in Mountain Home

This week... was a blur quite honestly. I can't remember much of what happened but I'll try. 

Monday- P Day! wash clothes, grocery shop, email, wash car and then drive to Bentonville for exchanges with some other Sisters! I spent the evening with Sister Burton who is a sweetheart! This is her first transfer so she is still in training and I loved working with her because she has that greenie fire! Once we started working together I felt my greenie fire reignite! It was so fun!

Tuesday- On Tuesday I spent the day with Sister Tillotson doing missionary work. It was a really cool day! We went to visit some less actives and had some active member lessons. It was raining and I was expecting warm weather... so I was pretty cold but one of the members let me borrow a jacket and made us hot chocolate! It was such a tender mercy! :) Next time, I'll pack a jacket even if the forecast doesn't call for rain. :) oops. That night we went to a choir concert at the high school and they sang some beautiful songs about Christ. The last one they sang was "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and oh my goodness it was beautiful. Tuesday night we ended up deciding that I was going to be more alert for driving if we drove back that night than in the morning, so at 11:00 we hit the rode and drove the hour and a half back to Granby. Sister Crandall slept and I just listened to the radio and drove and pondered. It was actually really nice. We made it home safe and sound.

Wednesday- District meeting! We all met together and counseled about how we can improve our missionary skills. It was a good meeting. I love all the missionaries I serve around. After that we went to District lunch which was fun. Then Sister Crandall and I came home and tried to visit people. We went to see our investigator, Sean, but he was sound asleep. So we went to see another investigator who was asleep. Then it was time for dinner. After than we went to mutual and interacted with the youth which was good. And after that our day was done.

Thursday- On Thursday we had weekly planning. Always a long day inside. We had to try to plan more in depth this week so that we had to do less make up planning throughout the week. By the time we had dinner we were almost done! We did take more breaks though, because you can only plan for so long before you want to set your planner on fire. ;) Planning is not my favorite activity if you couldn't tell. After dinner we finished weekly planning and then we went to visit Sister Steele who is a member in the ward and the Powell's who are awesome! We helped Sister Powell make some water bottle treat things for her cheerleaders and then it was time to go home! 

Friday- On Friday we had service at the Newtonia Library and then had a great day of visiting less actives and investigators planned out and literally NO ONE WAS HOME. We spent half the day driving all over America and nobody even answered the door. It was the worst! So we stopped in to see a member in the area, Jesse, he's the older guy who super loves the Sister Missionaries and he needed people to talk to so he ended up telling us stories and talking to us for a while. That night the Lassiters took us to dinner in Monett and they let me pick the restaurant because they knew that I was probably leaving. So we had Mexican food! :) It was so good. I love the Lassiters. 

Saturday- On Saturday we went to visit the investigators who weren't home the day before and one of them answered the door which is better than nothing! So we talked to him for a minute and he said that he had been out on his porch a few days earlier when it was raining and he fell off his porch! He has been in a lot of pain since then and has not been doing well. We felt so bad! He said he wasn't up for much of a lesson because he was on pain medication that makes him sleepy but at least we got to see him. After that we went and visited some of the less actives we work with in a different part of our area. We talked to them about how they're doing. They have a lot of health struggles which is why they are less active but they are super nice. We had dinner that night and then we exercised and went to bed.

Sunday- On Sunday we went to church which is always good! I ran into a little girl that we've been working with. She and her family are active but we have been meeting with her and teaching her about the restoration, plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ just to make sure she understands everything before her baptism. But she came up to me and said "I'M GETTING BAPTIZED NEXT SUNDAY!" I said "Oh! I'm so excited for you!" She gave me a big hug and then looks at me and says "Will you come to my baptism?" I knew I was probably getting transferred and my heart, seriously, broke. I felt so bad. I promised her I would try but that even if I couldn't that the missionaries who were here would come. She was sad but agreed. After church we had a meeting with our new ward mission leader which took a while because we were updating him on everything that we're doing in the area. Then we had dinner and a lesson and after that we went and visited some members.

Monday- Not P Day. So sad. We had district meeting which was good and they actually surprised us and told us what was happening with transfers then! They usually tell us Monday Night but I was excited they did it sooner. After that we went to District Lunch and then we all went to Dairy Queen to celebrate the end of the transfer. It was a good meeting! After that Sister Crandall and I went home and planned the rest of our day. We went to see our less actives and we walked in and Phil was going nuts! He is hard of hearing and he thought he heard someone say that we worship more than one God. Which is incredibly untrue. So he was going off and every time we tried to say something he would cut us off and talk over us. So finally I just looked at his wife, handed her the movie we got for them and just said "here's this! We're going to leave now." and got up to walk out. Phil all of a sudden goes "Hey! Where are you going?" I said "look Phil if you think we are just lying to you and you aren't even going to let us talk then we are going to leave. We worship one God, that's what we've always believed and if you think we are just coming over here and lying to you I'm not going to come anymore." He quieted down and said "no, sit down. That's not what I think." and after that we didn't have a problem. We talked it through and he decided he probably misheard. Sometimes you have to be blunt with people.

Tuesday- On Tuesday we had service at the Newtonia Red Library. They let me pick one of their signs that they make to keep and to remember them with which was super sweet of them and then they took us out to a special lunch because I was leaving. Danny and Marsha are some of my favorite people. After that we had to make a trip to Joplin for an appointment and that took most of the rest of the day. It was Sister Crandall's birthday so we did make a pit stop into a Geology museum for her. After that we came home and had dinner with the Lemons. They made chicken strips, I made apple pie. Everyone was happy. It was nice to spend the evening with them before I leave.

Well, something that has been on my mind lately is the poem, Footprints in the Sand. I love that poem and I've been thinking about the part where he says "I carried you." I think it's interesting that the man didn't notice that Christ was carrying him during those times, he thought he was walking. I think a lot of times I do that. I think I'm walking and making my way by myself and I grumble a little bit because it feels like I'm walking alone. But when I take a step back I realize I didn't do that myself, I was carried by my Savior. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ. I know he knows each of us individually and loves each of us individually. I know that he cares for us and wants us to succeed. He wants us to find joy, even if that means carrying us through times of sadness and trials. I know that my Redeemer lives and I'm grateful for everyday that He has carried me. I know there have been many. I know that He can strengthen us and that He understands us perfectly. I love y'all and I hope you have a great week!  

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Pictures: 

Sorry... my camera isn't connecting to the computer this week so you will just have to wait until next week! Love y'all!

 

Baking Pies and Taking Names!

October 2, 2017

This week has been awesome and so full of stuff that I'm probably not even going to fit half of it into this email... but I'm sure gunna try. :) 

Monday- P day! Always fun! We got everything done that we needed to and then some! P Days are fantastic. That night we ended up having a member buy us lunch at the only diner in town which is fun because we are friends with the people who own it so it's always fun to go in and see them. 

Tuesday- On Tuesday we had service! We worked on setting up and cleaning a building in preparation for the Newtonia Fall Festival! Which is basically the best thing ever. It's like a miniature county fair, so it's a festival. haha, funny how that works. but Newtonia is just this little, cute town with very few people so it was fun. We had lunch with Danny and Marsha after words (she owns the library we usually volunteer at and she is helping put on the fall festival) and they were talking about the pie baking contest. I jokingly said "Aw shoot! If I'd thought ahead I would have gotten my mom's apple pie recipe and entered! We've been looking for ways to get involved in the community." He looked at me and said "You still can!" and I said "Naw, I'd have to have someone else get the recipe." So he whips out his phone and says "what's your mom's phone number?" I started laughing and, turns out, he wasn't kidding. So he got her apple pie recipe. After that we had a lesson with our investigator, Virgil. It was really,  really good and we talked about the Plan of Salvation and at the end of it he said "that actually makes a lot of sense." Go figure. :) After that we went to visit this older guy, Jesse, and we ended up helping him move his furniture around. I was pushing a recliner across the room and he said "You're like a bulldozer! What did you do to get that much strength???" I just smiled and said "I'm from Idaho Jesse!" He thought that was pretty funny. After that we had some scripture study with him and that was really good. After that we did some clerical work at home trying to stay organized. After that we had Dinner with the Lemons which was great as always! After dinner we decided that we had better make a practice apple pie. So we went home and exercised and then baked a pie. 

Wednesday- District Meeting! All of the missionaries close by got together and had a meeting. Since Sister Crandall and I couldn't eat a whole pie, we brought it to share and to get input on how to make our next one better. After that our district went out to lunch and then we went home. We had a lesson with a Former Investigator who, sadly, just isn't ready to accept the gospel yet. She has a lot of concerns that are holding her back and that's always disappointing. After that we took some copies of The Book of Mormon to a member who rocks at member missionary work. Then we headed home for dinner. That night we went to mutual because one of our investigators and her non member friend were coming, so we got to go to the corn maze! Always fun! 

Thursday- On Thursday we had weekly planning. Which, per usual, was a long day in the house planning out the next week. Once we finally finished that we went to go see our investigator. We were really, really bummed when we pulled up and he had a cigarette in his hand, but that's okay. Repentance is real and the Lord can help us become better. :) That night we had dinner with the Talbott family and Sister Talbott bought pizza for her family and chicken wings for her and I and they were so good. Paigey was really sad she didn't get to eat wings though, so I shared. What are friends for, right?

Friday- On Friday we had service again and we helped with last minute details for the Fall Festival. After that we had lunch and Danny asked me if I was making a pie. I told him I sure was! after that we called some potential investigators, visited some investigators and then headed home for dinner. After dinner we headed home and exercised. Guess who ran an 8 1/2 minute mile? Yes I am aware that that isn't super fast, but it's a 1 1/2 minutes faster than I was running it 6 weeks ago so, progress! After that we went home and I made 2 pie crusts so that I was ready in the morning.

Saturday- The day of the Fall Festival. I woke up and started making apple pie filling and baked my pies. It's a very good thing that I made two because I made every mistake possible on the first one and made the second one the way it was supposed to be made. Baked it, finished getting ready and then headed to the Fall Festival. I dropped it off and it looked really bad. I honestly wanted to cry. It was an open faced pie and the apples did not look as pretty as they did when my mom used to make it. I was so bummed. But I dropped it off and we started walking around and talking to people. We left and went to General Conference and that was AMAZING. I don't know how but they always say exactly what I need to hear. In between sessions we went back to the festival to hear the youth in our ward play in the band and when we got there Danny came up to me and said "Hey! You won!" I was very confused until he reminded me, I entered a pie in the contest. I went and found Marsha and it turns out that the Lord blessed me for trying to get involved in the community and not only was my pie not the worst pie ever but it won second place! :) I also got the "most nostalgic" award. I was tickled half to death! We headed back to the church to watch the second session of conference and then had dinner with some members. They made us salmon, shrimp and king crab legs. It was really good!

Sunday- Sunday was General Conference part 2 and it was so good! I seriously am so excited for the conference ensign to come out so that I can re read them. The biggest thing that stuck out to me this conference was the idea of "centering our lives on Jesus Christ." I thought it was kind of odd that this stuck out to me because, I wake up every day and do my best to center my life on Jesus Christ because I'm a missionary. But as I've pondered this I started thinking about how much more centered I could be, In my thoughts and my words. I also started wondering how much more happy and successful I would be if I did give that extra effort to TOTALLY center my life on Christ. I also pondered about what if I submitted to his will CHEERFULLY. I have a bad habit of whining when the Lord asks me to do something I don't want to do and I realized it would probably be a more pleasant experience if I would accept that I need to do it and do it happily. I'm so grateful for prophets and apostles who are guided to tell us things that will bring us a happier life. 

I hope life is great for all y'all and that you enjoyed conference as well. I know that Thomas S Monson is a prophet and that he has been called of God to lead the church. I know that the gospel is true. I know that reading The Book of Mormon brings blessings. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and that He perfectly knows us. He is with us through every hardship and every single time we fall. I'm grateful for such a devoted, older brother. I love y'all! Have a great week!

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Picture 1: My standing by some pretty flowers ( I can't remember if I already sent this one, if I did, sorry bout it) Picture 2: My and my pie awards (  I learned from the best!) Picture 3: Our investigator with his cat on his head 

Happy fall y'all!

September 25, 2017

Hey! This week was good! I just feel like I always have so much happen during the week and then I get to P Day and can't remember a lick of it. I usually bring my planner to email and this week I forgot it so I'll just share a couple three things that happened this week. 

One cool thing that happened was that this week we got to do service for an older guy. He's really nice and loves the sister missionaries, I've talked about him before. He's older and a little bit crazy but that's okay. So we went over and he had us paint one of his walls green. It was kind of fun! He sat there and talked to us and told us stories and we just painted. It was almost therapeutic! When we were done he gave us some of the juice that he buys from some store and makes himself. Which was super nice of him!

Another cool thing that happened this week is that we got to watch Women's Conference and it was so dang good! I felt like I couldn't write fast enough. Something cool that was said was Elder Uchtdorf talked about how there are always going to be reasons to be sad, there will always be reasons to be mad and there will always be reasons to be glad. What we decide to be is up to us and it just depends on what you decide to focus on.  That was super awesome because being more positive is a goal that I have set for myself recently! I've been trying to see the good more often than I see the bad. So it was cool that that was what he chose to talk about.

This week another cool thing that happened was that we got to have a really cool lesson with our investigator, Amanda, about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was cool because we used the Book of Mormon to teach it and she had some really awesome insight and thoughts about each of the steps, especially Endure to the End. It was really cool to hear her bare her testimony of the things we taught and then to hear her talk about how excited she is for her baptism in December! A missionary's dream! :) 

One last cool thing that happened this week is that I received a huge tender mercy. On a mission it is not uncommon for you to see the fruits of your labors, it's also not uncommon to not see the fruits of your labors. It kind of just depends on the day. I've felt a little nervous because I've been in a swing where I haven't really seen a lot of fruits of my labors and I was kind of bummed about that. Ya know? It's nice to see things happen because you're working hard. I feel like I'm working hard but not a lot of things have been happening because of it. Well, yesterday I was talking to a young woman in the ward and she gave me a hug and told me that she loved and appreciated me and that she was grateful I came into the ward. That I made her excite't d for when she can serve a mission. This was such a tender mercy because even though I was feeling like I wasn't having a huge impact on people, she showed me I was. I was so grateful for her kindness and for the spirit telling her to say those things. :) 

This week I have been thinking about lots of things. One of them specifically is Jesus. Go figure. ;) I've been thinking about how grateful I am for Him. For the knowledge that He is my Savior and Redeemer. For the testimony I have that He walks with me everyday. That He knows me personally and has felt what I feel and is there to succor me. He loves us so much! How blessed are we to know that we have someone who knows us better than we know ourselves cheering us on! I know Christ lived, died and lived again. I know he knows you and loves you. I know he helps us in our day to day lives. I hope you all know that. I love y'all! Have a great week!

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

 

Pictures: 

Picture 1: Sister Naegle and I Picture 2: Sister Sanders and I Picture 3: Sister Crandall and I

All the General Authorities like the ABM

September 18, 2017

What a week! I'm exhausted! :) Those are the best kind of weeks

Monday- P-day, I bet by now you can probably tell me what I do on P Days so I won't run through it all BUT needless to say it was good and much needed. 

Tuesday- On Tuesday we did service at the Newtonia Library! Which is fun as always. After that we were able to go see our investigator Amanda, which was so cool. Amanda has met with missionaries for a really long time off and on and just has never really made any solid commitments on things. Well, lately she has been going through a really rough time and we haven't been able to see her as often because she started a new job with a weird scedule. But we were able to go see her and when we got there she immediately started telling us about how she has been reading in the Book of Mormon everyday and how it has brought her peace and happinness and really spoken to her. It was so cool! I was basically on Cloud 9. and then she "and something else" and pointed at me and said "something you said, the first time you came over, has been in my hear" I was so scared, and she started crying and said "you talked about how your baptism has brought you happiness every day since you were eight. I want that." I teared up and invited her to be baptized and she accepted. She has to get her work schedule figured out and a few other things so we set her baptismal date for December 23rd. The sad part is that I probably won't be here for it, missionaries rarely stay in an area for that long. But I am so happy that she has decided to be baptized! She is so cool! I love her dearly. After that we went and tried to contact some potential investigators and they were either not home or not interested. So we went tracting and again no one was really interested. Then we had dinner with the Lemons, I LOVE the Lemons! It was a great day.

Wednesday- On Wednesday we started the morning with a lesson with a new investigator! It went pretty well, we went over and got to know him and started talking to him which was good. He has some concerns about baptism and priesthood but overall it was a really good lesson. For the rest of the afternoon we went and tried to visit people and literally, NO ONE WAS HOME. That's the worst. So we went to visit the Talbotts who are always awesome. That night a member brought us dinner to our house and we ate it and then went to Mutual. We went with the young women because they were learning how to check their oil and fix a flat tire and those are both good things to know how to do. PLUS I've been trying really hard to get the youth in the ward more involved and strengthen the relationship between the youth and the missionaries. That night we went to see some less actives and had a really good visit with them! :) It was a good day. 

Thursday- On Thursday we did weekly planning. Always boring but always productive. Then we did a lot of organizational stuff on a binder that has information on the ward, that our mission president wants us to have up to date... that we haven't been very consistent about working on. BUT we got it up to date and all is well! That night we had dinner with some members who are really, really good at making Gluten Free food, they made crepes and let me tell you, they were dang good. Then they made Gluten Free Earthquake Cake and I just about died I was so happy. :) That night we did online training and did some exercise

Friday- On Friday we delivered a Bible and Book of Mormon to one of our investigators, did some more work on the ward information binder and then had lunch. After lunch we went to do service for an older lady named Leanor. She is so sweet and she asked us to help her clean her kitchen... which ended up taking most of the afternoon and we still aren't finished but it looks better than when we started and that's what counts. That night we had dinner with the Lassiters and then we came home and exercised. 

Saturday- On Saturday we had interviews with our mission president and his wife, which were amazing as usual. I'm so grateful for a mission president who takes the time to talk to each of us every six weeks and make sure we are doing okay. That afternoon we went and visited some former investigators and found one that said that we could come back and start meeting with him again! Which is awesome! :) That evening the Lassiters came and picked us up and took us to dinner and then took us to Stake Conference. Elder Kim B Clark came and spoke to everybody which was really really cool. He is super nice and I even got to shake his hand! :) After Stake Conference the Lassiters took us to get ice cream which was super nice of them and then took us home! It was a good day. 

Sunday- On Sunday a sister in the ward came and picked us up and drove us to Stake Conference with her. We got to hear from Elder Clark again as well as our Mission President and his wife which was good. That afternoon we went to go visit a family of investigators that we found the Sunday before who said we could come back and, go figure, they weren't home. That's okay! Missionaries aren't afraid to try again! and again! and again! and again! So we spent the rest of the afternoon contacting less actives in that area and then we had dinner at some members and had a lesson with their daughter who should be getting baptized soon! It was awesome! 

Monday- PLOT TWIST it wasn't P Day. We had Elder Cornish come and speak to our mission on Monday and so P Day was moved to Tuesday. That's why I'm a day late. But he talked about working with ward members. If you are not trying to help the missionaries in your area PLEASE START TRYING TO HELP THEM! He told us a statistic that if members and missionaries work together, one out of every three people they work with will get baptized. Whereas right now one out of every 28 gets baptized. Just ask the missionaries what you can do to help. :) It works. Anyway, another fun part about this is that I got to see all my missionary friends! Always a good time. 

Well this week I have been thinking a lot about lots of things. So I don't have any super cool thoughts. But something that I have noticed several times over the last several weeks is the importance of knowing that you are receiving support that you can't see. My grandpa died when I was a Sophomore and it was a really sad time. It was hard to lose my grandpa. But lately I kept being reassured and reading that we had angels helping us! Going before us and preparing the way. Protecting us. All sorts of cool things. I hadn't really ever thought about it much but I started to notice times when I was protected, never from anything that would have killed me (that I noticed) but just from little things. I started noticing when hard things were easier to handle than they probably normally would have been. I started noticing when things lined up how I needed them to without me doing a lot of work to get them that way. I have been astounded at how much help I didn't notice I was getting. I promise you that angels are helping you. They are supporting you and they love you! They help you because God loves you! I love you! I hope y'all have a great week! 

~Sister Madisen Lloyd