Welcome February!

January 29, 2018

I can't believe it's almost February! The time really just seems to be flying by. It can be a little overwhelming sometimes. BUT that's what happens when you work hard I suppose. This week was really good! 

Monday: On Monday we had Preparation day and our preparation days have been really lazy lately. We get all the things done that we need to and then we sleep because we are TIRED. Spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best thing I've ever done but man does it make you tired.

Tuesday: On Tuesday we had a lesson with our investigator Mary. It was the best. We had a really good talk about the Plan of Salvation (God's plan for our lives). It was really neat and the spirit was really strong especially at the end. We talked about The Book of Mormon and the difference that it can make in our lives and in our relationship with Jesus Christ and it was a really neat topic. The Book of Mormon truly does testify of Jesus Christ and will bring you closer to Him. We also met a member of the ward and we talked to him and his girlfriend and set up an appointment to go back and get to know them a little better. It was really fun to meet them. After that we drove up to West Plains, Missouri to go on exchanges with the Sisters there. I was on exchanges with Sister Mueller. We went to Walmart to talk to people and when we went in there was like NO ONE there. It was so sad but we needed to find someone to talk to so we just picked an isle and walked down it. There was a worker stocking shelves. We started talking to him and he was telling us about his job and stuff and then I asked him about his wedding ring and who he was married to. He told us he and his wife eloped but that for their 5 year anniversary they wanted to get married again in one of her temples, because "she's a Mormon." He had no idea that we were the missionaries for that church so we exchanged numbers and set up a time to go see them. It was really neat. The Lord truly does guide his work! 

Wednesday: On Wednesday we were on exchanges until about dinner and then we went home. When we got home we quickly ate and then went to mutual. We taught a mutual for the young men where they read through the points of the Plan of Salvation, picked out the things they would teach someone and then tried to teach their leader. It was a really good mutual and the young men did an excellent job teaching! I was thoroughly impressed! 

Thursday: On Thursday we had to drive back up to West Plains to meet with our Mission President for our interviews that we have with him once a transfer. It was really good. We talked about the smartphones our mission will be getting next week. On that note I should let yawl know that I will be allowed on Facebook as a missionary in this mission! However, my purpose on Facebook will solely be missionary work so, do not panic when you see me on there. :) But we also met with our mission president and got to talk to him which is always fun. After that we had lunch and played Bump with President Loveland. Small Bragging moment: I ALMOST won one of the rounds. It was me and an elder left and sadly he was just better than I was. After that we drove home and the rest of our night was just spent visiting people in the ward that we didn't know.

Friday: On Friday we were able to have a really good day! We had a meeting with our ward mission leader and then we were able to do some service for an elderly couple in our ward. She needed some help around her house and with her IPad. We also went out to visit a family who had expressed an interest in meeting with the missionaries but their schedule never worked out and so we set up a time to meet with them! It was awesome! After that we had dinner with a lovely member of our ward, Sister Harvey and her grandson John who just got  baptized in December. After that we had a Plan of Salvation lesson with an investigator named Sarah and then we came home for the night! It was a really good day.

Saturday: On Saturday we did service at Baxter and it was way fun! Sister Garner played the Ukelele for them and I played the piano. They kept asking for "one more song" and so she played one and then they asked for one more and she handed the ukelele to me. I played "You are my Sunshine" and they all joined in and then we left. After that we had a lesson with our recent convert, Ethan about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what that entails. It was a really good lesson. After that we had dinner and then went and visited some members of our ward. To end the night we came home and finished weekly planning. 

Sunday: On Sunday we had church which is always good. In one hour we talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy and that was a really good lesson. There is no where better you could be on Sunday than worshiping God in church. It's so important. After church we went and had lunch and then we went to go visit some members. We tracted a little bit and then had dinner with some really wonderful members. After that we had a lesson with a lady in our ward and her friend who is not a member of the church on the Restoration of the Gospel. It was really neat because we got to talk a lot about what a prophet is and the need for a prophet now. It was a really good discussion. 

I'm so grateful to know that God loves his children. Because He loves us he gave us tools and blessings so that we could learn and grow. One of those tools is a family! Another is prophets. The purpose of a prophet is to be a mouthpiece for God and to let God's children know what He would have them know. You can see all through the Bible the cycle of people listening to a prophet, doing well, and then ignoring the prophet and suffering the consequences of sin. The people then needed a prophet to help them know what God would have them do. When Jesus Christ came His purpose was to be the Redeemer of the world, but while he was here he acted as a prophet because He taught the people what God wanted them to know. Unfortunately even though He was the perfect teacher and the perfect example, He too was ignored and then eventually crucified. However, we know He rose again and that is the good news of the gospel. However, because the people rejected Christ they did have to suffer the consequences of sin, which was that the Gospel was taken off the earth and with it went God's authority. However, there were still good people who tried to teach people all of the good things that Christ taught while He was here, which is why there are so many churches who teach about Christ and try to help people come closer to Him. But, in 1820 a young boy named Joseph Smith knelt down and prayed and asked God which church to join. He said of his experience "I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head. Which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I saw two personages whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air." One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other, 'Joseph, this is my beloved Son. Hear Him.'"  Because of this prayer and the divine answer Joseph was able to restore the Church that Jesus Christ organized while He was here. With it came another book of scripture, The Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ. Intended neither to add to nor take away from the Bible but to also bear witness of Christ and the love He has for us. 

I'm so grateful to know that God has a prophet who leads and guides the church today and to know that He loves me enough to never leave me wondering what is expected of me. I love my Savior and I'm so grateful for the Bible which tells of the perfect life He lived and the miracles He worked in Jerusalem. I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon which talks of the visit He made, after His Resurrection, to the American people. I'm grateful to know that God loves His children and that Jesus Christ's gospel has truly been restored to the Earth. If you have questions about this I'd invite you to contact your local missionaries, read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Whether you've been a member of the church your whole life or you've never heard of it before. It will be a blessing to you your whole life. I love my Savior, I love my Father in Heaven and I love yawl. Have a great week! 

--

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

let it snow let it snow let it snow

January 15, 2018

This week has been crazy! At the beginning of the week we barely had to wear coats but by the end of the week we were having all kinds of snow storms! It's ridiculous! But it's been super busy and really productive! I don't have a lot of time to talk today so I will just share a few things that happened!

This week we went around visiting people in the ward that we didn't know and we ended up visiting a lot of people who haven't been visited in a long time! It's always neat when I get to talk to different people because everyone is so unique but they are all so loved by Heavenly Father! One really interesting person we met showed us a bunch of his art and it turns out he is a very talented painter! He has all sorts of beautiful pictures he has painted! So that was neat. 

We went and visited some other people who have really cool pet boa constrictors and cobras and I held their 8 foot Boa Constrictor! I did think I was going to die but I did it anyway! It was really a neat experience! They also own a cockatoo and a chameleon! So that was really cool.

We visited another couple who were so sweet. They were both in the military and are having a hard time as they get older and their health worsens so we offered to come about once a week and to help them with some of their housework. That way we can help to make their lives a little easier and serve them. 

They ended up cancelling the last two hours of church because of the snow and how many people drive so far but it was really cool because we got to do a lot of work in our apartment that will help us to be more productive as we try to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ! 

This week I have been thinking a lot about a talk I read called "Strengthened by the Atonement of Jesus Christ" by Elder Dallin H. Oaks and it is an AMAZING talk that is about all of the different ways that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is able to strengthen and help us individually! It truly touched my heart. I know that Jesus Christ felt every pain and every sorrow we feel. I know that he felt what it feels like to be lonely, to be rejected, to feel worthless, to feel like a failure, to feel insecure, to feel hopeless, to feel lost, to feel stuck, to be confused. He truly felt EVERYTHING that we can EVER feel so that he could help us. So that we never had to actually be alone, so that we always had one person to turn to, so that we could be valued by someone who understands, so we can overcome failure, so that we can find security in knowing we are children of the most high God and that he thinks we have potential, so that we could know there's a plan and so that we could find answers. I love my Savior with all my heart and I know that He knows me personally. I know because of Him I have the ability to overcome my weaknesses and improve myself each day. I know that He loves all of us and wants us to find joy in Him. So try to come closer to your Savior. I love yawl and hope you have a great week!

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

 

Pictures: 

Picture 1- Sister Garner and I went sledding with some members

Picture 2- ​​Me holding the 8 foot boa constrictor

Picture 3- me trying to overcome my fear of horses (:

Sisters Thunder and Lightning

January 8, 2018

Well, it has been a great week! A busy week, but a great week! I forgot my planner at home so I don't have it with me but I will try to remember as much as I can of what we did.

Monday- On Monday we had a surprise P Day that none of us were ready for (it's usually on Wednesday the week of transfers) So that was a little bit of a surprise. But we washed the car and did the laundry and got groceries and it was a good P Day

Tuesday- On Tuesday we did service at the Retirement Village and it was so sweet because they took Sister Fife out and all the little old people thanked her for her volunteer work there. It was really sweet. After that we played the piano for them and then left. I truly can't remember anything else about Tuesday... it was too long ago. Sorry.

Wednesday- On Wednesday Sister Fife still had to pack for transfers so she spent most of the day packing. We got a knock on our door and it was Sister O'Brien! She just came because she figured Sister Fife would be packing and she wanted to take us to lunch to say goodbye. So she did. She's such a sweet lady. After that Sister Fife finished packing and then we headed to a lesson that evening. We met with Ethan and we talked about family history and we worked some more on his family tree. By the time we left he had 32 ordinances reserved to take to the temple! It was amazing! After that we went and visited a few of the members in the ward so that Sister Fife could say goodbye. 

Thursday- On Thursday it was transfer day. We drove up to Branson, Missouri and dropped Sister Fife got on transfer loop. After that I waited for two hours for Sister Garner to get to Branson. We loaded all of her stuff into the truck, and drove back home. By the time we got to our apartment it was time for dinner. So we ate and then I took her to go meet Ethan and have another lesson. When we were about half way through our lesson, Sister Garner was talking and when she finished Ethan explained that he nicknamed me "Lightning Lloyd" because I "strike him with doctrine" and then he said "But you're really good too.... So I'm going to call you Thunder." So now Sister Garner is Sister Thunder and I'm Sister Lightning. So basically... don't mess with us. ;) After that we went to go see the Fox's and they gave us cookies (yes, they made me gluten free cookies) and then they gave us a bunch of names that they thought we could go visit. We were so excited! 

Friday- On Friday we worked on visiting some of the names that the Fox's gave us and we also tried to give Sister Garner a chance to meet a few more of the families in the ward. It was really good! One of the people we visited with was Brother Orin! He was super nice and told us all about how we can make money collecting pennies. Who knew it was such a worthwhile pursuit! That evening we called Brother Arndt in our ward who is trying to clean up the ward list and make sure that we have the right addresses for people and the missionaries manage to find out a lot of the people who have moved so he just told us to come over for dinner and we could talk about it! So we gave him a lot of information for that and he gave us some more names of people he thought we should try to visit... so we started trying to visit them and NOBODY WAS HOME. Like, it was a little ridiculous. Finally I was tired of people not answering so I decided to go visit a sweet little lady in the ward who we hadn't seen for a while. So we went and had a good conversation with her and she ended up telling us that she wanted to start being active again and about how happy she was when she was active and about how much of a difference the gospel made in her life! We invited her to retake the lessons that we teach and her non member friend who was there said she wanted to listen to them too! It was the best and when Sister Garner and I left we both felt like that was the reason no one had been answering! It was so neat! 

Saturday- On Saturday we did service at Baxter, the Retirement Village and it was great as always. I played the piano for the old folks and Sister Garner doesn't play piano BUT she promised to bring her MANDOLIN for them next time! My companion is too cool. after that we tried to visit some more of the names, we had a few people answer but not many and no one that was incredibly interested in talking to us. That's about all I can remember from Saturday. Sorry!

Sunday- On Sunday we had church and that was great as always. We had a great fast and testimony meeting and then we taught Gospel Principles. We talked about fasting and fast offerings and something interesting I read that I had never heard before is that "When we pay fast offerings we become partners with the Lord in caring for our less fortunate brothers and sisters." I loved that and it kind of shed a new light on things. I loved that. After that we went and visited one of the names we were given and we had such a good conversation with her! She was so kind and fun! After that some of our favorite people, the Jones's, had us over for dinner and a lesson and we had a great lesson about reading the Book of Mormon. When we left they gave us both these little glass flowers that are beautiful and told us they love us. It was so sweet! I adore them.

Well, this week I have been thinking about how much I loved President Monson and how sad I am that he passed away. I am so grateful to know that there is a prophet on the Earth who leads and guides us and who can be a mouthpiece for Heavenly Father to tell us what we need to know. How blessed are we to know that God loves His children, us, enough to never let us be without guidance if we will just listen and act. I know prophets are called of God and that they lead us down the path that leads to Heavenly Father. 

I hope yawl have a great week! I love yawl and so does Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Pictures!

Picture 1: Sister Garner and I!

Picture 2: Sister Garner makin brownies