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
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