Longest. Week. Ever.

April 26, 2017

I am so sorry that last week I forgot to warn you guys that on the last week of the transfer our P-Day is switched so it is on Wednesday and not on Monday, we find out Tuesday night about transfers and if we are staying or going so that just gives us all of Wednesday to pack and makes it a P-day instead of us just missing a day of missionary work. Don't worry! I'm still alive and you still get to read my emails ;) I knew you were worried. This week has felt super long because of the P-Day delay but it has been a great week none the less! 

Tuesday: EXCHANGES! We had another exchange on Tuesday and I got to go back to Grandby! I seriously love Grandby! This week I was with Sister Sterling and this was her last transfer which was really sad because we got along super well and now she goes home! Dang it! Anyway, we started the day by visiting the ward mission leader who has baby cows! I got to play with them! It was the best! We did some more service and that was great and then we went around visiting potential investigators, investigators, and less active members. At one point we were driving down this little dirt road and we both saw a turtle crawling across the road and we both freaked out and Sister Sterling pulled over and we both jumped out of the car to find this turtle. We found him and named him Randy and gave him to a member to take care of. It was hilarious! 

Wednesday: On Wednesday we had District Meeting and Sister Sanders and I were asked to give instruction. I was REALLY nervous. I have barely been out a month and I did not want to stand up and give instruction to all of these awesome missionaries who know what they're doing. But we did it and it actually went really well! Sister Sanders is awesome and she is really good at knowing when to save me from not knowing what to say and knowing when to let me struggle for a minute! It's been awesome! On Wednesday nights we do an English Class for foreign students and it's really where we just talk with them and help them practice talking in English and at the end of it Sister Sanders and I give a short thought and tell them that they are able to meet with us or ask us questions if they have any. There's this guy that comes, Ross, and he has the biggest crush on Sister Sanders and it's so funny! We shared our message and he said he liked it and then we somehow got on the topic that we could be getting transferred and he was like "please don't! I really adore.... you're company!" It was so funny! 

Thursday: We had a lot of good lessons on Thursday and it was so fun! Alec, our investigator, took us out to breakfast and we had a lesson about tithing and fast offerings and talked about how he was feeling about his Sunday baptism! He said he was super excited and it was a good lesson. We went through what his baptism would be like and he asked me to speak, I was really nervous and really humbled. I felt so honored that he would want me to be a part of it! We had a lesson with another investigator and it was our first lesson with him. He was really neat and had a lot of cool thoughts and comments about the Restoration which is interesting because he is Catholic. I love Catholics but they don't usually enjoy the Restoration lesson, but he did! We scheduled another lesson with him so we will see how he continues! Thursday night we got a text from our District Leader, Elder Durrant, and he asked us to set a new investigator goal for the week that would stretch us, force us to have faith in Heavenly Father to provide and force us to act more than we normally would. Our usual goal is three new investigators and we usually get a few new investigators but we very rarely get three. I always assumed it was just because three is a lot of people to find every week! Anyway, they asked us to pick a number of new investigators we could have by Sunday night. Going into this I was like "Yeah! five is a solid number! I can do like five!" We prayed about it and both felt like we needed to set a goal for eight new investigators. I was a little defeated before we even started because it's usually a struggle to even get three, but we decided it was going to push us! We already had two we just needed six more.

Friday: On Friday we did service and then we went on campus and talked to just about anybody that would give us the time of day. Sister Sanders and I would find two people sitting in the same area and split up and talk to them. No one was interested in what I had to say. Everybody Sister Sanders talked to set a return appointment. I was a little bitter. Finally I decided that it was because I didn't think we could get eight new investigators. So I changed my attitude and talked to the first girl I saw and didn't get a return appointment. We finished out the night with a couple of lessons and it was really good! We met with our investigator named James, it was our third lesson with him and we are still working on him believing in God. We've been afraid to push him too much so we haven't until this lesson. We just started asking him the questions we needed to, "Do you believe in God?", "Do you want to know if God is real?" and it ended up being the best lesson we have had with him. 

Saturday: Saturday was weekly planning so we spent a long time in the apartment planning our week. After dinner Sister Sanders felt really strongly that we needed to go visit a guy who we tracted into about a month ago. We drove across town to see him and he wasn't home. We decided to check up on a couple other potential investigators in the area and as we walked up the stairs to visit one named Emily her two neighbors were outside smoking. We said hi and started talking to them and one of the girls, Tiffany was so excited that our job was to build faith in Christ and she was like "tell me about it! Fill me up! Build my faith!" So we talked to her about it and she set an appointment for a few days later! (In case you were wondering she was new investigator number 6) 

Sunday: Sunday was awesome! We went to church and then had some meetings! After that we went to the stake center and started setting up for Alec's baptism. Alec came and got changed and we walked him through how everything was going to work again and it was awesome! The program was beautiful, everyone did a great job, I did the best I could on my talk and it ended up going pretty well! Alec was baptized and the spirit was so strong! Oh my gosh. It was a moment I will never forget. Afterwards Alec got up and bore his testimony and it was just awesome. The spirit was so strong. After the baptism we talked with him for a little while and he was just the happiest human I'd ever seen! It was very humbling to be able to be a small part of his journey. After the baptism we went tracting. Hoping to find those last two new investigators. We knocked a lot of doors and they were either uninterested or not home until the last one. I knocked the door and this really pretty woman opened it, I explained to her what we were doing and asked if she had a minute, she said no but that we could come back another time and she would love to talk with us. New investigator number 7! It was dark so we went home and and looked through our area book, basically a binder full of information about people. We decided to call to see if we could get our last investigator. The first guy we called answered and set an appointment with us! EIGHT NEW INVESTIGATORS! It was so cool! 

Monday: On Monday we went to District Meeting and then we went tracting. I have said this a million times but I am not a huge fan of tracting. However, I prayed to be more willing to do what God would have me do and I definitely saw that. As we went door to door and knocked and literally no one wanted anything to do with us I realized that for the first time I didn't want to beat my head against a wall while I was tracting. That sounds silly but it really was the first time that I was willing to tract and didn't dislike it and think about how uncomfortable I was the whole time. Once we got back to the car I was so grateful I just started crying. It was such a blessing.

 
Tuesday: Tuesday was probably the longest day I've had in a long time. All day long we were waiting for transfer calls. We had some really good lessons and did a lot of finding activities (tracting, OTMing, etc.) and our last lesson before it was time to go home was with Samuel, he is getting baptized this coming Sunday. He was so funny! He kept saying "Give me your boss' phone number! I will call him and tell him you need to stay here!" He was so nervous Sister Sanders or I was going to leave. We went home and waited for the transfer call. Longest. Wait. Ever. We finally got it and we put the phone on mute so no one could hear our reaction to whatever happened. Sister Sanders and I are both staying in the YSA for another transfer! We get six more weeks together in this area! We are so blessed! 

This email is way longer than usual because of the two extra days but I just want to let you all know how much God loves all of you. He hears and answers prayers and he supports us always. He helps and loves us through whatever we are going through and he hopes that we will turn and rely on him. I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all of you and that I get to be a missionary. I LOVE being a missionary and being able to wear Christ's name on my name tag. I strive everyday to do what he would have me do and to represent him in a way he would be proud of. I love this gospel, I know that it's Christ's gospel! Have a great week! 

--

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

I know that my Reedemer lives!

April 17, 2017

This week FLEW! It was Easter Break for the second half of the week at MSU so we had to get a little creative in how we filled our time because 1) campus was dead and that's where we do our version of tracting and 2) all of our investigators went home for the break.
 

Tuesday- On Tuesday we did some service in the morning and then we had almost all of our appointments cancel on us, it was SO sad. We did a lot of tracking down less actives and talking on campus. In the evening we had one appointment who hadn't cancelled so we went to his lesson and the two members who came to that brought a parakeet with them! Apparently they bought it and then came to our lesson. I asked if I could hold it. I went to grab it and it was squacking so loud. I picked it up anyway and the little buggar bit me! HARD! It latched on to my finger and wouldn't let go! We were all freaking out and trying to get it off. Finally we did and my finger was bleeding! It was hilarious! Anyway, after that we left the parakeet in the box and had a really good lesson. It was with Samuel and he has a baptismal date for the 30th. He's so awesome! 

Wednesday- We really didn't do anything too exciting on Wednesday. We went on to campus and talked to a lot of people and I actually had a really cool experience. I went up and talked to one girl who was sitting and studying and I started talking to her about the church's Prince of Peace initaitive and she was interested in talking about Christ. We talked a lot and I ended up leaving her with a Book of Mormon, Plan of Salvation Pamphlet and the Easter Initiative pass along card! We actually set an appointment with her for a week from today! She seems a little hesitant because she is pretty religious BUT I have hope. ;)

Thursday- Thursday was the first day of Easter break so it was... slow. We went chalking at a park which was a lot of fun and we always have interesting conversations with people when we go chalking. I really enjoy it! Then we did some Less Active finding which is usually an adventure but we did find one who invited us in and we had a good chat with her. She was super nice! Anyway, Thursday was pretty slow as well. 

Friday- On Friday I went on an exchange! I can't remember if I've explained this before but an exchange is where you switch companions ( and sometimes areas) for a day! I ended up going to Grandby and being with Sister Snyder for a day. I LOVE Sister Snyder! She was so fun. We went and did service at a church/library/store. I honestly am not quite sure what it is but it was fun! Then we went to an old lady's house to do some more service! We walked in and I kid you not it was the dirtiest house I've ever seen. The floors were peeling up, there was a rotting pumpkin on the floor, bugs everywhere, there was a little bucket with rotten eggs cracked in it. I almost threw up. My only thought was "at least this isn't where our lunch appointment is." She put us to work sweeping and mopping and it took us a good while to get it as close to clean as we did. Then she calls us into the kitchen and, of course, she has two big slices of chocolate cake on plates for us. I immediately panicked. 1) Gluten 2) I just cleaned the kitchen and I don't wanna know what ended up in that cake 3) This sweet old lady wants me to eat this... but germs.  Anyway, she sat down with us and watched us eat it so I ate most of it because she kept asking us if it was good. I left her house and thought I was going to throw up. After that we went and helped some members plant their garden and that was a hoot! We were planting and it was good but then towards the end this little boy, Hyrum, comes out and in pure frustration goes "I NEED SOMEONE TO HELP ME WITH THE CHICKENS!" I laughed and volunteered. He needed to get them in the coop so he explained how to help and I tried, long story short we ended up letting out the rest of the chickens and having to run around and catch them by hand. It was so fun! Hyrum was very impressed with my chicken catching abilities. On our walk back from the coop he looked at me and asked "soooo when ya coming here to stay?" I told him to say lots of prayers that "Sister Lloyd will come to Grandby" and hopefully I would come to stay soon! I guess we will see if I get transferred to Grandby!  

Saturday-  Saturday was weekly planning so we spend a LOT of time in the apartment planning for all of our investigators and potential investigators. It's a long day. BUT we did make it out to another park to do some chalking and we also went to the mall and talked to a bunch of people. I love going out and talking to people. That evening we ended up going to see our investigator, Alec, at work. He works at a liquor store. I was really really nervous. Liquor stores are not the best place for missionaries to be. It ended up being a big store that had a liquor section in it which was WAY better. On our way in though we started talking to this guy who was sitting in the parking  lot, afterwards, another guy came up and offered us little tequila shots. We politely declined. Turns out he dated a Mormon before "she was a really nice girl, she didn't drink either." It was really good to sit and talk with Alec, he has been working really hard to do all the things we've asked him to do and to be diligent in his studies. He is so awesome. We ended up having to push his baptism one day so he will be getting baptized on the 23rd and we are so excited for him! He seems pretty confident and excited too! 

Sunday- Sunday was Easter. I loved being a missionary on Easter. It was so cool to be able to know that I was continuing the work that he started and that my sole purpose in being a missionary is to bring people closer to him. It was kind of like a realization that missionary work is kind of like celebrating Easter all the time. You are constantly testifying of Christ and trying to help people more fully exercise the Atonement in their lives. I loved it. It also happened to be my one month mark of being in the field! That was fun! We also met with Alec again, he had to meet early because his brother needed the car to go to the family Easter dinner that he was no longer invited to. It was really sad to hear him say that. He took it really well though! The rest of the night was trying to visit less active members. 

This week was so cool. I saw so many miracles, even if it was just somehow managing to fill extra time that we don't normally have or weren't planning on having. Something always works out. Sister Sanders and I have set a goal to try to memorize one scripture a week to help us either feel motivated or to be able to use it in a lesson and this week I picked one from Alma. It says "36. Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God who has been mindful of this people... 

37. Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people whatsoever land they may be in; yea he numbereth this people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy and my great thanksgiving; yea and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen."

This scripture has been super awesome for me to memorize this week because I have talked to so many people who have said they are turned off by the idea of missionaries going door to door or "pushing" their religion on people. Honestly, I've always been a little turned off by that too. However, as I've thought about this scripture I have realized I am not going door to door talking about me. I'm not talking about how I can help them or what I know. I'm talking about God. I'm inviting people to come to Christ, to know him better, to love him more fully. I'm trying to help them have Him in their lives more fully, experience the joy and peace that come with relying on Christ. If that is "boasting" or "pushing", even so will I "boast" and "push". This has been the hardest thing I've ever loved to do. I love you all so much. Thank you for your support, love and prayers. Have a great week! 

 ~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Opposition In All Things...

April 10, 2017

This week was a very humbling week for me! Not in a bad way though! Last Sunday we set lots of lesson appointments and throughout the week we had lots of people not show up! It was disappointing to say the least but that's okay! The Lord provides you with the opportunity to fill the time with missionary activities. I learned a lot about how to fill an hour you weren't planning on having! 

 

Tuesday: we met with James and he is so awesome! We are really focusing on helping him to see God's hand in his life and to be able to recognize blessings. It's not the easiest but it's really been awesome to help him recognize things that he is grateful for! We also had interviews with our mission president and his wife on Tuesday. That was really special. I went into interviews with a lot of concerns and came out with a lot of answers. It was super spiritual so I won't share too much BUT I will share a little. While I have been on my mission I have recognized how completely inadequate I am. I have had every weakness I have made very clear to me and it has been a struggle. The biggest thing I have been concerned about is, I am not a great teacher. This is really difficult as a missionary because our job is to teach. I talked to President Loveland about that in interviews and he gave me a blessing. I don't know how, but I know that through Christ and the enabling power of His Atonement, by the end of my mission I will be a good teacher. It was a really neat experience. 

 

Wednesday: On Wednesday I went on exchanges! I went to Ingram Mill Ward and was with Sister Ferrell in that area. We spent the day visiting less actives in their ward and it was really fun to get to explore a family ward area and see what that was like! We had dinner with the bishop's family and THEY HAD CHILDREN! I got to play with them and we became buddies. I loved it! I don't see a lot of kids in the YSA ward. Sister Ferrell was super awesome! I am trying really hard to learn how to ask "inspired questions" which are just questions that you think would help your investigator recieve answers to their questions or testify of things that your teaching. It's a really good tool to be able to use and I get so nervous that I don't ask questions, I just talk! Sister Ferrell helped me a lot with that. She made me play a game where she had a concern that I needed to address but I could only ask questions to 1) Figure out what it was and 2) Try to help resolve it. It was HARD. I ended up being able to do it and now I have noticed that I am better able to ask questions to my investigators! It was a neat learning opportunity! 

 

Thursday: On Thursday we did the table! It actually was bearable this week! It was great! We also had a lesson with our investigator, Samuel. Samuel is the one who accepted a baptismal invitation before I got here and set a date during General Conference. He is so awesome! He has a really solid testimony and he just really wants to progress and increase his dedication. He is so awesome!

 

Friday: Friday was the day that tested me the most. I told you guys about our investigator, Alec. He is the one who came to church on his own and started meeting with us and accepted a baptismal date in his second lesson, he is so awesome. Friday we were scheduled to meet with him and when we met him at the Institute Sister Sanders and I both had the weirdest feeling. We kind of joked about it on our way to meet with him. When we got there we could tell something wasn't right. Not in a way that made me feel like I was in danger but something was wrong. We sat down and asked him how his day had been and he got teary and told us it had been a rough day. We asked him why. This was his response "About 30 minutes ago my family found out that I am getting baptized on the 22nd. Since then my grandpa and all of my uncles have called and told me that I am no longer welcome in their homes and I am no longer a part of their family. My mom called me and started preaching from the Bible about how wrong my decision was and when I told her that the Book of Mormon was another testament of Jesus Christ I heard her gasp on the other end of the phone. Most of my family now hates me. It's been a rough day." We had a long conversation about that and I honestly, didn't know how to respond. We testified a lot of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Sister Sanders looked at him and said "Alec, we are so happy you're here and you haven't changed your mind because we know that this is what God wants for you, but, that's really hard. What made you continue moving forward with this?" He paused for a minute and then through tears said "For a split second I thought about turning my key in the ignition and going home. Shooting you two a text that said I wasn't interested in meeting anymore and telling my family I had changed my mind. But then I remembered how good I feel about this. I feel so happy and so much light and I know this is what is right for me." Needless to say it was an emotional lesson. We taught the Word of Wisdom, Alec is a manager at a brewery that requires him to taste alcohol in order to be able to sell it. We asked him to live it and he said he had already told his boss that he wouldn't be able to taste alcohol anymore. It was a great lesson. It was very humbling to me that this man would be willing to lose his whole family and risk losing his job because he wants to come closer to Christ. I'm honored to be a part of his conversion. 

 

Saturday: Saturday was slow, we did a lot of weekly planning and a lot of knocking doors. Some weren't home, Most weren't interested. It was a long day. I did however, see the blessings that come from trying your best to be obedient. We were somehow able to make it through the whole day! That sounds silly but some days, that's the best blessing you could ask for! Sister Sanders is always great at making long days fun, which also helps them seem just a little shorter. 

 

Sunday: Yesterday was fast Sunday. I LOVE fast Sunday! We ended up having a lot of investigators come yesterday which was really neat. The whole meeting was very focused on Jesus Christ. About ten minutes before the end of the meeting, Alec stood up. He walked up to the front and told his story. It was amazing. He talked about how hard it has been but how great it's been . He talked about the light he has seen enter his life as he has come to know Christ. He got a little emotional when he talked about his family disowning him but then he said "But I know it's okay, because now I have two Sisters who text me to make sure I'm doing okay and who send me scriptures, somehow, at the exact moment I need them during the day. I know that even though I am losing my blood family, I am gaining a family by joining this church." There were a lot of tears from him, Sister Sanders and I and the congregation. Alec came up and talked to us later, turns out he was also demoted from his job this week. Turns out the brewery isn't interested in having a manager who can't sample alcohol.I told him how sorry I was that he was going through so much and he said he saw it as a blessing! He has been a huge example to me of optimism. 

 

Overall this week has been a really wonderful learning experience for me. I have learned that every trial is a blessing. I have learned that I need to be more willing and happy to make sacrifices that will lead me closer to Christ. I have learned that without God, Christ and the Spirit, I am nothing. I have learned that with them, I can do anything they ask me to. I have learned that the worth of EVERY SOUL truly is great in the sight of God. All of his children are special to him and all of them deserve to be treated that way. I have learned that I am a child of God, I am also important to him. I have had my testimony strengthened that he truly does hear my prayers and he is aware of my needs. I know that Christ loves and carries us through any trials we may be facing and that if we will just endure and continue acting in faith and doing what is asked of us, we will see blessings. What a blessed life I have! What a wonderful opportunity I have to be here! I just want to talk to everybody and tell them how much Christ loves them and that he wants to bless them and he wants to know them. He, who created the world, loves us and is mindful of each of us! Jesus Christ loves you all. I love you all. Thank you so much for your prayers and your support. I feel your prayers carrying me and protecting me everyday. I appreciate you all so much! <3

 

~Sister Lloyd

 

A week of miracles!

April 3, 2017 

This week has been such a huge testimony builder for me. We have had so many amazing miracles and tender mercies from Heavenly Father it's ridiculous. I usually just summarize the big ones but this week I'm going to have to go day by day!

Tuesday: Tuesday we had exchanges again! Sister Robison and I were together again which was fun! She is so awesome! We were in my area so I was in charge which was SUPER SCARY for the beginning of my second week in the mission but we did it and it was great! We did a lot of tracting. I've said it before and I'll say it again I DO NOT enjoy going door to door and talking to people BUT if God wants me to, I will and I did.

Wednesday: Wednesday we had zone training which is just where our zone meets together and discusses things we can do to improve our teaching and goals we can make and keep. I learned a lot of new tools to use in my teaching to help me be a better missionary so that was awesome! We went through the day and then at about five oclock we got a call from some elders who said "hey! we have a lesson scheduled at 6:00 with a YSA aged girl and we accidentally double scheduled. You're supposed to be the missionaries who teach her anyway so can you sisters teach her?" We said of course and went to the lesson and it was AWESOME! She is so sweet and sincere! She asked so many thoughtful questions about the Plan of Salvation and it was just a good day! Then that night we got a text from the very first person Sister Sanders talked to in this area (in like December/January!) her name is Danielle and she just asked "What's your church doing this Sunday for their service? I'm very interested in attending!" We told her it was a really special Sunday when our prophet and apostles speak to us and we would love to have her there! We didn't get a response.

Thursday: Thursday, as always, we had the table from 11:00-2:00. Like I said last week I do not have a love for the table. However! At Zone Training we were given a HUGE stack of pass along cards for the new Easter Initiative that the church is doing and so Sister Sanders and I made a goal to pass out 50 pass along cards and we did it! We had a lesson planned for right after the table but she didn't show up which was disappointing. We ended up dropping her because we only meet with her about once a month and the past three lessons have been the restoration. She just doesn't meet with us often enough to progress. It was really hard to drop her but Sister Sanders promised me that if we would drop investigators who were not progressing that Heavenly Father would put those who had been prepared in our path and we would be able to teach them instead. She was so right! Miracles started happening. Later that night we had a lesson with our investigator, Samuel, who had been planning on getting baptized for about a month now and he just hasn't been able to find a date that worked for him and his family and his girlfriend. That night we invited him to fast about it and he said he would. That was the end of Thursday.

Friday: On Fridays we volunteer at a place that gives food to the homeless and I love volunteering there! It is honestly one of my favorite parts of the week! After service we had a lesson with our new investigator, Alec. Alec is the one who showed up to church all on his own and said he wanted to meet with us. In our first lesson with Alec he told us that he wanted to know it was true and eventually be baptized. While Sister Sanders and I were planning for our second lesson with Alec we felt we needed to pray about a date for his baptism. We did and we both felt really strongly that April 22 was his day! Sister Sanders and I went to the lesson and we talked with him and extended the invitation to him. We told him that we had prayed about it and we KNEW he could be prepared by that day. He thought for a while and it was silent (Not gunna lie, I have full faith in the spirit, but I was sweatin bullets) and finally he looked up and said "You know, I would really like that!" WOO HOO!!!! I was so excited! Later that night we had a lesson with James who has not met with missionaries in a long time because his last experience was bad but we met with him and he was super open. We talked about how God is our loving Heavenly Father and invited him to pray and to write down all of the ways that he sees God's hand in his life before our next lesson. Him just being willing to meet with us was a miracle.

Saturday: General Conference! Can I just start by saying General Conference is literally the greatest! So many good things! Saturday we woke up to a text from our investigator, Samuel. It was like four pages long and it was him just questioning if he was ready for baptism and if he is then why it had been so hard to find a date. He wanted to know why his family wasn't supporting him if this was what he was supposed to be doing. We were panicked! We called him and talked to him and he said he was just really tired when he sent it but he did have a lot of questions. We promised him that if he would take the question of "should I be baptized" to Conference that he would receive an answer. He said he would. Most of our day was spent watching General Conference and doing training and weekly planning. Right after conference we got a text from Samuel and he set April 30 as his baptism date! We were so excited.

Sunday: General Conference part 2! We hadn't heard from Danielle yet on whether or not she was going to come and so we texted her and reminded her and she responded and said "I'll see you there!" James met us there and set a lesson appointment for this week and stayed for about the first ten minutes of conference. He stood up walked back to me and handed me a note and walked out of the building. I read the note and it said "Hey, I have to go but please take notes. I want to hear about it and I want to hear what stuck out to you. I am excited to meet with you later this week." Needless to say, I took a lot of notes! Right before the second session started our member, Isaac, walked in with two non members. One of them we had met and one of them we hadn't. He walked up to us and said "Sisters! These are my friends! I know you've met Big Mike! He wants to meet with you Wednesday is that okay?" We said yes and scheduled that. Then Isaac said "this is my other friend Rachel! She wants to meet with you too!" We scheduled an appointment with her too! It was so awesome! We looked for Danielle but didn't see her so we texted her and right when we sent it she snuck in the back door and came and sat by us! Afterwards we asked her how she like it and she said it was interesting and not as boring as she thought it was going to be! Yay! We asked her if she had a time this week that she would want to meet with us and she said yes! She scheduled and appointment for Saturday! We checked our phone after Conference and Samuel had texted us about halfway through and said "Oh my gosh! Did you guys hear that?" Turns out he truly felt like Elder Costa's talk was an answer to his prayers. He solidified April 30th as his date! We decided to go tracting so we found an apartment complex and started knocking. The first guy we talked to took a pass along card but was pretty obviously not interested. The second door we knocked on the guy opened it and we started talking with him and Sister Sanders said "we're missionaries..." and he goes "NOPE! NEVERMIND! NOPE! NO! NO!" and shut the door. We looked at each other and moved on. The next door we knocked on was the property manager. She talked to us for a second and then said "You girls really aren't supposed to be doing this here, we have a sign." Sister Sanders tried to explain that we, in fact, are not soliciting. We are proselyting. But, nonetheless she said "Still. It means you too." and closed the door. I'm just going to take a brief moment to say: it is ridiculous the amount of people who don't understand the difference between soliciting and proselyting. C'mon people. Anyway, we left. We went home and starting trying to call Potential Investigators and I felt I needed to call a girl I talked to on campus a few weeks ago. I called her and she didn't answer but she called right back and set an appointment. I kid you not, the next five potentials we called all set appointments with us! That doesn't sound like anything super amazing but it is! Most people either hang up once they hear the word "missionary" or tell us they aren't interested. It was such an awesome experience.

I know this email was super long today and I'm sorry for that but I just want to take a second to just bare my testimony. I am so grateful to have a Heavenly Father who loves me. It is so dark and lonely to live life thinking he doesn't. God truly does know each of us. He loves each of us! I know that when we pray to him he listens! I know that when we succeed he celebrates with us and when we are sad he cries with us. I know that God has a plan for each of us. Even though our plans very rarely line up with his I know that if we act in faith and submit to His will, we will experience more happiness than we ever thought possible. This week has also shown me that exact obedience truly does bring blessings. Not just in missionary life but in life in general. If we are constantly trying to walk close to the spirit and do what God wants us to do then our lives are filled with so many blessings we wouldn't otherwise get. I watched a talk that talked about how blessings are being rained down on us all the time, Heavenly Father never stops trying to bless us. However, when we are disobedient we put up a metaphorical umbrella that prevents us from receiving them. For some reason I always pictured it more like I was walking around trying to do what I needed to and once I did something right Heavenly Father sent me a blessing. I WAS SO WRONG! Heavenly Father loves us SO MUCH! He never stops trying to bless us for anything that we are doing right! We choose not to accept blessings when we do something contrary to what we know is right! I am learning so much on my mission, a lot of it is just basic things but they are so amazing to me and they change the way I do things, the way I see and treat others and the way I see my Heavenly Father. I love all y'all so much! Have a great week!

--
~Sister Madisen Lloyd

First Exhange

March 27, 2017

I feel like I start every email talking about what an awesome week it's been but every week so far as been awesome so I can't help it! This week was super cool though. ;) So last Sunday we had a guy named Alec just show up at church, no one knew who he was or where he came from. Sister Sanders and I went up and talked to him and it turns out that he had a Mormon friend and they had talked about religion and he grew up in a church but he noticed some flaws. He told us that he had started researching churches just for the sake of learning but that he was super interested in ours and so he figured out what church he would go to and decided to come! We said that was awesome and asked him if he would be interested in meeting with us to learn more and he said yes! We met with him yesterday and told him our end goal was for him to know the church is true and to decide to be baptized and then we asked him what his purpose was in meeting with us and he said "I know that eventually I want to be baptized, so yeah." We were a little shocked and said "that's awesome! We can make that happen!" and moved on with the lesson. It was great! 

 

Tuesday was a long day! We had zone conference and then a meeting with the bishops in our stake so it was a long day of sitting at the stake center. When Sister Sanders and I got home we were having a good talk and then all of a sudden the biggest, nastiest bug I've seen (okay actually it was small it was just freaky looking and I don't love bugs) Comes flying at our fan and attacking our light bulbs. Obviously we had to kill it! Sister Sanders jumped into action and grabbed her hairspray and the fly swatter. The bug had landed on the ceiling outside of our kitchen and we pulled our chairs over and planned our attack. I would spray him with the hairspray so he couldn't escape and she would smack him with the swatter. Ready, go! Until the hairspray was empty. The pressurized air came out but no hairspray! The air made him angry and he started moving and buzzing so we had to get something! I grabbed the closest sprayable liquid... Febreeze. I just started spraying him as fast as I could but the nozzle was on mist so I had to spray it like 30 times to even have it bother him. He dropped and Sister Sanders jumped down and swatted him! We managed to kill the bug but our apartment WREAKED of Febreeze so bad for over an hour. Oh well!  

 

On Thursdays we go on campus to the main building and we have a table that we set up and we stand there for like four hours and try to talk to people... to be honest it's not my favorite activity. People try so hard to avoid us but overall it's okay. Anyway, we were there handing out pass along cards and I had two left and three guys were walking towards us so I asked Sister Sanders for one of hers and then I started trying to talk to them. I said hi and asked how they were doing the one responded and said hi and that they were good. My next sentence was "Can I give y'all one of these ca....." and he cut me off and says "NOPE!" and kept walking. I was honestly shocked. Usually people are much more kind. I think my jaw almost hit the floor! Anyway, the one who was rude and the one right next to him started laughing and kept walking. The third one stopped and looked at them like they were the worst people on the planet and came over to me and says "I'm so sorry about him, he's an *******. I'm so sorry. Can I please have one of your cards?" Sister Sanders and I busted up and I gave him a card. I honestly wasn't even mad his friend was rude because that made up for it! It was the best. 

 

Well we have a non member who comes to our ward, James, and he has had a lot of problems with missionaries in the past (he also as Asperger Syndrome) and I don't know specifics but I know it was bad enough he decided to stop taking lessons. He still comes to church and all of the activities but he isn't a member and doesn't meet with missionaries. Last week Sister Sanders noticed that he is a lot friendlier with us than usual and it turns out, for some reason, he has taken a liking to me. I didn't know there were any problems there but I just was nice to him and made an effort to say hi and get to know him. Well his good friend in the ward told us last week that he thought James might be willing to take lessons from him but probably not from missionaries and we said that was great and gave him pamphlets and moved on with life. Well his friend texted us late last week and told us James gave him permission to give us his number to try to talk him into lessons. I was beyond excited! I talked to James at church yesterday about it and he said he would think about it. I texted him today and he said he would meet with us! I'm so excited that I could help the Lord make him feel more comfortable with missionaries. It's a humbling experience to be able to teach him. 

 

Friday and Saturday we had exchanges, my first exchange. I went to Nixa and was companions with Sister Robison for a day and a half! She was so cool! I loved her! I missed Sister Sanders but I loved her! We got to teach people and do a lot of tracting, which I am not great at, but I got to practice! We also talked a lot about anxiety. We talked about how much a mission can cause that and how it's hard to overcome but she taught me some really awesome things. She reminded me that this is THE ONLY TIME in my whole life that I will get to walk around, talking to everybody I see, looking a little silly and ridiculous and crazy to other people, knocking on strangers doors and asking them if they have a relationship with Christ and she told me that the best thing I can do for my anxiety about what other people think, is just accept that right now I'm a wackadoodle. I know that I'm normal and the people who get to know me will know I'm normal and so it doesn't matter what others think. Christ loves me and this is what he wants me to do! What a privilege it is to be able to talk to so many people and have them know that I'm doing what I'm doing because I love Christ. I don't need to fear others more than God and how silly it is for me to worry about what they think. I need to focus on what God thinks and as long as I am doing my absolute best to talk to the people he wants me to talk to and to talk about the things he wants me to, I'm golden! That is how I decided to accept that right now I'm a crazy girl who only wears skirts and talks about Jesus a lot! What a good life I live! 'm so grateful to be here and I'm so grateful to be a representative of Christ. So many blessings come with that title and, honestly, it's not easy. It's a trial somedays. But a bad day on my mission has still been better than an average day at home. I love you all so much! Have a great week!

 

--

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

First Area!

March 20, 2017

This week has been SO CRAZY!!! Oh my gosh what a transition. Well I flew it Arkansas on Wednesday morning! It was my first plane ride ever and honestly... planes aren't really my thing. I don't enjoy them. But it was better than driving! ;) We spent the night in the Loveland's home in Arkansas and I would tell you more about that but... to be honest... that whole 24 hours was a blur. I don't remember most of it. I do remember that he gave me a picture of my new companion, Sister Sanders, and told me my first area would be.... Springfield, Missouri YSA. I was PUMPED! I don't know that I've ever been more excited for something in my whole life, honestly. 

 

The next day we drove to Missouri and I met Sister Sanders. She is literally one of the most amazing people I've ever met. I love her SO MUCH. About halfway through the day she connected the dots that if I was from Twin Falls, Idaho then I would probably know her MTC companioin... wait for it... Sister Emily Bisch. I was so excited! We literally talked about how awesome she is for the rest of the day! Springfield is the hometown of many many things, Cashew Chicken, a HUGE Bass Pro store and Andys ice cream which is far and away the best ice cream I've ever had in my life. It is also the home of Missouri State. My apartment is interestingly located right across from Missouri State and then on the other side we have a bar. It is an interesting location for sure! But I love it. Somehow I managed to get here the week of Spring Break which is problematic because most of the talking to people we do is on campus, because I'm in a YSA ward and that also meant all of our investigators were home for Spring Break. Basically no one was here. It's day five and I still haven't taught a lesson yet, Sister Sanders says that we usually teach a TON, they literally call it the promised land, just not during spring break. But we decided to do some tracting. We have done a LOT of tracting! Which is fun! I still get really nervous and Sister Sanders has to help me out a lot but I'm slowly improving. However this has also brought a lot of interesting experiences into my life for the first week of being here. 

 

We went tracting on my first full day here and we ran into a guy named Kenny... oh Kenny. We knocked on his door and he started talking to us and was very quick to tell us that he is Pagan and had absolutely no interest in talking religion with us. Okay, that's fine. We just tried to have a nice conversation with him and then he looks at us and says "missionaries... you guys are just awkward people." We were a little surprised and tried to play it off. The conversation got more weird from there. He told us that he was supposed to be a Roman Gladiator and that he was born in the wrong time period, he said you could tell from his physique (his word not mine). He also told us he is both a Libra and a Scorpio, I don't know how that works but apparently it does. He told us that, conveniently, our astrological signs are his two most intimate love connections *eye roll*. Kenny is also a stage five sociopath! Needless to say we quickly ended the conversation and as we were about to leave he said "You girls are the best missionaries to show up so far. I would love to talk again. I help a lot of you guys out, I like to talk because I show you guys a whole new perspective that you haven't ever even considered before." I don't remember how Sister Sanders handled it but we left. It was pretty funny. 

 

We knocked another door of a guy and he was nice and talked to us for a minute and then said he had to get ready for work. We left him a pass along card and said goodbye, he closed the door and we listened to him and his wife laugh the whole time we walked away. That was a confidence killer. Then we knocked another door where the man literally answered, said "What can I do for you?" and we made it through "Hi! We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!" and he closed the door. That was discouraging too. We did tract one door where we met a girl who said she would be interested to coming to church and activities but she didn't come yesterday so I guess we will see how that works out. 

 

We tracted again the next day and we tracted almost all day long. The last door of the night was mine! I struggle with knowing what to say to people. Anyway, I knocked on the door and they answered and immediately the smell of pot flooded out and it took me a few seconds to recompose myself. I started having a nice talk with the guy who opened the door and suddenly every single word I knew left my brain. I couldn't think of one more thing to say and then I looked to Sister Sanders for assistance and "help me" did manage to escape. She took over and I was mortified. She said it was okay and that I did good but hopefully I will do better next time. 

 

The ward that I'm assigned to is fantastic though. I've only met a few of them and I can't remember a lot of their names but they are so nice. I had lunch with one of the investigators today and she is seriously amazing. I love being here so much and I love being a missionary so much. It's day five and I'm already feeling like it's going by really fast. I lay down at the end of each day exhausted but feeling like I had no time that day. I wish I had more spiritual stories to tell you this week but, honestly, it's been a week of knocking doors. However, to end on a spiritual note. After the whole "help me" experience and having very little success tracting I was very discouraged and Sister Sanders said something that I have thought a lot about. We had a member with us who said it was weird to want so badly for people you don't even know, to listen to you and be so disappointed when they don't. I said I totally understood what she was saying and Sister Sanders said "Honestly, it doesn't bother me. I know at the end of the day, that I knocked every door I could and that I tried. I could have a thousand doors shut in my face. I could be laughed at over and over and I just know that there is one, who is ready. There's someone that will listen to me and who will learn and their life will improve so much because I was willing to be laughed at and to have doors shut in my face." That hit me hard and since then I have looked at tracting a lot differently. I'm not here to convert everyone I meet. Most people aren't going to want to give me the time of day. But I just need to have faith that 1. I'm planting seeds with every person I do talk to and 2. There will be one. The gospel is such a blessing. I'm so grateful to be planting seeds and for the opportunity that I have to see people the way Christ does and just want them to come to Him. I love you all so much and I will talk to you next week! 

 

~Sister Lloyd

Tuesday March 14,2017

Hello everyone! It has been an awesome week!

     So we had another wonderful round of TRC's this week. We taught one named Kristen. I LOVE TRC's. So Kristen was our first TRC. To give you a little background she is a member of another faith that is, actually, similar to ours in a lot of it's teachings. Her husband is LDS and she is taking the missionary discussions because her husband really wants to be sealed but she was hesitant because she didn't really agree with some of the teachings of our church. We went in and asked her what her concerns were with the church and she said that she knows what priesthood is and that we believe we have it but she said she didn't feel comfortable agreeing that ONLY our church has God's authority. She said that if God loves all of his children she didn't understand why he would only give his authority to the members of one church when most churches try to bring people to him. I thought this was a valid concern. Her other concern was that she was baptized into her church and she didn't understand why she needed to be rebaptized. Well, I felt the spirit tell me to do some research before trying to answer her questions. Unfortunately, I decided to ignore that and answer them anyway. WRONG ANSWER. I tried to explain the answers and as I was talking I felt the spirit leave, I then panicked and continued to talk more. I knew what I was trying to say but the more I talked the worse it got. My words weren't coming out the way I wanted them to and I eventually just stopped talking and let Sister McDonald finish teaching the whole lesson. I felt awful. We went back to the class and I couldn't figure out why my words weren't saying what I was trying to say. My teacher approached me and said "Uhm... so.... Sister Lloyd, how do you feel about that lesson?" I started bawling. I felt so bad and I definitely knew that I had accidentally taught her things that weren't true trying to explain a concept that I understood. My teacher and Sister McDonald comforted me and told me that, fortunately, we had another lesson and I could go in and fix it. I studied harder than I have ever studied in my life over the next two days until our next lesson and I studied baptism, priesthood, covenants, I studied where she was in the Book of Mormon, basically anything I could come up with that could possible relate to this situation so that I could feel comfortable and have the spirit help me. We went back in on Friday and I sat down and said "I think in our last lesson as I was trying to explain some things I might have accidentally explained things poorly and given you some misinformation." I continued to reexplain things according to the studies I had done. When I finished she thanked me and she said that she definitely had some misunderstandings from what I had said last time. We had a really good conversation though and I felt the spirit again. What a relief! Then we told her we had studied in the Book of Mormon where she had told us she would be studying: 1 Nephi chapters 4 and 5. We asked her if she had any questions and she told us she had been wondering why God would command Nephi to kill Laban but she talked to her husband about it and felt like she had a better understanding and appreciation for Nephi after that conversation. Sister McDonald and I then explained that in our studies for her we had come across a scripture that we felt described her situation. 1 Nephi 4: 6-7 "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless I went forth..." We asked her how she thought this could relate to her and we had a really good discussion about how she doesn't know why she is meeting with us other than to learn about her husbands religion and figure out the answers to her questions and so she is going forth not knowing what she needs to do. We then explained that that was true and we felt that as she was acting on faith, continuing to meet with us and doing the things that we ask her to do that she would be led by the spirit. We told her that we can talk and try to explain why she needs to be baptized again into our church all day long but that at the end of the day it wasn't going to help her because she is the kind of person who needs to know for herself what the difference is. I looked at her and said "Kristen, we would like to invite you to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the Priesthood Authority of God. Would you be willing to act on faith and accept our invitation?" She said yes! I then promised her that if she would do this that God would show her through thoughts and feelings, the difference between her two baptisms and she would know why she needed to be baptized again by priesthood authority. It was by far the best lesson Sister McDonald and I have taught. 

     In between the first and second lessons with Kristen was a hard time for me. I felt so bad that I had gone against the spirit and I felt that I had failed as a missionary. If I had failed my TRC this bad how on Earth was I going to be successful in the field? Why didn't I listen to the spirit? Why were my answers so bad that she misunderstood me? I prayed a LOT in those two days and I studied even more. I knew that I needed to show Heavenly Father that I felt bad, recognized my mistake and would do my best to fix it and not do it again. Repentance is real. Anyway, I felt really bad about myself as a person and a missionary and there was a lot of problems in our sistrict this week as well. We are all antsy and ready to be out of the MTC and because it was everybody's last week here most of the girls didn't have any patience left. I didn't really have too much of a problem with it but some other sisters DEFINITELY let their anxieties take away from their patience, needless to say, the girls were not nice to each other this week. I feel very blessed that I have had as much patience with and love for the girls I'm with because I haven't had any problems. Anyway, There was a lot of petty arguments and frustrations among the sisters and it ended up being just a really bad situation because nobody could feel the spirit and it really was just a bad situation overall. All of us wanted to go home this week. Some of us got closer than others. Nobody ended up going home which was a blessing and eventually everything got worked out but it was really hard for a day or two. 

     Thursday we had something called In-Field Orientation which is basically where they just pull you into a couple different classrooms for nine hours and teach you all the things that you need to know for the field that they haven't had a chance to teach you yet. No, apparently three weeks is not enough time to cover everything. I was surprised too. Anyway it was a LONG day but luckily we all knew what this mean, only a few days till the field. I fly out Wednesday the 15 at 3:20 in the morning. I'm beyond excited. As nervous and anxious as I have been and as much as I've fought it up till now, I still am so excited to go.

 While I've been here at the MTC my testimony has grown so much. I say this all the time but I am seriously, so blessed! I'm blessed to know that God is my Father in Heaven and that he loves me and is aware of me. He has a plan for me and even though our plans for my life have NEVER matched, his is always the one that brings me the most joy. I know that God only wants us to be happy, that's why he sent Jesus Christ to be our Savior. I am so grateful that I know that I never have to be alone. I know that Christ feels absolutely everything that I ever have felt and ever will feel. I never have to feel like nobody understands or nobody gets it, someone always does. Christ is the only reason I'm here. Christ is the only reason I've made it this far. Christ is my best friend, my older brother, my protector and my Savior. The biggest thing that I've learned while I've been here is that I'm not here for myself, I'm not even here for the people of Arkansas, I'm here because God and Christ have given more to me than I will ever be able to pay back. Even if I spend every single second of the rest of my life serving God it will never repay the debt I have because God gives me every breath I take and every ounce of energy that I have. God is so good! What a blessing it is to know that God is aware of us and that Christ loves each of us so much that he came, willingly, knowing the horrible pain and suffering he would have to go through. Knowing he would have to feel the most bitter sorrow anyone could ever feel, pay for every single sin ever committed and literally be the ONLY person to TRULY know what it feels like to be alone. He knew that a lot of the people he did this for we turn away. He know people wouldn't accept it and use it and he did it anyway. If you don't have a good relationship with Christ I would invite you to study his life and his attributes. Change the way you pray. Change the way you study and what you study. I know, because of my experiences at the MTC and otherwise that even if you think you understand something, you don't. I love my God and I love my Savior. I know that it is only through Christ that we can gain any joy in this life. Happiness is good, but joy is so much better. Joy is lasting. I know God is aware of each of you. I know Christ loves you. Rely on him and your life will only improve. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all so much and I am so grateful for all of your love, prayers and support. You guys are wonderful and I love you all! Talk to you next week from Arkansas (or Kansas or Missouri or Oklahoma)! 

"They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever." -Psalm 125:1

-Sister Lloyd

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~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Tues. March 7,2017

 What a wonderful week this has been! I seriously am on cloud nine! So last Tuesday I told you about our two investigators (They are called TRC's and some of them are real investigators, some of them are members who volunteer and some of them get taught for a job and you don't know which are which). The first one came to us ready to know the gospel and wanting to know the gospel and it was fantastic! He progressed so fast! On Wednesday we taught him about tithing and he said "oh! I will pay that this Sunday when I go to church!" so anyway he progressed really fast. On Friday he told us his daughter set up a meeting with the missionaries that night because he has been telling her about what he is learning and his granddaughter is dating an LDS boy. Anyway, he said he was excited! We taught him our lesson and I felt really prompted to invite him to be baptized... of course I thought this was crazy because we only teach them for a week and this was our third lesson with him, but I did it anyway. When the spirit prompts it's better to act than to doubt ;) and so I invited him to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized. AND HE SAID YES! He told me that he wants to finish the Book of Mormon but after that he wants to be baptized! I was so excited I thought I was going to explode! We wrapped up our lesson and closed and taught him about baptism and what he has to be doing to be baptized in our last lesson with him and it was so cool. 

     Last week I also told you about our TRC who was a struggle for us. Sister McDonald and I cried a lot after that lesson because we felt like we had failed and that we had no direction to go from there. The next lesson we had no idea what to do so I felt prompted to prepare three lessons and go in and show her the three lessons and let her be led by the spirit to pick the lesson she needed. We did that and she picked the Restoration. We taught her about the Restoration and the spirit was so strong! I felt so good! We taught her about Joseph Smith and the first vision and it was amazing! I was feeling so good by the end of the lesson I was practically floating! I extended the invitation of praying to her and she looked me in the eyes and said "uhm, no. I don't feel comfortable with that." My heart dropped. It took everything I had for me to not cry right there in front of her. We didn't know what to do so we closed and left. I felt so discouraged again. What was I doing wrong? The next lesson we didn't plan a lesson. We felt really strongly that we needed to just talk to her. We had a lesson that whenever investigators turn down an invitation it is usually because they are afraid of something. We went in and talked to her and it turns out she wanted God to be real, she hoped God was real! But she knew that if she prayed and it turned out that he wasn't there, she would be crushed and it would be very hard for her to recover. I started talking to her and before I even knew what I was saying I asked her "How do you ever expect to find out if God is there and if he loves you, if you don't ever intend to ask?" I'm sure the surprise on my face probably matched the surprise on hers after I asked that but she thought about it and said I made a good point and she wasn't sure. We were out of time by then and so I bore my testimony that if she would pray she would KNOW God was real and that he loved her. I invited her to pray and she told me know, again. I was again very discouraged until she looked at me and said "But will you invite me again tomorrow?" I said I would and we left. We went beck to teach her the next day, our last lesson with her. We walked in and asked her if she had thought about our last lesson. She said yes and I sat there fully expecting her to tell me she had and I needed to blow it out my ears, until she looked down, her voice started shaking and she said "I think... I have decided... that I want to know. I have decided I'm going to pray. I don't think I'm ready today and I might not be ready tomorrow, but I want to know." I teared up listening to her talk about how scared she was but that she was ready to know. I cried telling her how much God loved her and that I promised her that because she was taking a risk and acting on faith, really wanting to know, that she would not be crushed. That she would know God was real and that he loved her. It was such a special moment. The rest of our lesson we taught her about how the Holy Ghost communicates with people and the nature of God, she was afraid he would be angry with her for not believing in him sooner. It was a beautiful lesson and the spirit was so strong because of her faith. My joy at getting her to commit to prayer was the same as when our other investigator said he would be baptized because for her, it was a bigger leap of faith to pray. I have so much love in my heart for her. 

     The rest of my week has been fantastic! Sister McDonald told us a story about how when she was little her family had a turtle that they kept on a leash in their backyard and how one day they went outside to feed it and it had magically gotten off of its leash and "it ran away." Needless to say we were all laughing about the fact that somehow her turtle "ran away" and they never found it. We all joke whenever we lose things that Sister McDonald's run away turtle took them. Other than that it has been a pretty slow week! Thank you for all of the mail and the emails! They never fail to brighten my day! You guys are amazing! I love you all so much! Talk to you next week!