Coming up on transfers!

May 29, 2017

Hey y'all! I have had such a good week! I can't believe it's already almost June! It's unreal. Well, next week is transfers so I have to throw in a reminder that you won't hear from me until Wednesday of next week, so don't panic *cough* mom *cough* ;) 

Monday: Monday! Prep Day! On Monday Sister Sanders and I took care of all of the needful things. Then we went to visit a potential investigator named Tiffany. Tiffany, long story short, was someone we found through a series of miracles and she seemed super interested but since we met her a MONTH ago, she has never kept an appointment or been home when we drop by. Again she wasn't home, but her roommate was. We had seen her roommate in passing before but never had any substantial conversations with her. When we came this time we woke her up from a nap (woops) and she set up a return appointment so hopefully she will work out and bring her roommate along with her! After that we went to FHE and talked to some investigators we had there. 

Tuesday: On Tuesday we had exchanges. I went with Sister Blackwell again and she is so awesome. I love her. I also got to drive, for the first time in months. Driving is not like riding a bicycle, it isn't just as easy when you do it again after months. BUT we didn't die, and that's what counts, right? We had a few lessons that were awesome! We weren't in my area so I didn't know any of the people we had lessons with but there was one family we sat down with that was awesome. They had a son who has some disabilities but he loves Jesus, SO MUCH. It was seriously amazing. They said that he was so sad when they told him that he couldn't ride his bike around and talk about Jesus with the missionaries (the missionaries that teach him ride bikes pretty frequently). Anyway, he was precious and the parents were talking about how they were so concerned because they wanted to teach him religious things but they didn't know how to teach him so that it would stick, the spirit hit me so strongly, I just started crying and promised them that Christ new their son and loved him and that as long as they were doing their best to teach him what God would have him know, that the spirit would help him to understand. Christ knows everybody and so the spirit will always teach us in the best way for us, individually. The mom started crying and it was just a really tender moment. 

Wednesday: On Wednesday we had District Meeting and we talked about how important it is that we teach people everything they need to know about the gospel so that they don't feel confused or frustrated about what they need to do. It was really good and I learned a lot of ways to improve my teaching! After that we had a lot of awesome lessons lined up for the day... until they all cancelled on us. All three of them. Suddenly we had a lot of time to fill so we did some tracting and less active finding. It was a good day, just a lot of finding. 

Thursday: On Thursday we had a lesson with our recent convert, Alec, and he is so awesome! We laughed about things and had really good spiritual conversations. We are a little concerned about him, his life has gotten really crazy and he has fallen back into some old habits he thought he had kicked. After that we had a lesson fall through so we went to visit some potential investigators. Later that night we had a meeting with our ward mission leader about a Family Home Evening we are planning. We are planning on having a "Missionary Bootcamp" where we talk to our members about how to do missionary work because, it's summer.... in a YSA.... the missionaries need help. We can tract and we can go talk to people but other than that it's hard for us to do finding activities. HOPEFULLY this will help our members feel more involved and confident in their missionary work. 

Friday: On Friday we had exchanges in Grandby, I freaking love Grandby. That's where my little friend Hyrum lives. We started out our day there by doing service at Hyrum's house! He is so funny. I walked in and he jumped off the couch and goes "I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE COMING TODAY!" and started fixing his hair and straightening his shirt. Sister Sanders was cracking up. I said "Yeah! I didn't know I was coming until today!" he goes "Oh man!" he immediatley put on his shoes and spent the rest of the time I was there outside with us. He is so funny. As I was leaving I said "Hyrum, are you still praying I get transfered to Grandby?" and he nodded his head and then casually goes "So.... when are you coming back? Do you know? Are you coming next week?" I laughed and told him I had no idea. He was a little bit bummed I couldn't commit to coming back. He's so funny. After that Sister Snyder and I were on exchanges for the day. I LOVE Sister Snyder. She is so cool! We had a really good day of lessons and trying to talk to people. That night Sister Sanders and I headed home and I looked out the window and saw these twinkling lights that were so pretty! I was trying to figure out what they were and then I realized, they were lightning bugs! I watched them the whole way home! Lightning bugs have a very special place in my heart now. They are absolutely beautiful. 

Saturday: On Saturday we did some service in the morning for a less active member who is friends with our Recent convert, Alec. Her name is Jina! She is really cool. We had a really good couple hours of cleaning and organizing her store and then we went into weekly planning. LONGEST. DAY. EVER. For some reason weekly planning took so long this week. I hate weekly planning, I just wanna go missionary. We got it done though and then we did some training. This is actually my last week of being a greeny! I'm so excited to be a real life missionary! :) 

Sunday: On Sunday we had 5 investigators at church which is SO AWESOME! Of course, it was the week that we sing songs out of the sealed portion of the hymn book. I'm talking hymns that I didn't even know after being a member for almost twenty years. However, two of them said they would be willing to meet with us after they figured out their work schedule for this week and one set a return appointment so we gained three investigators! It was awesome! After church we went to see Dylan, freaking Dylan. Sister Sanders and Sister Smith (the missionary here before me) tracted into Dylan in January and gave him a Book of Mormon. They kept coming back and checking up on him and his progress and then the third week I was here Sister Sanders and I went and checked up on him. He was so solid! He said he knew the Book of Mormon was the word of God and he would be willing to meet with us as soon as he figured out when he wasn't busy. We haven't seen or heard from him since. We go back occasionally to see if we can catch him home but we never do. He lives across the breezeway from a member so yesterday, when he wasn't home again, we knocked on her door, gave her our number and asked her to text us if she ever happens to see him at home. Hopefully we will get him someday! 

Well, this week I have been thinking so much about joy and failure and joy in failure. I have started meeting with the mission counselor because I was just feeling really depressed and I didn't feel good about myself or my missionary work. It got so bad that for about a week I couldn't feel the spirit very much. It was a really hard time for me. I met with Dr Dan for the first time and told him I was struggling with feeling like a failure. He looked at me and said "You are!" and I was a little surprised. He looked at me and explained that everyone is a failure. No one can do everything perfectly, everyone fails. The most important part of failing is recognizing it, and trying to be better. You can still find joy while you're a failure. You can find joy in your failures. You just need to recognize that that's why you're here, that's your purpose, to learn to find joy in your failures. "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." Well, by falling, Adam failed. He failed to live up to one of the commandments God gave him. But because of his failure we are all able to find joy in life. I love this concept because failing isn't something that condemns us, it just helps us to try harder. I have loved learning this and trying to find joy in my failures because I fail every. single. day. Am I happy about it? Definitely not. But it happens and as I strive to find joy in my failures I notice how richly I am blessed. I love my Heavenly Father so much. I'm grateful for him and for the fact that he knew I would fail and made a way for me to succeed. It gives me hope. I hope y'all have a great week. I love you. God loves you. Keep on keepin on! 

~Sister Lloyd

--
~Sister Madisen Lloyd

3 Months!

May 22, 2017

What a great week this has been! I have been asked so many questions this week that I never anticipated being asked on my mission. Here are just a few: "Oh! I just made cookies! Do you want one?" "Hey Sisters! Do you want some candy? I'd love to buy you each a candy!" "Can't you read?" "Do you want this picture of a homeless guy I took?"

Needless to say, this week had it's surprises!

Monday: Monday was Prep day! Per usual prep day was good! We took care of all of the things we needed to so that the rest of the week could be successful! It was really good! We played volleyball with the zone and, oh man, I'm not that great at volleyball it turns out. But that's okay because it was still fun! After Prep day ended we went tracting with one of our members and bumped into a girl who used to meet with missionaries. She said she just never felt like it was true. We asked her to meet with us again and she said she would! It was really neat to be able to run into her and be able to testify and set a return appointment to come back and talk to her. I am really excited she was willing to meet with us and I am hoping that maybe her heart has been softened since she met with them in high school!

Tuesday: On Tuesday we had interviews with President Loveland. He is so awesome! He told us that on June 1st we are going to be taking a trip to the Kansas City Temple! I'M SO EXCITED! It was so cool. President Loveland and I had a really good conversation about life and my area and just serving a mission in general and he gave me a lot of really good advice that I needed to hear. I'm so grateful for an awesome mission president. After that I went on exchanges with Sister Montoya. She is so awesome! She and I talked a lot and we got along really well! We talked about some of the things that we are both struggling with and we had a few appointments and so we taught a few people which was awesome. At the end of the night we were both crawling into bed and she just said "hey! I just want you to know, you don't need to worry about what you say when you're teaching. As long as you're trying to do your best and you're worthy of the spirit he will help you. Even if you say something wrong he will help it to make sense to the person you're teaching. Goodnight Sister Lloyd!" I just laid there kind of in shock and thought about that. What a wonderful blessing that she just explained to me. I'm so grateful for awesome sisters who know what to say.

Wednesday: On Wednesday we did service in the morning and then we went to the mall and talked to a lot of people. Talking to the people at the mall is always a little intimidating because we aren't supposed to shop unless it's prep day so we have to be in the stores but not pay attention to what is in the stores which is not always the easiest, but we do it! We didn't manage to get any investigators out of it but we planted a lot of seeds and that's what counts! While we were walking out to the car to leave the mall we passed by a member and she stopped us and said "Sisters! Do you want some candy? I would love to buy both of you some candy!" We accepted and she took us to this little candy store. She bought Sister Sanders and I both a treat and then said "my family always said it was the biggest blessing when members would just give them a treat or offer them some water and so I try to be that blessing for missionaries I bump into. I hope this was a blessing." It was so awesome because she was so right. I had the biggest craving for chocolate all day. She was a blessing to me that day. On Wednesday during companionship study Sister Sanders and I set a goal to talk to 37 people a day. Not just saying "hi" in passing but actually have conversations with people which has been an AWESOME experience. I am so much more aware of the people around me and I try so much harder to talk to people. I don't think I was lazy before, I talked to a lot of people, but I am definitely much more aware of how many more people I could have been talking to. After the mall and companion study we went to a lesson and Tiffany, who we were supposed to be meeting with, wasn't home. So we went and tracted around her a little bit and got into a very interesting conversation. We saw some YSA aged people outside and we went to say hi to them. As we got closer I saw they were drinking (which happens frequently) but they were also pointing at and talking about us. We walked up and started talking to one of the guys and the other guy and two girls were standing a little ways to the side of us, quite obviously making fun of us. I just looked at them dead faced, making direct eye contact with the guy for a solid minute, until they stopped. I smiled and looked back at the guy we were talking to and the other three went inside. It was a little funny! :)

Thursday: On Thursday we started the day with our lesson with the girl we tracted into on Monday, Bethany. It was a really good lesson. She had a lot of questions which was really good because they were sincere questions that were addressing a lot of her concerns about our church. We had a lot of good opportunities to testify of Joseph Smith and of the Book of Mormon. After that we went onto campus and talked to some people for a few hours. After that we had service, serving dinner at a dinner for the community homeless/needy people. It went really good but this one older gentleman kept talking to me and he didn't have any teeth so he was a bit hard to understand. He was very nice and he gave me a picture of a homeless man that he took, I'll never say I never got anything from serving a mission! ;) He is also a published author, he told me one of his poems:

                                          The problem with dating the tallest girl

                                                 when you're the shortest guy

                                       is that everytime you try to look into her eyes

                                                all you see is her belly button.

Friday: On Friday we were on exchanges again with the Grandby sisters, they both came here and we all stayed in the Springfield area and we just worked doing separate things. I was with Sister Baraza who was a HOOT. She was so funny. We went on campus and talked to some people and chalked a little bit. Right in the middle of chalking all of the tornado sirens kicked on and the people working at MSU all came out and started saying that everyone needed to get in the storm shelter. I was a little concerned and so was Sister Baraza so we went into the storm shelter and it started pouring rain and the thunder and lightning were going and we stayed in the shelter for close to an hour, until we realized we had a dinner appointment to get to and we didn't have our phone to cancel with the member who was taking us to dinner. After having a good talk Sister Baraza and I decided that the tornado wasn't anywhere close and that it was just raining and thundering so we were going to run across campus to the institute and go to our dinner appointment. We made it to the doors and just sprinted as fast as we could go in the pouring rain, the tornado sirens still blaring and we made it about halfway across campus and it started hailing. When we finally made it to the institute building where the car was we were absolutely drenched but we both were laughing so hard. It was one of the most fun things I've done so far on my mission. I loved it. We went to dinner soaking wet and it was a good night. After that we went home and changed and then went to a YSA Fireside. Our stake had stake conference this weekend and the area seventy, Elder C Dale Willis came. When he found out there was a YSA in the stake he decided to fly in a day early and have a fireside with them. It was really neat! I got to shake his hand and talk to him for a minute which was a cool experience.

Saturday: On Saturday I had a really good day! We started the day by doing a few hours of service for the friend of our recent convert, Alec. We did the service for this lady named Jina, who is actually the one that got Alec interested in the church! She has a shop where she sells vintage clothes and she is liquidating all of her inventory so we got to go help her start organizing her inventory so she knows what she has to sell. It was really fun to get to rummage through all of the vintage clothes that she has! We even found a bird that was living behind this old mattress in the attic of her store. It was an adventure for sure! After that we did weekly planning for a few hours. That night we had Stake Conference, Sister Sanders and I had to sing with the YSA choir for the musical number because there are only about 15 people in the choir, including the bishopric and the bishop's wife. So they threw the two tone deaf missionaries in the choir to add bodies! Haha! It actually didn't end up sounding that bad which was a huge blessing from Heavenly Father! That night was really good though. During stake conference I had the urge to do something I haven't done in a while. I wrote done a prayer. I told Heavenly Father what a lot of my concerns were and what I was struggling with. I told Him I didn't feel like I was good enough to be on a mission. I told Him that I didn't feel like I was the soft spoken, touchy feely sister missionary who talks in a whispery voice to bring the spirit. I told Him I wanted to feel more fully of His love. I waited a minute and then I just started writing the words that came to my mind, Heavenly Father's response to me. It was a really neat experience. He told me He loves me and that He is proud of me. He told me I'm where I need to be. He told me I need to be more patient with myself as I learn and that I am good enough to accomlish the purposes he has for me, that's why he called me. We had a really good talk and I got a lot of peace. After Stake Conference President Loveland told all the missionaries to go to Braums. We all went and he bought us all ice cream! It was a good night.

Sunday: On Sunday we had part two of stake conference and it was really good! The YSA's recent convert, Marlowe, spoke and she was so awesome. She got baptized right before I got here but she is so amazing. She has such a strong testimony and it inspires me all the time. After stake conference we went looking for less active members, unbaptized members and tracting. It was a really fun afternoon, actually. While we were tracting we knocked on a door and it was a young couple, they invited us in and we talked for a minute. They are very religous and devout to their church but they were happy we were out talking to people about Christ. The wife looked at us and said "I actually just made cookies! Do you girls want one?" I can't have them, but Sister Sanders can so we both took one and thanked her. After that her husband prayed for us and it was a really positive interaction. They were really awesome and it was such a blessing to meet people who weren't grumpy we were knocking on their door. On our way home we were driving behind a bus and we got to a redlight and it was next to a mail car. All of a sudden we see a little arm reach out of the bus and then suddenly a little boy is half hanging out of this bus. All of a sudden we see the mail man reach a bag of chips up towards this arm and the little boy grabs a handful of chips

This week, as you can see, was full of tender mercies and miracles. It was really such an awesome week. I honestly feel so blessed. This week I have been thinking a lot about mercy and a lot about grace. I have been studying grace a lot and how that correlates with Christ's Atonement. As I've read talks and scriptures about this I have seen my testimony grow so much. The biggest thing that I've learned is that Christ does ask us to do our best, absolutely. But it's not because he atoned for everything, EXCEPT for what he knew we could do. I always thought I was supposed to do my best because that's what Christ didn't need to do, that was my job. Christ atoned for EVERYTHING. He covered EVERYTHING. The reason he asks us to do our best is not because it makes or breaks whether or not we are fully covered. It's because as we do everything we can to become better people it improves us. We become better and rely more fully on the Lord for everything. We recognize our inadequacies and instead of throwing our hands up and saying "I just can't do this anymore, I'm done." We take them to him and say "I don't know how this is going to work, but I know you can help me." and he does. I'm so grateful that I have gone from being the person who gives up because there's too much to be done, to being someone who takes it to the Lord and asks him to help. I'm definitely not perfect, I have a VERY long way to go, but I know that when we simply choose to rely on the Lord, he strengthens us. He never throws his hands up and says "there's too much to be done, they aren't worth it." He sees us as everything that we could ever possibly be. All that we could ever possibly do. I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father and Savior who see me as so much more than I see myself. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your love and support. Keep on keepin on and know that they Lord loves you!

~Sister Lloyd

 
P.S. Sorry I don't have pictures this week! I left my camera at home today! That's okay! There will just be more next week! :) 

Mother's Day Week

May 15, 2017

This week was a really good week! Full of sunshine and missionary work. 

 

Monday: I covered Monday last week but I will give a quick synopsis: I cut my hair and went to FHE and Sports Night. We had a couple of investigators at FHE but not as many as usual which was disappointing to say the least. As the semester comes to an end all of our investigators are stressed with finals and moving home so that makes it hard.

Tuesday: On Tuesday we had exchanges! I went to the Orchard Hills area with Sister Blackwell and she is SO AWESOME. I love her. We ended up not having the phone and so that was crazy but through a crazy string of events we ended up placing a Book of Mormon with the guy who cuts the grass for their apartment complex. We went to borrow the phone of a member who lives in that complex and while we were walking to her building I found a Book of Mormon on the drainage pipe that was outside the complex. I was sad it was left there overnight but I picked it up and just carried it and thought "that's okay! We can give it to someone else." The member wasn't home so we walked back and the guy who cuts the grass had just pulled up and was on his phone outside his truck. Sister Blackwell went up to him and asked to borrow his phone and he said yes! After that I was left to talk to him. We talked about him and how the Holy Ghost told him to start his lawn business and the huge role that Christ has played in his life. Sister Blackwell finished up on the phone and brought it back. He asked if he could pray with us and we accepted and he said a beautiful prayer. After that I KNEW why I had randomly found that Book of Mormon. I ended up thanking him for the prayer and telling him that the Book of Mormon has drastically improved my relationship with Jesus Christ and that I would love to leave him with a copy. We talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon and then he said he would read from it and Sister Blackwell said she would probably come talk to him the next time he was there. It was a really neat experience. The rest of the day was good! We did a lot of service and we tracted a lot. I still don't enjoy tracting but I'm getting better at it! A lot of times I still feel uncomfortable but I just pray that I will sound confident even if I'm not. Preach my gospel taught me that and it works pretty well!

Wednesday: On Wednesday we had District meeting which was just where all the missionaries in my district meet... Go figure! We talk about how we can improve and we did a lot of really good role plays practicing how to work with members. It was really awesome and I learned a lot about how I can better work with the members of our ward. We taught Audrey and she accepted and invitation to baptism... but she is going home for the summer so we have to pass her off to other missionaries :/ we were really bummed about that. We did a lot of talking to people on campus and that was really cool! Nobody was really interested but we did pass out a lot of pass along cards and had some really cool conversations about Christ. That's one of my favorite things about this area, most everybody loves and knows Christ and even if they aren't interested in learning they are more than happy to talk about Christ! 

Thursday: Thursday was the roughest day of the week. We had the table and there was next to no foot traffic because of finals. We did have a lesson with Will right after the table and that was really good. We committed him to be baptized... but he is going home for the summer as well. So we have to pass him off to other missionaries too. Summer stinks in a YSA.  Sister Sanders and I had two lessons at the same time so we found two female members to do "splits" with. Splits is where the missionaries split and each go with a member as their temporary companion and teach a lesson. We were really excited! We ended up having both lessons not show up which was disappointing. After that we made a thirty minute drive to our next lesson in Willard Missouri, who wasn't home for our lesson. So we made some visits to less active members in that area and then made the thirty minute drive back to Springfield just in time for our last lesson with Olivia. Olivia is our investigator who is Catholic and very convinced it is the true church. She has been investigating out of curiosity and hasn't been willing to consider the fact that it could be true and then can't figure out why she isn't getting answers to prayer. We finally had a "do or die" lesson which is where we sit down and kindly, but boldly explain that if she isn't willing to change when she receives answers, she won't get them. It was uncomfortable to say the least but Sister Sanders did a great job of saying what needed to be said. After that she admitted that she wasn't really open to receiving answers. We asked her if she would be willing to start being more open and she said yes, and then said she wasn't willing to come to church when we invited her... so we will see how open she ends up being. Being open is crucial to receiving answers. God isn't going to tell you the Book of Mormon is true if you aren't willing to change your life with that information. It's kind of that concept of "don't cast pearls before swine" if you aren't going to value what God tells you, he won't tell you. 

Friday: On Friday we started our morning with service and then we had a lesson with a new investigator, Noah. He dated an LDS girl a while back and her family gave him a Book of Mormon that he started reading until they broke up. Then last week he was biking to work and needed a drink and saw the LDS church and stopped and asked for a drink and a new Book of Mormon because his old one got wet biking. The Elders were excited to hear someone ask for  a Book of Mormon! They gave him one and set up a meeting for us! He was super cool. We basically talked about prayer and how he can receive answers to his prayers. We were planning on teaching the Restoration but he basically told us the whole thing when we asked him what he knew about it, so we went a different direction. He told us he really likes reading the Joseph Smith papers so he knows A LOT. But he is super sincere in wanting to learn which is awesome! 

Saturday: On Saturday we had weekly planning! This week we did half of weekly planning on our back porch so that we could be outside in the sun. It was a really nice break from being in the apartment. After that we went to a baptism of the father of one of our investigators. It was really cool and when we got there we shook his hand and introduced ourselves. When he shook my hand he said "oh my gosh! YOU'RE Sister Lloyd? You're name is mentioned in my house more than mine is!" I laughed pretty hard. After that we texted James to set up an appointment. Up till this point we have let James pick which members come to his lessons because we want him to feel comfortable. But about a week ago we figured out he was asking us to invite all of the girls he has crushes on. OUR LESSONS AREN'T A DATING SERVICE!  So for our last lesson when he suggested a girl we just said we had someone lined up and moved on. He wasn't super happy when he walked in and it wasn't who he wanted, but the lesson was really awesome so we didn't stress about it. Well, when we texted him Saturday he told us the girl he wanted at his lesson and we said "we have someone lined up already but we will definitely keep her in mind for future lessons!" he responded with "that was a contingency" I asked him what he meant and he said "well if (insert girl's name here) isn't coming, then you've lost my interest and the answer changes to a no." Not going to lie, I was a little irritated. I responded "Well that's a bummer! We were excited to meet with you. Well I guess we will see you Sunday then! Have a good day!" and left it there. So we are going to ride this power struggle out and see what happens, what he doesn't know is it doesn't matter if I have lost his interest, the Lord hasn't lost interest in him.

Sunday: On Sunday I had to give a talk. My topic, as assigned by the bishopric member, was "something about mothers... and missionary work... I'm not going to tell you a topic,  but something like that." I ended up deciding to speak about the things that you have to do when you are a mother that you also have to do when you are doing missionary work. It ended up being a really interesting topic to study and talk about. I really enjoyed it. THEN I got to skype home after church. It was the best. It was so good to see my family and talk to them. I miss then and I love them dearly. I'm so grateful I got to see them! After that we came home, had dinner, went and knocked some doors and then went to bed. 

It was such an awesome week. Lately I have been struggling a lot with feeling lonely and like I'm not good enough to be here and honestly, it's been really hard. But Throughout these hard times my testimony that God is aware of me and has a plan for me has been strengthened so much. I have been so blessed with people and opportunities that bring light into my life when I'm struggling and I feel so blessed to have a loving Father in Heaven who blesses me with little things, like a gardening service opportunity, during a week when I feel overwhelmed with missionary work and think I'm going to die if I have to knock one more door. He has blessed me with an amazing companion who loves me so much and is so patient with me and I try to figure out how to be better than I am. He blessed me with a mission president who reads my emails and genuinely wants to help me. I am so blessed. I have no doubt in my mind that Heavenly Father is just as aware of all of you as he is of me. I know that he blesses you with little tender mercies as well. I also know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It testifies of Jesus Christ and it builds our relationship with him. We have been doing a really cool Book of Mormon marking activity as a mission and it has really helped me to see how much truth and light is in it. I love this gospel and the peace it brings to my life. Rely on your Heavenly Father for anything you might need. Don't be afraid to share this light with others, it only brings blessings. I love you all! Have a great week!

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Pictures: Picture 1. Me by the MSU fountain (again!) this time with less hair. Picture 2: Me and our investigator's dad who got baptized! We are buddies now too! 

Tell Everyone Thanks

May 8, 2017

This week has been an experience! It's been one of the harder weeks of my mission. I definitely had some high points but for some reason I was really anxious and homesick. I managed to make it through so all is well. 

Monday- P-Day! We accomplished all of the needful things and a little extra ;) Then we went to FHE and Sports Night! We had several investigators there so it was awesome to be able to make contact with them. 

Tuesday- Service! I love our Tuesday service! The lady we volunteer for is named Rose and she is so good to us! She is one of the friendliest people I have ever met. We spent a lot of the afternoon on campus talking to people. Not a whole lot came out of any of the conversations we had but that's okay because we were at lease being productive and trying. That night we went to Institute and had some investigators there so we got to stay and listen and we talked about Infant Baptisms and what it says about them in Moroni 8! It was an interesting topic! 

Wednesday-  Wednesday was a really good day! We had a lot happening. That morning we went on campus for a while and talked to people and that was really positive! We got a couple of potential investigators and talked to one, very interesting, guy. He had some skewed opinions about the church and Joseph Smith... I won't go into detail but it was interesting to see how people get confused. He had very interesting ideas about faith as well. Whenever we tried to correct or testify he would talk over us so we ended up just leaving. Then we had a lesson with our investigator, Audrey. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it was very interesting because she already believed that we lived with Heavenly Father before this life and that is one part of the Plan of Salvation I have never had someone already believe in! It was awesome! Later on we tracked down a few less active members and had some good conversations. It's so sad to see that so many people are willing to fall away for the smallest reasons. 

Thursday- Thursday was bumpin! We had the table that morning and we didn't get to talk to a whole lot of people because there was a table next to us who had people dancing in front of it so it made it a little difficult to talk to people over the  music. After that we had a lesson with Brooklyn, who we tracted into about a week ago. She was awesome! She grew up Southern Baptist and she said that in her house when she was younger you DID NOT talk about the Book of Mormon. We left one with her and she said she would read it and try to make sure she remained open to the idea that it could be true. Which is awesome! That's all the Lord asks of us! After that we had a lesson with our recent convert, Samuel. He's so awesome! We talked about the priesthood and he agreed to start getting ready to receive it! Exciting times! We also met with Olivia. We love Olivia! We talked about the Word of Wisdom. We asked her to live the word of wisdom and she agreed! It was the first time that we have invited her to do something that will push her a little, so we are praying that this will help her to see a difference in her life and help her feel the spirit so she can receive revelation! Lastly we had a lesson with James! He's one of my favorite people. We talked (again) about how God is our loving Heavenly Father and he just was not feeling it. We decided we were going to pray with him and ask if God loves him and so we did and it was so awesome! He said "I saw the sign language sign for love in my head" and we were like "that's awesome!" and he said "well... yeah... but I didn't really get an answer..." I wanted to bang my head against the wall! We helped him see that that was his answer and he left. We were a little worried about how he felt about that lesson until he texted us that night and said "Hey! Tell Lloyd thanks. because of her I realized that I love myself in some weird way." I almost died! I was so grateful. It was awesome. 

Friday- On Friday we had Zone Conference which is where President and Sister Loveland come and talk to us as a group and instruct us. I learned so much about light and how God is fighting our battles. Up until this point in the week I was pretty gloomy, I wouldn't say I was grumpy but I definitely wasn't cheery. Sister Loveland talked about light. She showed us a picture of a landscape and told us to talk about the light in the picture. Sister Sanders and I talked about it and I said "there's only as much light as the hills allow to be there" and right then the spirit was like "Exactly you dummy!" okay, he didn't actually say that but I realized I was only going to have as much light in my life as I allowed to be there. The reason I was grumpy is because I was choosing to only focus on things that made me grumpy. I wasn't allowing light in. It was a really cool moment and I decided to change my attitude! 

Saturday- On Saturday we met with our recent convert, Alec. We had a really good conversation about the priesthood and the responsibilities that come with that. He is really awesome and had a lot of good questions and insights. He agreed to start preparing to recieve the priesthood and also informed us that he and his girlfriend are planning on getting married next year in Ireland and Sister Sanders and I are invited... guess who's taking a trip to Ireland next year! ;) 

Sunday- Sunday was awesome per usual! I love Sundays. Sacrament Meeting was really good and I felt the spirit so strongly. It was amazing! Then after church the second councilor, Brother Cane came up to me and said "Sister Lloyd, I'm calling it in." I was so confused and everyone started freaking out. I couldn't figure out what was happening. He assigned me to give a talk this Sunday on "moms and missionary work" so I'm going to have to do some studying and figure out how I want to tie those two together!

Monday- P-Day! I got a haircut! It's not a good haircut! No pictures will be sent :) Just kidding it's not that bad... but it's not good. 

I have had such an interesting week and the thing that stands out to me most that I want to testify of is that we have as much light in our life as we allow. God always fights our battles and he always provides what we need, whether it's food or blessing or joy it's always there. However, if we are not worthy or if we are ungrateful then we will not see the things that the Lord has placed in our lives to bless us. Allow Him to bless you! Allow yourself to be happy and to see light and to know that God is looking out for you. I love the Lord and I know that he looks out for me! I'm just not always great at recognizing it. "Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause..." (Jeremiah 50:34) Our Redeemer is strong and he will plead our cause! Rely on Him and you will never be let down! I love you all! Have a great week!  

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Pictures! 

Picture 1: I got to see Sister Naegle at Zone Conference! I love Sister Naegle! Picture 2: Sister Sanders and I helped set up for a Cinco de Mayo party! Picture 3: A picture by the MSU Fountain

Friday - The Day Sister Lloyd Died.

May 1, 2017

I feel like I have nothing new to say since I just emailed on Wednesday! But I will try to think of something interesting to write about! It has been raining non stop in Missouri this week. There flood warnings like crazy. It's so much rain. I'm about ready to build an ark. 

Wednesday (fake P-Day)- On Wednesday I was starting to have a tickle in my throat and I sneezed a little more than usual. I went through P-Day doing all of the usual stuff, grocery shopping, laundry, emailing and my zone even got together to play volleyball! While I was at volleyball I had the thought "you're going to get sick this week, but it's okay. You need it." I was confused a little but I thought "I will not be getting sick, I don't have time to be sick." and went on. After volleyball Sister Sanders looked at me and said "hey! Do you wanna go home and get some sleep? I feel, in my heart, like that might be a good idea." I thought it was a weird comment but I never turn down a nap so we went home. Wednesday night we had English class. I came home and took some Emergen-C and went to bed. 

Thursday- On Thursday we did our table at MSU. It was more dead than usual. We didn't really even get to talk to anyone because no one walked by. As the end of semester approaches the foot traffic slows down and usually the only people who walk by are the ones who have to, which means it's the same people every week. We had a lesson and it went really well! Even our investigator said it was a really good lesson! All day long I had a cough and the sniffles but nothing too awful. Thursday was a pretty slow day.

Friday- On Friday I woke up and felt like I got hit by a taco bus. It was the worst. I couldn't breathe, raging headache, fever, the whole nine yards. I walked out of the room and Sister Sanders immediately told me to go back to sleep. Our mission president is huge on not missing a day of work because you don't feel good. He says that a majority of the work that is done in the world is done by people who feel less than stellar. He always talks about a story where he had the flu and he threw up all down the bunk line while he was feeding cows. I told Sister Sanders that I was fine and I would "throw up down the bunk line" she laughed and told me that it was better for me to sleep and get better and go to work later that night or the next day than to make it worse by going out and working in the rain. I said I would go to sleep for a little while longer and she should wake me up if I wasn't awake in an hour. She didn't. I slept for almost 10 hours and she was so sweet. She cloroxed the whole apartment and then did a lot of phone and clarical work so that I could sleep. I woke up and still felt like garbage but we spent the rest of the day doing some planning/ prep work for our Sunday baptism. I felt really bad I didn't work through it but in the end it was a huge blessing. 

Saturday- Weekly Planning! On Saturday we did the rest of our weekly planning and went out and did some less active member finding and tracting! We also went to a lunch for one of our members who is leaving on a mission this week. He had a TON of non members there that he wanted us to talk to! It was so awesome! He is a great member missionary. After that we did some more visits to less active members and just tried to figure out if the people on our ward roster still lived where it said they do. The one downside to the YSA is that they are mostly college students so 1. There's a lot of turnover. People move in and out all the time so it's hard to keep track and 2. Whether the people on our roster stay in our ward or not they move apartments constantly. So it's really hard to find people. We also did some online training. I have finished all of my newby trainings that I needed to get done online so I started looking into some family history. It's frustrating because we can't google anything so I couldn't look up ancestors that I had questions about but I was telling Sister Sanders about how I would love to look into some of the people when I get home. 

Sunday- On Sunday we had church! Church is always awesome. It was "Senior Sunday" so all of the high school seniors who will soon be attending our single's ward came so that was awesome and then a lot of members of the ward brought non members so we were busy all three hours trying to meet and fellowship people. After church I was talking to the new ward clerk's wife, Sister Maughan. I mentioned that my mom's maiden name was Maughan. We chatted and ended up figuring out we connect at our ancestor, Peter Maughan. We talked about that for a while and it was really fun. After church we did some tracting and then went and got everything ready for Samuel's baptism. His baptism was such an awesome experience. He was really well supported and the spirit was really strong. He is the only member in his family now but his parents both came to support him and so that was really neat. He was baptized by Spencer, the member who leaves for his mission this week. They became really good friends and it was an emotional moment for them! After the baptism Sister Maughan came up to me and had a book about the life of Peter Maughan for me to borrow and read when I have time as well as some family history information printed off for me! She said that Brother Maughan said he would put the book on my flashdrive for me so I have it when I get home! It was really neat because just the day before I was telling Sister Sanders that I have a lot of cool family history on both sides that I don't know much about and then BOOM a tender mercy so that I can learn more about that side of my family. God is so good!

This week was short between emails but it was great none the less. This week was a huge testimony builder for me that God knows what we need even when we don't. Whether it's a sick day or a really loving ward clerk and his wife who happen to be distantly related to you. He will always take care of us and give us the righteous needs/desires of our hearts. I am so humbled to be a daughter of a Heavenly Father who is so actively aware of me. I know that he is aware of all of you as well. He loves his children so much. He just wants to bless us. I also know that he has asked us to pray. I have always struggled with prayers. I used to feel a little silly praying because it always felt like I was talking to myself or just whining about things I needed. I used to have very short, insincere prayers when I decided to pray at all. Being on a mission has really strengthened my testimony of prayer because I have had to rely on it so much  more. Prayer is an amazing tool and it only allows Heavenly Father to bless us more. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers and that he blesses us with things we pray for and with things that we don't. I love you all! Pray often! Heavenly Father loves you!

--

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Pictures! I don't have a lot of pictures this week but I do have two! 

Picture 1: Samuel's baptism picture! Samuel is the one next to me and Spencer is next to Sister Sanders. Spencer is our awesome member missionary who is turning into a real missionary this week! Picture 2: Sister Sanders and I got to peek in on a scrimmage game for MSU! Samuel, our (now) recent convert plays for them! He's number 12!

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!

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~Sister Madisen Lloyd