The Great Mosiah Race

June 26, 2017

This week was so amazing! It was really hard and it stretched me as a teacher but I have grown and improved more this week than I think I have so far on my mission. I'm so blessed to have such an awesome opportunity to grow! 

Monday- On Monday we had P-Day! We did all the needful things and had a great day! Sister Moser bought her own bike so we aren't borrowing one from a member anymore which is awesome! After P-Day ended we decided that, because FHE was a pool party, it was probably not ideal for us to go despite all of the non members there. So we started biking around Springfield looking for the less actives on our ward roster.  At one point we were biking and we passed by these two guys who were looking a little sketchy to me and all of a sudden I realized one of them had a gun! He was just taking a stroll with his friend and his gun in his hand. I was a little nervous until I remembered I am a representative of Jesus Christ and that I am 1) protected and 2) supposed to talk to everybody. I said hello and then quickly peddled away. After several hours of biking we finally headed home. 

Tuesday- On Tuesday we had a really exciting day! We adopted a missionary from another companionship for the day because her companion had to go to a meeting in Arkansas and she had no where to go. Her name was Sister Johnson and this was her second week in the mission. We went onto campus and talked to some people and she was so good at talking to people! I was so impressed! We went to a lesson with a girl we have been trying to see for a while. She just kept missing appointments. Finally last Saturday we got a hold of her and she texted us and was like "I promise I really want to learn. Hopefully you can give me just ONE more chance." We were happy to hear she was sincere and told her it was fine. Scheduled the appointment for Tuesday and moved on. When we got to her door her roommate opened the door and said "Hi, Jennifer told me to tell you sorry for wasting your time. She's not interested. Have a great day." It was a little bit disappointing. We moved forward and went to meet Alec at the park where we have his lessons. Our lesson with Alec was so good. We followed up on the talk that we gave him to read called "What Lack I Yet?" and he said he hadn't read it but he was pretty sure he knew what the Lord was going to ask him to give up. I told him I was pretty sure he knew as well. We talked about "CPR" Church, Praying and Reading and how those are the things that will keep you spiritually alive and it was really good. We invited him to pick one of those to improve on. He chose reading. When I asked  him where he was at in the Book of Mormon he told me he was in Mosiah 5. He told me about what was happening and I said "Mosiah is SO GOOD! I need to read it again soon." He looks at me and says "I'll race you." MY RECENT CONVERT CHALLENGED ME TO A SCRIPTURE READING CONTEST! HECK YES! I accepted the challenge and we are now racing to see who can finish first. It's always a good feeling when someone you are teaching has a desire to read and allows you to be a part of it. That night we had a lesson with a new investigator who was really nice! He agreed to start meeting with us and taking the lessons. It was a good lesson. 

Wednesday- On Wednesday we had a lesson with one of our newer investigators, Tobias. Tobias is interesting. He has some very different interpretations of the things it says in the Bible. This week he showed us one scripture that he said was talking about dinosaurs. We were a little shocked and didn't know what to say. But we were REALLY shocked when he disappeared into his house to get his Bible and then came out and read us a scripture and says "You know the pledge of allegiance? This scripture says that that's a load of bologna. All my life I said it until I read this scripture but now I understand that it's a sin." I was so shocked I didn't know what to say, that was definitely not what the scripture was saying but I didn't know how to tell him that. Sister Moser handled it really well and just said "I'm not sure that that's what that is saying, but thank you for telling us." We had a lesson with our investigator, Justin. His mom is a member and so she also cooked dinner for us. We started the stop smoking workshop with Justin and we are hoping that he will be able to kick his smoking habit. That night we were biking home from the institute building and I hear someone yell "NEIGHBORS!" I looked and it came from a group of guys sitting in front of their Frat House. Sister Moser stopped and said hi. We asked them how they were doing and made small talk until one of them says "are y'all ever going to come have a drink with us?" I was worried for a minute until another one (the one who shouted neighbors) slaps him on the arm and says "We have TALKED about this! They are CHURCH LADIES! They don't drink!" and then apologizes for him. I was cracking up and we just said thanks for the offer and biked home. 

Thursday- On Thursday we had a busy day! We biked to have another lesson with Alec and it was really good. We followed up on his scripture reading (I'm ahead of him in Mosiah) and then had a really good lesson on commandments. Later we had a lesson with two of our investigators, Katie and Julia They are very Southern Baptist and Julia informed us that at one of her church camps she "took a seminar on the Book of Mormon!" Awesome. We have had several question and answer sessions with them but we decided that that is no longer going to cut it. We invited them to take the lessons and not just ask us questions. Katie counter offered and said "How about you tell us what you believe and we will teach you what we believe out of the Bible?" Sister Moser agreed. I am very nervous to see how these lessons will start going. Our purpose as missionaries is to teach and not to be taught so it makes me really nervous that we just basically agreed to let her Bible Bash us. Updates to come on that! The rest of the evening was good! We biked around and tried to find some people on the ward roster that Bishop Allphin sent us to find. Overall it was a good day!

Friday- On Friday we did service and that was great as always. We also biked to a lesson on campus that cancelled and then on the way home we basically got caught in a Tsunami! It was raining so hard I couldn't see and the wind just about blew me off of my bike. We hid out in the stadium on campus until it lightened a little bit and then biked home as quickly as we could. It was raining so hard! It was crazy! A little later we met with Justin and taught him the plan of salvation and followed up on his smoking. He is still doing good! After that we had dinner and then a member took us out to go visit some people. We visited a lot of potential investigators and a few less actives. It was a really good day! 

Saturday- Saturday was weekly planning so it was a long day inside. We planned for all of our investigators and planned all of our lessons. Later in the afternoon we got a text from Sister Moser's old companion. She had gone home a couple of transfers ago and was going to be in Springfield with her family and wanted to buy us Ice cream. Sister missionaries never say no to free ice cream! We met them and had ice cream and it was a really good break! After that we biked home and finished weekly planning. 

Sunday- On Sunday we went to church and then we went out tracting with a member. It was a really good, productive time and we were able to get three potential investigators. We gave out three copies of the Book of Mormon and have two return appointments! I felt very blessed. After that we went out biking to find less actives. I was really discouraged because we weren't finding ANYBODY and it didn't feel very productive. Sister Moser was awesome though and kept me laughing so that I didn't want to quit. We went back to the institute for a few minutes before it was time to be in and we figured out how we want to teach the Restoration to our Baptist investigators so that hopefully it will make sense and they won't be able to ask tons of Bible Bash questions. 

This week I have seen a recurring theme, sacrifice. This wasn't a fun theme to see because I definitely felt like it was Heavenly Father telling me that it was time for me to sacrifice something so that I could be a better missionary. I decided I would ask what it is he needs from me and the answer I got was "quit complaining." I realized that Heavenly Father was asking me to stop complaining about what he was asking me to do (namely riding a bike) and to start recognizing that as I did it I would be blessed. I decided I was NOT complaining ANY MORE. Every time I got on my bike I picked a different song and I would sing it in my head as I rode. As I made this effort to be more positive about doing what the Lord would have me do I noticed that I was better able to teach with the spirit. I hadn't been grumpy getting to appointments because my legs or feet hurt or because we almost got hit by people texting and driving and it made all the difference in the world in my teaching. I was better able to discern people's needs and teach to them. I am by no means perfect at this new goal and I need a constant reminder every day to not complain but I am so grateful for this opportunity to make a sacrifice so that I can better meet the needs of my investigators. I am so grateful that I have opportunities my whole life to sacrifice things to be closer to the Lord. I have seen so many blessings come from making sacrifices. I would encourage all of you, if you ever feel like the Lord is asking you to sacrifice something, or you just know something isn't helping you come closer to Him, just make the sacrifice. I promise that God makes it worth it. Thanks so much for all of your love and support! I love you all! 

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

Pictures: 

Picture 1: Sister Moser, Sister Johnson and I! Picture 2: This homeless guy asked us for money, Sister Johnson gave him ten dollars because she is a saint and didn't know we weren't supposed to give homeless people money and later we saw him with a huge bottle of vodka Picture 3: Sister Moser, Sister Pond (Sister Moser's old companion) and I 

Sister Moser and Sister Lloyd- the biking cousins

June 19, 2017

What a week this has been! This was Sister Moser and my first week as biking missionaries! Oh what an adventure it has been! I have a new appreciation for people who ride their bikes everywhere! I have to say that it is fun that I am getting to know the streets better! I might know the streets of Springfield better than the streets of Twin Falls!

Monday- On Monday we had P-Day! We spent a good chunk of the day going to bike shops trying to figure out Sister Moser's bike. On her first day as a missionary Sister Moser was riding in a car to her first area when all of a sudden she saw her bike fly off the bike rack on the back of the car onto the freeway! No one was hurt but her bike is in rough shape so we decided it would be good to get it looked at and fixed up before she rode it. When we took it to the bike shop the guy priced it at $250.00 to get it fixed.... that's basically a new bike. She said no thank you and a member lent us one that she is using until she figures out if she wants to get it fixed or buy a new one or buy a used one. So anyway that was fun! Monday night the missionaries were in charge of FHE! We had a missionary boot camp and we had different rotations about how to do member missionary work in a non scary way. It was really awesome and we have heard several people tell us that since then they have used the things we talked about to share the gospel! It was awesome! We then rode our cute bikes onto campus and talked to people. 

Tuesday- On Tuesday we had an awesome day! We had service in the morning and then we went onto campus. While we were on campus I started talking to this girl about her cute laptop case and then casually worked the conversation to gospel topics. It was a really good conversation! Not gunna lie it was one of my better experiences I have had trying to casually talk to people on campus! We gave her a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment! After that we had a lesson with two of our investigators. Katie and Julia. They are really nice, they just don't actually want to learn. They meet with us and just ask us a lot of questions trying to prove us wrong. It's a little frustrating because we have so much to offer people and so much to teach and they won't even give us a chance. But that's okay. Later that night we had another lesson with our investigator, Brad. Brad is awesome! We showed him President Monson's talk from last General Conference about the Book of Mormon and we asked him what he thought. He said "I wish everyone talked like that! That totally makes sense!" We asked him if it answered any of his questions and he was like "yeah! I'm not worried about Joseph Smith anymore. I thought maybe you guys saw him on the same level as Christ but now I understand that you don't!" I was really excited! We hope to set a baptismal date with him this week!

Wednesday- On Wednesday we started out day by going on campus and talking to people. After that we had a lesson clear across town. We biked like 7 miles there (which I understand isn't that far) and we were both SO TIRED and just dripping sweat. I felt so bad because I can't imagine anyone wanted to talk to this tired, sweaty girl with helmet hair but we had our lesson anyway. After that we had another lesson scheduled but when we got there, they weren't home. Bummer! So we went and tried to visit other people in the area. That night we had two lessons, a dinner lesson with a less active member who is working on coming back and one with our recent convert trying to help him find names to take to the temple. While we were helping him do family history we HAPPENED to figure out that Sister Moser and I are 5th Cousins (once removed but we don't talk about that). We were so excited. We frequently refer to each other as cousin now. 

Thursday- On Thursday we spent a lot of time biking all over Springfield trying to find people on our ward roster that we didn't know. It was not all that eventful. Honestly, the most disappointing thing is biking to find someone, getting there, and having no one be home. It's a bit of a bummer. BUT that's okay. That night we had an awesome lesson with our new investigator, Justin. Justin is the one who used to be an investigator but couldn't quit smoking. We biked to Justin's lesson and he looked at us and with one eyebrow raised said "well, I give you props. That's a long bike ride." We just laughed. We had a really awesome Restoration lesson and talked about priesthood. Our member who was there gave him a blessing and it was really spiritual. He told us that he is excited to quit and he wants to stop smoking. As we were leaving he said "I just want y'all to know that I appreciate y'all coming. I met with missionaries before and I have listened to the missionaries that come to visit my mom, but y'all are different and you have brought me something different that I really needed." I just started crying. It was so good to hear that, at least for him, I was making a difference. After that we biked home.

Friday- On Friday we had Zone Conference which was so good. We talked a lot about joy which is something that is very special to me and it was really cool. We talked about all of the joy that comes from serving a mission. We talked about the joy that comes from being obedient. We talked about all sorts of things. The spirit is always so strong and it is always fun to see missionaries I haven't seen for a minute. After zone conference everything we had planned fell through so we did a lot of biking around and trying to find more people on the ward roster and contacting less active members. 

Saturday- On Saturday we had weekly planning. It is a long day of being inside and staying focused but I always feel so good at the end of it when my whole week is planned. We had one lesson scheduled but it fell through which was a bummer. We did weekly planning so there is not a whole lot to tell about Saturday.

Sunday- Happy Father's Day Dad! We went to church and it was awesome. All three hours were just so spiritual. In Gospel Principles we watched my favorite Mormon Message, about the gardener and the currant bush. Makes me cry every time. We biked around and found a lot of the addresses on our ward roster which was awesome. We only got to talk to a couple of people who lived in them, which is a bummer. After that the bishop and his wife fed us. They are so awesome! Sunday night we had a lesson with a less active member and the spirit was so strong. We showed him the Prince of Peace video. He opened up and told us he is going through a really hard time and when he was watching that video was the first time he felt peaceful and calm in a long time. We had a really good discussion about how Jesus Christ can bring peace and following the commandments brings joy. It was a really good day. 

This week I have been thinking a lot about obedience and the promised blessings that come from obedience. I thought a lot about when I first felt like I should go on a mission and how hard I fought that. I thought about coming on a mission and how much I didn't want to. I thought a lot about waking up at 6:30 every morning and how much I don't want to do that every morning and as I have studied obedience I have been so very humbled. Whenever the Lord tells you to do something it's a commandment and we are supposed to act. I was told to go on a mission and I didn't listen for a long time and the whole time I fought it I was miserable. I finally came on a mission and I was a little grumpy I had to be here. I was happier than when I was disobedient but I still wasn't happy, especially because they were asking me to wake up at 6:30 in the morning (not that early, I know, I just really like sleep). As I have studied obedience and the blessings that come from being obedient it's very interesting to me the pattern that has always been there but I haven't always noticed. We can do what makes us "happy" but if it's not what God wants us to be doing we aren't ever going to be truly happy. We won't ever have joy. If we do what makes us grumpy or uncomfortable momentarily and know that we are doing what God would have us do then we may be momentarily grumpy or uncomfortable, or even angry! But God will always give us joy. We will be happier doing what God would have us do. I love the Mormon Message I mentioned earlier about the currant bush because I have often cried out in frustration and anger "why would you do this to me? I was doing so well!" and then heard the soft reply "I am the gardener here. I KNOW what I want you to be." I am so grateful to be the spirit child of such a wonderful gardener who knows exactly what he wants me to be and who loves me enough to cut me down so that I can fulfill my full potential. I hope y'all feel the same way and are doing everything you can to follow His plan. I love y'all so much and I hope this is a great week for y'all! 

~Sister Maddie Lloyd

 

Pictures!

Picture 1: After Day 1 of biking Picture 2: After Day 2 of biking (we didn't like it quite as much) Picture 3: We also had a lemonade stand where we handed out free lemonade and pass along cards! 

 

--

~Sister Madisen Lloyd

"That's super honest"

June 12, 2017

This week has been a week full of miracles. After weeks like this I am always amazed by all of the little things that Heavenly Father does and how much he is aware of us. I love seeing little snippets of the plan he has for others and I absolutely love when I get to be a part of that plan. Being a missionary is such a blessing. 

Wednesday- Wednesday was prep day which was crazy. I had to take care of things like grocery shopping for staying but Sister Sanders had to get ready to leave which made for a crazy day. By the end of prep day we had it all done. Sister Sanders was packed and I was ready to go for the next week. 

Thursday- Thursday was transfer day and, not gunna lie, I was pretty stressed. I knew my companions name was Sister Moser and that she was coming from Branson and I had met her once but that was all I knew and that was not nearly enough for comfort. When the bus pulled in with her on it I got butterflies and was so nervous but when she hopped off the bus and gave me a hug I immediately knew it was going to be great. Sister Sanders gave me a huge hug and hopped on the bus, I cried, not gunna lie. I was sad to see her go. But it drove away and we went home and got Sister Moser's stuff moved in! The rest of the day was kind of crazy because I was kind of in charge because Sister Moser was new and we don't have a car to go visit people anymore so we did a lot of walking and talking to people. I love Heavenly Father and missionary work has given me a testimony that when you are trying to be productive and do what he would have you do, he will put people or things in your path. The days when nothing is planned always get filled with good things. 

Friday- Friday we started our morning with our usual service which we always love. After that we had an appointment and we could not find a member to come so we walked about two miles to get there, which is fine, except we didn't know where we were going and only had 30 minutes to get there. We were a little stressed. Luckily, our investigator was running late too and we were able to find the restaurant we were meeting at! Our lesson was awesome. We went over the Restoration with him as a review to make sure he understood our last lesson with him and the spirit was really strong. We talked a lot about the priesthood and he had some good questions about that. He was really open and agreed to pray about Joseph Smith and the priesthood. We are hoping to get him on date for baptism in our next lesson! The rest of the day we had a lot of members come out with us to see people, most of the people we had scheduled to visit weren't home. Oh, the life of a missionary. BUT one of our members, Courtney, is super awesome and she felt bad everyone had cancelled on us all day so she bought us Pineapple Whip! (basically Pineapple flavored ice cream, only better) Which was fun. By the end of the night we were so tired we went to bed early! (10:00) it was amazing. 

 

Saturday- Saturday was weekly planning. Normally I hate weekly planning but this week it was so good. We walked through all of our investigators and made new game plans for each of them. We talked about all of our potential investigators and figured out how we can continue to visit them without a car. We game planned everything and I have never felt more organized! It's awesome! While we were updating the area book Sister Moser was looking through the super old area book from when there were two sets of missionaries in this area and found a lot of old sheets about former investigators. We were reading through and a lot of them used to have baptismal dates and just didn't follow through on them. We called a lot of them and ended up setting four return appointments. Two of them for Sunday. We were so excited! Sister Moser called one of the former investigators who was very kind but told us she got her questions answered and was not interested in meeting again, she just "doesn't really care". Sister Moser was quiet for a minute and then said "well, okay! That's super honest. Thanks!" and then ended the conversation and hung up. I was a little shocked and then she looked at me and yells "WHY DID I SAY THAT??? THAT WAS A HORRIBLE RESPONSE!" I busted up laughing because I was definitely confused at what "that's super honest" meant but I wasn't going to say anything. She is a hoot and a half. I love Sister Moser so much!

Sunday- On Sunday we went to church which is always great and then we talked with the bishop. We asked him about his goals and focuses for us this transfer and had a few questions about people in the ward that we didn't know. We also both got blessings. I got a lot of my questions answered and I was really at peace after my blessing. I have been wondering a lot lately why I was supposed to come on a mission. Who was I supposed to meet/ teach? Am I being effective? Am I missing the people I'm supposed to be talking to? A lot of typical missionary questions. In my blessing I was told that Heavenly Father was proud of the work I was doing and that this transfer I would be able to look into the eyes of those I was teaching and recognize that I was sent here to teach them. I was really humbled that Heavenly Father knows me well enough to be able to calm that fear and answer my concerns. After church we went to visit the former investigators we called on Saturday. When we met the first one we talked with him and his main concern was that he smokes and can't seem to kick it. We went over the baptismal interview questions and he passed all of them but that one. We invited him to start meeting with us again and he said he would. I promised him God would help him kick smoking if he really wanted to and he said he did so I am excited to see miracles as we meet with him! 

This week I have been thinking a lot about Heavenly Father. What does He do? How actively He participates in our lives. What his plan is. How I can be a better servant of Him. How I can show Him my love and that I'm trying to do what He would have me do. Lots of things and I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father. I am grateful for how actively I have seen Him participate in my life. I see little miracles and tender mercies everyday. I am also grateful for how merciful He is. I have never been perfect and I will not be perfect anytime soon but He doesn't expect me to be. He just expects me to try to be better. All I can do is my best and that's all he expects of me. I love having a Heavenly Father who knows and loves me perfectly. It makes journeying through this life a lot easier. I would invite all of you, no matter where you're at spiritually, to ask Heavenly Father to allow you to more fully feel His love and see His hand in your lives. It's awesome to take a step back and see him arrange things in your life. I love y'all so much! Thank you for all the love and support. I hope y'all have a great week!

 ~Sister Madisen Lloyd

 

Pictures! 

Picture 1: Sister Moser and I Picture 2: I caught a lightning bug! Picture 3: We named the lightning bug Marcus and put him in a jar 

Transfer Call #2

June 7, 2017

 

This week was awesome! Oh man I am so blessed. It was a week of ups and downs but the Lord is so good! He blesses me so much. This week Sister Sanders and I have been pretty anxious because we knew transfer calls were coming. So we worked a lot and didn't talk about it, that always helps. ;)

Monday- P-Day! On Monday we did all the P-Day things that we have to do to function the rest of the week. For FHE the YSA did a pool party and Sister Sanders and I didn't think it was very productive to go to that, being missionaries and all, so we just went and visited potential investigators. We went to see one named Matt, he was a referral from some elders and when we went to see him he was awesome! We talked about the Book of Mormon and set a return appointment to come back! It was cool! We went to visit another and we met his roommate, Katlyn. She was awesome too! We set a return appointment with her and we plan to go back this coming week sometime! 

Tuesday- Exchanges! On Tuesday we had exchanges. I was in a tripanionship for a day and we were in my area, so I was in charge. I was SO STRESSED. But we lined up a good schedule and it all worked out. We met with Matt again and taught him the Restoration. He was really responsive and open and when we asked what he thought about the Book of Mormon at the end of the lesson he said "Well... it seems legit so far!" I started dying and just bore my testimony to him that it, indeed, is legit. After that we met with Olivia. Olivia is our Catholic investigator. She is so sweet but she is not open. She truly believes the Catholic church to be the true church. We watched Elder Costa's talk from general conference about remaining open to answers and the Book of Mormon and it didn't really make a difference. We aren't sure where to go with her and it's really sad because she is such a sweet girl. Oh well. Not everyone is prepared. After that we had dinner and then we went to a park and talked to people. We saw more lightning bugs and it was awesome! 

Wednesday- Wednesday was an interesting day. We got a call Wednesday morning from President Loveland (which doesn't normally happen) and he told us that some sisters in another area needed our car at least until transfers. So we drove across town and gave them our car. I feel like I'm learning how to be a missionary all over again because all of a sudden it is much harder and more time consuming to get places and see people. We did a lot of visiting people and some tracting and it ended up working out really well but we walked more than we normally do and, not gunna lie, I've gotten used to riding in a car so it wasn't my favorite. However, I am learning to like it more! It helps me be outside and we have ended up talking to way more people because we are out walking instead of driving in a car. Overall, Wednesday was a slow day of learning how to adjust.

Thursday- Best. Day. Ever. On Thursday we got to go to the Kansas City temple. All the missionaries in this area woke up and met at the church at 4:45a.m. and hopped on a bus to drive to Kansas. It was such a good day. The temple is amazing and I have missed going as frequently as I used to. After the temple we were standing outside and President Loveland all of a sudden goes "well... who wants to go to liberty jail?" Because that's something that you just casually get to do when you live in Kansas/Missouri. Coming from Idaho that was very foreign to me that we could take a twenty minute drive to go visit church history sights. So we went to Liberty Jail and took the tour and it was so neat. I felt the spirit so strongly. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. After the jail tour we hopped back on the bus and drove home just in time to get to our apartment and go to bed.

Friday- On Friday we had a good day! We went out with the Relief Society President for a little while and tried to visit some people, not a lot of people answered, one person answered in their pajamas and asked us to "schedule an appointment next time" but we sure tried! We did get to talk to a potential investigator named Connor. He was awesome and he had such a strong testimony of God and that God led him to Springfield and just that God is aware of and has a plan for each of us. We invited him to meet with us and he said he would be interested but he needed to think about it, which is okay. That night we went onto campus and there was literally one janitor that we saw and that was all. Summer break, go figure! After that we walked to the park and did some chalking and talked to people. 

Saturday- On Saturday we started our day with some service. We normally have some elders in the are that do our Saturday service with us but they couldn't come so the lady we were working for told us we needed to "suit up" because she had some "elder jobs" for us to do. It was literally just carrying loads of wood and tile downstairs. I was only mildly insulted that she didn't think we would be able to handle it. BUT we got it done and she was very happy. The rest of the day was weekly planning so it was a lot of planning and doing paperwork in the apartment. That night we had some dinner and went to visit one of our investigators who wasn't home and then finished planning. 

Sunday- Sunday was a really really good day! We went to church which was awesome and it was fast and testimony meeting! I love fast and testimony meeting. Sister Sanders bore a great testimony about how God is in charge and if we are following him we never need to worry. She ended by, basically, telling the ward goodbye which was really sad. We didn't know for sure what would happen, but she's been here for six months which is almost unheard of in our mission so we were pretty sure she was leaving. At the end of Relief Society it was so sweet. The girl who gave the closing prayer, Latea, took a minute and just thanked Sister Sanders for the wonderful work she has done in this area and told her how much they would miss her. After that she looked at me and said "Sister Lloyd, we want you to know we appreciate and love you too. We know how hard both of you have worked. We don't know what's going to happen but we want you to know we sustain you. Whatever happens, we have got your back. We love you." Needless to say, Sister Sanders and I cried. We have such great members. After church we decided to go visit one of our investigators who we haven't been able to get a hold of for a while. She lives about a mile and a half away so we started walking and when we were about a quarter mile away, it started raining. Bummer. We finished our walk and when we knocked on the door a woman we had never seen before answered the door, looked at us and said "oh no." She came outside, closed the door behind her and proceeded to say "I do not believe in your religion. I understand what you are doing but my daughter doesn't need this. Please do not come back." We left and were pretty disappointed but were able to laugh about it and have a good conversation. All of a sudden it just turned into a downpour. I'm talking streets flooded, can't open your eyes because it's raining so hard. We just started laughing as we continued to walk. It was that quintessential missionary moment where your investigator just told you to hit the pavement and it rains on you the whole way home. We made the best of it and were able to laugh as we walked. We were about halfway home and some members pulled off the road and offered us a ride, we were so grateful! Tender mercies. The rest of the night wasn't terribly interesting. It stopped pouring so we were able to go visit a few more people and then we did training and went to bed. 

Monday- Monday we had District Meeting which was so good! We talked about being bold and helping people to recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ rather than a bunch of kids running around with name tags. One of the things we talked about was making sure that you ask questions that are a little bold and thought provoking "Do you think you are as happy as you could possible be?" "What if Christ's true church were on the Earth, would you want to be a part of it?" "If God had a message specifically for you and your family, would you want to hear it?" Things like that. It was a really good district meeting and I got a lot of ideas I wanted to try. After District Meeting we went on campus and talked to people. I saw a lady standing and waiting for the bus and I went to talk to her. I asked her if she was as happy as she could possible be and she said she wasn't sure. I told her about the Book of Mormon and promised that it would bring more happiness to her life if she would read it. She took it and said she would read it! I was so excited. After that we went to visit a few investigators and check up on them. Then we had FHE, a blood drive. I love donating blood (or at least trying to) and missionaries are allowed to so I tried to donate. They got me all hooked up to everything and it didn't work so I couldn't donate. But hey, I tried. While I was donating Sister Sanders talked to one of our investigators. Turns out he is not interested at all. He was just being nice and when we asked him to pray and he said he did, he actually didn't, he just didn't want to disappoint us. I was really bummed when Sister Sanders told me that, so we won't be meeting with him anymore. That night we went home and hoped on our weekly confrence call where the Loveland's talk to us and they told us transfer calls would be happening a day early. That the Lord was trusting us to continue to work hard for that day after and we would find out that night instead. Sister Sanders is leaving, she is headed to Greenwood, Arkansas. I am getting a new companion tomorrow. Her name is Sister Mozer. I am really sad to see Sister Sanders go but I am excited to learn new things from someone new. Sister Mozer and I are going to have a great time in the Springfield, YSA. 

Tuesday- Tuesday we had a lot of appointments lined up and we had a lot of appointments cancel. We were sad. But we had a really good first lesson with a new investigator, Brad. He is awesome. He has a lot of questions about Joseph Smith and the Priesthood but he seems really sincere. We are excited to teach him. We asked him if he would be willing to be baptized when he comes to know that the Book of Mormon is true and he accepted! We were pretty excited about that! After that lesson we spent the rest of the day trying to visit investigators an we did my last day of training as a missionary, that's right. I'm official now. Sister Sanders spent the hour we had before bed packing and I cleaned because I didn't know how else to be helpful.

This week was awesome! Sister Sanders and I have been studying a talk called "The Fourth Missionary" and it talks a lot about being a consecrated missionary and all of the blessing that come as you diligently strive to do what the Lord asks of you and the consequences that happen when you don't. Something that really hit me while we've been studying is what is described as the third missionary. The third missionary is someone who does what they have been asked to do, because the Lord wants them too, but they are a little bitter. They go tracting at 3:00 in the afternoon on a dusty road in the heat of summer or the snow of winter and think about everything else they could be doing. They still serve a good mission, they are still succesful but they never let it change them and they never feel fulfilled. It says in the talk that they always look for happiness in what is coming next and by doing that they choose never to be happy at all. That really hit me as a missionary, but also just as a person. If we are always going to church, fulfilling our calling, serving, whatever it may be just because the Lord wants us to but we decide to trudge through it so we can finish and be happy doing what we want to do then we will never be happy. True happiness comes when we align our will with God's and do what he wants us to do because we want to do what he wants us to do because we know it will bring happiness. I am definitely preaching to the choir here, I am the first to admit that I came on a mission expecting to trudge through the next eighteen months of my life and I was a little better and had my sights set on the end date when I could go back to doing what I wanted to do. But so much joy has come as I have realized that this is where I was supposed to be. I want to do what God wants me to do and it's what is best for me. I feel so blessed to be here. and grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow. Thank you all for loving and supporting me as I learn. I love you all so much! Have a great week!

~Sister Lloyd

Pictures! 

Picture 1: We did Kung Fu on a park toy! Picture 2: I was really focused. Picture 3: After our Sunday Swim (walking home in the flood) Picture  4: Another MSU bear 

 ~Sister Madisen Lloyd

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