G.R.I.T.S.

Well, another great week for Sister Lloyd. She only uses the word bawl twice, beautiful three times and love, well, I stopped counting at 10! Oh, we love this girl!

Hello Wonderful Family!

Can you believe another week has passed? This week I am coming up on two months... wow! So here we go again, and yes, in just one short week, so much has happened ...

Baton Rouge Temple with Youth

One of the members of our ward, Miss B, is my absolute favorite lady! Something that I love about the south is that people tell you things straight up; they do not beat around the bush! She is a sassy, fiery lady and I love her to death. We were visiting with her this week and she just threw in how she had one of Johnny Cash's guitar strings, yep!!! She said, oh yeah! We used to go to Johnny's concerts all of the time growing up!!!

HA! Another funny thing, we are given a monthly budget, right? Well, the missionaries usually save enough so that after District meeting, we can all go out to eat together. Wellll, since no one had any money this week, we decided to have a potluck picnic in the church kitchen! (waaay too hot outside) It was so much fun! I brought some celery and carrots haha. It was neat to have us all come together and share our meal; it was quite the spread! Hey, have I mentioned that I love bein' a missionary? So many blessings!!

I was given time to watch some Mormon Messages this week. Fam, look up the one "Gabe Reid." He is a former BYU/NFL player, and has an incredible story (http://youtu.be/RetZZpXdWgk). Also there is one on an Australian professional rugby player who left his career to currently serve a mission in Brisbane; I bawled through the whole thing. Such incredible faith!!! LOOK THEM UP! ( http://youtu.be/tAheGUPJI8Y)

TWO HUGE TENDER MERCIES/MIRACLES/AMAZING EXPERIENCES!!!

If you can't kiss boys ...

Last Friday we got to go with the youth in our ward to do baptisms. The Baton Rouge temple is beautiful. When we approached the temple, it was surrounded with this steam coming off the pavement. It looked like it was floating on a cloud! Crazy cool, right? Also, there are no basements in LA so that means no font in the basement where they usually are located. It's a tiny temple, but the spirit was incredible. A couple of the stake president's grandchildren came. One is named K and she is my Louisiana-girl version of Llama, I love her so much. She's like my little sister. She has a little brother named R who went to the temple for his first time this weekend. After the baptisms, they were hugging each other and all of the sudden I just burst out bawling!!! I miss my brothers! Boo hoo Sister Lloyd! How embarrassing. Just know I love you so much family and you're always in my prayers.  

She obviously hasn't seen a gator yet or she wouldn't be standing there!

I also got a chance to play TWO musical numbers yesterday! I was asked to come out to a small branch in a nearby city and I got to play on a keyboard! Bless it! Playing and performing has never been about me and it was so incredible to be able to share my talent with people who appreciate and enjoy it. If I can touch someone through my music... well, that's all I ever want. The stake president also got up and announced that the visas for Australia have been put hold for the next 18 months (He was KIDDING!) He is the most incredible man and I love him and his wife and his family so much. BTW, based on my lacking visa, maybe he wasn’t kidding! :D

Last night, I got to play at a musical fireside. It was an awesome experience and I know that music can touch people sometimes when words and other things cannot. So many musical blessings this week. 

Here's something to think about this week as I must go now. We were listening to a talk by John Bytheway in which he said, "notice that there is not, or never will be, a PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD on friends!" It is THE PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD ON FAMILIES!!!  FAMILY IS CENTRAL TO EVERYTHING IN OUR LIVES AND IN THE GOSPEL! Everything that Satan does is with the intent to rip apart the eternal family. We should be doing everything we can to love and serve and strengthen our families.  I am so grateful for you family, and for the love that we have for each other. 

I love y'all more than the gators in the swamps! Keep praying for the missionaries and those we are teaching or have yet to teach!

Huge hugs and kisses to all!

Sister Lloyd

One more thing:  G.R.I.T.S. = Girls Raised in the South – doesn’t get any better than that!

Indoor Picnic

For Whitney!

Best Friend!

F.R.O.G.

Hello to the most wonderful, beautiful and amazing family on the entire planet!

First off, thank you so much for all of the letters, love and support that I receive daily; it is incredible and I am so humbled. It’s hard to explain how much it means to have a connection to home. We are SO BUSY all day long, so it’s WONDERFUL to feel your inspiration and love – thank you!

OK, so... I am still giddy while I am typing this, but yesterday was THE most incredible day! We had one of our investigators bring his daughter to church. It was a monsoon outside and I was really nervous that they weren't going to make it. We were singing the opening hymn and I look over and he and his daughter, hymnbook in hand, are SINGING THEIR HEARTS OUT! I got THE goofiest, cheesiest grin on my face!!! Then, of course, I started bawling. It was so incredible to know that they had felt the spirit in our lessons and desired to come closer to our Savior. The overwhelming feeling of warmth and love from the Spirit hasn’t stopped. I have to ask, why wouldn't everyone want to serve a mission if you get to feel like that???!!! THAT, feeling the Spirit, makes every hard moment sooo worth it.  During one of our lessons, we were reading the Book of Mormon and asking the dad to pray if what he was reading was true. He replied, well yes, I know it's true and then continued to tell us why.... he didn’t realize he was bearing his testimony of the truthfulness of the BOM! Ah! Man! Incredible! 

We had zone conference on Thursday and it was awesome to be able to recharge our spiritual batteries. Our stake pres. shared an amazing story that comes from a “Christian Comedian” Andy Andrews - look it up on YouTube: Hernando Cortez Burn the Boats by Andy Andrews. It’s a story about Cortez the conqueror when he came to the Yucatan Peninsula to obtain the treasure no one else had been able to get for 600 years. It’s a long story and I don't have enough time to explain, but we discussed what he did differently than the previous armies that had tried to claim the treasure. The point of the story is that he prepared his men with a vision of what it would be like when they claimed the treasure and when they got there, Cortez told them to "BURN THE BOATS!" Their only option was to succeed! The only way the men were going home was if on the native’s boats! Failure was not an option if they wanted to return home! How does this concept of having a vision and then giving all that you have, with failure never an option, apply to our lives? Missionary work? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlNngcDNFS0

In the last week and a half, I have been able to do 2 exchanges as the senior companion.  Since I’ve only been here a short time and have NOOOO idea where we are most of the time (there are no landmarks or mountains, just trees haha) I had to be the leader and take charge.  I was extremely nervous, but I pleaded with Heavenly Father to help me through it.  In fact, everyday that is exactly what I do. There is no way that I could even handle a single day without relying on the Lord for strength.  I have never prayed so hard for alertness and strength in my life! It is incredible lying down to sleep each night, knowing that the Lord gave me everything that I needed that day to do His work. 

RELYING ON THE SPIRIT BRINGS MIRACLES! Follow those promptings!!!!

There is a scripture sequence that has comforted me so much in the last week.  It is found in D&C 9:12-14 -  Why would the Lord ask me to serve a mission, give me opportunities to serve and then not give me the strength to fulfill them?! The Lord wants us to succeed because this is HIS work! He doesn't want us to flounder and drown... He NEEDS us to be successful and to be HAPPY! I love these verses - knowing that the Lord has given me sufficient strength to do anything He asks of me.

F.R.O.G. = FULLY RELY ON GOD

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT! Just like our lessons, I am going to extend an invitation to you to read. I am leaving you with a commitment! (I will pretend y'all are saying yes m’am I will!) Everyone reading this is now committed! I KNOW that every person can dedicate 30 minutes in the next week to read the scriptures, and in turn, come to know their Savior, and what he wants you to learn.  I have been doing the "Bednar challenge," where I am reading through the Book of Mormon and looking for strengthening moments, or when a person is changed or empowered by the Atonement. I came across Mosiah 24 and this is your assignment. I want you to read Mosiah 24 this week. You’re awesome!!Well done :D

I love LA and I love the people who I am serving and serving with. I have such a strong testimony that the Lord knows exactly what we need in every area of our lives. For me, my companionship, district, mission and mission pres. Everything is as the Lord wants if we listen and act.

Well, I hope y'all are happy and getting excited for football season! GOOOOOOO SAINTS! Haha! So appropriate!

Please stay safe and healthy. I love you more than all of the frogs in the swamps!

WAKE UP AND DO SOMETHING MORE!

My favorite hymn this week (and always): HAVE I DONE ANY GOOD IN THE WORLD TODAY? HAVE I HELPED ANYONE IN NEED???

Hi beautiful family!!! I love y'all so much!

Time is starting to fly by faster and faster and FASTER! I can't believe that this is my third week here in LA.  Family thank you so much for the letters and LOVE! Whenever I am struggling or feeling a bit discouraged, I think of all the people (millions really!) that are cheering for me! Your support means everything.

I have been so touched with the support and love I have received from back home, and I can't believe all the people (both earthly and beyond the veil) who are helping me succeed. It has been so humbling. My love for the Book of Mormon has grown tremendously while I have been here and has been my source of strength. In my personal study, I put together a list of scriptures that have helped keep me going. Knowing that I can turn to the Lord means everything. There is no way I could do this alone- knowing that the Lord is on my side and is carrying me has been such a comfort to me.  I pray that you, family, and those who are reading this will take time to study a few of these scriptures. I know that they will answer your prayers too, as you have the faith to act.

ether 12:6, 27: witness after faith, weaknesses become strengths

DC 121:7-9: suffering of saints and strength of their testimonies, small moment

DC 112:10: answers to prayers

hel 5:12: ye cannot fall

*DC 6:33-37, fear not, doubt not

DC 27:15, lift up your hearts

pro 3:3-5, trust in the Lord

mos 2:11, chosen by God to serve

mos 4:27, not run faster than we are given strength 

alma 26:12, strength of God in all things

2 neph 4:27, why should i give way to temp.

alma 58:11, peace unto souls, DC 6:23

mos 12:21-23, the Lord has comforted His people

alm 31:31, comfort my soul in Christ

hel 3:35, filling soul with sanctification

DC 31:11, lord guides and direct through promptings

rom 15:4, comfort through scriptures

mark 5:36, the faith to ACT

A little about my week:

We received some referrals and are now teaching an entire family. It was my first real lesson with brand new investigators. I was holding back tears the entire time because the spirit was so strong. Family, THIS IS WHY I AM HERE! THIS is why we need to serve missions! Because we have a knowledge of something so incredible that will CHANGE LIVES! It will help make people's lives so much better as they come to know their Savior and the blessings that we can have if we are obedient and ACT! It's so incredible.

Please pray for all the missionaries entering the MTC this week! Keep the other missionaries in your prayers. Oh, another thing. PLEASE PRAY MORE AS A FAMILY! :) I love praying – I pray at least 50 times a day! It really is one way that we can keep the spirit with us at all times. I love y’all so much!

Our front porch

Churches and cemeteries EVERYWHERE!

Oh KA I love you!

Sisters

Train Station across street from our house - sunsets are glorious!

THE SOUTH! The place where ...

. summer starts in april
. mac and cheese is a veggie
. front porches are wide and words are long
. pecan pie is a staple
. tea is sweet and accents are sweeter
. y'all is the only proper noun
. chicken is fried and biscuits come with gravy
. everything is darlin'
. someone's heart is always bein' blessed