September 3, 2013
Hello Wonderful Family!
As you probably already
know, this email is extremely late ... SO SORRY! Yesterday was Labor Day
(obviously) and the library was closed where we do emails. I hope you can
forgive me!
We have had another
jam-packed and wonderful week. I am so grateful for the time that I have here
in Louisiana. Everyday, I fall in love with my area even more. I love the
people that I am serving with, I love our ward, and I love Louisiana! I know
that one day I will make it to Australia, but I feel pretty lucky to give
everything I can, right here, right now.
So, I don't have much
time, but here are some random highlights from the last week:
C was baptized!!! It was
such an awesome experience and I was so grateful to be a part of that with her
and her family. I love little C; she was so emotional and the spirit was so
strong you could feel the love in the room. There is no greater day than when a
child of God chooses to be baptized. I love the C family; there is so much LOVE in that family! Before I left on my mission, I was so worried that I wouldn't ever feel
like I was at "home" and that I would miss family terribly. But I have
been reminded that the spirit of joy,
peace and love is what makes us feel “at home.” This feeling of love and home
and family is something we can experience wherever we are. Even though I am in
LA, and even when I am in Oz, I know that I will be comforted and feel at home
with my ward "family" because of the love and spirit that is there.
Which leads to my next
thought: I cannot even describe the grin that has plastered my face
since hearing that E and B [Alex’s cousins] are getting baptized!!! Huzzah!!!
The church is true and God DOES answer
prayers! I have been praying and fasting, pleading with our Heavenly Father
that if I work my hardest and am obedient, that our family will be taken care
of back home. At times it is a little frustrating because I am not physically
there to influence or talk to anyone at home, but I know that the Lord will
take care of my loved ones. That is something incredible about missions and,
well, "real" life too. We can have peace
knowing that everything will work out
the way the Lord intends. Even when things are hard, we can at least
say that we know that it is the Lord's plan for us to make us stronger and draw closer to Him. I am so proud of you
little cousins; I love you, and your Savior and Heavenly Father love you so
much and are so proud of you for making this decision. We always say that faith is an action word; that we have
to "act" by getting baptized. Through this act, we show Heavenly
Father how much we love Him and want to return to live with Him again by
following the example of our elder brother Jesus Christ.
Miracles abound! In 1 Nephi 1:20, it talks about recognizing the
"tender mercies of the Lord." Sometimes it is hard for me to
distinguish between tender mercies and miracles because they are all so
incredible!!! I know that as we actively strive to recognize them more in our
daily lives, it will certainly seem as if we are receiving more of them. If you look for the miracles, you will find
them in every hour. The Lord blesses us for looking, acknowledging and
thanking. In last month's Ensign
it talks about ingratitude being one the
greatest sins; I hope that we will never be ungrateful. Remember to
thank the Lord, for it is often through these trials, if handled with faith and
humility and relying on the Savior, our weaknesses
can become our strengths. Awesome.
Here’s another answer to
one of our prayers: We have a new investigator (: We have been praying so hard
that we will be able to find more people to teach, and last week we received a
referral and were able to teach about the Restoration! It has been a while, and
I was so humbled. It also reminded me that we should never be slothful and always study our hardest and prepare for when
those moments come. The spirit was strong and she agreed to have us over
again.
I love this month’s Ensign! I love the First Presidency's
message about being a saint in all
seasons. PLEASE take time to read the Ensign!
A little food for thought: if Abraham or
Moses were writing articles each month, don't you think that you would drop
everything and read them as soon as they came in the mail? How are the modern
prophets any different?
I am still in awe from the
spirit and blessings that came from our service work last week. Sister L
and I have been praying that we will be able to find more opportunities to serve because we were so touched by our
zone service project. We know that there are lots of people to serve, but I
guess we just haven't been going about finding them the right way. The next
day, we were able to meet with a member of the ward and she said that through
her work, she knows of many service opportunities, connections, and
organizations through which we can arrange some service. She promised
to keep us busy with service! This answers another one of our prayers; to find
more investigators! I know that if we serve people, the opportunities for more
service will grow exponentially. The Lord will place people in our path.
Have I mentioned that I am
so, so humbled and grateful to be a part of this great work? I have been
studying the story of Ammon in Alma 17-18. He is a perfect example of
service in the Book of Mormon. He went to the king and told him that he wasn't
there to teach, but he was there to be his servant. Then, skipping over a bunch
of details like gettin 'er done and
slicin' off some arms (sorry, read it I don’t have time for details) does
Ammon go to the king and boast? NO! He is off tending to the king's horses!
Because of this service, the king's "countenance" is changed and his
heart is softened to where he is receptive to the spirit and can be taught. The
king is curious and ready to hear his message. All of this change, AFTER AMMON
SERVES HIM. Please read this chapter this week!!
In closing, here's a
pretty darn good quote from our pal, Batman: "Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."
My comp says something similar, “why do we get lost? So we can learn how to
find our way back.” Our mortal life is to gain experience, so that we can
learn. Like Mum said in the message from stake conference, this is the laboratory for the making of saints. We
can't grow and become perfected unless we are faced with opposition, make
mistakes, and get back up and move forward. The Ensign article Saints in all Seasons talks about that. Sure, it is
awesome to have pretty blue skies and a nice breeze most days. I know that
especially on the mission, those days are needed and oh, so welcomed. BUT, I
wouldn't appreciate them unless there were some days that were scorching hot
and humid and we were rejected and cancelled on all day. OPPOSITION IN ALL THINGS.
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I know that I am supposed to be out here in
Louisiana and I feel so blessed to have the chance to get to know these people
and learn from their actions and testimonies.
Another chapter I would
love for you to read is Alma 43;
man, I love the Book of Mormon! Why are the Lamanites are afraid of the
Nephites? Because of their ARMOR. Because they were PROTECTED AND PREPARED; physically and spiritually. Read up, I'm
out of time.
I love y'all so much. Stay
close to the spirit and find your strength in our Savior. Don't worry about me,
I'm doing fantastic AND I’ve got work to do!
Love you more than all the
mosquitoes in the swamps!
Sister Lloyd
 |
| Llama gettin' a lift after the VHS game! |
No comments:
Post a Comment