Last
message from Sister Lloyd before she leaves Louisiana to serve in the Sydney North mission. It’s a
long one so grab your favorite beverage and get comfortable!
This is really happening ... OR IS IT ...?
May I say? It has been. The strangest. Most unreal/surreal.
Week of my life.
Last Monday I was feeling a bit overwhelmed AND
CONFUSED after the emails I received from y’all and the letters hinting about
me going to Australia. As you know, I wrote home in my weekly letter that I had
been praying, for the first time, desperately, that my visa would come.
Last Monday night we were having a family home
evening lesson. The Elders had just finished their lesson about overcoming
addictions and the Atonement. They shared the story about a monkey trying to pull
its’ hand out of the cage while holding a nut. It wouldn’t let go so starved to
death.
While Sis L and I were laughing and covered in
kids, we heard our phone ring. When we saw President’s name we shot up and
stepped outside.
Pres: May I talk to Sister Lloyd?
Me: Hello President this is Sister Lloyd! (kids
laughing and screaming in the background)
Pres: No better place to deliver news about your
visa than with people you love, right?
Phone cuts out.
We try calling back 20 times. At this point we are
holding each other up. I can't breathe. I’m hyperventilating and trying to hold
back tears.
Me: President? Hello? Hello?
Pres: Sister Lloyd! Your visa has come and you will
be leaving in 2 weeks, on November 18. Breathe Sister Lloyd! Is Sister L
holding you? Are you holding her? Breathe Sister Lloyd!
Me: Thank you President... thank you thank you
thank you.
Sobs.
At last! This isn't real! This isn't real!
It has been a week of MIRACLES.
Miracle...
after miracle.
And then, some more
miracles.
Remember that quote I sent last week? OHHHHH THE
IRONY!!!! No, not irony. Heavenly Father is incredible!
[Alex had sent a note with Alma 37:40]:
“According
to their faith in God …
They had
this miracle and also many other miracles …
DAY BY
DAY.”
I don't deserve all of these blessings!
Now the confusion. Do I really have to leave my
home? Do y’all know how much I love this place and the people and how much I
love my companion?
WOW.
So many emotions.
Can't express them over email either.
Oh, and family can I just say how wonderful it was
to talk to you?!!! I love y’all so much. Holy cow. Can you sense the weird fog
I have been in this week? I haven't been a mess crying, I just feel like I am
in a dream and this week has been amazing.
Family – one more time for emphasis: it was so good to hear from you! I’ve been
telling Sis L about Café Rio since June and my stomach is growling just
thinkin’ about it! (We were at Café Rio when Alex called us) I’m glad that you
think I sound normal. I mean, I am still ME! and it has only been 5 months! It was so good to hear your sweet voices.
So. I am going to summarize the miracles this week.
DAY BY DAY. YA ready?
MONDAY: (see
above) hehehe
TUESDAY: Sooo…
this was the day my iPod got erased. Two miracles came from that! One, I wasn't
mad at that Elder! He felt so bad anyways that I couldn't be mad. Two, it got
to y’all safely! Also, that was our night to teach M & J. She got your
cookbooks Mama and she loved them! I was trying to hold back tears the whole
night. OK fine, the whole week really. I can't tell you how hard it was to make
those calls on Monday night telling everyone that I was leaving.
WEDNESDAY: OK.
Wow. This day. First off we have been working with a family who are recent converts
and their parents are Baptist – he’s the man in the pic last week cooking
jambalaya. They had us over again this week and we got to go fishing! I really
love fishing even though we didn't catch anything. It was so relaxing and
beautiful. The leaves are finally changing color down here and it is so
peaceful and serene.
 |
| Fishing |
Then, Wednesday night. (careful reading this!) We
got invited to go to the Bishop’s storehouse with some youth, and we thought,
yeah, great idea! Some service and bonding with the youth. So we hopped in the
car and when we got there, we saw some other missionaries from ... the Jackson
Mississippi Mission! [One of Ali’s best friends is serving in this mission.]
So I start talking to the Sisters and asked, hey do
y’all know Sister R by chance?
Oh, I trained her!
NO WAYYY!! :)
Are you the visa waiter? I’ve heard all about you!
Crying. Crying again. Here we go.
She hands me the phone and I see on the screen: “Minden Sisters”
Hello?
Hi, who is this?
ROCHEY?!?!!?
Al Pal! It’s my Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
*sobbing**********
I got to talk to Rochey! What a tender mercy and
miracle!
THURSDAY: We
received several phone calls asking us to come visit and we centered our
lessons around 3 Nephi 12:14-16. It was amazing because although we
started each lesson off with the same scripture, each lesson was directed by
the spirit to meet the specific needs and concerns of the individuals. In
one of our lessons, we shared the conference talk by Elder Dube and it brightened
their day.
FRIDAY: Another
day of miracles. We had zone training this week – the are amazing! I really
appreciated how 'to the point' they were during their instructions. One item
they emphasized is this is our ONLY time to serve the Lord 100% - the time is
NOW!
Friday evening we got a surprise Temple trip!!!!!
:) The Hammond Ward was going and we weren’t scheduled to go. Then one of the members
said, we have room in our car! Get in! We made some phone calls and got to go.
It was such a spiritual and amazing experience to be in the temple with all the
people I love so much. They truly are like family.
SATURDAY: A
lot of wonderful things happened but we ended the day with a fall festival over
at the D’s in Amite! All the missionaries and the branch gathered at their home
where they roasted a whole pig and we had a bonfire and hayrides! I am so
grateful for sweet and wonderful moments like that on my mission.
SUNDAY: I had
to talk, I mean, I was privileged to talk in church! While sitting on the stand I had such of
flood of memories and emotions. I had flashbacks to June when I had only been
there about 4 days and I spoke in church for the first time. I remembered how
nervous I was! The Spirit was with me and I felt like a different person. But
now, with all of the experiences I’ve had in 5 months, I certainly still feel
different but in a better way. One of the lessons I’ve learned here in Louisiana
is how to fully depend on and listen to the Spirit. Guess what my topic was?
Yep, happiness and true joy!
Time for
some insights!
After all that has happened this week, I felt
prompted to study humility and have a reminder of what it means and requires.
In Preach my Gospel, I love the line that states:
"Humility is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of spiritual strength."
In PMG it also reminds us that being humbled will help us be obedient,
which is something that all of us missionaries are striving for each day. In a
talk by President Eyring, He shares a story about a young man preparing to go
through the temple. In Alma 5:26-28, it says:
"And
now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of
heart and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can
ye feel so now?
Have ye
walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were
called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently
humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood
of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins? Behold, are ye
stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet
God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is one at
hand, and such an one hath not eternal life."
This scripture asks to reflect on our own humility.
Are we humble - stripped of pride-stripped of envy-not making a mockery
of my brother - garments cleansed- and do we have a change of heart?
In this talk, Pres. Eyring is speaking about
repentance, but the goal is to "come unto Christ." I know that
humility is part of that- repentance, humility and obedience are intertwined.
This young man was having a hard time knowing if he was forgiven or not.
I love this statement, "You see, it's
hard to feel that you are sufficiently humble. If you did (feel that),
you might not be."
This has been a week of learning, growing, and experiencing
more gratitude than I have felt in a long time. My emotions are
definitely mixed, but above all, I have prayed daily to be humble, give thanks
and to remember to never "boast in my own strength nor in my own
wisdom."
In closing, I loved the scripture in Alma 7:23:
"And
now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be
entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things;
being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for
whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always
returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive."
I want to leave you with a scripture that I LOVE. Romans
8:35—39:
“Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
...
nay, in
all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
For I am
persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor
powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth, nor any
other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord."
And one more thing...
HERE WE GOOOO!!! TO THA LAND DOWN UNDA!!! :)
I LOVE YOU!!!!!! I'LL TALK TO YOU ON MONDAY!
I LOVE you to OZ
and BACK! <3
sista lloyd
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