Hello,
This past week I had the blessing and opportunity to take part in MTE, which is Missionary Training Exchange, and I learned a lot. One of the Assistant's to the President came with Elder Perry and I for a day and was our coach on the exchange, it was a truly great experience and I learned so much from MTE. Part of what we talked about in it pertained to the principle of obedience; it is the first law of everything. Also pertaining to obedience that yes, we know that we are being obedient to the Lord when we feel the spirit, but how can we feel and partake of that spirit more? We can give the little things, I may have shared this before but its truth is undeniable that "we can't give a crust to the Lord without receiving a whole loaf in return" or as one Elder says it, "you can't give a crumb without receiving the whole bakery in return" and that is also so very true. When we give ourselves, when we sacrifice the little things to the Lord, and show Him that we are willing to follow Him and constantly better ourselves, He truly does give us the whole bakery in return.
I've also been studying the principle and doctrine of Hope and there is much to be learned from it and we have so much to hope for in this life. Preach My Gospel says that "hope is an abiding" I'll stop right there, what does abiding mean? It is defined as "firm and immovable, without change, continues permanently" now just consider that meaning as I write the quote. "Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to us". A firm and immovable trust, continuing permanently that the Lord will bless us. There is nothing flaky of iffy about it, Hope is amazing don't you think? It goes on to say that " it is believing and expecting that something will occur" that the Lord will answer us, He will direct us, in His way, maybe not in the way that we want, but the Lord does have a way and He will direct us. Faith and Hope are inseparably connected and as to finish that, Charity is the third leg, they are all connected and in those three things, there is power; the power of the Lord. Elder Neal A Maxwell taught that "being blessed with hope, let us as disciples, reach out to all. . . that as Col 1:23 says let us 'lift the hands which hang hopelessly down'" I know that we can all have hope, hope in our Savior, He can help us, we can be given strength, He can heal us. I know that He lives, I know that through His Atonement, that hope is available for each of us.
I forgot to mention that one of our investigators, Paige, has committed to be baptized and she is truly an amazing individual. She has a thirst for knowledge and truly has the desire, the spirit is there so strong when we teach that I know that my utterances are not my own, it is such an incredible experience seeing the spirit work through me and work within her.
My TOTW comes from Genesis 19:17, It is pertaining to Lot, and the scripture says "And it came to pass, when they brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed" and there is so much that we can take from this scripture but what I want to share is contained within the phrase "look not behind thee" and something that is so true to go along with it, it's impossible to move forward if we are looking back. We can all look forward with faith, having hope, there is no need to dwell on the past or what we left behind, what's important is what's to come and when we look forward to it, with hope and with faith, we can learn and grow and develop into those individuals that our Heavenly Father knows that we can be.
I love you all very dearly and thank you for your support, it means everything to me, it's great to hear from you and I hope that the move continues to go well and that you stay safe. I know that I am doing the Lord's work and I am exactly where He needs me to be. He has entrusted me with His children, I must get to work and labor with all my heart might mind and strength. I love you and keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd
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