Dear Family,
I suppose I'm writing much earlier than I have in the past couple of weeks but I hope that all is well with you and look forward to hearing from you next week. A little update on the past week, still a little bit slow, but keeping busy, and each day is a new day and the sun is still shining in Alpine, well most days at least. We've had some good rain storms the past little while, and it gets pretty cold in Alpine, probably nothing like it is in your neck of the woods, but a little bit chilly. I thank you for sending your talks, I received them last week and have been reading them, well, I've started with dad's and I'm still working on reading it and it is wonderful, I am still working on my "third brick".
This past Sunday we were able to attend ward council and the conversation went a little like this. Bishop " so, sister x, and brother x (the YM/YW presidents) is that fireside still on for tonight?" Brother and sister x "it sure is" Bishop" elders are you prepared?" Us "...of course. . ." Bishop and YMYW presidents "oops, sorry we forgot to tell you that you are our speakers at the youth fireside tonight, are you free to do that?" Us-"we most certainly are". So, Elder McGee and I got to speak at a youth fireside Sunday Evening and we spoke about some aspects that helped us prepare both physically and spiritually to serve missions. Now, we did not focus on the primary/seminary/Sunday school answers to that question, we focused more on some unique aspects, events that helped us prepare to serve the Lord. Lo, and behold the very first thing that came to my mind (dad, you'll be pleased with this one) was golf. Granted, most of the kids reactions were "how on earth did golf prepare you to serve a mission??" to me the answers to that question are- it helped me in so many ways I can barely identify all of them. Golf taught me many principles and attributes that one must either acquire or learn while on a mission, one of which being patience- mainly with yourself. There are those days when you just can't seem to get the ball off the ground let alone in the hole in enough strokes to break even. as are days in the field, there are those days when no one is home (or answers the door) that no one seems to be receptive, but learning to be patient with yourself, knowing that there is a new hole after this one, a new day a new door, a new person, it brings peace and comfort. There is also accountability-in golf, you keep your own score, it's you against yourself, who's going to know if you shave a few strokes off that past hole? YOU WILL. as it is in the mission, we have accountability to ourselves, our leaders and the Lord. we will know if we really put all our efforts into our day, if we truly did all we could do, more importantly than that, the Lord is aware of that as well.
I guess those are just a few points that I covered concerning that topic, there were certainly many more aspects and many other things that helped me prepare physically and spiritually for my mission, but as I have limited time, I will save those for a later date.
But I was also reminded of the story that was shared in conference a while ago and by John Bytheway when I went to a fireside that he spoke at. He brought up the $5 job story of the boy and the duchess, that day he spent all day working, leveling, trimming, weeding and giving all of his time to be able to do a $5 job which he chose the amount he got paid. He was determined to accomplish a $5 job, as am I with being in the service of the Lord, I truly want this experience to be a $5 job, looking back, doing all that I could do, always doing one more thing and putting everything that i have into every minute of every day, and at the end, I choose how much it was worth. That's the goal, to be a $5 job missionary, even more so than that. to be obedient in every way, to work hard every day and to follow the spirit without delay.
I thank you for your support and encouragement and your prayers. I have also been studying my conference notes alongside with the general conference issue of the Ensign, we are so blessed to be able to have such a wonderful gift at the tips of our fingers and I know that President Monson is a true and living prophet and he leads and directs the church today, and I also know that the Savior is at the head of this church and it is His church, it is true and I know it with every fiber of my being. daily I am blessed to be able to be serving the Lord and I thank you for allowing me to have this wonderful experience. I love you all dearly and hope and pray that you have a wonderful week.
Love,
Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd
TOTW -look up the song "a window to His love" it has been in my mind and heart the past while and is truly an amazing song some of the words that stand out to me are found within the chorus of the song:
A window to His love,
A doorway to the truth,
A bearer of the message,
He'd have me bring to you
And with each passing day,
I want to fade away,
Till only He, can be seen,
And I become,
A window to His love
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