Dear Family,
I hope all is well. It sounds like you all had a great weekend with Adam, Anna and little Nolie! My week was good! let's just say this month can be entitled MIRACLE MARCH:) but I'll get to that in a minute. As for my birthday, i really don't know. . .i don't really need anything besides maybe a new short-sleeve white shirt or two, a tie, and i know this is a silly request but if dad still has that Seiko watch he wanted to give me before. . .that would be nice:) if he got rid of it that's understandable haha. but with the white shirts and ties, that's really all i want/need, just the basics and essentials, it's what i wear everyday and they wear out pretty fast, plus if you get them at Mr. Mac, you'll get 50% off because you have a missionary in the field:), i think you just have to bring my call letter or something to prove that i actually am on a mission haha. Is there anything that Ashley wants or that you want for Mother's day coming up?
Alrighty so on to why this month is Miracle March. Well we know that the Lord's tender mercies are over all His children (1 Ne. 1:20) and how he does indeed provide for His children, everything that He sees fit to inflict upon us-- whether that be blessings, or learning experiences (when in reality they are both blessings, the latter just takes us a little while longer to recognize that it's a blessing haha). Every day the Lord provides miracles, whether within ourselves, our work, or the people that we are working with and i sure have made an effort to keep my "spiritual eyes" peeled these past few weeks and make a conscious effort to recognize and record the Lord's hand in my day, i've found countless miracles that He provides for me. I'll start with Sunday, it was ward conference in both PQ 1 and PQ3 wards and they were completely focused on the Temple, which was incredible, and in the 3rd ward we had Phil, a husband of a Recent Convert we are working with come to church for the second time! and the back story on Phil is that he was one that was completely closed off to the church and to the missionaries when his wife began investigating the church, but he has opened up a lot and we do service on Saturday's at their home and just talk to Phil and he has opened up a lot to us, he's been reading the Bible and he read our heritage and is reading our search for happiness and is in chapter 7 of first Nephi, Phil is a reading machine! We've definitely found that "charity never faileth" and he has come to church and when he heard the talk about the Temple (which when he came the first time, the talks were also about Temples) He knew it was no coincidence, he does not believe in coincidences. so his wife, needless to say is focusing on the Temple, and she even went and did baptism for the dead this past Friday as well too! She absolutely loved it and said the spirit was so strong, she is incredible! Well continuing on with Sunday, right after the 3rd ward we had to jet over to the Black Mountain YSA branch for Oliver's baptism! and he asked me if i would be the one to baptize him, which was again one of the most humbling experiences ever, it was so incredible to see Oliver, the person we met during Christmas who came to church just seeking to fill a need in his life, enter into this covenant with our Father in Heaven and be able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, in his testimony, he said that he could feel the Holy Ghost enter into his heart and he desired all to feel the same way that he did at that moment (which reminds me of Lehi's dream-which I've been reading as a challenge to finish the book of 1 Nephi by Saturday with one of our investigators Jen- but when Lehi partook he desired that his family should come and partake also, that all should partake of the fruit of the tree, or the love of God, or the Atonement- as Oliver had this day and he like Lehi, desired all to partake as well) THEN with that same overflow of the spirit that poured into our hearts we did our best to carry that with us to an appointment we had with Santiago (a Less-Active) and Samantha (his non-member girlfriend), and we talked about the Holy Ghost, it was absolutely incredible, the spirit was so strong as we talked and testified and invited this couple, i learned so much in that lesson about the spirit and how it works. Santiago expressed to us that he wants to be able to feel the fire again and Samantha has expressed that she would like to feel the comfort and guidance that can come from this constant companionship. THEN we went to a mission president's fireside and i was able to sing with the choir and nothing invites the spirit faster than wholesome music and that was incredible! Oh! i forgot that in PQ1 a future missionary (Cole) brought two friends to church and we were able to talk with them and show them around mormon.org and talk about families and testify of how much this gospel has blessed our lives, Marcus and Bella are their names, and we heard that on the way home that Bella was asking how does baptism work with marriage and that she liked that the church is family-oriented. Wow I've been scattered all over the place but that's just a few of the many miracles that have been happening here in Miracle March. I pray that each and every one of you will "look up!" and recognize and record the Lord's hand in your lives, for i know that He is truly there leading and guiding every step of the way. Did anyone have any incredible experiences this past week? I know that this is His work, not mine and i know that when i pray, He hears my prayers and gives me exactly what i need that will help me to more fully become who He knows that i can become. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He truly is our Savior and Redeemer and He loves us more than we can ever imagine because of what He went through for us, i that this Church is true and bear my witness that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God.
and by the way i live to serve another 6 weeks here in Penasquitos and i look forward to every minute of it! There are many opportunities that lie ahead, now it's time to forget myself and "get to work!" as the family adage goes.
Well family i love you all so very dearly and want to thank you all for everything that you do and for your love and support and hope that each of you have a wonderful week and always remember those "tender mercies" and are aware that this truly is MIRACLE MARCH. take care, until next time,
Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd
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