Dear Family,
My apologies for the shortened letter the past week, hopefully this
week will be a tad bit better. I thank you for all of your support and
kindness and wonderful letters of love and encouragement and i just have
to say mom, i know with all my heart that you are extremely close to
the spirit because that quote of small and simple things, from Alma
teaching his son Helaman, has been on my mind for the past little while
and i have been studying that recently, i know that is an answer to my
prayers and i thank you for always living close to the spirit. i will
certainly keep Ashley in my prayers, she has been on my mind lately as
well, and i will be sending the memory card hopefully soon, if not by
next week that will have a video of a musical number that Elder Perry
and i performed at a Spanish fireside on her birthday. The video is not
the actual performance, but our practice a few days before, i was
thinking about her a lot on that day and i hope and pray that all is
well. Never give up, it's never too late or we are never too far off for
the Savior's arms of mercy are and always will be extended to all of
us. The party sounds like it was a blast! and i will be sending a
package hopefully soon as well with the shirts and some other gifts for
ashley's birthday and mother's day combined haha.
AWESOME APRIL update! so i already gave you the update with what
happened this past sunday, it was an incredible fireside and completely
in spanish and Elder Perry played the guitar and i backed him up singing
"soy un hijo de Dios" en espanol. it was an incredible experience and
Santiago and Samantha (whom we are teaching and also speak spanish) were
able to make it as well and they said it was incredible, they loved it!
Santiago and Samantha had us over for dinner on my birthday and they
got me a cake! don't worry pictures will come, and we were able to have a
lesson with them that evening as well. It is absolutely an incredible
experience to be able to witness such changes in a person's life when
they take hold and grasp the Gospel, when they "hold to the rod" and
press forward with a perfect brightness of hope and taste of the love of
God. The Gospel is so simple, as we shared last night for Elder
Saager's birthday dinner with a recent convert family in the 1st ward:
it's like a recipe. Now let me explain, you all know that i enjoy
desserts, i enjoy even more the baking process and cooking in general,
with a recipe, in order to achieve the desired results, we must follow
what the recipe tells us and if we do, we can have confidence that we
will end up with a delicious end result. There are certain steps we have
to take in preparation and throughout the baking process that lead to a
tasty treat. seeing that picture of the product causes us to work hard
and focus diligently to make our food look like that picture. As it is
with the Gospel, in order to achieve the desired end result, or the
celestial kingdom, we must follow the recipe, or the live the first
principles and ordinances of the Gospel. As we make the necessary
preparations and excersize faith in our Savior, make necessary
corrections in our lives through daily repentance, make the covenant of
baptism and recieve the Holy Ghost and continue on the path to endure to
the end, we are promised by the Father in 2 Nephi 31:20 that we "shall
have eternal life"- the sweetest and most desirable end result there is.
As we follow the recipe that has been laid out before us, as easy or
difficult that it may seem to us at times, it will be worth the work in
the end. That scripture i quoted also directs to do many other things,
but we must also contnue to "feast upon the words of chirst. . .for the
words of Christ will tell [us] all things what [we] should do" also
32:3. That book contains the recipe for our eternal happiness and as we
read it and live by it's precepts, we will come closer to our Savior and
be prepared to enter into His presence. Samantha is also preparing for
her baptism on the 28th of this month! it's coming quick but she shared
some incredible experiences with us she said "on my first day coming to
church, i felt really good, i felt like it just fit, like it was a good
fit" to this we inquired to her prayers and she knows that God has
answered her prayers and she feels that she is on the right path. What
an incredible blessing it is to be able to help these two come closer to
our Savior all while i am doing the same along the way. We also had a
lesson with Korena and Jay and her family, the family we started
teaching because of David Archuletta. it went well, Korena certainly has
a sincere heart and she began reading from the Book of Mormon and read
the pamphlet we left and watched a portion of General conference as
well, she truly desires to learn and come closer to Jesus Christ and we
taught her more about the Book of Mormon and as she reads to focus on
the feelings that she has as she reads and pray to our Heavenly Father.
She expressed to us that she feels lost at times, in life, and has been
praying for a while, and she also said that ever since we came by we've
been on her mind, that she has been wanting someone to knock on her door
to tell her "hey this is the way!" she said us being there was an anwer
to her prayers as well, how humbling this past week has been! We are
also working with Herbert to prepare him for baptism and an eternal
marriage to his wife, who is a member, he has been through many
missionaries and we know that he is close to the spirit and simply needs
to live the gospel, to "experiment upon the word" and put it to the
test for himself to recieve his answer. what an incredible experience it
is to be on a mission! This is the Lord's work and this is His Gospel!
He Lives!
This past week in sacrament meeting we recieved "the formula for
success" now we learn this from the scriptures that this pattern and
equation truly brings success in our lives, are you ready for the
formula? it is D+D+D+D+D+D=S, now let me explain, it all begins with
Desire-when we desire something, like desire to follow the Savior it
become Determination and we are resolved in our desires and we then
accquire Diligence in our efforst and seek the Savior and never give up,
we have Dedication to follow Him and become like Him and have
Dispcipline to put off the natural man and become a saint through the
Atonement of Christ, ultimately this leads to succes, it leads to
eternal life. This formula, when applied in every aspect of our lives
will bring success to each and every one of us.
Dad-how is the man you have been working with on reactivating and
bringing back to partake of the Atonement? Also how is the
recent-convert family doing? I hope and pray that all is going well in
the work and with your work in Midway as well.
Mom-how is school? are your children behaving? again thank you so
very much for your thoughts and prayers on my behalf, and again for
being so close to the spirit
Send Ashley my love and let her know that she has some presents
coming her way in the next little while! she is amazing and i hope all
is going well with her job!
Adam and Anna- Thank you so much for the wonderful gift, the card
is the cherry on top! i hope and all is well with Linkin and and Nolie
and school and work and i hope and pray that all are happy and healthy
and know that i love and care about you and keep you in my prayers
i combined some questions and thoughs for sake of time, i hope
that's ok for this week! Well family i love you dearly and i hope and
pray that you all have a wonderful week and i know i have been slacking
but, has anyone had any spiritual/missionary experiences they would like
to share? Thank you for all that you do and for your exceptional love
and kindness, i will continue to keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Know that i love this gospel with all my heart and i know that it is
true with all my heart as well. Christ lives and loves us, he is never
far from each and every one of us, the power of God is only a prayer
away.
Love,
Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd
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