Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Aarons email April 24, 2012

Dear Family,
 
i didn't receive an email from anyone in the fam this week. . . i hope all is well and that everyone is still happy and healthy and enjoying life and work and school and life in general:) We got word today about transfers, and i will be picking up my new companion tomorrow morning at transfer meeting, Elder Saager has been here in PQ for about 7 months, and it's been such a blessing to be his companion during a portion of that time. He will certainly be missed and i learned so much from him. He is an incredible missionary, he exemplifies charity, kindness and diligence, he is an extremely hard worker and we have had some incredible experiences together while serving in the 1st and 3rd wards here together. There are many emotions that i feel about receiving a new companion and taking over an area, but one of peace and confirmation from the spirit that this transfer has been prayed about and pondered about and has been confirmed upon President Clayton's mind and heart about how right this is. I hope school is going well and i want to thank everyone once more for the birthday wishes, they were incredible and i will hopefully be sending that package sometime within the near future, i do apologize i am terrible at getting to the post office haha.
 
AWESOME APRIL update!!
the past seven days once again have been filled with miracles and incredibly awesome experiences. I'll start off with Samantha and Santiago, we have i believe 3 lessons with them in the past week to update you with one of which we reviewed the restoration of the gospel and about President Monson and upon asking her if she will follow the prophet she replied, "i figured that was a give since i've decided to get baptized" haha she is incredible and i probably already updated you all on that one but another lesson we were able to teach at the Temple and we taught the law of tithing and she said that while she was in there, in the silent moments, she felt like she was "on a cloud", she couldn't explain how she was feeling, we immediately identified the spirit and bore witness to her and the temple president then stopped by our lesson and taught a little bit about the Temple and she received a lot of information about the church that day, but she expressed to us that she feels really good about it, she "gets" the law of tithing and the law of the fast and paying fast offerings, it just "fits" wow how humbling and incredible it is to be able to share the gospel with such an individual. Yesterday we were able to have a lesson with her about the Word of Wisdom and to be honest, the spirit beat us to it again, both she and Santiago expressed to us that after the first time they met with us they started living the word of wisdom, staying away from and keeping those substances in their lives and they have already felt the truthfullness and the promise of the word of wisdom, they testified that they indeed have been able to feel the spirit more, they have been able to "run and not be weary, to walk and not faint. . . and recieve great treasures of knowlege. . ." Samantha expressed to us that since she started meeting with us, since she accepted her baptismal date, things have just "fell into place" and what a miracle it has been to see both her and Santiago grow in the gospel and begin to truly experience the true JOY that comes from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her baptism is this saturday and she has asked me if i would be the one to perform the baptism, i was speechless again, it's truly a humbling experience and i know that this is the Lord's work and He is in each and every one of our lives, looking out for us and leading us all along the way. I have learned so much when teaching, countless times i have said things i didnt' know i could say, related things and i know it was all from the spirit, he is the driving force of this work, not me, not us as missionaries, but the Holy Ghost. We also had a really cool experience. We were also able to meet with Herbert this past week, and he has been meeting with missionaries for 7 years and upon watching a mormon message about the word of wisdom and testifying he asked "what do i have to do, give up coffee? done!" Herbert committed right then and there to live the word of wisdom and he expressed to us that he enjoys the gospel, he is liking church more and more as he comes more often. just yesterday we left a member's home and began talking to his neighbor who was out doing yard work and he is from the Phillipinnes and he met with missioanries a long time ago and he remembered how they taught him how to pray and he still to this day "prays like mormons do", because he feels better, he feels more peacefull when he prays as he was taught and we asked if he read the book of mormon and he replied that he did, but when moved to the US he lost his copy and we were able to provide him with another copy and the Restoration DVD. This morning, we got permission from our mission president to go and help teach seminary early morning. what an incredible experience that was! we were talking about Jeremiah 16:16 and how all are and that we are all "fishers and hunters", we were able to share experiences and our testimonies of this restored gospel, what an incredible bunch of youth are in the church today, they are going through a lot more than even i went through at their age and they are standing steadfast in the gospel. This work is and will continue to move forward and i know that this is His work that He lives and love each and every one of us.
 
Also! we were having dinner with some members in the 3rd ward and their son, who is the deacon's quorum president shared with us his incredible missioanry experience of a few days ago. he was sitting in class learning about world religions and about Moses and the 10 commandments and his teacher just breifly mentioned the church and Thomas's classmate (that's his name) leaned over to him and asked him about the church, now Thomas sits in the back corner of his class and he -always being ready keeps a copy of the Book of Mormon in his backpack pulled it out and - started talking to and teaching his friend about the church, explaining that we teach the same things that Christ taught when he was on the earth. How amazing!! AWESOME APRIL
 
Also, i would like to know if anyone has had any experiences they would like to share? please feel free:)
 
Well family i am out of time and i want you to know that i love you all and i know that this is Christ's church once again upon the earth with the gospel, the way, prepared that if we follow and live it, we have the promise of returning to live with our father in heaven.
 
love,
Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

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