Dear Family,
It's great to hear from you! it sounds like great things are
happening in your life and in the lives of those whom you associate
with! I know that sometimes in life we are in circumstances taht we
cannot control, for this i would recommend reading Elder
Bednar's article in the Ensign about "the enabling power of the
atonement". We may not be able to change our circumstances, but we can
pray for ourselves to be able to adapt, to call down the powers of
heaven in our own lives and be able to access that power
that can truly change us. Just like i once heard "when you change the
way you look at things, then things around you change" :) that was told
to me by a very wise mother, and sometimes i know that it's hard to
change the way we see our circumstances, but He
can help us to be able to do more than simply "grin and bear it". Dad,
it was so wonderful to hear about your experience at your meeting the
other day, it sounds like to me that your testimony of the Rescue was
strengthened an hundred fold, and that you understand
the wide impact of a friendly hand outstretched to others. It also
sounds like you have an incredible ward mission organization and a solid
team of missionaries and i know that they each have their individual
talents to contribute and you will see miracles,
i can promise you that. I look forward to hearing about all the
wonderful things that begin to happen in the Midvale ward! and Steve
sounds like an incredible person, all of these individuals will be able
to help the ward mission and help the kingdom to be
built in your ward. I'm glad you also got to meet the Leavitt's and i
did get the package, and thank you very much! it was all a treat and my
companion thanks you as well:) sis, Leavitt showed me a picture that she
took in st.george and you two are in incredible
shape! Holy smokes, going to the gym every day at 5 looks like great
things are happening! I have got to catch up to you two:) will i be
getting those shirts anytime soon? haha no rush, i'm just curious.
This past week has been one of incredible learning and personal
realization and (hopefully) growth. We have seen incredible things
happen within the wards and OH! today we found out about transfers and
Elder Hansen and i will be sticking around in PQ for
6 more weeks:) what an incredible blessing it is to be here and to serve
among these people. We feel that big things are coming, that change is
happening, and that we must too change ourselves if we are to
excellerate and keep the momentum going here in PQ.
I have learned much from hearing the story of Peter told by President
Clayton and he showed us a clip of Elder Holland as well. i may touch on
this but know that the reference is John 21-and the lesson learned was
we must never go back, we must feed His sheep.
This past sunday we were able to see both Phil and Tom at all 3 hours of
church again and this week in Gospel Principles, Sister Griffin, one of
our ward missionaries, invited both Phil and Tom to help teach a
portion of the lesson of the "church of Jesus Christ
in former times" and the sections that they were given were perfect for
them! they taught the exact portion of the lesson that was needed for
them, Phil taught us about Revelation and Tom taught us the first
principles and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. What a miracle! We are keeping Phil and Tom in our prayers that
their hearts will be softened and they will recieve answers that they
seek. We also had an incredible experience just last night actually, we
had a lesson with Ryan McGirr, we have been
unable to meet with him for a while but recently have reconnected with
one another. Ryan had his laptop open and we invited him to go to mormon.org
to watch a profile video about basketball, because he is a huge fan. We
were
able to teach Ryan using this amazing tool, the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
he asked us questions about the Gospel and about the Holy Ghost, to
which we went directly to that section and used scriptures to expound a
little more about the Holy Ghost. We were also
able to direct him to the chat bar which is incredible and we invited
him to read through the page on the Restoration of the Gospel and we'll
follow up with him next week. He even had questions about Latter-day
Saint services, and there's a page for that, even
a worship with us video that the church has created, what an amazing
tool that we have right at our fingertips! truly the gospel is reaching
every kindred, tongue and people and "millions shall know brother Joseph
again". This week we also were able to have
a lesson with Mary, we were on exchanges so i was with Elder Smith, our
District Leader here in PQ. Mary's schedule is such right now that she
works every single weekend on call as a flight attendant so we never
know when she'll be able to attend church, we
continue to keep her in our prayers as well. This morning Elder Smith,
departed from San Diego at about 8:30, after two years of faithful
service, this incredible missionary has gone home, he has made a
profound impact upon my life, he has provided an incredible
example towards me as a missionary and as a person. Elder Smith exudes
Christlike Love to everyone he comes in contact with and is the most
humble person i have ever met in my life, he taught me many lessons, and
many through his example, the words unspoken
had a great impact. He will be missed, but his service is not over, he
will always be a missionary.
Well family i love you all so dearly and hope this week brings
amazing miracles and wonderful experiences! thank you all so much for
your love and support and know that i love each and every one of you and
know that i know that Christ lives, He loves us,
and if we love Him, we will feed His sheep. Of this i testify.
Love,
Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd
