Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Email from Aaron June 6, 2012

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