Aaron's Return Date

Aaron returns home next Tuesday, June 11th at 1:00 PM.
He will be giving his report in the Willow Creek 4th Ward on June 16th (Fathers Day)

Aaron's final email from the mission field 6/7/13

Hi Family!!

Holy smokes!!! i hope this week has been super good for you!! i have really cool experiences to share with you but i'll get to those in a moment:) i'm glad that ash found the music and i'm very excited to sing! by the way the Read's are actually going to be in Sandy next weekend and they want to come to my homecoming! so, i'll make sure i have sis Read's info and i'll have to send her all the info so that she and her family can be there! Hey that's awesome that you have been called to serve as 1st counselor! you will do many great things and bless the lives of so many people and remember "those whom the Lord calls, He qualifies" and don't limit yourself by what you think you are capable of accomplishing, allow the Lord to expand your capacities (ability to achieve, to love, to serve, etc.) and He will!! i know He will! i've experienced it so many times out here in the field! i know if you turn to Him for help and guidance and strength, He will help you and direct you! and i think uppityness is totally a real word mom:) holy smokes that's so weird to think about, but i promise i'll make every moment count!!

alrighty so update time!!

We had an awesome lesson with Xavier this week!! yes he did lose his baptismal date and we're working on resetting that with him, BUT the lesson went really well! as soon as we got there he started telling us about a conversation that he had with his friend it went a little like this "xavier you're Mormon aren't you??" he responds "not yet" friends say "you don't drink coffee??" he responds "nor tea" and as soon as he said that he looks at us with this look of "oh no" on his face and then he looks down and he holds up his can of Arnold Palmer half and half and says "is this tea??" to which we respond "ya, it is" and he looks down and says "ah, but its so good...do you want me to throw it out?" to which we respond "yes we do" so he walks out of the room and throws it away and comes back and sits down with a sigh and says "alright, starting now no more tea" - how awesome is that?? and after our lesson of talking about the sabbath and the sacrament he offered the closing prayer. That prayer was so incredible! he says the most humble, sincere prayers, it's amazing! at the very end of his prayer he asked "please give me the strength to not drink tea..." i know that the Lord will bless him with that because he truly  has the faith that He can help! we'll be getting together with him tomorrow to talk some more about the plan of salvation so please keep him in your prayers that all will go well!

we also had a SUPER cool experience sunday night. we decided to contact some former investigators in the complex called "la mirage", we didn't know why but we hadn't been there in a while and we felt super prompted like we should go. so after talking to a few people and getting a couple of soft return appointments we were making our final round for the night and we looked at each other and said "we've got to add somebody, we set the goal, we've been trying, let's do it!" and as we round the corner there's a woman walking her new little pup and we start talking to her. her puppy made instant friends with Elder Zollinger and after talking for a moment- getting to know her, Tracey by the way- we invited her to learn more about the Restored Gospel and she said "ya, i mean i never really had a religion growing up, i wish i had though" so we talked a little more and introduced her to the Book of Mormon and prayer and she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and we taught her how to pray and we prayed right there with her and we'll be going back there tomorrow to talk some more about the Book of Mormon and the chapter we left her to read! Heavenly Father needed us there at that moment to talk to Tracey and to invite her to learn more of His gospel, what an incredible experience that was for me!

alrighty it's time to keep on sprinting to the finish, i love you all so much and can't thank you enough for your love and support! a couple of principles that i have come to learn and keep with me this past week have been:

-Do one more thing -dad's words have always been with me

-Leave it better than you found it the old boy scout motto totally applies to missionary work!!

i leave you with my testimony that i know that this is the Lord's work, not mine, i know He lives and that His gospel has been restored. His love is infinite and is real!! the Atonement is real!! i love being a missionary and i know that "the tag doesn't make you a missionary, it's your heart". 

love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Aaron's email 5/28/13

Dear Family! 

so good to hear from you! it sounds like exciting things are happening! and i like the truck dad! how do you like it?? well i guess i'll get right to updates slash what happened this week! 

Xavier's probably the biggest update, we were on exchanges and we were able to have Dallin, one of the Teachers with us (as in 14 year olds) and Xavier was running late, so we were walking around Xavier's complex just talking to people and Dallin is a stud!! then when we went in to the lesson he testified with power and authority of the blessings of the Aaronic Priesthood and how it's helped him to be able and to be worthy to have it and then he talked to him about what mutual is and the things he can expect and we invited him to mutual and found him a ride (which is another cool story all by itself) but mutual was awesome! the YM totally wrapped him up and he had a blast!! he sadly was out of town this weekend but hopefully he and his mom will be able to come to church this weekend!

We also had MTE this past weekend and it was a blast too! we learned a little more about the importance of Repentance adn how essential it is to Salvation! its not Faith, baptism, holy ghost, endure to the end- there's nothing "magic" about the waters of baptism- it's our repenting of our sins, making the changes necessary to align our will with God's and then after baptism by proper authority its the cleansing power of the Holy Ghost that truly cleanses and purifies. then we renew that covenant weekly, what a blessing it is to repent! and how simple and wonderful it is as well! it was weird too because it was my last mission training so me and two other missionaries got up to bear our testimonies, it was a humbling and spiritually powerful experience- and i cried like a baby singing the closing hymn. . . haha but it was great!

other than that Elder Zollinger and i are just working to talk to and contact as many people as possible and trying to build the area and the ward! looking forward to good things to come!

sorry this email is so short but i want you all to know how much i love and appreciate all that you do for me, you are all amazing and i love you! i know that this is the Lord's work, it's time to get out there and "get to work!" haha have a great week!

love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Aaron's email 5/14/2013

Dear Family,

It was so good to hear all of you on Sunday!! because of that, this weeks email may be a bit slim. . . so for that i apologize! but i am doing alright with money, no worries there, if i need any i'll just stop by a wells fargo, there's like 3 in my area.  Any updates on whether or not you found that music?? 

Well the big update for the week is Xavier, he's doing so well! we had a lesson with him yesterday and he showed us a video he took of going to his mom's church on sunday and it was wild! singing and dancing and all the like! he also said "because i went to church with her on mother's day i made her promise to come to church with me this week" this kid is awesome! and our lesson was the Word of Wisdom and after talking about the 5 things the Lord asks us to refrain from he said "ah man, coffee? and tea? those are my drinks man! alright, alright, i'll do it. starting today i'll live it. ah no coffee, ok i can do it" again this kid is a stud! he's catching the wave as elder nelson proclaimed this past general conference!! his baptism is set for the 25th so please keep him in your prayers!

Other than that elder zollinger and i are workin to find! hitting the streets and talking to everyone that we possibly can, visiting the members, the less-actives and the part-member families to continue to invite others to come unto Christ and partake of the Atonement! what a blessing it is to serve here in del cerro among so many wonderful people, especially with Elder Zollinger! 

I want you all to know that i know the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ lives and His gospel is once again on the earth, restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith! what a blessing the Book of Mormon is, i know it's true! i've read it's pages and i've prayed to know and i've felt the confirming witness upon my heart that it is true! i know if you are ever questioning or feeling weak in your testimony of the gospel, read the Book of Mormon, pray, reflect upon past witnesses that you've had. Seek the Holy Ghost, and listen, feast upon the words of Christ, for the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. 

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!! until next time!

Love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Aaron's email 5/7/13

Dear Family,

it's great to hear that things are going good! i can't believe we're in May either!! alrighty so i'll probably call around 3 your time if that's ok with you! hmmmm i'll try to have some questions ready! i honestly have no idea when i'll have my flight info, i imagine within the next couple of weeks though. Holy smokes i can't believe it's already the end of the school year already!! that's crazy! the end of the year sing-a-long was the best! i remember singing in those:) I'm glad that fast sunday was a good experience for everyone and i know that the spirit you felt there was real and that those are the testimonies of your fellow brothers and sisters, all having the same goal of trying to make it back to our Heavenly Father's presence. Remember "imperfect people is all Heavenly Father has to work with":) 

Well we had our transfer meeting this past wednesday and my new companion is Elder Zollinger from Orem, utah!! believe it or not, he and elder Laxton went to high school together and played football together! oh and did i tell you that there's and elder in the zone, Elder Butcher- we went to Brighton together and we actually had Math together too haha small world! but anyhow, Elder Zollinger is the man! he's taught me so much already! he's so humble and he focuses so much on the spirit and what our Father in Heaven wants him to say and do, it's amazing. Plus, he's a corporal in the Marines!! how cool is that?? i love him a lot already and am looking forward to continue to learn from him! There were some big changes in East zone this past transfer, we have 7 companionships and we went 5/7 had a change in their companionship! so we have some new faces and some new fire so we're getting to know each other better and today we're having a zone brunch and volleyball at the church!! should be fun!! 

Xavier is doing so well!! he's stilll loving the gospel and he's still wanting to get baptized!! pray that all goes well when we talk with his mom this week! she's supportive of him getting baptized, we're hoping to start teaching her and we are also kind of having like a pre-baptismal interview with her before xavier has his, because the covenant of baptism also includes enduring to the end, so hopefully his mother can help him to do so with mutual, seminary and other activities! we're going to the Mormon Batallion with them tomorrow night so please keep them in your prayers!!

I just want to let you know how much i love you and am so grateful for all that you have done for me! I am so excited for this transfer and i love this work and my companion, ah i am just so grateful and so excited!! i know that Christ lives and loves us, all of us! i know that the testimonies that we have are our personal witnesses to us individually directly from our Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost that He loves us, that He knows us and that He's real and that He cares. Cherish that knowledge, if you begin to question, rely on that witness that you know you have in your hearts, hold it close and stay close to the spirit! i love you and i know this is His work!! have a great week!!

love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Aaron's email 4/30/13

Hello Family!! 

It's good to hear from you! thanks for the updates on what happened the past week! the Hillary Weeks thing sounded like it was awesome and it sounds like Alex's homecoming talk was great too! Thanks for the pictures too!!! i really appreciate all that you do for me and i truly feel your prayers and your support and thank you so much!! OH Transfer update!! we opened up the letter and i found out i'll be staying in Del Cerro for my last transfer!! at the end of this one it will make 10 months here in the ward! I love this ward and this area, it's been so amazing to see how things have changed from the time i've got here to now and to look forward to what's ahead! you want to know what's sad though? i won't be spending this transfer with Elder Laxton:( he'll be getting transfered tomorrow! we were honestly shocked when we read the letter this morning but we do know and trust that the Lord's hand is over His work and He has a plan for all of his children, even His missionaries! QUESTION- dad, did you get my memory card that i sent with Ashley's b-day card?? just curious?? one more!! Mother's day is right around the corner and i just wanted to know what would be a good time to call? we have church from 10-1 then we are free to call:) so just let me know!!

not much to give you updates on this week because this past week i was down, i was sick:( from tuesday night until sunday, it was rough, i just had body aches and sinus pains like no other haha but i'm better now!! i promise!! but yesterday was a good day!! we saw Sariah and had a pretty cool lesson with her, after talking for a while we feel we finally have her concern about not being baptized, she doesn't understand the Holy Ghost; how to recognize, and how important the gift of the Holy Ghost is so we're helping her and her older sister Hannah understand the Holy Ghost, keep them in your prayers! we know that she knows that its true, she's just scared to. 

I also wanted to give you some updates on what i learned from Elder Whiting! ok, some bullet points

-the first is how much i learned by the spirit, it was a powerful experience, in the beginning he invited us to "put down the pens and listen, really listen and only write what the spirit teaches us"

-in this work and in life, it's all about our attitudes, we compared and contrasted Nephi's attitude and Laman and Lemuel's attitude, it was tons of fun!

-he also said "don't give yourself a title that denies the atonement" then he gave examples of someone who said "i can't change i'm greek" or "an addict" because the atonement has no bounds!

-we also talked about the Character of Christ and the person that He was and how outward His whole life was  and he said "you may not be perfect, but you'll be better".

so those are just a few of the points! i can't give them justice, i can try and explain them later haha i realize they may not have made complete sense, but i gave it a shot!

Well, i will let you know who my new companion is next week! i love you all so much and hope that you have an amazing week! i know that Christ lives! He is our Savior and is always there to help us through anything! We can turn to our Heavenly Father for help as well, talk with Him, counsel with Him (Jacob 4:10) and trust in Him. until next time!

love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Pictures

Aaron's email 4/16/13

Dear Family!! 

thanks for the pictures of the party! it looks like it was a blast!! and thank you for all that you do!! Yep, the video was from the Teemsma's dinner the other night, surprisingly, both Bro and Sis Teemsma have april birthdays and so does one of their daughters! i hope you are feeling better Mom!! and living with the Pettit's is great! it's defintiely an adjustment from being in an apartment for a while, but it's nice being in a home again, it's got a very different feel than an apartment that's for sure and the Pettit's are great people too! Alex is home?? holy smokes!! when is his homecoming? and Mal and Haley are going to be the two best missionaries out there! well, Mal is already out, but as soon as Haley gets out there they'll be the dynamic duo! haha 

alrighty i have some intense updates for you!

so, Xavier is doing super well!!! seriously this kid is stoked on the Gospel and is running with it, sprinting with it! i want to explain the details of what happened in one of our lessons last week. so we started in the lesson and probably about 5 minutes in realized that X didn't really have an understanding of who God is, so we began to talk about the Godhead and we asked "do you know that God is real?" he replied "i can't say that i know, but i believe" hello!! Elder Holland's talk!! we said "that's all you need!" and we began talking about his prayers and that he can know for himself if God is there and if this is true, all he has to do is ask and he'll recieve answers, and then we asked how he expects to receive his answer and he said "i'm expecting some type of sign" and so we moved into the Holy Ghost and X said "don't say ghost, ghosts scare me, say Spirit" haha and as we were talking about the Holy Spirit he stopped us suddenly and said "do you feel that?? it just went through me! i feel it! do you?" and he began to get emotional and could not describe how he felt but he said "man that's my sign, i know now, i'm gonna go to church every sunday, i'm gonna go on a mission!" amazing!! Xavier recieved his own personal witness that Heavenly Father is there and lives and loves him and that what we were teaching him is true!! it was such a powerful lesson! and we also took him to the Mormon Batallion the other night and watched Joseph Smith: prophet of the restoration with him and he really liked it. he believes that Joseph was called to be a prophet and asked a lot of questions and understands it really well. 

We also took Jason, a LA whom we met just last week to the Mormon Batallion as well and he brought his Girlfriend Michelle with him and we took the tour, they loved it! we asked if they had a couple minutes and we had a brief lesson with them and found that Michelle is interested in learning and Jason, after many years of innactivity is ready to come back to church, especially that he now has sundays off! it was such a cool experience!

that's about it for my brief updates for this week! i hope you all know how much i love and care about you and hope that this week brings many smiles and know that i know that Christ lives, He is our Savior and He directs the work! He will truly fill our mouths if we will but open them! speaking of, how are things going in the ward?? well, until next time!

love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

You can now write to Aaron via email

Aaron told us today that he is now able to receive emails from family and friends. His email address is on the right side panel of this blog.

Aaron's email 3/12/13

Dear Family!

 

There is something i need! last week we got word that we can now email friends people outside of our immediate family, so i was wondering if i can get Nate, Brad's, Alex's emails? and the grandparents too please! and whoever wants to email me can now! i do promise that i will do everything i can this next little while, it's time to sprint to the finish and not back down or get comfortable! thank you for sharing your thoughts on the Atonement as well, i too read that article from this months ensign and it is powerful, i will certainly continue to pray and know that for the atonement to take effect in our lives, we have to let Him in, we have to turn to the Savior and seek His enabling power to overcome and to become better. what an amazing gift it is!! alrighty i'll get to updates because i got a few!

 

I'll start with Linda! phew what a blessing it is be able to work with her! i tell you, so far, the lessons that we have with her never cease to amaze me, and also never cease to be super intense! let me explain. Saturday morning we go over for our scheduled lesson time we sit down and Linda says after exchanging pleasantries, "alright, i guess i should drop the bomb, the 30th isn't going to work, i'm going to have to postpone my baptism". . . want to know what went through my mind? i though "OH NO!!!" haha i looked at Elder Laxton and he said "let's pray" in his calm, cool, confident in the spirit voice. after we pray we asked her what her doubts were and she started to open up to us about the law of tithing and how scary it is for her because she can barely make payments now, but 10%?? she also expressed to us her feelings of inaddiquicy, and how she feels she doesn't know enough and doesn't want to "mess up" and be a hypocrit. Elder Laxton and i did our best to teach the law of tithing, to share personal experience and testify of the Lord's promised blessings from living this law that "the windows of heaven will be opened and there shall be blessings poured out upon you that there shall not be room enough to recieve it" i paraphrased but we read from Malachi. after that discussion her fears were settled and she said to us "you know, i did have a really hard day yesterday and when i said those things i was angry and i felt a lot of doubts, and after talking to shawn, i realize that's not from God." and we asked "how do you feel now?" she said "calm, peacefull" and we bore testimony of the spirit and how much the gift of the Holy Ghost will bless her life and the lives of her daughters. after our lesson, she asked us "did you guys plan on talking about that?" to which we replied "not at all, we had fully prepared to teach the law of chastity" and she responded, "huh, that's funny, because shawn and i just made an oath with each other to live that a few days ago, we read about it in the Gospel Principles manual" that is such a testimony to me of how REAL the spirit is! and how though we had fully prepared to teach the law of chastity, that was not what Linda needed at the time and the spirit directed that lesson and helped us and her understand the gospel better and learn and grow. what a lesson!! please keep her in your prayers!!

 

Bro Jolly is doing so well! he met with Bishop Fisher on sunday and got his limited use recomment and is going to do baptisms for the dead!! awesome! and on sunday i was able to talk to Oliver, a recent convert who i taught and had the opportunity to baptize up in PQ, i found out he's working on his mission papers and plans to go through the temple in April!! how cool is that??

 

we also stopped by a part-member family last friday and we met warren and leila, two of the children in the family, warren is 20 and leila is 15, after getting to know them we asked about the church and leila said "you know, even though i haven't been to church in a long time, i still lived and believed what i was taught as a child, and just today i was starting to question if i truly did believe and want to continue to live it and this is definitely a sign to me that i need to get back into it" again, the Holy Ghost is so real, and this is the Lord's work, He is directing it! and we sent the YSA sisters over to visit warren and we haven't heard how it went yet, but leila wants to take the lessons and continue on the gospel path!

 

our lesson with sariah went well this past week too, we were able to read from JSH and talk about the restoration of the gospel to help sariah understand who our Heavenly Father is and that He's real and so is Jesus Christ and i have got to tell you, she understands the scriptures way better than trying to do object lessons haha, i just i learned that lesson to let the spirit teach from the word of God, it will touch their hearts, no matter what age they are!

 

we stopped by a former investigator yesterday, Bob, and he welcomed us into his home and we started talking and he started sharing experiences in his life in which he knows God is real and that He's kept him here on this earth for a reason, we were able to share briefly about the Restoration of the Gospel and our Heavenly Father's plan for us as His children and he asked about life after death so we invited him to read Alma 40 and we're going back to visit him this saturday. keep him in your prayers!

 

so there's my updates for the week! i love you all very much and am so grateful for each and every one of you! i know with all my heart that this is the Lord's work, it's such a blessing to be a part of it and again i testify of the reality of the Holy Ghost, he is the third member of the Godhead and His power and influence are real and what an amazing gift it is from our Father in Heaven to have that constant companionship and direction in our lives! i know that you can rely on Him for strength to face whatever has come or will come your way. Jesus is the Christ and love us so much! He wants to be a part of our lives, all we have to do is open the door! until next time,

love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Pictures from Aaron

The middle picture is Elder Laxton and I "the grill sergents" at the MCRD (marine corps recruit depot) for the graduating marines luncheon, it was a blast!

 The bottom picture is me with the senior missionary who is branch president at the MCRD.

The top picture is just Elder Laxton and me emailing today, like my haircut?? haha 

Aaron's email 2/26/13

Dear Family,

Thanks for the pictures!! Mom, you cut you hair! it looks great!:) and everyone looks happy and i hope you all return to full health soon! i did get the valentine/st patty's tie and shorts, thank you so much!! i hope that PTC's go well for you and you can make it! it's not your first rodeo;) 

Alrighty on to updates! and oh! that scripture that's been on your mind, believe it or not i am singing a duet with a sister missionary next month with that exact scripture in it! it's called "be still" coincidence? i think not:)

 

Linda is the big story for the week! so if i recall last week i told you that Linda has her baptismal date set for Mar 30 right? well at church on sunday she came up to us and said "i just realized, i'm getting baptized on Easter weekend! and i'll be able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost on Easter! how cool is that??" i personally think that's totally awesome, something that will remain with her and us forever, that will be a very special day for her and hopefully her daughters as well! there were many members of the ward who introduced themselves to Linda on sunday and Sis Riewerts did an awesome job of inviting Linda to RS with her and got to know her and her story (sis riewerts is a new move and convert to the church) and that was Linda's 2nd time ever going to RS and she loved it! she said to us after church "i'm really starting to feel excited about everything!" which is so great! we know that being baptized won't be able to resolve all of life's challenges but we do know how much it will bless her life! we had a cool lesson with her and she said to us that she was blazing through Moroni during church and she committed to finish it before we get together this week. we reviewed the baptismal interview questions with her and she is certainly progressing in the Gospel and what a blessing it is to be able to be a witness, and testify of the Savior and see people's lives change, and to have Linda's experiences and testimony of the Holy Ghost is so humbling, i know that the Holy Ghost is real and it truly leads and guides us, for this is the Lord's work and He directs it through the power of the Holy Ghost.

 

Sariah is doing well too, she's such a smart girl! we'll be meeting with her tonight so more updates will come but we plan on opening up to the scriptures this week with her and helping her understand and see that they can apply to her and the blessings of reading every day as well.

 

Will you watch the new Mormon Message "mountains to climb" by Pres Eyring this week? i promise that you'll feel the spirit and be comforted in knowing that you are not alone in this life and that He is always there to help you overcome.
http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#mountains-to-climb

 

I want each of you to know how much i love this work and this Gospel, i love my Savior Jesus Christ, i know that He lives. I know that all that He requires is a willing heart and a willing mind, and once we're able to give our will over to His, miracles can and will happen, in our own lives and in the lives of others. I testify that this is His work, and it will continue to roll forth! i love you all so much and hope that you have a wonderful week! stay safe and warm and healthy! until next time!

love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Aaron's email 2/12/13

Dear Family,

It's great to hear from you!! I bet Trevor's homecoming was great!  That's awesome to hear that Haley is working on her papers as well!! the Goaslinds will have two SUPER SISTERS out in the field! seriously, they are two amazing examples to me and dear friends. thanks for the updates on the homecoming talks haha i'm trying not to think about those things too much but keep me posted there on that one. Now is the time for me to sprint as dad said and i plan on doing so! No Sacrifice, No Victory right dad? We got word about transfers today and I will be serving in Del Cerro for another 5 weeks (because this is the short transfer to reallign with MTC schedule) and I am so stoked to be able to continue to serve with Elder Laxton! he is seriously a stud of a missionary, i am learning so much from him, he is a great example to me and a great teacher! i hope you enjoy st george!! 

so quick updates then i want to touch on what mom has learned from her book about the Holy Ghost.

So! Tom is doing well and is working towards baptism on March 2, 2013 and we have seen some big changes in Tom since i first started teaching him. He has been attending more regularly (hopefully will start to all 3 hours) and we went through the Baptismal interview questions with him and he understands everything and we are just helping him with the Book of Mormon and with praying specifically for an answer to know if Joseph Smith is a prophet ( i know, two kind of HUGE things, but he has a willing heart and mind and we know that he'll receive an answer as he truly and with real intent seeks it). He is a great man and we hope and pray for his continued progression.

Linda is still doing well! she's still preparing for March 16, 2013 to be baptized and please keep her in your prayers as well. We are hoping that we'll be able to start teaching her two daughters as well 13 and 9, they've gone to church up in Vista with her fiance's family and have really enjoyed it, so now we just need to introduce them to the youth of the Del Cerro ward and help that make connection for them. 

and finally Sariah, i think i told you about her last week, but we've had a couple lessons with her since last tuesday and she is doing well! We've been trying our best to bring our "A-game" to those lessons to keep them short and sweet, and super simple so that she can understand the basic principles and ordinances of the Gospel. She has a baptismal date for March 23, 2013 but she expressed to us that she "won't be ready by then" we asked why she feels that way and sis davis and her mother asked "are you nervous?" and we could tell she's a little nervous, not about the water or the Holy Ghost, but she is a very intellectual for an 11 year old and she asks and dissects a lot things, which is fun for us. But she committed to pray specifically for answer to know if she should be baptized and we know that as she has the desire, she will receive an answer. 

Oh! so this is kinda cool, Elder Laxton and i have been trying to see a Less-Active in the ward named Lucas and he lives in the apartment complex known to the members of the ward as "the great and spacious" haha it's called La Mirage and there are over 1400 units in this place, it's huge! anyways, we talked with him a couple of weeks ago and set an appointment but when we got there, he forgot that he had a 24 hour duty on base (he's a marine) and wanted to reschedule with us. we are in church on sunday and we look out the doors into the foyer and we see this man walk by a few times in a t-shirt and sweat pants and we look at other and mouth almost in unison "is that Lucas?" sure enough! he came to church! and after the block we set an appointment with him for wednesday and he met our bishop and Elders Quorum President and is looking forward to meeting with us this week! He's told us that his wife will come around (she's phillippino and also catholic) but he says he's working on her haha :) 

ok now to my thought about the Holy Ghost. So as a companionship we were talking the other day about the Holy Ghost, how we feel it, what it is, the differences between the power and gift of the Holy Ghost, the Light of Christ and the Spirit and we then began to talk about the Plan of Salvation and to know that we existed before, where we all lived as spirits in the presence of our Father in Heaven. there also was the Holy Ghost, he knew us and knows us just as well so that's how he knows just how to talk to us individually, spirit to spirit. To have the gift of the Holy Ghost is such a blessing and what an amazing gift that it is! may we each strive to understand and follow and act without delay on the promptings that we receive from the Holy Ghost. In your missionary efforts, consider Cleopas' experience with the Savior in Luke 24:18, 29, 32. and know that those with whom you interact feel the spirit that you carry with you, each of you. I love you dearly and hope this week goes well for each of you.

Love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

John 4:34-38

Aaron getting a Flu shot

Pictures of Aaron

Aaron's Release Date

We received news from the San Diego California Mission that Aaron's release date is June 11, 2013

Aaron's Feb 5 2013 email

Dear Family!

 

It's great to hear from you!! i hope this week has been a great one! it's great to hear of all the adventures that you are having and thanks for sending the pictures as well! it's great to see you all! holy smokes Nolie and Lincoln are huge! ha ha and your hair is so long mom! you all look wonderful! ha ha thank you for your love and support and for all that you do for me out here, your prayers are felt and they are greatly appreciated! as for a decision for school. I've decided on the Business Finance major and we went through the prereq's and i don't have too much left to do but the upper divisions. i hope you have a great time in st George!

 

updates! i want to tell you what happened this past Sunday! what an awesome fast and testimony meeting it was! Elder Laxton and now Elder Brown has joined us (he's our companion for the week until transfers next week then we'll see what happens from there) and I are working with the active members of the ward and inviting them to create their family mission plans and set the goal of inviting one family to receive a lesson this year, and we're inviting them to share their experiences in sacrament meeting and this past Sunday every single testimony minus two were all about sharing the gospel and the experiences that they've been having in sharing the gospel and testifying to their friends and inviting them to their homes to feel the spirit. It was so cool! and Tom Bach made it to church and he's preparing to be baptized next Saturday Feb 16th! and Linda's also working towards March 16th too!

 

I also want to tell you about what happened to us last night. We had an appointment with sis Rarick, a LA in our ward and we initially thought it was going to be a "normal" visit and hopefully help her to strengthen and deepen her testimony and conversion to the gospel. Now she has two daughters and about 5 minutes into our lesson she said "you know, sariah hasn't been baptized yet, she just didn't feel ready when she turned 8" and then her mother asked her "would you like to meet with the missionaries and take the lessons?" to which she nodded and we were able to talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost and how it can help her in her life. she'll be turning 11 this month and we'll be going over tonight to share an awesome lesson about the Holy Ghost with her, we are super excited!

we also had a lesson with the Whittaker's and when we walked in Nick was there to greet us and he said "ah i probably won't be joining in on the lesson tonight" and so i was just talking to him about school and how things are going and then he said, "you know, i actually will be joining the lesson" and he was totally participating in the lesson. Now Nick had been baptized baptist about two weeks ago but in our discussion about the Holy Ghost and how we feel it and the difference between the power and gift of the Holy Ghost, Nick came to understand that he truly desires to have the gift of the Holy Ghost bestowed upon him and he wants to keep meeting and learning more. His little brother Josh will be a little more fun to help understand the gospel, and Jake is 9 and is really funny and fun to teach. What a great family! I'll keep you update with what happens with them as time goes on!

 

I want you to know that i know this is without a doubt the Lord's work! His hand is in this and he knows and loves us! each and every one of us! He is the Christ and He leads the church today. Thank you for all that you do i hope this week brings many blessings and miracles for each of you and have you had any missionary experiences lately? if so, i invite you to share them with me so i can share them with the members out here and I'd also invite you to share your experiences over the pulpit next fast Sunday. take care family! i love you!

love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Elder Lloyd and Elder Tueller

Aaron's email 1/29/2013

This email will be super short i apologize right now just because today is slammed haha but i'll give you some updates real quick!

Bro Kevin Jolly is doing really well, before church on sunday he came over to me and asked me if i would be willing to confer the aaronic priesthood upon him in Elders Quorum and i humbly accepted and i want to tell you, that was such a humbling and neat experience, my first time ever conferring and ordaining someone, to recieve the power of God, that's big stuff and there was a palpable spirit in that room as the ordinance was performed and what a special day and special person bro jolly is, he's really made an impact on my life and his example towards me is incredible, he's made a lot of changes and is continuing to change every day.

we had a really neat experience friday night on exchanges with Elder Higbee, it was about 745 in the evening and i started to have this feeling in my chest, it wasnt' bad, but i couldn't discern what it was. we pulled over to pray and as we prayed Linda came to my mind and that feeling seemed to get more intense, and we followed that and at that time drove to see Linda and we knocked on her door and were there for about ten seconds when guess who pulls around the corner? Linda and her fiance Shawn. she invited us in and we were able to have a really great lesson with her and during that she looked me straight in the eyes and said "you always show up at the right times! how do you do it??" looking back i now realize that i was being constrained by the spirit to go visit Linda and for our day, she was planned earlier to go stop by and see and i know had we not waited, had we not shown up right when we did, we would not have been able to have that lesson. I am so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and I am so humbled to know that this is the Lord's work! Linda accepted the invitation to prepare for baptism on March 16th and which she answered "i'm surprised you didn't say the 17th, that's my parents anniversary" upon which finding out that would be the day she would recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost she became solemn and we then testified of the Spirit and she wants her family to be sealed in the Temple, she loves the church! we went by the next day to give shawn a blessing and she said to us "if i'm going to be ready by the 16th, we've got to set up a more regular schedule, so lets plan wednesdays at 530" how aweosme is that?? what an incredible experience, i love this work! every minute of it!

thank you for you love and prayers, i hope all is going well and i hope you know how much i love you! Happy Birthday to all!! I know that Christ lives! He is our Savior and Redeemer!

Love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Aaron's email 1/22/13

Dear Family!

Thanks for sending the pictures!! it's great to see all of you!! and
Holy Smokes Nolie is huge!! i can't believe how different she looks !
i still just have the mental image of me holding her as a newborn. I
hope everything works out with applications and such for SUU, as for
housing, i would love to live off campus, honestly anywhere as long as
it's affordable. i would prefer not to live on campus this time,
that's my only request. you may have to do some searching there but
return and report on what you find around town:) love you!! thank you
so much for helping me with this! i will do my best to get a letter
off to grandma, i've been a slacker, it's tough on tuesdays, the day
flies by and we're cramming to get things done. but i will do it!
Elder Laxton worked as a personal
trainer before his mission and we're working out good in the mornings.
also dad, could i possibly get my line of Authority??

Updates!
Bro Jolly got confirmed this sunday and he asked that i be the one to
perform that ordinance and i have to tell you, what a humbling
experience that was, we had about 11 brethren in the circle and the
spirit was so strong in that meeting and during opening excersizes of
priesthood we came to find out (although we were still in
communication with him during the week, nonetheless) that his week had
been a rough one! He had some major darts thrown at him this week and
in his words "i know y'all said it was going to be tough this week,
but i didn't think this was coming" but he remained true and continued
to read and pray to withstand those firery darts and he said once he
recieved the Holy Ghost, everything that had happened and frustrated
him that week just melted away and he felt calm and peaceful. What a
guy he's seriously the man!

another cool experience was last night! we were called upon to go and
give some blessings to some sick children, we came to find out that
two had fevers of 103 and one was in bad shape and the sister told us,
i know you're here for a reason, you can heal my children, i have
faith in the power of the priesthood. so we along with a newly
ordained Elder proceeded to give her children blessings and each
blessing did contain that of healing and one her little ones, a 2 year
old had been down all day and did not want to walk around, he had been
carried around all day and when we blessed him, i could in reality
feel his head get cooler as we were blessing this child, it was an
amazing experience and after we had finished the blessing, this little
boy sat up, stood up and started walking around! His mother said, he
has not done that all day! to put the icing on the cake, one of the
sister's daughter's friends was there who was not a member of the
church but had been talking to them and wanted to see for himself what
a blessing is like. now Donavin explained to us that he's one that has
to see in order to believe things to see they are true, he said to us
"out of everything that i've learned and talked about with this
family, and seeing that, what just happened, that's my proof", so we
invited him to meet with the missionaries and connect what he already
knows within himself to be true with the teachings of the Restored
Gospel of Jesus Christ, it was an amazing experience!

ah i'm out of time for this week, i spent the bulk of my time looking
at the pictures! haha sorry it's so short but i love you all so much,
thank you for all that you do for me and for your love! i know this is
the Lord's work, He lives and the Priesthood is upon the earth once
more, that same power by which Christ worked miracles in the flesh,
miracles still happen today, of that i testify.
until next time,
love,
Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Aaron's Email 1/8/13

Dear Family,

I totally understand the business of taking down Christmas and of
school getting back into session and work keeping you all busy as
well! that's wonderful! so good to hear! but i do hope that all is
well and that you have had and are having and will have a wonderful
week! Thank you for your love and support and encouragement, your
prayers are felt and i thank you sincerely. I have a new companion!
Transfers were on Wedensday and my new companion is Elder Laxton, he
is from Orem Utah and he played football and rugby before his mission
and believe it or not worked as a personal trainer at Gold's Gym for a
while too, he's ripped! he's going to help me get into shape!! and
he's a stud of a missionary too! what a great example he is to me! he
was originally called to the Phillippines and went through the MTC and
was in the Phillippines for about 2 weeks when he was doing a service
project and the ground gave out and he tore his maniscus and had to go
home for sugery and re submitted his papers and came out to san diego!
he seriously is the man! we've already found that we have a lot of
similarities and have made a bond so it's awesome and we're so excited
 for the work that's ahead! He is helping my faith to grown and
increase so much, he's teaching me so much and i am just stoked! it's
the best!

alrighty, updates!

Bro Jolly is getting baptized this weekend! we had a lesson with him
this week and shared his testimony with us and is just so solid! he's
the man too! he's got family flying in from texas for his baptism and
from northern California (all not members but totally supportive) and
i'll be singing at his baptism too, there is going to be a lot of
people there haha. But what a humbling experience that it's been to be
a part of his life at this time and he has truly gained a testimony
and understands what enduring to the end means.

the whittakers!
I want to share with you a most amazing experience that Elder Laxton
and i had this past week that pertains to our adding 3 new
investigators. First i am so humbled and grateful to be Elder Laxton's
companion, he is a great example to me and my faith has increased so
much the past few days just being with him, he is an incredible
missionary. Our faith is in the standard of excellence, these goals
were inspired by the Lord through you as our mission President and the
goal of 20 lessons a week set by an apostle of the Lord. We excersized
our faith in these goals and we set the goal to find 3 new
investigators, now we were working and seeing people and come sunday
night at 7:30 that faith was on trial. We continued to excersize that
faith in inspired planning and we went to visit the individuals whom
we had planned, by this time it was 8:00 and there was one more person
to see, the last possible time we visited the Whittakers and Nick, her
17 year old came to the door and let us in we were able to share a
message of faith and invited her and her boys (she's less active with
4 boys, one of which is autistic) and they all accepted the invitation
to learn. amazing! and our return appointment was last night which we
taught the Plan of Salvation and invited them to be baptized, now
interestingly enough sis whittaker excued her children and we had a
one on one with her and she filled us in on the details of what's
going on in her family. turns out the night we showed up, was the same
day Nick had gotten baptized baptist. Imagine that "coincidence" when
the elders show up on the very night. Inspired. there are other things
and we found her concern: she didn't feel loved in the ward. so she
invtied her kids back and (by the way her oldest is 21 just so you
aren't worried haha) and they all again accepted the invitation to
learn. the previous night we were able to give Josh a blessing who was
struggling with Physics homeword is ADHD and he needed help, we found
out last night that he was able to buckle down and power through it,
when on a normal night there's no way that would have been able to
happen, sis whittaker knew and knows there is power in blessings and
she also asked for one and we were able to give her one. what an
amazing , humbling experience. I love this work!
Jordan is doing well too! we taught her the plan of salvation and she
already knew it from sunday school! everything down to the degrees of
glory and what they mean! she's awesome! we are still praying the her
mother's heart will be softened enough to allow us to share the
message of the gospel with her family, i would invite you to join in
those prayers please.
we also had a lesson with Corrina, one of our other invesitgators that
has been off and on and hot and cold for a couple months, but we had
an aweosme lesson with her and sis mcdermott, her
neighbor/fellowshipper and we invited her to church and she brought
her 3 daughters to church as well! more updates to come as she
progresses.

ah i love you but i am out of time! thank you so much for all that you
do and i know this work is true! it is His work! These are His
children! Christ Lives!!
until next time
love
Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Aaron's email 1/15/13

Dear Family,

It's great to hear from you!  I can't believe Nate's homecoming is
this sunday! send him my love and give him a bear hug for me and tell
him i'll write him, sorry it's taking me forever haha.

updates real quick!

Bro Kevin Jolly was baptized saturday jan 12, 2013 and that service
was incredible! I had the opportunity to sing a special musical number
for his baptism and there was a great turn out from the ward as well!
he will be confirmed this coming sunday and he asked if i would be
willing to perform the confirmation, wow super humbling! he was given
the opportunity to bear his testimony after his baptism, and i have to
tell you, it was amazing! President Clayton attended his baptism and
he sent us a text that night that read "keep baptizing people like
Kevin!" to which we responded "yessir!" haha but in all reality his
testimony was stake conference worthy, he gave an amazing talk for
about 15 minutes and his testimony of the restored gospel is so solid!
what an amazing man he is and example to me! i will send pictures next
week, please remind me to as well!

Jordan is doing so great! we had a lesson with her this week at our YW
pres' house and we had her read 2 nephi 31 and had planned to teach
the Gospel of Jesus Christ and before we started the lesson we felt
prompted just to ask some simple checking for understanding questions
to see where she was at and guess what?? she already totally
understands everything about the first principles and ordinances of
the Gospel! so our discussion then became a more detailed, testimony
driven discussion with Jordan and she expounded on faith, repentance,
baptism and the holy ghost and what each meant to her and how it's
helped her in her life, and she knows what she has to do to endure to
the end as well! she's incredible and she's 12 years old! so close to
the spirit! she knows exactly what is and what is not from our
Heavenly Father and she seeks after those things that are! What a
humbling experience!

quick question, dad, could you send me my line of authority please?

oh! we mixed things up a bit and as a zone we're trying to keep things
fresh and exciting and we are always working to find people to teach,
so as a district Elder Laxton, Elder Roestenburg (who's from Sandy too
and went to Jordan) his companion Elder Delos Santos (from syracuse)
and Sister Brown (from Midway) and Sister Patterson (Logan) we
gathered together and busted out the sidewalk chalk and all together
drew the plan of salvation out on the sidewalk, it was awesome! all
the while talking to everyone that we possibly could who was walking
through the park! the sisters even started jogging with a guy who was
there and talked to him about the Plan, it was such a fun day! Elder
Laxton and i are working on coordinating some songs to sing at the
park and while we're walking around (he plays the guitar and ukulele
and sings too) so this week should be a blast!

Thanks for all that you do and Dad, i'm sure i will forgive you
someday for that text:) haha but thank you for understanding and
helping to keep me obedient out here, because we as mission need all
the blessings we can get, we've got to prepare for these new
missionaries that will be coming out, by the end of march we'll go
from about 170 to 190 misionaries and by the end of the summer should
reach our compliment of 250 missionaries! the Lord is hastening His
work! and i am so grateful to be  a part of it i love every minute of
it and i know it is His work! Christ lives and loves us, His atonement
is real and can help through anything, even to simply become better
today than we were yesterday, of that i testify. I send my birthday
wishes to Grandma, Anna and Jeff!! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd