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

Aaron's Thanksgiving Email

Dear Family,

 

It's great to hear from you and from the sounds of it, it was a great thanksgiving!! we heard from bro jolly that it was beautiful down there, in the 70's and warm as can be! To answer your questions mom, Thanksgiving was great! we ate at the Southworth's, they are a younger couple and newer to the ward and Sis. Southworth had her sisters in town so Bro Southworth was glad to balance it out by having us there haha. The food was delicious! We had the usual: turkey (which was cooked in the crock-pot and was very tasty!), stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green been casserole, with a plethera of pies for dessert! Thank goodness Elder Tueller and I run every morning haha thanks for the heads up as well, i'll be sure not to open that package until Christmas:) That's also great that you were able to get all of your sub for santa done as well! I'm sure those families will be forever grateful for the Christlike love that you and others are showing towards them this incredible time of year! and let Shai know happy late birthday from me! I have something for her but i haven't put in the mail yet. . . sorry! and i'm sure that you've heard from your missionaries but as of yesterday there is a wonderful new page on mormon.org, it's mormon.org/christmas. This has been in the works for a while and is a wonderful new addition to the site, advertising will begin shortly and super advertising will begin in a few weeks, through you-tube, and other social media networks, but the reason why i'm telling you this is to invite you to check it out! It's a wonderful page that is all about the Savior and has videos, free music downloads and many others! also, in the next week or so, the e-card feature will be available, to which i invite all who read this to go to mormon.org/christmas and send an e-card to a friend, a co-worker, a family member who may be stuggling or just needs a little boost and reminder of what Christmas is really all about, will you do that? I promise that as we spread the spirit of Christ, hearts will change and this work will continue to roll forth. Also, i encourage you all to link it to your social media network of choice, it's super easy! and those who visit it can have the opportunity to request a christmas message, purely about the Savior delivered by none other than, the missionaries! hooray! but, that's my schpeal of the week haha

 

Onto updates!

Holy smokes!! This past week, especially the past few days have super humbling. We've witnessed so many miracles and there are so many tender mercies spread upon this work and this area that it's been absolutely incredible to take part in this. I'll start with Sunday, Bro Jolly attended as usual this week after his trip to st george with to see his in-laws. Jeff, a less-active that we are working with was also able to attend and Shawn, our investigator Linda's fiance came to church as well! Now Shawn lives up in Vista, which is out of our mission, but he's been returning to activity and meeting with missionaries every week at his home and when he came down he came to church and attended with us and is present when we teach Linda (who sadly has been sick the past couple of weeks:( but keep her in your prayers please!) by the way speaking of prayers, i want to thank each and every one of you for keeping these people in your prayers, i know that it is by those prayers of faith offered on behalf of these individuals that these miracles were able to happen, so thank you all so very much! anyways, back to Sunday! Bro Jolly approaches us after Gospel Principles and we start talking about his trip to st george and he says to us, "so we're shooting for somewhere around mid-january for my baptism, i'm going to have my father in law come down and baptize me" . . . it's not a matter of if nor when anymore, they are planning it and he is very excited for his baptism! but that's not all! Elder Tueller and I were walking to see someone just a little later that day and we recieve a text from him that reads, "how about jan 5?" Elder Tueller and i looked at each other and on a busy road both of us exclaimed "YES!!" at the top of our lungs. I'm sure a few people turned and looked but we honestly could not contain our excitement. So we called to schedule the builing for the 5 and it's reserved all day!! so we let bro jolly know and he replies "how about the 12th?" so we make another phone call and we heard back today that we officially have the building reserved for the 12th! they are just planning in advance to coordinate with Sis Jolly's parents to come down from st george. And in our lesson with him yesterday he is so excited that this is set, that he can see the goal and he can work towards it, we were also able to have Bro Renshaw with us, who is a recent convert of 6 months that will be recieving the Melchizedek Priesthood come January and he was able to answer many of Bro Jolly's questions and things to expect and so forth. We also talked about how there will be the opposition in these coming weeks in preparation for his baptism that will try to get him to feel uncertain, unready- we testified of the goodness of our Heavenly Father and those feelings do not come from Him, and he truly can pray to recieve strength to conquer those feelings and that Heavenly Father will help him be ready for that day. What an incredible blessing and super humbling experience it is to be able to be a part of his life and for he to be a part of mine, he's an incredible person and has made some big steps in his life! I love this work, what a blessing it is, i know that is is His work.

 

oh....and i'm out of time haha wow that flew by! well, i want each and every one of you to know that I know that Christ lives and loves each and every one of us and that as we as fellow brothers and sisters reach out to those in need this Christmas season in small simple acts of kindness and charity that His love will be spread abroad to fill the earth, of this i testify.

I love each of you very much and mom, thank you for your thoughts as well, it makes me think of Hugh B Brown's story of the Currant bush, He is the gardner here, and He knows what's best for each of us. until next time, stay safe in the snow!! it's hard waking up and shoveling off all this sunshine!:P (as elder tueller would say)haha i love you!

love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Zone Conference

Aaron's email November 13, 2012

Hello Family!

 

It's great to hear from you! i heard about he storm! it's winter time now right? It's starting to get cold here too. . . low 60's, i have to be honest, i'm freezing haha i'm totally acclimatized here and i'm trying to keep warm haha but thank you for the pictures everyone! it's great to see you all and holy smokes Nolie is HUGE and Lincoln's growing like a weed too! I hope all is going well, i apologize in advance, this email will probably be shorter than most, due to limited time, so i will just give some quick updates!

 

we were able to teach Bro Jolly and help him with the Book of Mormon, he still knows he's going to get baptized, it's more a matter of when at this point, so we're striving to help him gain a solid foundation and testimony and help him see that we don't know everything, nor will we, when we feel the spirit, the best thing we can do is act, and show our Father in Heaven we are willing to do what He asks.

 

We also began teaching Corina, she was taught by missionaries about two years ago, and thanks to the invitation of her neighbor and Del Cerro Ward member, sis McDermott, she's taking the lessons again and i have to say how amazing it is to have members invite their friends, because Corina is active in the lessons, and when she has questions she turns to her friend and sis McDermott's testimony is incredible and is exactly what she needs and wow, it's amazing and super humbling, the Lord is hastening His work and He needs all hands on deck! We are so grateful for sis mcdermott and her willingness to share her beliefs and her testimony with others.

 

Yesterday Elder Tueller and I had the incredible opportunity to have President Clayton come out with us for a morning/afternoon. He joined our companionship study at 9:00 am and was with us until about 4 pm, what an incredible experience that was to have one on one teaching time with our Mission President! i was so honored and humbled by the experience, and it was a blast too! He taught with us when we had our lesson with Corina and for our next morning appointments as well, he is such a kind, loving, insightful, humble man- I am truly lucky to be able to serve with him. it was neat, during lunch we got a call from Sis Brown in the ward and we set an appointment for right after lunch. We told this to our mission president and he said "great, let's do it, tell me about this sister" and as we were pondering what we might teach all of us looked up and thought of Sariah in the Book of Mormon, as a mother, she had to endure so much, she went through adversity leaving everything behind, doubt whether or not her children would return from Jerusalem, and she also witnessed wayward children. Just think how many prayers were offered by Sariah, a loving mother, in behalf of her sons, Laman and Lemuel. It's not that her prayers were not heard, for think of all the incredible experiences that those two had in their lives, but to know that the Lord does have a plan for all of us and we still have our agency, His ways are higher than our ways and He knows what's best for His purposes. Sometimes we may not know the answer to our "why" questions until after this mortal life, but as we put our trust in Him and His plan, we can continue to Hope, to have faith and look forward and upward!

 

Well family i love you all so very much and i hope you all have a wonderful week and dad and mom, any experiences you'd like to share from praying? How have you felt? I know that as we all work together to build His kingdom, we are participating in the best work, that which is of most worth to us in this life and in the eternities; proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all. What a wonderful gift and blessing! This work is true and it is Hastening! come january we'll be receiving about 70 more missionaries here to San Diego! I know Christ lives and love us, He is always there and always will be and will answer our prayers!

 

Love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Aaron's Election Day email. 11/6/12

Dear Family,

 

It's so great to hear from you! Thank you so much for your insights and encouragement and prayers and also thank you dad for sharing with me your testimony and that story about great grandma lloyd, those stories are incredible and i love to hear them! This truly is the Lord's work and those "happenings" were for a reason, definitely not coincidence! and i didn't know shai made it into SUU's program! that's awesome! i wanted to ask dad, how was that family of 5 were found? and those who attended your class, are they new investigators, visitors? How goes the work in your ward? do you have a "rescue list"? that each auxillary has roughly 5 individuals or families that they are striving to fellowship and help progress in the Gospel? and also dad, any experiences with your date that you'd like to share? and mom i know that as you continue to speak and open your mouth to those around you it will be filled and those opportunities are there, if we seek them.

 

Updates for the week!

 

I'm starting big, update on Bro Jolly!! This one floored me for about a night! it was incredible! so the past little while, Bro Jolly has wanted to attend a baptismal service and we've invited him but our schedules just couldn't match up whether because of vacation, in-laws in town, but this past saturday everything aligned and he was able to attend the baptism of a YSA, Hashem and this was the first baptism he had ever attended so Elder Tueller and I were giving him the overview of what the service would be like and let me tell you, it was an incredible baptismal service! The spirit was so strong! and Hashem's story is amazing! He sacrificed so much for the Gospel! after the service ended we were talking with Bro Jolly and we asked "how do you feel right now?" (question from Heaven) and his response came as such, "well, one way i can describe it is like this: my brother graduated highschool the year before i did and it was like watching him graduate, knowing that i would be in his shoes soon enough, that i was next" he felt the spirit, he felt the promptings and he knows what he's learning is true, he knows that he will be in Hashem's shoes! how incredible is that? and to top that off, on sunday our gospel principles teacher gave him a special assignment to read moroni 7 the week before and this was his report and he said "you know i read it several times but when i attended the baptism on saturday i understood, everything in here talks about those basic principles that the sisters talked about; faith, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost and endure to the end" elder tueller and i looked at each other and both had the look of "he gets it!!" wow what miracles!!

 

Linda also was able to make it to church this week as well and we were able to share with her the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ with her fiance, who is returning to activity. Linda has some wonderful questions and she said she really enjoyed church, which was fast and testimony sunday. her fiance shawn got up and bore his testimony and it was powerful! and she participated in Gospel Principles and asked questions and commented and is looking forward to reading the manual for that as well! She is also hoping to get her two daughters involved in church as well!

 

We also had a good lesson with Geoff this week, i know that he needs the Gospel and he needs the Savior now more than ever, i know it's what will help him the most and we will be going over to a members apartment right neat his tomorrow for our lesson and watching a couple of conference talks and having dinner with them as well.

 

Noah was pretty busy this week, but we're still in communication with him and he's still reading and praying and we're setting something up for next week, please keep them in your prayers!

 

I want to thank you again for your prayers, they are felt and i want you all to know that i know that this gospel is true, i know that it has been restored from a loving Heavenly Father through the Prophet Joseph Smith, i know that the gospel is the only thing that will save the world from the calamity of it's own self-destruction and i also know that "we do not preach and teach in order to 'bring people into the church' or to increase the membership of the church. we do not preach and teach just to persuede people to live better lives. .. . we invite all to come unto Christ by repentance and baptism and confirmation in order to open the doors of the Celestial Kingdom to the sons and daughters of God. No one else can do this" -Dallin H. Oaks. Of this i testify and know that every time we talk to someone about the gospel or invite them we are leading them one step closer to the Celestial Kingdom, One step closer to life back in God's presence forever with their families. This is His work and Christ lives!

I love each and every one of you and hope you have a great week! good luck with PTC's mom!!

Love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

Aaron's mail October 30, 2012

Dear Family,

 

It's great to hear from you!! and for starters, Mal is going to be an INCREDIBLE missionary, and i know that there are people in Fort Worth who's lives will be changed by her sincere heartfelt testimony of this Gospel and I'm very excited for her!! an to answer some of your questions dad, i played alright, had some decend drives and putts but you know that's my weakness is my short game but everything inside of 5 feet goes in right? "look and shoot" as you would say. Mission Trails is an 18 hole course with two very different 9's, the fron is very hilly and interesting while the back is very open and flatter than the front. i was two shots behind Elder Dehlin after our 18 and we all played pretty decent and yes, we all had a blast!:) oh and the clubs we borrowed from some members in the Del Cerro ward, and not too shabby, i played with an older set of taylormade burners and Elder Tueller was playing with titillest. thanks for the info on your project1 i hope and pray that it continues to go well! i know that as you continue to pray and seek those opportunities for the 1st, which is approaching, that it will be placed in your path, whether at the store, or on a walk around the block, i promise that if you will open your mouth it will be filled and i promise you as well mom, that as you continue to do everything that you can in your efforts to share the gospel, Heaven Father will bless you with miracles in your life, of that i can testify! it also sounds like the McDougal's funeral was a solemn but not sorrowful occasion, i had the opportunity to meet him and i do know how wonderful he is, just in my few interactions with him he radiated with the spirit and he was filled with the Joy that this gospel brings and it truly affected everyone around him, it made others happy as well. i think i have their address, i should be getting a letter off to them in the next little while.

 

Quick question/story, so i've always been left eye dominate and my right eye has not been able to see very far distances, but more recently just trying to see street signs with just my right eye, my version of a lay man's eye test, it's really difficult trying to see the street signs, and when we were in our apartment for the past few days i've conducted some more and just with the calendar on our wall i'm unable to make out what month it is haha so i was wondering 1-if i should possibly get an eye test and 2-if it so happens that i may need some correction, do we have eye insurance? because if not, i promise you i can still see and i will just get tested later.

 

alrighty time for the updates of the week!!

this past week was an awesome one! we saw so many miracles and had so many wonderful experiences, we were just able to somehow (when i really know it was not just 'somehow' but by the spirit) able to be in the right places at just the right times. OH! to follow up, Mike did not end up keep our appointment for friday but we did get his number and he is willing to reschedule!

 

We had a stellar lesson with Noah last week, he is doing so well! he continues to love reading the Book of Mormon and asked us "if there are any specific stories, or passages that  you feel might benefit me, what might those be?" never before have i had someone ask me such an inspired, thought provoking question, the feeling became very solemn as we listened to the promptings of the spirit and came to the story of King Lamoni's father as an example that before he knew what the gospel had to offer, he, in fear of his life was willing to give half his kingdom. when he started to learn the Gospel and the wonderful gift that it is and he changed, he was willing to give everything, even all his sins to know God and receive eternal life. we asked Noah what stood out and sacrifice stood out to him, that he was willing to give everything for it and we related this to his family, to whom he would sacrifice anything for and he knows and understands the sacrifices that he'll make for the Gospel but he is willing to make them. What a miracle and blessing!

 

We also had a great lesson with Bro. Jolly about the Book of Mormon last night, all about the "why" of the Book of Mormon and we were able to testify that it truly is the keystone of our religion, everything either stands or it falls with the Book of Mormon and we come to know it's true, by how we feel. He is excited to read from its pages and he feels like he's on the right path and sees the changes, but maybe not from our point of view, because in the time that we've been teaching him, he's made leaps and bounds! He loves gospel principles, and is going to start attending elders quorum as well, please keep he and Noah in your prayers this week!

 

we also started teaching Linda, who met with missionaries over a year and a half ago, but life got in the way and she became "busy" and when we came to her door she said to us "you know, it's interesting that you should show up at my door just now" because both Elder Tueller and I had recieved the prompting we needed to see her. she then explained to us how her day went and as such on a normal day she would not be home right when she was, and we just happend to knock right when she was thinking about the church. i testify there are no coincidences! She asked us some wonderful questions and we were able to teach her the Restoration of the Gospel and by answering some questions some parts of the Plan of Salvation, she invited us back this friday to continue to teach the Gospel- amazing miracle!

 

We also  started to teach Geoff, now Geoff has been through a lot in the past couple months and some good friends, who are member's of our ward, pointed him out to us and he invited us in and we were able to teach and testify of the Plan of Salvation and of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how he can know that things have happened for a reason, he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and committed to read Alma 7 and we'll be going back on thursday, what miracles!

 

 I know that this is the Lord's work, i know that He lives and He love us and knows each and every one of us and knows our needs and can and will help us through as we rely on Him and His Atoning sacrifice for us. This Gospel is true and was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and we have a living prophet, Presiden Thomas S. Monson whom i also sustain and follow. I love each and every one of you and hope you have an incredible week, please share your experiences with sharing the gospel!

love,

Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd

 

dad-that's great to hear about your family as well it's good to hear they are doing well and still progressing! who else is doing well in the ward?

Picture comparison from 1st and 2nd companionship