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