Dear Family,
It's great to hear from you as always!! thank you for sharing your
thought on Patriarchal blessings mom, it's incredible as well because a
Recent Convert in PQ and also Samantha, so 2 RC's and two members who
were working with that will be getting sealed at the end of this month
are recieving their patriarchal blessings this week! i do love mine and i
definitely love reading it and the inspired words that it contains, it
truly is chapters from the book that our life could be, if we keep the
commandments and stay the course, and how incredible it is that it is
eternal, just as life is eternal, we will have our blessings forever,
what an amazing gift!! Ok, i may have forgot to mention in the craziness
of last weeks email during interviews that the PQ zone has a phrase for
the month of Aug, and the phrase is "Heat 'em up!"- now i understand
that this may make absolutely no sense to you, but in PMG on p.176 there
is a quote about the Spirit and the importance of the spirit in this
work. My companion worked in stables amongst cows when he was back in
Canada and he had to get cows from the "tub" into the truck and he
couldn't do it without his "hot shot" or his cattle prod. So he was
"heating them up" to get them to the truck. We as missionaries need the
spirit, or else we cannot do a thing, we cannot help our investigators
progress towards baptism if we are trying to push them, coerce them but
if we are teaching by the spirit, "heating them up" because the spirit
can also cause a "burning in the bosom" they will desire to progress
because the spirit has made it manifest to them and to their hearts. We
have a goal for the month of Aug of 6 baptisms and so far, we have 6
baptims scheduled for the month! we hope an pray that all goes well and
that the spirit continues to work in the lives of these wonderful
children of God and that they are abel to progress toward their
baptisms.
Updates!! We had THE most awesome lesson with Cheyenne last night!
She's the young woman who went to girls camp, had an amazing time and
came into church last sunday with a brand new cuad with her name on it
and said "i want to get baptized", we were teaching Cheyenne about the
Restoration of the Gospel at the Walton's home and incredibly enough,
the Walton's have a son on a mission and his trainer, who just got back
from his mission on wednesday was over for dinner and was able to help
teach and testify of the restored gospel and while teaching, he shared a
story of a young woman who he had taught who had also went to girls
camp (mind you at this point in the lesson he had NO idea that Cheyenne
had done the same) and how she felt the spirit and she wanted to get
baptized and as she read from the Book of Mormon she felt really good
about it and asked her mom and her mom said no to her, then she asked
the missionaries and they told her to pray and to ask again. This young
woman did and she began to read the Book of Mormon to her mother and she
said yes. The spirit was so strong as he was telling this story becaue
it is almost identical to Cheyenne's (save her mother is supporting her
in this journey) and we were able to read from Joseph Smith History and
how it was Joseph's first time ever praying vocally and how God does
truly hear and answer our prayers, how powerful it was! We asked
Cheyenne about how she felt about her baptism coming up, and she feels
like Aug 25th is too soon, so we talked about it and what she feels
would be appropriate and she said mid-september. so we invited her to
pray specifically about the Book of Mormon and for a specific day when
she feels she can be ready by in the month of September. We encouraged
her to "obtain from God that knowledge which man cannot give" and we'll
be seeing her on sunday! Brother Walton sealed the lesson with his
testimony of the Restored Gospel and how much God loves her and how much
he wants to answer our prayers, if we but ask, it was awesome!
Kai is also on track for the 25th of Aug, he's got grandpa and
great grandpa flying out for his baptism and we were able to teach him
about the law of tithing and we used candy as an example and he had ten
peices and how when we pay our tithing, it's like giving one peice back
and we asked "it's pretty easy isn't it kai?" and he replied "oh yea it
is, look at how much i still have" amazing, this 9 year old is so great
and he loves reading about Jesus Christ and the stories of his life. we
also had a cool experience with Sis Cheung a RC in PQ3, we got a call
from her requesting some pamphlets and such and we thought it was for
her husband, phil, but when we arrived we heard her say "maricella,
would you like to meet the Elders?" and her house keeper came around the
corner and we were able to share our testimonies and testify of the
gospel and how it can bless her and her family. Maricella had been
asking Sister Cheung questions all day about the Church and when we
asked where maricella lived she said the neighborhood and Elder Hansen
said "i know exactly where that is, i served in your neighborhood for a
little while, do you know. . ." and he started naming individuals and
she knew them! He told her where the church building was and we gave her
the number for the missionaries in her area and we got another call an
hour after we left from sis cheung and she quoted maricella saying "this
is wonderful, i've been looking for a church, and now there's one right
by my home, my whole family needs to learn about this" how incredible
is that?? Sister Cheung had been planning on going to the beach that
day, and it didnt' work out, and maricella ended up coming later that
day (which she normally doesn't do) and had she not, we would not have
been able to meet her, miracles happen every day and sis cheugn had been
praying for opportunities to share the Gospel, and she was certainly
"ready to give and answer to those that ask for a reason of the hope
that is in [her]" 1 Peter 3:15. amazing things are happening up here in
PQ and i am so honored and humbled to be able to participate in this the
Lord's work, i know that it is His work, and we are all His children,
He knows our needs. I know that Joseph Smith saw who he saw, that
through him, the Church was restored and the priesthood back upon the
earth to be able to perform the ordinances necessary for salvation.
Christ lives! He is our Savior.
I hope that each and every one of you know how much i love you and i
hope that you too are praying for opportunities to share the gospel,
because as you've read, will be given to us if we ask and if we seek the
spirit, we too can "heat 'em up" this month. i hope you all have an
amazing week and that you all are staying happy and healthy!
Love,
Elder Aaron Jordan Lloyd
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