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.