hey fam. hows it going in utah.
good to get your letters. sounds like its been another busy week.
homecoming, lacrosse, moms trip, dad taking care of all the boys
stuff. geez. glad everything went well though. i´m super
happy that slaters doing so well with goalie.
this week has been pretty good. we found and taught and invited to
baptism, 15 new investigators. sadly not one came to church. bah.
so frustrating. but the good thing is the lord blessed us with 5
new investigators that just arrived by themselves this week to church.
2 that said they´d always passed by the church and been interested in
knowing more about what we do. so we´re pretty pumped for them.
e and her family didnt come this week. they slept in-- bah.
frustrating. but we´re going with them tomorrow and hopefully we can
put a new baptismal date with t.
a wasnt baptized because she was still lacking some of the
necessary papers -- a birth certificate-- bah. she had to take a
trip back to where she was born to get a new copy-- so frustrating.
so basically we dont really know when she-ll be baptised. sometime
this month for sure. its just a question of when she gets everything
ready.
today we had a zone activity that was super fun. we played soccer
then watched the movie -Bolt- idk if you´ve seen it but it totally
applys to missionary work. ha basically it was super good because i
havent seen a movie in forever and the movie was super funny,
especially watching it with other elders.
Kind of a bummer that i didnt baptize again in september. i think i´m
just getting used to it now which sucks. we should be baptizing
every week. without fail. i´m super frustrated. but i´m hopeful that we can start baptizing. since my companion arrived we havent baptized. i know we have people that are really
good. its just hard sometimes to help them recieve a testimony
of the book of mormon. i really don't understand how they cant just
Know its true. everytime i read it i know its true. and there are
investigators we have that say they´ve read and prayed but havent felt
anything. which to me means they´re probably not praying with real
intent or with faith or with a sincere desire to know.
but we´re going to work hard this week as missionaries to give more
powerful testimony of the book of mormon. so that they can have more
desires to know that its true.
-anyway. i´m so pumped for general conference and to hear
the voice of the lord through his chosen servants here on the earth.
my companion and i are going to try and bring 10 new people to church
with us this week so that they can hear the voice of the lord and
recieve a testimony. i know that if we can get them there, they´re
going to feel the spirit and something that one of the speakers says
will touch their hearts!
i challenge you all that you can listen to conference prayfully, and
that this week in your personal prayers you can ask for answeres to
questions that you have in your heart. and that the lord can answer
them this weekend!
hope you all have a great week and that you have a great weekend
listening to conference!
-elder lloyd
Letter #50 9/19/11 Hey Familia!!
Here's Matt's email, and first, a quick "chat" with his gangsta brothers.
>>> Your bros say, "Yo yo yo, Homes! Wassup?"
>> not much dogs, just chillin. whats bin crakin in your hood?
>> jacksons got his first date all set up right ?? geez thats cool
> "Not much, G. The usual biz. Yeah - Homecoming this weekend."
woot woot, knucks up trickster- jacksons got game---
you{ll have to send mi a pic of the dance!
hey ya´ll
hows it going.
this week has been super great here in puerto real.
geez it was good to read your letters. so pumped for jackson
about his date. woot. Ill be excited to see how that goes. whens
homecoming?? should be pretty soon here right? homecoming was one of
my favorite dances i went to! i hope he has a ton of fun!!
and thats awesome that slaters thinking about being a goalie. if he
does we{ll basically have all the most important parts of a lacross
team. when i get back we{ll be able to have fun practicing, me trying
to score on jackson and slater ha.
well this week has been super super good. this sunday we had 5
investigators in church. and i was way pumped for all of them. i{m
not sure if i{ve told you about a lady we{re teaching named E.
we{re teaching her and her two daughters. they{re so good. we
found them contacting. i felt we should go and contact a colony that
i{d never been to and we went and the first door we knocked was
theirs. they{re great. they{ve been going through some rough times
as a family. especially between the husband and the wife. but they
came to church and really liked it. also we had a lady we found
named D. who has had some doubts about joseph smith, but she
decided to come to church and had a really great experience so i{m
pretty pumped for them. A was sick so she couldnt come to
church, but she has a baptism date for this next week. if she can
get married. holy cow getting people married is soooooo hard geez.
but we had 2 miracles happen yesterday with A. after church
A invited us to come to her house, she had invited one of her
friends to listen to us. we had a powerful lesson. A gave a
super super super strong testimony of the church and of the book of
mormon, and of baptism. and the friend she had invited felt the spirit
way strong. sadly she doesnt live in our area. but it was so
awesome to see one of the people who we{ve been teaching give her
testimony. and i know that when she gets baptized she{ll be a super
powerful member. for her whole life.
the next miracle is that later that night we went back to her house--
but this time we talked with her husband. we taught him and his heart
opened up. and we invited him to stop smoking and drinking. he{s
catholic. but really its just a tradition. he said he{s never
prayed. so we taught him to pray and invited him to do it at the end
of the lesson. he gave such a sincere prayer asking for the help of
the lord to quit smoking and to have the love of jesus christ more in
his house. it was great. we{re going by to see him tomorrow. and he
said he{s going to go get things out for the wedding today!!
super pumped for them. i hope so bad they can get married this week.
i{m going to do everything i can so that it happens.
also this week we had an awesome ward party - 15 de septiembre is like
mexican independence day. so that was intense. we had a "mexican
night" in the church, complete with mexican food, mexican music,
mexican dancing, and a piñata. we brought investigators. and
participated in the food, but not the dancing. =) ha.
well i{m going to leave this one short. so we can talk!
love ya all.
-elder lloyd
>>> Your bros say, "Yo yo yo, Homes! Wassup?"
>> not much dogs, just chillin. whats bin crakin in your hood?
>> jacksons got his first date all set up right ?? geez thats cool
> "Not much, G. The usual biz. Yeah - Homecoming this weekend."
woot woot, knucks up trickster- jacksons got game---
you{ll have to send mi a pic of the dance!
hey ya´ll
hows it going.
this week has been super great here in puerto real.
geez it was good to read your letters. so pumped for jackson
about his date. woot. Ill be excited to see how that goes. whens
homecoming?? should be pretty soon here right? homecoming was one of
my favorite dances i went to! i hope he has a ton of fun!!
and thats awesome that slaters thinking about being a goalie. if he
does we{ll basically have all the most important parts of a lacross
team. when i get back we{ll be able to have fun practicing, me trying
to score on jackson and slater ha.
well this week has been super super good. this sunday we had 5
investigators in church. and i was way pumped for all of them. i{m
not sure if i{ve told you about a lady we{re teaching named E.
we{re teaching her and her two daughters. they{re so good. we
found them contacting. i felt we should go and contact a colony that
i{d never been to and we went and the first door we knocked was
theirs. they{re great. they{ve been going through some rough times
as a family. especially between the husband and the wife. but they
came to church and really liked it. also we had a lady we found
named D. who has had some doubts about joseph smith, but she
decided to come to church and had a really great experience so i{m
pretty pumped for them. A was sick so she couldnt come to
church, but she has a baptism date for this next week. if she can
get married. holy cow getting people married is soooooo hard geez.
but we had 2 miracles happen yesterday with A. after church
A invited us to come to her house, she had invited one of her
friends to listen to us. we had a powerful lesson. A gave a
super super super strong testimony of the church and of the book of
mormon, and of baptism. and the friend she had invited felt the spirit
way strong. sadly she doesnt live in our area. but it was so
awesome to see one of the people who we{ve been teaching give her
testimony. and i know that when she gets baptized she{ll be a super
powerful member. for her whole life.
the next miracle is that later that night we went back to her house--
but this time we talked with her husband. we taught him and his heart
opened up. and we invited him to stop smoking and drinking. he{s
catholic. but really its just a tradition. he said he{s never
prayed. so we taught him to pray and invited him to do it at the end
of the lesson. he gave such a sincere prayer asking for the help of
the lord to quit smoking and to have the love of jesus christ more in
his house. it was great. we{re going by to see him tomorrow. and he
said he{s going to go get things out for the wedding today!!
super pumped for them. i hope so bad they can get married this week.
i{m going to do everything i can so that it happens.
also this week we had an awesome ward party - 15 de septiembre is like
mexican independence day. so that was intense. we had a "mexican
night" in the church, complete with mexican food, mexican music,
mexican dancing, and a piñata. we brought investigators. and
participated in the food, but not the dancing. =) ha.
well i{m going to leave this one short. so we can talk!
love ya all.
-elder lloyd
Letter #49 09/12/11 cumpliaños increible
hey fam.
i dont even know where to start with the thanks -- oh my heavens.
i received 5 packages saturday night from the mission president.
and they were all stuffed! prettty sure i was one of the happiest
missionaries on the planet. give a huge thanks to the kilbournes for
all the supplies, the socks--- my old socks all had holes but now i
have new wool socks. and all the medical stuff for the blisters.
thanks so much. give a big thanks to ronette and grandma for their
packages. i{m pretty sure i have enough poptarts/granola bars/
oatmeal creampies and other goodies to last me for a very long time.
i{ve been sharing some with my zone because they all got a bit tiffed
when they saw that i received 5 packages. but they{re satisfied now
haha. also all the pens, gluesticks, tape, markers are going to be
perfect. i lost my last pen that i brought with me from the mtc
friday so it was perfect timing.
and most of all thanks for the boots, they{re awesome, those are
going to stay dry for sure. and they look super smooth. those
ties are perfect. who picked them out, the purple one is smooth.
and the blue one too. and i love the ring and the clip. ha. my
companion has the exact same ring so now we{re twinners-- i love
the pillowcase as well. ah everything i got was so great. -- you
guys werent suppose to send stuff this year. i{m on my mission--- =)
i loved the tape. super super good. thank you so much for
your support. i{m so grateful that i have a family that i know loves
me and i love you all so much. that tape was so full of love.
every person who spoke in it. chad, ben, all the neighbors, oh
my heavens, when all those little kids spoke into it. i was like --
no, tanner and tod are not talking already-- holy moly how did that
happen.
but seriously give ben a big hug for me. his testimony and jacksons
touched my heart. i love them so much. and give slater a big hug
too.
side note -- bens armenian sounds sick
as for my bday... this week was good. we ended up with only 2 in
church. but no problem. the one that most counts came! so thats good.
A was there. and everythings in order for her to get married
and baptized this week. with a little help from the lord. if her
husband goes and turns their papers in today we{ll be all good.
i{ve never seen someone so ready. she has a powerful testimony of the
gospel.
but the best part of this week was that we had a district conference
with all the members from all of Cd. Del Carmen. it was super neat.
thats why the president came. i dont think i{ve attended a better
stake/district conference in my life. super powerful. in the adult
session, the missionaries performed as a choir again. that was neat.
but the most powerful part was the mission president. he didnt plan
anything but did it all by the spirit. when he started he invited a
12 year old girl up from the audience to sing in front of everyone,
she had no idea before hand that he was going to do this, and she
almost didnt go up, but with a little help from her parents she sang a
solo in front of everyone. her voice was like an angel and the
spirit entered the room so powerful. and then the president
talked about the reason that we complete with our covenants and the
love that should exist between the different members. he gave stories
of incredible service, that people did in his home ward. i think it
was exactly what this island needed. there is a huge lack of love and
fellowship here. its like everyones in the church just for
themselves. but seriously the whole conference was incredible . i
was spiritually uplifted.
i{ve learned a lot this past week in my study of the scriptures and
from some splits we did with the zone leaders. i{ve almost been
here for a whole year and it really gets me thinking about what i{ve
really accomplished here. i know i{ve accomplished a lot and i{ve
grown a lot... but i{m just being an average missionary. nothing more.
and it makes me sad -- but in the past few days i{ve decided to
change.
in my study of the scriptures i was reading in 1 john 1:5-7 where it
talks about the need to leave the darkness and walk in the light,
christ is the light and how we walk in the light, is by doing things
like he would do them. by having the spirit. by being worthy, by
being willing to sacrifice ourselves, and our will to the lords, by
repentance -- in spanish in the bible dictionary it says repentance is
to have a new heart and a new mind. we have to leave our old heart
behind and our old mind for a new one. one more full of love and the
attributes of christ. so thats going to be my goal for the next few
weeks. i love what it says in ephesians 5:8 that at times we walked
in darkness -- but its time to become a child of light. i want to be
a missionary of light. so that people can see in me the light of
christ and have desires to follow him.
i love this gospel so much and i{m greatful for the chance i have to
share it with the people of mexico. i testify that this is the only
true church. and the only church with which the lord is well pleased
as it says in D&C 1:30. i know that this church has the authority of
god to perform the sacred ordinances necessary for salvation and
eternal life with our familes. i know joseph smith saw god, i know
he was a prophet, he sealed his testimony with a life time of works
and endurance through trials and eventually with his own blood. the
book of mormon is true. its the evidence of everything we hold dear
as members of the church. it the keystone of our religion. i love
that book with all my heart. it is the source to a pure testimony of
the restauracion. the spirit is real. the priesthood is real. the
covenants we make in the temple are real. the church of jesus christ
is the lords kingdom restaured on the earth in preparation for the
second coming. i know these things because i{ve felt the spirit of the
lord in my heart and in my mind, and i know they are true.
god is our father. he loves every one of his children.
of this i testify in the name of jesus christ amen.
love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.
-it might be good for dad to study chapter 10 of preach my gospel.
its all about how to teach. also the chapter about compromisos.
and tell jack i felt the exact same way when i went to efy--
-elder lloyd
i dont even know where to start with the thanks -- oh my heavens.
i received 5 packages saturday night from the mission president.
and they were all stuffed! prettty sure i was one of the happiest
missionaries on the planet. give a huge thanks to the kilbournes for
all the supplies, the socks--- my old socks all had holes but now i
have new wool socks. and all the medical stuff for the blisters.
thanks so much. give a big thanks to ronette and grandma for their
packages. i{m pretty sure i have enough poptarts/granola bars/
oatmeal creampies and other goodies to last me for a very long time.
i{ve been sharing some with my zone because they all got a bit tiffed
when they saw that i received 5 packages. but they{re satisfied now
haha. also all the pens, gluesticks, tape, markers are going to be
perfect. i lost my last pen that i brought with me from the mtc
friday so it was perfect timing.
and most of all thanks for the boots, they{re awesome, those are
going to stay dry for sure. and they look super smooth. those
ties are perfect. who picked them out, the purple one is smooth.
and the blue one too. and i love the ring and the clip. ha. my
companion has the exact same ring so now we{re twinners-- i love
the pillowcase as well. ah everything i got was so great. -- you
guys werent suppose to send stuff this year. i{m on my mission--- =)
i loved the tape. super super good. thank you so much for
your support. i{m so grateful that i have a family that i know loves
me and i love you all so much. that tape was so full of love.
every person who spoke in it. chad, ben, all the neighbors, oh
my heavens, when all those little kids spoke into it. i was like --
no, tanner and tod are not talking already-- holy moly how did that
happen.
but seriously give ben a big hug for me. his testimony and jacksons
touched my heart. i love them so much. and give slater a big hug
too.
side note -- bens armenian sounds sick
as for my bday... this week was good. we ended up with only 2 in
church. but no problem. the one that most counts came! so thats good.
A was there. and everythings in order for her to get married
and baptized this week. with a little help from the lord. if her
husband goes and turns their papers in today we{ll be all good.
i{ve never seen someone so ready. she has a powerful testimony of the
gospel.
but the best part of this week was that we had a district conference
with all the members from all of Cd. Del Carmen. it was super neat.
thats why the president came. i dont think i{ve attended a better
stake/district conference in my life. super powerful. in the adult
session, the missionaries performed as a choir again. that was neat.
but the most powerful part was the mission president. he didnt plan
anything but did it all by the spirit. when he started he invited a
12 year old girl up from the audience to sing in front of everyone,
she had no idea before hand that he was going to do this, and she
almost didnt go up, but with a little help from her parents she sang a
solo in front of everyone. her voice was like an angel and the
spirit entered the room so powerful. and then the president
talked about the reason that we complete with our covenants and the
love that should exist between the different members. he gave stories
of incredible service, that people did in his home ward. i think it
was exactly what this island needed. there is a huge lack of love and
fellowship here. its like everyones in the church just for
themselves. but seriously the whole conference was incredible . i
was spiritually uplifted.
i{ve learned a lot this past week in my study of the scriptures and
from some splits we did with the zone leaders. i{ve almost been
here for a whole year and it really gets me thinking about what i{ve
really accomplished here. i know i{ve accomplished a lot and i{ve
grown a lot... but i{m just being an average missionary. nothing more.
and it makes me sad -- but in the past few days i{ve decided to
change.
in my study of the scriptures i was reading in 1 john 1:5-7 where it
talks about the need to leave the darkness and walk in the light,
christ is the light and how we walk in the light, is by doing things
like he would do them. by having the spirit. by being worthy, by
being willing to sacrifice ourselves, and our will to the lords, by
repentance -- in spanish in the bible dictionary it says repentance is
to have a new heart and a new mind. we have to leave our old heart
behind and our old mind for a new one. one more full of love and the
attributes of christ. so thats going to be my goal for the next few
weeks. i love what it says in ephesians 5:8 that at times we walked
in darkness -- but its time to become a child of light. i want to be
a missionary of light. so that people can see in me the light of
christ and have desires to follow him.
i love this gospel so much and i{m greatful for the chance i have to
share it with the people of mexico. i testify that this is the only
true church. and the only church with which the lord is well pleased
as it says in D&C 1:30. i know that this church has the authority of
god to perform the sacred ordinances necessary for salvation and
eternal life with our familes. i know joseph smith saw god, i know
he was a prophet, he sealed his testimony with a life time of works
and endurance through trials and eventually with his own blood. the
book of mormon is true. its the evidence of everything we hold dear
as members of the church. it the keystone of our religion. i love
that book with all my heart. it is the source to a pure testimony of
the restauracion. the spirit is real. the priesthood is real. the
covenants we make in the temple are real. the church of jesus christ
is the lords kingdom restaured on the earth in preparation for the
second coming. i know these things because i{ve felt the spirit of the
lord in my heart and in my mind, and i know they are true.
god is our father. he loves every one of his children.
of this i testify in the name of jesus christ amen.
love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.
-it might be good for dad to study chapter 10 of preach my gospel.
its all about how to teach. also the chapter about compromisos.
and tell jack i felt the exact same way when i went to efy--
-elder lloyd
Letter #48 9/05/11 Greetings from Puerto Real!
hey family.
thanks so much for your b-day emails. i feel loved!
this weeks been super good. we had 5 people in the church sunday. a
family of 3 and a guy named E and a lady named A.
it was super intense though, we thought that A wasnt going to
be able to come because her work told her she had to go on a trip
sunday morning. but we went and taught her a lesson about why we come
to church, the importance of sacrament, and what it really means to
take upon us the name of christ -- and then we asked her if she was
sure there wasnt anything that she could do to leave later in the day
so she could at least come to sacrament meeting. and she called up her
boss right then and told her that she wasnt going to leave till
sunday afternoon so she could go to church. ah it was awesome. i´m
hoping so much that the husband will soften his heart and that we can
get them married this week!!!
this week we´re focusing on the people that came to church to go with
them and put baptismal dates. our zone leaders are really wanting to
focus us on inviting the people to be baptised from the first visit.
sometimes it can be super dificult on the first visit. especially if
your talking about something else, but we´re going to work on that a
ton this week. we want to have at least 6 or more firm baptismal dates
by the end of the week. i think we can do more.
the hard thing right now is whats going on with my companion.
yikes. we get along really well. and he´s a super hard worker. he
really really wants to work hard and everything. he wants to contact,
he wants to teach. he wants to do it all. but--- the people dont
understand him and he doesnt understand them very well. and the only
way to fix it is to give him more chances to talk and to teach. but
sometimes its hard cuz it kind of kills the spirit when they cant
understand what hes trying to say. haha. but i´m going to work
harder with that this week and help him to have chances to bear
testimony, especially with the members.
i think the best way to do it in the lessons is like hand it off to
him like -- "now my companion will explain repentance..." but even
then its dificult. i had no idea training would be so dificult.
haha. i guess i forgot how i was when i arrived. the good thing is
he just got here so he´s like this perfect pure missionary -- he
wants to works super hard -- i think if i can just focus his energy
into learning the language, in a few weeks we´lll be super powerful.
no he really is progressing though. his spanish is soooooooo much
better right now. it amazes me. i can understand him and the
members get like 80% of what he´s saying. he just speaks really slow.
to answer your questions elder jepson is from mesa arizona, and we´re
having a great time together. i think we´re going to get along great =P
we had pizza last week. and i think i´ll probably order one saturday
night for my b-day- but the best b-day present for me would be 10
investigators in the church this sunday. i would be the happiest
missionary on the plannet. so i´m praying for that. ha
love you all.
-elder lloyd
thanks so much for your b-day emails. i feel loved!
this weeks been super good. we had 5 people in the church sunday. a
family of 3 and a guy named E and a lady named A.
it was super intense though, we thought that A wasnt going to
be able to come because her work told her she had to go on a trip
sunday morning. but we went and taught her a lesson about why we come
to church, the importance of sacrament, and what it really means to
take upon us the name of christ -- and then we asked her if she was
sure there wasnt anything that she could do to leave later in the day
so she could at least come to sacrament meeting. and she called up her
boss right then and told her that she wasnt going to leave till
sunday afternoon so she could go to church. ah it was awesome. i´m
hoping so much that the husband will soften his heart and that we can
get them married this week!!!
this week we´re focusing on the people that came to church to go with
them and put baptismal dates. our zone leaders are really wanting to
focus us on inviting the people to be baptised from the first visit.
sometimes it can be super dificult on the first visit. especially if
your talking about something else, but we´re going to work on that a
ton this week. we want to have at least 6 or more firm baptismal dates
by the end of the week. i think we can do more.
the hard thing right now is whats going on with my companion.
yikes. we get along really well. and he´s a super hard worker. he
really really wants to work hard and everything. he wants to contact,
he wants to teach. he wants to do it all. but--- the people dont
understand him and he doesnt understand them very well. and the only
way to fix it is to give him more chances to talk and to teach. but
sometimes its hard cuz it kind of kills the spirit when they cant
understand what hes trying to say. haha. but i´m going to work
harder with that this week and help him to have chances to bear
testimony, especially with the members.
i think the best way to do it in the lessons is like hand it off to
him like -- "now my companion will explain repentance..." but even
then its dificult. i had no idea training would be so dificult.
haha. i guess i forgot how i was when i arrived. the good thing is
he just got here so he´s like this perfect pure missionary -- he
wants to works super hard -- i think if i can just focus his energy
into learning the language, in a few weeks we´lll be super powerful.
no he really is progressing though. his spanish is soooooooo much
better right now. it amazes me. i can understand him and the
members get like 80% of what he´s saying. he just speaks really slow.
to answer your questions elder jepson is from mesa arizona, and we´re
having a great time together. i think we´re going to get along great =P
we had pizza last week. and i think i´ll probably order one saturday
night for my b-day- but the best b-day present for me would be 10
investigators in the church this sunday. i would be the happiest
missionary on the plannet. so i´m praying for that. ha
love you all.
-elder lloyd
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