Working on the Bishops

Jun 24, 2013

So this last week was mostly a blur for me. I'm trying to remember the majority of the things that happened, and there's only a few noteworthy things.

J. is getting baptized this Saturday at 1 pm. I would say that you guys should come, but that's kind of a no-no. Ha ha. We're really trying to push people to come to her baptism because she came to Gigi's baptism and it was PACKED that night. There's only one problem. G.'s was a sunday night and G. had come to church for 3 months. J.'s been at church for 3 weeks and she's getting baptized on a Saturday afternoon. It's a lot harder to fill a room at that time and day. When people heard in sacrament that J.'s getting baptized the guy behind be literally asked,"so who is this woman?" gahh... ha ha. It'll be good I'm sure of it.

Teaching N. went fine. I don't think she sees the need for a savior. I wish we had left Alma 42, but we left 3 nephi 11 instead. Going from believing in reincarnation to resurrection will only be made possible if she's the need for a Redeemer of the world. At least she still believes in a God. ;)

C. went to the temple with us on Thursday night. It was absolutely great! We were able to answer some questions on why the priesthood is necessary (again. Seems to be a thing with investigators for some reason. I'm not sure why. jk) Brother F. put things into perspective for everyone that night. He told the story of a Seventy who went on a mission tour somewhere in Africa. He asked how many baptisms they had had. the answer was around a 1000 in a year. He then asked how many of those were not Christians before their conversion. 3. He then told the missionaries that God still works through other religions and tells them to do what they're doing for a reason. If it had not been for the missionaries from other churches for centuries coming over to Africa and teaching the people they would have had only 3 baptisms for an entire year. Instead, God has plans for his children and provides a way that as many people as possible can be brought back to his fold. Again, we do not claim a trump card on having all truth, but we do know that God has told us, with a  sure promise, that if He has a will on a certain subject, He will reveal His secret to His servants the prophets. God will continue to inspire all the people around the world, he just provides clearer communication to those who purify themselves enough to have the blessing of the power of the priesthood, not just merely the authority of it. President Monson is such a man that has done just that.

Taught Abraham 3 to GR. on Saturday. gahhhh... We had no idea what was in there before we gave him that reading assignment. That chapter expanded and stretched my mind like taffy on a puller. Dang. It was good though. We had a seminary teacher that had already taught that chapter last year come with us, and he kept pulling out video after video and more references. I hope one day to be able to teach like that. I have a hard time just focusing on only one principle in half a verse and teaching about that for 20 minutes like seminary teachers do.

So we had a special meeting with our ward mission leaders this last week trying to train them on how the ward mission process SHOULD be run. The west linn mission leader was gung ho with it, and when we met with our bishop he was rather pleased with it. The only problem is that the bishop has to be the running force of all of it and that bishop has back issues. So bad that he wasn't in church on sunday because of the pain. He's considering back surgery. Pray for him please. He could use the help. His name is Bishop G. We haven't been able to talk to the bishop in the other ward about it yet.

One thing that we're starting up is a combined two ward saturday morning family sports time. We thought it could be something to get people to actually get outside themselves and meet other people. We thought it'd be great for our investigators and less actives. They need the friends in the church for sure.

Not really much else to report. We hope to teach a new family tonight. We've been trying for 4 1/2 months now and this is the first time we've ever had an appointment for. Fortunately, they actually have the desire to know already and they just happen to know a couple families in the ward. Their son just happened to be with us on splits when we contacted them the last time. Coincidence? again... there's no such thing. Everything we have comes from God, even the little things.

I love you guys. I hope all is going well. I have some questions though. First off are we related to a Gregory Lloyd from back in Civil war times? If so, then we might be related to a family in the west Linn ward. Also, are we related to a Mary Whitehead and Jospeh Chadwick from about 1847. If so, I'm related to a potential investigator in the willamette ward that comes to church nearly every week.

Read a really good talk and studied how it applied to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we teach it. "A Disciples Journey" by Bruce C Hafen. You can find it onSpeeches.byu.edu it's fantastic. Some parts I found a no brainer, but others were super insightful. Check it out if you have 20 minutes. I've also been learning about Consecration. particularly learning about how consecrating our lives in total surrender to the Master's will, which includes doing the things that would otherwise be sins of omission. Consecration is the only totally surrender that is also complete victory. The hard part is applying all of it. Fortunately God gave us time so we can focus on one thing at a time and practice till we get better at some things till we can add on other parts. In this the scripture Ether 12:27 really stands out to my mind. My weaknesses are definitely being made known to me. Now I've got to DO something about it. dang... ha ha :)

What Happens When an RM Comes Home

June 17, 2013

This week was awesome. We were able to get in contact with so many people. Not all of them were new investigators last week, but hopefully they will be this week. We got in contact with C. again (a former that Elder Udy and I met in the grocery store my first transfer here). He says he wants to go to the temple with us this week and also that he'd love to attend a baptism. He says, and I quote "You guys don't need any help from me, I can see it in your eyes. You guys are sic with the spirit!" Ha ha. I can't wait for him to go to the Atrium in the temple and feel the spirit there. Hopefully progress with him will be made after that and he'll come to church again.He's just a little stubborn. It sounds like he has a testimony, he just doesn't want to commit. Coming to J.'s baptism and going to the temple will hopefully influence him for the better!

Another miracle happened. A returned missionary came home 2 weeks ago (Hans, yes he's German in decent), and he came with us to visit C. since his dad had been at the lessons in the past. After we tried C. the first time I asked him if he'd like to join us to contact another potential. Turned out the potential (J.) was his good friend from high school, and his girlfriend (E.) used to work with Hans' mom last year and knows all about his family. They would love to hear our message they said. So we're going to try and organize a split lesson with the Zone Leaders because they are over the YSA ward. Never would have happened if the Hans' dad hadn't had to cancel on us. Coincidence? I've seen way too many of those to believe in them anymore.Seems like "coincidences" are all I ever seem to write home about. My mission has been one giant coincidence after another.

We have been making good headway with J. Haha, this next part is funny! We had dinner with her and a ward missionary and J. apologized to us. We said "what for?" and she told us about all the times that we had knocked on her door and she didn't answer before she started investigating. She said she knew it was us because I have a very distinctive knock. She would even tell her granddaughter, R., not to answer the door when we knocked. ha ha. The really funny part is that R. commented to J., "I don't get it grandma, I thought you didn't want to see those two guys and now you're with them all the time!" Haha. J. really does love being in the church. She's only been twice to church, but she knows without a doubt that she wants to be baptized. It just feels right to her. She also told us that she's made more friends since she met us than in the last ten years living where she does.She loves the community aspect of it all.

We also got to teach a referral for the first time. She's been coming to church on and off for over a year, and just now felt comfortable taking the lessons. Her name is M. She was raised with no religious background, so we have to teach her Christianity from the ground up. We can't just refer to Jesus as the Savior and she understand it. She's 21. She's dating a premissionary who's going to Iowa Spanish speaking at the end of the summer. She has a date for July 13th, but we'll see if she gets and answer before then. I know she will :)

Oh yeah, so we were working through a "lost sheep" aka last known address list of less actives and found a guy and his girlfriend who want to have us over. Here's the thing though. She's a Scientologist! How awesome is that? I found out that there's a lot more to scientology than I thought, and also that Scientology advocates its disciples to have a faith in another church. It's more like a life style of trying to balance all your different aspects of life rather than an actual religion, or so it sounds. Kinda interesting. R. is less active only because his ex-wife stopped going to church and wouldn't let the kids go. He didn't want to go without his family. Understandable I guess. N., born and raised in Scientology wants to find out if Mormonsim his her "8th aspect." We're going to teach them again tonight. We'll see how it all goes. They are really easy to get along with.

I do know that our mission president was inspired to put my companion here at this exact time. D., our investigator, got a phone call from his dad that he hasn't heard from in 23 years telling him all the reasons why he shouldn't join the church. He says what hurt the most was his dad admitting that he was a horrible father and trying to excuse himself by saying, "but look at my other 4 kids, they turned out fine!" Elder Harker really could relate to that. Apparently he had an abusive father who said the same things before his mission. We taught D. about priesthood blessings and after a few hours he called us over to give him one, and asked Harker to do it because he could relate. The blessing was simple, but EXACTLY what D. needed to hear. He told us that he just had the really calm feeling that everything was going to be okay. I love the gospel, and I thank my mission president for being sensitive enough to the spirit for sending Harker here, because I had no way to relate to D. in that circumstance.

So crazy thing! I went into the Willamette ward (which is the second ward that I attend every week) and I was stinking exhausted from the rest of the week, so I started to write in my journal to prevent myself from feeling tired. Right before the sacrament hymn a girl from the ward walks in late holding this guys hand. I can only see the back of his head, but the thought running through my head was "dang, he looks just like Rick Buck from the back side." he turned around and faced forward and I said quietly, "Rick!" he looked over and we acknowledged that the other person was there. His girlfriend asked him" wait, how do you know the missionary?" he said at pretty much the same time I told my companion "That guy was in my comedy improv group!" It was the weirdest thing because I couldn't say anything for the next hour until after the meeting was over. After a throng swarmed him, because everybody wanted to meet Brittany's boyfriend I finally got to give him a giant hug and catch up on what's been going on in And Go!'s life. They've apparently moved back into the Murray theater and picked up a few more improvers. Rick ended up meeting the girl in the ward through online dating/ the show "Mormon Bachelor." ha ha, so they've been having a long distance relationship for months and I had no idea until he shows up for sacrament and then flew back to Utah as soon as it was over. Crazy! It seems like a dream, but I have the pictures to prove it. I'm not trunky, but I am glad to know that And Go! survived it's homelessness that was going on when I left. I hope to jump right back into that as soon as I get home in over a year.

I love you guys and remember the key to enduring to the end and becoming a true disciple is in Moroni 10:32-33. I know without a doubt that this is God's church that he has established at this time. I know he oversees all of the work that goes on in his vineyard, especially in the temples. I know that enduring to the end is not just possible, but enjoyable. At the same time I also know that as we try to come closer to Christ we will be made more aware of our weaknesses. When we experience hardship and trials, it is not necessarily that we have done something to deserve it, but because our Heavenly father wants us to understand Christ's love and perfect compassion better. He trusts that we are in the right place to learn of true discipleship. Gravitate to Him who is mighty to save and he will heal you. He will bring you to Him, if you let him.

Your Elder Lloyd

 

Rick Buck and me from And Go!

 

The Week of the D.

10 June 2013

 

Man, this week was crazy! I taught D. 3 times this week. I say I because we had so many different obligations (meetings/lessons) all at the same time that Elder Harker and I had to keep going on splits with priests in order to get to everybody. We have to keep doing that this week too. I can't wait for the day that they split these two areas! D. is progressing like crazy! He's been sober from alcohol and tea for the last 4 weeks and coffee for the last 2, and I just taught him the word of wisdom yesterday. He had some questions on why tea is banned, and it just so happened to be that a distant relative of the family whose house we were teaching in, that just happened to be a convert, who just happened to struggle with tea before her conversion walked by the kitchen at the exact moment that D. asked "So I understand all of the other 4 things, but what's so wrong with tea? I love me a good iced tea!" I've never seen this woman before and I'll never see her again. She was there just for the weekend to attend a farewell in the ward. Oh yeah, and the other "coincidence" was that we had actually planned on teaching the word of wisdom the night before, but we forgot the word of wisdom pamphlets in our apartment. So we taught the law of chastity instead. Coincidence? I think not :) the woman who sat down gave a TON of really good examples and testimony for D. God is really working miracles in D.'s favor, time and time again. He's really getting the gospel and he loves the way it's making him feel. I can't wait to see him baptized. I hope I stay in the area for at least the next transfer, because Elder Harker has only taught D. twice and I've been there for all six lessons.

In other news miracles happened with J. too! We took her back to the Visitors Center on Wednesday and we were talking getting ready to watch a biography of Thomas S Monson, and we were discussing how she feels about everything shes learning. She feels like a sponge and all of the information felt really illuminating to her. At that moment I felt like we needed to watch "Patterns of Light" by David A Bednar, so the sister missionaries whipped it out on the big screen, and afterwards we talked about how we learn line upon line, grace for grace like in the fog. After using Mosiah 18:8-10 We asked her what she had against being baptized, and she said "Nothing!" I asked her if that was something she wanted to do and she said "yes... but tell me why I have to be baptized again." this time I used a different parable (ha ha every time I say that I feel like I'm teaching just like Christ, only using more modern analogies. They really help!) and then the sisters whipped out another video by David a Bednar on the banks of the Susquehanna River talking about the restoration of the priesthood. I remember looking a that bank and saying to myself. "It looks just like I remember it. The water's just a little higher and there's a few more leaves on the ground." After watching the video I bore testimony of what we had watched is true and how the priesthood gives us God's official stamp of approval if we are worthy of it. J. found it really hard to take that her old preacher that she was close to was doing his preaching without it being with God's authority, but she knew what we were teaching was true. After that, she asked what she had to do to be baptized, and we said, finish the lessons and come to church 3 times! She came to church without the excuse that she had nothing to wear. She was so happy and she still was wearing some very Sunday appropriate clothes. :) Her baptism is planned for June 29th. I can't wait.

I really have to thank Melissa, for convincing me to go out to Boston to go through the temple, and Mommy and Daddy for taking me to all the church history sites out there. Without that personal experience, my personal testimony of Joseph Smith and the priesthood and the Book of Mormon wouldn't even be half of what it is today. That one trip has been the biggest influence on my mission.

Unfortunately, I don't have much more time, but there have been many more miracles to witness of. God will never leave his children alone if we are seeking him out. Obedience brings the blessings of heaven to us. We are always in his debt, even when we pay tithing. Daddy- thank you for always paying your tithing, it is a great example to those that I teach, because it helped me go through the struggle of paying for a mission. God provided me a way so that I could actually pay for all of it while still paying my tithing. And that was through you. Thank you all for the wonderful examples you are to me! I love each and every one of you, more than you can ever imagine. Keeping depending on God. It will all work out!

Baptism

3 Jun 2013

Wow, I know it's only been like 3 days since I last wrote you, but there's been TONS of stuff that has happened. The work here is REALLY progressing.

So friday after noon we taught J. again. Brother R. R. (Bruce R McConkie in the making) came with us and so did another ward missionary Sis B.. We sat at her house for 2.5 hours teaching to her needs. We taught the rest of the plan of salvation, Tithing, Following the Prophets, and a little bit of the Word of Wisdom. It was really cool. Whenever I got to a point where I was a little stuck on how to word things, brother russell would chime in and say exactly what needed to be said. It was incredible. We talked also about the blessings of the temple and how we can do the saving ordinances for the dead members of J.'s family and the feeling that comes with it. She marvels a lot about what it might feel like to know that her brother and her mother have accepted the gospel. She also got the approval from her son if she were to get baptized. She has a tentative date, but it's up to her to solidify that one. She's gotta come to church first though ha ha! She's working on it. There's no problem with that.

We took the H.'s to the Temple VC on Saturday. It was good. They have a more casual approach to living the gospel, but the whole family knows that it's what they want.

Taught D. again. Oh I've never told you about him. ha ha So D. is a 25 year old guy who used to be a partier, but since he's been dating this girl he got to know the family and see all the blessings that they've had. He's been coming to church for 3 weeks now, but last sunday in Gospel Essentials his girlfriend's aunt turned to me and said "So Elder Lloyd, are you gonna be there at the lesson today at 3? S. (her daughter who's leaving on a mission in 2 weeks) is going to be practicing on D." I told her that would be awesome. The only problem is that we have 9 hours of church. the second ward is just starting the 3rd hour at that time. So we went on a split and I went to teach D. while Elder Harker stayed at church and set up lessons and went to missionary meetings after church. When I taught D. the first time, everything went great. I team taught with S.; which was a little weird to teach with a girl sitting next to me. She taught really well though! She used her notes, but she did great. I had to fill in only a few gaps. It was sweet. D. was a tank. He's over 6'4" and a college b-ball player. He's not just a tank physically though. He's a spiritual giant in the making as well. In the one week before we had our lesson he had read from the beginning of the Book of Mormon to 2 Nephi 17. Before that, he had already read "Our Heritage." When we got to the story of Joseph Smith, I asked D. what he knew about the prophet and he taught us the whole Joseph Smith Story AND the book of momron. All I had to do was teach him how to recognize the spirit. It was sweet. When we got to the point where I invited him to baptism IF he knew that the Book of Mormon was true he responded, "Well I'm not going to say yes, cause my more immediate concern is whether or not it's true, but isn't that kinda the whole point?" It was funny. He's a way smart guy. He grasps on to gospel concepts REALLY fast.

Yesterday when we taught the Plan of Salvation It was amazing. He told us he had to slow down reading the Book of Mormon because he ran out of data on his phone so he's ONLY in Jacob 5. yeah... only... I wish I could get other people to read that much. ha ha! The lesson went really well. He understood it. At the end I asked him if he had prayed about it. He said he had. I asked if he had received an answer, and he said he believed he did. I asked him what his answer was, and he said he saw some things and he knew it was true. After a little coaxing, he told us he was sitting in his pitch black room after a long day of hard work building fences and having prayed and read the scriptures and a blinding light hit him out of no where. He told us that he saw straight path leading to the tree of the fruit of knowledge and then it closed. He rubbed his eyes wondering what happened and why he was blinded, and then it came again, and he saw the iron rod leading straight to the tree of life going on forever onward and upwards to the tree. It went on so far that he couldn't see the rod anymore, but the tree was still visible. After that, he was by himself in the pitch black room. He called his girlfriend about it and he came to the conclusion that what he's been reading in the Book of Mormon was true. We then tried to set a date for his baptism, but it got complicated. He wants his girlfriend's dad to be there, but he lives in Arizona, and he's not coming up until August. that's kind of far away. After that I shared with him the majority of Moroni 10 telling him that the reason that he had been able to see those things was because of his faith. He has great faith. He is definitely ready to be baptized!

As we ended D.'s lesson I kept phone call after phone call that I had to keep silencing during the lesson. After we got out I saw the 10 or so calls/ texts and called one of the repeater callers and they told me that I needed to go get my white clothes because in 45 minutes I was going to baptize G. instead of Brother K. at G.'s request. That was exciting. We ran home, got the clothes, ran to the chapel in the other town, snarfed down dinner in 15 minutes, changed into my whites and then took pictures with G. //  J. came to the baptism, as did the H. family, as did half the West Linn ward. I've never seen a baptism so well attended in my life! G. asked me to sing at her baptism to start it off after the opening prayer. and then we had a talk, and then the baptism happened. I had to baptize her twice because I forgot to say "amen." It was funny. B. T. had to be baptized twice for the exact same reason! I remember as I baptized her the second time I looked straight into her eyes as I said the prayer. I've never seen anyone so ready for baptism. She looked so bright and hopeful. She looked truly like a child- meek and submissive to the will of the Father. I could tell that it was really special for her. For the first time, that baptism was special to me as well. Everything was perfect. Everything was well planned and executed. After that she was given the gift of the Holy Ghost and then it was all over. G. met J. for the first time. When she learned that J. was meeting with the Elders, she testified of the things that mattered most to her and then invited J. to be the next one to be baptized. Ha ha. J. said she'd think about it. I talked to the H.'s and asked Br. (who's 12) if he was ready to do that in a couple of years, that is, to go on a mission and baptize his investigators. He said, maybe, and his Dad said He hoped he would. That's a big thing, because J. never served a mission. It was just a good day.

After it was all over I was laying in bed for hours not being able to fall asleep. The Spirit was working on me. I kept feeling that the work that had been done that day would change not just G.'s life, not just the future of her kids and her posterity, but of each and every person who was there that day, including D. There was something more to it. There was something more special about that day than I can put my finger on. I don't really understand it. Maybe I'll understand in the years to come. I can only hope.

 

pictures below: G. and all of the women that were at pretty much every lesson we had with her.

 Me and G.

I love you guys. I know that missionaries are the messengers of God, and that God works through his children to answer the prayers of others. You don't have to be a missionary to be a tool in God's hands. Gigi joined the church simply because Sis Khoo invited her to church and then after a couple weeks invited us to have dinner with them all. Please, please, please be looking for those around you who are looking for the gospel. Their souls are so precious to Him who paid the price for their salvation.