Friday, December 18, 2015

This week was insane in the membrane. 

Last Saturday, lets talk about this, it was probably one of the best days of my mission cause FRED CAME to visit me and he brought his whole flippin branch with him. He is so awesome I can't even explain! He got baptized like 2 and a half months ago and he has already been baptized for all of his immediate family that passed away. He is just way too nice saying a ton of sweet stuff to me I didn't deserve. The relief society President in his branch was with him and she started crying when she meet me and was just thanking me so much. It was a little uncomfortable but really kind at the same time. She said, "Every soul is great in the sight of God sister." I was like "aww, I know right?" We talked for like 2 hours haha! He is thinking about moving here to Utah. He really likes it here. He is wanting to get his endowment soon too and is preparing for that. Anyways, it was just cool definitely feel really blessed.

Sister Mahoney went back to OH Canada on Tuesday. She left at like 5am I think? It was so weird she just like got in the car and left and I was like, "wait companion you left me waaaiittt comp nooo wait noo comp wait nooo dont go!" I was thinking that in my head. So I didn't have a companion until wednesday waiting for Sister Fong to get back from outbound. So I went and got my nails done, went to a movie, and had a girls day all by myself. Just kidding I was in a trio with my roommates and we did missionary work. 

Then my beloved new comp and Hong Kongian came on Wednesday back from the icy tundra of Wisconsin. Sister Fong is great! She loves me and I don't know why. She thinks I am hilarious and I don't get it but I won't complain. She reminds me of my trainer, super hard working and fun. We are ZLs over the same zone as I was last transfer so we are in charge of Guest Services. We did a training yesterday. It can be pretty brutal explaining that crap (scheduling tours, taking calls, sending emails) to sisters who have never served there but we tried to make it as painless as possible and we brought food so it was a success. We go with them for their first shifts and they get it more that way. Also the mission department came to our mission yesterday and introduced the Area Book app. They trained the leaders of the mish and we are training our zones on it. Its all fancy and technical. We have our planners on the app too and TBH I'm not a huge fan. I like my old fashion planner but I guess its mandatory so okay I'll do it.

So I have been teaching a man named Javier since January and he is finally getting back to church and working towards baptism. It is because we started reading the Book of Mormon together and heck ya that book is powerful. Turns out its true! He said he will be baptized before I go home.

I feel weird saying Merry Christmas cause I still feel like its March. The lights are on here though and I went to the MoTab christmas concert yesterday so apparently is Christmas time. Its so special to be here on Temple Square for my second Christmas. I know that #ASaviorIsBorn and that He lives! Talk to you next week! Love ya

-Sister Leavitt

Fred came to see me!

Fred's fan club

Friday, December 11, 2015

Hello all!

This week I have been sicker than a dog. All week I would try to go to the square but then I would throw myself into a coughing fit somehow and embarrass myself. For example we were showing some people a video called "gods plan" and it was just finishing up and we were about to go up to talk to the people about it when all of a sudden I got this massive tickle in my throat. It was unbearable! I was trying to hold back my coughs but then tears started leaking. So when I went up to talk to them I had to improvise.  I just said "this video gets me every time" and tried to bear my testimony in between coughs. My comp could clearly see that I was struggling so she took over from there. Then one of them gave me a cough drop so that was nice. It was cherry flavor. So yesterday Sister Poulsen told me to stay home ALL DAY it was my first time doing that on my mission and I thought I was going to die. I felt so unproductive and I have seen the Joseph Smith movie way too many times. When I got back to the square today, I was so happy to see everyone and it had only been one day, haha! People even said they missed me yesterday I felt so loved. Definitely not ready to leave yet or maybe ever I love this place too much. 

This transfer is already over and I am getting a new next week cause I guess sister Mahoney is finishing her mission or something, how rude. I'm getting my first Asian companion Sister Fong from Hong Kong. What a fun little rhyme. Now I have officially had a companion from every continent excluding Antarctica. Oh yeah!! I know I didn't technically go to a foreign mission but I basically did, ok? 

Fred is coming tomorrow whoop whoop! Give you the deets on that next week.

All is well ya know. The church is so true. Hopefully we are all looking for opportunities to serve one another. Like if you happen to come across a choking sister missionary, give her a cherry flavored cough drop. Service is the best birthday present we can give to the savior! Love y'all.

Sianara

-Sister Leavitt

We recreated the Nativity. I am a sheep.

Assembly Hall

This guy is from 'Singles Ward' and other Mormon films. He was flattered that we recognized him.

I mustache you a question but I'll shave it for later!

"Sister Leavitt, someone is here that went to Prom with your brother." Sister Henry is on her way to a visitor center mission so she came from the MTC for a tour.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Que tal

This week was swell but not much new to report on. This transfer is only five weeks so the sisters can be home before Christmas. My comp is one of those sisters going home in like 2 weeks and she keeps singing "I'll be home for Christmas" and "There's no place like home for the holidays" in my face. Nice huh? Haha it's cool. I'm not bitter I sing "called to serve" back. Anyways they are starting transfer planning so we had zone reports with president and sister Poulsen and discuss the zone and what should happen next transfer. I was nervous so my nails were nubs but it wasn't so scary. I hate doing grown up mission stuff sometimes. I wish I was in training my whole mission. 

The best news of this week is that Fred Lazo (The Lords recent convert as of October) is coming to visit me next weekend! We are going to go out to dinner with the elders that baptized him ☺️ He is the realest I can't wait to see him again. He's like way solid in the ward he already has a family history calling and just completely dominating life so it should be good. 

The square has tumble weeds blowing through it during the day then at night, I loose my comp in the crowds. We close the square later at 10 so we be breaking curfew every night. Jk it changed for the mission. Then we wake up at 7:30. I actually like it better. It doesn't seem as brutal. It's is so fun! The Christmas spirit is strong with this one. If y'all haven't seen the new videos, go to the website and check them out! I'll let you in on a secret, there's actually a second video besides A Savior is Born. It's pretty legit! It's about what the world would be like without a Savior. Pretty scary thought! But thankfully "God so loved the Word" and stuff.

All is well here. Te amo and mucho gusto.

-Sister Leavitt 

Our MTC district

Sister Mahoney and I

Friday, November 27, 2015

Feliz Thanksgiving!

Hi this week was great. I feel like I say that every week. We had zone training meeting last Saturday and I might be a little bit biased but it rocked. We talked about gaining a vision to baptize to finish off this year strong. We are to 820 baptisms mission wide and we are working to get 900 before the end of the year, kind of like President Poulsens last hurrah. We are calling it our Christmas gift for the Savior. 

We have been going on exchanges with the district leaders and it has been really cool. We also went on exchanges with the APs and that wasn't nerve wracking at all! Just kidding it wasn't so bad I was with Sister Fluckiger, she was my zone leader last transfer so it was chill. We talked to some cool people and got a member referral. 

Thanksgiving was awesome! We spent a few hours in a members home. Her name was Joanna Huffaker. She is a single lady (hold up Beyoncé) probably in her late 40s. She was really sweet. She wasn't able to make it to her families house in Idaho this year for thanksgiving so she was glad that their stake was in charge of us sisters. It was just us three so it was really sweet. Definitely a special thanksgiving to remember!

Hearing your missionary experiences is so amazing! It makes me so happy! I can't wait to do member missionary work. Your experiences remind me of a scripture D&C 123:12-17. Read it up! 

I love you all.

Sister Leavitt

Thanksgiving 2015

Friday, November 20, 2015

This week went by way fast! They keep getting faster and faster. We
are getting mad prepped for Christmas coming up.  A week from today we
will be on Christmas schedule and the lights will be on! We had a
training from the mission department yesterday and they showed us the
two new Christmas videos. They are pretty sweet! The slogan dealio
this year is "A Savior is Born." It's going to change lives! They
bought out the main YouTube banner for when it comes out next week
with a direct link to talk to us missionaries. I remember when they
did this last year. The chat was blowing up with people who weren't
anti so that will be a nice change hopefully 🙏🏼

We had mission leadership council for district and zone leaders on
Monday and for just zone leaders on Wednesday. President and Sister
Poulsen are ending their mission the same time as me so to end with a
bang we made a goal as a mission to get 900 baptisms by the end of the
year for 2015. We are at 805 right now! We are doing a zone training
meeting tomorrow on getting the vision to baptize. We gots some good
stuff planned. Our mission can do it for sure! Our training is
supposed to be like 2 hours so we delegated a little to the district
leaders cause I would probably fall asleep myself listening to me
that long.

When we first met as a zone last Saturday to break the ice sister
Mahoney and I showed them our elf yourself video we made and yeah
we've gotten a ton of respect since then hahah. I just got back from
zone activity. It was awesome cause we have a senior couple in our zone
that made tasty food for us and they're a ton of fun. Our zone is
awesome!

On Wednesday we went to Savior of the world as a zone and it was
sweet! It's a musical play thing that they do in the conference center
theater every year during Christmas time.I watched it last year too
but I think I fell asleep cause I don't remember it being that good.
It really gave me a better vision for the whole story of Christ's
birth including Zachariah and Elizabeth. I was like mind blown. It's
funny how I grew up in the church and have been on my mission for a
minute now and sometimes I still feel like I know nothing haha. I do
know this church is true though so I have been going with that and it
has worked pretty well as I learn along the way :)

I think that's all for today, love you all.

Sister Leavitt

He plays Hyrum in The Restoration. He is super nice!

Friday, November 13, 2015

Hi.
Wow it's been a while. Last week I started feeling 22 and it was a great birthday. I got a ton of love from the sisters. I don't know if I've ever felt more love from a group of people (besides my fam) in my life! Just a lot of cards and candy and stuff and about 20 of us went to Cheesecake Factory so it was sweet! A lot different than last year when no one knew me haha. Thanks to every one who sent me love!

Since we last talked, Fred got confirmed and Patrick got baptized! Yay! Patrick is legit he is 19 years old and can't wait to serve a mission. He is reading the Book of Mormon with us and he is teaching us the preach my gospel lessons to practice! It's a nice change. He is teaching us a lot. He's cool! I will visit him in London someday.

Regarding the clarification from the first presidency that came out last week, let's just say we've been getting all kinds of haters. There was a protest outside the square last Saturday and they have been coming through the cracks left and right via chat, calls, beehive, and on the square. We had a meeting about it the day after it came out so President Poulsen prepared us well. The thing about it is that it is
not anything new. This has been Gods law since when, the beginning of time and even before? They are just clarifying it and everyone is having a conniption. It has been a real testimony builder to me of planting your testimony on the foundation of Jesus Christ and His chosen servants. "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."-D&C 1:38. That's all I have to say bout dat.

Thirty people went outbound on Wednesday including A LOT of the homies. It was sad saying good bye to them cause I won't see them again while I'm on my mission. We all get really close in this mission cause we see each other all day err day. I even helped baby Bon pack and we cuddled and cried a bit together, real tender. Seriously though, it's cool that everyone is from all around the world but they are just so faaaar! It's fine though it gives me an excuse to travel.

We started a new transfer on Wednesday and I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Mahoney and she's from Nova Scotia Canada. She's cool! We have been low key tight our whole missions and I was hoping I would get to be with her. President asked me Friday if I would be zone leader and it was cool cause he said some nice things and my thoughts about him not liking me too much disappeared. I have this thing where I think most adults with any kind of credibility hate me but I don't think that's the case most of the time. Anyways, it's been great so far. Sister Mahoney is a proud Canadian and she informed me today that they don't even eat Canadian bacon so that was slightly disappointing. We are in guest services this transfer so we did a training for all the new sisters that haven't served there yesterday. We had to go through a bunch of boring info but we tried to make it as painless as possible. We have Zone training meeting next Saturday so we are starting to prepare for that too. Also we are doing a zone activity next pday and there will be food and service so yes there WILL be fun to be had.

This winter is sure going to be a doozie. Holy cow it is cold! I have been on a tights strike until yesterday. I finally gave in, it is too darn cold, For some reason I sent home all my scarves thinking "I
won't need these!" Bummer man. I forgot I had another winter here and this one is already worse than the last. Interesting huh? I knew you all wanted to hear about the weather.

Have a fantabulous week y'all and stay classy.
Love you,
Sister Leavitt

Trying to keep warm!

We made cupcakes without cupcake pans :)

Happy Birthday breakfast

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Hola Familia

I hope every one had a good Halloween! Mine was awesome! We closed the square at 5 and had dinner together as a mission. Then we all did a Temple session together like last year. It is always such an amazing experience to see all my fellow sisters dressed in white in the Temple. It just made me reflect on how much more I want to keep my Temple covenants so I can be with all of them again someday. It really did feel like a little piece of heaven, definitely an incredible time.

FRED LAZO GOT BAPTIZED. Hallelujah God is good, he has been an investigator for some time now. This entire transfer Sister Burke and I have been reading the Book of Mormon with him and that honestly made sooo much difference in him finally deciding. He got baptized with another guy who only was investigating the church for a few months. We got to skype it and it was so good seeing him again. He was just beaming and so happy and kept saying "I couldn't have done it without ya." He is an absolute gem. The Book of Mormon truly is the most powerful tool for conversion. He's awesome! He already has a calling as a family history dude and every thing. I met him when I was with Sister Yunda and we are both just so so happy!

This week makes week six, so I with find out the fate of my life on Monday and I'll let you know if my PDay changes.

District activity was fun. We went to go buy seven pizzas at Little Ceasars and then a member came out of no where and said "I got this one sisters." #PERKSOFSERVINGINUTAH. Seriously the members here are saints! I don't get to work with them much but they are always so sweet and generous. Definitely didn't get much of that in Oakland haha. We just ate and shared miracles tonight. It was a good time. Three of the sisters in my district are going outbound. Sister Kaiser is going to San Diego, Sister Mtyobile is going to Oregon, and my dear baby Bon child is going to New Jersey. I am genuinely afraid she is going to get lost in the airport and end up somewhere down in South America. There are a total of 32 sisters going outbound! I have not seen that many go out my whole mission but its because they only sent 4 last transfer cause it was still busy season but its slowing down a little bit.
 

Thanks for your support and prayers. I think I have said this before but I love my mission! Read the Book of Mormon every day, alright? K thanks. 

Love you,

Sister Leavitt

District activity

We are not normal!

Baby Bon cut her own bangs. Say hello to Lloyd Christmas!

All bundled up cause its getting cold!

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

GREETINGS LOVED ONES

Yes its true I made it into the Ensign but unfortunately I look like a dweebus. I know exactly what that face is. I was trying to act natural and it just did not work. Anywho, its fine. I shouldn't complain at least it is an accurate picture of who I really am, a dweebus.

This week we were able to put another one of our investigators on date for November 8th. His name is Patrick and he is from England. We literally met him about a week and a half ago and he's already on date because he is the most prepared dude I have ever taught. Do you want to know what makes him so prepared? He has already read the entire Book of Mormon and prayed to know if it was true. He has been researching the church for about a year after he found a copy of the Book of Mormon in a Marriott Hotel (yeah!) and he has been wanting to join the church ever since. The kid is only 19! The Book of Mormon makes our job so easy if they just pray about. So powerful! So we have been really blessed lately. We are excited for Patrick! He will get confirmed next transfer.

I gave my farewell on Sunday. Yes I am aware that it is super early but there are a lot of sisters going home these next 2 transfers so APPARENTLY it was my time to shine. It went really well actually. The topic that I was assigned was really inspired, "The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, he has promised that he would atone. And when he atoned, that settled that." It is a quote out of President Packers last general conference talk. It was pretty easy to talk about that one. It was surreal having it be my turn but I still have a while left thankfully!!!

We had the 5k race on Saturday but due to a serious of unfortunate events I was unable to run. I made it back for the breakfast at the end though and that was the best part I am sure. They were some pretty good bagels!

I am getting excited for the holidays. The workers are putting up lights like mad men and dare I say its beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Whoop dee dooo!

Love you all a heap.

Love,

Sister Leavitt

 

5 seconds of fame

Sister Burke can do small eyes like dad!

Sis Burke ready to scare Sis Rajah

 

Wednesday, October 21,2015

Hey y'all

This week was tiring but still super duper. I did 5 exchanges with 5 different sisters in a week. It is a lot of fun but it can be exhausting cause you have to be on your A game all the time haha. I have some amazing sisters I get to serve with so it has been a good opportunity for me to learn from them. The sisters in my district are from Australia, Micronesia, California, South Africa, Wales, Argentina, and Switzerland. So yeah you could say this mission is diverse.

This morning Elder Holland came to visit our mission and 7am. We had to be there at 6:45. It was so worth it though. He shook all of our hands and he wanted to hear our names and where we are from. When it was my turn of course I said "I am sister Leavitt from Nevada" and he said with a smile on his face "Well welcome to Utah." Not even an apostle can give me a break haha. It was awesome, I loved it! He gave an incredible training on the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it is the keystone to our religion. His voice even got loud at some points. So intense! It was amazing. Yeah, I love this mission.

This past week there was a huge religious conference dealio thing here in Salt Lake. There were so many different peeps here from monks, to Hindus, vicious catholics, and Sikhs (my favorite they are so flipping nice!) So that was exciting to share with all these people the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even in the Beehive house was bumping all weekend and we were making it rain copies of the Book of Mormon (is that appropriate?) People who are open minded are always like "ahh yeah this makes sense". I'm just like "Yeah homie cause ITS TRUE." Being a missionary is awesome. I highly recommend it!

Fred is still getting baptized but his date has changed to November 1st by popular request of those in his ward. They weren't happy about the Halloween baptism apparently so they asked if he could change it. It makes more sense really. He is excited and so are all the people around him. He has been investigating the church since March when I met him so every one is super stoked for him.

Thats all for this week folks. Read the Book of Mormon every day. It will CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

Love you,

Sister Leavitt

My amazing Australian Comp, Sis Burke

Our district killed it at zone activity games

Throw back Thursday exchange #bonitt

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

 

YES that story about the ghost is real. Sisters have been having other experiences there too like they hear the piano playing at night and also phantom children running and playing on the third floor. Apparently it always happens around this time of year. We are safe though they are nice little pioneer ghosts and they wont hurt us ;)

This week nothing too eventful happened besides recovering from conference and a whole ton of exchanges. I have three more before the end of the week then I am done. I am doing exchanges with baby Bon tomorrow so that will bring back the mems. She requested that we do it on a Thursday so it would be a "Throw Back Thursday" and I couldn't say no to that. Ah my child.

We always have crazies on the square but we had a super crazy on Friday. Sister Bon described it to her family in an email like this:

INTERESTING OCCURRENCE NUMBER 2 (This one's really interesting):

Right after this lady got taken away by security, a man walked up to the desk.

If I were to describe this man with one word, it would be... intense. His head leaned slightly to the left and he spoke with a very intense Austrian/German accent. Every word was emphasized and every consonant was pronounced very precisely. His eyes never stopped darting around. At first I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or someone else, because he never made eye contact.

"I'M LOOKING FOR AUSTRIAN INVESTIGATORS." His eyes were practically bulging out of his head.

"...Sorry?"

"I'M LOOKING FOR AUSTRIAN INVESTIGATORS. DO YOU KNOW WHERE INVESTIGATORS GO ON TEMPLE SQUARE?"

"I guess that would depend on the missionaries... There's not really a specific spot."

He left. It was weird but whatever. Then he came back a few minutes later and started talking to Sister Leavitt and her companion Sister Burke, who had just walked up to the desk.

"I'M LOOKING FOR AUSTRIAN INVESTIGATORS." We still couldn't tell which sister he was talking to, but Sister Leavitt answered.

"I'm not really sure what you mean."

"I HAVE A FRIEND WHO SAID SOME AUSTRIAN INVESTIGATORS WHO ARE STAYING WITH HIM MIGHT BE HERE TODAY."

"Sorry, I don't really understand-"

"WHERE WOULD INVESTIGATORS GO ON TEMPLE SQAURE?"

"Sir, we don't understand what you are talking about so we don't really know how to help yo-"

"I DON'T NEEEED YOUR HELP. YOU'RE AN AMERICAN. I HATE AMERICANS."

...

...




As this angry Austrian man was storming away, Sister Leavitt called out, "So why are you here?"

His parting words were very profound. They glittered in their straightforward truthfulness. One could even compare his words to a precious Austrian gem in a dirty American coal mine.

"EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES!"

CLOSE QUOTE

so yeah that happened. I honestly didnt mean to say "why are you here then?" out loud it just sort of came and then he heard me so that was awkward.

Our Zone activity was today! It was a good time we just got together at a park and played some games. Kind of like a FHE. It was district against district and of course my district dominated the scene.

I am sorry this email is so incredibly lame.

The atonement is real so I will be better next week. I love you all "heaps" (I learned that word from my Australian comp)

-Sister Leavitt

 

 

Wednesday, October 8, 2015

Hi there!

Si, this week was amazing and I can not and will not believe that my last conference here is over. It was sweet, I even guessed the color of the dresses right. I promise I did. I went to the Saturday morning sesh and the choir was wearing dark blue. I was hoping that session would be the one where they would announce the new apostles but no dice. It was an awesome session though. It is a blessing that we get to attend! I didn't see too many people I knew this time around. On Saturday, I saw Natalie. She was with a boy and she is beautiful! Then yes I did see Elder Llewelyn. Before I saw him he gave some sisters a note to give to me that said something like, "Just wanted to say hey! Your family, especially your dad, were so good to me on my mission. I am happy to hear you are serving!."  and then I was talking to some people like an hour later and he comes up to me and goes "do you remember me?" and I was like "uhhh you look familiar?" Then it clicked. We talked for a minute and it was cool. On Sunday I just saw a few missionaries from outbound and the Tagilala family so that was awesome. We will have to go as a family to visit that area some time and that family especially you would love them.

Sister Burke and I managed to talk to 1 out of the 10 non members that were at Temple Square on Sunday. She just moved to SLC a few weeks ago and came to check out T2. We told her what was going on and did begin teaching her and turns out shes pretty golden. She actually lives right next to us but we aren't allowed to tell her that so we plan to just meet on the square with her and her husband. Conference never ceases to bring miracles. I got to listen to a little bit of the Sunday morning session as well and it was amazing to hear from the new apostles. I'm not real familiar with Elder Stevenson or Renlund but hearing them speak you know they are very humble men called of God. I love our dear prophet! It was so good to hear from him. At the funeral last week it was so sweet to see President Utchdorf and Erying by his side whenever he made the slightest movement or sign of stumbling. Let us all remember to keep him in our prayers as his health is...not the best.

At 7:30 on Sunday, after the craziness, the Piano Guys came and did a performance for us. One of the Sisters here was outbound companions with Jon Schmits daughter so she got the hook ups for us. The rest of his family performed too it was a good time.

HOLY MACKEREL.

So I am in the Beehive House again this transfer and my district and I were there together for the first time on Thursday night for closing shift. We close the Beehive at 8:15 and then have to wait a few minutes for security to come and close it. Anyways we wanted to do some exploring cause there is an attic up in the house that no one ever goes to. Long story short we were just exploring up there and all of a sudden we hear someone coming up the stairs. It was a young woman about my age dressed all in black and she just goes "what are you doing here?" "Are you new here?" I am SERIOUS okay... we saw what we are pretty sure was a ghost and she spoke to us!!! I am pretty sure it was 1 out of 57 of Brigham Youngs children! Ha! There were six sisters in total and we were all so scared. Sister Burke was finally like "hey we are closed you need to leave" and then she just bolts down the stairs and through the door but we never actually saw her leave. We told security and they said they have seen stuff like that too! The flipping house is over 160 years old of course its going to be sketch! So yeah Thursday nights if you could send an extra prayer my way that would be great.

Other than that every thing has been peachy. My new district is great! I am starting exchanges tomorrow with Sister Alliaud from Argentina. She knows my mom. (Sister Cardus)

I love you all. Take care and have a great week.

-Sister Leavitt

 

Saturday morning session

Sister Sami and I with the Tagilala sisters from outbound

Don't be jealous of my sweater

 

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Hallo,

This week was a great one. There was a comicon convention so we had a bunch of characters on the square (literal characters.) Some of the foreign sisters thought it was Halloween haha. Temple Square is never boring thats for sure.

 The Church History Museum finally opened up again after a year of renovation and its sick! We got to take a tour of it on Wednesday. It was awesome! Some of the stuff in there is unreal. Like some clothing that Joseph Smith was wearing when he was killed and all kinds of treasures. It will be a good addition to the square for sure.

Then of course there was Womens Conference on Saturday. This Sister did not get to go cause I went last time. Lame sauce. But I did get to go on exchanges with Sister Rajah so it wasn't too bad. I heard it was awesome though I cant wait to go back and watch it. 

I did get to go to Richard G Scotts funeral though and that was amazing. They have a section for all of us sisters and I dont think I have ever been that cloe to the Prophet before. It was a beautiful celebration of his life and every one there was overjoyed that he is reunited with is sweet wife again. He will be missed here on earth. I remember he came to speak to us at the MTC the night before I came to my mission. He gave a wonderful talk on prayer and I have always remembered it. 

This week we had a miracle. Way back when I was with Sister Yunda we were teaching a man named Fred. We took him on a tour and he was absolutely golden. I taught him up until I went outbound and I have not been able to get a hold of him since I have been back. I have been so sad because I know he is so prepared and was planning on getting baptized soon. Well I think it was on Friday I got a call from him saying sorry he missed all my calls. We set up a time to talk and he told me that he is going to get baptized on October 31st! I am so happy for him! That will be the second time someone gets baptized on Halloween on my mission. Last year it was Mary. So that is the miracle and I am so happy about it after the bit of a drought we have been in. God is good and he answers prayers.

 

It is time for transfers and I have some great news...I am staying with Sister Burke! I will be serving as district leader again at the Beehive house. Baby Bon is also in my district. I am so excited! It is going to be awesome! It's hard to believe that this is my 10th transfer. I am getting so old! My pday will change to Wednesday so I will get two in a row!

So this week it occurred to me that God loves an unlikely scenario. For
example when the church was restored in 1830 there were approximately 1 billion 150 million people on the earth. How many members of the church were there? 6. Can you imagine the faith that they must have had that this was the true church. Imagine God is the coach and he tells you that your team is going to win when you enter the game of life and the score is 1,150,000,000 to 6.

I believed that God restored the gospel as soon as he could. He did it in a place where there was religious freedom but still the prophet Joseph Smith was persecuted and murdered at age 38. So it was unlikely that the church would continue to progress especially to the point
where it it today with over 15 million members but we made it. You can see another huge example of how God loves the under dog scenario by the life that Christ lived. He is the Savior of the world but he was a minority when he walked the earth. So if we feel like a minority sometimes in our own positions in our mission or just life in general we are in the right place. We are right there where the Savior walked and that makes us better and more true representatives of Him. 2 Timothy 3:12.

I am grateful for this work and for me there is no where else I would rather be. I am excited for conference this weekend to be spiritually fed and uplifted by the leaders of our church. Look for me in the Ensign. love you all.

-Sister Leavitt

The best district! I am going to miss them.

Cinderella visited the square. Some people were not impressed.

Selfie with Joseph Smith

 

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Yeah hello,

how is everyone? Good good good good.

This week was awesome we had district activity and it including two of my favorite things: food and my district. It was a good time. I wore my tiger onesie. Gained some respect. We only have one more district meeting before the end of the transfer and I am real sad about it. I wrote to President this week and told him of the urgency that Sister Burke and I must stay together cause we were only together for 5 weeks and thats not enough okay?! I was more professional than that though.

This week we met Linda K Burton in the secret tunnels and Tad R Callister at the Lion House promptly after a member paid for us so yeah it was a good day! We saw him sit down fairly close to us and of course we wanted to approach him but we were panicking big time because we did not know how to address him we were like, "Is it just brother Callister? Is it Elder Callister? or is it President Callister?!!" It was a real big concern. So finally, we decided not to approach him but on the way out the spirit prompted me to go back so I took all the courage I had and ended up just greeting him with a real big awkward "hiiiiiiiii....?" hahaha. He stood up and greeted us immediately so that was nice. Then I was able to tell him that his talk "The Blueprint of Christs Church" has changed my mission (which it has) and he said, "Thank you, I am glad." Also, he has heard of Logandale. WINNING! But as usual he was much more interested in talking to my cool foreign companion from Brisbane Australia. Its cool though, I'm not bitter. It was awesome! I mean this is not doctrine or anything but pretty dang sure he is going to be one of the now 3 new apostles. Calling it!

One of our investigators Kevin is so prepared and ready to be baptized but alas, he has a smoking addiction. Sister Burke thought of the idea that we will quit sugar if he quits smoking and lets just say we have not been living up to our end of the deal.  We may have to do some serious repenting and think of another alternative! Its not easy to quit something you love, I realize that now.

We have been getting some seriously mad antis coming through the Beehive House. They all seem to come out of hibernation right before conference and boy they are grumpy! We have learned that when they ask how many wives Brigham Young had that if we just put a massive smile on our face and confidently say "Over 50!" they get thrown off and don't know what to say. Confidence and a powerful testimony are key cause they can't argue with that.

"It would be difficult to imagine anything more exciting to do as a young man, woman, or couple in the world today than to be a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The message of the restored gospel we share is absolutely vital. It is from God our Eternal Father for every one of His children on earth and is centered in His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. When that message is understood and lived, it can replace turmoil with peace, sorrow with happiness and provide solutions to life’s persistent challenges."-Richard G Scott

Love you all.

-Sister Leavitt

District Activity :)

I spy Tad R Callister eating at the lion house.  Look at my companion being low key ninja.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Hello!

 

This week I had 4 exchanges in 5 days. I saved Sister Rajah best for last on Friday and it was a glorious day. She taught me so much.

but they are dun now.

Now I actually get to spend time with my companion which has been awesome. We pray we stay together next transfer.

A couple weeks ago President Poulsen introduced his idea for us sisters to prepare for a 5K race that will take place in November. In preparation we have group leaders that take us for a run every morning up the canyon and around the world it feels like. It was cool and cute the first couple days but it has turned into absolute brutality running every morning. This altitude has no charity for the lungs and I feel like I should not have to struggle to receive oxygen as much as I have! In California I could run no big deal cause the sea level was quality. This may just be an excuse for my horrible stamina but none the less, I now remember why I skipped out on so much track practice!

On Friday morning after comp study we got a call from our zone leaders asking where we were. I didn't remember any kind of meeting we were supposed to be to so I asked what they were talking about. APPARENTLY they sent out a text at 9:30 that morning that the whole mission was to meet together that same morning at 10:10 for a special meeting. Guess who didn't get that text? Us.

Guess who was speaking at the special meeting? President Russell M Nelson! So the meeting was starting at 10:30 and the Zone Leaders called us at 10:25. And I was NOT going to be late for a meeting with the next potential prophet, right? Sister Burke and I have never ran so fast in our entire lives and we made it right before the opening song. My comp and I did a secret high five and enjoyed the presence of an apostle. It was awesome!  He just decided to meet with our mission for no apparent reason. I honestly thought he was going to announce the second coming or rebuke us but he just felt like he should come talk to us and I'm so glad he did! He gave a message on our purpose as missionaries and it was so inspired! I love this mission so much.

We were able to find 7 new investigators this week because there was a massive Doterra convention here this past week. This whole square smelled like essential oils. It was pretty great. It was like the largest convention in SLC ever.  There were plenty of hippy mormon moms running around along with a ton of non members too. We took sooo many tours and found some who are prepared for the gospel so we are excited to start teaching them.

I know this church is true!

Loves,

-Sister Leavitt

Accidental matchy match

My district minus Sister Rajah

Wait,  this Asian man is grabbing my hand...

OK. We'll go with it!

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Hi there!

So, let's talk about how Elder Quinton L. Cook low key showed up to our sacrament meeting on Sunday and blessed the entire mission! Wow! These are his words, "I evoke a blessing that you will have some sense of the work you are doing." I thought that was powerful and it really hit me hard and made me take a step back to realize that this is the culminating work in preparation for the second coming of our Savior. Does that happen anywhere else? I am definitely not in Hayward 1st anymore. I felt bad for the sisters that had to talk that day. He came unannounced so that added all the extra pressure. They handled it well though! I guess it was better than knowing he was coming and stressing out about it!
I had 3 more exchanges this week after Sister Li on Monday. I had Sister Wong from Hong Kong on Wednesday, Sister Piutau from Tonga/SoCal on Friday, and then Sister Nguyen (my zone leader) from Vietnam yesterday. They have been so much fun, honestly. I am loving getting to know all these Sisters. My companion has been a champ too! I remember back in my third transfer I was the district leaders companion and it was not easy going on all those exchanges but she is a good sport about it. I was a wee bit scared for the exchange yesterday cause Sister Nguyen is nothing less than intimidating. Turns out she has a funny side though and we got along surprisingly well. We were at Beehive House like all day yesterday cause it was super busy because of Labor Day. I was able to get a bit of practice with knowing the details of that place this week so I am getting better :) This might sound strange but serving there has helped me gain a testimony about polygamy at the time and an even stronger appreciation for the pioneers and early church history. It is actually really interesting and quite incredible. I love it so far!

It has been good getting back into the swing of things here and it has still been fairly busy on the square with summer wrapping up.

To be honest we are having a bit of a drought when it comes to progressing investigators. It is always a little bit hard for sisters the transfer after they get back from outbound because we sort of have to start from scratch again and pick up the pieces that we left. We have plenty of people to teach, but they don't really want to keep commitments so it is kind of a bummer. We are praying for some miracles though and we know the Lord will bless us :)

Keep smiling y'all.

-Sister Loveitt

Baby Bon was happy to see me!

Sis Wong from Hong Kong

Secret tunnels ;)