Sick Week. :( Better days to come!-March 24, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Sunday, March 23
I have to take a break from studying and writing in my journal, so I thought that I would start writing my weekly email home early. This week has been a little bit frustrating and slow.  On Friday, we were going over into the Sisters area to give a nonmember a blessing.  She requested through the church website for us to come by to give her a blessing because of friend of her dad told her to.  She doesn't know to much about the church or what a blessing was. So we explained it to her and the proceeded to give her the blessing.  It was a pretty neat experience to see someone that doesn't know anything to have that desire to receive a priesthood blessing. She just found out that she has terminal cancer and she had two twin daughters ten years old.  She seemed pretty open to learning more so we left her with restoration pamphlet and will have the Sister missionaries follow up with her. On our way over there, we were about five miles away from her apartment and about ten miles from our home when I got a flat tire. So we ended up walking to her house. After the blessing the member that came with us gave us a ride the doctors office so that Elder Ronfeldt could get a blood test done. So then we walked back to her apartment complex to get our bikes, and walked home from there.  We walked for about four hours that day and we only talked to the three people who we saw, and one of the accepted a card by none of them wanted to really talk.  So once we got back I fixed my tire and we headed back out to another lesson, but they weren't there and I got another flat. So we just called it a night at 8:30 and called the other elders to come and give a us ride back.

Monday, March 24
On Saturday and Sunday we stayed home all day. Elder Ronfeldt has been feeling really sick and exhausted.  He has also had bad rashes all over probably from his fever. So I've just been studying and trying to catch up on my journal writing while he is resting and sleeping.  I feel so bad for him, and I hope that he gets feeling better soon.  We gave him blessing on Friday night. Last night he seemed to be getting better, but then woke up this morning and it had flared and came up again.  So we are now waiting in Elder & Sister Greenwood, the senior couples for this area and super nice, to come and pick us up and take him to the doctors today. I didn't mention this earlier, but on Friday he had some blood work done and then we walked home after that.  So walking in the heat probably didn't help him out to much.

Dad-

I'm sorry that you haven't been feeling to well and I hope that you get better soon.  I will keep you in my prayers.  And that video, go to LDS.org and type on "Earthy Father, Heavenly Father" and it should come up.  I also sent some other videos today so if those don't work, then you will have to do the same thing.  Thanks for sending me emails every week.  Loves ya.

Mom-

Thanks for sending me weekly updates every week.  Sounds like you have all been really busy lately. It's crazy to think about people who I went to school with getting married now.  I had heard about Lauren A and Skyler B, but not Lauren B yet.  And that's awesome that you are talking with Sara, she also told me that she has been talking with you on Facebook.  She is awesome and has a way strong testimony and wants to share it with everyone.  I received a note that there is a package for me, and I will get it later today.  Thanks.

Love you all so much.

Love,

Elder Leavitt.

March 17, 2014-Zebra Exchange

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a pretty good week.  We still didn't have too many
lessons as we thought, but we did pretty well with 17 lessons.  We set
a baptism date at the beginning of the week with Kyle Smith and is was
supposed to be this upcoming week. But we just found out a few days
ago that he is planning on moving back to Virginia pretty soon. We
need to work on finding some more people to teach.  It's been pretty
tough finding people on the streets. I've had problems with my bike
tires lately, so we spent one night walking around for about 3-4 hours
on the busiest streets close by, and we didn't see a single person. So
we need to find different ways of finding people.  There is one spot
at Lido Key, but it is quite a ways down there. It either takes miles
from our car, or time to bike. But we are going to try to go there
once a week to contact people.

On Wednesday after district meeting I was able to go on exchanges with
Elder Moyes and that was pretty cool.  Elder Moyes is a Spanish
speaking missionary, so it was pretty challenging through out the dat.
In the lessons that we in completely Spanish, he just had me read from
the Book of Mormon, which I probably butchered everything that I was
saying, even with the three years of Spanish in high school.  What I
found to be really neat is that even though I couldn't understand a
thing that was being said, just grasping a few words here and there,
the spirit was still so strong.  So no matter on what language is
being spoken, the Holy Ghost still testifies of the truthfulness of
the message in the same way. My testimony was greatly strengthened
from this experience and I absolutely loved it.

There isn't really anything to exciting that happened this week.  On
Sunday at church, I watched the stake conference broadcast from Elder
Nelson and Elder Kopischke again that I saw about two moths ago. So I
that was pretty cool being able to take different things out of it the
second round.

Loves you all.

Love, Elder Leavitt

Sent from my iPad

March 3, 2014-Transfer #6!!!!

March 3, 2014-Transfer #6!!!!
Dear Family and Friends,

This last week has been an amazing week.  It started off with the Metro MTC which was in downtown Tampa.  We spent 2.5 days just walking around talking with people.  In the previous five weeks, there have been about 80 missionaries that have already done this. So just about half of everyone we talked to had already talked to missionaries before.  We did a lot of walking around, so much that I was sore for the next three days.  On Tuesday, we walked probably 30-35 miles altogether, but it was defiantly worth it.  We taught eleven lessons that day, and handed out 200 pass along cards.  It was a great experience that we had, trying out different techniques and approaches. Testing out different ways of contacting people to see what worked and what didn't.

On Saturday night, we got our transfer calls.  We were thinking that either one of us were going to be transferred, and we weren't sure who it would be since we came here at the same time, but we were both wrong.  Elder Westover is staying in St. Petersburg and Elder Holmstead is leaving, and Elder Whaley and I are both leaving as well.  So the three of us all got to this area the same day, and we are all leaving the same day.  None of us know where we are going but we will find out tomorrow at the transfer meeting and then we will be in our new area.  I am really sad to say by to this area and the people who we have been working with.  Although I am excited for a change and looking forward to what is going to happen next.  It makes me wonder what is going to happen to our area  since it was white washed when we got here, and they are white washing it again.  So who knows if they are going to have Sister Missionaries come in, or Elders, or combining both areas. 

This last week we have also been doing a lot of finding by street contacting and walking around at the park.  We only talked to two people when street contacting in the four hours we had and neither of them were interested. And at the park we talked to quite a few more but we still don't have any potentials.  It's been difficult to find people to teach.

Bruce is still doing super well and his date is still set for the 16 of March.  Last night we had a great lesson reading from the Book of Mormon about King Noah and Abinadi and he absolutely loved it.  It finally seemed to click to him the importance of reading the Book of Mormon and applying the teachings to our lives.  He wanted us to read another chapter before we left and we had already been there too long. He begged us to read more with him so we ended up staying and reading another chapter.  It was a great lesson that Bruce really enjoyed.

We haven't been able to have any lessons with Ron yet but did make brief contact with him last night on the phone and invited him to come play ball with us today.  (Might be the only way to see him again and hopefully he shows up)  It sounds like he is just busy and not setting his priorities.

I don't know if you remember Lauwana, I might have talked about her a few months past.  But we were teaching her for a little bit but then things turned south for some reason. Anyways, she's been taking the lessons with other missionaries and was there at church yesterday.  She has a baptism date set for the 15th and just recently gave up her job so that she can now come to church each week.  I'm pretty excited for her as well.

I hope all is going well and I really do enjoy getting your letters. I will work on writing letters to you as soon as I can.  I have been horrible at writing letters, or even writing in my journal for that matter. But I promise that I will get to it and make time for it, but it might not be this week. That's great to hear about everyone getting mission calls and it's crazy to think how soon it is that they are leaving.

Love, Elder Leavitt

February 24, 2014-Metro MTC‏

February 24, 2014-Metro MTC‏
Dear Family and Friends,

This last week has been a great week.  On we visited with Ron and with Bruce.  Ron is still having a difficult time of giving up smoking and we haven't been able to make daily contact with him It's been a while since we've had a lesson but every time that we see him, he still wants to be baptized.  Bruce is doing great, his baptism is set for March 16, because he really likes the scripture John 3:16, he quotes it to us everytime that we see him. On friday and Saturday morning, we spent about three hours trying to help him move things from one house to another one next door. But we spent all of the time packing and organizing, trying to throw useless junk out, but he wants to keep everything for projects that he wants to do, but he doesn't have any room for anything moving from a 3 bedroom trailer to a one bedroom.  He does really like it when we come over and read out of the Book of Mormon Stories with him.  On Wednesday Elder Pearson came on exchanges with me, and on Friday Elder Westover and I went on exchanges.  Elder Westover and I get along great in everything that we do.  We sometimes wish that we were companions.  We had a lot of fun finding people. We taught one lesson that night to an 18 y/o named Malcom. We've met Marcus and Malcom on the streets a while back ago. They are twins and really cool kids.  Anyways, Elder Westover and I taught the first lesson with him and it went great. Then we went to the movie night and watched the full length Restoration video.  It was really touching and a great spiritual event.  There was a pretty good turn out there of members and a few investigators.  None of ours though. On Saturday, one of the south Elders investigators was baptized. Then Sunday was ward conference, so we only had two hours of church.  President Emery gave a great talk about missionary work and just getting out to visit people.  So during the third hour is when all of the members got together in their families, and they went out to go and visit the less active members of the ward.  I can't wait to hear about how their visits went.  Today we are heading over to Tampa until Wednesday afternoon.  We are going to go to "Metro MTC".  The only thing that we do there is street contact all day to find people to teach and that is it.  So we will be walking around talking to everyone and getting their information so that we can send missionaries that way.  I am excited to go but at the same time, I'm not really looking forward to it. Especially if it is my last week here in St. Petersburg.  We will find out this Saturday if we will be transferred or if we are staying.  I like it here in St. Pete and I also like serving with Elder Whaley, but I am ready for a change.  So we will see what happens.  The iPads have been great. We are still working on inputing all of the information from the area book onto them, but we are just about done.  I really do like using them in lessons to show videos to people. That doesn't replace us from teaching, but it helps to have a visual there.

Love you all, and I hope that everything is going great for you.

Love, Elder Leavitt

February 17, 2014-I-PADS!!

February 17, 2014-I-PADS!!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been a great week.  This week I was able to go on and exchange with Elder Tanner. He is from Saskatchewan Canada and has been out one more transfer than I have.  I love going on exchanges with other people, especially if it is in a different area than me.

So we have been working with the I-pad mini's.  Every missionary got their own to keep and we take it with us from area to area when we get transferred.  We have been inputting all of the area book information which is really time consuming. They didn't give us to much information on how to use anything either.  So we have bee trying to figure it all out on our own, but it's really not to difficult. Elder Whaley doesn't like it to much though.  He has never really used one before and wants to continue using the planner.  We really haven't done to much online proselyting because he doesn't understand it to well, he has never had a Facebook before he came out. Things have been going pretty good altogether.  It's weird having everything on a digital device now.  We have our daily planners, pamphlets, books, magazines, and everything else.  It's great being able to pull up videos and pictures in lessons.  A few of the people who we have been working with don't quite understand the things that they read and what we teach, so using visual material has really helped them to comprehend things much better.

Thank you so much for sending the packages.  I got the glasses that you sent on Monday last week and they fit really well.  I don't have to get anything adjusted with them.  I also got the Valentine package and thank you for everything that you send.

I can't really think of anything else that really happened this last week.  We haven't been able to get in touch with Ron for the past four days, so his baptism will most likely be sometime in March when we do.  We do have one other baptism date set for March 16 for a guy named Bruce. He has been involved in Boy Scouting for the last 26+ years now.

Love you all bunches.

Love, Elder Leavitt

February 10, 2014-i-Pads‏

February 10, 2014-i-Pads‏
This week the number of lessons we finally had reached 20 lessons which should be the minimum amount for every week.  We hadn't had 20 since the middle of November. So it's really great to see the work starting to pick up again.  We have been finding quite a few potentials with using the pamphlets and that's where we are getting most of the lessons from.

Ron who has the baptism date for this Saturday is still doing great. We had to push his date back a week to the 22nd of February because he is having a difficult time with no smoking.  Other than that he still has a strong desire to work towards baptism and his faith has grown so much since we first started meeting with him.  It's really neat to see how much that he has gained, he even got up to share his testimony last week during Sacrament meeting. Last week on preparation day we went net fishing with Ron.  He taught us how to cast a net and it was really a lot of fun.  There's no hooks involved so I know that you would like it mom.  :)  Elder Whaley ended up catching the most fish, which was only two small little ones.  And I ended up catching the biggest fish, it wasn't really that big though.

Since Elder Whaley is the district leader, I get to go one more exchanges. So on Friday Elder Holmstead and I were companions in my area.  It's kind of funny because we the first day out here we were companions, I was his first exchange that he had ever gone on, and it was our six month mark from leaving home. So that was pretty fun.  He was really sore at the end of the day and surprised how much we bike. We probably only went 30 miles or so, which is a little bit farther than we normally ride.

Tomorrow we are having another Zone Conference in Odessa, and guess what. We will be getting our i-pads then. It's going to be great to be able to use the i-pads for proselyting and I am really looking forward to it.  We will be able to show the pamphlets and videos where ever we are at and with everyone we meet. I am really excited for this next phase of missionary work.

Love, Elder Leavitt

Business:

-I haven't actually gotten my glasses quite yet.  They tried to deliver them last week on Monday but I wasn't there when they did.  So now I have to go to the UPS Store to pick them up.  So I will hopefully be getting them this afternoon.

-Can you send me another journal, I've just about filled up the one that I have now. Trying to catch up on it because I am about a week behind. Thanks.

February 3, 2014-Odessa Zone Conference‏

February 3, 2014-Odessa Zone Conference‏

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week has been great and things are slowly starting to pick up again.  With the one baptismal date that we have set right now with Ron, this last week we taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about the Word of Wisdom.  When we taught the commandment about keeping the Word of Wisdom, Ron had smoked like 4-5 cigarettes in the 45 minutes that we were having that lesson.  We asked him if he would keep the Work of Wisdom several times throughout the lesson, bearing testimony and promising blessings each time. It didn't really seem to sink in but I think that he just kept thinking and trying to enjoy his last cigarette.  When we asked him what he would do about it so that he could keep it, he got his pack of cigarettes and crunched it up and threw it out into the road in the rain and along with his lighter.  He told us that the last he had quite smoking for 6 months he had stopped cold turkey so we thought that he would be good and that we would keep him in our prayers and be there for him if that temptation came up at all.

We meet with him the next day and right before we got there, one of his friends offered him a cigarette. So when we got there he was smoking it.  So we talked about the importance of keeping this commandment that doesn't come from us or from the church, but that it comes from God.  We talked about the blessings, both temporal and spiritual that would come from keeping it, and let him know that he has to quite before he can be baptized.  The members who brought him to church yesterday told us that they had him stop at the store on the way to church where he then proceeded to take out the cigarettes that still had a little left out of the ash trays.  So we will have to keep working with him on that this week.  Other than that, he has really gained a lot of faith and testimony as we have been meeting with him and he is really excited for his baptism.

On Wednesday, we had a Zone Conference in Odessa.  There President Cusick really hit up on being obedient to all of the rules.  I guess quite a few missionaries have been sent home lately and it's really hard and sad to hear that.  He also had a training about the importance of using the pamphlets when finding and teaching.  We have been using them a lot for teaching but we can use them more for finding. So this week, everyone we talked to we used the one of the pamphlets and it's tons more effective then before.  We have quite a few more potentials than we've had in quite some time now.

The last three days of January we were supposed to have the car, but we didn't have any miles left on it since it was the end of the month with the trips to Brandon and Odessa, so we ended up biking those three days.  These three days were the coldest and wettest days that I have so far.  I can stand being wet, and I can stand the cold, but combining the two isn't to fun.  We were drenched from riding through the rain.  But this week it's now back up in the 80's F.

Nothing else too exciting has happened this week.  Oh, President Cusick told us that we should be getting the tablets in the next 2-3 weeks.  So that is something to look forward to.  Another thing that I just thought about that I forget to mention last week.  I finally got to see Elder Ethan Grant at Brandon and Odessa.  He is now in my zone in the Clearwater area, so I will get to see him a little bit more often now.

Love You Bunches,

Elder Leavitt

Business

-I will watch for the glasses to come and I will let you know next week if I get them.  Thank you so much and I am sorry that I haven't been able to go and get measurements yet.

-I don't need any of those papers that I sent in the box. But don't throw anything out that I do send home. I will go through them later.  And I am glad that Lexie and Lainee liked the Nerf guns.  They were leftover from some previous missionaries and we had to de-clutter everything and throw it all away. I thought that they might have fun with them

-There is now snow at all here in St. Petersburg. Not anything close.  It sometimes looks like it is because of the very light rain and fog in the mornings.  I do like the electric blanket and I wish that I could use it more at night, but one of the other Elders really likes to crank up the heater so I am don't even use the covers because of how hot that it is.

-Thanks for talking to Natalie, I haven't received anything from her yet but hopefully soon.

-Thanks for taking care of the hunting tags and everything else too.

-I wanted to tell you, last week, Lindsay sent me an email telling me that Dixie Ray (She was in my Jr. Prom group in my Jr. year, where we had pictures at the wildlife museum) just got her mission call. She got called to the Tampa, Florida mission and is leaving in April. So I might get to see her soon.

-You don't have to but I really do like getting pictures of all the activities I did back at home. ex: family trips, cross country and track, dances, lake trips, etc.  Thanks.

 

January 27, 2014-Elder Kopischke‏

January 27, 2014-Elder Kopischke‏
This last week has been a great week.  There's been a lot more great things that are happening.  First off, Elder Whaley is the District Leader again for this area and he does a great job. When the zone leaders called, I was worried that they were calling to ask me to be the district leader, so I was relieved when they said that it was Elder Whaley.  I just don't feel prepared enough yet for that and that I wouldn't do that great of a job.

On Tuesday, we met this guy named Ron in the Target parking lot.  So we got his information and met with him again on Wednesday, we had a begin teaching lesson and got to know him some more.  Turns out that he had been to the church before and somehow he had lost contact. We then went and saw him on Thursday we taught about the Restoration and after we shared Joseph Smith's experience we extended the invitation to be baptized.  Not only did we invite him to be baptized, but also set a date with him for March 15. He kept relating himself to Joseph Smith on how he felt that he to has been searching for that true church and that he has finally found it. He then came to church on Sunday and loved the talks that were given by Elder Kopischke and Elder Nelson.  He told us that he felt something there that he has been desiring to feel in a long time. We met with him again after church and he asked about how we can know when we are truly forgiven of our sins.  So we read Alma 36 with him when Alma is telling his son Helaman about his conversion story.  We had a great lesson about repentance and knowing how to get ride of those ill feelings. We also moved his baptism date up to February 15.  I am really excited for him and this will be the first person that I have taught from ground zero to baptism.

We had a great training Saturday morning in Brandon with Elder Kopischke (1st Presidency of the Seventy).  It was a really good training. He talked about how we can make our visions come true, and that is 1)Being as obedient as possible, 2)Pure as possible, 3)Plan as best as possible, 4)Work as hard as possible.  He also talked about how we need to find more rules and obey them, so that we can receive more blessings.  We then had the Evening Session of Stake Conference and there were many great talks that we given about "Hastening the Work".  Then Sunday morning it was broadcasted to 48 Stakes in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.  Elder Kopischke spoke there again, as well as Elder Nelson. They gave really great talks as well. I wish that I had my notes with me.  Elder Nelson talked about the different facets of Doctrine, comparing to the facets of a diamond.

Yesterday we were able to go and give Bro. Rios a blessing with Bishop Bangerter. And I really feel like his hear is softening up and that we can start working with him pretty soon.  The Spirit was defiantly there and it really touched Bro. Rios and his family.

There's not much more to talk about right now. Thank you so much for the letters and emails each week.  I will try to get to writing you back more when I can find some time.  Loves you all!

Love, Elder Leavitt

January 21, 2014-Transfer #5‏

January 21, 2014-Transfer #5‏
Dear Family and Friends,

I don't have much time to write today, so I will try to get in all that I can.

So we got our Transfer calls Saturday morning, and I am staying for six more weeks in St. Petersburg with Elder Whaley. Elder Holmstead and Elder Westover are also staying, no one got transferred.  Elder Farnsworth is coming home tomorrow. He is bring a small package home with him for me and will give it to you.  There's really nothing to important in there.  I don't even remember what I put in there.

Some other exciting news for this week is that we were able to get in contact with an investigator that we had lost from before Christmas.  We had tried leaving cards on his door and sending him texts and calling him. Nothing had worked yet, so we decided to try calling him from the other Elder's phone so that he might not recognize the number.  Still no luck, but about 5-10 min later he called us on our phone and we were visiting with him 20 min later.  So I think that he will be back on board.

Another investigator that I think I may have told you about already is Ed.  We meet him a few weeks ago at his neighbors house.  Anyways, he is looking really positive right now.  We gave him a Book of Mormon a week or so ago and he is in Jarom now.  We invited him to pray about the things that we have taught about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon to know if they are true.  He declined and said that he has to read the entire book before he can do that.  We tried inviting him again last night sharing Moroni's promise, that when ye shall "receive" these things, to pray to know.  He told us the same thing before, but he did tell us that there is a certain feeling that we bring with us every time that we visit with him.  Something that he has never felt before and he loves it.  It brings him this peaceful feeling.  He understands everything that we teach and he says that it all makes sense.

There's a part member family named the Rios.  Sis. Rios and her daughter are both members, but her husband isn't.  The missionaries that were here before us said that they had a great restoration lesson with Bro Rios that was really spiritual. He was really touched and accepted the invitation to be baptized.  Then the next week he turned and told them not to come back.  We've visited with him 2-3 times now and never did get a warm welcome. But this last time that we stopped by he asked if he could get a blessing before he goes into knee surgery next week.  It kind of surprised us but it sounds like he is open to listening again.  

Sorry, I didn't get to write much this week.  I love you all very much and thank you for all of the letters and emails that I get.

Love, Elder Leavitt

January 13, 2014-Whose ever heard of Missionaries without any Book of Mormon's?

January 13, 2014-Whose ever heard of Missionaries without any Book of Mormon's?

Dear family and friends,

This last week we were able to find two new investigators.  The first one is a Seventh-Day Adventist who is a room mate of someone who we have been teaching, I don't know if anything will come of it but she was asking a lot of questions and kind of toke over the lesson.  

We were able to meet with three active member families for a Power Missionary Lesson.  Where we are trying to get them fired up about sharing the Gospel and for giving us referrals.  We weren't able to get any referrals from any of them but we left them with commitments for us to meet their friends that they have been working with before the end of February.  Hopefully I will still be around here to see that happen.  I will find out this Saturday if I will be staying for another six weeks here in St. Petersburg or not.

We did have one perfect day this last week.  By perfect, all of the appointments that we had stayed solid and we were able to meet with the five lessons that we had scheduled.  I think that this is my first perfect day that wasn't on P-day.  

At the movie night, there was a good attendance there.  There were five investigators total, but only one from our area.  We watched the movie Legacy which is the most romantic movie I've seen on my mission. It was a good movie for the our investigator who attended. She was really surprised at how much the early day pioneers went through to escape persecution and it really touched her at how strong that they stayed in their faith and continuing to press forward.

On Sunday during PEC, bishop said that the goals that he has in mind for this upcoming year is to have 50 baptisms. That would be on average 2 a month from each area.  He also said that he wants to have 20 ward missionaries.  That we double what we have right now.  The members are also getting more involved. They are volunteering to come out with us each week to help fellowship investigators and less active members.  We just need to find more investigators for them to come out and teach with us.

On Saturday, Sara Bills was baptized.  Elder Westover and Elder Holmstead found here about four weeks ago on the street.  She is super solid in her testimony and was way excited to be baptized.  Even though she had lost almost all of her friends and her family didn't support her.  On Sunday, Sis. Nicole Erbel and Jeff Morris, both recent converts, talked in Sacrament meeting.  It was awesome hearing there conversion stories, and really spiritual.  Bro. Morris shared his testimony of shortly losing his wife after they were baptized. It was really touching to hear.  And Sis. Erbel bore her testimony on being so against the church before, and then coming to realize the truthfulness of it.

About the Book of Mormon's.  We've been out of them and along with pamphlet's to hand out to people for the last 2-3 weeks or so. So we are waiting for the supplies to come in so that we can start handing them out again.  Even the ward doesn't have any, they were asking us if we could give them some that that they could hand them out during the fast.  Hopefully we get them soon.

Business Items

• I haven't been able to have a PD test and I'm not sure when I will be able to.  I tried stopping by one of the stores and they said that it would take an hour and that I would have to schedule an appointment.  Not sure what to do at this point and how long that it will be until I am able to get the test done.
• I haven't gotten the chance to get a rain coat yet.  (Luckily it's not summer yet) but I will try to get one as soon as I can.  We got rained on again on Friday while out biking, but it wasn't too bad.  We ended up staying at the apartment for an hour waiting for the lightning to go away.
• I would love to hear how it goes giving the Book of Mormon to your patient.

Love, Elder Leavitt

31 Day Fast-January 6, 2014

31 Day Fast-January 6, 2014
Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for all of the cards and letters that I received from all of you.  I really enjoy getting them and reading about how things are going.  And they are also a great encouragement to continue working hard every day.

This last week has been a little bit better for after the holiday season and everyone is coming back in town.  One thing that we are doing in the St. Petersburg Ward is having a 31 day fast for the month of January.  The very first day we saw miracles already happening.  A part member family and also n investigator who we had lost contacts with for a few weeks both contacted us and set up an appointment for us to come by and visit with them.  It was great being able to get back in contact with them.  On the downside, we had two investigators who attended church two weeks ago and since then we haven't been able to talk with them again.  There's a woman in the South Elders area that is getting baptized this Saturday, and she has become good friends with one of the investigators that we had lost.  She was able to get a hold of her and invite her to her baptism.  I am really hoping and praying that she will be there so that we can try to start teaching her again.  The hardest thing in this area right now is trying to find new people to teach.  We have been trying to get the members more involved in sharing the Gospel with their friends, and trying to get referrals from them.  But so far, nothing.  There are a few members who are really close with some people though, so it should be a little bit better in the upcoming weeks.

On top of trying to find people to teach, we have been trying a few different things.  One of them was walking around in the Wal-Mart parking lot and just talking to people there. But we got kicked out of there this last week by the security guard. The other place that we have been tying is at Freedom Park.  But this last week it got down to 50 degrees (too cold for the Floridians that live here) so the park has been pretty empty the last few days.

There's nothing to exciting really going on.  We are planning on having another movie night at the church this Friday.  We will be watching the movie Legacy.  Hopefully there will be a good turn out.  We just got the invitations yesterday from Bro. Nye (Ward Mission Leader), he is a postal worker so he's been really busy lately, and his wife has been feeling really sick for the last week or two.  We went last night and gave Sis. Nye a blessing and helped finish printing and cutting out the invitations.

I am absolutely loving doing the Lords work here in St. Petersburg.  And I really do love hearing about how things are going back at home through letters and emails. 

Love you all!!!

Elder Leavitt

December 30, 2013-Happy New Year!!

December 30, 2013-Happy New Year!!
Dear Family and Friends,

It was so great to be able to talk to you this last week.  That was the biggest highlight of my week even with hitting new records.  Actually the records we hit weren't the best ones.  We hit an all time low for proselyting hours and for teaching lessons.  So it wasn't quite the best week.  We did give it our best effort though.  Some other highlights for this week was going to the beach on Monday for a Christmas Party and and talking about missionary work for the combined third hour of church yesterday.  For the month of January, we are doing a 31 day fast with the ward, where each day there is at least one person who is fasting for missionary work and for sharing the gospel with others.  We committed the members to watch the Hastening the Work of Salvation Broadcast during the month, and to watch one short video a day that is found on that same page.  http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/members-and-missionaries .  I'm pretty excited for this next month to start off the new year.  I am hoping that the members here will start wanting to be involved in missionary work.  I know that there are several nonmember friends of members right now that would accept the Gospel if only the members would work with them and invite them to meet with us. So I am with the whole month being focused on missionary work will help with referrals and to broaden our teaching pool because of how small that it is right now. 

Yesterday after Church, we had a potential that we were trying to visit before we had dinner with Bro. Nye, the Ward Mission Leader.  Going to this potentials house, it's about a 30 min bike ride. That wasn't the problem, the problem was how much it was raining.  I don't have a rain coat so I borrowed Elder Westover's.  When we first started biking, the rain was light and we were avoiding every puddle that we possible could.  After about 10 min., we were drenched and it did no good trying to go around the water.  We we soaked to the bone and it didn't make any difference no matter what we did. So we ended up not caring or trying to avoid the puddles.  The other Elders then picked us up on the way up to Bro. Nye's.  When we got there, we toke off our shoes and socks and dumped like a gallon of water out of our shoes.  We were wet for the rest of the evening until we got back home to dry off.

 Just a few things that aren't of any importance but that I wanted to know.  Can I get some of dad's great tasting pinenuts?  :) The story about great grandpa? working on the Sabbath Day and picture if possible. New Era: May 2008 (I would love to get some of his music plus some more Piano Guys),  On page 19 of the November General Conference Ensign, it looks like Nate Mitchell I think. Do you still have the Blazer?  Is Kiera going to drive it? Don't stress or worry about any of these things. I was just wondering about them

The Fort de Sota Beach Sunset.

My District.  Me, Elder Thuet, Elder Lott, Elder Bateman, Elder Brown, Elder Tanner,

Sis. Howard, Sis. Nebeker, Sis. Mahilum, Elder Scott, Elder Pearson, Elder Westover, Elder Holmstead, Elder Whaley

Love, Elder Leavitt

December 23, 2013-Merry Christmas!!!

December 23, 2013-Merry Christmas!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

 

This last week has been better than past weeks.  We only had 17 lessons (not as many as I would like) but they were all really good.  We have been getting started on facebook now and with the short amount of time that we've spent on facebook,  I've been able to post some videos and links, and also make appointments with less active members who are really hard to get in contact with.  It seems like everyone is on facebook now days and that's where we are going to find more people to teach.

 

Oh, guess what?  I saw my first alligator last monday.  For p-day we went for a walk in the park and toke pictures there.  I forget my camera though so I will get the pictures from the other Elders and send some your way.  The biggest gator I saw was about 4-5 feet long, and then I saw two small 2 feet long gators.   They are really neat and I wanted to pick up the small ones and get a picture with them.

 

I wasn't at the beach on friday, that was the south part of the mission. The north part gets to go today!  So I am really excited to go there and watch the sunset.  I haven't seen the ocean yet but I have seen the gulf quite a few times now.

 You'll probably see the pictures with me in them pretty soon. 

 

I still don't know where I will be for the phone call home or how I will be calling yet.  It might be skype, (don't know what google hangout out is?), facetime, or just a phone call.  I'm not sure how it is going to all work out.  We will try for 2pm or 3pm.

 We have two people who we have been working with who are super close to setting a date with them.  They both have the same type of personality where they like to talk a lot,  they both understand and know that it is true, but they just want to wait to be sure.  I have a feeling that both of them will be baptized, I'm just not sure how far down the road that it will be.  I fell that with Belinda, she just made good friends with an investigator from the South Elders area who has a baptismal date.  They are both getting together for dinner on Christmas and invited both set of Elders to come by.  I think that this will really help her to progress for a baptismal date and I am really excited.  The other person is Quinton, we met him on the streets a few weeks ago and he comprehends everything really well.  He is a super smart guy and understands everything we talk about.  Both Belinda and Quinton were able to attend church this past Sunday, it was Quintons first tiem being there.

 

That reminds me, for church we sang at least ten Christmas songs during sacrament with a short narrations in between each song.  Sure was a lot of singing though.

 

Another highlight this last week was that I Elder Thuet came on an exchange with me on wednesday.  So I had to take the lead in everything that we did during the day which I didn't like to much.  I also got to drive the car for the day which I really liked,  but I was a little bit rusty and let's leave it at that.  :)  haha

 

Merry Christmas,

 

Elder Leavitt

 

 

 

 

P.S. Lindsay Wignall was wondering if she could be on my email list that you send out to people.  Thanks.  Feel free to add anyone else that would like to be on there as well.  She told me that Desiree Gentry just left this last week on her mission to Mexico!

 

 

December 16, 2013-Christmas in Zarahemla‏

December 16, 2013-Christmas in Zarahemla‏

Dear Family and Friends,

 

This week started off pretty good but it feels like the last few days have been a lot more biking than teaching lessons.  We had super great plans for each day but everything just fell through.  For example, yesterday we ended up biking 22 miles and the only things that we were able to do was send in our approvals for online proselyting and had a 45min lesson with a less active family.  It was a great lesson with them though.  With all of this biking around this week I hit 1000 miles of biking on my mission yesterday. 

 

During the week we were able to do a service project of hanging up lights at a member home.  Let's just say that I like hanging up her light than the ones that I did back at home.  She as a one story home and it was so easy to get it all done and decorated. It only toke 30min or so to get things out of her attic and up on her roof and we were done. 

 

Another really fun and exciting thing that happened this last week was the ward "Christmas in Zarahemla" party. In preparation for this party, and for the Christmas season, we have been reading from Helaman 16 - 3 Nephi 1 with just about everyone.  It was really neat what they did and I think that it would be way fun to do again.  The Elders Quorum did a little play acting out Samuel the Lamanite, and the people who did and didn't believe.  It was pretty funny and you could defiantly tell that they didn't spend any time working on it. But it was pretty fun to see and I can see it being much better if you spend more time preparing for it.  Then the primary kids did a Nativity scene and sang "Silent Night".  It really reminded me of the Christmas Eve Program that we did ever year and makes me miss going to that.

 

I did receive the Christmas package that you sent to me on Monday, but I didn't get it until Wednesday because the other missionaries don't ever check mail when they have they key.  I also got Grandma Leavitt's packages last night.  I think it got here on Saturday, but like the other one, the south missionaries are always forgetting.  Thanks so much for the packages.  I absolutely love them and I set up the tree in my room.  :)  I love all of the goodies as well.  I haven't peeked yet but I pretty much know what they all are.  Oh, and I love the stocking tie you sent. In fact I am wearing it right now.  :)

 

For the phone call on Christmas.  I'm not sure on how it's going to play out yet.  Wanted to try Skype or something but right now we're planning on calling around 3 or so here, so that will be around 1 there.  We don't have anything planned yet but we will get that done this week and I will let you know more about next Monday.

 

To answer some of your questions.  We are still working on setting up for the online proselyting, hopefully it will be up and running this week.  I am still on Burgundy Ter. and I have given out two of the Nativity's so far and the kids loved them that I gave them to.

Elder Whaley's home address is PO Box 552, Kayenta, AZ, 86033.

 

 

Love Elder Leavitt.

 

December 9, 2013-Transfer #4‏

December 9, 2013-Transfer #4‏
Dear Family and Friends,

 

This last week has been pretty good.  We were able to have some really good lessons with less actives and investigators.  The members were great in being able to come out with us this week to visit returning members and for fellowshipping.  We were super close on getting the Patterson kids to church this last week as well.  We had everything set up and taken care of but they dropped out at the last minute.  That's how it has been with a lot of people the whole time that I've been out here.  They are so close to coming and they say that they will but they never show up.

 

One of the highlights of this last week is that we set up a movie night at the church.  There was a great turn out of people, especially returing members and a few non members.  We watched "Joy to the World" and "Mr. Krueger's Christmas". Everyone that came absolutly loved the two films.  One the the investigators, Belinda, said that she was really touch by "Joy to the World".  So called us the next morning and wanted us to come by.  We talked about where the Book of Mormon came from (which we have a few times already with her), and she likes to go off on the Native Americans so we went into that again.  Belinda is kind of an interesting person to figure out.  We tell her one thing and it just seems to go right over her head.  She likes to jump around all of the place in the conversation as well.  But you know that she has to be smart for going to law school right now.  She just doesn't seem to understand things in order.  We tried setting another baptismal date with her but nothing solid yet.  I know that one of these days she will want to be baptized, I'm just not sure on how soon.

 

The 1st Presidency Christmas devotional was also really good last night.  We sent out a reminder text to everyone just before and we got several responses about how much investigators and members enjoyed it.  It was really great and I loved listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

 

We also got our transfer calls on Saturday.  Elder Whaley and I are staying together for another transfer which I am happy about because I love serving with him.  The next transfer will be January 19, 2014.  So I'll be here in sunny and warm St. Petersburg until then

 

 Just wanted to say Happy 23rd wedding anniversary.  I was thinking about you both all day yesterday. I LOVE YOU TONS!!!

 

 I will watch for the packages. Thank you!  And tell Kiera that she can't date until I get home.  That way big brother can protect her.  :)  Oh, and I saw an email from Lindsay that Jenecee Powell got baptized this last Saturday.  That is so exciting to hear.

 

Love, Elder Leavitt

December 2, 2013-Thanksgiving Week!

December 2, 2013-Thanksgiving Week!

Dear Family and Friends,

 

This week was a little bit disappointing if you look at it number wise.  We only had 15 lessons all together.  It's just been a tougher week with finishing up moving things to the new apartment, interviews with the President Cusick, and with attending three baptisms our ward.  But we did have many great contacts with people during the week and great lesssons with those who we were able to have them with. 

 

For Thanksgiving, we got quite a few invitations to peoples home for dinner.  We only had two dinner though, (one too many for me).  The first one was with the Patterson's, a part member family, and the second with the Lorenzo's, a less active family.  Both of them invited family and friends who were not members.  We tried to share a thought with them but it was difficult with everything that was going on the the house.  A lot of people and witht the football game on.  That's one thing that I wish we could have done better on and tried harder to share something with the families.  The Patterson family and a super great tasting turkey, one of the best that I've had.  At the Lorenzo's, it was more a mix with both american and philipeno traditions.  I don't remember the names of some of the things that they had but I did try a few. Not entirely my favorite.  But they both had great dinners.

 

Oh, before I forget, I told you the wrong address. It might still get to me, not sure.  But my actual address in 2307 Burgundy Ter, St. Petersburg, 33714.  Sorry about that.

 

To answer your questions about Christmas and things I told you to send.  It's alright if you can't send them, I'll still survive just fine.  And I don't know what would work best, I really don't get much time to go out and do anything personal.  I don't remember my pin number for my card as well.  So I haven't really used it.  For the jacket, I think that I will be alright.  There's only been one or two days that I wish that I had one when out biking or working out in the morning.  I wouldn't use it to often though.

 

 Sorry there's not much to talk about this week.  I will try to write more next time. Love you all and I hope things are going great for you.

 

 

Love, Elder Leavitt

December 2, 2013-Fwd: Online Proselyting‏

December 2, 2013-Fwd: Online Proselyting‏

We are now starting online proselyting, here is a list of the rules that we were given. Rather than telling them all to you I thought that it would just be easier to send to you.

 

Love, Elder Leavitt

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Florida Tampa Mission <2011220@ldschurch.org>
Date: Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 9:18 AM
Subject: Online Proselyting
To:

Elders and Sisters,
 
Our Mission has been approved for online proselyting.   You have been selected to participate.  Please study and become familiar with the attached document.  The entire document is important but we have highlighted areas that are especially important. We would like you to study it personally and as a companionship.  Please do not set up your Facebook profile at this time.  You will be notified to participate in a conference call for additional training.  After that training, you will set up your Facebook profile.  This will be a great opportunity to share the gospel using the technology Heavenly Father has given us.  This is an exciting time to be a missionary as Heavenly Father is "Hastening His Work".
Some of you may have gotten a previous email concerning this.  Please disregard the previous one and use the highlighted document attached to this email. 
 
Thank you for your obedience and diligence in serving the Lord.
 
President May
 

November 25, 2013-Fw: Online Proselyting‏

November 25, 2013-Fw: Online Proselyting‏

On Monday, November 25, 2013 1:27 PM, GREG LEAVITT <tbird9113@yahoo.com> wrote:

Please help us not to contact Chase by facebook.  His email is cleavitt@myldsmail.net if you want to write him a letter.  It is even better to send a letter in the mail than by email because he has more time to read and respond.  He only gets 1 hour a week to read emails and to answer back by email.  I just thought everyone would like to know what he is currently doing.  If you want his personal address since he just moved, please let us know.

Thanks,

Greg and Makayla

On Monday, November 25, 2013 1:14 PM, Florida Tampa Mission <2011220@ldschurch.org> wrote:

Regarding:  Elder Leavitt

Your missionary has been selected to participate in online proselyting.  This means that he/she will be spending time each day using Facebook to do missionary work.  Only missionaries who have shown exact obedience to mission rules will be allowed to do online proselyting.  This is a wonderful opportunity that will bless the life of your missionary and the people he/she reaches through the Internet. 

Your missionary’s Facebook page will be a tool for missionary work in the Tampa Florida mission.  It is not to be used for communication with friends or family.  We have asked your missionary not to make or accept friend requests from family members or friends back home. The only exception to this is that they may invite parents and siblings to be Facebook friends.  This is so you can see what your missionary is doing and assist in missionary work by answering questions and becoming friends with those he/she is teaching.  It is not for you to use to communicate with your missionary.  Please do not post to your missionary’s timeline or make comments or use Facebook messaging or any other Internet tools to communicate with your missionary.  All of your communication with your missionary should still be done using his/her @myldsmail.net email account on preparation day.  This is necessary to keep your missionary focused on the work and not distracted by non-missionary communication.  If families cannot abide by these rules, your missionary may be required to un-friend you or may lose the privilege of online proselyting.  We are asking you to be obedient just like your missionary so he/she can receive the blessings and miracles that come from obedience.

Thank you for sending us such a fine missionary.  We love them.

President Mark D. Cusick

Florida Tampa Mission

November 25, 2013-Sunny and Warm St. Pete!!

November 25, 2013-Sunny and Warm St. Pete!!

Dear Family,

 

This past week has been a little bit better on trying to find more people to teach.  It's been kind of tough lately trying to get new investigators.  We were able to find some more potential people by going to parks and walking around and sitting at bus stations talking to people waiting for their but to arrive.  It's been a great week on teaching lessons with less actives and working more with members on their missionary work.  There aren't really any highlights for this last week. Had the chance to go with a part member family to go and see some actors from The Christmas Story, there were four actors there, the only ones that I kinda know that were there was the tall bully, the kid who stuck his tongue to the pole, and Ralph's brother. We were going to try to get our picture with them but it would have cost us $20.  So we didn't get to see them. But that's alright, we weren't going to see them, we were going so that we could build up our relationship with this family.

 

Thanks for the blankets, I did get them and it's nice to have them.  It's not super cold here. Sill in the 70's to 80's until this week.  It doesn't even feel like November here, it's not cold enough.  So we got half way moved into the new apartment, we are going to finish moving the rest of it today.  The new apartment is a lot bigger and its good to be sleeping on a mattress now instead of the couch, it's a small upgrade but hey, it nicer.  It's really close to a freeway though so the first night I didn't sleep at all. The address to the new apartment is 5800 Calais Park 17-2307, St. Petersburg, Fl 33714.  It's about 20 blocks south of our area.  So we have a ways to drive/bike before we even get into our area. Roughly 2 miles or so. All four Elders moved into the new apartment that's in thier area.

 

For Thanksgiving, we are planning to have dinner at some less acitve/part family members home.  There's really nothing different about it for us. We are just going to be visiting as many people as possible since that's when everyone is home is on the holidays.

 

That's great to hear that Aunt Pat and her family is doing great.  Funny to hear about her fire alarms going off.  Tell everyone that is in town hi for me. Including both sides of the family. Pat, Morris, Mari, Myron, cousins, anyone else who is visiting.I hope that they are all doing great

 

I did see Les Miserables at GHA.  I did apply for a Target Card, it's nothing to important so I won't worry about it. Thanks.  My password to this account should be the same to my other one.  Not sure thought because it's been so long since I have gotten into that one. Thanks for trying to check on my STATS test.  I'm not quite sure how.  I know there is a small card somewhere that has that information on it packed away somewhere probably.

 
 My address might possible change in two weeks if I get transfered to a new area, we'll have to wait to find out.  I'm not sure what to tell the other missionaries really,  I talk to Elder Austin, Fowkes, and Grant a little bit.  Maybe getting one to Jordan Stauffer as well.  You can tell them that I was roughing it on the couch for the first six months of my mission.  The challenges that we have had is trying to find new people to teach.  Some ideas would be those I stated earlier, and another one that we haven't quite yet tried is chalk art.  We might try this one of these days, but drawing out the plan of salvation or something on the side walk and walking people through it and telling them about it.  If anyone has any finding ideas that would be great since we are no longer allowed to knock on doors any more.  The most success that we have found so far is just working with people who are on the ward directory and the partmember families.  As well as talking to the neighbors and people in the area of where past members have lived and moved away. I guess that I would just want to hear about how they are doing on thier mission and any advice that they may have.  My advice would be to be exactly obedient in all things.

 

Thanks for the letters every week and the packages that you sent.  I hope that you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.


Love, Elder Leavitt 

November 18, 2013- New Apartment!

November 18, 2013- New Apartment!

Dear Family,

 

There isn't a whole lot to share with you this week.  It hasn't been to exciting.  It's been a tougher week on getting refferals and trying to find new investigators.  We did however have a lot of less active/returning member lessons.  We had fifteen all together.  Also another highlight Belinda was at church again this last week.  Two sundays ago, there were over 200 people at church. This was Bishop Bangerter's goal for the year to be getting 200 every week.  This last week it dropped down to 116. There was like no one there. We usually average around 160 or so.

 

Oh, and I heard from Elder Austin, that Brandon Caplain moved into the ward.  I worked with him at Pizza Factory.  He is pretty cool.  Tell him Hi for me. Thanks.

 

It still feels like summer here. It was 80 degress at 8:30 last night and when we got in the car to come to the library this morning, it was super hot.  We had a few cold days earlier last week but it's pretty warm again.

 

 Since Bro. Mylroie is a ward mission leader, does that mean you have missionaries in the ward?  I'm sorry to hear about Sis. McArthur, that's great that Sis. Hammer will be with you now.  How is Kayla doing?  That's so awesome to hear about Courtland, just need to help Antony get back to church.  Going to Lake Powell this Summer, that sounds like fun.  You'll do great on passing off the Living Christ.

 

 I haven't gotten the packages yet, probably because the South Elders never check the mail or do anything else.  I will check on my way back today. Thanks a bunch.  And you didn't need to go through all that trouble, it's still not as cold as I thought that it would be.  You'll probably get a letter from me as well. It's small and just something that I've been needing to send off for a while.  Sorry it's not much.  

 

 If you would like compile the letters that would be great but that's a lot of work. So you don't have to if it's to much. I still have a few vitamins left but I never had any fish oils.  I've used the Doterra oils a few times already. Thanks for those.  As for my eyes. I am meeting with Dr. Emery again on friday for a follow up. So I will let you know next week.  I don't know if I told you this but he is also the Stake President here.  He is a super awesome guy that really knows what he is talking about.

 

We don't really have any solid plans yet for Thanksgiving.  We've had a few invitations so far. Still need to work that out.

 

There is some exciting news for this week that I just remembered about.  We are finally going to be moving to a bigger and better apartment on thursday. I am really looking forward to this because I will no longer have to sleep and study on the couch.  We will finally have our own beds and desks to sleep and study.  This last week we had traveling missionaries come by for exchanges with us.  So on tuesday night and wednesday morning, there were six elders all in this small apartment.  And trying to get showering and cooking done in an hour was a lot of fun trying to work around everyone.  So this new apartment will be a great change. I will send you the address of it next week.  It's something like 5800 Calais Dr.  I'm not exactly sure.  But that bad part about moving is that we will be 20+ black out of our area. So it's going to be an extra drive/bike everyday.

 

Hope to hear from you all again soon. Thanks for the letters and packages.  I love you all.

 

Love, Elder Leavitt
 

P.S. I don't have Lexie's email. Have her send me something small so I can write her too. :)
 

November 12, 2013 Great Week!

November 12, 2013 Great Week!

Dear Family,

 

On Monday this last week, we got a phone call from Elder Farnsworth concerning a nonmember in our ward named Nicole Erbel. Her husband Todd was baptized about five years ago.  I guess he was a less active member before I got here because of his wife and she was dragging him down.  But since I've been here he has been pretty active and participating in all of the activities.  Nicole has also been coming with him to all of this activities and to church with him every sunday.  We've visited with them a few times before and we had planned to call them up that day to see if we could come by and go through the lessons with them.  They've been through the lessons many times before. Anyways, Elder Farnsworth was really close to the Erbels. He told us that Nicole had called him saying that she wanted to be baptized and what she needed to in order for that to happen.  He then called us and we were surprised but really excited to hear this great news.  We knew that she would become baptized but we just weren't sure when.  So we called her up and set up a day that we could come by and visit with her and go through the lessons.  Nicole had told us that she wanted to be baptized that saturday so we had a bit of work to do before than.  So we met with her several times during the week going briefly over the lessons to make sure that she understood them and had a testimony in the things we taught to make sure it wasn't just because of Todd or other members telling her to be baptized. That she actually had a testimony her self.  There were a few areas that she is still unsure in but she does have a strong belief that this is what she needed to do. It was the talk in General Conference by President Uchtdorf, about "Come, and Join Us" that helped make up her mind.  So she was baptized and confirmed this last saturday and sunday by her husband.  There was a great turnout of people there and I am so glad and blessed that I could be able to take part in this process.  The picture is of Nicole and Todd Erbel, and Elder Whaley and I.  :)

 

 (I was wondering if I might be able to get some church music, specifically William Joseph. Oh and I found him in a New Era article.  I can't remember which one but I will let you know when I can.  If possible, if you can also get me a blanket and also my running gloves. And anything else that you want to send. I would love it. Thanks.)

 

Thanks for all of the letters. I don't have much time to respond to them today.  But I will try to as soon as possible.  I'm glad to hear about my friends stopping by.  And about how everything is going in your life's.  I talked to Pres. Emery today (your coworker will most likely know him, the one that moved from Clearwater.  And it is neuvasculazation.  I am meeting up with him again next week.  He told me not to wear my contacts which I haven't been doing for the last week.  And to put eye drops in my eyes to help the inflamation go away.  I'm good on my emergency kit for now. Thank you.  And what account are you asking about? Thanks for all of the letters and emails. I really do enjoy getting them even though it's hard to respond back.  

 

Love you all,

 

Love, Elder Leavitt

November 4, 2013 Best Fast & Testimony Meeting Yet

November 4, 2013

 

Hi Family

 

This week has been pretty good for the most part.  There was a super great turn out to the Halloween Party that we had on wednesday.  There were at least 200 people there and 40 of them were nonmembers.  The chili cook off was really good, and they had games and trunk-or-treating for the kids.

 

This last sunday was probably one of the best sundays that I've so far on my mission.  President Cusick, and his wife and daughter all showed up to our church for sacrament meeting.  All three were asked to start the testimony meeting by sharing their's.  This testimony meeting has been the most powerful and spiritual meeting I've been to.  The Nichols family who I have talked about in previous weeks were all able to attend together.  Even Bro. Nichols who usually works every sunday.  We committed him to pray to get sundays off and to act on his faith to do all he could to come to church.  When he got his work schedule for the upcoming week. He didn't have to work during the day on sunday.  It was a miracle seeing him there at church.  Their daughter Yvonne and soon to be son in law also came to church with them.  Yvonne is a member but her boyfriend Rick isn't.  They to have been taking part in the lessons that we have with her parents and want to become active again. I think that they all enjoyed coming to church.  Also this sunday, it was the largest Gospel Principles class that I have seen thus far on my mission.  Bro. Nye taught a great lesson about the spirit world and temple work.  It also seemed that in every meeting that there is a lot more talk about missionary work and Hastening the work.  The members are becoming more involved and wanting to share the Gospel with others more.

 

Now to answer all of your questions.  The new elder is Elder Westover from Taylorsville, UT.  He has been out here for 7 months now. Elder Holmstead is still here.  The weather is getting a cooler now. I will want my running gloves soon if you can find them in any of the boxes I packed. Thanks.  I did get your package and thank you, now I can add a few more things to my emergency pack. I don't get too many other people writing to me.  I have a few letters I still need to write back though but nothing new.  The dinners are staying about the same.  Every week we have two dinners already planned with returning members.  But other than that we are lucky if we get one or two more on top of that.  There is a stove and oven that I sometimes use.  Elder Whaley and I still get the couch and mattress. The other Elders still have the bedroom and study room.  So we get the couch and table you saw in the pictures for eating dinner, sleeping, and studying. And they get the full bedroom and closest, study room, and the table to eat as well where they always leave their mess on.  My bike is still running great after the small accidents.  I did get a flat tire on saturday about ten miles from our apartment.  This nice guy from Atlanta Georgia who lived in SLC for five years so us after we had been walking for about 2.5 hours and went and bought a tube for us.  It was a blessing for him to stop and help us out. He isn't a member but missionaries in the past had helped him and his son out on several different occasions so he wanted to do the same.  About the leak in the red bike, ask dad to help. I know how much that he loved helping me to fix my flats when I was younger.  :) 

 

I love you all and I love hearing from you all.  Oh, and the picture is of my district before everyone got transferred.

 

Love, Elder Leavitt

October 28, 2013 Third Transfer Date

10/28/13

 

Dear Family,

 

Elder Whaley and I are staying together for another six weeks in St. Petersburg.  The other Elders in our ward, Elder Holmstead who came out with me, is getting a new companion tomorrow.  So we will have a new roommate in our apartment.  There will still be four of us living there. To answer your questions, that is our apartment and I am still sleeping on the couch. And that was Elder Farnsworth in the picture.  I will remember to bring my camera next week to the library so that I can send some more pictures.

 

This last week, we met with Sis. Darlene Patterson and her adoptive grandson Weston.  Weston lost his mom due to overdose of drugs and Sis. Patterson's son, Gary, is taking care of him.  He is really humble and doesn't know much about the gospel.  We went over to Gary's house to teach Weston and ending up teaching his kids as well. Along with another adoptive daughter who's dad committed suicide and they are now taking care of her as well.  We found out that Gary is a member of the church and he wanted us to teach the Plan of Salvation.  We already taught the Restoration with Weston and wanted to read from the Book of Mormon with him then do the Plan of Slavation with him.  But we taught it anyways and the kids really were interested in it and they all wanted to come to church. They weren't able to make it yesterday but they said that they would come this week.

 

Belinda who I talked a little bit about last time came to church yesterday also.  We were able to commit her that if she came, that the Lord would provide for her to get her homework assignment done and turned in on time.  She really enjoyed church and became great friends with Sis. Nye (Ward Mission Leader's Wife) and Sis Cruz.  Talking about Bro. and Sis. Nye.  Bro Nye really reminds me a lot of Grandpa Anderson. :)  It's finally starting to feel really nice to be outside now.  The tempatures have cooled off quite a bit and it's perfect for being outside and biking.  

 

Love you all!!

 

Love, Elder Leavitt