Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Guess who has a little bit of time por fin! I hope everything´s going well, and that everyone had a great Christmas. I can´t believe that it´s already hitting 2016, but it´s going to be a great year. So I know that in these weeks there´s a lot that´s happened, but pretty much my mind is blanked out, but everything is going good here in Cacahotán. I have a new companion, Hermana Méndez, she´s got about 5 months in her mission and she´s from Guatemala. She´s awesome and we get along super well. The funny thing is that we´re both pretty shy around new people, so it´s helping me to break out of my shell a little bit I guess and talk with the people here. 

A couple weeks ago I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in Spanish, and I just want to say that I know that it´s true. The Book of Mormon has a power to help us with any problem in our lives. But we have to study it, every day, to really see this power in our lives. I know that reading it in spanish has helped me so much to be able to learn spanish quicker, and that the gift of tongues is real. I know that we need the Book of Mormon in our lives, it literally changes us to be able to be closer to our Father in Heaven. If you believe, well read it. If you don´t believe me, read it. This is my testimony of the Book of Mormon, but you have to experiment it for yourself to really know for yourself. I know that the church is true, and I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real. I know that he forgives us for things that even sometimes it´s hard to forgive ourselves, because I have felt it in my life. Please never forget that we have a Heavenly Father who loves each and every one of us so much, and that the things we pass in our lives will help us to live with Him again if we have our sight set on Him. 

I love you, and I´m so grateful for each and every one of you in my life. 

Love, 

Hermana Leavitt

Surprise, no time, again...

Really sorry about that I have no time, but I hope all is going well, and here are some pictures from this week!

1. I agree with this message, Dengue is horrible and by experience I´ll tell you you don´t want it. 

2. Who doesn´t like to take a selfie when you´ve got a chance? 

Love you! 

Hermana Leavitt

Short again...

 well once again there`s only time for pictures, maybe one day I`ll have sufficient time...

pic 1 yes, we`re in la zona tapachula-izapa, and yes, we`re cold. (hermana dansie especially you`ll understand the irony of this.)

pic 2 a great and spacious field and it`s super beautiful here

pic 3 we tried teaching a hymn in english to our investigator, it didn`t go down too well. 

Cambios! but not for us!

We had cambios today, but not here in Cacahoatán! Hermana Castillo and I are staying here! After this transfer she heads home to Bolivia, it´s super crazy. We´re going to have 4 months together here in Cacahoatán, and we´re super stoked to keep strenghthening this area and ward. 

Yesterday we had a pretty good miracle. So we passed by for our investigators to bring them to church, and no one could. We were pretty bummed, but headed on to church anyway. But about five minutes before it started, another investigator that had said couldn´t come sent us a message that he was a little late but was going to come to church. We´re working a lot with him, and honestly we feel like he´s going to progress a lot. We visited him in the evening and he said he had a lot of doubts because in the classes we used more of Doctrine and Covenants than the bible, and he felt that the church was a lot different than what he was expecting. He´s gone to another church all his life that´s a little different, but, he didn´t tell us he wouldn´t come again, so that´s the upside :)

I love hearing from you, thanks for the emails. Hope you have a great week!

Hermana Leavitt

Fotos!

1. I´m pretty sure it´s a volcano, but I don´t know the name of it... Anyway, it´s super pretty here. 

 

2. A super steep and long hill we had to climb one day. I thought it was fun, my companion not so much...

Cacahoatan is definitely the best place, and I hope I´m here for a while. Sorry it´s not much this week, but love you all!

Hermana Leavitt

pic 1 A member let us borrow a guitar for the baptism, I was pretty stoked i do have to say,.

pic 2 Temple trip, just a couple of the members that are awesome here in Cacahoatan!

long time no see

Pic 1 Meet the District! 

Pic 2 Eulicer and his family 

So basically every week is pretty normal, nothing too extravagent happens, and then there´s just one week where everything awesome happens and the spirit is super strong and you learn a ton and well, yeah.. 

One awesome thing was that we had the opportunity to go to the temple with the ward. 7 hour bus ride, all day in the temple, and then a 7 hour bus ride home. It was great, the spirit was so strong. And I´m just that much more grateful to have a temple 10 minutes away from home. I´m pretty lucky here, because usually when we´re this far away from Tuxtla, we can´t go to the temple unless a convert goes, but my companion hasn´t been to the temple since before her mission, 16 months. So our mission president gave us permission to go. Honestly though, when we were waiting for the bus to leave, I could feel the spirit so strong of the desire from the members to go to the temple, it was way cool. 

Another awesome thing that happened this week was that one of our investigators, Eulicer, got baptized this weekend! When i got here in this area my companion told me about Eulicer, and how he didn´t want anything to do with the church, and didn´t believe it. We went to visit him the first time together, and honestly all I can remember, is that we invited him to get married, and he said they would work on it. We invited him to be baptized after his wedding, and he accepted. My companion was in shock after, because it was the first time that he had ever accepted. After lots of work, fasting, praying, and saving up, Eulicer and his wife were able to get married last week, and this week he was able to be baptized. The spirit was so strong, and his desire to do what is right has been so strong too. These last few weeks he´s been super happy. Every time we´ve seen him he told us that he had been praying, and knew who he wanted to baptize him, or what day, what time, etc. The only thing he asked from us was that I would sing in English at his baptism, so we sang How Great thou Art in Spanish then English. Him and his wife are super happy, and they´re excited to prepare to go to the temple in a year. Honestly, everyone from this family is awesome, they´re faith is so strong and I´ve learned so much from them. 

Well, that´s it for this week, I love ya!

Hermana Leavitt

Pic 1 Meet the District! 

Pic 2 Eulicer and his family 

Oct 5, 2015

Buenas!

pic It rains, a lot. No joke. 

How was conference, I hope it was great! I definitely learned a lot, but I´m definitely going to read the Liahona in English when we get it. But I´m grateful that we have the opportunity to listen to conference and hear from our living prophet and apostles. I hope that we may always let the light shine through our eyes and be examples like President Monson shared. And that we can especially do this by keeping our covenants we have made, and by renewing them each week on the sabbath day. All of this conference I couldn´t help but ask myself, what will I do better to keep the sabbath day holy when i return home? It´s easy here on the mission, but it´s something I have to keep strengthening. Keeping this commandment is a protection, or maybe even a barrier we don´t quite understand in our lives. So what can you do better to keep the sabbath day holy? What goals can you make between this conference and the next? 

So a lot of change has happened these last couple weeks. We had cambios! I´m still here in Cacahoatán with Hna. Castillo (score!), but... our area has grown. We had 4 hermanas in the ward here, so there were two different areas. but now it´s just the two of us and we´re opening the other area. We´re really going to have to work with the members more, and we´re really excited and think it will help strengthen the ward. 

We´ve had some fun experiences this week. So we contacted some jovenes one day and one is trying to learn english so tried talking in english. But i´m finding i´m no help because I still respond in spanish. I´m basically in this unclear zone where I still have an american accent, and I mumble, (and I still can´t roll my r´s haha) so my spanish is a little hard to understand, but my english doesn´t really make sense either. But anyway, after talking with them I realized one had a byu basketball jersey but they had no idea what was byu, sad day. 

One other thing we´ve started doing too is in the night when we only have 20 minutes or so we go to a park to contact people. Usually there are people with guitars so we ask if we can play a hymn for them and usually can have a short lesson. We tried it this week and played How Can I Be, in english, but I translated some of it to spanish too, but yeah, we talked about the Book of Mormon after and they were a lot more interested rather than when we just ask if we can share a message or present ourselves. 

Honestly, everyday I´m just grateful to be here. I don´t know how  many times I´ve just thought, wow, I have this opportunity to share the gospel, I´m speaking a different language, and I´m able to see people change their lives through the gospel. i´m grateful for our savior Jesus Christ, our brother. With him, all is possible. 

Love you!

Hermana Leavitt

.

The Big Picture

So  this week we had the chance to hear from our mission president, best six hour lecture. And that´s not sarcasm either. Capacitacion with president George is always the best. One of the things we talked about was the importance of the Book of Mormon. That as missionaries, we have the greatest tool, but sometimes we don´t really use it to its capability. That sometimes we have a task to do, and we focus on tools that we have on a table in front of us that work más o menos, but if we look at the big picture, there are also tools that are on the ground that will help us do our task better. But that we focus so much on what´s on the table, we don´t see what´s on the ground. The Book of Mormon is true. To gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, you have to read it, and you have to pray about it. There´s no other way around gaining a testimony. I know that you will recieve an answer if you do these things. Everyday I read the Book of Mormon, my testimony is strenghtened. And it will change your life in big and small ways you never could have thought. 

So just a reminder, conference is coming up. Pretty stoked about that. Prepare yourselves because it´s going to be great!

The 15 of September is noche mexicana, the independence of Mexico. I slept through all the party at the park near our house, but we got to see some of the people preparing for a show before we had to enter the house and provechamos the time to take some picutres too. 

Love you, have a great week!

Hermana Leavitt

Pictures!

Sorry, only pictures this week, but hope all is well!

Another Week Down

Well not a whole lot has happened this week, I´ve been sick again (that´s a suprise..) and we had to stay in the house all week, but tomorrow we can leave to work and hopefully things will be better. We had to move out of our house this week too, so that´s been stressful. But yeah, like I said, not a whole lot has happened. One funny story though, early in the week before I was sick we were sitting in a lesson with family when someone passed by asking if we wanted donuts, but somehow I got it mixed up as what time is it, so I answered una y media, and everyone was really confused, and then I felt kind of dumb, but then the family bought us donuts so I guess something good came out of it right? 

But yeah, that´s all I got this week. Love you all!

Hermana Leavitt

Time is Short

So basically, in the mission time is really short, and it´s flying by way too fast. I already have two weeks in a different area, and this week I hit my 6 month mark. Tomorrow I only have year left, how? The mission really is amazing, like I first heard from my brother, you´ll never regret serving a mission, and that´s for sure.

I don´t know how many times I can say that Cacahoatán is beautiful, but holy cow it´s beautiful. I love that I´m not in the city anymore, the people here are super nice too, and we have a huge area with tons of people to teach and we feel like we have no time to do it. I was telling my companion this week that for us to travel to one of our areas, it´s 45 minutes to an hour, which is basically going to another city at home (cedar city). How crazy is that! Hopefully I´ll be able to send more pictures another week, because we didn´t really take any...

So this week we have focused a lot on Matthew 19. For my plaque at home I chose Matthew 19:26  "26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

I´ve always liked this scripture because it´s true, with God, all things are possible. But we´ve been focusing a lot on the story before this scripture. It´s about the rich young man that came to Christ and asked him how he could obtain eternal life. Christ told him that he needed to keep the commandments, which the young man had always done. Then... 

  20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

As missionaries, are we willing to give up all that we have to serve the Lord and follow him? As memebers of the church, are we willing to follow Christ and give up our pride? I´ve come to love this story, and it´s really helped me to reflect on what I can change in this short time I have left in the mission, so I can truly help others. 

Love you guys! I love hearing from you, and I´m sorry if I don´t have time to write back, but I´m working on it. Love you!

Cacahoatán!

Hey everyone! So basically I´m not in the city anymore... I love it. I´m in this little town called Cacahoatán, and then we also go to some other pueblitos around here too. It´s so beautiful here! It´s super green and there are some areas we´re just walking through all of the greenery from house to house. It rains a lot here, a whole lot more than Tuxtla, but somehow I got lucky and it´s not super hot. Ah I don´t know how to explain it, I´m pretty much in heaven here. The people and the members are super nice, and overall I´m really excited to work here. 

So my companion has told me that pretty much it´s just been miracles here this week, I haven´t known because I wasn´t here to see how are out investigators. But a lot are making a lot of changes and progressing a lot. The gospel is wonderful, and to see the hand of the lord in our lives is remarkable. 

I love you guys!

Love, Hermana Leavitt

Cambios!

This week has been funny and spiritual and lots of change. I´ll start with the obvious first, we had cambios and ya, I´m gone.It´s weird, but you can honestly feel when you´re going to leave. Now i´m in Tapachula, it´s more by the coast, it´s about a seven hour bus ride, so lots of sleeping today. My area now is Cacahoatan, and everyone is telling me that you can see the Guatemalan mountains.... Pretty much the only other thing people told me too was it´s hotter, rains more, and more mosquitos, but I´m honestly really excited to learn more although it was hard saying goodbye. My new companion is Hermana Castillo, she´s from Bolivia. Ive  only known her for an hour but she´s really sweet and i´m excited to work with her.She says our area is awesome, and beautiful. I´m excited:)

Ok, a funny experience this week. So we had contacted a group of kids one night that live close to eachother. One day we were trying to find one of the kids when we saw across the street that the other was home, door open and all. So we started to cross the street when we see one of the kids jump off their couch, and run and shut the door yelling, no no no no no! oh, and turning out the lights too. We just stood there in the middle of the street laughing so hard. You could still hear the kids inside, shhh...nobody´s here. We then took out a card and wrote on it that jesus loves you, and slid it under the door. 10seconds and it flys back out. So we slide it under again, and again it´s back out. It was all just really funny, I think we laughed for 10 minutes straight. 

This week we had the opportunity to go to the temple, which I´m really grateful for now that I´m in Tapachula, because we can´t go as much since it´s so far away. It was really just a good experience. Go to the temple! It´s beautiful!

I´ll send pictures next week....

I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Leavitt

Adventures!!!

 Hermana Leavitt & Hermana Ruvalcaba

El Aguacero

This week has had a lot of changes for me, and let´s just say I´m in a much better mood than I have been for a long time. 

So in our mission, every six months we have an activity as a mission. So on Thursday, all the missionaries in Tuxtla went to the waterfall El Aguacero, it was basically the most fun day in the mission. To get to the waterfall, you had to go down over 700 stairs, walk through the river a little bit, it was awesome. It´s so beautiful here! I was super stoked to go and be away from the city for a little bit. I forgot how much I love hiking... We played some volleyball and frisbee and stuff too. Then the fun part, we had to go back up the 700 and something stairs. It wasn´t too bad for me, but my comp would say otherwise. I tried to count how many there actually were. And I got to 553, then we were talking with President George and his wife, and then I forgot after that. Sad day. Afterward all the missionaries went to the stake center and some of us played basketball. It was pretty much like I was at home. Haha basically my companion thinks I´m crazy because I wasn´t really sore the next day, and she could barely walk... 

Well health wise things are better. I think it was Saturday, I woke up in a good mood, and I´ve basically been in a good mood since. I think it´s because I´m sleeping again, but who knows. 

In reality, I´m so grateful to be here. I don´t know how many days I just stop and think that I´m here in a different country, talking in spanish, and sharing the gospel. Yeah it´s been challenging, but I´ve never been happier. The time is flying, I really can´t believe it. I´ve only got a little over a year to have this time dedicated to share the gospel, and I don´t want to lose a minute of it. It really is the best thing that I could be doing right now. 

I love you guys!

Love, Hermana Leavitt 

Change of Attitude

So this week has been pretty normal. Just still keeping up with our visits and trying to help our investigators the best that we can. Some days it´s hard and some days fly by, but it´s all worth it to be here. For myself, I´ve had a lot of time to think of what I´m doing here, and how I can be better. This week has been hard mentally, and physically. I don´t think I´ve ever been so tired yet. Basically, I wake up at 4 or 5 every morning and can´t fall back asleep, or like today... 1:30. At the beginning of the week I was pretty mad everytime that this happened. Because every night I´ve prayed that I could learn what I need to learn from all of these trials, and I´ve asked for help with being able to sleep. But then later in the week we ate with a member that just got back from her mission in October, and even though nothing had to do what I was going through, one thing really hit me. We should never get mad at Heavenly Father, or our saviour Jesus Christ. Christ has suffered so much for each and every one of us, and they are both always trying to help us, always.

There are always things that we can change. For me, it´s my attitude towards my trials, and trying to learn how I can be better. "Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure." So now I´ve used the time I can´t sleep to read, especially the general conference talks, and it´s helping so much. And to just focus on loving the people, because without love, we aren´t inviting the spirit into the lessons, because we´re not doing the work to help them, we´re just doing the work to do the work. "When someone else´s happiness is your happiness, that is love." 

I´m really grateful for each lesson we´re able to learn through our trials. Yes they´re hard, but they´re needed in our lives. Heavenly Father knows us perfectly, and he´s only waiting for us to come to him, arms open wide. Yes, I´m really tired every day, but when we come in at night, I feel like I´m actually giving it my all. I know the lord is with us every step of the way on our missions, and in our lives, if only we invite him. 

I love you. I can´t believe how fast the time is going. In no time these 13 months are going to be over. I hope you have a good week, and I hope that you can find a way to serve someone else this week, and show your Christlike charity for them. 

Love, Hermana Leavitt

Hello!

Hermana Ruvacaba & Hermana Leavitt

Well, not a lot has happened, and I don´t have much time, but all is well, and I love all of you guys. Hope that everything is going good! 

And then there were two

Well I´ll start with the sad news first... So today we got a call and had special changes, and Hermana Valenzuela went to a different area. We´re pretty bummed our trio was only for a couple weeks, but I know she´s going to do great with her new companion. 

This week has really been all over the place, and really challenging for me, but I´ve really learned a lot. Basically one thing I learned is how much lack of sleep really affects me. For about 3 weeks I wasn´t sleeping well. I´d wake up around 12 for an hour, then I would wake up again at 5 and be up for the rest of the day. I woke up because I itched, but I thought it was just a side affect from Chincagua or whatever... Well I checked me bed and dad you´re going to kill me for stupidity of not checking when the problem first started, but I had bed bugs. Don´t know how because I´ve had the same bed this whole time, and they weren´t there the first time I checked... but I was not happy to say the least. But we got it covered now... literally. President George brought a mattress cover for me and we washed all of my clothes and called the doctor and now I´m sleeping light a rock at night and let´s just say it´s wonderful. But really, it was a tough trial for me. We were talking one day because I was really frustrated why I was sick all the time, and Hermana Ruvalcaba told me that sometimes we have to ask Heavenly Father what we need to learn, so I did. And I learned that I needed to strengthen my faith in the Lord. So that´s my goal right now, and I really liked Moroni 7:33 that I found in my studies, and I have that as a reminder now. 

So Maria de los Angeles was baptized this weekend, and it was a great experience. Just to see her so happy, especially on Sunday when she was confirmed, it´s really one of the best feelings you can get, there´s no other way I know how to describe it. 

I´m really grateful to be here, I´m loving every learning experience, even if they are a little frustrating at times. Love you all!

Hermana Leavitt

Lots of Change

I almost forgot! 

1. New companions! Me, Hermana Ruvalcaba, Hermana Valenzuela

2. Hermana Dansie and I

3. We found a Utah license plate! 

Wow, I´ll be honest, this week has been a lot of stress, but I´ve learned a lot. 

So it started out with cambios, and Hermana Dansie left on Tuesday morning. We went to the bus station and she left around noon, then I waited with other missionaries for my companions to come. They came in around 4 that afternoon, Hermana Valenzuela and Hermana Ruvacaba. They´re awesome, they both have six months in the mission, and they were actually companions in the MTC. Hermana Valenzuela is from Guatemala, and Hermana Ruvacaba is from Monterrey. So I had this fear that pretty much I wasn´t going to talk much anymore, but I´ve learned that I actually have learned a lot and can talk a lot. They´re really patient with me too. 

Pretty much the coolest thing happened this week, we had another miracle. There´s one investigator that Hermana Dansie and I have been teaching since I got here, and her and her other companion were teaching her before I came too. There was a point that she had gained her testimony and was really interested, but then once again we went to visit her, about two weeks ago, and she basically said that everything was wrong and just fought with us on everything we taught (ten commandments, word of wisdom, keeping the sabbath day holy, etc.). After this lesson, we felt that we needed to leave her behind, that maybe it just wasn´t her time quite yet. But everytime that we tried to go visit her to leave her behind, she wasn´t home. As Hermana Dansie was preparing to leave I asked her what we should do, but she just kind of said that I´d have to go visit her and see how the lesson goes. Well after two weeks we (new companions)  were able to go visit with her, and it was a complete change. She said that the last thing she remembered us teaching her was about the sabbath day, and how she was so uncertain about it being on a Sunday rather than a Saturday. But then she said that one day she prayed about it and started reading her Book of Mormon, and that she read in 2 Nephi 33:10 where it says something like, this is my word. She said it just really hit her that it was right. She also told us that she hadn´t drunken coffee since that last lesson either. On our part it was bad, we didn´t even finish this lesson with her and invite her to do this, but she did it on her own. During this lesson with her the spirit was so strong, and it was really a testimony builder for me that Heavenly Father has a plan, and that things work out for a reason. I bore my testimony to her that I know this is true, and that I´m grateful to see the change in her life, and pretty much I was just crying the whole time... But it was good. 

Another thing that I have really built my testimony in these last 4 months is the power of fasting. I´m really learning how important fasting is. I can really only think of one time before the mission that I really fasted for a purpose and not just because it was fast sunday. But honestly, there is so much power in when we fast for a purpose. Everytime that I have fasted while here, I have seen a miracle happen, for and example, read the last paragraph ;) I know that the Lord has given us the commandment to fast for 24 hours once a month for a reason. We should really ponder about what we´re fasting for, and pray about it too. So I invite you that next time you fast, to really pray about what you´re fasting for. Whether it be for family, yourself, trials, or gratitude, do it with your heart. 

I love you all, it´s good to hear from you! 

Love, Hermana Leavitt

Overcoming Fear

pic: we´ve got some great people in the ward :)

This week was great, I don´t really know how to explain it any other way. 

So first last p day we played football, but only five people were there so really we just threw it around. But how sad is that, I played football before I played soccer in México, I think something is wrong there haha. 

A lot this week too has been trying to find people to teach. We´ve been working on finding new investigators, and a lot of the time when you stop by at the appointment we set they´re not there. But the people that we´ve been able to find, are actually really awesome and I´m excited to work with them. There´s one kid that Hermana Dansie found a couple weeks ago when I was sick and she was with a member, and he´s great. We´ve only taught him two times and he already came to church this Sunday. 

Then on Saturday there were a lot of trials, but everything worked out. So the ten year old I wrote about last week, got baptized! That was our event for the 4th of July! So it was supposed to be at 5 in the afternoon, but we ended up not having white clothes for him because of some miscommunication on our part. Then the church didn´t have any water, so the font wasn´t filling up either. But the bishop ended up finding clothes, and they were able to get a hold of someone that could bring water, and around 8 we started the service. So this kid has a fear of water, pretty much his face going under. He had his uncle baptize him, and the first time he got scared and didn´t go under. After another try they closed the doors so we couldn´t see, and we waited for at least 20 minutes. We had a group prayer for him and listened to primary songs. Then they opened the doors, and they tried again, but his hand didn´t go under. But he just said ok and they did it again. When he came up out of the water his face was just beaming and he just asked if it was good. It was really the coolest thing to see this little kid come over one of his biggest fears in order to be baptized. 

Well the other big news is it´s cambios today, and I´m staying in our area. But hermana Dansie is leaving to San Cristobal, which is pretty cold and she says she´s going to die. This is one thing I´m going to have to learn is change, but it will be good. And she´s going to do great in her next area. And it´s all  good, because she might come to the airport when I come home, so basically I´ll see my real mom and my mission mom haha. I´m going to be in a trio with Hermana Valensuela and Hermana Rubacabo. I haven´t met them yet, but tomorrow I will. 

But overall all is going good,

Love you all!

Hermana Leavitt

Aguas de Mormón

So basically this week has been one of trials and miracles for us, but we´ve definitely learned a lot, and we just love the people here. I´ll start with the end in mind. At the beginning of the month, our zone leaders gave us a goal that every companionship was going to have a baptism June 27, and we were going to have a stake baptism called the Aguas de Mormón. 

Ok, so now the begninning of the week. On Pday we got to go into central and bought some cool soccer jerseys and what not, it was nice to enjoy a day because basically we´ve always had something on a pday. Then on Tuesday we went to visit one of our investigators. We were actually preparing her to be baptized for this activity and were super stoked to visit with her and help her prepare more. But during the lesson she basically counterargued everything that we taught and we realized that she really isn´t ready, and we´re probably going to have to leave her behind for some time. At first we were bummed that we didn´t have anyone for this activity, but then we felt like it was ok, and that Heavenly Father was happy with the work we´ve put in. 

Then on Wednesday we were trying to find new people to teach and I started to feel really bad. Turns out I had a fever, and I was able to stay with a member for a couple hours while Hermana Dansie was able to work with another member. We´re pretty sure I caught chinkakuya, which is basically a fever and pain. Everyone´s been dropping like flies pretty much, so we´ve been waiting for it to hit one of us. Wednesday when I woke up it was way worse and we had to stay in the house. 

But then Friday was our day of miracles. Hermana Dansie actually told me that Thurdsday night she prayed that friday would be a day filled with miracles, and it sure was. For one, when I woke up I felt a lot better, and we were able to work. Usually people who have caught this are in their house for a week but I just had the bad part for a couple days. Another thing was that our water tank was getting pretty low and we were worried we were going to run out of water, but that morning when we woke up we could hear it filling up.

Then the really cool thing. We had been thinking that we shouldn´t give up for this activity, and we remembered that there´s a 10 year old in the ward that hasn´t been baptized because he´s afraid of water. We decided to go visit him, and he told us he wants to be baptized but doesn´t know if he can do it because of his fear. Then our district leader came to interview him and afterward he said he could do it. It was really the best feeling ever for this kid, that he really felt like he could overcome his fear. And it goes to show that if you really do want to see a miracle, and you put your faith in the Lord, he´s going to provide a way. 

Saturday when we went to talk to the family again they decided they´re going to wait a week for the baptism, so we ended up not having anyone for the activity, but it was still just a miracle. We were thinking about it, and if we had just decided not to look for anyone else, this kid wouldn´t be getting baptized next week either, I´m really just super excited for him. 

This week I was reading in 2 Nefi 5, and it´s talking about when they split up into the Nephites and the Lamanites, and how the people of Nephi are living. Although they had to start over their lives and community to get away from the Lamanites, in verse 27 it says, "y aconteció que vivimos de una manera feliz." so something like "and it came to pass we lived in a manner of happiness." Although times weren´t the best they still followed God so they were living in a this manner of happiness. I encourage you to look how you can continue on this path of living in happiness. 

Les Quiero 

Hermana Leavitt

Miracles

Well, there´s not really a whole lot to tell this week. Pretty much we´re trying to find new investigators because the one´s we´ve had havn´t been progressing. But pretty much we´re just crossing our fingers and having faith that we´ll keep seeing miracles. 

We´ve visited a lot of our less actives and recent converts lately, it´s been cool to see their progress. It´s cool how with every visit our recent converts want to learn more and know what the next goal is. So how about for us, what is our next goal in order to progress in the church? I think sometimes we may take for granted the things we learn at church, and don´t always realize just how blessed we are (at least that´s what I´m learning for myself anyway). Oh and plus this week, we had a less active that we´ve been visiting since before I got here, and that hasn´t come to church practically since he was baptized last year, come to church yesterday! I was pretty happy. Literally when he walked up to us I couldn´t even talk because I was so happy that he came. 

A miracle that happened this week was that we were walking in the street one day and a young couple with a son walked by. They stopped us and told us they just moved into the area but were listening to the missionaries before and want to be baptized but they need to get married. We haven´t been able to visit with them because they´ve been busy, but we´re keeping our fingers crossed. 

So our district leader has invited us every day to look for a miracle, or recongize a miracle, so I want to extend that invitation to you too. Every day this week look for miracle that has happened, and write it down so you don´t forget!

Love ya!

Hermana Leavitt

Flip Flop Week

Well this week was definitely all over the place for sure. It started out last p-day after we got back to our house from getting groceries and what not that I had the stomach flu. So pretty much all afternoon I was pretty miserable. But shout out to Hermana Dansie! She cleaned our house, washed my clothes along with hers (and that´s handwashing), and practically fought our flooding house, all meanwhile taking care of me too. So it also rained that day, and we have an enclosed patio that it all tile. There´s a drain but it´s pretty small so all the water built up like 4 or 5 inches, and it started coming in the house, it was definitely a sight to see. Tuesday I slept. For nine hours. Hermana Dansie was really bored. We pretty much got up at 6:30, I studied until 9 then slept. Then I woke up at 12 and we went to teach a lesson and ate at a members house. Then we came back and I slept until 9 that night. It was pretty funny, I walked out of our room and immediately hear, "Holy crap Sleeping Beauty is alive!" 

There were also special changes this week with our elders, and so we have a new district leader. We think he´s pretty awesome. Except for the fact last night he called us, to talk to us about our goals, but he first started out by saying that there were special changes and I was going to Tapachula, a different area. But then he laughed and said it was a joke, but I´m pretty sure our hearts were still racing for a while. This week too we also had exchanges, and I stayed in our area again while Hermana Dansie went to the other again. It was a pretty cool day in honesty. The cool thing for me was that I was able to understand practically everyone, not just one or two people. But then there were also some miracles that day too. For one, one of the recent converts came out with us for a couple lessons. Usually he´s not too excited about coming out, but ever since, he´s just said that he´ll come with us whenever we need him. It´s cool to see the change just after coming to two lessons. We´re hoping that he´ll decided to go on a mission, but he still has a long time because he was baptized in April, the week before I got here. The other miracle was that we were looking for a new investigator, and I looked in my planner for their address and I read a street name so we walked there. We walked up and down it but couldn´t find the house, and hermana Dansie wasn´t there so I couldn´t just ask her. Then it started to rain pretty hard and we didn´t have any umbrellas, but a family just invited us into their house so we were able to share a little bit and they said we could come back. After that I looked in my planner again for the new investigator we were looking for, and the street name was completely different than what I had read before. I´m pretty sure we were meant to find this family, I can´t wait to visit with them again. 

Then to top off the week we had a baptism! Our convert´s name is Genaro. It´s been really cool to see his progress and be able to help him to learn the gospel and understand it. He´s awesome! Pretty much with every commandment that we taught him, he just said he´d live it, and there weren´t ever any problems. He´s a wrestler, and a trainer too. He told us the other day that he can bench about 400 lbs and squat 660 lbs. So don´t worry, even if it was dangerous here, we´ve got a body guard. 

I hope you´re all doing well, and always trying to be better. That was one thing I learned in exchanges, is to never be content with your testimony. Sometimes as members we just feel like we´ve gained our testimony and we´re good, but we can always be strengthening it. 

Love ya!

Hermana Leavitt

Another Full Week

Wow once again this week just flew by. It´s been good but it´s been hard too. We´ve had a lot of investigators that we´ve been teaching a few weeks but aren´t progressing because they´re not coming to church, so pretty much this week we´ve had to decide to leave pretty much all of them behind. But we´re focusing on finding new investigators and we know that we´re going to find some good ones.

This week we had a zone meeting, and it was pretty cool. We did an activity and all 16 companionships grabbed a Book of Mormon and went out in the streets for 15 minutes to have two lessons in the street. It was a cool experience. Hermana Dansie and I felt like taking one road, then another even though there weren´t any people. Then as we were walking we saw a guy sitting under a tree and we knew we had to talk to him. It ended up that he has taken the lessons before and was going to get baptized but then something came up. But he still wants to be baptized. We took his address and gave it to the elders that serve in that area. I don´t know what else to say other than it was such a cool experience. 

Then later that night we were out contacting in the streets and we ended up talking to a woman that has taken the lessons before and gone to church 6 times but never was baptized. We haven´t been able to see her again because her schedule is really busy with work, but we´re pretty sure it´s a miracle that we found her. 

I´ve really just gained a testimony this week that the people we talk to in the streets and give our number to are meant to happen. Each person we talk to in our lives isn´t just by chance. 

I hope you´re all doing good, love you!

Hermana Leavitt

What A Week!

There´s been so much that has gone on this week, but the hardest part is that a lot of it has been that we haven´t been able to focus as much on lessons because we had so much to do. But now we can focus and we´re pretty happy about that. 

So I forgot last week, but we had the opportunity at the end of the last transfer to go to the temple here in Tuxtla. It was a pretty cool experience. It´s definitely different than good old Saint George. For one it takes about an hour to get there, and two, I didn´t realize how quiet Saint George is, and how grateful I am for that. It was like walking into the temple it was so peaceful and you could feel the spirit, but when we left, it was like the world was hitting you with a wall. You opened the door and immediately you just hear music and traffic, it was pretty sad. So when you go to the temple, take the time to enjoy the spirit and the peace and quiet, it´s such a blessing. 

So this week we actually had the chance to go to the temple again, but with a recent convert. We´ve been helping him to work on familysearch.org and he was able to be baptized for his great grandpa, that was cool to see. We were kind of bummed because they wouldn´t let us go in to watch, I don´t really know why, but the doors were glass and we could see him through those. It was really just a neat experience to see him so excited to be able to that for his own family member. 

Pretty much the other crazy things this week were that we had to move. I guess they´ve been asking for months for the missionaries in this area to find a cheaper place to rent, and we found it! We pretty much only had friday and saturday to move, and we planned on friday but then no one in our ward had a truck, and I ended up being sick with a 101 fever so we weren´t really allowed to leave our apartment. But Saturday we were able to find someone with a truck and with the help of some elders and members we were able to move! Oh and funny story. So this whole time we´ve had three bedframes but one of them isn´t very sturdy so we don´t use it. But we found out that this whole time we´ve had bunkbeds and didn´t even know it! Sadly though the one piece is the unsturdy one so we left it for the member to take back to the mission home since it wouldn´t fit in our new house. 

This week we had some miracles happen too, it was pretty sweet. So here in Mexico our investigators have to attend sacrament meeting 5 times before they can be baptized. We have one investigator that is super excited to be baptized but he missed a sunday and had to change his date and was actually pretty bummed about it. The hard part is that he has school on Sunday´s, it´s the only days he could take the classes he needs at the university. But he leaves early so that he can come to church. So yesterday we get to sacrament and he´s not there, and the whole meeting we kept checking the door everytime it opened to see if it was him. Finally it was the closing song and I was pretty bummed because I knew we´d have to change his date again. I kid you not, we finished singing and the person giving the closing prayer was walking up to the stand and in walks our investigator. It was only a minute of sacrament meeting, but it was enough that he can keep his date. I don´t think hermana Dansie and I have been so happy before. 

Oh yeah, and can you believe it´s June already? Yeah, me either. 

Well I hope you have a great week, enjoy each day because they´re really short. Love you all!

Hermana Leavitt

First Transfer Down

Wow, I can´t believe I´ve been in the mission field already for a transfer, it´s crazy! Half way done with my training already too, it´s crazy. Luckily though, we didn´t change areas or companions, six more weeks with Hermana Dansie! We decided yesterday that this transfer is going to be pure spanish, it´s going to be good. 

I had to give a talk yesterday in church, it actually wasn´t bad. My goal was for the people to be able to understand me, and they did, so I´m pretty stoked. We ate with a family yesterday too and they were saying that my spanish is actually pretty good, but I need to talk more because once Hermana Dansie leaves I´ll have to talk to everyone. Haha it´s good though. 

We had some cool lessons at the end of the week, it was a neat experience. We have one investigator that wants to be baptized but there´s always some excuse for why he doesn´t come to church. I honestly don´t understand it because he loves the scriptures and the gospel principles book and everything, but he doesn´t come to church. So when we taught him we focused on keeping the sabbath day holy. We were really trying to focus on not putting off schoolwork for Sunday, because that´s usually why he doesn´t come. At the end he said that he would try but he had something for school during the time that church is.  After the prayer too he looked kind of upset, and he said it´s so true what we were saying. That he knows he´s putting God second in his life and it´s not fair, he should be putting him first. I was super stoked after this and really thought this time he would try to come to church... nope. But we´ll just keep on encouraging him. 

We had a lesson right after that with a menos activos, and we tried to just help him with his doubts. At the end of the lesson he asked us when church was, out of nowhere. We were pretty excited for him too and thought that maybe he would come to church too, but he didn´t, but just to see the change that he had a little bit of a desire to come again gives us hope too. 

Pretty much though, going to church is so important!!! We have our personal study to learn everyday from the scriptures, but we have the opportunity to go to church and learn more in depth about the gospel and have the opportunity to ask questions to so many people and understand mroe. Why are we missing out on this opportunity! And most importantly, we have the opportunity to take the sacrament and be clean. We receive so many blessings by going to church, so why is it so hard some weeks to take the time to go? That´s what I´ll leave with you to think about this week. :)

I love you all, 

Hermana Leavitt

What a Week

This week was super weird, it felt long... I would say the beginning of the week was great though, the end just seemed to drag on, but it´s all good. It´s started raining, usually only an hour at like 5 or 6 in the afternoon, but it feels so nice now. 

At the beginning of the week it was way cool. On Tuesday/Wednesday we had intercambios, where you change companionships for 24 hours. When we got the call, they said that I was going to stay in our area and Hermana Dansie was going to the other. I was kind of freaking out because that would mean I´d have to lead the way when the other hermana came, and it´s only my first time doing intercambios. But it went well, the other hermana knew a few of the people because she served in this area a year ago, but I learned that I actually have the area down pretty well. It was cool to serve with someone else for a little bit and learn some different things, but Hermana Dansie´s pretty cool and I was pretty happy to have her back. We learned though that we just need to be more bold with the people, so that´s what we´re going to work on. 

One cool thing was that we had a lesson with one of our investigators, Maria de los Angeles. She´s had doubts about the church and didn´t know if it was true. She said that she´s felt that the church she goes to is where she needs to be. When we had intercambios, Hermana Hickman decided we were going to teach lesson 1 again because she just seemed confused. At the end of the lesson, we asked Maria to pray right there to know if the church was true. During the prayer she just started crying as soon as she asked, the spirit was so strong. After, she said that she knows it´s true. It was a way cool experience. 

Wednesday was great too, we had interviews with the president. It was cool to get to talk to him for a little bit. He gave me some ideas on how we can help the members more. Mostly to teach about 1. Family History 2. Family Home Evening and 3. The Book of Mormon. He said that a lot of these things families don´t do, but it´s so important. 

Thursday was my month mark in the field, and Hermana Dansie hit her year mark! She´s actually pretty sad about it though because that means only 6 months left. I hope that I can be in that attitude when I hit my year mark... sorry mom and dad :) 

But yeah, the next couple days were kind of hard. All the kids were out for school thursday and friday so we couln´t find anybody. Pretty much just lots of walking, but we had a few lessons, so it´s good. 

This week I´ve really learned a lot from the Book of Mormon, and just realized how important it is in our lives. Today I read from Ether 12, and half the chapter is about faith and what we can achieve by having faith.  I encourage you to study the Book of Mormon today with a question in mind, and I know that you can receive inspiration for your question. One thing that I´ve noticed too is that when I really study the Book of Mormon, I don´t want to put it down. But before I got here, sometimes it was a struggle just to read for 5 minutes. So study it! It´s great!

Overall though it´s been a really good week, and it´s helped us to know what we can improve on. 

For the funny part of the week I guess, we´re really grateful for Pinterest before we came... haha We only have a microwave, but we´ve been able to make cake and brownies because of Pinterest, so you could say we´re pretty happy. 

Love you all

Hermana Leavitt

Another Week In

This week has been just as normal as any other really. We just work a lot and try to find as many people as we can. It was a struggle for me though. I have had a cold and even though it´s not much it really slows you down in everything, but it´s getting better! 

Pretty much one thing we´re learning is how important it is to be involved in missionary work as a member. Before, I always thought it was kind of the missionary´s job to do everything, but I´m really learning that we have to depend on the members for a lot. One of the most important things is to fellowship, I´m really learning the importance of this too. That´s one of the biggest reasons that people go inactive I think, so don´t be afraid to smile and have a conversation with someone, they could end up as your bestfriend! :)

Being a missionary is great and I´m really grateful for this experience. You really learn a lot every day on how you can improve yourself. Never stop trying to be better!

I love you all

Hermana Leavitt

May 4th, 2 Months out but, whose counting

Wow, today is two months, how crazy is that! This week honestly flew by so fast, it´s crazy. Things are still going good, and continuing to get better. It´s really crazy to look back at the end of the week and see what you´ve really accomplished. This week we were kind of getting discouraged and feeling like some days we weren´t getting much done, but then last night we looked at all of our numbers for the week and they are either consistent or progressing overall. We´re way stoked to see this and want to continue to progress. 

Sorry, there wasn´t a whole lot that happened this week. A lot of our investigators that are progressing have been out of town, so we´ve mostly been teaching new lessons. I think that the hardest thing is that we teach a lesson or two and you can tell the spirit is there and that they feel something, but when we return they don´t want to continue. But if you´re not ready, you´re not ready. 

This week we´re trying to focus on our less active members. There are a lot here that we´re trying to find. On Wednesday we had meeting with President George and one thing that he said is when we focus on our less active members, not only are we reactivating these members, but usually they are part member families so with time we have the opportunity to teach their families too. We´re crossing our fingers and just hoping all goes well. 

One cool thing was that last week we had received a reference but we couldn´t find the home. Then the other night we were trying to teach a lesson and everyone we had planned for wasn´t home. We felt we should try one investigator that we haven´t seen for a while hoping that he would be home. Well, he still wasn´t. It was late and we had to go back to the apartment, and hermana Dansie started talking to a woman and her two kids that were walking by. We got her name and her address, and it´s the same woman that the people had given us a reference for before! How Cool!

Well all I can really give advice for is don´t be afraid to talk about the gospel. We never know when someone may have a question and sometimes a conversation will be exactly what they need. Always follow the spirit, and try to recognize how the spirit talks to you. 

I love you guys, have a great week!

Pic 1 Happy Birthday this week Daxton! Thanks for taking care of my dog for me little man :)

La Salle week 2

Well its been another week down. Its been super crazy for me to try and get stuff down, but Im learning. I think that the hardest thing is that I dont fully understand spanish yet, but its getting better. Its been cool to see that the more we talk with certain investigators, the more Im able to understand. I think the hardest thing is to contact people in the street, Im not very good at that because Im not the greatest at just walking up to random people... I dont think I got the salesman gene like some of you guys haha. 

Its been better this week though. Ive been able to understand more in lessons and actually help teach rather than feeling lost. Sometimes theyll ask a question and Im actually getting the gist of what theyre asking now too. It was actually pretty rough in the beginning of the week, I felt like I wasnt helping, and especially when I dont understand I tend to lose focus and either just daydream or nod off. Its really bad, but Im working on it. So finally one night I just prayed for help and its been so much better. I know that the Lord listens to each of us, and he wants to help us, but sometimes we just need to ask sincerely. I love prayer, and Im really grateful for it. 

One of our investigators wants to be baptized on the 8th but wants the approval of her parents first. We taught her about fasting and we all fasted on Friday. In honesty, it was hard. It was around 104 degrees that day and just super hot, but we tried to just remember why we were doing it. We havent been able to really talk with our investigator again yet, but we are really hoping that she will be baptized for this day. Im really excited to visit her this week to find out!

Hermana Dansie and I have been talking a lot about obedience, we both think that its one of the most important things. Shes a really good example for me because we were talking about how important every minute is. Be up at 6:30, exercise for 30 minutes everyday, be studying by 8, etc. You can really feel the difference when you are trying your hardest. She shared with me that one of the leaders once said that there is no obedience and exact obedience. You are either being obedient or disobedient. Im way happy I have her as a companion that we are always trying to do better and be better. 

Im really learning a lot, and Im really excited for whats to come. I hope you all have a great week this week!

Love you all!

Hermana Leavitt

Week 1 in the Field

La Sallez

Well Ive had my first week here in Tuxtla, and its crazy! A saying that one of the elders always said in the MTC was, out of the frying pan, into the fire, and its so true! For one thing, its really hot here, but I love it. Its really not too bad, the humidity is just weird. The other thing is that I thought I understood spanish pretty well, but I was way wrong! Its getting better, but for the most part, I just try to listen during our lessons and occasionally I understand a phrase here or there. But its way cool when Im able to understand more things.

So my new companion is Hermana Dansie! Shes from Idaho, and she actually went to Dixie for a semester before she came on her mission. I was pretty happy to have an english speaking companion I do have to say. But we try to talk in spanish as much as possible, because thats the only way that I will be able to learn, and its good, I still dont know a ton, but Im learning. Shes way nice though, and Im the first person that shes trained, so we are kind of learning together. 

Tuxtla is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I thought it would be like Saint George, but I was wrong. I pretty much just follow Hermana Dansie around because I usually have no idea where we are, but its getting better with time. We go run the streets every morning and thats helping me to learn the area better. 

This week we had a baptism! It was good, and the spirit was really strong. To be honest though, it was really hard because I dont understand Zoila, and I dont know her at all. But when we have had lessons, I can feel the spirit, and I can feel that she knows this gospel is true. Her son is a convert, and he was able to baptize her. It was way cool because she was actually really sick the day of her baptism, but her son gave her a blessing and she was able to be baptized and shes been feeling better. 

One really cool experience this week was with a recent convert. So we are supposed to teach recent converts after they are baptized too, and we stopped by to visit Ricardo. The lesson was mostly Ricardo and Hermana Dansie talking, but at one point I was thinking of an experience and that i should share it. I did, and after the lesson I asked Hermana Dansie if it even went along with what they were talking about, and it did! It was way cool to have that experience and feel the spirit. 

But overall, Im trying to have patience with the language, thats the hardest part. Hermana Dansie just says to give it a couple weeks and I will be good. So Im excited for that.

Its hard, but Im really happy to be here. I know that the language will come as long as I keep working hard. Its really a cool experience to be able to share the gospel everyday. 

I love you all!

Hermana Leavitt

I Made It!!!!

Made it to Tuxtla, but not much to talk about. Hopefully a lot more next week though when I find out where I'm going and etc. The CCM was great though, and I'm really happy I was able to go the one in Mexico, really just the best teachers and the best district too!

pic 1: Hermano Hernandez was seriously the best teacher, we were pretty blessed to have him!

pic 2: All of us new missionaries in Tuxtla

! 

Hermana Leavitt before leaving the MTC in Mexico City.

Tuxtla Gutierrez here I come!

The Real World

Wow, I can't believe the time has come and I'm leaving to Tuxtla on Monday. I'm probably going to be lost for a week, or more, and I probably won't understand anyone for a while, but we can all tell that it's definitely time for us to go out into the field. 

It really stinks to say goodbye though. It's like leaving home again, but it's going to happen every six weeks, so I better get used to it. We hope that in two years we can all meet up again, but the part that stinks is that we're probably never going to see our teachers again, and they've made some really great impacts on us. 

How was General Conference! It was a really cool experience in the MTC! It was cool to have specific questions answered. I think my favorite session was probably Sunday morning, I really liked Brent H. Nielson's talk about the parable of the prodigal son. It's always been one of my favorite parables. And of course I liked Elder Holland's talk right after, he always reminds me of home. And he talked about Saint George and rockclimbing, so how could I not love it! But I know that Christ does know each of us personally, and that he knows what we are going to do and is there to help us. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ, and that he would perform the Atonement for each and every one of us so that we never have to be alone in our times of pain, and so that we are able to repent and try to become like him and live with our Heavenly Father again. 

Earlier this week as a district we studied Ether 2. It is really a cool chapter, and it's amazing how when you try to understand the verse itself you can learn so much from it. We probably only read 5 or 6 verses but we talked about it for over half an hour, I love our Book of Mormon study time. Something that I really learned was that we need to trust in the Lord. When Heavenly Father asks us to do something, he will provide a way. Sometimes we have to be tested though and try to find that way by our own means. But as long as we do our best, Heavenly Father will make up for the part that we fail to achieve, and it's by the grace of the Atonement this is able to happen. 

I love you all, and I'm really grateful for each and every one of you. Have a great week!

Hermana Leavitt 

​Sunrise's are beautiful in the mornings. Plus the time changed this weekend so we're up an hour earlier and actually get to enjoy them. 

​There's this little stone that we walk by every day, so we figured we should take a picture with it.

Happy Easter "Warning" There is a lot this week!

I'll start with the funny stuff this week!

1. So for fast Sunday we had to fast for dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday. During those thimes it was just free time for us so on Saturday after class we taught our teacher how to play signs. It's a pretty fun game and we're all getting pretty good at it. Our teacher did pretty good for never playing before, but there were times you'd just hear him say 'estoy confundido', it was pretty funny. 

2. Earlier that same day I had told our teacher that we were fasting and wanted to teach him a game. Later he asked me again if I said I was fasting, and somehow I thought he asked if I had said I was in foster care, I'm still trying to figure out how I got that mixed up. It was a confusing couple of minutes until I realized what he really said, but I was pretty embarrased haha. 

3. Hermana Cook and I have been really trying to work on our Spanish more this wekk. On Monday we tried to speal solo espanol, it worked until about lunch time, but it really helped us a lot during our lessons and when we taught our investigator that day. We haven't tried another day yet but I'm going to try more because 1. it's getting really close to leaving here, just a week and half, and 2. I've already noticed how much harder it is to answer in spanish when I've been talking in english all day. But there was one day that we were walking to class and she just said, 'Yo quiero peaz.' (peace=paz) That's some true spanglish right there!

4. Last night we were working on our language study and it was pretty hard, so we decided to take a little break and walk around for a few minutes outside. Instead though we walked around and practiced our pronunciation and trying to roll our R's becasue neither of us can. We were definitely tired though because I'm pretty sure we laughed at eachother more that we actually spoke spanish, but it was great and much needed. 

5. I think the funniest thing that happened this week though was April Fools! We (hermanas in our district) didn't know what to do to the elders so before class started we told our teacher it was april fools day and explained it to him and asked if he would play a joke on them. Later he told all of us that we weren't using the language program correctly and that he got a thing from BYU saying a couple of the elders needed to start over and finish all the lessons before we leave or else they'd have to spend a couple hours in the offices while on their mission working in this program. I'm surprised they didn't catch it was a joke because we were all laughing and had to leave the room before we gave it away, and even our teacher told us he was going to kill us while he was in the middle of explaining all of this. Later he pulled us aside and said his mind was saying 'yes! this is so great' but in his heart he felt so bad. But he decided to just tell a couple of the elders because he knew they were really stressed out about it and that they have been working hard, but we can't tell the other elders until we're done with the program next week becasue he thinks that it will help them to really study the language more. It was really funny though, and we can't wait to see their reactions next week, and we hope that it does help them to use this program more because it's really helpful. 

So as you can see, it's been a really funny week, but there's been so much I've learned too, and the spirit has really been so strong in our classes. 

One of the things that we've really been talking about a lot this week is becoming more like Christ and remembering that we are his representatives. We really have almost talked about this every day, whether it be in our classes, and sometimes it wasn't even planned, and even in relief society. I've decided to work on being more patient, and I'm really learning a lot and I've found it's helping, but I have a ways to go. 

On Sunday we watched a talk by David A. Bednar about being Christlike that was really good. He really emphasized that as human beings when times get tough we tend to turn inward and think selfishly. He compared us to the cookie monster from sesame street, "give me more cookies! Give them to me now!" But when times were difficult for Christ, he still turned outward to help others. He encouraged us to find stories in the bible where he does this, and I also encourage you to do this too. And that as we try to become more like Christ, we won't just have a testimony of the gospel, but we will be converted to the gospel.

One of the other things that David A. Bednar shared to do was to buy a new Book of Mormon, just one of the cheap ones, and to think of a question about life or about the gospel in general. And to read that book of mormon with just that question and to mark it whenever there's something that helps or applies to that question. If we did this about every question we had, at the end of our lifetimes we would have a library full of answers to specific questions about this gospel, life, etc. We are going to try and do this, and for myself, I'm going to read the book of mormon and find how I can be more like Christ. I really encourage you to do this also, and to search the book of mormon with a specific question, because it will be answered. 

I just want to share with you a couple quotes that were shared this week. From Elder Robert D. Hales, "Our love of the savior is the key to savior-like obedience." And from Elder David A. Bednar "Saint means we become more like the savior." David A. Bednar shared with this, that sure, our ancestors may have come across the plains and have helped with so much of the work, but what are we doing now to become converted to this gospel?

One last thing is there is a new video about easter and the resurrection, I don't know what it's called exactly, but it's something like Because He is Risen. It's really good and I encourage you to find it and watch it. It's just a couple minutes. And also, watch conference! I'm really excited to watch it this weekend, and I know that if you have a question and write down not was they say, but what you hear through the spirit, you will receive revelation, especially for you question. 

I love you! Have a great week, and a great conference sunday and easter sunday!

Love, Hermana Leavitt

These are some of the latinas from our casa. They really helped us with our spanish and always told us that we needed to wear shoes haha. It was a really cool experience this week though. There are 5 rooms in each house, and there were about 10 or 11 latinas leaving and we all sang a hymn and prayed together and the spirit was so strong. I'm really grateful for that experience. And next time all of us from our house will be leaving, how cool is that!