Another One Down, Happy St Patrick's Day!

Today we had to go to the consulate for our visas. This is almost all of our district. Not pictured: Elder Finch (going to South Carolina so he didn't have to go) and Elder Uelese (taking the picture)

Wow! Another week has flown by! I´m definitely learning a lot and still have much more to learn for sure, but it's great. I just want to share a few things that I've learned this week. 

On Sunday we had a devotional by the director of the CCM, Shawn Cates, and one of the things that really stuck out was a quote he shared, "Don't let your attachment to the past outweigh your confidence for the future." That really just says it all. He also told us, "Stay on target. You're a disease." It's something a friend of his used to tell him when he was a kid and he's always remembered it (and I think he said it's some reference to star trek or something... I don't know). But if we stay focused and work hard, we can spread this gospel like a disease.

Something I've really learned a lot this week is the importance of planning/preparing. I've found that when we are really prepared and take time to study and practice, our lessons go a lot better. For instance, with our investigator this week, Carlos (who is actually our teacher Hermano Hernandez, and acted as our first investigator last week before he became our teacher) we teach in the afternoon so we have a lot more time to prepare and I've been able to do well speaking and answering questions in these lessons. But with our other investigator, Ulises, (our other teacher Hermano Noguada) we teach in the morning so we don't have much time to prepare and when it comes to our lessons I get really lost. Luckily we don't teach them on the same days, but it's all just a learning experience. If you want help from the Lord, you need to do your part to prepare. 

One of the last things that's cool is the language. In Spanish there are two ways to say you. Tu (informal) and usted (formal). You're supposed to address people in the usted form because it's a sign of respect. The tu form is used when talking to family, friends, etc. But when you pray, you use the tu form also. Just the symbolism there is really cool that you talk with God as your friend.

So my district is pretty great. We're all different but work together really well. The Elders are jokesters and tease us a lot haha. A lot of times they'll get to the classroom before us and usually find some way to scare us, it's pretty funny. One of them hid in our cupboard and jumped out when one of the hermanas opened it, it was great! :) Luckily (for my sanity... haha) all of us like to play sports, so in gym time we play different games. Usually volleyball or speed (no basketball, it's a contact sport and so elders and hermanas can't play together :( ) or the other day we played ultimate frisbee, it's pretty fun. Plus on p day we play sand volleyball for like 2 or 3 hours, it's great!

I hope you're all doing well, and I love you all! It's great to hear from you!

Hermana Leavitt

Funny story, we're going to the same mission and have the same dress! #sistersunday 

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the hermanas! (and the photobombers)