sarah…

Sorry family, I guess my letter didn’t send last week….or at least I got an email back saying that it didn’t send. K, we’ll have to work on this “enter key” malfunction. Here’s another long paragraph-style email.. (Oh and “period key” puts two periods and I’m growing low on my patience for deleting the extra . so just deal with it..) So, this week was the mission president training week, so 10 of the 12 apostles and the whole first presidency were all here at one time or another.. In fact, two of the elders in my district, who are also our zone leaders (and my favorite elders in my district) were asked to help pass sacrament on Sunday to all of the mission presidents and the first presidency and several of the apostles.. So jealous.. I told Elder Christensen to take lots of notes for me, but he came back with scribbles and just said that Pres Monson just told stories for an hour and a half.. Oh well.. We did get to hear from Elder Oaks on Tuesday and Elder Holland, Bednar, Cook, Hales, Christofferson, and maybe one more were all sitting on the stand.. I guess you could say it was a pretty special experience.. I’m glad that the MTC is back to normal today though……the cafeteria was cut in half, so all of the meals were hectic and crowded, and no one was allowed in the main office building….you’d probably get shot on the spot (as Elder Hand would say) if you went where you weren’t supposed to be last week.. I also got to speak yesterday.. There weren’t any general authorities there but about 1/4 of all the missionaries were there, so that was pretty neat.. I only spoke for 3 minutes on agency.. And I think I did a great job if I do say so myself.. This is our last week speaking english in class.. *sigh*.. Starting Thursday night it’s straight Tagalog….or at least what we know.. I’m actually kind of excited because I’m sure the language will just come so much faster.. We also got new missionaries on Wednesday.. There are 2 new sisters in our zone and 3 new sisters in the other zone.. I’m quite fond of them, which is a good thing, because I’m the “nanay” (Mother) of two of them now.. OH! My friend Ashley, who went to Romani with me, came on Wednesday and I actually ran into her shortly after she was dropped off with her luggage.. And ironically she lives RIGHT NEXT DOOR to my room in the residence hall so I get to see her a few times a day.. Oh, and another girl from work just got here on Wednesday as well, but I rarely see her because she lives in another residence hall and doesn’t eat at the same time as me.. And I saw the head secretary over my work….the coding lab…. (Yevon Romney) yesterday because her husband is a branch president at the MTC.. Does anyone have any good hands-on object lessons to use for the plan of salvation (besides just drawing it out….)? Here’s a fun fact for this email, at gym time, we’ve started playing frisbee, which is way more fun on really windy days! and one of the sisters in my district, Sister Jensen, has a new found obsession for the Tagalog word for battle (“lebanan”….not pronounced like the country……but close).. So whenever the frisbee is thrown to someone near her, she yells LEBANAN and charges them! You have to picture it though……she’s this 93 pound stick! It’s hilarious! We usually end up spending most of gym time rolling on the ground laughing so hard that we can’t stand up.. Well, MAHAL KITA! Hope you’re all doing well! The MTC still rocks and I still love being a missionary and the gospel is still true! OH! last night we got the sneak preview to the new Mormon.org.. It’s coming in July, but it’s going to be awesome……they’re going to put profiles of members of the church on there and have them write why they are a mormon because they’ve done a lot of research and found that most non-members don’t like the idea of organize religion, but are fascinated by us mormons as people, so they’re focusing on that….mormons as NORMAL PEOPLE! So when it does start……put your profile on there! :  ) INGAT PO! Sister Leonhardt

Wow family…..thanks for writing me this week. So the “enter” key isn’t working again….so it’s going to be another long email. The past few days have been filled with crazy emotions becuase this is our first experience with seeing people we know leave the MTC. Two districts are leaving for the Philippines today (in an hour) and one of the districts we became really close with (they were in our zone) so it was hard to say goodbye. It’s also making me nervous/excited to leave the MTC in 6 weeks. If I were going somewhere English speaking I’d be leaving this week. Weird. I can’t imagine being trained well enough in just 3 weeks, but then again, I AM learning and foreign language on top of everything else. Um….so first bit of exciting news, I’ve been called to be the coordinating sister in our zone, which means that I’m over all of the sisters in our zone. (I don’t really do much though….I just go to more meetings now.) I had a feeling that I would be called though. Some of the elders like to refer to me as the mother of the district now though since I’m also the oldest. I prefer to be called the big sister, not so sure I want to be their mother! (Mainly because I’d be responsible for their behavior!) Oh, and this week is when the new mission presidents are being trained, so the prophet and the apostles and other general authorities will be roaming the MTC campus this week. In fact, we aren’t allowed to use the main building because of it. I’M NOT SICK ANYMORE….well not AS sick….YAY! Also, we have interviews with our teachers once a week to talk about our progress and any concerns we have and to correct any behavior that needs….correcting. But my interview with Brother Molina was awesome….not only is he the best teacher at the MTC, and the best Tagalog teacher, but he said (ok, this might sound prideful, but it totally made my week and made me feel better about learning the language…so I figured you could all be proud of me as well!) that I was exactly where I needed to be as a missionary and he couldn’t ask anything more from me and that I’m catching on to the language and teaching well. Brother Molina is super intimidating most of the time, but WAY sarcastic and hilarious when he lets his guard down. I’d tell you some funny jokes if I had more time to write….remind me in 18 months. He’s also really good at pushing us, so I’m trying to take advantage of learning as much as I can from him, so it’s a big deal that he thinks I’m right on track as far as where I should be in my studies. Oh mom, what is Sister Johnson’s address? I wanted to write to her about something I remembered from seminary. And if anyone would like to send me a package…those granola bars and fruit snacks would be awesome as well as some mints..you know those red and white ones? Oh, next Sunday I get to give a talk….3 minutes on Agency…yeah, no big deal. How the heck do you sumarize agency in 3 minutes! Oh and there may be a general authority or two at our sacrament meeting because it’s a few zones combined together because they are using our usual sacrament room for mission president training….so no pressure there either. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY DAD! (sorry, it’s just kind of thrown into the middle of this mess, but I hope it was a good one! Mahal kita!….I love you!) Wow, I’m getting so good at writing all of the thigns on my list, and I still have like 10 minutes, so I’ll tell you more random things about my life in the MTC. On Tuesdays we have Devotional and since this is the meeting where general authorities speak, all of the missionaries start lining up AT LEAST an hour and a half early instead of studying like the should! (Ok, so maybe I’m one of those missionaries who also lines up early), but when the doors open everyone starts SHOVING to get in! It’s insane and hilarious at the same time. Also, one of the sisters in our district has turned into the bird lady…any time we eat sack lunches outside, the birds come and she feeds them. Mom, as far as the beads go, do whatever you want with them. And I’ll try to fill in the blanks of my setting apart blessing and send it to you. I not dream about things that I do during the day……like practicing the language. It’s kind of weird. Oh and the MTC will continue to get more and more missionaries since it’s now “summer time” and more missionaries are going on missions, so the cafeteria gets packed FAST. Well, love you all! Sister Leonhardt.

Well, I had my first experience with being sick in the MTC. One of my companions was sick when she came to the MTC and my other companion and I just got it. I woke up on Saturday with a sore throat and then yesterday morning I woke up with a fever. So my companions and I spent those two mornings just sleeping. It STINKS being sick in the MTC because you miss out on so much because they pack so much into your days! I’m feeling much better….although I sound like Snuffleufagus and all of my Airborne is almost gone. The “enter” button isn’t working on this keyboard so this is going to be one big paragraph! One of the elders in our district who is Philipino but raised in the states was just put into the advanced program because he has a basic understanding of Tagalog already so he will be leaving the MTC in 3 weeks. We were all bummed to have to say goodbye already to him….I can only imagine what it’s going to be like to say goodbye to the other districts that are leaving next week! You just bond so quickly with people here! Oh Ani, I was talking with one of the girls that just came last week and she looked at my name tag and got this shocked look on her face and said, “Do you have a sister named Analiesa?!”! I was kind of shocked……apparently she was in your ward. (Sister Jones). She’s on the same floor as me. So I definitely feel like I’m living a different life! I forget what life was like before the MTC! It feels like I’ve been here forever and that I’m never going to leave! But right now I don’t want to leave so that is a good thing. Our teacher taught us this cool lesson from PMG on being set apart (Ps.. I had no idea how many cool things there are in PMG……I guess the spirit helps with those kinds of things……He’s pretty good like that!) PMG says that being set apart includes being set apart from the world……from our past lives….dating, working, school, pop music, movies, etc so that the spirit can be with us more readily. It’s pretty cool! I can totally tell a difference when I start thinking about friends and family and lose focus on missionary work. I’ve also found that I get the giggles a lot more here and it’s hard to control! It doesn’t help that one of my companions has a SUPER contagious laugh……it’s like a witch laugh with a snort! And seriously, Tagalog sometimes sounds like a babbling child, so it’s hard to not laugh when you’re singing.. I’ve gotten better though! We also learned that in the Philippines, they don’t knock on doors, instead they just yell “tao po!” It literally means “people!”, but it just tells the person inside the house that there are people at their door. Some people don’t have a formal door anyways so it all works out. So now a lot of the missionaries just yell “tao po!” when they walk in a room. It’s fun to finally get to know the personalities of the other missionaries! I love my district! I have never been able to sleep so well in my whole life! I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow and when I wake up it feels like I just fell asleep! My Branch President (Pres. Smith) is amazing! He just demands the Spirit every time he speaks to us….it’s so awesome! I love having interviews with him because he has such good advice. I won’t lie, the first full week here wasn’t as great as the first few days. It was hard to adjust to always having others with me and to never really have alone time. Oh, Elder Hales came and spoke to us on Tuesday about the Spirit. It’s pretty rare that one of the apostles come to speak to us, so it was quite the awesome opportunity! One of the things that he said that stuck out to me was that we should ask our investigators to pray to know if we really are messengers of God. I’ve never thought about that, but ever since I’ve been trying to pray to know that other missionaries around me are also messengers of God. It’s made me think completely different about them and love them even more. I’m learning lots of cool things about the Spirit now. I love reading my scriptures now because the Spirit keeps bringing more insights into things that I’ve always read but haven’t really paid attention to. I’m also learning that whenever you don’t know what to say to someone who is questioning your beliefs, you just bear your sincere testimony and the Spirit takes it from there. I’m also learning that obedience is super important if you want to have the Spirit with you. Sometimes rules may seem silly, but if we just “experiment upon the word” (Alma 32) we will receive the evidence that it’s real. We ask our investigators to pray about things that they may have never heard of before and that may be hard for them to pray about, so why can’t we exercise that same faith and just experiment upon the things that are asked of us. The thing is……you have to really mean it though. You can’t just say you’ll experiment but have a begrudging attitude about it at the same time. I can’t believe that I almost didn’t decide to go on a mission….I couldn’t imagine not having this experience and it’s only been a week and a half! Mom, I’m super sad to hear that Fran Kelly isn’t doing well! Tell her hi from me! Mahal kito! Sister Leonhardt Ps. I heard that the bus ride from Manila to Laoag is 14-18 hours! YIKES! But it’s also possible that they will fly us….who knows! Should be an adventure!

Hey family!

I LOVE the MTC and being a missionary! The first few days were crazy…you walk in and people are just directing you here and there and everywhere! But once the name tag was on…it felt official. The spirit here is AMAZING! I haven’t felt nervous or worried at any time. Even the first time I taught was amazing!

K, first thing first…send me letters via dearelder.com so I have more time to write e-mails rather than read e-mails. (And I get them they day you write them instead of waiting until Monday). ALSO…I can only email family back, so if friends email I can only hand write them back. Also, my mailbox number is 139, instead of 144.

It’s so hard to sum up my time here, but here it goes…. My district (the missionaries that entered the same day as me and that will leave the same day as me) is wonderful! There are 5 of us sisters and 9 elders…14 total, which is BIG for a district. Our classroom should only hold about 9 missionaries, so it gets a little cramped, especially with so many elders. I feel like I have 16 brothers now! They’re so much fun and so willing to learn and just open their mouths and teach! They are also DEFINITELY still just 19 years old, but they help keep things from getting too serious. I have two companions…Sister Carroll (who I actually had the chance to send some facebook messages to before I came here, so it was fun to finally meet. She grew up with one of the girls I used to work with.) and Sister Litz. Sister Carroll is from Mesa, AZ and Sister Litz is from West Valley, UT (near SLC). I feel so spoiled to have awesome, NORMAL companions for the next 9 weeks! We work so well together and get so much accomplished, but it’s hard to balance teaching when there are 3 of you! My teachers are Brother Molina (He is Philippino, but grew up in the states and served his mission there. He used to be a co-teacher with one of my old roommates!) and Brother Buckner (He just got back from his mission in January.) They are both amazing teachers. Brother Molina talks really fast and expects a lot from us, but it also means that we are learning a lot. Oh, the other two sisters in our district are Sister Jensen and Sister Christofferson…both are from Utah. I’m definitely the oldest in my district. Our zone (three districts) is lots of fun as well. There is a group of 5 elders who all got hurt playing volleyball and all needed knee surgery so they’ve been here since March and the rest of their district has already left. Such a bummer, since they’ve been here so long, they love to just help teach us and serve us.

HOLY COW THE GIFT OF TONGUES ROCKS! I can’t believe that I have been here only 5 days and I already know so much! Don’t get me wrong…I still have a LOT to learn, but I can count, pray, greet, testify, write a simple sentence, and conjugate 3 different verb forms. : ) Now that I can kind of pronounce words, it’s fun to talk, but it always sounds like I’m a babling baby. One of my favorite words is pagpapakumbaba, which means humility.

We eat really early, so I’m always hungry by the time I go to bed….so if anyone wants to send me a package (hint hint…) granola bars or trail mix or fruit snacks or something would be wonderful.

Every Sunday there is a devotional and yesterday Crawford Gates and a few other hymn composers came to talk to us. I won’t lie, their talks were pretty dry, but they all led us in singing their hymns (Our Savior’s Love, Press Forward Saints, and another one that I can’t remember…something about loving God’s words…it isn’t a very well known hymn.) I love singing with all of the missionaries and hearing the overwhelming sound of young male voices just belt out the songs! I think about Aaron, Jordan, and Caleb every day when I see the elders…you guys would LOVE it here! And they all treat the sisters with such respect, well, they have to. We can “cut in line” in the cafeteria (but really it’s called “respecting the elders” because they say they feel bad when we have to wait behind them.) and they all hold the doors for us.

Oh, I also learned that our name tags are in English because there is another church in the Philippines called the Church of Christ that has missionaries with name tags in Tagalog…so they keep us separated from them…AHHH 30 min goes by too fast!

Lingat po! Mahal kita! I LOVE YOU!

Sister Leonhardt (which is Leonpuso in Tagalog…lion heart)