sarah…

It’s always been my tradition to let people know that my birthday is coming up…so you have one month…just enough time to send me a package or a “dearelder” (it’s free you know!)….just kidding…kind of! Crazy that spring is starting back home!

I hope the pictures show up all right….

-we randomly came across that awesome bridge this week! I wish I always saw sights like that….but that was actually really rare..and no we didn’t cross it.

-that mat is made out of straws…they taught us how to make it…but i’ve already forgotten…it’s super hard, but I’ll master it after the mission!

-the family is a less active family here….we had dinner at their house this last week….i LOVE their kids! The one in the middle who is posing is my favorite. He’s 3 and his name is Noah. : )

-don’t mind the pile of bottles….but yes that is a REAL spider! it was HUGE! And YES, I freaked out and made my companion deal with it…she just “shooed” it outside. I’m glad it didn’t happen last transfer when I had to be the one to kill the spiders. But my companion claims that it’s harmless…I’m not taking my chances! Oh, and the night after that, tehre was another one just as big in our bedroom right before we went to bed. I refused to sleep until it was taken care of! Unfortunately, my companion let him live.

-and the one with the food…it’s called “boodle fight”…or something close to that, haha. Apparently it’s how they used to feed their troops…just put down banana leaves and put the food on that and everyone eats with their hands. This was at our bishop’s house. It reminded me of doing that with spaghetti at my friends’ house when I was younger. (side note….spaghetti here is a snack, not a meal! haha! and they sweeten it!)

I also had my first crab….or at least the first time that I had to de-shell it…way more work than it should be for the amount of meat you get out of it!

We ran into this old lady this week…we didn’t get to teach her because she was too obsessed with how “beautiful” I am! HAHA! She just get saying over and over again, “Oh, you’re so beautiful! I just wish you were my daughter!” We tried to visit her again so we could take a picture with her, but she wasn’t home. Next time. : )

I was feeling kind of useless a few times this week again, but yesterday I had this feeling to tell Sister Tabios that I think she is an amazing missionary. So, when I told her, she replied with a laugh, “What makes you say that?” and I told her that I think she is awesome at teaching people and not just lessons and that she is really good at just carrying on conversations and making people feel comfortable with us and then is easily able to insert a part of the Gospel into our conversation. She replied with, “Well, I’m pretty sure that I picked that up from you! I never taught like this before with my other companions, we always just had really formal lessons and taught a lesson every hour whether or not we knew their concerns.” I was SHOCKED! The thing that I feel like I’m still not good at is what Sister Tabios said she has picked up from me! I felt like a million bucks! So even if I feel that I can’t apply it myself, it’s awesome to know that I can help others who CAN apply it with the language.

I’ll let you know next week if we get anything else from the tsunami, but so far nothing…I’m still safe! : )

Love you all!
Sister Leonhardt

Family….

We’re still safe here in the Philippines….they say that the potential radioactive waves from Japan won’t make it here…so we’re good : )

I don’t know if any of you have ever felt this way, but I’m finding that I hate reading stories about awesome missionaries, haha…We had stake conference yesterday and Elder Guanzon (in the area presidency here in the Philippines) and his wife were the speakers. Elder Guanzon told a story about a sister missionary who went above and beyond EVERYTHING….for baptismal services, she would write over 100 invitations to ward members (especially less actives) and then deliver them…and almost all of them would attend. She also learned the names of all of the jeepney drivers and taught lessons to people in the jeepneys…..needless to say, the more Elder Guanzon said, the more inadequate and pressured I felt. Maybe it says a lot about my attitude? But then I thought about how he didn’t tell the whole story of her mission or what she was like before her mission or after. I can’t compare my success as a missionary to this one sister. I can only compare myself with myself…where I have been and where I am right now and where I’m going. But I also need to work on being happy for successful people also…. : )

Candon City, where I am currently assigned, is the headquarters of the Tabacco Festival every year…I don’t think I’ve made mention of this yet….but there are TONS of fields of tobacco here! I often wonder what would happen if one of the warehouses where the tobacco leaves hang to dry were to catch on fire….haha. : )

I was also introduced to a new fruit this week…damatis, also known as camachile. Supposedly it’s known to prevent cancer and keep your ovaries clean….I just thought it tasted good! : )

Oh…here’s a story that our mission president shared with us…maybe you’ll think it’s cheezy….but I loved it and totally related to it…

Let me share with you the story of the “The Cracked Pot”.
A water bearer in India had two large pots, one hung on each end of a
pole which is carried across the neck. one of the pots had a crack in
it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full
portion of water at the end of a long walk from the stream to the
master’s house. The cracked pot arrived only half full.
For two full years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only
one and half pots of water in his master’s house.
Of course the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to
the end for which it was made.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and
miserable that it was only able to accomplish only half of what it had
been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke
to the water bearer one day by the stream.
“I am ashamed of my self, and I want to apologize to you.”
Why? asked the bearer
“What are you ashamed of?”
” I have been able, for these last two years, to deliver only half my
load because this crack in my side causes the water to leak out all
the way back to the house.
Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work and you don’t get
full value from your efforts, ” the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his
compassion he said, ” As we return to the master’s house, I want you
to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”
Indeed. as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of
the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path,
and this cheered it some.
But at the end of the trail, it felt bad because it had leaked out
half its load and so again it apologized to the bearer for its
failure.
The bearer said to the pot, ” Did you notice that there were flowers
only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?
That’s because I have always know about your flaw, and i took
advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and
every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them.
For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to
decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he
would not have this beauty to grace his house.

John 14 and 15 are a few favorites this week….

love you!
Sister Leonhardt

Hello again.

So first of all….making the transition from having an American companion to going back to having a Filipina companion was totally hard! I missed American conversation more than I have ever missed anything before! : ) BUT…..my companion is turning out to be pretty awesome …so I’m super blessed! : ) And I’m not as stressed now because she IS so awesome and hard-working. Her name is Sister Tabios. She’s from Antipolog…close to Manila, so Tagalog is her first language and she knows some Ilocano (the native language here). She’s only been out for 5 months and is an amazing missionary! She’s 27 and is a high school science teacher. She worked for 5 years before her mission and it’s totally a blessing that she was able to take a year and a half leave from work! So she still has a job waiting for her when she gets home. I’m her first American companion. : ) I’ll try to break her in slowly to our ways. : )

I kind of feel like I’m at the beginning of my mission again now that I’m completely immersed in Tagalog again…it kind of blows sometimes. No one likes feeling useless…especially when what you do most of the day is talk to people in a foreign language, but prayer does a LOT to help change my attitude about it. I’m learning a lot about what attitude-adjustments can do… Sis Tabios has just jumped right in and taken control of everything and I’m not even mad about it anymore haha! She just loves talking to everyone and totally knows how to make people feel comfortable with us.

Even though my Tagalog is far from excellent, I love when people get surprised that I can speak the language.

This morning I read from “Our Search for Happiness” by Elder Ballard on pages 14-20. READ IT! It just reminded me how life-changing the Gospel is and how much happiness it brings. I just felt this overwhelming love from Heavenly Father and just really felt like I am His daughter..no matter what my weaknesses and challenges are!

I’m pretty sure I ate pig intestines this last week. I’ve learned to stop asking what I’m eating.

Oh and they have a crazy tradition that if there’s a death in your family, the day after the burial, you wash your head with chicken’s blood. yup.

ONE MONTH TIL GENERAL CONFERENCE! Are you all stoked or what?!

LOVE YOU!
Sister Leonhardt

yup….wednesday is my halfway point. 9 months. done. it’s such a bittersweet realization. (I also realized that in 2 months I get to call home again already….for the last time on my mission?! crazy!)

There are so many days when I feel like I would give ANYTHING to get on a plane and come home where things are “safe” and “easy”….which isn’t really realistic when you think of my situation right now…I don’t think I’ll ever be MORE SAFE and MORE BLESSED than as a missionary…but…this morning we checked our emails for the “transfer list” and my companion is being transferred. Talk about a SHOCK! We totally didn’t think it would happen. We were just getting things rolling….which is maybe why she’s being transferred. We’ve learned our lessons. If anything, I thought maybe I’d be transferred. I’m going to miss this girl so much….but the great thing is that she’s from Utah so we’ll just be best friends for the rest of eternity. that’s all. : ) But it made me think a lot about how sad the end of my mission is going to be…to leave all of this!

My new companion is Sister Tabios. She’s a filipina and was actually just companions with my previous filipina companion. I think this is her 3rd transfer? I hope she’s awesome….but actually…my last interview with President Odgers on Wednesday taught me that if I really understand the Atonement, it won’t matter where I am, how hard the situation is, who I’m with, etc. because I’ll be confident in myself and in the Spirit because the Atonement covers my weaknesses when I’m trying to do my best. Isaiah 61:1-3 is a scripture that President shared with me. This Gospel really does free us and release us from the prison of confusion and guilt and feelings of helplessness! But you can still pray that I’ll be able to transition smoothly. : )

I am SO grateful for the change that I see in my mission and in my attitude towards my mission. Sister McCormack and I had a crazy, but spirit-stirring experience as we were walking to the computer shop today. We saw an American male in his 30’s, so we just looked at each other and said, “let’s go say hi and see why he’s here!” (the only Americans we see are like 50+ year old males who are only here to visit their Filipina wives…more on that another time)….he turned out to be a baptist minister! : ) At first our hearts were pounding as he tried to tear us down and squash our faith, but as we listened to him bash the Book of Mormon and how it’s blasphemy to proclaim that we’ll become gods…the Spirit just came over me and testified over and over again to me of the truthfulness of the Gospel and the Atonement and how grateful I am to know the fullness of the Gospel and that it really is useless to try to teach without the Spirit. We didn’t try to Bible bash or anything…we just let him say his thing and then we bore our testimonies and wished him well. The Atonement really does cover all of our weaknesses. That baptist minister knew the bible so well…or I guess he mainly just knew how to quote the Bible because his interpretation of it was way skewed. I just feel like I know enough now….don’t get me wrong…I want to know so much more and don’t know everything, but I feel like my testimony is way more stable now. No one can make me disbelieve what I know! And we really are going to grow up to become like God…..gods ourselves! Why wouldn’t we if we are His children?! Just pray about it! And the Book of Mormon IS TRUE!

OH! Yesterday was my favorite Sunday so far! We were stoked that so many of our investigators were going to really going to come to church and sacrifice jobs and everything to be there….so when we stood outside for 40 minutes waiting for them and, it was super discouraging when they weren’t showing up. So we went into sacrament meeting 10 minutes late and I just said a prayer wondering why no one was at church and if I can really find faith in what our investigators promise they’ll do…and THEN….two of our investigators with baptismal dates showed up for the first time…AND the pastor from the Seventh Day Adventist HAHA! (We ran into him the day before and taught him and attended his service and made a deal with him that he’d come to our church service and he showed up and even stayed for Gospel Principles as well! We’ll see what happens. Our District Leader was joking with us last night that maybe he could just become Mormon and 7th Day because our days of worship are different…haha!) and we were so proud of our ward….they just accepted them all and fellowshipped them without us asking them and didn’t even know that the one was a pastor! They just treated him like a regular investigator! : ) BLESSINGS!

Oh, Mom…I met a monkey last week who is also named Sharon. Cute huh? Haha! The kids busted up laughing when I told them that was my Mom’s name!

Oh…did you know that Head and Shoulders works to get rid of acne?! My face has been freaking out from all of the stress and dirt in the city lately (it hasn’t rained in forever so there’s so much dust) and my mission president’s wife told me that little secret and it’s totally working! : D

Also…not to scare you or anything…but in some parts the dogs are NUTS…we were in a tricycle and this dog just starts running along side of us and starting trying to bite into the tricie! my comp and I screamed and them busted up laughing at the situation! : )

Well. I love you all.

Love,

Sister Leonhardt

Hi.

Yes,  a cockroach DID fly in my face this week. And yes, it was during a lesson. The guy we were teaching felt so embarrassed because it happened at his house. It was actually REALLY funny and I tried everything I could to not bust up laughing! I realized today how seeing crazy bugs doesn’t even phase me anymore. Example….a few nights ago I was sitting at the kitchen table writing in my journal and saw something moving on the floor…a baby cockroach…and the first thought I had was, “Dang it, we’re out of bug killer spray…I guess you get to live tonight” and went straight back to writing.

Oh another funny thing ….I saw this big guy on a big ol’ motorcycle with a pink butterfly backpack….only in the Philippines. : )

I wanna tell you about a few of our amazing investigators….Tessie and Joel Bautista. A mom and her 31 year old son. We met Tessie while she was waiting for a tricycle…we told her about Joseph Smith and she was just like, “Oh that’s so neat that that happened. I love stories like that when people see God. I want to learn more.” So we visited her later that night and she had all sorts of awesome questions about heaven and hell…which have you read the Bible Dictionary on “hell”? I learned so much about it…..there’s two different classes of hell. One comes before judgement for those who lived wicked lives on earth…because they have to essentially pay the price for their own sins until judgment day because they refused to be baptized and never repented so they didn’t let the Atonement work for them. So it’s not permanent. And then after judgement day they go to the Telestial Kingdom and still gain some glory. The other kind of hell is reserved for Satan and his angels after judgment….where they receive no glory at all…FOREVER! I love Heavenly Father’s Plan! Ok…so back to Tessie and Joel….we gave them a Book of Mormon and when we went back to teach them the second time (two days later) Joel had read from the introduction all the way to 1 Nephi 12 and could like retell everything he read perfectly! And Tessie had read all of the introduction until 1 Nephi 1 and they both just basically bore their testimonies about how awesome the Book of Mormon is. They want to be baptized….they just have to figure out a way to get to church… they have work on Sundays and if they don’t go once they’ll lose their jobs…they’re going to pray about what they should do. Oh, we also gave Joel his FIRST PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH THIS WEEK! He’s 31! Haha!

And then there’s Milagros Del Rosario…we’ve been teaching her for like 3 weeks now and she wants to be baptized as well….and the crazy part is that all three of us struggle with Tagalog…she speaks more Ilocano….but the Spirit is always so strong during lessons! But she LOVES the Book of Mormon..she reads it every chance she gets. She sells chicken at the market and said that she just reads the whole time and only puts it down when she has a customer….and when someone asks her if she’s “turned Mormon” she just says “yup” and they ask her how long she’s been Mormon and she just says it’s been a long time now. : ) She’s not even baptized yet…..and hasn’t been to church either yet because of work schedule…AHHH! She’s already past the book of Jacob : ) There really are people ready and waiting to hear the Gospel! It’s just takes a lot of time and patience and sifting and walking to find them.

Oh…and we ran into this less active who hasn’t been to church in like 5 years because she is taking care of her aged auntie who had a stroke and is like 80 years old and is crazy skinny and frail…and the week after we first met her, her auntie died! I totally see this as a blessing..because Liza came to church yesterday and totally wants to be active again…she misses church like crazy!

“There is no increase of faith if we just do the minimum.” -President Odgers

Love you.

Sister Leonhardt

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON! Are you really 22 now?! Good grief! That means I’m almost 24… WHAT?!

This has probably been the BEST valentines day ever….and no…I didn’t have a date or anything 😉 We had a district activity this morning. We played on the beach in our district leader’s area and then one of the families that they have been teaching made us arroz caldo….yum. And then we made pizzookies (pizza cookies…)! We made one batch over the fire…and it SO DIDN’T WORK….and the other one we made in a toaster oven (the closest to an oven I get here) and it was AMAZING! We put yummy ice cream all over it and shared it with the family who cooked for us…they loved it! Actually…Sister McCormack and I were in charge of making the dough…and it’s really hard to find all of the ingredients for cookie dough here…so we just did the lazy-man way and bought brownie mix (only boxed mix we could find) and made that. It was still awesome.

This song was on my mind this week….yeah it’s not a “church song” but it totally relates to the Atonement… Fix You by Coldplay. Listen to it.

I had my first strawberry here this week!

I think the reason why I can’t always explain what’s in my heart or what I’m learning is because it’s for me. You’ll just have to go find your own revelation : ) But seriously… DO IT! I LOVE REVELATION! I LOVE THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT!

We were blessed to visit a new part of our area this week….we found a less active member who hasn’t been to church in 10 years because she’s taking care of her aged auntie and she just cried when we found her. She misses church so bad! And then we started teaching a family who is just LOVING the Gospel….. : ) I’m finding that the first lesson is usually awesome, but it’s the return appointment that is hard…but it usually tells us whether or not they are really interested. Man, I love feeling the Spirit teach through me!

This Gospel is so true! I gave a talk on Sunday on Alma 37:38-46. Who doesn’t want answers about their future? Who doesn’t like to be guided? Do we sometimes think the Lord isn’t REALLY guiding us…it’s just a nice promise that we like to believe in? Well…HE IS TRYING TO GUIDE YOU…..he gave you the scriptures (mainly the Book of Mormon that promises that you will find peace and eternal salvation – read the intro page), prayer (are you REALLY talking with Heavenly Father or just listening off things you want and then not listening after you ask for help and answers?), and church (when you go to church do you feel the Spirit and receive revelation? cuz that’s what it’s for…..the part in the sacrament prayer that says “that they may always have His Spirit to be with them”…well, it’s true. YOU CAN ALWAYS HAVE HIS SPIRIT WITH YOU…and it’s THROUGH the Spirit that we receive revelation….you just might need to prepare yourself a little more to receive it. it’s all up to you.).

: )

LOVE YOU!

Sister Leonhardt

hello.

so I still don’t jump out of my bed every morning STOKED for missionary work, but i do have a better attitude about it all. and who doesn’t love a trip to the beach….enjoy the pictures! yup, you should be jealous! : ) we started our day by eating pizza and buying sweet sunglasses and then we headed to the beach for a few hours and danced on the sand and sang our hearts out! And then we enjoyed listening to the local drunks singing karaoke nearby. : ) I think there are few things more beautiful than watching the sun set on the beach!

Then Sunday we had a sleepover at the house of the sisters an hour and a half away because we had zone conference early Monday morning. Zone conference was just the ticket. Elder Keith R. Edwards (in the area presidency here) spoke to us. It was all focused on the Atonement and grace and feeling the Spirit. Elder Edwards told us that if we ever go to a meeting and all we get out of it are the words we write on our paper that are the exact same words spoken by the speakers we have wasted our time (if that makes sense how I wrote that). We should always expect the Spirit to be teaching us through meetings. It just might require us to be prepared before we go. There were SO MANY things that I learned from that meeting that were never actually said by anyone. Here are some thoughts….there are so many more things happening than we usually understand or know. So many times during lessons, I never really know if what I’m saying makes sense, but I learned that if I feel the Spirit while I teach, that’s enough. Even if there aren’t results right away, it doesn’t mean that nothing’s happening or that my time is being wasted or that I’m not successful. Also, Elder Edwards told us a story about Elder Uchtdorf that taught me that we never are or ever will be adequate for the callings that the Lord gives us and it’s SUPPOSED TO BE THAT WAY! If we were already adequate, we wouldn’t need the Lord’s help and we wouldn’t grow. And President Odgers reminded me that if we try relying on ourselves and our own abilities we are bound to fail. (been there. done that. not fun. hope I learned my lesson.) Elder Uchtdorf said, “I know I can’t do this, but I will”. I want that to be my attitude. Do you see how many times the Lord uses REALLY imperfect people to do His work…that’s His Plan.

Monday night we went “finding” and ran into this Catholic Men’s Choir practicing at someone’s house…they were AWESOME! We asked if we could just listen..so they let us! And then when we left we were swarmed by this mob of little children and gave them all high-fives and then they taught us some dance moves. Haha! Loved it! And then yesterday we did finding in another area and taught some stellar lessons with the Spirit and one of our new investigators told us how much she loves the Book of Mormon….yay! I know I’ll have more crappy days, but it’s all about our attitudes towards them.

I know I’ll never be able to really explain all of the things I’m learning, but basically, trust in the Lord. and if you don’t understand all of His ways for doing things, good. You’re not supposed to….you’re not at His level yet….but just trust Him. And people don’t like being around people who pretend to be perfect all of the time! Let loose and be yourself a little more! Just know when you’re supposed to be reverent and do things that invite the Spirit. And don’t try to force things to happen!

I am STOKED for life after the mission….it’s going to be awesome….but for now….i’m loving being in the Philippines and seeing the crazy things that people do and believe here and also how loving and humble they are. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your love and support and prayers…and don’t you dare try to pray away my circumstances (or yours either), just pray that we can have the strength to endure and learn from our circumstances.

love you. : )

Sister Leonhardt
Ps. feel free to send more pictures of your lives to me. : )