sarah…

So I found out today that I’m training…finally. It’s my last transfer. What a wonderful way to end, right? Giving all of my knowledge to a brand new missionary…hopefully my knowledge is helpful haha! So only 5 more weeks…it should be 6 weeks, but us Americans are being sent home a week early because of our flights. I actually feel a lot of peace about training and am excited to see what happens. I’ve been praying to train a Filipina so I can keep working on my tagalog and the culture and for the sake of my investigators as well…but if she’s american or from any other country…I guess I have no choice! haha! I’ll find out on Friday who my companion is. I have trainer’s training on Wednesday and will just work in another area tomorrow until Friday.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before but everyone here is in LOVE with white skin….and I GLOW here…no matter how long I am in the sun…..no tan. In this area I’ve been given a new nickname “living mannequin”, haha! Apparently I look plastic…. hmm… We’ll see what comments I get when I come home…”gee Sis, you’ve gained some weight…”, “what happened to your face?”, “do you not have any other clothes to wear?” haha….just kidding….maybe?

we had a huge group FHE on Saturday because my companion is going home (tomorrow! : ( ) and I tried sending pictures but the internet doesn’t want to…..sorry.

OH…..how was halloween? Nov 1 and Nov 2 were crazy. It was hard to find people to teach….everyone was at the cemetery! They have crazy traditions here about all soul’s/saint’s day……especially something called “atang” or “offerings” to the spirits. Usually they cook all sorts of sticky rice deserts and then place them on their table and say a prayer over them. we got to taste the “unblessed” sweets…so good! : )

Well…love you all…pray for me, eh? Hopefully I don’t ruin the start of this missionary’s mission, haha!

LOVE YOU!
Sister Leonhardt

pictures:

-“d’ lionheart”…on the back of the tricie of one of the members here.

-baptism

I woke up from a really weird and seemingly realistic dream…my friend who is currently serving a mission in California was to be my new companion, but, despite it being a dream, reality registered and I questioned, “wait? she got to transfer countries?!” and then as the dream went on, I realized everyone in my dream was American and that the landscape and language began to change. “WAIT?! WHY AM I NOT IN THE PHILIPPINES ANYMORE?!” I remember running to my room in my dream and started to pray and cry and just wished that I was back in the Philippines…..and then I woke up. Is that going to be my reality soon? I was just relieved to wake up in Dingras again. Now you get a little glimpse of the things running through my head lately…..

But despite that…..the work has been so sweet and rewarding lately. : ) I know people have a lot of issues with “mormonism”. Some of our lessons could have gone on for days just trying to answer people’s concerns and trying to find out WHERE some of their concerns were coming from. One of our lessons was like that…”But WHERE IN THE BIBLE is the proof that YOUR church is Jesus Christ’s true church?!” : ) ….I could have tried looking for several scriptures… But something the church has been having us missionaries focus on is helping others gain a testimony and find their own answers through their own personal revelation….through prayer, going to church, and the Book of Mormon. I feel like most of our lessons lately have been focused on just testifying about the Book of Mormon. No one can say they know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is false without first reading and pondering and praying about the Book of Mormon. I must confess, I felt I knew the Book of Mormon was true before my mission, but I never really read it. Maybe a few days a month I would actually really study it, but now i KNOW it’s true. I trust it’s message and I trust in the promise that “when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincereheart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” Heavenly Father wants us to know the truth. He wants us to find happiness. He wants us to know for ourselves. The Book of Mormon can resolve anyone’s concerns about what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is all about.

OH! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! No trick-or-treating here….just picnicking at the cemetery…actually for weeks now people have been preparing for All Souls Day (Nov 1) and All Saints Day (Nov 2)…cleaning at the cemetery and making flower arrangements. People ask us if we practice it and we just say…”every day is all saints day to us!” : )

LOVE YOU!
Sister Lionheart

-sunset…thought you’d might enjoy a view of the creation : )

FAMILY!
ALOHA! wait, wrong…..MAGANDANG UMAGA/TANGHALI/HAPON/GABI (depending
on what time you read this…)

We went to pay our electric bill this morning (888 pesos!….about
$20) and saw a countdown for christmas…62 more days they say….AHH!
That came fast.

We have been blessed with referrals this week. (Missionaries LIVE for
referrals from members! We’ve actually be asked to focus on getting
referrals from members because the investigators instantly have a
friend at church and someone to follow up with them throughout the
week and to answer their questions and help them adjust after their
baptism.) I love teaching them! Two are 26 year old single girls and
both, after just one week, already have testimonies and want to be
baptized. : ) Every missionary’s dream, right?! I’ll let you know how
it goes. The only hard part is that one lives far away and isn’t
always available, but said she wants to work with us this week to see
what we do as missionaries, haha…awesome, right?!

hotdog waffles….so pretty much every food here has a sweetened
version. this week I tried these waffle roll things with hotdog inside
(they have these red-colored hotdogs that are kind of sweet). it was
good..but who would have thought….

I tried sending pictures…but the computer doesn’t want to today)

My mind is really tired. That’s about all I’ve got for today. Rainy
season is over and it’s starting to get cooler outside…

LOVE YOU!
Sister Leonhardt

ps. get excited for christmas dinner…i’m going to make you eat a
whole fish with your hands. if i can find some…we’ll see. : )

What’s happening to my family?!…. Peter is asking girls to school dances and wearing suits to church and joining math club and advancing in Spanish; Ani is wearing high heels and magenta skirts; Ben and Ani work together and actually hang out together; Caleb was advanced in the Priesthood and is starting college and an Eagle scout and getting ready for his mission; Jared is getting a big kid job and he and Jenna have 2 little girls; I have 4 nieces and 1 nephew; Aaron is graduating college; Jordan calls home to ask Mom for recipes and actually tries them; Dad and Collette are going to celebrate their 1 yr wedding anniversary next month; Matt and Quela have three kids;our house is up for sale and Mom is making all sorts of huge plans after that!…..and so much more! Heavenly Father loves my family. : ) He’s been so good to me. Love you all!

And as for me…I’m still in Dingras, Ilocos Norte, Luzon Island, Philippines, Southeast Asia talking to people in Tagalog and random words in Ilocano about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon and the message of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and eating rice every day…and I’m not sick this week. : ) (And I only have 2 more months…but please don’t remind me of that…I have enough reminders here.)

We got to watch general conference this weekend…rebroadcast. the main messages I took from it: I can’t wait to be a mom and have my own family (yeah, I know….I’m still a missionary…); I don’t ever want my future cell phone or computer to get in the way of my communication with Heavenly Father or others; the Book of Mormon is true; God, the creator of 10,000x more stars than the number of grains of sand on all the beaches in the whole world, knows me personally and created everything for each of us to be HAPPY.

Saturday night after conference we were teaching a 20 year old college student who asked us about something his theology teacher said, “Why did God create both good and bad people and send them to earth only for them to be sent to heaven or hell? Why didn’t he just create good people so that we wouldn’t have any problems and so everyone would go to heaven.” My heart was so full of answers I wanted to tell him and of course couldn’t express it all…. Do you know that God loves you and that He doesn’t create anything bad or evil? Do you know that God wants all of His children to return to Him in Heaven? Do you know that He gave us a prophet and the restored Gospel so we know the way back to Him? Do you know that we get to choose to be happy or not in this life, but we can’t choose others’ choices or consequences (2 Nephi 2:27)? Do you know that we NEED trials in this life to grow so we can become like our Heavenly Father? Do you know about the Plan of Salvation?…that was a good lesson.

oh, I forgot to tell you two weeks ago on transfer day…I didn’t transfer, neither did my companion, haha. one more transfer together before she goes home from her short term mission. so grateful cuz I love working with her!

well…i love you all. : )
Sister Leonhardt

Hey family,
I feel like people have just been falling into our hands lately. I
don’t think I have actually done any “knocking on doors” the past
month or so…. Examples….we contacted a few referrals and ended up
meeting all of their neighbors as well and all want to listen; one
recent convert has a mini store and whenever we visit her, we seem to
meet new people and keep setting new appointments; we even found a
member who moved into the area years ago but didn’t know where the
church was because she lives far from the center of town and said she
is excited to come back to church and bring her whole family and
husband who are not yet members; one investigator that we have been
having a hard time contacting was finally home and even though we only
shared once to him and his family, has been constantly reading the
book of mormon and really wants to know more and come to chuch. I also
met a man who worked for Snap-On Tools here in the Philippines and
said his boss is from Kenosha, WI and said he almost got to go there
to have training but decided to go to Saudi Arabia for work
instead….I was a little taken back…”wait…kenosha,
WISCONSIN?”…he only wanted to speak in English to me even though I
only spoke Tagalog to him. (That’s who Cheryl works for, right?)

Heavenly Father is really funny about answering my prayers….remember
last time when I said I missed rain and then it rained…well, most of
my clothes are getting really worn out. Thursday we went to a member’s
house for dinner and she mentioned she just got some “ukay-ukay”
clothes… (or what we would call second hand clothes that come from a
different country, usually hong kong or UK or canada….very common
here) that she is planning on selling and asked if we wanted to take a
look first….found a shirt, a skirt, and a WARM JACKET for when I
travel home (forgot that detail…it’s gonna be WINTER when I come
home and I only have summer clothes!) : )
blessing.

I had my first taste of horse meat this week. Sorry Rice family…it
was really good actually.

We also had 3 baptisms on Saturday. A young husband and wife and
another 50+ year old mother. The recent converts that attended were
really funny because THEY were the ones that helped them know what to
do and helped them find baptismal clothes that fit, we just sat back
and let them do their part : )

LOVE YOU! Thanks for reading my emails and for all of your prayers : )
Sister Leonhardt

THOUGHT: 2 Peter 2:12 “But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be
taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand
not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;”
….what things do we speak of evilly that we don’t yet understand? do
we seek for understanding before we bash something or stop listening
to someone? (are you a “natural brute beast”? haha….)

Family,

This week I just kept thinking, “THIS is the JOY I’ve been searching for and waiting for and working for my whole mission!” I feel so HAPPY, FREE, SUCCESSFUL, and full of LOVE!

We had a less active come back to church after almost 20 YEARS! AND she went with us to share with her Mom on Saturday evening.

One of the struggles here is getting the leaders to have more trust in new members. There’s a big gap between the “pioneers” and the newer members. In the branch here, there’s the idea that you have to have ‘higher education’ in order to be a leader. (Not sure who started that MYTH because Heavenly Father tends to love using the small and weak and seemingly uneducated do His work – Joseph Smith, Moses, Enoch, missionaries (ME!), even Jesus Christ started as a baby, I recall someone telling me that none of the prophets have had a doctorate degree…only basic college or below.)…and here we have 16 recent converts who are all farmers. Their only income comes from rice fields. Some of them haven’t even finished high school or elementary, but they seem to be more converted and capable than some of the current leaders. So, we’ve been trying to help the leaders here see their potential and give them callings. On Sunday, one of the recent converts gave his first talk….it was so awesome!

We had an investigator approach us this week because he saw the changes happening in his neighbors (the recent converts) and wants us to teach him so he can change his life as well. One of the recent converts used to be a heavy drinker and smoker – he was one of the leaders of the drinking parties, in fact – and EVERYONE is noticing how his life is improving. So, Alex (the investigator) basically said….”what do I need to do so I can be a member and change my life like Arturo did”. Sister Mirano and i just smiled at each other. : ) I love seeing people change. (especially myself)

BUT…I also had a big low point this week – my first experience with someone giving us back the Book of Mormon and saying they don’t want us to come back. It hurt. Not because of my pride, but because I know what he’s denying and giving up. I know the power that’s in the Book of Mormon and he’s not even willing to give it a try. But we were blessed to be able to give that same Book of Mormon to Nati who accepted it with opened arms and an open heart. : )

I must be getting close to the end of my mission here because all of my clothes seem to be ripping, haha…and NOT because I’m getting THAT fat….come on…! : ) my clothes usually rip on the jagged metal in the vehicles. We’re going to try to find some second-hand stores to visit so I at least have something to wear home, haha.

Love you all …and I love Isaiah…here are some passages I found this morning….

“and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10

“and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” (Isaiah 58:11).

“and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” (Isaiah 58:12)

Sister Leonhardt

Ps. the word for a gay person in tagalog is “bakla” (if a man. “tomboy” if a girl)…and there are these little kids here who like to call the American sisters “bakla” because most of the “bakla”s here like to die their hair blonde and overdo the “beauty”….so not sure if it’s a compliment or insult….hmm…we just laugh.

also…we’re supposed to get another typhoon tomorrow….hope it’s not too bad.

So we had baptism on Saturday…and even though Sister Mirano and I
were literally running everywhere getting things ready (we showed up
and the chapel was still locked…thankfully we picked up a key….and
no water in the font…and then the baptism was combined with another
ward who has no font and they all showed up early…and then had
problems filling the font) we were thankfully able to laugh the whole
time.

we had a surprise visit from our President on Friday. This was the
first time our mission president had ever visit the apartment my whole
mission, so my first reaction was, “uh oh, what happened….” but no
worries, all is well. anyways…president asked if there was anything
else he could do for us and Sister Mirano asked for a blessing…so I
got one too. it was the BEST blessing I have EVER had. But I can’t
tell you all about it…it’s personal, but I can tell you, Heavenly
Father has a TON of blessings in store for my family. : ) More than I
could ever ask for. (But that means you all still have your agency to
be obedient in order to receive those blessings! 😉 They aren’t just
automatic!)

We were teaching a 9 year old recent convert who has a sassy
attitude….way cute. And at one point, I asked her if she wanted to
come home to America with me (we were joking around with her cuz she
just kept answering the craziest things…) and she said, “NO! I don’t
know how to speak English!” “don’t worry…I’ll teach you..”
“No….when it rains there, it’s snows! Too cold!” haha. So, maybe it
was cuter in Tagalog and in person….

So…”chismis” means GOSSIP. I’m learning so much about the harming
consequences on gossip. It’s so ugly, filthy, hurtful, non-productive
and STUPID! STOP GOSSIPING! ok….so I have a lot to change about
myself as well. It doesn’t happen just among non-members, not just
among members either….even missionaries do it. I’ve done it. Too
many times. I’m going to repent. I’ve heard too many tragic stories
from people who have forfitted opportunities to be blessed or return
to church or even join the church because of something someone said,
whether or not they thought that person would find out or if they
thought it would even be hurtful. I have a lot more thoughts on this
subject, but not in any kind of “talk-form” yet, haha…so we’ll
suffice it at this.

ok, one last thing so we don’t leave this with that last thought.
Friday night, the school outside our apartment had a sleepover
(celebrating girl scouts and boy scouts) and they had a bonfire and
played LOUD BABYLON music until 11pm and then at 4AM they blasted the
loud music again and had the kids exercise….WHAT?! we were a little
peaved, haha, but…funny, right. why are children exercising at 4
am…why would ANYONE exercise at 4 am?!

LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Leonhardt

So this week was Janah’s funeral. It was the sweetest funeral I’ve been to. Our chapel here as lots of windows, so the room was FULL of sunlight! She looked so peaceful and seemed to glow! It was also the first time since she passed away that it finally hit us that she was
gone. Sister Mirano and just cried and cried during the service.

I keep feeling all of these fears and anxieties about going home (don’t worry…I’m way excited to see all of you again, but I’m afraid
about the rest of life that I have to face…). But this morning I was inspired to begin reading a talk by Elder Holland (This, the Greatest
of all Dispensations), which ironically starts off by talking about September 11. (10 yrs already?!). Anyways, he gives this advice….

“I have just two things to say to you who are troubled about the future. I say them lovingly and from my heart. First, we must never let fear and the father of fear (Satan himself) divert us from our faith and faithful living. Every person in every era has had to walk by faith into what has always been some uncertainty. This is the plan. Just be faithful. God is in charge. He knows your name and He knows your need.
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ—that is the first principle of the gospel. We must go forward. God expects you to have enough faith, determination, and trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. He expects you not simply to face the future; He expects
you to embrace and shape the future—to love it, rejoice in it, and delight in your opportunities.

God is eagerly waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can’t if you don’t pray, and He can’t if you don’t dream. In short, He can’t if you don’t believe.”

So, just keep going and keep REJOICING and God will fulfill your dreams!

Love!
Sister Leonhardt

pictures:
-eating frog for the first time….SO GOOD!

-first avocado shake….also SO GOOD!

-some pictures of the flooding, taken from our apartment

-Saturday was way hot again…so I said to sister mirano, “I kind of miss the rain, it’s so hot”….and just then, it started POURING while
the sun was shining. We laughed about it and then went to work walking in the rain. : ) God has a pretty good sense of humor.

an email from our mission president…..i like his advice. maybe it’ll
help you as well! : )

Dear Elders and Sisters, Anyone who stops learning is old whether at
age 19 or 21 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. One of the
greatest things in life is to keep your mind young.This also helps
stop your body from aging, so always keep learning. I have also learnt
that another way to help yourself stay young and have less stress is
not doing things for other people when they are capable of doing it
themselves.So the best way to help other people is not do it for them
but to help themselves. This is the story of the butterfly.
A MAN FOUND A COCOON OF A BUTTERFLY. ONE DAY A SMALL OPENING APPEARED.
HE SAT AND WATCHED THE BUTTERFLY FOR SEVERAL HOURS AS IT STRUGGLED TO
SQUEEZE ITS BODY THROUGH THE TINY HOLE.THEN IT STOPPED, AS IF IT IT
COULDN’T GO ANY FURTHER.
So the man decided to help the butterfly, he took a pair of scissors
and snipped off the remaining bits of the cocoon. The butterfly
emerged easily but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man
continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would
enlarge and expand enough to support the body. Neither happened! In
fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around. It was
never able to fly. The man with his kindness and haste did not
understand. The restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the
butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid
from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once
that was achieved. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our
lives. Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us. We will
not be as strong as we could have been and we would never be able to
fly. So have a nice day and struggle a little and also remember to
teach well.
Sometimes we ask God for strength and God gives us difficulties to
overcome so as to strengthen us.
Sometimes we ask God for wisdom and God gives us problems to solve so
we gain wisdom.
Sometimes we ask for prosperity and God gives us a brain and muscle to
work so we can earn our prosperity.
Sometimes we ask God for courage and he gives us obstacles to overcome
so we can get courage.
Sometimes we ask God for love and then God gives us troubled and
difficult people who are ready for help and by us helping them we get
the love.
Sometimes we ask God for favors and blessings and he gives us
opportunities to learn and to serve so we can get the blessings.
Sometimes we have received nothing we have asked for or wanted and yet
we have received everything we ever needed.
Yes sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in life because it
ends up giving us everything that we really wanted in the first place.
All I can say is what Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve said to
me and other priesthood leaders in a meeting. He said ” I hear that
some of you are suffering and struggling”, I was expecting some kind,
uplifting and comforting words and then he said ” It is good for you”.

May we all ask ourselves this question do we want to remain crawling
around without the ability to fly or do we want to have the strength
and ability to fly and be able to do many wonderful things and to be
able to see all the beautiful things that God has created.

Have a great week.

Love President Odgers

So our zone leaders gave us a training last week on the concept of a “joy o’ meter”. We listed the things that give us joy (gummy bears, sleep, p-day, sunshine, etc) and then talked about the concept of “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (our new transfer focus) and how when we do the things the Lord has asked us to, He will bless us with PURE JOY! In fact, he said that even if we just accomplish the minimum ( bringing one soul unto Him) we will find joy, but how much greater will it be if we bring MANY souls unto Him. (you can look up the reference for yourself…there’s your reading assignment…). So, Sunday my JOY was FULL! We had record attendance (97). As church was starting, Sister Mirano and I were still setting up more chairs for those still entering the building and running to find more hymnals. : ) And of course, it was testimony meeting, so one of the less actives we have been visiting stood up to bear his testimony and talked about his love for the Book of Mormon and how his life has been changing again….and he was dressed in his white shirt and tie also. : ) Whenever we teach him, he ends up doing the teaching and shares with us what he’s been learning. I was shocked when my comp told me he was less active. And then a recent convert stood up and bore his testimony about his love for the Gospel (his first time bearing testimony) and THEN one of our investigators who is getting baptized on the 17th bore testimony…he’s 21 and used to drink all the time and have earrings and didn’t really have direction in life. He’s changed so much! He tried holding back the tears as he told how much he loves his Heavenly Father and the Book of Mormon and is so excited to be baptized. He keeps sharing the Gospel with his family and friends also. Sister Mirano and I just hugged each other and let the tears roll down all during sacrament meeting. : )

….and then at Zone Conference yesterday it really hit me that I only have 2 transfers left. It was my last real zone conference. And all of the memories from my mission came flashing before my eyes….”I don’t want to lose this feeling! I’m not ready to go back to the world yet! I have so much more to improve!” and then the Spirit whispered to me, “This JOY and these experiences aren’t just for missionaries….the Lord wants this for you for the rest of your life! Just keep living up to it!”

This week I also tried pigs head…about as delicious as it sounds…not very. It’s called ‘dinakdaken”….at least the name is fun to say. And no, it wasn’t a “whole” head…it was cut up in little pieces. Liver is nasty. My companion keeps making me eat it for my “anemia”….any truth to that?

I got to experience another death on my mission…the 4yr old daughter of a recent convert passed away last Tuesday due to a brain tumor. It broke all of our hearts to watch her digress fast. When my companion came here last transfer she was still able to walk, but by the time I got here 3 weeks ago, she was bedridden and couldn’t lift her head and when she lifted her arms, they just shook. Her brain processing was really slow too and would randomly shout out phrases.. “Helloooo!” “Love you!” (English too, haha). She’s a gorgeous little girl. I’m just grateful once again for the Plan of Salvation and grateful for the knowledge that children under 8 years old are PERFECT, no sins, and automatically qualify for the Celestial Kingdom. I can’t wait to meet Janah some day in her perfect body. : )

I love you all and hope you’re going well….oh…happy early Christmas! It’s September now! Time to start Christmas here in the Philippines!
: )

Sister Leonhardt

ps. I tried sending pictures, but the computer doesn’t want to today. : )