Elder Erik Leavell

Don't Know What to Say

2011-06-20T13:53:00.001-07:00

What can be said more than I have already said over the past two years? There are so many things that I'm grateful for, so many things that I have learned, and there are so many things that I have experienced that have brought every emotion possible. I can't believe that this day finally has come. It feels so surreal. I'm so thankful that I didn't let up till today and even tonight we are going to be working because I would definitely be regretting it right now.

We have seen a lot of blessings come from our work. Sister Montgomery came to church! We had an amazing lesson with her about the Book of Mormon and Church attendance. We helped her realize the importance of both and how we can receive so many blessings from being obedient all of the time, not just part of the time. I have definitely learned that on my mission. Being obedient all of the time is a lot easier compared to part. That, by itself, is a great blessing because one isn't stressing about the consequences of the actions that one might take. She came to church and she loved it. I'm so thankful that the spirit was felt in the sacrament meeting at the Pacific Palisades Ward so that she could feel, see and hear for herself that these things are true. Conrad had his farewell for his mission this week and it was awesome to see how the Lord blesses the family of the missionary immediately. Their family has had greater hope than in times past and it is amazing to see their spirits, than in recent times. He gave a talk that was on happiness and how we, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, can find happiness despite the many other things that the world has to offer that make us "happy." It was a really good talk and I'm so excited to see how his testimony is when he gets home. I know that he will learn and grow from the many experiences that he will have in Russia. Kasey also came to church, well in Las Vegas. So we are excited for her. Should be baptized this weekend or the upcoming one.

"Fear not, little flock, the kingdom is yours until I come. Behold, I come quickly. Even so. Amen." (Doctrine & Covenants 35:27)

Elder Leavell

I Have Learned

2011-06-13T13:22:00.001-07:00

Hello Hello. Second to last week writing you all. I'm sure you're tired of listening to me by now. Well you can't. Anyways I can't believe that this whole experience is almost over and that life will soon begin. It's a weird feeling. Think bitter sweet puts justice to the way I feel. I hope that all of you are doing well and that you are seeing changes in your life to come closer to our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. There is nothing that is more important that we can do than to come closer to them, for they are extremely waiting for us to follow and obey. There are so many things that I have learned and I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn so many things. I can't even begin to really understand what is in store for me but I do know that I have been blessed and that the blessings will continue to come. Kasey is going to get baptized on the 25th so I'm super excited for that.

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to share my testimony, along with all the departing missionaries, at the Departing Missionary Fireside. It was so surreal because it didn't even feel like I was going home even though it was about me going home. Haha. It was so cool seeing everyone that I had worked with before, there was many people that were there that I knew so it was a great experience saying hello and talking with all of them again. I don't have my camera but you will all soon have the pictures in hand. While I was there it caused me to think on everything that I have experienced on my mission and everything that I have learned. What made things worse is that we had to condense all of that into 3 to 5 minutes. I had no idea what to say but since I have the opportunity to share all that I thought of with more time I'm going to make a list that somewhat summarizes everything even though there is nothing that could do so. I wish I could just say "I didn't know anything, but now I know something." Here it goes:

I have learned to rely on the Lord in a greater way.
That consistency is key in everything, for that is the only difference between us and the Savior, He has and was consistently choosing the right.
The scriptures are key to understanding the things that our Heavenly Father wants us to do.
The Book of Mormon is true, along with the Bible.
I have learned to cook a lot more than I already knew how.
I have learned how to be patient in Los Angeles traffic.
I have learned to teach by the spirit in a greater way.
I have seen the hand of the Lord in everyone, I know that He is extremely mindful of all His children.
I have learned that baptism is essential to receiving greater blessings that are in store for us.
I have learned that all of us has the same potential, eternal life with our Heavenly Father.
The Lord puts people in our path to answer our prayers.
I have learned to bear the name of the Savior, literally and spiritually.
The temple is a place of refuge.
I have learned that almost all blessings are predicated on our obedience to His commandments.
I have gained a stronger testimony that there are living prophets and apostles on the earth today.
I have learned that the message of the Restoration is a hidden treasure to many because they know not where to find it.
I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the message that we share with the world is that we can see them too.
I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord answers prayers when we have the intent to follow what He says.
I have learned to bargain shop.
I have learned that we sometimes have to give up what is good for things that are better.
There is only one way to be together with our families forever and that is through the temple.
I have learned to not apologize for what we believe for these things are true.
There are many things in this world that are not meant to be understood.
One of the greatest things that I have learned is to forget myself and go to work.
Faith is a verb, its what you do.
One cannot offer a one cent prayer and expect a million dollar answer.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who were already following in His example.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who did not know His example.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who are struggling with addiction.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who are burdened with sin.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who have lost a loved one.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who have seen it change the lives of their peers.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who see nothing more to life than surviving.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who are seeking peace in this life.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who are young.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who are old.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who at first were not humble to ask if there is more to what they already believe.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who hate and despise us.
I have seen the gospel change the lives of many who we don't even know we have made an impact with.
I have learned that it doesn't matter what the cost is the help someone come to the gospel for that is what the Savior would do.
I have learned to knock doors.
I have learned to be rejected.
To find energy for the day when there is none left.
To wake up at 6:30AM and go to bed at 10:30PM.
That there is nothing more important than our relationship with our Father in Heaven.
I have learned to love everyone I see.
"Whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth."
The true enemy of best is good.
That the difference between us and all other churches is that this is the true and living church.
To sustain my leaders.
To be a leader.
I have learned that one must change oneself first to change others.
I have learned to listen to the spirit and obey.
General Conference is a six month guide until the following General Conference.
We were, we are, and will be.
I have learned to love others despite their attitude towards the things that we believe.
We, as missionaries, are representatives of the Lord, Jesus Christ and are the light that cannot be hod.
To not be ashamed of who we are.
To be quietly dignified.
I have learned to plan every minute of the day.
I have learned to come up with 15 minute talks on the spot.
Being faithful to the gospel is not easy.
All the mission rules have a reason behind them, not to confine us. This applies to the commandments of the Lord.
Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven.
The Priesthood, or the authority that we bear, is true.
I have learned to sow.
I have learned that it is greater to give than to receive in a deeper sense.
Everyone is a missionary.
Our Heavenly Father has a plan for us and we determine the outcome.
We are meant to be in complete families with children.
Repentance is so worth it.
The Holy Ghost is my pal.
The things of the world don't measure up to the things of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You are who you think you are.
Desires determine our potential.
I have learned to rely on others and not do it all myself.
That this is the work of the Lord.
The Lord is preparing on a daily basis people who are ready to receive the restored gospel.
I have seen that there is power in fasting.
I have gained a testimony that the California Los Angeles Mission is the mission that our Heavenly Father wanted me to serve in.
I have learned that we don't always get what we want.
Complaining is for losers.
You can't judge the church if you are not willing to give it a full try with real intent.
That there are ministering angels round about us.
Consistently reading the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, will never take us away from the Savior.
The Atonement is real.
To go through countless meetings that one has been through many times.
To attend two wards on each Sabbath for 10 hours.
Be more patient.
Be more humble.
Be more charitable.
Be more diligent.
Be more hopeful.
Be more virtuous.
Be more knowledgeable.
Be more obedient.
Whatever we do as missionaries is not us but it is the Lord's doing.
Out of the many things that I have learned there is one that I'm extremely thankful for and that is that this faith is true. That anyone who follows after the example of the Savior or this faith, for they are the same, will come closer to their Creator.

I'm going to continue making a list and have more for you next week. I love you all so much. I also love the people here so much too. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to serve a mission for the Lord. Words cannot explain how much I have learned, seen, and heard but I do know that the things that I know to be true are true because I have prayed and received an answer from the the Master himself.

Elder Leavell

I'm a Mormon

2011-06-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Hello. This week flew by. I can't believe that I have less than two weeks. AHHH! There are so many things flying through my head but I'm thankful that I'm able to focus on the work of the Lord. I know that there is no greater work and I really don't know what I'm going to do after because I have come to love this work so much. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve. There have been so many miracles that I have seen during these last few weeks. It's insane. I don't want to leave that is for sure. AHHH! Haha.

Anyways we are going to have a baptism this week! Kasey from the UCLA Ward is going to be getting baptized this coming week and so we are excited for her. It has been a great blessing in my life to be able to teach her at the end of my mission. She, whether she knows it or not, has been an answer to my prayers to see if I have become better than what I was before. This past week has been a roller coaster with her. At the beginning of the week she finally told us that she knows that the church is true and has known for awhile. She said that she has come closer to her Heavenly Father through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ even though she was totally against it at first. It's amazing what attitude can do to someone. It can change people's lives and it can enable our Heavenly Father to change our lives. The true test for her came when she told her parents that she was going to be baptized in the church. She, along with many others, has family that isn't supportive of her decision, in fact, is extremely against it and said that they didn't want to speak to her. I'm so thankful for her faith to follow the example of Jesus Christ and for her courage to confront adversity to fulfill her decision. I know that I have seen the blessings come into my life that we teach as missionaries. The Book of Mormon puts it in clearer terms than I can give: "We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.) Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah." I know that on my mission I have gained a stronger witness that the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ through my diligent study of all canonized scripture. I know that through the Holy Ghost that I have received this witness because it is the same way that I have come to know that the Bible and Jesus Christ lives. Through all the experiences I have seen on my mission I have also come to know more of our Savior, Jesus Christ. That He lives. That He is. Through His atonement we all can be saved no matter what we can do. There was one experience that has shown me more of who He is. On Wednesday when we took Kasey to the Visitor Center we had the wonderful priviledge of helping her see more of the prophet Joseph Smith. As we were walking into the Visitor Center there was a teenager who walked away as we came up to the doors. We said hello, he responded but didn't show any interest at all. As we walked in I felt a feeling that is all to familiar, a feeling that I have felt several times on my mission prompting me to go speak to this young man. Something that I have learned when I get these feelings is to answer the call, no matter what. We left Kasey with two members from the ward to watch the movie as we went out to talk with the young man. I'm so thankful that I responded to the call. He ended up not being a member and at first he didn't want to talk to us. It ended had taken the missionary discussions but stopped because he felt like it wasn't for him. His grandpa, who is his guardian, works in the temple every week and he told us that every time he comes back there is always something different about him. His grandma isn't a member, Jewish if I remember correctly, has been a wonderful example of the good in the world. She supports him 100% even though she does not uphold the same beliefs. We continued having a normal conversation and that is when the subject of how I came to know the church. Nothing really came out of the conversation, he didn't seem to have gained a stronger testimony of the church because of our conversation but I do know that because of my willingness to answer to the promptings of the spirit, Heavenly Father was able to touch him with the spirit. There is no way that this church could move forward with the divine spirit from our Heavenly Father. We, as missionaries, would not be guided to the people who have been prepared to receive this gospel. That Joseph Smith was His prophet chosen for these latter days to serve the Master and establish a church that is from the heavens above. Kasey along with millions have felt the reassurance that following the example of the Savior is the straight and narrow. I know that Kasey despite all her difficulties with her family will be blessed beyond belief, not with knowledge that the world says that we claim, but with a greater hope to know that through the atonement of the Savior, Redeemer, Exemplar, the Almighty we can live to return to live with our Heavenly Father and our families. I'm so excited for her that she has come to know that this is something that our Heavenly Father wants for her, instead of us telling her that it is. It is a true miracle that I have been able to teach her because we, along with many, have gone through the same circumstances and am able to be a living example that the blessings are true.

I'm so thankful to be able to have this close of an interaction with the spirit. There are so many things that have been shown to me of the love and dedication that our Heavenly Father has for all of us. I'm grateful that He never gives up. The worth of souls is greater than we can imagine in the eyes of God. He loves all of us and is extremely mindful of us. He leaves the 99 to go after the 1. He wants what is best for us and I'm thankful for the opportunity to be His servant and spread the blessings that He has for the world here in Los Angeles. There has been no greater joy than helping others come unto Christ. I know that this work is divine. The tender mercies of the Lord are shown to us as missionaries daily and I'm grateful. I hope all of you are searching for those, instead of looking at ways of improving others. To change the world we must master ourselves.

Hope all is well. See you soon.
Elder Leavell

A Week to Remember

2011-05-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well I hope that everything is going well with all of you. This week has been amazing. There have been so many cool things that have happened over the past week it's crazy! I'm so thankful to be on my mission and am thankful that these last weeks have been memorable. I don't think that I will ever forget these experiences. I hope that the Lord is blessing all of you equally.

Kasey is doing well. She got her answer this last week. It is awesome. She also came to see Elder Anderson and she shook his hand so it's for sure that she is going to get baptized. Those are the only real updates that I have. We got a lot of people to come to hear Elder Anderson so that was good.

I will always remember from my mission. One of the things that I will always remember happened on Sunday and I hope that you all can feel the spirit that I felt through this email. Yesterday we had the amazing privilege to have Elder Neil L. Anderson come to our ward and share with us his testimony. His son moved into the ward a couple of moths ago and he wanted to come and visit. It was amazing. He acted like nothing important was going on and that it was a normal day. As always we stand next to the door greeting everyone who is coming in and when he came in he acted just like everyone else. He talked to my companion and I for a couple of minutes saying, "we thank you for your service," and "if President Monson were here he would have thanked you personally for your service." He then, while his son talked about me, wrapped his arm around me and that he thanked me for the service I have offered. I will never forget that. His spirit is so strong and because of it, it is almost as if the spirit were telling me what the Savior would have me know. I have gained a stronger testimony of the necessity and the validity that the Lord Jesus Christ calls, in our days, living apostles to be his chosen servants. There is no question that Elder Anderson is one of those men that has been called and set apart to bear that special witness that He lives and that He is. It was a great privilege and tender mercy from the Lord for me. I know that this gospel is true and that there is no greater thing that I could ever want. His wife opened the sacrament meeting by speaking of her testimony of her husband. It was amazing to listen to her perspective. She brought the spirit into the meeting with ease and set up the stage for her husband perfectly. She told of an experience while she was raising her children with humble means and how grateful she is that she knows how important these men are. She said that when her all her children were able to read that she and her husband decided to read a talk from the prophet and apostles in the General Conference Ensign for Family Home Evening for several weeks. Like any good mother she decided to make copies of the articles for every child of hers and went to the copy center and started to make copies. She finally finished and went to the register to be surprised that it would be $50 for all the copies. She said she started crying and debated if it really worth having the words of the living apostles in her home. Thinking about this she concluded that yes it was. It was more important than anything else that she could give her children and she thanked her Heavenly Father for the means that the church is able, to now, offer the Ensign for $1.50 with all the talks from General Conference. She then bore her testimony that she knows that the apostles of today are chosen and that she has been an eye witness of the validity of these chosen men. The spirit came into the room so strong. No wonder the Lord calls both to the calling when they are called. Elder Anderson spoke of faith in the Savior of the world. He started by saying to all the members of the church by stating that "we share faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." He said that out of all the things that we could learn and do in this world there is one thing that we cannot do enough and that is think or speak enough about Christ. Speaking of us he shared the story of the Nephites when they were diligently waiting for the sign that Samuel the Lamanite had promised of the birth of the Savior. He shared what is found in 3 Nephi 1:8 that they prayed "that their faith had not be in vain." He paused and then said boldly, "Brothers and Sisters your faith will not be in vain." He then went on to describe some of the miracles that the Savior performed while here on the earth and all the things that he taught us when he was here. There was one that I really liked that he explained. He spoke of Jairus and how that can compare to our lives. When Jairus came to the Savior and Jesus followed him to help his faith was high. In fact, as high that it could be with the knowledge that he had. But as always there is always a trial of our faith and that came when they arrived to the place where his daughter was and the servants told that she was dead. Obviously Jairus' heart sank and his faith was no where to be found in comparison to where his faith was previously. Then some of the most calming words in all ofscripture arose when Jesus said, "Be not afraid, only believe." Elder Anderson compared that to us when we walk with the Savior so close that when the first instant of trial comes our way that he give up and our faith dwindles once more. He then shared a scripture found in the book of Acts 4:20, "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" and another one found in 2 Nephi 25:26, "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophesies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." After sharing these scriptures and speaking of the importance of remembering the Savior he told us something that surprised me a lot. He said that even him and all members of the church cannot think, pray, and/or talk of him enough. Pondering about that throughout the rest of the day I was thinking about the sacrament and part of the sacramental prayer that we say is that we may always remember him that we may have his spirit to be with us. It is very clear that even the people who profess to be the most spiritual being have still plenty of improvement and I'm grateful that we as members of His church have known that progression during this life is part of the plan that our Heavenly Father has established. There is no way to come to know him than by doing everything that he asks us to do and practice and I'm grateful that we have a clear understanding that faith without works is dead, as the famous scripture says, but faith with works brings about life eternal because we come to know him be word and by action. Speaking of these scriptures, Elder Anderson commented that "we need to make no apology for the unseen because they are true. He lives! He is ever so mindful of all of us." He continued, "As evil grows on the earth there will be an added gift of revelation and the Holy Ghost to those that keep the commandments." Then some of the best lines that he explained, "faith is not a feeling, it is a decision, or choice, to follow." How perfect is that?! Here's another one: "The Book of Mormon will become a stronger anchor in the coming years. You will never loose your faith in Christ if you continually read the Book of Mormon." As a missionary and a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ I know that this principle is true. The Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ and I know with complete certainty that anyone who reads of it's pages with real intent will come to know that his Savior lives. There is great power in that Book and combined with the spirit it "is [the] most powerful resource in conversion" to the Savior. If all of you who are not members of this church could stand in my shoes for one day I promise you that you would recognize that these principles are true and you all would notice, even more, how mindful our Father in Heaven is. It is amazing to me to see how the church started with a handful of members at the beginnings of it's development and now there is very few people in this world who don't know a member of this church and I know it is because we share faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is because of this faith that we are blessed and are able to go about doing the good that we do everyday. I know that for that is my motivation to continue on sharing this message with everyone, despite those who do not agree, and it is because I know that He lives and that his message is a message of hope that he wants everyone to receive. Elder Scott perfectly explained this point by stating, "An axiom we all understand is that you get what you pay for. That is true for spiritual matters as well. You get what you pay for in obedience, in faith in Jesus Christ, in diligent application of the truths you learn." Many people think that the Lord will come down with a sign professing to all in a tumultuous form before we take action. Never in the scriptures have I seen that occur. It is always after they took the initiative to follow the example of the Savior that the person has come to the realization of the blessings that are in store. Elder Anderson suggested that all of us should write down all the things we truthfully believe and to seek improvement on the things that we don't. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to interact with an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ up close and personal for a good amount of time. It is amazing to witness that these men are nothing out of the ordinary, in fact the only difference is that they have been called to be an apostle of the Almighty, to be His special witness that He is. He concluded the sacrament meeting with an apostolic blessing that I will remember and hope to continually apply to the rest of my life:

"As you study the words of Christ, as you think of Him, desire to be His disciple, you will have greater clarity in your faith, happiness in life, confirming sureness in His existence."

It is my prayer that this may be true in all of our lives. That we may receive the greater reward of having the Holy Ghost with us always and that we may be able to respond to it's call, Bo matter what it is. I'm thankful for this gospel. I'm thankful for this sacred opportunity to interact personally with an apostle of our Savior. I have gained astronger testimony that these are men called of God, not because they re better than us but because the Lord has a work for them to do.

Hope all is well. Love you all.
Elder Leavell

There Is Just Not Enough Time

2011-05-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I have less than a month now. I have been trying really hard not to think about it and continue working my hardest but I think it is starting to hit me. Doesn't help that my companion rubs it in sometimes. For example, there is a Dodgers billboard next to the temple (and we are always there) that says "It's time for going home" Elder Hough pointed it out to me when the Zone Leaders and us were driving home from soccer and everyone laughed. Haha. All in good fun for sure. This week was a great week. There is not enough time. We are starting to build the area back up with investigators that really want to investigate the church so we are extremely grateful that the Lord has blessed us with people that have been prepared. Throughout my mission I have really gained a testimony of how mindful our Heavenly Father is of all His children. There are countless miracles that He performs on their behalf, most of which go unnoticed. I wish that everyone would have the opportunity to stand in our shoes just for one day because I know they would notice that this is His work and they would notice the deep love that He has for everyone. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve as His missionary, His representative here in Los Angeles. So the best news of the week is that we have a baptismal date! I'm so excited! It's been awhile since the area has seen one but we are extremely hopeful that we will have at least one baptism at the end of this transfer. Kasey set a baptismal date of the 19th of June and it's amazing to see how different she is. It definitely wasn't us but it was the Lord who worked with her personally that has made this mighty change. We had a wonderful lesson with her after dinner with them and it was awesome to see how the spirit was working with her. We asked her straight up what we be holding her back from doing the things that the Lord would have her do and she started crying. So we left the restaurant and went to the temple, so it would be a more private setting, and she told us everything. She said that she was first, scared for her salvation because she wants to first make sure that this is the right thing, have that gut feeling that what she is doing is right, second, her family because they are strong Lutherans, and third, scared of what people would say because she is dating Scott who is a member of the church. What is amazing to me is to see her courage to continue with this. She said that if she felt that this was, without a shadow of doubt, the truth that she would do whatever it takes to follow it because it would be from the Lord. I'm so glad that she has been humbled by the Lord to at least listen to what the Lord has to offer. Of course, the decision will be hers and we don't have anything to do with it. All we do is invite others to live the principles of the restored gospel and to pray if these things are true. We are really excited for her and are excited to see how much her faith grows in the coming weeks.

Kasey reminds me of something that I learned at the Santa Monica Stake Conference that we had this past weekend. One of the counselors of the Stake Presidency spoke of when Nephi built the boat and how burdensome his brothers were when he told them that he was commanded of the Lord. He said that when we read of the account of Nephi that he saw the ship a little differently, he saw the ship as how the Lord was building up the people of God and as a way to provide them with a stronger faith in him. He then read 1 Nephi 18:1-4 as follows: "And it came to pass that they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work...of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work (with the people). Now I, Nephi, did not work the (people) after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the (people) after the manner of men; but I did build (them) after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men. And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things. And it came to pass that after I had finished..., according to the word of the Lord, my brethren beheld that it was good, and that the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine; wherefore, they did humble themselves again before the Lord." He continued to relay a message of how the Lord gives up daily experiences that we can choose to obey or not but that if we obey to the humble commands of the Lord we will be blessed to be an example to others. He said notice how after they finished according to the way the Lord wanted them to finish that the brothers of Nephi saw that it was good and did humble themselves. He continued, notice how Nephi went to the mount, which we know to be the temple, "oft" and how he prayed "oft" and the Lord showed him "great things" that pertained to the building up of the ship, or in our case the people. He continued to share a story of how he went with the Young Men in his ward to San Clemente Island for a Scouting trip and he found how the Lord provides means to build up the kingdom. He said he was a Bishop at the time and while they were on the island all the Bishops went out to examine the grounds to figure out where they were going to live. While looking for a spot to camp they found a building with two men from the Army sitting next to building smoking and he didn't say directly, but implied that they were drinking as well. He found a pay phone and decided to call his wife to tell her that they were fine and all is well. the pay phone didn't work and they had found a place to camp so they all started walking back to where the Young Men were. While they were leaving one of the men asked who they were with and he responded. After some curious questions, the man said that he would talk him up the hill to another pay phone so he could call. He kept insisting to take him but he didn't feel comfortable going with them. reluctantly he got in the car and they were on their way. The same man asked him what church he was with and he said from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He paused. He then asked another question, what is your role in the Church? He responded a Bishop. He paused again. They finally got up to the top of the hill and the guy took him inside and asked if he talk with him privately. He agreed to discover that this man from the military was a member of the Church who had lost his way for a very long time. He relayed to him that that morning he had prayed one of the most fervent prayers that he every gave asking Heavenly Father if He would send a Bishop to him so that he could receive counsel to know what actions he should take to change. Tears began to come down and he they had a wonderful conversation discussing and counseling on how he could do better. After the conversation they parted ways and he never heard from him but he was thankful that he knew the ways that our Heavenly Father has established to build up His children. He said that when we read the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, we will receive the promise that Nephi received and will be able to be a light in this world that cannot be hid, an example that everyone will see that the "workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine" and many will humble themselves before the Lord to come to accept this restored gospel.

Some unfortunate news. One of the Sisters got diagnosed with cancer again. She kicked it (think that is the term) a couple of months ago but it has come back. If you could all keep her in your prayers that would be great. She is an amazing sister and is a great example to many. In the time that I have been here she has strengthened my faith and has helped me look for the positives in life. Anyways, we are making some good progress with AnneMarie, she will probably be coming to church this next week so that is exciting news. Also the Brands said they would be coming in the coming weeks. I'm so excited. Unfortunately, Ruth asked us not come by for another month because she is really pregnant and she is always really tired. The ward said that they would continue stopping by and sending emails etc. The ward is awesome.

Well I hope all of you are doing great and are seeing the choicest blessings. I love you all.
Elder Leavell

Couldn't Ask for Anything More

2011-05-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

This time during transfers I was worried like no other. I didn't want to leave Malibu and I was praying, wishing, and doing everything I could so that the Lord would side with me on this one. Haha. I'm so happy and thankful that he sided with me and gave me what I wanted. Malibu till the end! WOO HOO! Anyways there was a change. I got a new companion, Elder Hough, and I'll have the opportunity to greenie break him. It's a little different being with a companion so young since the last few have been just as old as I am. I still can't believe that I have about a month left. I don't ever want to leave, there is nothing that I would rather be doing. There is not enough time on this mission. I feel like I still have a ton to do. I hope that all of you are doing well.

This week has been a week of interesting experiences. From blessings to celebrities (sort of). I'll first start off with Wednesday. Got off to a good start on Wednesday and made a few contacts with some less actives that we haven't been able to get a hold of. Brother Hunt is now back on the radar, he fell away from us for a little but we wouldn't let him off the hook that easy haha. He is doing well. Been really busy with all the construction projects that his company is working on but we have an appointment with him tomorrow so we will see how he is doing. After that we went to go visit Ruth. She is doing well. I wish I could know exactly what is holding her back from doing the things that she needs to be doing, that "magic lesson" that helps motivate her to come to church but I have the feeling that it will never come because she hasn't been made humble yet. We watched the talk from President Uchtdorf "Of Things That Matter Most." She liked it and enjoyed thinking of things that would help her put her priorities straight. She acts like a Mormon, it's funny. Anyways after that we were asked to give a blessing to someone who was going to die at the UCLA hospital along with the family members. It was an awkward message. Never given a blessing to someone who was going to die that day so I was getting pretty nervous on the way there. Felt terrible. Traffic was like no other. Either way it was bad going on the freeway and going on Sunset. When we got there the nurses asked us who we were there to visit and when we told them they said that we should call the people that called us. We were a little confused but did as they told us but as we were leaving the curtain partially opened in the room and we caught a glimpse and there was a white sheet over the person. We got there too late. I wish there was something that we could have done, somehow gotten there before she had passed. The family members had left. So we called the office where we got the message to go give a blessing and the sisters said, "Oh sorry. They called about 5 minutes ago and told us that they had passed away." I feel terrible. I hope that the family has received some comfort through reading the scriptures or have received help in some other way. I wish there was something that I could do. Anyways this last week we had the opportunity to meet with the Brands and they are doing great. They are Jewish converts of about 15 years and they have been less active for the more part of those years. The husband is a very intellectual guy and likes to feel that he is doing everything to obtain a "release" as he says or in our terms spiritual confidence. There are so many things that could be taught throughout that lesson but I love the opportunity to listen to the spirit. Because he likes to over analyze things and has somewhat of a distorted idea of who God is and how the plan of salvation works, it forces us, especially me, to practice listening and waiting during to lesson to have the spirit guide. It is awesome. There is no way that answering all his questions with the principles of the gospel would help him come closer because he always seems to have an answer for everything. But what we have done, is wait, thinking of what we are going to say, and respond with another question that teaches a principle. I'm so thankful that the spirit is always with us so that we can listen to it's promptings so that we can help further the work of the Lord. There is nothing better than for the spirit to teach while the children of our Heavenly Father study, ponder, and pray about the gospel that he has established here on the earth. I know that our Heavenly Father has set up a way for us to receive spiritual truth through various means because He knows that there are various means that the adversary uses on us daily. I'm so thankful for prophets,for the scriptures, and more importantly the spirit because there is no way that I would be able to discern what is right and what is wrong the way that I do without those ways of communication with my Father in Heaven. On Friday we were asked to go to the UCLA hospital to give another blessing to a person who was in the ICU. I was a little more nervous because that is where the last person was when she passed away. We got there and thankfully the person was still alive. Never thought I would ever say that haha. The only thing was that there was tubes and screens all over him and so I was a little nervous to give the blessing. But we did it anyway. The nurses said that it would be fine. Right when we got done the nurse at the front desk said that the daughter had called and so the nurse inside the room so we asked her if we could talk with her after she got done. We didn't talk with her but the nurse told us that apparently we were not supposed to do it. The nurse said that it was probably the other sibling none the less it made things a little awkward. Enough with the downers haha. We had an awesome miracle happen to us this week! Casey Brown came back and she is prepared! She came to a Friday Forum at the UCLA Institute where Kurby from all the Mormon movies. She enjoyed it and it was awesome to see her. We talked for about half an hour and she seemed to be more open. Didn't think of anything because I didn't push the gospel subject. After we gave the second blessing (the one with all the tubes) we walked back and saw them walking out of the store. We invited her to the baptism that would be happening in the ward on Saturday and she said, "Oh yeah. I had already planned on going to that." To get her to come to a baptism a couple of months ago would have been trying to drag a cat into the water. I was so surprised and excited that she would be going to the baptism. At the baptism, Megan gave her testimony (the person who was getting baptized) after she got baptized and it was perfect. She told everyone that it wasn't until she let her walls down and humbled herself that that was when she received her answer. She told all the missionaries that were there sorry for being a hard investigator, jokingly of course, and sorry for bashing with them and giving them a hard of time. She laughed. She said that she was so happy that she made the decision to do the things that the missionaries had always asked her to do but with a sincere heart. Scott told us on Sunday, when Casey came to church, that she came to talk with Megan because he said that she felt like Megan was talking directly to her. I'm so thankful that the Lord is preparing people for us on a daily basis. I'm so thankful that he provides and taht we don't have to worry. I know that this is his work, the saving of all the children of our Heavenly Father. There is no question that this is his work. If only you could be in the same shoes as one of us you would notice that it is not us convincing but it is as Joseph Smith once said, “I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.”

I love you all and am so thankful for all of you. Hope all is well. I will see you all soon enough! Stop counting! Haha.

Elder Leavell

The Vargas family. lived with them in downtown.
Tru (one of Brother Anderson's kids)

Blessing after Blessing even Mothers

2011-05-09T15:11:00.001-07:00

This past week has been amazing. We have been extremely blessed, more than we can even handle. Thank you so much for your prayers on our behalf for the work of the Lord. We have received about 20 referrrals over the past two weeks and that is more than quadruple of the number that the area has seen in many months. It is awesome to see how the Lord has blessed us through our diligent efforts to expand His loving hand towards the children of our Father in Heaven. I can't believe how blessed we have are. We had the opportunity to teach Jason again. He is doing better from what we can observe. It is amazing to see how the Lord blesses His children through their obedience. As he has read his scriptures and been more diligent in his prayers it never gets old to see how countenances change. It's amazing to see how the light can come to those who are truly seeking it. If only you could be in my shoes for a day. If only anyone could be in my shoes for a day. I know if anyone has gone about doing His work will know and will be able to bear witness that this is the work of the Lord. There is no way that this couldn't be for it bears good and Satan could not do things. I know it and I'm so thankful that God knows it too. Anyways we had the wonderful opportunity to go to two FHEs with the UCLA Ward. They were both really awesome and really spiritual. We went to the Institute for one on Monday and have tried to continue to build trust with them. Then for the second one it was with the entire ward. It was awesome. Had a great lesson by Bishop Davis and had some fun games. We got two referrals from them so it was great. We then visited some Chinese referrals at Pepperdine and one of them accepted a baptismal date. This week has been great!

Out of the many lessons that I have learned from my Mom, there is one in particular that I'm extremely thankful for, to always keep my promises. I cannot remember a specific moment where my Mom taught me this great and powerful lesson but I do know that I was taught to do such. As I was thinking about this I thought about all the Mothers that are sharing the experience of sharing their child with the world and how difficult it is for many. This lead me to think of a Mother in the scriptures who has shown the world the importance of keeping promises no matter what. We learn from the Old Testament of a woman named Hannah, a righteous woman who sought after one thing in her life: to have a son, a son who she could teach to change the world. As the years went by, after relentless prayers still being barren she found herself at the bottom where no person could be found, without a child and without hope for the thing that she desired most. In her humble state she falls to her knees, shedding tears of sorrow to offer her last petition in the tabernacle of the Lord. Feeling all to familiar she changes her plea to compromise that would change the history of the world. She covenants that if her Father in Heaven would grant her the one wish of a baby boy she would give him up to the very service she was partaking of. As she offered this solemn covenants with her loving Father a priest in the tabernacle, hearing her petition, was guided to her. He didn't know what for, he didn't know who he needed to speak to but he answered the call, the call to act. Continuing her prayer, the man Eli asks her what prayer she was uttering. She answered, "I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit... But have poured out my soul before the Lord." Discerning the intent of this worthy patron the Father in the Heavens answered her prayers through Eli, who said, "Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him." Her countenance changed with the new hope in life she traveled home to her dear husband who supported her plea for all these years. Time would tell if she would remember the Lord. The time came for her to conceive the pearl of great price, must rejoicing was offered on her behalf, preparations made for the new arrival, hoping the next minute would be the last minute of waiting. Overall they were grateful for the tender mercy that the had granted. At last the child was born. The preparations were set in place, the family gathered to discover this baby boy who would be named in the heavens as Samuel, for the Lord had remembered her prayer. Once again much celebration and rejoicing occurred bringing great joy to the new Mother and Father. The moral of the story could be patience is the greatest virtue of them all, humility to the will of the Lord brings life's choicest blessings, or even that prayer is the answer to all of our trials that may be set before us, but that would be short of the lesson that the Master would have us learn. Through those first blissful months of being a new Mother our Heavenly Father was waiting to see if she would answer the covenant that they made to bring this prophesied child into being. The months moved on, as if the were dragged on and on for her son and even those who watched the baby boy grow up, but for Hannah these months were nothing but the blink of an eye. Samuel came to the age of entering into the service of the Lord, he was accountable, but more importantly Hannah became accountable. Would she rise up and fulfill her covenant? Would she give up her dear child to the service of the Lord? Would she even remember? This valiant woman did. Hannah not only gave up her son to the humble service, but went above and beyond by taking him by herself, with three bullocks, flour, and a bottle of wine to the house of the Lord. She went up to Eli giving him the offering and her beloved child. No complaints, no regrets knowing that this was her humble duty to the Lord on High. May I express my gratitude to all the women in this world who do this very act when giving up their child to the service of the Lord. I applaud all of you who through your examples you have taught your children to follow the example of Jesus Christ through righteous doings and obedience to the commandments that He has set and because of this your children have followed after you. There are many kinds of righteous women in this beautiful world but there are none greater than those who make and keep their covenants that they have made with our Heavenly Father. I'm so thankful for all the Mothers who without regret or complaint, suppress their feelings of yearning to see their child, their tears that they cry every night, the empty hole that is in their heart and encourage their young man to be valiant representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ because they know this is their sacred duty and they know this is how they can aide in this work for it is already difficult enough. On this Mother's Day I'm extremely thankful to all these Mother's, who like Hannah, magnify their calling in life to be a Mother and raise their children to be sons and daughters of the Most High God, of which is no greater call and I'm thankful for Mother's who despite their displeasure of the plan of God teach their children to do likewise. You are amazing. You are the "regenerating force in the lives of God's children" as Elder Matthew Cowley once stated. My hope and desire is that all of you continue to do such. Continue obeying the covenants that you have made with your Father in Heaven to sustain the work of the Lord, for all of you, believers or not, are called to this great work. You make more of an impact than you can imagine and I pray that it is an impact that leads to good.

Elder Leavell

Flash from The Past

2011-05-02T13:45:00.001-07:00

This week has been great. It is definitely not going to be the same when I get home. I can't imagine my life right now without these awesome experiences that I'm having at least on a weekly basis. There are so many things that I'm grateful for and there are so many things that I have learned. I don't know why I'm talking as if I were leaving tomorrow but still it is something that I have thought about a lot recently. I hope that all of you are doing well and are enjoying the same kind of weather we have been having over here. It's been about 80 everyday and there hasn't been a cloud in the sky. It's awesome. We are definitely spoiled in this mission.

Since I had the opportunity to talk with all of you on Wednesday there hasn't been a that has happened. We had a lot of meetings over this last week and so we didn't have the normal amount of time that we have in our area, since to get into our area it always is a daunting task because of traffic. But one of the meetings in specific was one that I probably will never forget. Elder L. Tom Perry came to our mission to speak to us and the Arcadia mission. I don't know what I was more excited for, whether it was to hear the counsel of an Apostle or it was to see one of my friends that was in the Arcadia mission. It ended up that I was super excited for both and I was so happy afterwards. Elder Stanford, from BYU is in the Arcaida mission and the cool things was that we always joked that we would see each other one of these days on our mission because we are so close of each other. Anyways Elder Clayton and Elder Perry came to speak to us and it was awesome. It was more of a pep talk now that I think of it. Elder Clayton spoke of how language study was something that we should always be working on even if we are native in the language (someone must have heard your prayers Mom). He counseled us that if we do our language study everyday we will be able to feel of the spirit more and we will become a better instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father. I'm excited to study a little more in Spanish since I'm not in a Spanish area. Onto the part that was my favorite: Elder Perry. He told of some amazing stories that he was heard and some experiences that he has had but they all had one thing in common: they spoke of becoming. There is one experiences that I would like to share with you. He said that when he was a missionary like us that he didn't have all the MTC training or preparation that we receive when we go on our mission, in fact, back in the day they had a house, where the Church Offices are, where all the missionaries would come for 5 days and receive training to be a missionary. He said, chuckling, that wasn't a very effective way so the Church changed the process of how we got trained. After the 5 days of training they were flown to their designated areas and started the work right away. No orientation, no dinner with the President, nothing. He said that when he got paired up with his companion that he was excited to be with a missionary full of experience, full of wisdom on how to help the people. He got the exact opposite. His trainer was 3 weeks into his mission. He laughed. They went to get some dry cleaning done and pick up some groceries and afterwords went straight to work. As they found the area that they want to knock doors in, they came upon their first door. Elder Perry asked, "what do we do now?" His trainer responded, "I don't know. I have never done this before." We all started laughing, he did too. He said that there has been much change to how missionary work is done but he said one thing has not and that is the message of what we are to become. It's awesome to see how simple to gospel is. That through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we can come to know through study, prayer, and church attendance, the fruit that He has to offer. He also shared the story of Martin Harris. It was awesome to hear that it from his perspective. He said that his Dad always took all the kids for the day one day of the week on a spiritual excursion where one time he went to a graveyard and found the headstone of Martin Harris. His Dad asked the graveyard worker to come over and tell his kids a story. It ended up being that of Martin Harris. I wish I could get you all the story but I'm sure it's on LDS.org under Martin Harris. It's awesome. I'm so thankful that I'm a part of this Church. I think every week as I have been diligent in reading and praying about everything I have gained a stronger testimony of the things we believe. There is no way to explain how I know but I do know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on the earth, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah. Granted, there are many other churches that bring good into the world and bring light to all but I feel awful because they are missing out.

The one lesson that I would like to share with you that I found amazing was the one we had with Sister Montgomery. She is a nonmember who is married to a member who is coming back to the Church. She grew up in the United Church of Christ, at least that is what it is called now, and has a strong testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. We talked for awhile trying to get to know her and what she believes and she told of us of something that reminded me of the Articles of Faith. She said that she wished she knew exactly what her church believes. It was a great blessing to be able to provide that for what we believe. We went over it with her and she loved it. She said that she wished every church had that. We then talked her about prophets and how that was the dividing line between us and her and explained that we believe that He literally speaks still through a prophet just as in times of old. That lead into the Book of Mormon. She said that she hadn't read it before but had seen her husband pick it up recently more often. We commited her to read the Book of Mormon and we have a follow up lesson with her this coming week. It was a miracle to find her and have her prepared to listen to what the Lord has to offer.

We also had the privilege of helping with the Mormon Helping Hands activity that the stakes here in Los Angeles planned. We planted a palm tree for it and it was good work out haha. We had the worst place to dig a hole. There were huge pieces of rock that we had to dig around and then pull out. We were the last ones to plant the palm tree and we felt like we were retarded haha. That was until everyone saw everything that we pulled out of the hole. It was a good time being in our yellow shirts. It was awesome to see about 200 yellow shirts along the beach planting trees and palms along the board walk. I know it will make a difference in the community and make the place look better. Plus it was awesome to see how people would stop and look at what we were doing. I think some of them came and joined us, not sure though. We got done in about 2 hours and I think as a whole we planted about 100 plants. This is an on going effort that is going on in Santa Monica but there were projects done by the members all over Los Angeles so there thousands of members doing work around the community. Got to love the church. There are so many things that I'm thankful for and that is one of them. The Church definitely encourages planned forms of service. There are countless reasons why but I think that the most important one is that the Lord would do it and we are His disciples. I love you all and am thankful for all of you. I hope all is well and hope to hear from you soon. Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are mothers. You make a greater impact on the world than you imagine. I know that if it wasn't for my Mom who raised me the way she did that I would not be here on a mission. So thanks for everything that you have done, everything that you are doing, and everything that you will do for those whom you serve. You're the best!

Elder Leavell

Happy Easter

2011-04-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

I'm so thankful to be on a mission. We just got done with the temple today and it was one of the best sessions that I have been in. Don't know what was the difference because it is the same but it has made me so thankful for all the things that I have been blessed with. There was this old little lady in a wheel chair and to see her struggle lifting her arm (had to lift it up with her other arm) was something that I don't think I will forget. It's cool how the Lord answers our prayers and how he usually answers them through others so that it can cause many to strive for charity to fulfill the needs of His children. There is nothing like a tender mercy from the Lord. I'm so thankful that, we as missionaries, can be those tender mercy messengers to the world wherever we are serving. I hope that you all are striving to do the same and look for the opportunities to serve another person. When we look at others the way that our Heavenly Father does, everything changes and it makes the world look a lot better. I hope all of you are doing well and are safe and sound.

On Tuesday I went with Elder Thiriot on splits and it was an awesome time talking with him again about the times we have served together. Granted we see each other every day but it was a little different when we were together for the day. We had an awesome lesson with the Odians and it was a different lesson. That morning she called me and asked if we could go on a hike and talk on the way up and down. It was funny because I didn't know what to say since I didn't even know if we could do that but I told her we would think about it. When we got there, she was all ready and her kids were all dressed up ready to go on the hike so we went up part of the hill that was behind her house and talked about the things that she believed and why she believed what she believed. It was a good conversation I think that ended up being pretty effective since it made a comfortable environment for her. It was cool to hear some of her beliefs. I have noticed here in Malibu that most of the people who don't go to church still have some sort of spirituality and try to be at peace at oneself, which usually ends up being somewhere in nature. She seemed to have a lot of answers to the questions that we asked her but one of them stumped her. She said that the purpose of her life was to be at peace and be a good person. We then asked why? what would be the point of that if it doesn't go anywhere? She thought about it for awhile and she that is something that I have never thought about. We then went on to explain some of the teachings that the Savior taught when he was over in Israel saying that of all the things that he taught he taught two things that we should remember: first, how we should be as a person and second, he taught us why we should be like Him. After talking about those things she was a ton more humble and willing to commit to have us over to teach her and her family what we know to be true because she feels that it would be extremely important for them to be involved in a religious organization. I'm so thankful that we were able to ask questions that inspire thought and that we were lead by the spirit to discern and to ask questions that would cause her to change her view on what we do and why we do it. I can't think of any better way to teach than by the spirit, for there is none. Later that day we had a good time trying to contact some less actives that are in the area and it was great to see some of the area that I haven't seen in awhile. We had dinner with the Andersons that night and it went great. They made us Paella (sorry Mom & Dad I don't know how to spell it) and it was awesome. You could tell that she put in a lot of time and effort to prepare that meal for us. There house is so cool. It's on the beach and so we got to see the beach AND the water up front and personal. Didn't touch it but we almost could which was awesome. But beside them being able to afford a house like that it was awesome to see how humble they were and how devoted they were to their family. I can't seem to get beside the fact that almost all of them are so humble. They would do anything for anyone. It is awesome. Sister Anderson is from Las Vegas and knows a bunch of people for the stake so it was good to talk about them. Their kids were awesome too. I forgot my camera but I put up some pictures next week. Splits day was an awesome day. We did our weekly service at the Retirement home and I had the opportunity to push a lady named Lorane. She is famous amongst the missionaries because she is super nice and fun to be around, plus she buys you a pastry whether you like it or not. Haha. Even the people know at the pastry stand that if we don't accept her gift that she gets mad haha. It was really delicious if I might add. Anyways it is always a pleasure to push them and to talk with them. It's cool to see the peoples reaction too. It's either, what are you doing? or wow. On Saturday we had the opportunity to see Josh Eastland's baptism, one of the Eastland kids. I think that is one of the best parts that is outside of the temple. It's so awesome to see how children, despite their young age, are humble and filled with the spirit to choose what is right. The best part is seeing how excited they are. Even the kids who aren't old enough almost jumped in the font with Josh haha. It was awesome. They had a little luncheon afterwards at their home and it was good to talk to some of the members of the ward and meet some new people who aren't members of the Church. Then Easter Sunday. It was awesome. I'm so thankful that we get to go to two wards every Sunday. It was awesome to feel of the spirit, especially on this Easter Sunday. At the Pacific Palisades Ward the Andersons gave talks and they were awesome. Plus the Primary sang a couple of songs and once again the spirit rushes into the room. Works like a charm. Recently, I have been writing down some quotes that I really like from what people say. It helps me focus more. Anyways Brother Anderson had a good one, hopefully I can give some background otherwise it probably won't make too much sense. He told of a time when he went down to Haiti with a medical team to help those who couldn't afford medical care. He said that it was an experience that he would never forget even though he said that he had been witnessing similar circumstances on a daily basis. He said after a long day of work trying to help everyone, they began to drive home, exhausted and while they were driving they saw a man pushing a wheelbarrow with a little girl inside. They stopped the car and saw that the little girl had been hurt. So they all got out and drove them back the long distance to the hospital. He said that the little girl had been hurt by a brick that fell on her arm and crushed the bone. Fortunately they were able to save her life, despite the loss of blood but they were not able to save the arm. Then the experience that he will never forget. Brother Anderson went to talk with the Father of the girl and he said that the Father said, "If I could only take her pain away." Brother Anderson in his talk explained that happened to our Heavenly Father when His only Begotten was suffering the atonement for all of us. He further explained that God wasn't able to take the pain away from His Son but he was able to take the pain away from us, just as the girl couldn't save her arm and we should take great hope in that. I definitely won't forget that story. The best part about it is that in the UCLA Ward we also had a great line that came from Brother Lattin, he said, "The message of the resurrection is the message of the restoration. That He lives and still speaks to us today." Both of those lines go hand in hand. I know that Jesus Christ suffered for our sins and that our Heavenly Father called Him to bare that burden for us. I'm so thankful that we know that we can return to live with them through the Savior's atoning sacrifice, that we can be made whole, having a perfected body that can last the eternities. There is great joy to be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That because of the restoration we know for a fact that we will all be resurrected and that the pain is taken away from us. The only thing that we need to do is be humble and follow the Savior in His footsteps. They are not ours but they are His. I'm so thankful that we as His representatives are able to carry this glad message to everyone and were able to share the Easter message with many and it is always amazing to see how the light of Christ comes into them to witness to them that these things are true.

Out of all the things that in the world, there is one thing that I hold most dear and that is my testimony that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live so much so that they talk to us just as they did in times past. That they appeared to the prophet Joseph Smith in the grove and professed to him the things that they would have us do. I know that as we are humble and earnestly seek Him that we will find Him. That is the purpose of the message of the restoration. It is another witness that He lives. I'm so thankful that I was able and humble enough to receive it and now I'm so thankful that I'm able to share the same gift that I have received with all. As I invite all the people I come in contact here in Los Angeles to read the Book of Mormon, I do so with all of you. May you pray for a humble heart and contrite spirit to listen to the promptings of the spirit and, in turn, pray to know that these things are true. I know they are and I'm thankful that I know they are. I love you all and wish you the best. May the Lord bless you and guide all of you in the way that He would wish to have you follow. I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter and had a great time visiting with family and friends.

Elder Leavell

Oh and Elder Hodell came back to visit. He is here for another week. I didn't know how to react haha. He came over to the Kellers for Easter dinner with us. It was awesome getting to know his family and seeing him again.

Beach Pictures

2011-04-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

Stories Galour

2011-04-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hello hello. It's been a week with a bunch of crazy events that have happened one day after the next. What's even more crazy is how another week has flown by. The weeks are getting faster and faster every time. I hope all of you are doing well and are enjoying what you are doing. It's great being here on the mission and serving others, there is truly no other thing that brings this much joy even though it is a lot of work. I'm glad that I decided to go on a mission and help others come unto Christ and help them build a relationship with Him to increase their joy.

We met a new family this last week, the Odians. They are a part member family that have been taught for awhile and have gone through a bunch of missionaries. Turns out that the husband is the member and has always been less active, the wife said "jack" but less active sounds better, more hopeful I would say. They like the church but because the wife nor the kids have grown up as a church-going people they have never felt or had the desire to go to Church. We had a nice conversation trying to get to know them and it was good seeing how the gospel has blessed them with a light that they probably don't see. They love tennis and the outdoors so Malibu is perfect for them haha. Anyways we talked about prayer and how that is the driving force that leads the members to do what they do. They liked the idea of receiving an answer through their prayer and said to come back the following week. Way excited to teach them and see their faith grow. Hopefully they will progress and be able to partake of all the blessings of the gospel and see their lives change. There is really nothing greater than being obedient and, in turn, being blessed. The funny thing is that you would think that is the opposite but it totally is not. Love the scripture that takes about the first being last and the last being first. And to the society today that seems to be contrary. But it is so true. Being selfless, as a missionary, has brought more joy into my life despite I do nothing for me. It is the best cure for anything. I wish I could have discovered that at the beginning of my mission when most missionaries struggle because they are out of the norm. But I'm glad I have noticed it now. We also visited with Ruth and had a good time with her. We had a good lesson on how agency is based upon knowledge. Related it to the gospel in the sense that one of these days she is going to have to teach her children the same things that the church stands for and hopefully it wouldn't be too late for her. Don't know how she felt about the lesson but I know that it made her think about how she wants to raise her children and who she wants them to become. I'm so thankful for my parents and having them take me to church those countless times that I didn't want to go. There are true principles in gospel living and those principles are only founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ. After all He is the only perfect person to walk to earth, I know of that because I know that as I have strived to follow His footsteps that it has brought forth many blessings that are good. There are so many good things in the world we just got to know where to find them. Chino also came back this last week. So it was good meeting with him on Sunday. Oh and I almost forgot that we met up with the Aldens this last week. It is always fun to meet up with them. They are those kind of people who are down to earth and help you relax somehow. Brother Alden told us a story about fireworks when he was younger. He said that when we was younger he shot off some bottle rockets with his friends up in the air, not really thinking about the consequences of doing that. Now the consequence in this case is definitely not one that you would expect in any case haha. He said that there were bats in his city and one time he shot one up in the air and the bat swooped down and caught it thinking that it was a bug. Of course, the bottle rocket blew up and the bat came spiraling down dead. I think that this is one of those stories that you have to hear but it was funny haha. He invited us to share that story with someone and relate it to the gospel. Haven't had the chance to but I'm determined. There are so many things that can relate to the gospel in that story. If any of you have any ideas let me know I would love to hear them!

As a pre-disclosure, I'm OK, everything is OK and so there is nothing to worry about. On Tuesday we went to the Odian's house, a part member family that the Bishop asked us to go visit. On our way there we saw two horses walk out of a driveway and we kept looking to see if there was someone following them. Turns out that there was no one home and the horses got loose. Dad I think they were quarter horses but I could be wrong, you probably would have liked to see them. Anyways since a bunch of members over here in Malibu have some horses I knew that two horses by themselves is not a good thing so we called some members that lived down the street and they literally dropped everything (he was on the phone for a job interview) and came to help us with the horses. Funny thing was that by the time they had gotten there, which couldn't have been more than 3 minutes, 3 or 4 cars pulled up asking us who's horses they were and if everything was OK. Luckily we saw what driveway they came from and got them put back to where they belong. The cool thing was that they were really tame and with my "horse training" that I learned from the members I approached them calmly and got something to tie around their neck and they were perfectly fine with it. Feel a great sense of accomplishment if I saw so myself. Haha. Of course this would only happen in Malibu but I still feel blessed for the opportunity to serve in various way on my mission. Alright the other thing was pretty scary, not really, just something that you don't necessarily want to happen, especially when you want to go home because you are tired. As we were driving down our road to get to our apartment we saw a bunch of cop cars blocking the way with their cars and tap and it so happened to be in front of our apartment. We tried to go the back way and still they had it blocked off so we were stranded trying to figure out what we were going to do for the night. Turns out that in the apartment right next to us (this is everything that the neighbours have told us; didn't want to know too much but they told us none the less), an ex-boyfriend of a girl who recently moved in got way mad because she had a new boyfriend in a new apartment. He got mad and started attacking the girl with a knife. The boyfriend ran off to go and try to get some help but the neighbour beat him to it. She called the police and the police came over and shot him since he didn't put the weapon down. Sad story. We don't really know what happened to the girl, we think that she is in the hospital and so yeah. Bummer. They eventually let us into our apartments, probably because they figured out who we were and weren't going to do anything that would do any harm to the crime scene. None the less, it was an eventful night with a lot of noise and lights the entire night. No worries everything is OK. I don't live in the ghetto actually, every member that knows where we live think that is a good area to live in. Just a freak event in the area.

Well sorry for the short email. Always busy. Hope all is well. Love you so much and miss you too. Peace

Elder Leavell

Let The Magic Begin

2011-04-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hello hello everyone. It's been a great week over here in the Boo. Transfers were the other day and I'm staying in Malibu for another transfer so it should be another great transfer. There are so many things that I'm excited for and this weekend was one of those things that I can't wait for. General Conference was great! I learned so much from everyone who spoke and the messages were amazing and very applicable to the times we live in now. Service is one of the main things that they focused on and how true is the principle of service in the healing process of loss and distress. I hope that you all enjoyed conference as much as I did and if you didn't have the opportunity to hear it I would highly recommend that you watch it. There is no better counsel that we can receive and we are so very blessed to be able to hear it.

There were some interesting things that happened this week and the cool thing is that they aren't very common. Because Elder Hodell went home this last week I didn't have a companion, so I had the opportunity to stay at the mission home all day with Elder Kenny. It was funny because every time I left to go do something I told Elder Hodell "well it was fun" and then I saw him again later on in the day. Probably did that about 5 times so it was nice. It was also nice being with all the missionaries that were going home and seeing how very close the same will happen to me. I can't believe that I have 11 weeks left! That is crazy. I for sure don't want to go home yet and I am not looking forward to it. None the less it was a good experience seeing how the mission has changed them from when I first met them. Being at the mission home also made me notice one thing: work is a pleasure. Since I didn't have anything to do and sat there all day it made me realize how blessed I am to work out in the field and not be stuck in an office. Haha. I remember at the beginning of my mission I was praying to be put in the office so that I wouldn't be out in the field in the rain, heat, and all those hard things; which aren't really hard at all. We hung out at the Visitor Center most of the day and as people walked I wanted to give them a tour and talk to them. The Sisters said that I could never get a referral from them and/or they would think that I was awkward or something I don't know so I took the challenge of giving a tour with the hope of getting a referral from someone. That is where the magic of being an Elder comes in. This family came in, trying to spend some time before going into a session at the temple one of which had served a mission. The mom didn't really want to talk, was more interested in the video clips that were all over the place, but the daughter and I got talking about her mission and all the cool experiences that she had over in Thailand. It was cool seeing how the mission blessed her life and the lives of all the people that she served. After awhile, after asking some questions to the mom, the mom started getting in on the conversation and seemed to be having a good time. At this point all the Sisters were laughing as they watched me work my magic and so I was a little more determined to show them that Elders can work in the Visitor Center. The amazing thing was that I got a referral. After sharing some experiences that I have had out in the field and explaining to them how important it was for the recent converts to receive the gospel they gave me a referral for one of their neighbours. I was so happy to know that the spirit guided the conversation in such a way that it would compel someone to take a huge leap of faith with a friendship of theirs and to express their love for them by giving the missionaries a referral. Whether or not the people would accept the missionaries is another story but I know that because of the effort they showed, in giving a referral, they will be blessed. So I was a Elder Visitor Center missionary for the day and it ended up being a cool day. The next day Elder Wilcox came in as my new companion. He is from Florida and is pretty different from Elder Hodell but I have hopes that it will still be a good transfer. Anyways we didn't get too much done during the week because of meetings and preparations for the zone but it was still a good week. We visited Ruth and had a great lesson with her about the baptismal covenant. We went over it with her and explained the promises that she made at baptism. It was amazing to see how her countenance began to glow as we explained the promises that she made would bring her certain blessings. It was almost as if she had seen the light at the end of the tunnel but I don't think that she took it that way. As we invited her to watch General Conference she gave the usual response that she would try. After the lesson it made me think of how personal revelation works, or in other words how we receive answers to our prayers. Over my mission I have learned that we must do everything that we can, meaning studying, praying, fasting, the usual church answers and make the decision. THEN we ask if that is OK with the intent of following through with the decision we have made. It is so hard for me because I hate thinking that what I might do is wrong and worrying if it will affect someone else but that is how the Lord works. I've thought about most of the recent converts that I have seen on my mission have come because they made the decision to be baptized and after they make the decision they receive the wonderful confirmation from our Heavenly Father. It was certainly the case with me. The main dilemma with this is that it relinquishes control and puts us in a vulnerable place where most are not comfortable but it also puts us in a position where we can receive the most blessings. We also had the opportunity to talk with some less actives that we hadn't been able to contact so we are hopeful that we will be able to find some new people to teach.

The General Conference was amazing. It never ceases to surprise me how inspired they are in giving counsel for our times. Despite a lot of people going through some difficult times the message of service is the perfect remedy for that. I have found that to be true on my mission. When we get down that there are not a lot of people to teach or we go through some difficult times in our persoanl life, the more we work/give service the weight of the burdens becomes light. This is something that the Savior taught, he said: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt.11:28-30) Needless to say this is pretty difficult to do because it doesn't sound logical but the rewards are better than we can ever imagine. Anyways it's funny how much we look ofrward to conference and then how fast it goes by. There were so many rad quotes from the conference, here are some that I remember:

-"Often answers come, not as we are on our knees, but as we are on our feet." President Uctdorf
-"We testify to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that God not only lives, but that He speaks. That for our time and in our day the counsel you have heard [in General Conference] is under the direction of the Holy Spirit - the will of the Lord, the word of the Lord, the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation." "If we teach by the Spirit...and you listen by the Spirit, someone of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal little prophetic epistle just to you." Elder Holland
-"One cannot give a crust to the Lord with out receiving a loaf in return." President Erying

Conference is awsome. Can't wait for the next one in 6 months! Too bad I won't be on my mission for that one but I know that either way there is needed guidance to be received during these special weekends. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to watch this last General Conference and am thankful that the Church is doing so much to help the people where there is much suffering. I know that I couldn't do it on my own but that is the cool thing, the Church Welfare Program is a force of 14 million aiding those who are in need of comfort.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week and that you seek after opportunities to help others. There will be blessings on both sides when we do. Hope all is well.

Elder Leavell

Oh and Johnathan went to the Conference Center in Salt Lake so we are excited to see how he liked it.

Give Ear

2011-03-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

Over this last transfer there are many things that I have learned about things that I want to do with my life, things about life, and things that help me have a better life. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve as a missionary for the Lord, there are so many blessings that I have seen come into my life and the lives of others. I know that it isn't possible to serve for more time but if I could I would make the sacrifice of doing so, even with all the difficult times that are encompassed in this missionary experience. I hope that all of you are looking at life in such a way that the positive is brought forth and when the difficult times come that all of you dig deeper into the basics that we have already applied in our lives: prayer, scripture study, and church attendance. There are so many blessings in store to those who are willing to obey and serve the Lord and I hope someday I will be humble enough to do everything that He asks us to do. Not much has happened this week since my companion is going home. He wanted to spend time with the people that he liked to most and it was a wonderful time getting to know the members more and getting to serve them. We had the wonderful opportunity to help the Kellers with the baptism of their oldest son, Grant. If there was anyone who is more outgoing than anyone it would be him. He prepared and gave a talk at his own baptism and it was very well done. The spirit was strong throughout the baptism and it was amazing to see how, despite being young in life and young in the gospel, the gospel can change lives and mold them for the better. It reminded me of my baptism and how I know that through the priesthood power that has been restored to the earth again, we have the ability to perform a baptism under God's name. I have been thinking a lot about that and thinking how great of a responsibility is to honor the priesthood and to obey the commandments that we may bless the lives of others. Also, it has made me think of how important it is to know that the priesthood power is true. This reminded me of a story that I read in the New Testament, as I am reading the entire thing before my mission ends. The story is of Jesus Christ as he is casting out the unclean spirits from lost souls. At this point in time Jesus wasn't very well liked by the Pharisees because of all the things that he had preached by none the less their amazement at the miracles that they had performed pushed their hatred aside. But on one occurrence this wasn't so. As he cast out the unclean spirit they asked themselves,"Is not this the son of David?" In other words they doubted where this power came from. Then it was the Pharisees time to doubt, said they, "This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." And this is one lesson of how I know that the priesthood power that is in this Church is true. Jesus taught, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." (Matt. 12:24-30). Yes it is a manner of faith but I know, because I have prayed, that this church is the church of God, and I know that I have received an answer that it is true. Because this faith stands for good, whether people would admit it or not, it cannot be of the devil, for that would go against the very purpose of his being. Just as Jesus stated, I state that the devil cannot be against itself. Over this last transfer I have come to know in greater degree that the things of God are not necessarily understood by us, especially through the scriptures. But I do know that when we pray and seek after the things that are righteous, which seeking to know if the priesthood power is true would be one of them, that God will tell us if it is true or not. I know, not just believe, that He is a Being of mercy, of grace, and of knowledge far beyond our own, which would make Him by default the irrefutable Master that guides us all. It is a great leap of faith to gather ones things and go on a limb after something that you cannot explain how you know is true but you know without a shadow of a doubt it is true, but I know that with that faith can bring mighty miracles into the lives as many. That is why there is no greater calling than that of serving as a missionary for the Lord. Seeing people's lives cahnge for the greater, or in better terms, for good; brings no greater joy and I'm so thankful to partake of this Heavenly gift. I have only glimpsed to happiness that I know our Heavenly Father feels for His children when they come unto Him and obey His commandments. As missionaries we stand as witnesses that truth is the daughter of time, just as Gamaliel, a Pharisee said unto the council, "Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." (Acts 5:34-39). As far as people who we are teaching, they are doing well. Ruth is still reading her scriptures and her kids are still energetic as always. Got to play with some bouncy balls with them haha. She has such a great spirit and I know that one day she will come back to church. Hopefully in my time as a missionary. There is also some great news with Annemarie Brown. We went to go visit her and it was an amazing lesson. When we knocked on the door the coolest thing happend, she said, "I have been thinking about you." Right before we got there she was going through all the hymns that she knew for about 2 hours and was thinking about how important the gospel has been in her life. She said that she hadn't read much of the Book of Mormon but was doing a lot with the hymns. It was so awesome to see her light up when she was talking about the hymns and all the things that she remembered. But it doesn't end there. Right before the prayer we invited her to church and she said that she would try her best to this Sunday (didn't make it this Sunday) to make it but she didn't know if it would work with her schedule. The miracle was that she was seriously considering coming. She promised us that next month, seeing that General Conference is next weekend, she would rearrange her schedule so she could come to church. It was great to see the power of the gospel in action. From not wanting to go to now wanting to go. It's awesome! Chino is doing alright. Hasn't been reading but I think after the lesson we had on Sunday with him, he will hopefully read. Sort of had to crack the whip but it is good for him since he doesn't do anything. Brother Beck was out of town this week and so we didn't get the chance to meet with him. We should be meeting up with him on Tuesday. Well I hope that all of you are doing well and are enjoying what you are doing as much as I am. Miss and love you all. Elder Leavell

Reflecting on the Past

2011-03-21T14:58:00.001-07:00

Another week in the Boo doesn't get any better. I can't believe that somehow I was privileged to come to this area with all these awesome members. It makes me grateful for members and for the opportunity to work with them. I don't know how the early missionaries did it back in the day when there was no one: they were the members. Glad to be living in times where we are not the only ones, there is always a member to support us in any time of need. I hope that all of you are doing well.

Since my companion is going home in the next week and a half it has caused me to think about my mission and things that I have witnessed be accomplished. But something that I have been thinking about a lot is my testimony in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was a talk given in the Pacific Palisades ward talking about the importance of the Book of Mormon and its central role being Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Over my mission I have read through its pages and prayed to know that it is true and without a doubt it has been a constant, yes. In the talk he mentioned that out of the 6607 verses, 3925 mention Christ. That is about 25% more than the New Testament or, in other words, every 1.7 verses mentions Christ. Now I'm not trying to compare or hinder the power that the Bible has, because I know that it is holy writ, but it amazes me how many think that the Book of Mormon is something about Joseph Smith or someone else, other than our Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for being humble enough to read, ponder, and pray of its pages for that is the only way that we can know that these things are true. But more importantly I'm thankful for the guidance that we have received to study everything out and then to ask the Master through prayer. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founds itself on the Savior and by so doing, founds itself on the revelations that we, and our leaders, receive from Him, not solely from His Holy Writ. It's a wonderful message that we as His messengers bare: the Almighty still speaks just as He did in days of old through His scriptures and His spirit. I know of no other Church that teaches, prophesies, and conveys both of these ways of communication with our Father in Heaven who despite having creations without measure still desires to speak with us. Later on during Priesthood one of the brethren, Brother Brazier, spoke of one of the return missionaries that gave a class and bore his testimony of the scriptures. He said that as the return missionary gave the lesson he stopped and spoke of a specific chapter that to him conveyed the divinity of the Book of Mormon. He said, "I promise you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that when you read the seventh chapter in the Book of Mormon and pray to know that its precepts are true that you will feel the spirit every single time." Even when Brother Brazier spoke of that testimony that brother had you could feel the power and the spirit backing every word that he said. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. If anyone wants to learn more about Christ I invite and encourage all of you to read the Book of Mormon and the New Testament and focus on the feelings that you have when reading of its pages. Elder Holland once said of the Book of Mormon, "Love. Healing. Help. Hope. The power of Christ to counter all troubles in all times—including the end of times. That is the safe harbor God wants for us in personal or public days of despair. That is the message with which the Book of Mormon begins, and that is the message with which it ends, calling all to 'come unto Christ, and be perfected in him' (Moroni 10:32)." This is our message, this is our foundation, that the Lord Jesus Christ pleads with us to come unto Him through faith in things that we cannot understand or see but are true so that "All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue [faithfully]."

This week we didn't get a lot of progress with anyone. Ruth wasn't home, even though we tried several times by her house, so we hope and pray that she is continuing to read her scriptures so that one of these days, which will occur soon, she will come back to Church. Chino hasn't been reading at all. We met with him about 4 times this week and had lessons about reading and he still hasn't read. I don't know what happened but I hope that he feels the spirit so that he can come closer unto Christ. He was doing so well. Its not like he is busy because he doesn't do anything all day, so I don't know what's up with that. We did find a new investigator! His name is Silvio. I don't know if I mentioned him before but last fast and testimony meeting he went up to the pulpit and bore his testimony on the example of his roommate who is a member. I have never seen anyone who isn't a member do that but he has guts. Anyways we met with him last Monday and it went great. He doesn't know if he believes in God all the way but he knows that there is someone there. He said that he went to a Catholic and Christian school growing up and has family in all different directions but that he has talked with the missionaries over in Holland with his mom. He is way cool and way funny. So we are hopeful for him. It was a cool experience because he gave some reasons why he hadn't prayed in a long time but as we talked with him he said that he would try. But it wasn't a "I mean it try." Then we went through the steps of prayer, which aren't really steps but whatever and he said "well I already knew those..." Haha he shouldn't have said that. Haha. We then asked him to give a kneeling prayer and he said "uhh..." but that is when the member and us got on our knees and bowed our heads. He then prayed. It was awesome. It was a great prayer if I say so myself. It's great seeing miracles on the mission. There is no place that I would rather be. For reals. I'm so scared to go back home. Luckily I don't have too much time to think about all that stuff. I hope that all of you are doing great. Keep doing what you are doing and choose the right and everything will be ok. I know that blessings do occur more frequently when we are obedient to the commandments of our Heavenly Father.

One last experience this week. We got a call from the Visitor Center to go give a blessing at the Veteran's Hospital and we met the Shaws. They are way cool. The husband has leukemia but surprisingly he is doing just fine, even with the chemotherapy. They said that the nurses were checking up on him very frequently because he isn't reacting to it at all. He was over in Vietnam and interacted with agent orange but has stayed dormant for almost 40 years, when usually it gives problems to people when they are in their 40s, he is in his 60s and hasn't been affected. He believes that it is because his obedience to the Word of Wisdom. I would have to agree. I know that when the Lord commands us to do something that we should do it and not worry about why, but do it. Even if you don't believe in the teachings of the Church, do it anyway and I promise you that you will see blessings like you wouldn't believe.

I love you all and miss you too. Over and out.

Elder Leavell

Out in The Wild

2011-03-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

Can't believe that I have less than 100 days. It's scary to think that I'm in the double digits, never thought this day would come and I actually wish that it hadn't come. There are some many things that I still want to finish and/or do before the end, so hopefully I will be able to do all of them. Hope that all of you are doing well and are having a great time wherever you may be.
This week was an interesting week because there was a lot of things planned and most of them fell through or they partially fell through. Starting with Monday. On Sunday we called the Relief Society President from the UCLA Ward about dinner for the next day and she told us that there wasn't anybody signed up. So we called the Riveras, since they had mentioned that they wanted to have us over for dinner, and got a dinner for Monday. Turns up that we were doubled booked. Right when we were about to walk into the Riveras home, the Johnsons called us and said that they were worried that we didn't remember we were having dinner with them and to give them a call back. Once again we had the wonderful opportunity to eat two dinners and do a little service for a non-member. It was awesome. Don't think I have been that full in awhile but it brought back some memories when I was in Latin areas and everyone fed us, even if it was to have a lesson with them. Good times. Ruth is doing ok. She hadn't read the story of Captain Moroni when we got there so we read it with her. She was pretty amazed at how good of a person he was and said that she would like to be the same. Haha. We broke down the couple verses about his characteristics and commited her to find one that she could work on. She agreed and said that she wanted us to talk about why Captain Moroni kept his covenants to the point that he did, which will be great because Ruth got baptized and has made one already. It will be good. Brother Beck is still thinking about that date for baptism. I hope that he goes with it. But at least he is thinking. Anyways I have some of the best news yet. It's about Chino. HE FINALLY PRAYED! On Tuesday we went over to Tania Tucker's house to have a lesson with them and I found a story out of the Ensign that sounded just like him. I hadn't really thought about it until the middle of the lesson but we decided to read the story with him and share some of the experiences that we have had with people who have been investigating the church. Anyways, as we were sharing experiences, Chino shared one of his. He told us about how he was stuck outside, because Tania was home and she doesn't know entirely that he is living there, and he couldn't come in the house. He got pretty scared (won't admit it) and started praying that he would be able to go inside through the front door, something that hadn't ever happened before, because the back way is even more dark compared to everything else. Right when he finished his prayer he told us that he got a call from Iliana saying that he could walk in the front door but to do it fast. He said that he hadn't had one of those experiences and found it weird that he would be answered for something so small. As we continued to teach the importance of prayer we promised him that, just as he received an answer to his prayer from something that didn't mean a lot, he would receive an answer about the church. He seemed more excited to read more of the Ensign and pray about the church. The next day, Wednesday, we had temple service and the Sanchez came over to help out. Chino and Karen came at a later time because of school but when he pulled up he had the biggest smile on his face. We talked for a bit and then said, "I prayed and I know that it is true." He was so happy that he had received an answer to know that the church is true and I know that he will forever be blessed for the courage to ask our Heavenly Father about something so important as this. After they left Elder Hodell and I started talking about how cool of an experience it was to see his conversion occur and see how happy he has become. It got us talking about something that I hadn't really thought of that I'll share. He said, "Even if Joseph Smith was a fake, I'd be honored to be fooled by him because 'he' somehow came up with all the answers that everyone has been looking for." For me, there is no other explanation than Joseph Smith was a prophet from our Heavenly Father because I don't know how something that produces good, preaches of Jesus Christ and His ministry here on the earth, and when people pray to know that it is true, they receive a confirmation of people, of joy, of clarity, of good. If he did make all of this up I think he had to have made a contract with our Heavenly Father because He is the only Being that produces light, good, and joy. Satan, on the other hand, is the the total opposite. He cannot produce a form of lasting joy, yes it may be temporary but it is always through a form of sin. The opposite is true with this gospel. The more and more I serve as a missionary and study the scriptures it gives me joy to know that I know His plan and it makes me grateful for the things that I know are true because He has told me. Ralph W. Emerson put it best, "Teach that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake."

The other great experience that we had during the week was that we had the opportunity to participate in the Santa Monica Mini Mission. We had a kid named Jeffrey. He only stayed with us Friday night and Sunday, so we didn't have a bunch of time with him but it's better than nothing. He is a way cool kid, trying to figure out if he wants to go on a mission. I don't think that we made a huge impression on him because he went to dinner with us at Souplantation with the Tylers and went to church with us. So yeah hopefully he got something out of it. We tried solving some of his concerns but I think that it is going to be whether he takes the step or not. Everything works like that, especially spiritual things. Joshua 3 is a prime example of that. The Jews had to first walk in the water before the river Jordan parted. I imagine the same will happen with ou boy, Jeffrey. I hope that he goes on a mission because it really has been the best two years of my life. It is a great investment.

Some other random news is that we had a new family move in. They are the Andersons from Provo, Utah. Coolest thing is that they own the Utah Flash, a minor league basketball team.

Well I hope that all of you are doing well and enjoying everything that you do. It helps a bunch when everything is going "wrong." I love you all and miss you too but I'll be back soon enough! Promise. I hope to hear from you soon. Over and out.

Elder Leavell

Went on a hike today in the Palisades.

Week Full of Surprises

2011-03-07T15:44:00.000-08:00

Where do I begin? There are so many interesting things that have happened it's crazy. Normally they happen every once in awhile but I think that something crazy happened every day this week; I like it, keeps things interesting. I hope that all of you are having a great week and I hope to hear from you soon. Crazy to think that Cameron is back, I remember when he got his call. Nuts. Glad to hear that he is well and served well. I'm sure he knows Spanish better than I do. I'll probably be the one asking him how to say things in Spanish from now on.

I want to first start off with something that happened to us on Sunday. After the Pacific Palisades Ward we went off to the UCLA Ward on Pacific Coast Highway and for some reason there is always traffic. Anyways as we were stuck in traffic, waiting, all of the sudden a green car flies past us, probably going around 60, in the divider lane. The person almost hit another car that was turning but everything seemed to be OK. As we pulled up to the second light, Elder Hodell said that he thought he saw smoke but I blew it off because there is a lot of fog there during that time of the day because the ocean water is getting hotter. Never hot. We started driving again and got stuck because all of the cars were switching over to our lane. Elder Hodell made the joke that it was probably that guy who flew past us. He ended up being right. The car was flipped over and he hit 3 other cars and there was parts of the cars everywhere. It was crazy. The weird thing was that we didn't hear it when we were so close. It didn't seem that anyone got hurt but it was still crazy to see how crazy things can get over here. Moving on Monday we had dinner with some members from the UCLA Ward, the Aldens. They are some of the coolest members that I have met on my mission. Let me first start off with a story that goes along with meeting up with them. For Elder Hodells birthday, most of the Elders in the Zone (which are few) and us went to Fatburger and tried the XXXL Burger challenge because my companion is a health nerd. Its cool with me because I have gotten in better shape and am moving forward instead of backwards. Anyways we all did it and finished it. By the end of the burger it started getting gross, despite it being way good, probably because it was a 2 pound burger. We finished none the less but we did not want to eat the rest of the day. Going back to the Aldens, my companion had the bright idea to jynx us by saying "I bet you that the Aldens are going to make us burgers." I wish that he wasn't right at that time. I think for the first time in my entire mission I didn't want to eat something that the members had prepared for us. Luckily they were vegi burgers but still it took a lot to eat it. As we were talking Sister Alden mentioned that her Mom lives over in the Palisades but that she was inactive and so we probably didn't know her. Turns out that she is the daughter of one of the less actives that we have been trying to contact. She was excited, just as we were because her Mom had mentioned that she wanted to go back to Church since her trip to Taiwan. Then as we started talking they mentioned that they were in a band, that in my opinion is a pretty good band. Their band name is Flying Paper Figures. Look them up on YouTube and watch their music video, way tight. So it turned out to be a good dinner and I'm grateful that we got to meet them. We met up with Cedric again this last week and sadly he is for sure going back to China. He said that he read everything that we gave him and was excited to learn more. We talked about the Book of Mormon and answered a bunch of his questions, he is so cool. It's too bad that he is moving because he would have been a great addition to the UCLA Ward. When we finished the lesson we ran to the mission home and got him a Book of Mormon in Chinese and ran back to give it to him. I jumped out of the car to give to him and right when I handed it to him, he opened it and started reading. Gosh dangit I wish he wasn't moving. The next day I had the opportunity to go on splits with Elder Muir and also took Elder Uribe with me. It was definitely a different experience, not my favorite but it goes with the job description. Haha. We visited Ruth that day and she was a little turned off by the two new guys but we had a good, short lesson on Captain Moroni. She is still reading her scriptures and said that she had been praying, so it's only a manner of time that she will be coming back to Church. We are both praying really hard for that day to come soon. She is such an amazing lady and her kids are way cool. The husband is shy but I know that when he meets some members that he will be more than OK because there are a lot of members who do the same thing that he does. Alright, now for Chino/Jonathan. He hasn't really progressed that much. He is still interested but he is having some minor bumps in the road, especially with prayer. I think that we have found some of the consequences of the families divorce. He hasn't really said it but it is obvious when we talked about how we have a loving Heavenly Father. I feel for the kid, since he hasn't ever had a Father figure in his life, and now we are trying to help him have a spiritual one. It won't be easy for him but I know that he has enough faith to pray to know that he is there. He is such a humble kid willing to listen and to do the things that the Lord has commanded us. There is also another fear that he has and that is commitment, probably a side affect of the divorce as well. This part he did mention. He said that he is scared to pray because he knows when he receives an answer that he will have to follow through and do the things that he asks. It's a little comical because since he already knows that he needs to do them, he is now accountable for the things that he isn't doing. He ended up going to the Spanish ward this Sunday, so hopefully he enjoyed it over there. We are debating on giving him to the missionaries who cover our area in Spanish since he doesn't speak much English but since his family goes to the English one, and aren't planning on switching, it makes things a little difficult. It's really amazing to see how the Lord prepares His children to receive the gospel that He has established here on the earth. Of course, He didn't say that it would be easy, but He said that it would be worth it. There are so many blessings in store for everyone that is willing to accept the things that the Lord asks of us but we got to do something about it, can't wait and expect Him to give it to us because that would interrupt our agency. I have learned and witnessed that so much on my mission.

The other person that I want to talk about is Alan Beck. He has been investigating the Church for about 5 years now and been going more consistently than some of the members. I probably have mentioned him before but it still surprises me that he has had callings. Haha. It's crazy. He is way solid and I can't believe he hasn't gotten baptized. We had dinner with them yesterday and it was great. He made us some great steak and we helped him move some things in the house. Before we left we decided to talk about something that I had been reading about in the scriptures: simplicity. It all started because I read the scripture in 1 Nephi 17 where it talks about Moses and the gold serpant and how the Isrealites didn't look etc. Anyways we talked about how simple the gospel, obey and receive. Of course, obey is where the test lies but the concept is easy. Plus we have the atonement which makes up for everything that we mess up on and repent. He expressed some concerns about how he didn't feel that he was ready but as we continued to discuss how important it was for him and his family, he finally commited to pray about a date! We are so excited for him. The whole ward will be so excited for him, we just can't tell anyone. I know that this will the best decision that he will ever make. I'm so thankful that I was able to share some experiences that I had, as well as my companion, that helped him get to the point where he is right now.

I hope that all of you remember that the Lord is always on our side and that He loves us, as well as our Heavenly Father. There is no greater knowledge that needs to be known expect for that. I love you all and hope to hear from you soon. Till next week.
Elder Leavell

Check Yourself before You Wreck Yourself

2011-02-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

Dang there are many things that I'm grateful for this week. There are so many things that have happened this week and it has gone by so fast. I think it's because my comp is going home that the weeks are going by faster and faster and I don't like that. I really don't want my mission to end. It is definitely the best experience in the world and there is nothing that can compare to it. I hope that all of you are having a wonderful time and that you are all enjoying yourselves. There are many blessings in store for all of you as long as you are obedient to the commandments of our Heavenly Father.

Well we had our Zone Conference this last week and it seems like forever that we had one but that is OK. This one was not that much different and there wasn't much that was "new" but it was a good meeting none the less. After the Zone Conference we went to the Sanchez to have dinner and we had the wonderful opportunity to teach Chino. He is way cool. It was interesting to see that he was a lot more open and talkative compared on Sunday where I just interpreted for him and wouldn't say much. We had the opportunity to teach him about the Restoration and how important prophets were in our daily lives. It was surprising to notice how little he knew about prophets and basic gospel principles and stories but it was nice being able to continue to help him by using a picture book (some of the skills from the ASL program that I learned) to explain things in a way that he could understand. We got the whole store about him. He was born here and his parents ended up getting divorced when he was 3 months old because his father was not doing much to support the family, so his mother left for Guatemala to live with her parents and Chino. He said that he never met his Dad but that it hasn't affected him at all since he never knew what it felt like to live with a Dad. Whether or not that is true, I can imagine that there are many things that I could see how that could affect a person. In The Family: A Proclamation to the World we learn of the importance of the family and how crucial and vital are the parental roles of the Father and the Mother. In the Proclamation we learn Fathers "are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families." It continues by stating: "Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners." One without the other does not work. While mothers can fulfill the role of the father I cannot imagine the repercussions of not having a father in the home. I'm so grateful for both of my parents and for there righteous upraising and I know that both were necessary and fulfilled certain roles. On Wednesday we ran into the Sanchez while driving on Pacific Coast Highway and met for a couple minutes. Then on Thursday we had the opportunity to take them to the Visitor Center to watch the Joseph Smith movie and he loved it. He said that it made a lot of the things he was confused about, clear and it showed him, through his feelings, that what we believe is true. He also said that he felt chills throughout the movie. I love how the spirit can show the children of our Heavenly Father the principles of the gospel are true and virtuous. I know that when we earnestly seek with a pure heart that we can uncover the mysteries of our Heavenly Father and can be reassured that what we are doing is right. Also, this week we received a referral from the Visitor Center of a Cedric Pan so we went and met with him this week. He is from China and is probably going back (that is the bad news). But he is truly interested in learning more about the Church. He said that growing up in China that all the things were bias and that Christianity didn't exist there. He said that he didn't even know who Jesus Christ was before he came here to the United States from school at UCLA. He ran into some people from a Christian group and came to know Jesus Christ and from what we could observe was following in His footsteps as best as he could. He then met some members of the Church and saw there example and became curious as to what we believed. That is where we met him. Throughout the lesson he was explaining some of the things that he had learned from his christian friends about the church and asked us if we could resolve some of those, most of which were misconceptions of the church. We answered him as best we could and started talking about Joseph Smith and how he became a servant of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He loved it. He was sad that he was probably going to go back to China because he wanted to learn more and do whatever he could to observe the commandments that have been set forth. We assured him that we would do everything we could to help him and we counseled him to pray to know if moving to China was the right thing for him, since he was worried that it wasn't the right decision. I pray and hope that he will be given some more time to learn more of the message of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many things in life that we can miss but this one is one that we cannot miss if we are given the opportunity to listen and apply its teachings. I'm so grateful that I was humble enough to listen to the message and test it out to find out that this is something of great worth, especially in the eyes of our Heavenly Father.

It was Elder Hodells birthday this last Saturday and it was a wonderful opportunity to see some people that we hadn't seen in awhile because we could use that excuse, per say, to visit them (so we thought). No one was really home and we had planned to be with the Sanchez for most of the day and that fell through. I felt so bad because he was so excited to be with them and it didn't happen until the end of the day. But we took advantage of some time, since we were stuck in Malibu and visited all the people we could visit, to take some pictures. After driving around all day we finally got to meet up with the Sanchez and we ended up meeting at the Hunters home. It was great ad well worth the "suffering" of not having anything to do for an hour or two. We had a ton of fun playing some games and making Elder Hodell have some embarrassing moments. Haha. If only all of you could have been there to enjoy the fun. I will download some pictures, maybe videos if I can so that at least you can enjoy some of the things we enjoyed.

I hope that all of you have enjoyed this last week. I know that there are many things that we can be scared of, because they are unknown or unpredictable, but I know that when we follow the counsel from our Heavenly Father to obey His commandments there is greate safety for us. There is a quote I read that we heard during the UCLA ward that I thought was pretty comical but a true principle of the gospel, it says "check yourself before you wreck yourself." Whether or not we have the same quote to remember to follow the example of the Savior or to do what is right, we have one thing in common and that is we have a common goal and that is to become like our Savior, even Jesus Christ. I love this work, it has certainly helped me become the person that I have wanted to become. I have learned that the words of Elder Scott are true where he says "We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day. Righteous character is a precious manifestation of what you are becoming. Righteous character is more valuable than any material object you own, any knowledge you have gained through study, or any goals you have attained no matter how well lauded by mankind." I love my Savior more than anything and I love that He has established His example through His gospel so that we may return to live with our Heavenly Father and our families forever.

I love you all and miss you too. Over and out.
Elder Leavell

The Field is White Already to Harvest

2011-02-21T15:23:00.000-08:00

Dang I probably say this every time but I can't believe that another week has gone by. The mission is going by way too fast and I certainly don't like it too much. There are so many things that I want to accomplish before the end of my mission and it feels like there isn't enough time. If only I could wish for more time. That would be the dream. I hope that all of you have had a wonderful week this week. It's crazy hearing about people coming back home. Can't believe it.

Anyways I always seem to forget to mention transfers the week before but we had them last week and my companion made me so nervous! Man, he was all worried that he was going to get moved to another area for his last area and was way bummed about it. I tried to keep it cool and not think about it too much. But the Tuesday before the tension was so high until Elder Hodell found the transfer paper in the Zone Leader's apartment right below us. It was great to hear that I would be staying in the area for another transfer. This area is the bomb.com. For sure. All the members are amazing and right now we are being so blessed because the Lord is literally placing people in our path that are interested in learning about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We had 4 investigators come to church this last week and it was amazing. There is really no greater feeling than that of being blessed with the opportunity to teach people something that is so dear to us. I know that through our efforts that the Lord can truly bless His children by helping them come closer unto Him. I have learned so much about the gospel this past week and just as the scriptures say I have a greater desire to share because of the understanding that I have received. I want to first talk about a girl named Kasey Brown. She is Scott Carlston's girlfriend, who is from the UCLA Student Ward. Ends up that lived in Vegas and went to Palo for two years until she moved over here to California where she met Scott. They are both older now, of course, but they both have solid testimonies in Jesus Christ and it's amazing. She comes from a Lutheran home where she has gained a testimony of the Bible and Jesus Christ. After the first lesson we had with her we were a little nervous because of the way she asked some questions on faith and works so we studied like crazy trying to figure out how faith and works fit into the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for that opportunity because it has given me a clearer understanding of how one without the other isn't something that could help us come closer to our Heavenly Father. No, we don't keep tally of how many "good works" we do during the week but because of our faith we seek after things that are of "good report." As we returned the next week to have a lesson with her we were prepared but obviously the spirit had some other plans. Her attitude about the Church was completely different and the questions she asked were not attacking but were out of curiosity. It was great to see how the Lord blesses us and it working on His children, always. We bore testimony that there were prophets on the earth and that they are His mouthpiece. The spirit was so strong during that lesson and I know she felt it. She paused and went into some serious pondering. It was awesome. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon again, since she hadn't read, and she seemed more willing to read the words of the prophets in the ancient Americas. I'm so excited for her because I know the blessings are at her fingertips right now.

I had another "Elder Leavell's stupid moments" again this week and I thought I would share it with you. During the lesson with Kasey we were talking about a dozen different topics at the beginning so we could get to know her more. She is an awesome person I might add. Anyways the topic of Scott's mission came up and he mentioned how in his mission the missionaries would sometimes ride horses and visit the Indian reservations about 15 years ago, but when he was there they had a car. He said jokingly that he wished he would have been there at that time. So the genius that I am came out and said "haha those Indians when they saw your car were probably like 'oooooo carrs'" You can laugh right now if you want, we all did. It was funny because my companion, Scott, and Kasey stopped and looked at me dumbfounded. To this day I don't know what got into me. That is by far the dumbest comment that I have made. It was a good comic relief I guess haha.

Going back to how the area is going, I have some good news and bad news. Carlos went back to Guatemala this last Sunday. It stinks. He was way cool and I hope that we will get to see him again one day. That's the bad news. But the good news is that Carlos switched places with this kid Jonathon, his best friend since they were little kids. It's a little weird because he literally switched places but he is a way tight kid. He is a US resident and was actually illegally in Guatemala, so the complete opposite of how it normally is but it works. He had to come back to the United States to keep his residency since he is 18 and hasn't lived in the country for almost his entire life. Doesn't speak a lick of English but I interpreted for him during church and everything turned out great. It's great to have another Latin to work with so that I can work on my spanish. I noticed that it has dropped a little but when I got back in my game I was all good. We are excited to teach him and to have him enter the waters of baptism. He reminds me of how I used to be so the gospel will do wonders for him. He will do great. He is another blessing that I have seen because he came out of no where. Willis came to church again but then left after sacrament meeting so we will try and get him to stay for all 3 next time. Some other good news is that we got to meet with Annmarie again. We caught her at home again and gave her a Book of Mormon. She was so excited to have one again so she could read it. We invited her to pray and during her pray it was very evident that she has had a change of heart and is willing to put herself in a position with more focus on the Church. She is an awesome lady and with her energy she could help the ward a lot. Ruth is also doing great. She has been reading the Book of Mormon still so she is showing signs that her heart has changed as well. Gosh I can't believe how blessed we are right now. I don't deserve it but I'm thankful to be a tool in His hands that He may bless His children. I can't wait to see these people get closer and closer to their Heavenly Father through living the gospel standards. There is no other way to have eternal happiness. I know that to be true.

I love you all and wish you well. Till next week. Over and out.
Elder Leavell

MIracle, after Miracle

2011-02-14T15:15:00.001-08:00

So I think that this is the first area that I don't want to leave. Not saying that the other areas were bad or anything of the sort but for reals, I don't want to leave this area and I'm hoping that my companion and I will stay another transfer in the area. We finally have things rolling over here and everything is working out great. We have been extremely blessed this week with many miracles and I'm thankful for all of them, even the minor ones. There is a true correlation between obedience and blessings and I know that I will learn that more and more through out my life. I hope that all of you have been doing all you can to prepare to receive all those blessings that I know our Heavenly Father is waiting to give to us, the blessings are innumerable.

This week has definitely been a week of miracles. At church this week in the Pacific Palisades ward we had a walk in and apparently that hasn't happened in a very long time and the guy, Willis, seems to be pretty interested. In my opinion that was the greatest miracle that I have seen occur while my time here in the area. I have never had that experience before and I hope that he continues to have that same desire that he showed us when we meet with him tomorrow. We are both way excited. Going in a little bit more of chronological order, on Tuesday we had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Jennifer and see their horses do their thing. It was pretty cool. They have a sand arena nearby and so we took them over there and the craziest thing happened. The rolled over like dogs. Didn't know that horses did that haha. It was pretty rad. Not going to lie. But it doesn't end there. On our way back Brother Routledge tried to slow the cars down and he noticed one that was going to whip right past them and so he threw his crop (think that is what it's called) and the driver got mad. He drove back and started yelling at him, even though he didn't hit the car, and then threw a bag at the horse while he was on it. Naturally the horse flipped out and he almost fell off. Then the driver zipped past them and didn't notice that it was a dead end so he came back and Brother Routledge tried to stop the car and the one guy ran into to him, then drove off. It was crazy. The cops found the guy the other day and let's just say it isn't going to go too well with him. Epic fail. Anyways the next day I went on splits with Elder Thiriot, crazy how things change on the mission. He is our zone leader and I don't think that I have mentioned before but he lives in the apartment right under us. We had a good day and met with a ton of people that are normally pretty hard to contact. We met with Chantel and had a great lesson at the Visitor's Center. Spirit is always very strong in that building, just have to have the real intent to find it. After that we went to stop by Ruth who is was another miracle that we had during the week. Ruth is an awesome lady. She has 3 boys and a kid on the way and her husband is working a lot so he is hardly home, none the less she keeps it all together. Her husband isn't a member and Ruth hasn't been to church in about 9 years, ever since she moved over to the Palisades. She has admitted that she never really had a strong testimony of the church, ergo, not very active. The week before we had invited her to read the Book of Mormon, the Joseph Smith history section at the front so she could have a better understanding of all that. She hadn't read it sadly. But it was a great opportunity for us to teach the importance of why we read the scriptures and what the blessings are from doing them. The coolest thing happened during the lesson. As we were reading the Introduction to the Book of Mormon, one of her boys asked something and she asked him what he expected to happen and that lead us to asked her what she was expecting to get from reading the Book of Mormon. She thought about it and responded that she hoped to have a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ. We had the biggest smile on our faces since we had just gotten to the last two paragraphs and her hope was one of the promises that those two paragraphs gave. We read it and her face changed to an ecstatic face and she then promised that she would read them and told us to come back on Friday. We failed on that end because we forgot about DDM that was at 3 this week since the Sisters were in the Visitor Center for the morning shift but we went by Saturday and she had the biggest smile. She told us that she had read 3 Nephi 11 and she was happy that she did. We didn't get too much time to talk to her but she was happy. It was awesome. The other miracle that happened during the week was how we got to meet Annemarie Brown, who is a less active in the ward. She is another awesome, interesting lady. She trains German Shepards for a living, tutors a kid that is getting ready for med school and random kids in the area, and she is training her granddaughter who is preparing for the Olympic Horseback riding. How crazy is that? She said that the Olympic Horseback riding President called her and told her that she had to do it because he believed that she would win it even though she was only 16. The crazier part is that her horse is $3.5 million. Didn't know they got that expensive. Speaking of expensive things, she has 3 German Shepards that each cost about $20,000 but they are troopers. She is world renown for training those kinds of dogs since she can train them to do anything-police dogs, army, search and rescue, you name it. She told us of a story of a lady, that had epilepsy, who went to the store and came back and no one was home. That is when she dropped and had an attack and the only being that was there was her dog. She told the dog phone and the dog couldn't find it but somehow connected that she had gone to the store so its probably in the car. The dog managed to get in the car somehow, went to the purse, took out the phone, and brought it back to the lady and saved her life. That must have been nuts. After talking for awhile we noticed that her schedule was a mess and it was a miracle that we met with her because it was a needle in the hay stack. It was awesome.

I'm so thankful to be in the area. I am so happy doing what I'm doing and I hope that all of you enjoy the same. The gospel is true. It brings blessings in our lives that we cannot explain but are true. I love you all and miss you too. Till next week. Over and out.

Elder Leavell

the dog horses

went on a hike today.

Flashes from the Past

2011-02-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

Dang...I can't believe that another week has flown by, seriously it's scary how fast time is flying by right now and that means less and less time that I have on the mission. No bueno. I think the more time that has gone by it has made me more grateful for the time that I've had to serve others, but that also means the desire to stay has also increased. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to serve, there is truly no other place that I would rather be. This week has been crazy with seeing people that I hadn't seen in awhile and it was great to see them all again. I hope that all of you are enjoying whatever all of you are doing and that you are happy. We are so very blessed to be living in these times where the gospel of Jesus Christ is among us where we can receive blessings that go into the eternities.

The biggest news that I want to share with all of you is that we had the opportunity to see the Blackburns last Friday. I was so excited. We were with the Zone Leaders and they said that I was like a little kid at the candy store. Haha. I probably was. But for reals it was awesome to get to see them again. They are people that I look up to as parents. They look the same, just a little more refreshed (probably well rested) but they still have the same spirit. It was awesome. President Blackburn when he saw me and my companion gave us a HUGE hug and we spent some time catching up. Sister Blackburn wanted to give us hugs too but she didn't. Gosh I miss them so much, even though they were hard on us, they helped us become what we are today: more humble servants of the Lord. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve under them. They are the best and I would guess that every missionary would say that about every Mission President but I don't care, the Blackburns are the best. Can't wait to see them after the mission. Anyways on Monday we had dinner with the Hunters and then had FHE with them. It was great. I think that was the first FHE that I have had that was good and not disorganized. You could tell that all the kids were used to it and that they had been doing it for a long time. It was awesome to see that they looked forward to it instead of how I have always seen it, dragging the kids to participate. Oh well. After that we got a call from Bonnie Hiriade saying that she needed to move again. She has moved 3 times in the past month but she is going to back to Sacramento to take care of her mom. It was sort of odd because it was a spur of the moment decision, she had literally decided that morning. But she is a widow so that means we have to do it, at least in my book. I'm not sure if I mentioned Jennifer last week but she is one of our investigators that is somewhat progressing. She is on probation till the end of the year but she said that she could probably end it sooner since she didn't serve a full parole either. She is this real alternative lady who had some drug problems in the past but I think that she hit a time in her life where it finally hit her what she needed to be doing, which lead her to the gospel. It awesome teaching her since she absorbs it like a sponge and tries to apply it that same day. Looking at her you might not thinking that she would be so willing to do anything gospel related but she is just awesome. The only things that I could say are "problems" are, of course, her probation and her smoking and coffee issues. She is trying really hard and said that she has made a ton of progress in getting off of those things so that is good progress, at least. These members she lives with got her some product "Smoke Away" I think and they said that the husband used it and by day 3 he was off of smoking and had no cravings. So the only thing is getting her to commit to using it and we are shooting for Tuesday because that is her Anniversary of being sober from drugs and alcohol. We should be having a party for that so that will be cool. We have high hopes for her. After we dropped by Jennifer's place we went over into the canyon and visited this lady Susan Swenson. Now, a little side note, she is pretty famous in the mission for talking centuries and at first I didn't believe it but were they right. We were there for almost 3 hours and 1 1/2 she was talking. We tried getting out but she said "You didn't give me at least 3 hours...the other missionaries always planned for that." Now we know why. She is this sweet widow that lives in the middle of no where and recently she has had some surgeries so we got to go over there. She has chickens and they are about to have little chicks so that makes it a lot better. Hopefully they will hatch soon. Funny story she said that last year she had some chicks but the hawks ate them haha. Too bad. But I think the more interesting fact is that she has a HUGE dog. Think it's a great palmeranian but it is the size of a pony I think. For reals. It's big. So this week we also had the opportunity to go to the retirement home and wheel the older people around. Got the worst guy. Now I don't like to judge but this guy was crude like no other. I'm not going to quote anything that he says because it's not cool. What made things worse is that we went to the Farmer's Market and he was taking things to eat, saying it was samples. Haha. You should have seen some of the faces that they were giving. Priceless. Finally had to take him back because it was getting bad but an experience none the less. Haha. On Saturday we went to go visit some of the UCLA Ward members thinking most of them would be home since they didn't have class. It was great. We met a couple rad couples like the Cordons, Richs and the Marianos. and two of them are going to give us some referrals! They were all way nice and willing to help out. Something to mention about the Marianos is that they know the Toolsons. It was so cool talking with them about some good friends of mine. Apparently they grew up together so it was epic. We didn't have anyone at church that we had planned on going but we had a little miracle happen during church. The Aldens, from the UCLA Ward, brought a friend that they had mentioned to us to church. It was so rad. So thankful for the tender mercies that our Heavenly Father gives us on a daily basis. Sebastian is big into music and so am I. So I think we will get along. Excited to have another investigator at the UCLA Ward. That ward is sick.

Well I got to go. Talked a little too much. Hope all is well. Love and miss all of you. Till next week.

Elder Leavell

Elder Buzelli is going home.

Everyone meet Dickins

West Coast Represent

2011-01-31T12:57:00.000-08:00

As we say here in the West Coast, How ya doin?! Haha. Think that might have been from the 80s but I'm not too sure. Malibu is still rad like always. It's always nice to see the sunset driving down Pacific Coast Highway (not that we are not on the road all the time...cough cough). There wasn't too much that has happened this week. Had lots of meetings, once of which Elder Clayton had to do something with. It's always nice to have a general authority of the Church come to speak to us and guide on some of the things that they would have us do. Hope you are doing well as always and I hope I don't bore you this week around. Haha.

I still can't believe that another week has gone by. I think it's crazy to say but I think that I'm starting to agree more and more with the older "whipper snappers" (Sister Hall always says that), in the sense that time flies by faster when you get older. For reals. It's been another humbling week though. Wish we didn't always have to go through hard experiences to become more humble but instead we humble ourselves. Guess that is the whole progression thing that everyone talks about haha. Oh well. Any who... I don't think I have mentioned Mike in awhile so I'll update all of you on him. He moved even farther away (he was already outside the mission) and he didn't get into the class that he wanted to take at UCLA, which means we have to hand him over. We met with him on Wednesday at the Institute building where he told us the news and so we discussed his options and found the number of the Singles Ward Bishop where he now lives. He was a little sad but said he would continue trying to go to church over there. He then had a funny request and that was to walk to the Visitors Center so he could go one last time, since he wouldn't be coming as often. It took about 45 minutes to walk there but it was worth it. We talked about what he does for work and how his schooling applies to his work, how he sees the Church, which lead to the Book of Mormon. He hadn't been reading, said he had been skimming, and that he still had some concerns. What made things more rad was that the conversation turned to Joseph Smith and he then asked about it. It lead perfectly to the movie Joseph Smith: Prophet of The Restoration. After the movie the most epic moment happened. He said he felt good and that he could see why we believe what we believe! I know it doesn't sound like much but it's a lot for him. It was epic. I know Heavenly Father softens hearts on a daily basis for us. Yes it's difficult at times being the tool-piece of the Lord to soften the hearts of His children but boy is it worth it. President Hinckley put it this way, "It is not a sacrifice to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is never a sacrifice when you get back more than you put into it. It's an investment." The other person I would like to talk about is a lady named Renate. She is the coolest person ever. If she can't make you laugh I don't know who can, it's great being over there for that reason. Anyways, after all the fun and games that always happen when we go over there we taught about the commandments of our Heavenly Father and why they are so important in our lives. She said she is a pretty good person and that of course she could improve but is complacent with where she is at. Since she had some bad experiences with the Catholic nuns when she was going to school church has always been a daunting task for her to obey; therefore, she doesn't believe in it. After trying to resolve her concerns she said "I know why you are here. You are here to convert me and I doubt it's going to happen but I'm always happy when you read from that Book you have." We stopped talking and listened. She told some more insights that helped us resolve her concerns about church but it's going to take awhile. We resolved in the sense that the Book of Mormon, along with the Bible (for they are all scripture) will give her the answer and the motivation to take the leap of faith. She has already made much progress even though it has taken time and I know she will enter the waters of baptism someday in her life, I trust the spirit that it will testify to her that the Book of Mormon is true and that the steps that have been laid out in the plan of salvation are true because they are from our Heavenly Father. I'm so thankful for the Book of Mormon, for the ability to touch and read from its pages so we can gain a stronger testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Every time I have read it, it has caused that I have a stronger will to become more like Him in keeping the commandments diligently. The Bible does this as well but to have two witnesses is greater than one and because of the millions of interpretations that man creates, it causes me to be more thankful for the Book of Mormon because of beacon of light that spreads throughout the world. Elder Hodell shared this quote with me that is from President Ezra Taft Benson, "The Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ. It confounds false doctrines and lays down contention. It fortifies the humble followers of Christ against the evil designs, strategies, and doctrine of the Devil in our day. The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today. God with His infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time." I know that promises from our Eternal Father are true, even that of James "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering..." Millions have people have discovered it, if that has any pull to this great cause but more importantly you all can find out if you but lay down your weapons and humble yourself to something greater. That is why I'm here because I was sufficiently humble AND received an answer from on High. There have been many things that I regret but this will not be one, nor in the eternities to come.

As far as Elder Clayton, we all got to shake his hand and listen to him speak for about 3 hours. It was more in a questions and answers format, none the less, it was a good meeting. He talked more about procedure and about how we can have a greater influence on the lives of the children of our Heavenly Father. To be honest there was nothing to exciting, I know that sounds bad but it is true. It was a good review of what we have to do as missionaries and it was a good meeting for the missionaries who were fairly new to the mission since it's really overwhelming at times things that can and can't do.

Well I love you all and miss you tons. Hope you like the pictures!
Elder Leavell

Mission Home is bye bye.

Pictures

2011-01-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

California Sun...Never Gets Old

2011-01-24T12:48:00.001-08:00

Well I think that these short few days have been more filled with meeting new people, that some would say "are of great importance" than any other week in my entire mission. It was great to meet all these people and really get to see how their lives don't differ from anyone else, in fact, the only difference would be that they have a little more attention. I hope that all of you had a wonderful weekend. The weather out here is getting better and better since it is no longer winter over here or at least it doesn't seem that way.

Let's see there is not much to report for this week since we were on the computer last Wednesday...BUT there is some big news. We met the Schroder family on Friday. Now you probably don't know who they are but they are famous. Ricky, the Dad, has been in a bunch of TV shows like 24, Scrubs, and NYPD Blue. It's sick. I never thought that I would meet anybody famous on my mission but now I have. They are way legit. Not stuck up at all but are way down to earth. The best part is that they are members and are a big on family, which I would imagine is difficult being an actors. They are going through some struggles and haven't been going to church recently and the interesting thing was that their excuse wasn't time. Over my mission I have seen many who have been worn out, especially during these times because everyone is trying to frantically get things done and produce. President Uchtdorf said it this way, "Let’s be honest; it’s rather easy to be busy. We all can think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list. They flood the open spaces in their time with lists of meetings and minutia even during times of stress and fatigue. Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives." I felt pretty helpless while they were laying it all out because I think we all get burnt out at times but that is were faith comes in. Faith that there is something more at the end of the tunnel. Faith that after this life we will have our reward. Would we study and learn if we did not believe we could obtain wisdom and knowledge? Would we work each day if we did not hope that by doing so we could accomplish something? Would a farmer plant if he did not expect to harvest? Each act we do is an act of faith and I think too many people fail to notice their works are great in the eyes of our Heavenly Father. As I have been reading the scriptures I've noticed how dramatic the events are and how rare they are in these days. Interestingly enough, I'm thankful. Thankful that our Heavenly Father doesn't show us direct forms of revelation as often as we ask, for that is how faith builds. Yes it is slow, difficult, dirty and so on but that is the only way we can become like Him. It's humbling but in the long run it's worth it. It gives us perspective to look toward the future where our knowledge will grow to the point where we can think on an eternal scale. I'm so excited to be able to serve them and hopefully we will find more opportunties to teach them even with their busy schedule. Another person that is of "great importance" is more Church orientated, President Uchtdorf came to the Westwood chapel where the UCLA Student Ward meets. He didn't come to our ward but he went to the ward right before us. Apparently he was on vacation or something of the sort, but it was awesome to hear him. It was funny, one of the members of our ward asked us a question as we were just getting to the chapel, he said "what did you do to get President Uchtdorf here?" I blew it off and chuckled but it wasn't until everyone was talking about him that I took it seriously. It was awesome. And for some more "famous people" we will have the blessed opportunity to hear from Elder Clayton, Of the Seventy. He will be here this week and he will talking to us as a mission this Saturday. I'm way excited to hear what he would have us do as individuals and as a mission. I know that he will have some good counsel for us that can help us on our quest to become more Christ-like and be able to serve others in a greater degree.

We ate with the Hall Family again this last Thursday and once again it was another comical experience. Sister Hall was sick, had been having some heart problems and so she couldn't go with us, but Ashley, her daughter, came with us. We had a good time and time flew by. It came time for dessert and she noticed that we had been there for awhile so she asked for hers to go and asked if we wanted some of our own. Of course we did, we are missionaries. We had the bright idea that sharing our desserts would be best and so we all ordered three different ones. Little did we know but the portions were huge! I got the Sizzling Apple Pie, Elder Hodell got the brownies with ice cream (it was in a goblet the size of a small ball), and Ashley got the Lemon bar. As they were bringing them out all of us were surprised like no other. The people next to us were laughing at us becuase we were sort of naive. It was fun. Never felt that full from dessert ever before. But boy was it good. Haha. Good thing I'm still young otherwise I would be in problems. Oh wait I already am. But along with that day and Sunday, we had the opportunity to give blessings to Sister Hall and this other member who called the Visitor Center who then gave us the info. Elder Hodell annointed and I blessed both times and the weirdest feelings came when I was performing that sacred act. It didn't feel like it was me but it was directly from the Lord who was blessing them. I hope that I never forget how I felt both of those times. They were sacred experiences that I'm thankful that I was worthy to receive and witness.

There isn't much more to say. I love you all. I hope that you all are doing well and that the Lord is blessing all of you. The tender mercies are upon all but only the meek and humble notice them. Till next week.

Elder Leavell

I'm a Mormon

2011-01-19T10:23:00.001-08:00

So to first start off I'm going to have to do a confession. I forgot my camera cable, again and so that means no pictures again. Sorry about that. We are always so busy, now, and it's crazy in the mornings running all over the place, but I'm extremely thankful for the opportunity to be busy. Sounds weird but it is true. Being busy, as a missionary, means you are very blessed, blessed to be able to teach the children of our Heavenly Father and I love it. The more and more I'm out on my mission the more and more I realize how grateful we should all be to be here and to be free to choose whatever our hearts desire, but as a caution, only the righteous decisions bring forth good fruit that can bring eternal joy. Obedience is key. Elder Scott said in the last General Conference, "An axiom we all understand is that you get what you pay for. That is true for spiritual matters as well. You get what you pay for in obedience, in faith in Jesus Christ, in diligent application of the truths you learn. What you get is the molding of character, the growth in capacity, and the successful completion of your mortal purpose to be proven and to have joy." I love that quote and I hope that I will be able to maintain that principle true till the end of mission. It's great to be guiding by the Lord's anointed who are in turn guide by the Almighty. I know that to be true. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying whatever you doing. I'm just in a good mood I guess. The temple does that every time (just went this morning).

After being in the Church for about 2 and a half years now (CRAZY!) I have seen and learned many things, many things that have helped my personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ grow and things that have helped me become a better person, in other words, Christ-like. But this last week I think I was more surprised to hear about a part member family who has integrated so much in the ward that the non-member husband has had callings in the Church. The Beck family is way awesome, down to earth and a typical family in Malibu. Brother Beck has been investigating the church for several years and throughout that time has been able to see the joy in serving in the church such as Primary Teacher, Gospel Principles Teacher, and now Elders Quorum Teacher. Interestingly enough he hasn't been baptized but what makes it more interesting is that he doesn't really know the reason why he isn't. All he can say is "it doesn't feel right yet." All the members in the ward treat him as a member, probably because they have forgotten that he isn't, but it is great to see how the Lord can bless everyone and is not exclusive. We had dinner with them last night to help him prepare for the upcoming talk that he will give during sacrament. It's way cool. While we were talking all of the sudden a question came to my head "what would be on the top of your priority list of things that you would like to learn?" He responded "I have never been asked that question. I have no idea." After talking things through he concluded that repentance and tithing would be at the top. Obviously there is a concern there that we will have to resolve but it is great to witness how our Heavenly Father can and does inspire us to help His children return to Him, I know that I couldn't do this work all by myself. That is for sure. So hopefully we will see a miracle in the upcoming future even that of baptism with Brother Beck. Mike, on the other hand, is doing pretty well. No really any major changes in his beliefs yet but he is still willing to come to church, meet with us, and the most important thing: he is still keeping his commitments. On Tuesday, he was about an hour late again (might of missed his bus again) but it was good since we got to meet a lot of the students at the Institute during that time. As we began the lesson and following up with his reading he said that he had skimmed it and that he didn't really understand much. As we were explaining how the Book of Mormon came about, in a very factual way I might add, we then explained why we needed to know that the Book of Mormon is indeed what it proclaims to be: scripture. His response was really funny. He said that true probably wasn't the right word and that he had been concluding that it was a good book with good stories. Mike has been the first person who has had no spirituality before and it has been a struggle for us to know how to teach to better help him. I have been getting way frustrated sometimes but that has led me to pray more. So I'm going to count it as a blessing. The lack of spirituality was made more evident when we took him to the Visitors Center on a temple tour. The Sisters were doing a great job at explaining the temple and the importance it has on our lives and the lives of the world. It didn't phase him at all. As we were looking across the valley there is a building under construction on the other side of Santa Monica Blvd he stopped the Sisters and asked what is that building? The Sisters were in shock. It was such a random question but that is how he is. He is still good in my book, he is just making me work harder to help him.

We also had the wonderful opportunity to participate in some service activities. We did the Service at the Senior Home and I saw Bob. He didn't want to go to the Farmer's Market. Elder Hodell have me a hard time and said that it was because of what happened last time, hopefully that is not true. His wheelchair was fixed though and he was just as chipper as last week. I had to opportunity to take this guy, Mohammad, he was obsessed with lemons. Every time we saw one we stopped to look at them and asked (with a thick accent) "are these sweet lemons?" Then grabbed a bunch and threw them back sometimes and said "these are not sweet lemons." It was embarrassing. He wanted to tip me at the end, very thoughtful. We also did some service in taking down Christmas lights for the mother of a member. It only took 20 minutes and they were surprised how quickly we got done. Pretty funny. We also helped a widow move. Really sad since she had to leave some things behind. Widows get me every time. I want to give them the world if I could.

I think the last thing that I can remember is that we went tracting yesterday. Not for too long. I wanted to see what it is was like and it wasn't that bad. Elder Hodell said it was a good street and normally they are not as nice. But it was fun. Nobody got mad but we literally only had about 2 minutes a door. That is all the time they gave us to talk to them and then they said not interested or I want nothing to do with you. I hadn't been tracting in a long time so it was sort of refreshing to tract some doors. A funny experience happened on Thursday (this experience shows how nice the members are here and how spoiled we are). Sister Hall always feeds us on Thursdays and after we got done with an appointment right before dinner she called us exasperated. She said that she had dropped the apple crisp pie and that she didn't want us to come over for dinner because it wasn't going to be a four course meal. She was panting on the message because she had just cleaned the floor and dropped the pie. We still went over and had a great time. She saved some pie and was really embarrassed to give it to us (we begged for it) and it was amazing. The people here know how to cook. For reals. We are so spoiled here. Luckily we are working out a lot, otherwise I would be a goner.

Well I hope that you are all doing well and are enjoying life. It's awesome over here. Don't want to leave. Love ya and miss ya too. Till next week.
Elder Leavell

Jolly January

2011-01-10T14:22:00.001-08:00

How goes it friends and family? I think that this week has been one of the most eventful weeks in my mission, some good events related to missionary work but some are just me being myself: slow. I'm extremely grateful once to be serving in the area that I am in. It truly is one of the greatest tender mercies that I have seen on my mission. There are so many people that are, per say, "heroes" since their countenances have been made whole through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. They all are examples to me and I know they are examples to all those around them. I wish you all could meet these people but I know that there are people all over the world, members and non-members, who are as close Christ-like that any human can obtain. I only wish I could be such an example as they are. Over the last couple days I have had some really "slow" moments and my companion, Elder Hodell, has done well at rubbing it in. Haha. Before I get into the slow moments that I have had over the last week I want to share an experience that we had as a zone during Fundamentals training this last Friday. Elder Thiriot was giving a training on our purpose as missionaries and it was really good, the spirit could be felt, the normal missionary meeting. All of the sudden we see a hand, then another hand, then two more hands, coming through the curtain. We all freaked out and didn't know what to think. It ended up being two Sister missionaries who needed some keys and the whole building was locked so they had to go through the window. It was way freaky. The spirit died but it was ok, it was a little comic relief. Ok, onto me. The other day I thought that I saw a car with a Christmas tree standing vertical on top while driving. Naturally, I told my companion to look, he did and responded that he didn't see anything, but I told him to look again. Same response. I then responded once more, "How do you not see the Christmas tree that is standing vertical on the top of..." As I was going to finish the sentence we go the green light and the cars began to move. I then noticed I had a "slow" moment. There was a great big pine tree positioned perfectly behind us that made it appear that it was a Christmas tree on top of the car. It was a humbling experience. This is only the beginning of my experiences that have brought more humility in my life. On Wednesday, we had a service activity at a Senior home. We wheelchaired some Senior Citizens to the Santa Monica Farmers Market, which was only a block away. I met this guy named Bob, he was the only one with an electric wheelchair, it was sick. Apparently, as a zone, we go and do service for them so it was cool to see how many look forward to our visits (if only that happened with everyone). Bob was way cool, we talked a lot and had a good time just looking around, since he didn't want anything. On our way back he sped up his wheelchair to get across the crosswalk and then I slowed it down for him when we go to the sidewalk. Then the craziest and most embarrassing moment happened. I turned around for one second and then BOOM. I turned around and he hit the building that was on the corner. He ended up breaking his wheelchair and it was really embarrassing since I looked like a bad care taker. Luckily it was the wrong leg rest for the chair so he was getting a new one the very next day but still not cool. The final embarrassing experience was on Sunday. We were getting back home to get numbers from the Sisters for the week. We stopped the car three blocks from our house since some Sisters had called early. We were talking and then all of the sudden the car died. Out of all the things that could have happened to us it was that. Our battery died and we had to push the car for over a block since we were in the middle of the alley way and the cars couldn't get by. These two guys drove by and told us that one of us needed to be on the side with the window open. TOO BAD THAT THE WINDOWS ARE BATTERY OPERATED. They were totally smoking weed and we could smell it like crazy when they drove by. Got to love Los Angeles and all the people that smoke like crazy.

Onto some more serious notes. On Tuesday, we were going to have a lesson with Mike but he ended up cancelling due to some schooling challenges so we rescheduled for the next day. The lesson went great with him. Matt Boulsog, from the UCLA Student Ward, came with us and he was a great help for us during the lesson. As we were getting to know him we noticed that he didn't really believe that we have a loving Heavenly Father that is willing to do, literally, anything and everything for us during this mortal existence. He said that he had a clue that there was a God since science can't prove everything, creating a limit. It was really cool to see how his faith grew during the lesson, whether he felt it or not, and we are very hopeful for him. He wants to get baptized (kept asking during the lesson about how to join the church) but I felt like there was something strange so we asked him how he ended up meeting with us. It truly was inspired to ask such a question, if we hadn't we would have committed him to baptism and never known that it might be for the wrong reason. Mike has had a difficult life, partially because of the choices he has made. He got a really good job at an early age but noticed that he had been secluding himself from everyone and noticed that his friends were slipping away. That is why he came here to Los Angeles: for a new scene. He knew some members of the church before but didn't really think much about it but ended up going to the Visitor's Center because he wanted to see if he could meet some new friends. He said that is the reason why he wanted to come. Luckily we were able to discuss that our Heavenly Father expects a commitment out of us when we make that covenant of baptism but that the Church is there as a support. He has a lot of self confidence problems and so he wants something that can sustain him through all the trials of life. It really is a miracle that he decided to go to the Visitor's Center because he said it was just out of mere chance that he picked to go to this church. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ will give him that confidence because it gives us all confidence and hope for better things that are not seen. We look at trials in a new way, since we know that they are for refinement, which is ultimately for our own good. Mike came to church this last Sunday and he seemed to really enjoy it. On Sunday we had a baptism. Carlos finally got baptized. It was awesome. I could only stay for half of it because I had to go to the UCLA Student Ward but it was awesome to feel the spirit that way again. Elder Correa, Karen-sita (played the guitar), and I sung Teach Me to Walk in the Light. During the baptism it was awesome. The spirit was totally there. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to witness the baptism of another child of our Heavenly Father. I know that His joy exceeds ours since we don't fully comprehend the love and the total importance that it has on our lives. There are so many blessings that we would be without the gospel of Jesus Christ and there are so many things that we will receive after we follow in the foot steps of our Savior Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate Teacher and Master of all. I'm so grateful to be a member and to be able to partake of the sacrament weekly and to renew my baptismal covenant and to be made clean. I have taken it for granted a lot and after learning some more about it during priesthood two Sundays ago, I hope I will be able to maintain a drive to "always remember Him" so that I "can have His spirt to be with" me. It's crazy to see how slow I am sometimes. I wish that I would have known all the things I know now so that I would be able to avoid all the horrific things that the world has to offer. I have come to know more and more that the only way is the gospel way, which has been paved by our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Maybe I'm too hard on myself but it is true, I wish I would have known better or should have said lived better. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and I hope that I will be able to maintain the drive and motivation to keep enduring to the end. I know it will be hard but it is so worth it in the long run, since there really is no other way.

I read this quote the other day that I really enjoyed. It's from President Erying, it says: "We cannot see the future with precision, but we can know what the Lord intends and what it will take [for] each of us to qualify personally to participate.” Thought that was a very wise remark and that it is definitely true in our lives. I hope that you all have a wonderful week full of tender mercies of the Lord. It truly is the greatest blessing to serve a mission for the Lord, I'm so grateful for this adventure, despite the downs that happen. I love you all and miss you too. I'll send some pictures next week: forgot the cable :)

Elder Leavell

Welcome to Malibu

2011-01-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

As you can tell from the title I got transferred. My goodness I hit the jackpot area. Malibu is where it is at. I have only been in the area for a couple of days but I think I can safely say that it is the best area that I have been so far. All the scenery and all the people are way cool. It really does remind of me of home: the people, the area, everything. I'm so thankful to our Heavenly Father for the opportunity to serve with these people and try to make a difference in their lives. The other cool thing is that we are serving in the UCLA Student Ward. I have never had the opportunity to serve in a ward like that so it was really cool to see, and I guess remember, how it felt to be at BYU. What amazes me the most is how strong their testimonies are, especially not being at a school where it is predominately members of the Church. All their testimonies were filled with passion and vigor for the gospel. I, as a missionary, am so blessed to be able to serve where I am serving and I hope that I don't lose my gratitude for it.

Even though I have only been in the area for a couple of days there have been many things that have happened. On the first day I arrived we went to the Visitor's Center with the Sanchez family. They are awesome! Sister Sanchez has a nephew who isn't a member of the church and has been investigating for a couple of weeks. In fact, he is going to be baptized this coming week, so it will be amazing to see progress right when I get here. They are from Guatemala and they clean houses for a living, so it is way sick to still have some contact with some Latins. The coolest thing about them, well it isn't really about them, is that they live with someone famous. Well for my era, not so famous but for my parents and their era she is famous. The Sanchez live with Tania Tucker. I don't know who she is but I've heard a lot about her and when I get back from the mission I'll have to listen to some of her tunes. For reals. They are a really cool family. Unfortunately, Carlos is going back to Guatemala at the end of the month since his visa is going to expire. Buzz kill I know but I do know that everything happens for a reason, so there is no need to fear. Man I'm so excited about this area. Everyone is so nice and is so much like the people back home and the dinners are DELICIOUS. They are true English food, of which I haven't had in forever. The other great news is that two days before Sunday we received a referral from the Visitor's Center Sisters for this guy named Mike. We didn't have any time to contact him throughout the week but we managed getting a hold of him on Saturday and he was excited to go to church the next day. We decided to meet at the Visitor's Center and walk over to the Westwood building which is on the same temple grounds. When we got there he was waiting for us, along with a Sister from the Visitor's Center. I think that was the first time that I have ever had someone come to church that easy and the cool thing was that the entire UCLA Student Ward was wanting to talk to them. After all, they are all return missionaries but it was amazing to see how fast they were to welcome him into the ward and make him feel comfortable. Mike, is not the hippest guy around the block; sort of geeky, and it was cool to witness how many were able to connect. It was really a testimony grower to see how strong the students in the ward were, in fellow shipping and in welcoming us as well, since we are both new in the ward. I love the area, for sure. I really hope that I die in this area (mission term) and am able to really serve at the best of my capabilities, even though they are not that influencing. On New Years we had a mission conference to start off the new year by reviewing Standards of Excellence that President Baker has established for the mission in the year to come. He was extremely excited, if I could say: a little too excited, about the year to come. The California Los Angeles Mission has been witnessing many miracles over the past year. We have witnessed 751 people come closer to our Heavenly Father through the ordinance of baptism, way more the Standards of Excellence had established for the past year. Thanks to our Heavenly Father our joy is full and we have put the cherry, which is meaningless, on the Hot Fudge Sunday. But I think the more important part of the New Years Conference was that of how we shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon after accomplishing the goal that President Baker had asked us to do. I finished about 11PM the night before but I saved the best for last. The book of Moroni is such a powerful book when we think of what was going through his mind at the time he was writing such a Holy writ. I cannot imagine how difficult it was for him to come up with such powerful words to describe his desire to help those who would read upon its pages for generations to come. One of the scriptures that really impacted me was verses 32 and 33 from the last chapter in the Book of Mormon. It says:

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."

These scriptures have given me great hope to know that I can become the same as my Heavenly Father: unspotted. I know that his grace is sufficient for those who earnestly seek after the thing that God has established here on the earth. There is great difference between love and law as Elder Oaks explained with such precision. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know it and I know that God does know His holy words, and I know more importantly that I cannot deny it. I hope that we start this upcoming year that we can really focous on the things that matter most and apply them in our lives. There is no greater call and no greater joy found in serving the Lord in His kingdom here on the earth.

I miss you all and love you too. Till next week.
Elder Leavell

Merry Christmas...oh and Happy New Year

2010-12-27T13:06:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR...well not yet the New Years part. But we can celebrate right now since I wont be on the computer that day. Anyways I hope that the Christmas spirit was with all of you this fine weekend. It was great to be in the service of the Lord while celebrating the greatest event that has happened on this planet. I'm so thankful for His life and sacrifice so that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. There is no greater gift that we can give than the gift of gratitude that we can show both of them in our prayers and in our actions. I'm just really thankful to be living during this time of the year. It was amazing to see everyone on Christmas Eve and Christmas having a smile on their face and everything was a little slower. We all need to smile, always, and to take a break once in awhile.

During this Christmas season I haven't really taken much thought to the normal things that many ponder about during this time. Such as: presents, shopping, dinner, and so on. It has been an interesting Christmas this year, where it seems like it's another day on the mission. Now I know some may say well that is a wrong mindset but as I have been reading the scriptures and pondering as to why, I'm thankful. Thankful to finally be in a position to be truly converted, in a sense, to the Lord and His work. To me everyday is Christmas, especially those days when people come closer to their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through baptism, a saving ordinance. We read in the book of 3 Nephi of how converted these people were, so converted in fact that the Savior, himself, said, "So great faith have I never seen among all the Jews; wherefore I could not show unto them so great miracles, because of their unbelief. Verily I say unto you, there are none of them that have seen so great things as ye have seen; neither have they heard so great thing as ye have heard." (3 Nephi 19:35-36). I have been so blessed on my mission and I'm thankful for each and every blessing that I have received, especially that of increase of faith. In the case of the Nephites they had such great faith that the Savior showed himself unto them, just as He did with the people of Israel. How great it is to know that He is the same with everyone and that He gives everyone the same opportunity to receive a witness of His divinity. In the last days, as Isaiah described, the church will be established and one of the counseling scriptures from Isaiah 54 says, "Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy youth..." As missionaries on the streets every day it is sometimes difficult to put of those who persist to mock but I know that they will receive their reward. How great the atonement is to all, both the righteous and those who have yet received that Heavenly gift. There is no greater power, nor feeling, than that of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

At the Christmas mission conference.

Christmas Eve dinner.

Making fire. Awesome.

Sister Parra and me.

Elder Hancock. The greatest Senior Missionary ever.

As far as everyone else, Walter and Cathalina are now official members of the Church. I had the opportunity to confirm them and do all that jazz. Other than that no one else is really progressing. Our area is really dead. We had to drop everyone since they were not progressing anywhere, so with a little bit of faith and patience I know that the Lord will provide us with more people that are ready to hear this everlasting gospel. I'm nervous though, not going to lie, since we will have to keep busy the entire day and can't tract. Come of find out that tracting is a blessing and I regret not taking advantage of it earlier. But luckily the works always goes on and never ceases so pray for us to find new people, somehow! But on Christmas, we went to the Millets and enjoyed Christmas with all the other ASL missionaries. It was great. We ate a lot, probably too much but that is ok. We made some blankets for the homeless children in the community as our community service project, too a long time but hey, it's Christmas.

I hope that you all have a safe and wonderful new year. Till next week.

Elder Leavell

Rain or Shine

2010-12-20T12:53:00.000-08:00

Well it's raining over here and I mean raining. It's been raining for the last couple days. We almost died come down from the mission home but everything is fine don't worry. It's amazing to witness the power of singing and prayer when in times of danger. I started singing (since my companion can't) and everything calmed down and I felt like everything would be ok. I love this gospel so much and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Despite the rain we have been so blessed and I think that this Christmas has been the greatest Christmas that I have ever had. I think that I have realized even more that this isn't about me but about you! There is great joy in serving and I don't think when the time gets closer that I will want to give this up.

On Tuesday Walter and Cathalina asked us to go to the court to get their marriage license. First off I didn't know you needed one to get married, so they found it very comical that I didn't know. After awhile I found it pretty comical but until then I was like, hey come on how should I know that? Haha. It took a long time so we were there talking and resolving some concerns that they had. On Wednesday we took Walter and Cathalina to the Visitor's Center where we heard the Calderons perform a concert. It was great. They did two languages at the same time, Spanish and ASL (they had an interpreter). After the concert we took a bunch of Christmas pictures next to all the lights and Nativity scene. It was awesome. It was like being a little kid in a candy store. Then the funniest thing happened, Annabel will kill me in a couple of years when she reads this, if she does, but hopefully by then she will find it comical. As we were taking pictures all of the sudden Annabel said she had to go to the bathroom and unfortunately the bathroom isn't that close to where we were. Yes, you can make the assumption and yes you are right. She didn't make it and what made things worse is that it wasn't number 1 but number 2. So that made everything very interesting but luckily it was a perfect time (if there could ever be such) since we had to leave. Haha Cathalina was a little mad at the situation but you can't get, just laugh at the things that happen to us in our daily lives. Yet again I wasn't the one who had to change her so who am I? On Friday I went on splits with Elder Cordy and we had a good time getting reacquainted. We finally contacted Juan Puentas, but we caught him at an awkward time. He was going to his son's funeral so we said hello and gave our condolences. But I think that the best part of the day was tracting. My goodness was it good to go out tracting and what made it better was that it was raining. Since we are in a car all day it was good to be outside and talk to people. Don't take talking for granted, it is a wonderful blessing. The people might have thought that I was a little over barring but it was totally out of excitement, I promise. But I think I will have to give the gold star to the weekend not the week days this week. We had to the wonderful opportunity to go to Walter and Cathalina's wedding. It was my first wedding on the mission so it made everything better. I'm so proud of them. The wedding was at Walter's aunts house and it was outside. It was pouring when we got their and we were a little worried but they had an awning and a blue tarp in the back. It was quaint. It was awesome I don't think that I could say anything else. Here are some pictures.

THE WEDDING!

Then the very next day it topped everything off with a cherry on top, it was their baptism! This is why I think that this is the very best Christmas that I have had ever. It was great to witness and perform the baptism, Juan Sr. baptized Cathalina. It was great. I'm so happy right now it's not even funny. For reals.

THE BAPTISM!

I hope that you all have a safe and wonderful Christmas. May the Lord bless you all with great joy and peace. Remember why we celebrate this wonderful season and you will be blessed. Living the gospel is more important than learning it. I know that to be very true. We must live what we teach. I hope that you all look to the Savior and have a wonderful Christmas. Oh thanks Mom and Dad for the hugge box that you sent. I haven't opened it yet, but I'm way excited. Love you and miss you all.

Elder Leavell

We Be Ballin & Recycling

2010-12-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

Another great opportunity all of you have to listen, well read, what I have to say. It's awesome huh? Haha. Anyways enough with the gloating, this week has been a good week for the most part but I think I'm even more excited for the week to come. There are going to be some many firsts this next week, so stay tuned till next week. Hope you are all doing well and that you are all enjoying life. Remember to smile, always.

Walter and Cathalina are doing great still. They are still on to get married on the 18th and baptized the next day, the 19th. We are all really excited for them and are hoping that everything goes smoothly that they can really enjoy a new life, per say at the commence of a new year. It is pretty noticeable that they are really nervous trying to get everything ready for this upcoming weekend, so we are trying to help as best as we can but we can only do so much. But I think the greatest news about them is not really about them but about their daughter, Janelle. She is almost 1 1/2 and so being away from mom during the rest of church hasn't been the easiest for her, but that finally changed this last Sunday. Noted, she did cry for about 15 minutes when her Mom dropped her off at the Nursery but it stopped, maybe she was just tired by then haha. Either way she started to enjoy it and then Mom and Dad stopped by the Nursery and once again she started crying. Luckily it was almost time to go by then but it was a great step forward for the little one. She does cry a lot, I must say. Oh and some other news. We have been collecting water bottles, cans, and glass bottles, over the past few months hoping to make some money for the wedding of Walter and Cathalina. We stuffed the trunk of our car, proud like no other only to be disappointed. We though for sure we would get at least $20 and we didn't even get half of it. Just $8. Haha. It was a first for me, never done that before. But I have to make one comment- To all of you who do that for a living, props, don't know how you do it haha. Seriously. Apart from that we don't really have any new investigators. It's really hard trying to find new investigators in the ASL program but I know that if we remain diligent and faithful that the Lord will supply us with more blessings and we will be more able to receive those blessings since we will be even more on the same page as Him. It has been a little difficult just driving around all day compared when I was on my bike and busy all day, every day. Makes me wish I hadn't taken that opportunity for granted and even more I never would have thought that I would love to go back on my bike. That is for sure. Jesus and Gilberto came to church again. Gilberto left right before we could talk with him, it was strange. Jesus is doing great. We took him to the Visitor's Center on Saturday. It was an adventure trying to find him, took about 30 minutes walking through The Grove which is a shopping center since there is about 5 Starbucks in a 1 mile square radius. Rediculous. The Visitor's Center went great. There were a ton of people there. Probably around 500 to 600 and there was a great feeling there. One of peace and love for one another. I had to interpret for Jesus and Elder Tritsch and we were there for about 3 hours. My head was hurting so bad after, it was hard for me to think. It was funny because everyone was staring at me since I had be infront and right next to Sisters translating but it was a really good experience for me, it showed me that I'm not that incapable anymore. Thanks to Elder Tritsch being deaf, it has put me in a position to sign and really practice. I'm very thankful for him. We haven't been able to get a hold of Juan Puentas after the funeral. We are pretty worried for him, especially since this is the second death in his family and he is a gangster. He has come a long way and the last thing that we need to happen is that he goes to the same place where his wife is, jail. I can't imagine how hard that would be to lose a child but I do know that we can receive healing through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Elder Kearon, Of the Seventy, said it best, "Not one of you has thrown away your last chance. You can change, you can come back, you can claim mercy. Come unto the only One who can heal, and you will find peace." I know that the atonement is real and that it can heal. I have seen and have felt the mercy and peace one finds after feeling a weight upon ones shoulders. It's awful and so not worth it. Satan has the knack to make sin look good but it is baloney. It is just like the scriptures say-hallow, burdensome, evil, brings chains upon us, and any other word like it. I have seen more and more how Heavenly Father looks at me when I make a mistake and veer off the path. It is so disappointing. Every time I think of making a mistake and even more when I make a mistake I think of the sorrow and sadness and especially the guilt that I have caused others to feel. It is terribly. I wish I could be like the Lamanites, from the Book of Mormon, who were converted by Alma and resist evil to the point that they had disposition to do no evil and "they buried their weapons of war" even when the Lamanites came to destroy them because of their faith. That is my wish for everyone, as it is my wish to become the same as they were, for they were truly Christ-like.

I want you all to know that I love being a missionary, I love sharing the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ with all those who live in the city of Los Angeles. We are "the angels" sent from our Heavenly Father to bring about His work "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" and all who hearken unto the message that we bear will receive blessings, even blessings that go into the eternities. I love the Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon. I know that they both testify of the divinity of the Savior, our all, and they witness unto us that He is the Christ. They have much power to bring the lives of others unto Christ, even us as missionaries. I know that there is a living prophet on the earth today. He is chosen by God to be a type of mouthpiece for the Almighty, another way that we, His children, may communicate and receive guidance for our lives. They witness of the divine as well. I know it for I have heard it. There is no greater joy that I have received than knowing, not only believing, that the atonement is real. His mercy and grace make us whole, when we exercise faith unto repentance and by diligently obeying the commandments to the best of our abilities. Our Heavenly Father has promised and bestowed much upon our individual heads to grant us all the gifts to walk through this mortal life and all we must do is look unto Him, just as the Jews did with the golden serpent. It truly is that simple, we must not be fooled to think that more is required.

I love you all, friends, family, and all those who may read this. I miss you all as well and hope nothing but the best for you. May the Lord guide you and remember to smile everyday and look at the glass half full not half empty. Till next week.

Elder Leavell

Gratitude is a Thankful Attitude

2010-12-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

Howdy there everyone? How has life been treating you? I hope that all you, whoever you may be who read this, are doing well and that you are seeing that the Lord is blessing all of you and will always bless you. This week we I have seen the Lord bless everyone we come in contact with and has allowed us to help those come closer unto Him through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Since transfers had happened it has been a little difficult for me to get acquainted with the people in our area, especially since we had barely done it last transfer. But we have managed to find a few more investigators and it has been great. Walter and Cathalina are doing awesome right now. They have FINALLY committed to get married on the 18th and baptized on the 19th. It was be sick! I'm so excited for them. We had the opportunity to have a FHE with them, along with the Calderons, and it went great. We had a lesson of family unity and it was great to see how even the married couple of many years struggled with some of the questions that should be known amongst each other. Here are the questions we asked them (see if you can get them all right):

Your companions:

Favorite color?
Birthday? Day, Month, Year
Favorite food?
Favorite kind of music?
Most embarassing moment?
Favorite sport?
Pet peeve?
Geekiest thing ever done?
Nasty habbit?
Favorite season?
Favorite basketball team?
Foundest childhood memory?
Biggest goal in life?
Thing they cherish most?
If could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Favorite sport?
If could have anything (material), what would it be?
Favorite kind of shoes?
Favorite clothing store?
Favorite grocery store?

The funny thing was that it created some debate and some contention but after talking it through it really proved to each couple that there is much work to do. We later played eating a brownie with no hands. It was hilarious and the best part is that I got it on video! Haha. They are doing great. A little overwhelmed right now since they have to plan a wedding but I know that they will be able to do it and it will be great. Now onto some more serious news. We went over to Juan Puentas house, an investigator that has been investigating for awhile now, and their house was packed when we pulled up. We walked up and everyone was wearing black, but that is how they are normally dressed, but it was for an actual reason this time. Juan's son got shot twice the day before. It was such a surprise to us. We had no idea what to say other than "sorry" and "I know that he is in a better place." I'm so thankful for the plan of salvation that has been revealed by our Heavenly Father and that everyone will get a fair opportunity to accpet or deny the gospel. There are so many things to worry about in this world and I'm so thankful that that doesn't have to be one of them. Of course, we have all encountered this event that happens to all of us but it really hits home when its someone that you knew from before.

Sorry this is short. Didn't have a lot of time this week. Hope all is well.

Elder Leavell

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

2010-11-29T14:30:00.000-08:00

I think I will have to say that this Thanksgiving was one of much thanksgiving. It was great to be with one of the families in our branch for Thanksgiving and the best part was that we had the opportunity to eat with all the other missionaries in the branch. The interesting thing was that transfers happened the day before Thanksgiving but from what I just said I kind of gave it away. Oh well. I'm still in the ASL program with Elder Tritsch. There is a difference though and that is that we now have 3 areas in the program and they brought Elder Cordy back for the rest of his mission, I would suppose.

Anywho...the week went by really slow. We didn't really make much progress with anyone, except for Walter and Cathalina who are still kicking, which is a good thing. They are still doing great, continuing to read the Book of Mormon, as well as the Bible. But I think that this week I think it finally sank in that they were breaking a commandment. I had asked them to read Alma 5, which talks about how "heaven is at hand" and all that jazz. They didn't read it. So, unfortunately, I had to give a strong lesson about how urgent the message we have for the world to share. I shared a story from the Old Testament, specifically the book of Numbers 13 and 14, and of course it had to be about the Jews. Well to make the story short, at this point the Jews had seen countless miracles, the Red Sea being split, the plagues, the magical bread that appeared, the rock spouting water, and had heard the voice of the Lord numerous times. One would only think that by this time they would finally get the picture that whatever Moses had told them was from the Lord himself. Sadly, they hadn't. Because of the position that Moses held, being a prophet, many filled with pride decided along the way to continuous create a ruckus to make the work of Moses even more difficult. In Numbers 13, the journey in the wilderness could have been over, if and only, they would have trusted the words that Moses spoke to them that were from the Lord. The Lord had revealed to him that the land of Canaan would be theirs and that it would bear much fruit, in fact, 12 men from the 12 different tribes would be the first to attest to that being they were commanded to go search the land. What amazes me the most is that they had been given everything, literally everything that they needed, to prosper and were given power from on high to conquer any obstacle to was set before them. The Lord tested them in this certain aspect, seeing that the land of Canaan was ruled by the Canaanites, who had developed a great city at this point in time. Instead of rallying up the troops, they whimpered, complained, and even tried to kick out the presiding authority, Moses and Aaron, because they felt it would be better for them to go back to Egypt. That is when Moses and Aaron did one of the most selfless things that they could do, they cried unto their Heavenly Father and offered a prayer, even a mighty prayer, to obtain mercy from the Lord because of their stubbornness and unwillingness to do and accept. The Lord did reveal His mercy unto the people but faced some certain circumstances, of which would leave them in the wilderness for a longer time. In fact, everyone above the age of 20 would not see the land of promise and the Lord swallowed up the 10 of the 12 of the search party for claiming that the Canaanites were great and mighty, instead of telling the truth. I'm so thankful for the scriptures and the many lessons it contains. I'm so thankful that the Lord finds mercy on us, His children to partake of the heavenly gift of eternal life, upon our faithfulness. Grace is a wonderful that all the prophets of old and new testify and witness, for they, along with us have experienced it and will continually to feel is bounteous hand. But what I'm most thankful for is that we have a living prophet today, of whom we, as representatives of Jesus Christ, testify of because, just as in times of old, there are prophets here on the earth that guide the way back to our Heavenly Father. It is not relying on his hand that we rely on, for that would be most abominable of all; for flesh is corrupt, but we trust the One on High because He continually guides us the same way in the times of old, for He never changes. Prophets are part of His plan, I know that to be true. They are witnesses of the only Begotten and the Father we beseech continually all day and ever day, even our Father in Heaven. I know that He exhorts us to ask for such knowledge, for it is true, but just as the Jews were unwilling, the unwilling will not ask as well and will not receive such knowledge because they have no contrite spirit or broken heart. Only the meek and the humble received the message of the Savior and that still remains true today. Satan would want us to think that prayer will not help but that is a lie. We are always worthy to communicate with our Heavenly Father. I'm so thankful, especially during this Thanksgiving week for the blessing of knowing, not just believing, that He lives and that He is real. There is no greater power or feeling that can be received when we feel of the atonement of the Only Begotten.

The good thing was that Walter and Cathalina finally read by the next time we visited them and the more amazing part is that when we were discussing Alma 5, Walter was thinking a ton and said "We need to get married and baptized." I know that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and testified to him that these things are real and are of great importance. I know that it wasn't my words but the words of the Lord that brought forth a mighty change of heart. We also had the opportunity to take them to the Visitor's Center to watch the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie and they loved it. I know that when Walter's mom comes into town tomorrow that they will make the necessary decisions to do what is right. I pray that they will. Other than that we don't have anyone that we are working with.

I hope that all of you had a splendid Thanksgiving week and that you counted all your blessings. I love you all and miss you too. I'll try and send some pictures soon.

Elder Leavell

Three Languages in One Lesson...IT CAN BE DONE!

2010-11-22T13:32:00.000-08:00

Howdy there partners? How has life been treating all of you? Over here in California we have lovely blue skies (just like Vegas skies without the heat) with little to no clouds. But for some greater news, we had some football action in our mission's Turkey Bowl today. It was fun getting to see everyone from the other zones but it was even funner feeling the intensity of a football game. Our Zone won both of the games making us the champions of the Turkey Bowl in our region, so we be ballin. Anyways there isn't too much to report since I was on the computer just this last Wednesday but some interesting things have happened in this short period of time.

Once again we had a Mission Training on Friday from 9AM to 3PM and every time we go to those meetings they kill me. But it was still none the less a good meeting where I learned how to better help the people of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, it takes up the whole day pretty much so not a whole lot can happen on those days. Anyways we went to go visit Vitaly, a recent convert, that got baptized before I got in the area. He's great. Very funny and outgoing for a deaf person. The only bad party is where he lives, West Hollywood. As we were leaving we went down Santa Monica Blvd and that is where Sodom and Gomorrah is pretty well established. Saw some gay clubs and that was, well, not cool. But that is why we are here to help people come to know that there is a greater happiness found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Glad to know what my purpose is-to help people be better. The cool thing about that day though wasn't even the lessons we taught but the progression that was made with two of the coolest investigators that we are teaching right now, Walter and Cathalina. I think that I fell more in love with Walter and Cathalina that day. Since they wanted postpone their wedding till after the New Year, we took the opportunity to invite them to fast so that they could receive a testimony that it works. We told them that we would fast lunch and dinner on Friday and that we would all get on our knees at 12 (noon) on the dot so that we could start the fast. I called them to remind them about the fast and they told me that they were "pigging out" before so that Cathalina could make "milk" (Walter's comment haha) to feed the kids. So then we started. Later on that night the text us, "Elder Leavell we r sorry but we cant keep up with the fasting cuzz we are really hungry is it possible that we could close the fasting." After talking things through they then said, "By the time we end please have something for us to eat will stay strong." At this point I was pretty content and left things at that then suddenly I got a text saying "No!!! "I'm hungry"' haha so I called them to see what was up and that is when they told me the coolest thing ever. They said that they were driving when it hit noon and that they remembered the commitment they had made, so they pulled over and kneeled inside the car and offered a prayer to start the fast! How cool is that?! I was so excited and proud of them for taking the courage to test the law of fasting so they could receive an answer to their prayers and concerns for themselves. I know that if we were to all show this great amount of faith that the gates of heaven will open and I know that they have been opened for them because of their faithfulness. It was so awesome to hear that and I know that when a missionary hears those words that it makes their day. Then the next day before the Thanksgiving party with the Deaf Branch, Elder Western and I took the opportunity to teach them and share our thoughts about what had happened the day before. It went really well, despite the lack of planning and how we are not companions. We listened to the talk given by President Monson (you should all listen to it!) during General Conference called "The Three R's of Choice." After listening to the talk we asked them what they had felt during the fast and what they feel they should do about the wedding date. Ending up saying that they still didn't know but I felt like they did. So I told them, just like from the story from that talk, "Why are you so worried? You already know what the answer is." They looked at each other and said that they felt that Walter's mother should be there. Wish they would have told me that before but I'm glad that it came out. We committed them to ask her when she would be back and so forth, they agreed. The Thanksgiving party went great, about 70 people showed up. I was hanging out with Walter and Cathalina the entire time and we had a good time. We ate so much! At least I did, but I think that the food tasted a whole lot better since I had fasted for a full day. So worth it though.

Then for the mother load of all lessons. The reason for the title. On Saturday we went to go visit Olswando and his family. They are so awesome but OH MY GOODNESS was my head hurting after the lesson. The parents speak Spanish, the kids understand English better, and Olswando is hard-of-hearing. It was the awesomeist lesson ever though! We taught them about the Restoration and the Dad was crying by the end and said that he would do everything in his power to get his family to church the following Sunday, since he had prior arrangements this Sunday. They are so great! At the beginning they were saying how they were Catholic but then when the spirit came into the room everything changed. I know that we are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we bear the Holy message that would wish to bestow to all. I love serving a mission and I wish I could do this forever, but I can't.

The coolest thing happened at Church though. Two new people that we had never seen walked into church and sat down. Gilberto and Jesus. They are so awesome, partially because they are Latin but, also, because they just walked in. It's amazing how the Lord blesses us because of our work and obedience, but most of all because of our faith that He will provide. I'm so amazed at how this is a true principle in the gospel of Jesus Christ of whom the Bible and the Book of Mormon testify of. It's so amazing to see all the references to the Savior, the Redeemer, and the Almighty in Holy writ. I know with all my heart that those books witness of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and profess to the world, as do we, that the only that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father, of whom the Savior has fulfilled His will, is through Jesus Christ and His atonement for all mankind. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ, a message of hope to all. I love this gospel and I love that I have the blessed opportunity to serve Him, the Almighty. May the Lord bless you all and all your endeavors. I love and miss you all. Till Next week.

Elder Leavell

P.S. Thanks for all the letters everyone. Keep the coming!

Roller Coaster is my Favorite Ride

2010-11-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

As missionaries, we get used to many things-getting yelled at to our face everyday, cursed at, people missing appointments, but I think that one of the things that I still haven't been able to get used to is when investigators drop us. It stinks and is so frustrating! And I really do think that I will never be able to get used to it. But I'm so glad to be doing what I'm doing, I think I have really gotten to understand how Heavenly Father feels of me when I make the silly mistakes that I know are wrong and yet I still do them. It is always a joy to be in the service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and when we have investigators that are progressing it makes things even better. WAY BETTER! I hope that all of you are doing mighty fine on this wonderful Wednesday, over here in California it's warm and in some place it's sunny, so I would say that it is a might fine day.

A lot has happened over the past week, we had Zone Conference and we had our mission trainings all in the same week. It was a killer but I have learned so much. The Zone Conference that we had was mainly based on improving ourselves so that we can improve the work and being devoted with the "heart." Unfortunately I didn't get much out of it because I had to translate most of the thing, so my brain didn't really have time or the strength to really captivate what was really happening but I was informed later that there was some big changes in the mission. One of them was that the "Greenie Binder" or however we called it is out the window. The only book of rules that we have is the "White Handbook," which puts a little more pressure on us since we will have to use our discretion of what is truly OK or what is not, but I think that it will help us grow as missionaries so that we can have the ultimate goal of being exactingly obedient. Also, all the missionaries are getting texting, WOO WOO! Yeah I already had that since I can't really get in contact with the people we are working with by calling them. None the less, I did feel the spirit, despite the extra task that I had to do, during Zone Conference. It was great getting to see some of the old missionaries that I knew and seeing how they have been doing. Oh and I almost forgot, the best part! We have another mission challenge to read the Book of Mormon before the end of the New Year. Not going to lie, I was sort of bummed (at first) because I had already started it and was in 2 Nephi but as I really humbled myself and thought of it as a great opportunity, my joy and diligence to read has increased so much. I'm already caught up to where I was in about 7 days. But I would like to extend that challenge to all of you, as well. I know that if we really read, ponder, and pray about the words that it contains that we will find joy in rejoicing and find a greater faith that can help us, especially during these troublesome times that are affecting many at this time. And I have total confidence that all of you can do it, you have way more time than us, missionaries, to read, since we only get about an hour a day to read. It will be a cinch for all of you!

For the bad news, Noe dropped us yesterday. We were going to take him to the Visitor's Center to show him everything that we believe in a visual manner. He didn't want to go and didn't really want to talk to us, it was weird. He said that he had been reading from the Book of Mormon and that he had felt good when he had read. Said that it pretty much has the same things in the Bible, just with different people (well...yeah). I got really excited and asked him how his prayer went. He didn't pray. Then the weirdest thing happened, the mood of the conversation just changed. He started getting mad when I was asking what he was going to do for his day off and about how his week went, when normally he is pretty open about that. We ended up dropping him because he said he didn't want us to come back next week. I know that something happened and I don't know what but I know that he knows that he was doing the right thing. He might not be ready right now, but I know that someday he will. He had already received so many blessings since the time he had started talk with us. He got two jobs that he had been praying for to support his family and he noticed that his stress level had decreased a lot. I know that the only thing that can do that is our Heavenly Father and that he was watching him and blessing him to see that what he was doing was of good worth. I know it to be so true, it always happens when we first start talking to people but just as in the times of old, many lose sight of why they receive those blessings and fall away because they feel they have done enough. It is totally the opposite, it just is telling us of how many more blessings are to come if they are willing to accept and walk in the footsteps of the wonderful Master, Jesus Christ. Walter and Cathalina, on the other hand, were doing great but since of yesterday we hit another road block. We took them to the Visitor's Center with the Calderons (the spanish missionaires in the Branch) and the Juan Guzman Sr. and Jr. It went great! I love that place. It's awesome, their is a great and powerful spirit there when people are ready. We talked about how important the temple was but, even more, how important the Savior is in everything since everything in this Church is centered on Him. Without Him the temple would be of no worth and families would have no way to sealed for time and all eternity. They were asking a lot of questions, as to why and how and the Sister who helped us did a wonderful job explaining and really helping to them to understand. There is a reason why Sisters serve in Visitor's Centers and not Elders. We sat down in one of the small rooms and watched some videos and then commited them to married. It was one of the most powerful lessons of the week. They sat there and said yes, the 27th sounds great for married and the 5th for baptism. We can do it. I was so pumped that day. I couldn't fall asleep just like a boy in a candy store. For reals. Probably had the biggest smile too. Ha. Funny thing happened at the Visitor's Center, their little daughter was running away, trying to get out of the room and ran straight into the glass wall, fell on the ground, waited 5 seconds and then started screaming. I felt bad for laughing but it was the cutest and funniest thing. Like one of those things that happens on American's Funniest Home Videos haha. Anyways. Then Tuesday came. I asked them how their prayers had gone and if they had felt that they had received an answer. They smiled like I hadn't seen them before, especially Walter, and said yes. But then I later found out that they had changed their minds and said that they wanted to wait for Walter's mom to get back from out of town and that she wanted a dress. The interesting thing was that we had planned a lesson on sacrifice for that day and it went perfectly together. We read them the story from President Monson's General Conference talk about the family who was grateful for thanksgiving. They loved it and got really excited about what some of the things that they could give up to be better and serve the Lord. At first they didn't get it but we decided that would fast on Friday to really know if that was the decision that our Heavenly Father would approve of. They are just great. Pray for them if you get the time.

Today we had the great opportunity to go to the temple. It was great. I love that place, there is nothing like it. I wish I could honestly live there. I'm so glad we have the opportunity to go as missionaries. It is a true blessing.

I love you all and hope that everything is going well with all of you. Miss you tons too! Till next week!

Elder Leavell

An Attitude of Prayer

2010-11-08T13:24:00.000-08:00

On this mighty fine day in California you all have the opportunity to hear from me! What a great opportunity huh? Haha. It have been a pretty good week. Had some great lessons with a ton of Spanish people, yes I know it should be with the deaf but hey I can't do both at the same time. How are all of you doing though? I got a ton of mail this week, it was legit! Thanks everyone, all I want to say is: Keep it coming! It was great to hear from all of you and I will for sure make some time to respond so no worries.

Well, where do I start? We had another Missionary Training Meeting that lasted forever. Those meetings go from 9AM to 3PM and they can be so long sometimes but I'm so thankful for them. I think they are helping me become better than they are helping me help others. I have learned so much about where I can improve and that is a blessings since it sometimes always seems like a daunting task. During the trainings we learned of the importance of prayer and the Book of Mormon. It was mainly focused on how we can help others to come to the same knowledge that we have obtained and how we can help them help themselves, but that is when President Baker pointed out something that was very interesting. As we were discussing how to encourage people to pray, we came to the conclusion that we hadn't really been teaching them the importance of it (that being one of the main purposes of the trainings); therefore, they had no "pull" per say to get on their knees and pray. Then President Baker made one shore comment, he said "They don't do it because we don't know the importance." I think that comment hit us all pretty hard because their was a silence in the room and, at least for me, I was thinking about how true that was in my life. We all committed to do better. Then the second half of the meeting was about the Book of Mormon. The First Presidency has asked all of us, being all missionaries, to go through these trainings to help the work progress faster, and we have already seen the fruits of the call. Our mission last year, so October 2008 to October 2009, baptized around 350 people, then this year, so October 2009 to October 2010, our mission has baptized over 650 people. The Mission Presidents were counseled to give us tid bits of these trainings before but now we are diving into them and they are a great blessing. Just as with prayer, I have learned the great importance of reading the scriptures and how we can truly receive personal revelation to our problems and find answers that our from our Heavenly Father through such sources. I have seen that so much on our mission but I think I have learned it in a higher degree and I'm hopeful that we, as missionaries, will be able to share our knowledge and testimony because of the great importance it has on our lives and convey it to others so that they may receive such witness as well. I'm excited, even though we have already had these meetings before, for the ones in the upcoming weeks. They are long but worth it in my point of view. It's not just training us for the now but for the future as well and there isn't a price tag to that.

As far as the lessons have gone, we have only had a few good ones. I'm too hard on myself. Haha. I invited Elder Franson, our District Leader, and Elder Myers, his companion, to a lesson with Noe. He still hadn't read what we had given him and it was rather disappointing. I was so excited for him and it sort of killed it when he chose not to. We then taught a lesson on prayer. I think that was one of the best lessons I had been in about prayer. We did not speak about anything more or less, just the principle of prayer. We invited him to give the opening prayer, he accepted. We then asked him why he didn't do what we had invited him to do and he said that "I only believe in the Bible." He then said that he has always relied on its consoling power and has found great comfort that. And that is when I remembered on of the scriptures from the Book of Mormon. It says: "And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray. But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul." (2 Nephi 32:8-9). We focused on the part where it says that "the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray." How true is that? I know that our Heavenly Father would prefer us to ask a wrong question than to not ask Him at all. He is all-knowing, omnipotent, the almighty, and never-changing. He has said many times in the scriptures to pray daily and to hearken unto His word, therefore, he will always tell us to pray, no matter if we are asking a question that should not be asked. We expressed this to Noe and told him that our Heavenly Father will never get mad for asking if something were of His, infact, he would bless us. Afterall, the only condition is if we ask in faith as it says in James 1:5. He accepted to read and pray and hopefully he will do it this time.

On Saturday, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the temple and do the work for a deceased person. It has been awhile since I had last been but the same calm, peaceful spirit was definitely the same one that I remember. I know that it is His house and that it's a house of prayer. I would wish that everyone could walk on these sacred grounds to feel of that edifying spirit. I have found great guidance in just sitting and thinking of nothing but the things that the Lord would want me to do. I'm so thankful for those tender mercies that have come through the temple and I'm so thankful to have them here on the earth to be a beacon of light to look forward to. On that same day, I had the opportunity to go to Francisca's baptism. It was great! I can't believe that the whole family is baptized, except for the older siblings. It will be such a great miracle to see them go through the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. It was great seeing the old ward I had served in, it's always great to see familiar faces.

I want to let you all know that I love you all. You are all such a great support, especially you Mom & Dad. I know I couldn't have done this without you. The way you raised me and the way you have supported me along the way. I love you all so much and miss you a lot. I hope that the Lord may encircle you with all His tender mercies. Till next week.

Elder Leavell

Could I say "Happy Halloween"?

2010-11-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

Well I hope that all of you had a splendid time this week, as well, as enjoying all the festivities that come along with the wonderful holiday of Halloween. It is always nice to be a missionary on these holidays, I mean who wouldn't want to stay at home all night, having consistent knocks at the door with trick or treaters? I know I would haha. NOT. It was all good though. We entertained ourselves for sure haha.

This week was an interesting week because we had a bunch of meetings. Remember when I had those two weeks of just meetings the entire day? Well they are back again but luckily this time they are a little more spread out and so it's not as hard on the brain, if you know what I mean. That leads me to an interesting story. So on Friday we had the meeting and our car had to be taken to PepBoyz (never go there by the way) to get the brakes changed. We had the bright idea to leave it there before the meeting, which started at 9AM, since they always seem to take forever doing something. Well when the meeting was finally over, around 3PM, and we headed back to where we lived, we stopped by PepBoyz, around 4PM, and well the statement still stands "they take forever to do something." We got there and the car was still lifted with the wheels off the car and they told me that they couldn't find anything and asked me if I could find something. I told them "well, if my companion, who is deaf, can feel that the brakes are having a problem, I think that it would be safe to say that there is a big problem." True story. Anyways, we took it for a test drive where they magically discovered the problem, since a car has a mind of it's own. I didn't get mad but it was WAY frustrating. We left and that was that. The manager found out and said that if we went back on Thursday that he would do it himself and change the whole thing with the brakes. If I could have any complaints with having a car that would be one of them-PepBoyz runs. As far as our investigators go. They are moving, slowly, but moving. We had an amazing lesson with Noe last Tuesday. We talked to him about the restoration and how it can bless our lives. He had a bunch of questions but he was excited to hear what we had to say. He was surprised that we had a lot in common and that we had the same basic beliefs-Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, the Bible is the word of God, and that our goal here in life is to learn to become better. It's amazing how things work out huh? The best part is that we finally contacted his neighbor, Lilia, who is deaf! I was so happy when we finally got a hold of her! She is soooo nice and so willing to come to church if she didn't have to work. It's really a bummer living in the economic times since it is really a big issue for some people who can't survive if they don't work. But I think that there have always been ways that have tested the faith of many, even members to continue following the commandments of our Heavenly Father. It's only a matter of, will we do it or will we not? That is where agency comes in and that is what I hate because I know that following the commandments of our Heavenly Father ALWAYS will bring happiness and I wish I could force people to do it so that they can experience it. But yet again that is what Satan did and look how he ended up...I'll pass haha. Enough with the ranting. The Guzman family came to church yesterday and so did Johnathon. It was awesome. We missed the first half of sacrament meeting, since we had to go pick him up but he seemed to enjoy it because he was participating and talking a bunch. It was sick. Walter and Cathalina didn't go to church so we will have to go talk to them about that. Tisk tisk haha. Oh and we contacted another deaf person that hadn't had any luck with yet. His name is Moises, so Moses in English. He is hard of hearing and way cool. He goes to the same high school as Juan Jr. so hopefully we will be able to get his whole family to church as well. Gets really distracted though. Yet again so do all of the deaf people. Well I'm wrong. They just tune out after awhile and go into their own world. Sometimes I have wondered what is like. Random ahh I'm turning into them! :)

So for Halloween we celebrated it twice. On Saturday we had a tri-ward "Trunk or Treat" it was awesome. The best part was seeing Tracy, Dalton, Alysha. Forgot how much I missed them. They are doing well and being them cool-selves. Can't complain. We were there for a couple of hours. My companion went trick or treating at the "Trunk or Treat" and all the members came up to me asking why he was doing it and simply said "I don't know, he is Elder Tritsch" haha. We would call it a deaf-ism. They are pretty funny. We helped set up and do all that jazz. It was freaking cold though. I thought I was going to die but after awhile I didn't feel it, probably because I was numb. Oh well. I'm not sick so that is good. Then on Sunday we went to the ASL South apartment for dinner. It was legit. Elder Hadlock blessed us with his cooking skills so we ate well. It was fun being with all of them since we are always together anyways haha.

The gang with Alysha's boy

Elder Western, Elder Van Dam (who likes mustard), Elder Hadlock, & Elder Tritsch

Well this week has been fun. I'm glad that I have the blessed opportunity to serve a mission. It is a true blessing from my Heavenly Father. It's weird to think that it's right around the corner when I go home. I love you all and miss you too! SEND ME SOME LETTERS! and I will love you more! For reals though. Letters are awesome. If you read this I expect a letter ;) Alright well hope you have an awesome week next week and may the blessings of the Lord be in abundance.

Elder Leavell

Lady from Switzerland

2010-10-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the city of Los Angeles! How are you all doing? Hope life has been just splendid and not as eventful as our past week has been. Amazing how things turn out in the mission field. I'm pretty sure I won't have the same experiences that I will have here, granted I know that I will do my very best not to live in the Los Angeles County, but, in general, things here are out of the ordinary.

Where do I begin...well as you all know I'm in the ASL program again and that means teaching deaf people. That is not so, in my case. I have been blessed with the wonderful opportunity to have an additional calling, within my calling, and that is to teach in Spanish. It's awesome. Since many of the deaf live with their families who are hearing, the branch has the responsibility to care for them as well, and being in Los Angeles the likelihood of having them be Latin is about 99.9% haha. It makes an interesting chemistry between my companion and I because I don't end up signing with the deaf, but instead I talk with the family members and help them come closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. It has been taking some time to be getting used to, and it is still a work in progress, because we both feel the burden since I can't help him a lot and he can't either, but I know that the Lord will bless us with the ability to create a system where we can be patient and willing to serve the Lord with everything we have. Interestingly enough, five out the seven progressing investigators that we have are hearing, so I feel for Elder Tritsch since he doesn't know what is going on. Pray for him that he may gain that addition strength to endure. Alright, as far as the investigators go I would like to first start off with this guy we found trying to contact this deaf lady, Lilia. His name is Noe and is from El Salvador. He is way legit and it was interesting how we found him. As we were trying to contact the deaf lady, who ended not being home, this kid started talking with us saying that he was a member but hadn't gone to church in awhile. As we were talking, Noe showed up and the kid told us that he was the husband of Lilia's cousin so maybe he could help us contact them because we heard the tv. We asked him to help us out, so he went through the back way and got a hold of them. We talked to Lilia's husband and found out that she wasn't home, so we left. As we were leaving, I felt really strongly that I had to go back and talk with Noe. It was weird, but I knew that I had to. We talked to him and set up a return appointment for the next week. Next week came around and he opened up, and started talking about everything that he believed and everything that he had gone through, it was cool, said that he was a prankster back in the day but when he found the gopsel he changed. We walked around to a restaurant and got a drink (never done that before) and started talking about the church and it was a really good lesson. We left him a Restoration pamphlet and Book of Mormon, he called us a couple days ago saying "I have been reading and I like it." I told him that he needed to pray because that is the only way that we can know that this is true and the only way that we can follow what our Heavenly Father wants, otherwise, we won't make it in the long run. Something simple when all the sudden he said "I haven't been baptized, I probably should do that huh?" That took me back but I told him that he first needed his answer and we would go from there. I'm so excited for him. Hopefully he will do whatever is necessary, only thing is that he works on Sunday. The other investigators we have are members of the Guzman family. It's Juan Sr.'s daughter, Cathalina, and her boyfriend, Walter, that have baptismal dates for the 28th. They came to church this past Sunday and it was cool to see them there. They were absorbing everything and luckily we have the privalege to teach them now, since the Zone Leaders gave them to us since I speak spanish. We haven't had a lesson with them yet but they are investigators of ours, so I'm excited for their progress. Other than that there aren't a lot of people. For some reason we haven't been able to contact anyone and it really has been a major bummer. None of the deaf people are ever home when they are usually always home. Goodness. Sometimes I wish agency wasn't a part of the picture but thank God for it! It's alright, it how we learn and progress. It's still a bummer sometimes. Haha.

Now you are all probably wondering about the title that I put and how it pertains to anything in missionary work. Well here is your answer. We were visiting a recent convert, Vitaly, in West Hollywood and couldn't go home for dinner since it was heck of far way so we ate at Chipotle. Thanks Mom & Dad. Well as we were leaving the parking lot, waiting to for the security, this lady in a Mini Cooper ran into us! Not only did she do that but she still was putting the medal to the pedal and moving our car towards the other car. Luckily, we didn't (we were about an inch away from the other car) but now the whole back of the car is messed up. She ended up being from Switzerland, here visiting, but she looked like she had one too many plastic surgeries. To imagine her face, put your hands on the side of your face and pull. Yeah that bad. It was rediculous. Freak. I was pretty mad. Never been in an accident on my mission and I promised myself I wouldn't! Luckily no one was hurt, except for my pride, maybe.

I would like to end with an experience that I was blessed to witness, for I know that it was truly a miracle. We couldn't get into this apartment complex where a member lives and we really needed to get a hold of him, so we decided to pray. Never really done that because well, yeah don't know I guess I was stupid but I know that there is no excuse now. We prayed, outside the door, that someone would come to help open the door for us so we could contact the member and as we were saying (signing) "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" a man walked up to the door and let us in. I was really in shock, don't know why, but now looking back I'm so very thankful for my Heavenly Father and everything that he has given me to know that this is the Church, the Church that is His and that he blesses us through our obedience to the commandments and are willingness to serve. I'm so thankful that He answers prayers and that He has taken the responsibility to do so and given everything else to His son Jesus Christ to tend to, so that he can focus on our prayers. It truly is a tender mercy of His. I know that it is true and that it works, I know we will get an answer either way. I love it.

I love you all and wish the greatest amount of blessings upon all of you. May the Lord bless you with gratitude for everything you have, I know that it is the greatest virtue of them all. Love and miss you.

Elder Leavell

Another Round

2010-10-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

How are all of you doing on this marvelous evening? It's been great hearing from all of you, well from some of you. I think that my mailbox has been a little empty. So if you could fill it up for me that would be great! Anyways things have been going great, you are probably wondering where I got transferred to so I'll let you know where I went with a clue...it's somewhere that I have been before...I have a big area...and a car...it's the ASL program. Haha that was fun. Yeah I'm back and my new companion is Elder Tritch. He is from Las Vegas, well Henderson, so not really and he is deaf. It's been quiet over the past few days and I'm not going to lie, I'm not quite used to it but I'm sure I will over time by going insane haha. That is what Elder Franco told me, and the District Leader has told me that too, that Elder Franco was going insane and having weird experiences like talking to himself. Gosh I hope that doesn't happen to me haha. Elder Tritch is pretty cool so I can't complain.

Anyways moving onto some other things. My last day in the area was a really "bucket" meaning lazy, unproductive, and whatever the words that go along with those lines. It was like that because I wanted to go say goodbye to all of the families that I was really close with and so that took up the entire day. It was way fun. I wish that all days could be like that, but if that happened the work wouldn't go anywhere and we would only be visitng them because there wouldn't be any new members haha. So this weekly email is going to be a little different. I'm going to put up some pictures and then talk about them for a little. Hope that is ok.

Bishop Alvarez and his family. One of the most centered families, even with all the chaos.
Anthony Martinez. Solid convert. Enough said.

The Morales family. Love them. They are going to do great.

The Diaz family.

The Camachos. Crazy! They are all about the parties. For reals. If there

But I think that the most amazing experience that I think I will ever have on my mission, happened on Friday. I had the opportunity to go to the Visitor Center Dedication with the Morales family. OH MY GOSH! Elder Nelson came down to dedicate the building and it was awesome. I had to translate for Elder Tritch but it was all good, I wasn't too distracted because I could still feel the spirit like no other, it was WAY strong there. Reverend Jackson came to represent the City of Los Angeles and he was an interesting speaker, to say the least. The other cool thing was that some Monks came and some Islamic people came, not to sound racist here (that is not what I mean by what I'm going to day) but their clothing was the only way that I could tell. When Elder Nelson was dedicating the Visitor Center, as I said, the spirit was so strong, it was nuts. His prayer was amazing and you could just tell he was one that had authority from our Heavenly Father. In other words, you could just tell and feel that he is an apostle of the Lord. Afterwards, he stayed for awhile and was talking with everyone, so naturally I went up. I shook his hand AND took a picture with him! Yeah you know you are jealous! If not, well don't know what to tell you. It was a great experience, one that I will never forget. It only solidified my testimony, even more, that this church is the Church of Jesus Christ and that I'm doing the right thing.

As far as the ASL program, I'm a little overwhelmed. It's changed a lot since I was last in the program but I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve wherever the President needs me. It's a wonderful blessing. Everyone is joking around here saying that I need to learn Korean so that I can go to any program in the mission haha. PSYCH! We have a lot of work but what I have learned from the times that I have "flushed" an area is that I can't take everyone in at the same time, otherwise, I'll end up loosing everyone. It was interesting still seeing all the people that I knew in the Gardena Ward. It was a little bad because they kept walking into the sacrament meeting and so I had to walk out and talk with all of them. All, in all, it was a great to see all of them. The program is growing so that is good but the work is still the same: driving all day, that's a bummer sometimes.

I love you all. Send me some letters. That would be great. Hope that you are all doing well and are enjoying what you are doing. That is key. Take care and hope to hear from you soon.

Elder Leavell

Never Look Back

2010-10-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

The wonders of the mission never cease to surprise me. I can't believe that another transfer has gone by and that I'm that much closer to the end of my mission. Everyone is rubbing in how much time I don't have left and well...I still have 8 months left, members are always funny haha. Anyways hope that you all have enjoyed this past week and have found hidden blessings in your lives. I have done that and it has helped me get through some of the difficult times that occur on the mission.

The week started off a little slow, didn't have much to do because everyone that we had visited had been visited often last week. We did some tracting and found a guy named Carlos. He seemed to be promising when we first met him. He likes Joel Osteen a lot, says that he watches him on TV more than he goes to church. We set up an appointment with him for the following day to do some service for him, he ended up not being there. It was WAY discouraging because that summarizes Pen Zone and it really has been really hard to get anything going in my area. Luckily, we had some good appointments the rest of the day with the Camachos and the Morales. The Camachos are always the same, rowdy and wild. It's fun to be with them because y make it feel like I'm at home even though I'm not. Then the Morales are the same. Home. It's so great to see how much they have progressed as a family. I guess from what Moro had told me, Gerardo has been helping around the house a lot and has been motivating his wife to get baptized. It's really amazing to see how the gospel does change lives and it impacts people in such a way that it is almost instantaneous. Last Sunday, I forgot to mention, he said that it was all because the example of his son and how he changed his life for the better and didn't end up like his cousins who are now cholos and doing drugs everyday. I'm so proud of him and I hope that they know that I love them all so much and I'm very grateful to see that example, it really has helped me remember what I'm here for. Funny story/amazing story: on Sunday, of course, was the confirmation of Gerardo, he came in a suit for the very first time and was looking like any of the other members (everyone was saying afterwards, that they confused him for someone who was a leader in the church haha how sick is that?). He sat down and you could tell he was way nervous but he did just fine. I told him, after he asked what he had to do, was to sit down and listen-listen to the spirit and listen to the words of the confirmation. The funny thing was that I didn't think that I was going to do and after some debate on the stand the Bishop told me that he couldn't and that I was going to do it. I was so scared! I had never confirmed someone into the church and I didn't remember all the words that I had to say but the coolest thing happened. Literally, the words were put in my mouth. I think that it was the first time that I have ever experienced that, at least me noticing. I'm so thankful for my Heavenly Father for blessing me with that blessing, I know that I hadn't covered anything of the manner and I knew I couldn't do it without his help. Gosh, it's amazing to see the gospel in action, even though we are not always worthy, feel worthy, to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I'm truly in aww still and am so happy. Anyways, the rest of the week we helped with homework. Think I did two English essays, of which were college level, and apparently the professors loved them. So I'm pretty proud of myself. Then I did some math homework with the Andrades. Boy do I need some help with that when I get home. Haha. I tried and I couldn't get it. I feel bad for the Andrades. Their parents don't really care what's happening with them. All they are interested in is having other people take care of their kids and helping them manage. Daniel is failing two classes and I got mad at him like a parent would so I told him to tell his parents and he did. His parents said "too bad." People these days really need to step up their game. I can't believe that people would be able to get away with that. It really frustrates me when I find people like that. Some other service that we did was for this band teacher that we got a referral for. He is disabled so he can't really get around a lot. So we cleaned his house. It was pretty bad. Really bad. We almost threw up. But all in a normal mission day huh?

Well sorry for the short email. I got to get going to do normal pday stuff. I'll see if I can add some things later on. Alright take care. Love you all. Church is true!

Elder Leavell

The Delgado Family. Awesome family.

Spiritually Nourished

2010-10-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh another preparation day to update all of you on the most wonderful week I have had, what a privilege this is for all of you haha. But really. This week has been, if I say so myself, especially the weekend because it was GENERAL CONFERENCE! Hopefully all of you had the opportunity to see conference, it was great and hopefully all of you are doing well and are enjoying life.

I want to take a moment and shout out: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DREW! Hope it's the best one yet.

Alright now back to business, our area is slowly picking up speed and our teaching pool is getting bigger. As we have been going through the ward directory and trying to establish contact with all the members in our area, we came across a family (I probably mentioned them last week but oh well). We finally were able to meet with them and they are great! They remind me so much of you Mom and Dad, it's crazy. We were there for about 2 hours getting to know them and waiting since they wanted to stuff us. I'm gaining weight by the way. We were talking with them, enjoying a normal conversation and then they switched the topic to the church. Usually that doesn't happen even though they know why we are there. Turns out that the wife and the kids are not members and the interesting part is that they are both adopted like me. The daughter is struggling a bit with the idea that she is adopted and the Mom was so happy to know that I was too, she said, "I know someone would come along and you are no coincidence." Unfortunately, the daughter wasn't there but hopefully in the coming week we will have the opportunity to talk and get to know each other. Back to when church came up. The wife is Catholic but is a bit concerned about how much the church has changed since she was a little girl. She told us (this blew our minds by the way) that the Catholic church is now discouraging infant baptisms and is doing baptism by immersion, that they are also discouraging "rosar"-ing, forgot the word in English, but are teaching the members to pray like us, as Christians, also, they are having Bible Studies and telling members to have scripture study everyday just like us, and finally, they are making every youth thing, like first communion etc, like Personal Progress and Duty to God. It's was really weird because as they were describing everything it was almost as if it were our church...thought that was interesting. Anyways she said she was concerned because of all of this but was really happy to see her husband go from less active and now is starting to open up the scriptures. We invited them to come to General Conference and they said they would go and were excited to hear what the leaders had to say. Sadly they didn't come. The other person that we have established contact with is Otto. Yes, that is a familiar name, he was investigating the church a couple of months ago and we finally got a hold of him. He is doing well. We ended up talking with him for awhile and he said that his main concern with the church isn't a concern, but is himself. He said that because he isn't a religious person he doesn't want to do anything. We told him that he should go to the singles ward to try to meet people his age, he said he would. The cool thing is that the Chacon's have been talking with his parents and in the near future we will be able to talk to them and see where things go. They seem like a really nice family. Apparently, Otto's mom likes me a lot because she thinks that I'm a serious goof like she is. Haha the funny thing is that I haven't even talked to her once, just said hello haha.

That is everything about the area, Conference was great though. Gerardo Jr. came along with us for most of them. He fell asleep but, at least, his is showing an example to his peers and his parents. His Dad came for the Priesthood session and unfortunately he fell asleep too. What makes things worse is that his mom never went to any of them! Freak. People these days are very interesting, they want something but then do nothing about it. The main things that I took from conference were (1) follow the prophet because he is the mouthpiece of our Lord and Master and won't lead us astray, (2) be better, (3) be thankful for everything, but don't inhale it (President Uchtdorf), (4) being 100% obedient is easier than 98%, and (5) never look back. It was a different feeling during conference this time around. I loved how President Uchtdorf talked about a tree and then said "now you are all probably wondering how this has to deal with a plan...let me explain" haha. That was classic. I'm glad that our leaders know to be actual people. It makes it more personal and for me, makes me feel like I could obtain the same. I'm so thankful that we have a living prophet today that speaks to God face to face. It is a wonderful blessing especially with all these confusing and misguiding ideas of what we should believe and not believe. I know that everything can be answered through prayer and that I have prayed to know if it is true and I know I received such an answer. I know Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet that he is lead by the Savior Jesus Christ and that the 12 apostles are helpers for the cause of the Lord. Even if we are not members we can take things from the things that were spoken at this last conference and apply them in our lives and we will become better for they are true words.

I love you all and I'm hopeful for the future. I know that it will bring many blessings for all of us. May the Lord be with you family and friends, as well as all who read this. Till next week.

Elder Leavell

Like Father Like Son

2010-09-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

Man oh man this week has flown by. If this keeps up the next few months won't seem like a long time haha. Hopefully all of you have had a wonderful time and have enjoyed some cooler weather compared to over here. It's in the 100s now and it's freaking rediculous.

To be honest we didn't do much teaching this week but we had a ton of service opportunities that have helped us find some new people. It's way excited. Plus we have been working with a bunch of less actives and part member families, so we are on our way to building the area back up again. But the most grandest news that I want to talk about is the baptism that we were blessed to witness of Gerardo Morales. It was so great to see him enter the waters of baptism. It was one of the more interesting baptisms that I've seen, apart from the ASL baptisms, which are inevitably different. First the font wasn't filled on time so we delayed it by 15 minutes, along with President Baker and the Stake Presidency showing up, putting a ton of pressure on us to make sure everything went according to plan. Sadly it didn't. We had asked Hermana Camacho to give the talk on baptism and ended showing up late because she forgot her camera of all things haha. It's funny how things end up. Also Francisca, Gerardo's wife, showed up late and we had to wait for her because of all the people who were there she needed it the most. We have been trying to get her to a baptism for awhile now and who better to see than her husband huh? The thing that was the most interesting was the few minutes before the baptism. Gerardo asked me to baptize him a couple of days before and I went along with it, knowing that things would not end up that way because, of course, his son-Moro/Burrito-was going to baptize him. Haha. So when were getting our clothes I still played along with it and explained how things were going to down and right before we were going to change I said, "wait I have to go get something" and that is when Moro walked in and had the big surprise. It was so awesome to have his son baptize him. That is any part member families wish, to baptize others who have committed to following the gospel of Jesus Christ until the end. Moro was almost crying when it was all done, partially because he was WAY nervous (i.e. he messed up the prayer like 5 times), I would be the same in that situation. We had a party afterwards and a bunch of the family came to, hopefully, show there support. I ended up talking to a few of them, they mostly had questions and it was great to have the opportunity to explain things to them. Who knows maybe the rest of the family will tag along?! That would be way legit.

The rest of the week we did a bunch of service for the Delgado family. We had a whole day with them from 9 to 9. We did some wood flooring for them and then went up to the visitors center with them, the Morales, and the Andrades. It was way cool to have a group that big. It was also just fun to be with a family the entire day. It felt weird sometimes, probably because it reminded me of my family (miss you!) We also had President's interviews, which are always an experience. They were short but to the point. Oh and we also had a huge FHE with the youth of the ward. It was fun. We taught the lesson and had a good time afterwards. Sorry fot the short email, my head hurts. Hope all is well. Love ya all!

Elder Leavell

Gerardo's Baptism

P-day Activity: Hiking in 102 weather-not a good idea.

A not so friendly Peacock at a dinner.

A Break from the Normal

2010-09-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

Another week in the mission and another opportunity to be on the computer to talk with all of you. What a great day it is! Ha. Well this week has been a long week for me and I don't imagine that it is going to get any faster. Luckily I had some enjoyable times with some other missionaries and I got to think about how I have really enjoyed my mission thus far. It has truly been a blessing to be out here and learn everything that I have learned and hopefully I will continue to grow and become a better servant and representative of our Savior, Jesus Christ. How have all you been doing? I know I ask that every time but it was great to hear from all of you.

Anyways moving onto the week. Wednesday and Saturday I went on splits with Elder Apo and Elder Sung. It's crazy to think that Elder Sung is my District Leader again, just like good old times in Gardena. But before that we had the wonderful opportunity to somewhat take a break and do service for Anthony and Jenni. Since they are going to get married soon, their mom was kind and divided her house and is going to give it to them, meaning a lot of service hours for us! Woo Hoo! Love service. We painted, filled in holes, and did all the jazz, but the best thing was that I had to cook lunch for everyone one of those days. Now my parents know me well enough to know that I can't cook so whoever ended up deciding that I was going to be the cook, it back fired on them. Haha. It wasn't that bad though. I made some mashed potatoes (out of the box, of course) and cooked some fried chicken and made some orangeade (does anyone know what the difference between orangeade and orange juice is?). Later that Tuesday we had the opportunity to teach the Morales family and it was awesome! It ended up being only with the Dad but I think that in the long run it ended up being better that it was by himself so that the spirit could really testify to him that this is real and this is it. We started off by reading Mosiah 27, which is the conversion story of Alma and we didn't get that far into it when we started talking about the differences between all the churches. He said that he didn't really notice any difference between the Catholic, Christian, and LDS faith, except that the LDS faith really focuses on family relationships and unity within the church. He then asked us what we thought. As we responded, we mentioned that the main difference is that we know we have a modern day prophet and that he guides and leads His church and the entire world. We went forth sharing scriptures in the Bible, such as Acts 10, and in the Book of Mormon to explain that prophets are needed for the reason of unity. It reminded me of Ephesians 4 where it states the positions of the Church of Jesus Christ and says that it will remain until the unity of faith. We then asked him to pray right there and then to know if Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and he did. We waited for him to say something, letting the spirit touch him and then he said the coolest thing ever, "I know he is a prophet because without Jesus Christ we wouldn't have the church and everything that the church talks about is good." We were all really excited and he said that he couldn't wait for the 26th to get baptized. Gosh the spirit is amazing. It tells people things that we can't do, even as true representatives of Jesus Christ. Ahh good stuff right there. The next day was the first day that I went on splits. Not much happened, other than we walked all day looking for less actives in the Carson ward. It was really hot that day but it was good, had a lot of time to talk with Elder Apo. He is way cool, what's even funnier is that he is in the Samoan Ward now and he is related to almost half the ward haha. Friday we had a Morales day, had Posole at their house and it was really delicious. Then we reviewed the baptismal questions with him, he passed with us, unfortunately Francisca was not in the room the entire time so she didn't get to hear all of it. I don't think that she is going to get baptized this Sunday but I do know that with time she will be prepared and the Lord will reveal unto her that she knows enough and she is ready. Then onto the next day of splits. Gosh that was a terrible day, not really just wait. We had 3 dinners that day, of which 2 of them were planned and on bikes, making it the first time since I have been moved to Peninsula Zone. The first one was unexpected. We ended up going to a Samoan less active and they were preparing food, so the entire time I was trying to get out of there but Elder Sung just kept talking and we ended up having a plate set in front of us. 20 minutes later we ate dinner with the Holt family. It was great! Sister Holt is Japanese and she made us a ton of vegetable tempura with miso soup. We killed about half of it and we were stuffed but then she took out a bomb cheese cake. I had forgotten how good that stuff is, since I have been eating tortillas for most of my mission haha. Then 20 minutes after that we went to this Filipino home and ate another dinner and by this time I couldn't move. It was ridiculous. I told myself I would never do this again but now look at me. I felt so bad for the lady because we had gotten there about an hour late and she was mad, then we didn't even eat that much because, well, we were full to the max. I only had one plate and Elder Sung stuffed his face and went to the bathroom, meaning he spit it out in the bathroom. MISSIONARIES NEVER DO THAT THOUGH ;) The Sister ended up lightening up when her son, who is a return missionary, came out and we all had a great conversation. By then it was around 8:30PM and we couldn't move so we went home and made phone calls to get our peeps to church. The Morales family showed up and Francisca went to Relief Society finally. Hopefully she liked it, I didn't get the chance to talk to her about it but I know she will. Then we had a General Priesthood meeting for the stake. Gerardo came and he enjoyed it a lot. The Stake Presidency said that they would go to his baptism too! I guess Gerardo Jr. is good friends with them. Unfortunately that means we have to bring our "A" game for the baptism. No worries with the Lord on my side, I got this!

That is my week. It was great and slow at the same time, sadly. I hope that your weeks have been going well and that school isn't going to rough. Don't even want to think about that. I love you all and I hope that the Lord blesses all of you abundantly and you notice the blessings that He gives us daily. Miss you all too!

Elder Leavell

What Can I Say

2010-09-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

Well I don't got much time to write all of you on this fine evening, but I have to, at least, give you all some update. Hopefully all of you are doing mighty fine because the sun is shining bright over here! Got to love California weather. Summer has past and it didn't ever feel like summer, but that could mean that it's going to be a cold winter. Not cool. At least we can wear more layers.

Once again not much was accomplished but this time it wasn't because of meetings, that randomly came up, but because of some ordeals between some that are close to me. No worries everything is fine, we just had to be up at the mission home with President Baker all of Friday and Sunday. On Tuesday, everything was closed (as I mentioned before) so we did some extra errands with Bryan Camacho, a youth from our ward. He got to see a side of missionary work that is not normally seen by members, so I'm sure that was an interesting experience for him. Haha we didn't do anything with him-work wise. Oops. Then Wednesday, we went up to the mission home to turn our car in to get the other one fixed. Another interesting story about that. Elder Hancock, the car guy, wasn't there when we got there so we went out to eat around the mission home and came back. We took an hour to give him enough time to do his things and when we returned he still wasn't there. My companion got a little frustrated but things happen like that all the time so we waited and 10 minutes later we were on our way back to the wonderful city of Wilmington. We got back around 3, right in time for an appointment with Franci. We had Stephanie meet up with us for the appointment to see if that would resolve her concern for not going up to the Visitor's Center, turns out that concern was just a cover up because she wasn't that interested as we for saw. She said that she saw us as more of a friendship and didn't want to do anything. It was sort of awkward having to drop her with Stephanie there, never done that before, but it ended well and she said that she would give us a call after her wedding, of which she invited us to. Cool huh? It's in November so we will see if I'm still here in Wilmington. Then we took some time to make a Plan of Salvation chart for the Morales, which leads me the only main lesson that we had this week. We taught the Morales family the first half of the Plan of Salvation and they enjoyed it. They were happy to know where they came from and why the fall of Adam and Eve was so important for the plan. We commited Francisca, the wife of Gerardo, to baptism on the same day as him, she accepted with the condition that we would bring more visions and teach her some more. I'm so thankful for the plan that our Heavenly Father has given us, it really helps understand the scriptures more, especially when it comes to the certain circumstances in the scriptures where things get sketchy. We should be teaching them the rest of the Plan of Salvation this coming week and I know that it will be an answer to their prayers. Then comes Thursday, meaning weekly planning day. We did it at the beach this time and I'm not going to lie I wasn't that into it because, hey, I was at the beach and it sunny this time. PLUS there were whales and dolphins popping up like crazy and spouting water up every 2 minutes. It was sick. So I got distracted. It happens sometimes, give me a break. Sadly that was my entire week. NOTHING. As missionaries we wish for these types of weeks that are laid back but let me tell everyone who is serving their missinoright now: it ain't worth it, it's not fun. I really do mean that. There is nothing worse than nothing. It's weird that I'm saying this but I guess that means that I have learned something right?

Once again sorry for the short message, got to tighten some loose ends and finish some things that need to be taken care of. Love you all and miss you bunches. For reals.

Elder Leavell

BAM!

2010-09-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

Well hello there everyone. It's been a might fine week this past week. Sorry I didn't let all of you know that it was labor day yesterday. Wish I could have had a day off. Haha. Nah we sort of did since it was our P-day. Hope you are doing mighty fine and that you see the Lord's blessings in your lives. Aren't they the greatest?

As far as the past week, I'll start on the big news that most of you are waiting for. I stayed. Guess the city of Wilmington still needs me haha. Can't see why. Haha. But really. Anyways I'll be here in Wilmington for another 6 weeks so we will see what progress will occur for the time being. Now for the investigators. Bad news and good news, as usual. Robert, the guy, who Elder Bennett found isn't that golden as we thought. We went over there a couple of times over the past week and he wasn't there, but one time his daughter, Vanessa, was home so we taught her lesson 1. She wasn't all that interested but, none the less, she listened to what we had to say. Sunday came and Robert didn't come to church. Ended up his wife stayed home from work and so he decided to stay at home the entire day, as well. He told us that he hadn't been reading much of what we had given him but that he would read it in the coming week until he went to church. Cool. Not. He later then told us that he didn't want us to come over until he went to church to see if it is something that he wants to get into. Oh well. Hopefully he will keep his word, since he said he promisd this coming sunday that he would. Then with Franci, things haven't been moving with her, she has read but hasn't committed to anything else. We invited her to come to the Visitor's Center and she threw a huge curve ball at us and said that the reason why she doesn't want to come is because of a trust issue. I have no idea what she meant by that till this day. I have a feeling that we are going to have to drop her pretty soon since she isn't willing to come to church and see all the blessings that coming to church will give her. Also, the Zayes family didn't come to church, no surprise there because we had set up early morning appointments and he wasn't there for any of them. Over the past few weeks I think that things have really started to sink in and/or I'm starting to really understand the importance of the gospel and how much of an impact that it has had and will continue to have in my life. Yeah it might not be easy, in fact, it's way hard; but I know that as things move on and we learn from all the things that we go through that we will be made strong enough for the things to come and that we will be able to maintain our spirits high and in order. It's great how the gospel does that sometimes. Just enlightens oneself at the most random times and somehow it is when you most need it. I guess that is all the "bad" news that I have for the time being. Onto the good news. The Morales family is doing great! I can't believe how far they have progressed and how strong they are becoming. It's amazing to see the progression in them and the desire they have now to do the things that the Lord would have them do. We had the most amazing lesson to the other day and the best part is we didn't teach anything at all, the spirit did. On Sunday we went over there to check up on how church went for them. Gerardo was the only one home and he really liked it and was really surprised how quiet the kids were that particular service, since over the past few weeks that have been way loud (got to admit). We then asked him how his prayers have been going and seeing if he had prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet of the God. He said he had and then he went describing how he felt. He said that as he was praying he felt calm and not worried about anything else, like work, which he is normally always worried about; and that he felt good that there was a prophet on the earth today. At this point I was smiling like no other. He continued to describe how a particular face came into head while he was praying, the face of his cousin, who had fallen off the path at one point of his life. He went on for 10 minutes explaining the entire situation on how his cousin was in Mexico and was selling drugs and got caught but now is on the right path. We then asked him "why do you think he came into your head?" We waited there for awhile as he thought of why and he said so that we could learn from others mistakes. My smile was even bigger now. We then testified of how the good feelings that he was feeling and the peace and burning that was within him was the answer that he was looking for and that he needed to follow it. No lie we waited there for 10 minutes and waited for it to sink in that he himself had received an answer, it was so cool because the spirit was soooo strong and you could hardly move. He said ok, where do we go now? We commited him to be baptized on the 26th and he agreed. I'm so happy that I can count on the spirit to do the things that I, myself, cannot do. The best part is that we are going to be having a baptism in the coming weeks, I'm so excited for him. Even though we haven't been able to talk with the wife yet, we know that she will also commit to baptism, all she needs to do is to realize that she has received her answer, as well. It's great to see how hard work pays off with patience.

Sorry for the short email. I don't have much time. I'm so excited to be here and be a part of this great work, even that of Jesus Christ. I'm so proud and humbled to be a representative of Him and to be able to be a messanger to His children. It's truly an honor. I love you all and I know that if we look for the blessings we will find them. May the Lord be with you all. Till next week.

Elder Leavell

Way to Go Church!

2010-08-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

Thought this article was awesome!

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-in-talks-to-regularize-activities-in-china#continued

Habits

2010-08-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

As this week has come to an end I have learned one thing: staying with your habits is much easier than regaining them. Due to all the trainings that have been happening I haven't gotten the chance to wake up at normal hours and/or actually work in my area, making this week, the first week, of actually working for the most part because we had zone conference this past week.

Things were a little different for this zone conference, this time we had a general authority, Elder Packer, Of the Seventy, come for a mission tour. To be honest I didn't get much out of him because I was on my meds (cough syrup mixed with some other pill) and it didn't help that he spoke in a monotone voice haha. All I can remember him saying was the same things we had gone over during the trainings the past two weeks, in other words, listening and don't talk so much. One thing, from the notes, that I somehow took, was something that he wrote down on the chalk board, it said "'Am' is our goal and 'Be' is the process that we take." At first we were all confused but then he shared a scripture that explained it all. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). I thought that was very insightful because we know perfection i sour potential through, and only through, the atonement of Jesus Christ. If we are to become, as missionaries, a true representative of Jesus Christ we must first do what we invite everyone to do, invite others to come unto Christ and follow in His ways. By following in His ways, we strive to become perfect but we first must hear or listen to learn how to act and apply what we are to become. Now, listening, for most, is not too much of a daunting task. In the Topical Guide it says "Listening (see Communication; Learning; Understanding)." We can take note that listening entails a communication, which in this case is our Heavenly Father, for we know He guides us to our potential and learning meaning to ultimately understand His ways in completeness. This is where I have seen the probelm: remembering. Jonah, being a prophet of God, was found worthy to do as the Lord had commanded Him, to "cry against" the land of Ninevah, but he choose not to because he failed to remember who's errand he was on. It wasn't until he had been in the belly of fish, or as he said "hell" that he "remembered the Lord: and [his] prayer came unto [Him]." This action of remembering what he had been called to do lead him to practice to "pay that [which he had] vowed." Why? Because he remembered "Salvation is of the Lord." When we remember what we had acted upon from what he had heard, practicing our agency, in a righteous manner, becomes natural because we understand, which leads to knowing, feeling, and gaining a testimony from the Holy Ghost of what the Lord would have us do. I'm sure Jonah knew what he had to do, as well as he remembered who he was representing, but because he, first, didn't practice what he heard and remembered, and second, he didn't truly know and feel that had a testimony that the Lord would provide a way to convert the city of Ninevah, he failed to become converted, which brings automatic obedience. "Am," means the Savior in all His glory and His perfection, is our goal and to obtain it we must be converted in all ways, in every principle and every attribute. "Be" or become is learning and then applying what we have learned of the Savior to become perfect in every principle. That is the true meaning of conversion. This is how we can say "I am humble," "I am patient," "I am a church going person," "I am a prayerful person," or many more. When we can say "I am" in a sentence we are in other words saying, "I am perfect just like our Savior in being humble," etc. As I have learned this, as well as when you learn this, it brings hope and courage to continue to strive and become truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the gist of what the trainings have been on and what he spoke of, because as missionaries we strive to help people become even as He is by [inviting them] to receive the Restored gospel through faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I love this gospel so much because it has answered some of life's greatest questions and I'm so thankful that we have a living prophet on the earth. It is such a great blessing.

Phew, that was a long winded speach, sorry about that haha. Now for what happened this week apart from zone conference. I don't know if I had mentioned that we had gone on a blitz in our area with the youth, it went great by the way. Haha. But Elder Bennett tracted into someone and we went back to go visit them and he is SO prepared, it's crazy. We went over late (like 30 minutes, eek!), and he was still home waiting for us and we talked about church and invited him to come. He said that his wife was off work and he wasn't sure that he was going to be able to go since she is anti-church, in general, but that the following week he would for sure come. He didn't end up coming but we know that we can't let him slip out of our hands because he is ready and so is his family. Then we came in contact with a part member family/ less active family. Haha. I haven't encountered one of those before but from the looks of it, it is awesome. We have had two lessons with them, mainly with the wife, who is less active because of her husband, but we encouraged her and then listened (one of them new techniques ;) ha) and it worked. She opened up a lot and said that we were a God send. I like it when people say that, makes me feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Anyways we talked with her for awhile and then I didn't feel like I had said enough. The second time we went over I was sort of "blunt" with her, honest is a better word, and first started with getting a background of what she remembered of the church. She remembered a lot, and then I asked her "why is that important to you?" She didn't say anything for awhile, and then gave me an answer just to say something. We then helped her realize that this is the only gospel that would bring her all the blessings that our Heavenly Father wants to give her and her family and that she is stopping them from coming. She was taken back and so was I, but I know it didn't come from me. We continued by explaining that the other churches are great, they serve their purpose to bring others unto Christ but that they would not be able to seal her family for all eternity (something that she said that she really knew was true) and encouraged her to write everything that she remembered on a piece of paper and go through them to figure out what she knew to be true and what she didn't. She agreed and told us, "that is what I have been waiting for all this time." Gosh it makes me feel so happy. Then yesterday we went up to the Visitor's Center (Sister Ludwig I have taken people up there several times, IT'S GREAT!) with a less active that we had been trying to get in contact with for months. The Relief Society President called us and told us to meet her at the Zayes family at 5 so we did. We ended up waiting for 45 minutes and then she finally showed up. Sister Arnazzi obviously has been given a mantle because she got the husband to do what she wanted her to do, when we couldn't. We went up after some discussion with him (more like convincing him) and it went great. We didn't know what to do with him because we didn't know him, but good thing Sister Prada has inspiration to know what to do since she knows the place a lot better than us. We gave him a tour and then she asked me if I could translate a movie that was in english that she felt was perfect for him. It worked like a charm. He was tearing up and then we showed him pictures of inside the temple that were on display and helped him understand the importance of the temple. We then walked around the temple with him and the spirit was so strong. I asked him to look at the temple for a minute, in silence, and then we turned around and looked at the world, in other words, the city right below, and asked him what each one has to offer. He knew exactly what to say and he said that he knew that when the Lord returns that it's going to be like this, except in Jerusalem because it is holy ground. My companion agreed and I did, but not all the way. I told him that if he wanted to step on holy ground, that is was too late because he already is. I told him that the Lord has walked on this ground and that this is His house. We then committed him to come to church so that he could be sealed with his family forever. He agreed. Don't know what got into me that day, but I knew that it needed to be said.

I know that this church is true. I know that the Holy Temples are holy and that it is the only place here on the earth that we can be closest with Him. I know that is also the only place we can be sealed with our families for time and all eternity and that through the atonement we can accomplish such things through our faithfulness. I love you all so much. Be happy. Till next week.

Elder Leavell

Oh by the way transfers are this week. We will see what happens.

Even During Sickness, There Is No Place I'd Rather Be

2010-08-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Once again the reign of terror has come back to haunt me-meaning I'm sick again. I can't believe that I'm sick again, never before have I gotten sick so much, and what makes things worse is that I'm slowing down the work. Luckily we had all the training meetings, so we didn't loose too much time but either way I'm not at my 100% and it bothers me. I hope that all of you are doing well and that sickness is far from you, it's not fun. A little heads up, if this email doesn't make sense it's because I have a throbbing headache.

This past week we had to privilege to go through some trainings the entire week for hours a day. They were the same trainings that my companion and I went through last week, it was just our turn to teach everyone what we had learned. I'm so excited to start applying all these trainings, I feel like I have been upgraded to Elder Leavell 2.1 haha. The interesting thing is that not much has changed, actually nothing has changed, except a few things were "highlighted" per say from Preach My Gospel. To me it was exciting to see everyone else see, feel, and realize how it feels to be in the investigators shoes, having gone through that it comes naturally but helping others who were born in the church it was a little more difficult. One of the first things that we learned was that Doctrine of Christ has to be the in sync with our purpose, as missionaires.

21 And the Lord said unto him: I give unto you power that ye shall baptize this people when I am again ascended into heaven.
22 And again the Lord called others, and said unto them likewise; and he gave unto them power to baptize. And he said unto them: On this wise shall ye baptize; and there shall be no disputations among you.
23 Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them.
24 And now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying:
25 Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
26 And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.
27 And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.
28 And according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been.
29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.
30 Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.
31 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will declare unto you my doctrine.
32 And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me.
33 And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God.
34 And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned.
35 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
36 And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one.
37 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things.
38 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.
40 And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.
41 Therefore, go forth unto this people, and declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth.

Notice that the Lord says "my doctrine" eight times and then in the last verse it tells us, as missionaries, to "declare the words" that He has spoken. I love how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, admonishes us to follow this path, not just to members, but to everyone who has placed foot on the earth. To me there is no greater work, no greater gospel than the gospel that asks us to follow the of the Savior, with exactness and the blessings that await us will be countless. This reminds me of an experience that we had when we took the Morales family, including the daughter and son-in-law!, along with the Camacho family to the Visitor's Center. As we were there we were trying to figure out what we were going to do because we had gotten there an hour later than when we wanted to arrive, and we weren't going to be able to watch the Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration movie and have time to look around. The Sisters then told us that we could watch the Together Forever movie and have a testimony meeting of how through the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Holy Temple we can be sealed together for time and all eternity. The spirit was SOO strong. As we were all leaving we took pictures in front of the Chritus (huge statue of Jesus Christ) and walked out. It was nighttime by then, so all you could see was the temple-perfect. The son-in-law who had never been interested starting asking questions about the temple and how it works. We answered and then he said something that every missionary wants to hear, "I want to learn more about what I have to do to get sealed to my wife in their, come talk to me on Sunday." I was so happy that entire night it even helped me sleep even though I have had a nasty cough for the past month. I'm so excited for them that they can one day have the promise of being together forever, after all, that is what the church is all about-striving to become like the Savior in every way and building the family to become a forever family. I know that the temple is His house and that He has walked inside all those sacred buildings. There is no other blessing that I would want for any family because the fear of everyday life will disappear because you will know, not just believe that you will see all your loved ones forever. I, also, know that love is what drives us, as missionaries, to continue with His work, which is love for the people and love for the Savior and the only way we can come to find that love for everything we know to be true is prayer. We may see all these great evidences that prove otherwise, but I know that if we doubt not, but have faith, that our Heavenly Father will give an answer that if we respond to, will be the divine answer that all of us have been searching for.

So for the Missionary Newspaper (haha I made that up) there are some recent headline stories. The otherday, think it was Thursday there was a shooting on two major intersections around 4PM in the city of Wilmington . Now who in their right mind would do that? Come on, do you honestly think you'll be able to get away doing it there and at that time. Pshh, people these days. Anyways, I got to see my first white sheet over someone, it was pretty cool and pretty sad at the same time. I guess it's sad because I'm not that surprised because Wilmington is just a breeding ground for cholos with a moto of "If you're not Cholo or Chola now, you'll be one tomorrow." Haha it's funny.

Well I better be off to do some normal activities that are done on P-day. I love you all and wish you all the best. 10 more months!

Elder Leavell

You Know You Love It

2010-08-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well it's another p-day so that means another week finished in the mission. Woo Hoo! Haha I actually don't want it to end, I think that this week I have seen the love I have for the people grow even more, despite us not seeing much success. I hope that you have enjoyed your summer vacation and that you enjoy what's left of it. I'll get to enjoy it next summer.

As I said last week, we had a TON of meetings and so we were literally in our area for 5 hours a day. It was terrible. The First Presidency is making a couple of changes, they aren't really changes from all the meetings I've seen but they are putting more emphasis on teaching by the spirit and listening. Regrettably there isn't much I can say, and next week will be the same because we have more trainings, but there is some good news. Gerardo finally had a baptismal date for the 29th.Way pumped for that because I haven't had a baptism in a long time and there truly isn't anything better to witness than seeing a baptism of someone that has changed their life to live in accordance with the standards of our Heavenly Father. We haven't been able to motivate his wife yet, she seems really aloof about the idea but we are confident that after we take them to the visitors center, that is now finished!,things will change. Hopefully she won't bail like she usually does. If not we will baptized Gerardo and we know she will shortly turn around after that. I'm thankful for their love of Heavenly Father, there is really no other way that people listen to us without that love. Otto,has fallen off the radar and we haven't been able to talk to him since the baptism. It is a big bummer because he was extremely prepared to make that first step but apparently he wasn't. Everything happens fora reason, that's for sure. We are teaching another person that we found off tracting. Her name is Francie, she is Catholic, and her family is from Mexico. We talked to her about eternal families, at her door, and the way that our Heavenly Father has given us to accomplish that. We left her with a pamphlet The Family: A Proclamation to The World. We didn't think too much of it but when we went back for the return appointment she was there and had read it. It was sick. I wish everyone would that over here. The cool thing is that she is engaged and is going to get married in November, so she said that it would be something really important to her. Hopefully we will get to talk with the fiancé soon, we have seen him and he seems pretty cool.

SO I have had a couple of interesting experiences on my mission the past two weeks, ones that I cannot forget and so I'm going to write them down here. Hopefully no one gets offended, I'm not making fun, they are just, well, interesting and normal experiences while serving here in Los Angeles. The first one happened about a week and a half ago while we were tracting right next to our apartment. We didn't have time to travel to Wilmington, where are the spanish is, so we decided to tract some of the english areas that right next to our apartment. Lo and behold someone was there at the door, as if were waiting for us to knock on her door. We started talking to her about the things we have in common and tried to get to know her, when all of the sudden she went off on some of the experiences she has had over the past couple weeks. She said that her Sister that had a tumor in her spine was sick and the doctors had no idea what they could do to help her. They were going to try a risky surgery but she could have ended up paralyzed. This lady was out of town when she received word of her sister, so the instant she received word she went to her knees to pray. She had told us that she has a literal connection with the Lord and that he talks to her in the same way a normal conversation is with people. For example, He would say "hello," "what's up?," etc. This time the Lord appeared to her in a dream and she saw what was a TV screen with the Lord standing right next to her sister when all of the sudden a red laser came out of His hand and the tumor disappeared. Now I don't doubt that the Lord had His hand in the healing of her sister, I know that He did, and I don't doubt that if the Lord wanted to shoot a laser out of His hand He could. But for me I see the Lord doing it a different way, sort of the way He did it in the scriptures by commanding the body to do as He told, like "arise" or "be healed." To me it would have been a little freaky to see that. Now onto the next story, we did temple service this past week and it went great. I was with Elder Ellott, who has only one arm (fell out of a truck when he was 4) and there was an interesting experience about that. As we were given assignments we were sent to the kitchen to help clean. When we got there, an old man came up to Elder Ellott and said "where is your arm?" He responded, "I fell out of a truck at the age of 4 and I have to remove it." The old man said, "So you mean you don't have it?" JAWS OPEN. I think that was the most awkward moment I have been in on my mission, but that's not all. The old man continued and said that the walls needed to be cleaned and he said, "I don't think you can help me with that because you only have one arm" and that's when I stepped in and said "I think he is more capable than me sir." Ha then he said "that's not the question that I asked." It was so funny and so awkward at the same time. I couldn't believe that was happening. He finally said, "well alright if you need anything...anything, I mean it, call for us and we will help you" and then he turned to me and said,"AH you have two arms I need you to do some two armed work" RIGHT INFRONT OF ELDER ELLOTT. Haha. Funny thing was that I had to move some plates and then clean the area where they were. I felt so bad for him because I know that it is already tough just walking around, let alone, getting comments from people who just don't understand. The amazing thing is that Elder Ellott has worked so hard and has done everything, literally everything that a "two armed person" can do. He was the best player at baseball in the state of Utah and is the best basketball player in the mission. It's great to see that courage and strength in other people, especially when things get tough for us because all we have to do is look and see that we don't have it as bad.

I love you all, I'm sorry that I don't have too much to say because of all the meetings but I hope that you have a wonderful week. Remember to be happy and always have your chin up because everything will be ok.

Elder Leavell

Didn't See This One Coming

2010-08-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

So once again the mission has shown me how it can be relentlessly unpredictable. No matter how many transfers and no matters how much time anyone is on their mission, there is one word that can describe the mission-unpredictable. My companion, Elder Richines, got emergency transferred (just as I was a couple of months ago). He is, per say, the innocent missionary, meaning that someone else made a mistake and so he had to be moved and that caused him to also be moved since everyone needs a companion. Funny thing is that he is now in USC, which is his greenie area, and he will be there until the end of his mission haha. Anyways my new companion is Elder Bennett, he is from Arizona and is Native American. I don't know him that well yet, because we haven't had all that much time, but he seems down to earth and overall is just pretty quiet. We will see what happens but I do see us getting along really well, after all he is a convert himself, so that is something big we have in common. Anywho...how have you been? I can't believe that we are already in August, it's so weird how time is just flying by right now. What's even more scary is how little time I have left, well it's still some time but not that much.

Our area is doing alright. We haven't been doing a lot of finding, since we were given a bunch of less actives that we need to go visit. One of them is Olivia Amaya. We have been visiting her for awhile because there is a lot of problems in the family. A couple of months ago her mother passed away and unfortunately she was the glue of the family, like any other mother, and now most of the family has gone inactive. The Dad has gone pretty crazy and expects Olivia to do everything, take care of the kids, work full time to support the house, and clean, while he doesn't do anything. The worst part about it is that Olivia is only 17. I can't even imagine myself having kids yet haha. So all we do is come over every other day and chill. It might not be the most effective work but I know it's an act of service. We have been reading some general conference talks with her and she found a talk that she really liked. So we are making progress with her. Other than that we haven't had much time to do anything else, this last week and this upcoming week are going to be full of meetings since the Church is changing the way we teach. I'm so excited for it Elder Hinckley came to our mission and we got the opportunity to hear from him. He pretty much said that missionaries in general aren't good at teaching haha. Pretty harsh but it's probably needed. I'm excited for all the changes that are going to be happening, I'm not excited for all the meetings haha. Otto is trying to fall off the radar, so we haven't met with him at all. He knows that the Church is true and that this is the only thing that can help him find everything that he has been looking for but he won't do anything about it. The Morales family didn't come to church this last week. It was Stake Conference so most of the ward didn't even come, I think that 10 people came, which represents the ward pretty bad. Once again, I had to translate the entire thing. It was another great opportunity to serve and this time it wasn't even as hard as it was last time haha. Yeah my brain hurt but not as much as last time, so I went out to work after taking a lunch break. Guess I'm turning into a pro haha. PSYCH! The only hard part is that I have a legit cough going on for the past couple days and it's hard to breathe sometimes, President Baker heard me coughing at the end and said "I thought you were about to die over there" haha. It's all good.

Recently I have been studying the Old Testament and over the past couple prophets that have come and gone, I have noticed even more what it means to be a prophet. I'm so thankful to have a prophet here on the earth today because I know that he receives divine counsel directly from the Savior's mouth and that he gives us an example by word and by deed to what we may and could become. As Nephi said, all things from the beginning of the world were given to typify, or symbolize, Christ. Even Abraham was a type of the Father and Isaac a type of Jesus when Abraham was commanded to offer Isaac in sacrifice. This act was “a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son” (Jacob 4:5).

Likewise, the life and mission of Joseph typifies the life and mission of Jesus.
Consider the following:
1. Joseph was the favored son of his father; so was Jesus (see Genesis 37:3 ; Matthew 3:17 ).
2. Joseph was rejected by his brothers, the Israelites, as was Jesus (see Genesis 37:4 ; John 1:11 ; Isaiah 53:3 ; 1 Nephi 19:13–14 ).
3. Joseph was sold by his brothers into the hands of the Gentiles, just as Jesus was (see Genesis 37:25–27 ; Matthew 20:19 ).
4. Judah, the head of the tribe of Judah, proposed the sale of Joseph. Certain leaders of the Jews in Jesus’ day turned Jesus over to the Romans. Judas (the Greek spelling of Judah ) was the one who actually sold Jesus. (See Genesis 37:26 ; Matthew 27:3 .)
5. Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver, the price of a slave his age. Christ was sold for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave His age. (See Genesis 37:28 ;Matthew 27:3 ; Exodus 21:32 ; Leviticus 27:5 .)
6. In their very attempt to destroy Joseph, his brothers actually set up the conditions that would bring about their eventual temporal salvation—that is, Joseph, by virtue of being sold, would become their deliverer. Jesus, by His being given into the hands of the Gentiles, was crucified and completed the atoning sacrifice, becoming the Deliverer for all mankind.
7. Joseph began his mission of preparing salvation for Israel at age thirty, just as Jesus began His ministry of preparing salvation for the world at age thirty (see Genesis 41:46 ; Luke 3:23 ).
8. When Joseph was finally raised to his exalted position in Egypt, all bowed the knee
to him. All will eventually bow the knee to Jesus. (See Genesis 41:43 ; D&C 88:104 .)
9. Joseph provided bread for Israel and saved them from death, all without cost. Jesus, the Bread of Life, did the same for all men. (See Genesis 42:35 ; John 6:48–57 ; 2 Nephi 9:50 .)

I copied this from the Old Testament manual, so this isn't my genius but I know that the prophets are vital to the plan that our Heavenly Father has for us. They are His messangers and I know that Thomas S. Monson is the current and living prophet today. I'm so grateful for his counsel and for everything that he has done for the church, but I'm even more grateful that he prepared himself to be worthy to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

I love you all and I hope you are having a wonderful vacation during the last month of summer. Over here in California the weather is great. Usually it's hot but there June gloom still over here. Pretty weird. Anyways love you all. Take Care. Ciao.

Elder Leavell

What It Do

2010-08-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Well hello there I hope you are enjoying your fantastic summer vacation. It's most wonderful being on the mission during the summer, feeling the ocean breeze and seeing everyone doing their thing. Not jealous at all haha. Seriously I hope you are all enjoying the summer break and most of all that you are all happy.

As for me, this week has been like every other week. Starting to pick up the area up again and so I'm way excited for that. Hopefully some baptisms in the near future :) That would be way sick but I'm starting to realize I'm a sower not a reaper, so we shall see. As I said last week I mentioned that President would be coming with us for a lesson and it went great. On Thursday President Baker came over with us to teach Gerardo Morales. President was running late so we went in ahead to get things started and when we got in the daughter and her husband went upstairs but Gerardo, the dad, came out. Apparently there was some miscommunication and they didn't think we were coming over, but who knows. We taught a solid lesson about recognizing the spirit. We explaining it by using the story of Jonah, saying that at first he was following the commandments, otherwise he wouldn't have been called as a prophet, until the Lord asked him to do something difficult. We continued by saying the instant he decided to go the other way the spirit left him until he was caught in the belly of a fish. Upon entering the fish he felt guilt and felt like he was in the eternal pit but as he asked forgiveness he received the spirit back by feeling peace and the love of God again. We emphasized those feelings and said that is what we feel when the spirit touches us, warm and peaceful. The spirit was so strong and I know that he really enjoyed it. President Baker then did something really interesting, he asked us then what happened to the city he went to preach to? We answered by saying they all converted to the Father. Then President said something I never thought of, he said that because he allowed himself to be a humble tool, the spirit poured down and a grand miracle happened. When we use our faith, we bless others. Thought that was interesting. He then complimented him for having a sincere spirit and told us after that he might take awhile but he'll get there. I was way nervous at first but didn't show it like my companion who before was tripping out haha. Goof. It was well worth the anxiety because now I'm hooked. I want to do that every time I can from now on because there was a special spirit, I guess I could say a spirit of authority there and I know that it could touch many lives. The cool thing about Gerardo is that he is sooo humble and willing to do anything that we ask him to do. He has come to church twice already and says that he enjoys it a lot, said that it is just like the Catholic church. The only worry with him I have is that I don't think he really understands the entire authority thing or at least he hasn't received his divine answer from our Heavenly Father. We have been wanting to give him a baptismal date because he will receive blessings from making a commitment to change his life in accordance with the standards if out Heavenly Father. That is where Otto is at, as well, unfortunately. He hasn't wanted to keep a baptismal date, even though he is doing everything we ask him to do. We took him to a baptism this last Saturday and I pulled him aside to talk with him. He opened up to me, somewhat, and said that he felt something different and hopefully he realized that it was the promptings of the Holy Ghost. He asked some really great questions during the baptism like is that the same way I will be baptized? What is the atonement? I feel like he wants to do it but at the same time doesn't want to relinquish control to something or someone else. For example, we had a two hour lesson with him answering questions and explaining the church organization but at the end he just wanted to goof off. The Lord I think is trying to teach me a lesson of patience because everyone goes dang slow over here and it's sooo frustrating. So pray for both of our investigators, we have a lesson with the entire Morales family and we need it to go well so that they can feel the spirit, so that, in turn, they can all be baptized at the same time and we need to find the switch that is in Otto to help motivate him to do the things that our Heavenly Father has asked from us. But more importantly pray for us, as missionaries, that we may have the inspiration and power to know what to teach so that the spirit can impact them the most.

I heard this story the other day and I thought that I would share it with all of you.

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and he started his journey.
When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Once again she smiled at him. The boy was delighted ! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.
As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

I hope that we all may be an answer to someone's prayer every day, that we may bring the spirit of joy into the world. I know that what we do as missionaries is just that, we bring people closer to Christ, which brings them closer to our Heavenly Father and that is the secret to our happiness. I hope that you all have a wonderful and that all is well where all of you may be. Till next week.

Elder Leavell

Activity in a Lighthouse.

Nancy's Baptism

Drum Roll

2010-07-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

I think that I forgot to mention that transfers were going to be happening this week but it's ok because I ended up staying for another one. But I will not be here for another one. Rumor has it that everyone who has been called ASL is going back BUT the Arcadia mission is in need of one of us so one or two of the ASL missionaries that are here might be switching missions to train and to start up a program.We shall see, everyone is putting money on me because I've been out the longest but it's all up in the air. It would be cool I guess to switch missions. When all is said and done it's whatever and not important until it happens because we, as missionaries are just tools,and I'm glad I have no say because I don't know what is best. Anyways I hope that you are all doing well, my beloved friends an family,which leads me to a question? What is everyone doing for vacation? I promise I won't be jealous at all... ;)

Anyways this week has been an eventful week with normal first week meetings, which means not a lot was accomplished. That's nothing new though.Plus we were asked to switch apartments due to the "cholo"incident and because it has bed bugs now. Not cool. So we spent most of Wednesday moving and getting situated because we had youth splits starting the next night. So on Thursday night we started our 24 hour youth splits with Bryan Camacho and Michael de Los Santos and it was interesting to say the least. At DDM Michael gave a the opening prayer and Bryan gave the spiritual thought that I helped him prepare haha.Don't blame him we didn't tell him in advance but that's OK, as missionaries we hardly get any warning. After DDM we went off to work,Elder Richins stayed in the car with Michael while I walked the streets of Wilmington with Bryan. I don't think I have ever noticed that Wilmington is pretty ghetto. There were drug deals and people smoking, etc. like is was nothing. Haha. I decided to go through the area book and go through some names that hadn't been visited in awhile and we found a older man with tons of potential. His name is Robert,he had been taught by the Sister missionaries before and when we came in I guess he fell in the cracks. He even said he was curious why the Sisters had stopped coming. We taught him the Restoration again since he had forgotten it and I think it was one of the best lessons of the day, if not the best. He was almost crying and said that if it was true that he would have to follow and get baptized. I think that was the first time that has ever happened to me. The only problem is that he said is probably going to Mexico, for I don't know how long, and he said he just got involved with another church, so we will see what happens with that. The rest of the day we tried to visit people that ended up not being and/or now willing to open the door, so we decided to street contact. Probably not the best idea, considering that everyone here that is on the streets is either drunk, mentally handicap, or homeless. Luckily we didn't do that for too long since we had dinner, that was delicious by the way. THEN, of course, something has to go wrong on splits, especially with the youth of the ward. We were just chilling in our apartment right before bed when we heard some little cats meowing like crazy down below and they were doing that for about an hour, little did we know that it wasn't down below but right in front of our door. It was crazy. Two little kittens, who we later named Emma ans Meow, right in front of our door and it was almost 10:30. Freak! So we took them in for a little when we realized that we literally didn't have any food. All our cupboards are empty and it got us pretty down. So we gave them some of our milk and some animal crackers and they seemed to like it. We ended up keeping them for a night, which was awesome but they kept crying. Obviously we couldn't keep them so the next morning we took them to the shelter and that was that. Interesting way to introduce the youth of the ward to the mission huh? Thought so. Then the following day we went to the Pioneer Day Stake Activity for the Torrance and Palos Verdes Stake. It was so awesome there was jumpers and free food. A missionaries dream and the best part about it is that we got permission to go! Even better! So all of Saturday we were getting to know the members more and meeting everyone so that was nice, since it was a relaxed atmosphere.

As far as investigators we are slowly picking up our game again. We aren't tracting too much but that is mainly for one reason-members. Thanks to the wonderful members we have gotten a bunch of referrals and thanks to the English missionaries, we are also receiving referrals like crazy. One of the investigators that seems most promising is a member referral named Otto or Alex. We can't decide what his name is so we call him by both since he can't seem to make his mind either. Anyways he is an 18 year old guy who so happens to be a friend of the Chacons. He has been going to church for awhile but we are finally getting a chance to talk to him. We taught him a solid lesson on prophet that he seemed to like, especially because he just learned about them during church. We left him a pamphlet and told him to pray.From then he has been a little stubborn with the praying thing but we didn't hear about that until we met him at his house, without his lady friend. I guess he isn't that into her but she is, so it makes it awkward for him, plus he likes to play hard to get with her. Haha. Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to his house and teach him there. He had a lot of great questions, which lead us into lessons 3 (gospel of Jesus Christ), where we mainly focused on faith because he mentioned that he felt awkward with praying to the man upstairs. Elder Richins then started talking to him about Jonah. I thought it was a little weird but I went with it. We made it into a more modern story,with modern objects like saying the wicked city he was asked to go to was Watts, etc. He enjoyed it and so did we, you got to make teaching fun since you do it every day, every hour, and every minute for two years. After some answering of questions and concerns he finally said that he would pray and that he would do the best that he could, which we all know that within itself is enough. He reminds me of me a little because he wasn't all that into religion until now but I know that as he continues reading the Book of Mormon and keeps trying to pray, with the intent of wanting to know that he will receive an answer, I know that because I know that I have received mine. Moving on, we are also teaching another family-the Morales. No they are not related to Horiel Morales from South Bay Zone, but they are a part member family that lives right next door to the Camachos. We have been teaching them on and off because they showed signs of interest, but then they would hide them, but now they are way legit. We had a good lesson with them yesterday and talked to them about the Restoration, sort of reviewing what they learned at church this past Sunday and from when we had a FHE with them at the Camachos. The wife wasn't there but the husband and the daughter were there and I know they felt the spirit. They really enjoyed church and said that it was really similar to the one that they had been raised and that they had seen the change in their son, who was baptized awhile ago, and they thought should check what it was all about. When we talked about the prophet Joseph Smith and explained the First Vision, they were all laughing but as soon as we shared his experience, it got silent and the spirit came in, stronger than I think I have felt it before, at least while we explained his experience. We commited them to pray to find out if it's true and to read Alma 32, chapter on faith, and they said yes. The amazing part about this is that on Thursday when we have our next lesson with them, our mission president, President Baker, will be there with us. How cool is that? I have never done that before, so I'm way nervous but way excited for it. I know that he is going to bring a special spirit for that lesson, I hope and pray that the entire family will be there for it. I think that is it for our investigators, at least are most solid ones. OH last week Nancy got baptized! She was the deaf lady that was dating the Samoan guy but left and so she left. Remember? Well she got baptized last week finally. I'm so excited for her since she was extremely prepared and now she finally went through with it.

Any who...I just got out of the temple, so that is why I didn't email on Monday. Sorry Mom for not telling you about that. I never remember until the following week and then it's too late to tell you. Since I haven't put up pictures in awhile here are some for all of you. ENJOY!

Holy Moly I finally found it!

The Andrades

Everyone meet Emma.

Love you all. Till next week.

Elder Leavell

Hard Weeks are Hard

2010-07-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hello family and friends, it's another pday so I get the chance to write you all. This week we haven't seen any success, once again we didn't have any baptisms this transfer and worst yet, we didn't have anyone come to church. These past couple weeks have been really challenging and sometimes it's gotten the best of me but I'm still trucking I guess. Can't lie I saw it coming because we were see great success and I think I got a little confidant in what I was doing, so I'm thankful for the trials that have been set before me because it has given me the opportunity to reflect and change what I have been doing. It's still a bummer though haha ;) I hope you are all doing well and that you are having a great summer.

As I look back at the week we didn't do much. Because Elder Carroll got hurt, we were asked to take some of his appointments so that his area wouldn't completely die. Problem is now some of the people are really attached to us and don't want to have hem back. For example, the Andrade family. Recently in the area of Wilmington there have been many golden children baptisms, meaning that the children were the ones ready but the parents didn't get baptized. The only problem with going ahead with the baptism is that they go less active really fast unless the parents are showing support to the kids and/or members are going over there constantly to show support to them as well, of which none usually happens. The Andrade family is way nice, they are from Honduras and have two kids that got baptized, Daniel, 14, and Mayeli, 11. The parents have been taught a bunch so when we went over there we only talked with the kids because the parents didn't want to come out. As we got talking the kids said that they had been going to a different church because they were all confused and they had some friends that said that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was bad. So they stopped going for about a year until we came over. Plus they said they didn't have any formal clothes for church and the other church was casual dress. We then had a sort of a questions and answers time to resolve all the questions that they had about the church but they still didn't want to go to church so we said we would go over again the next day since we were already running late. That night I couldn't sleep thinking about them and thinking that there was something more to the picture that they were not telling us, I didn't know why at the moment but I felt something was up. The next day we went over and Mayeli wasn't there so we were talking with Daniel when Elder Richins got a call from someone that he had to take so I stayed with Daniel for a little. We got talking about his family and that's when it all came out. About a year ago, his dad got in trouble with the law and went to jail not knowing that one time was his final straw, he ended up frying deported to Honduras and never talked to him again. He is a stud though. He kept his tears in but you could tell that they were about to come out. He said that that is when his "step-dad" came in. Luckily he has been treating them like their own but he said they stopped going to church because they were angry and didn't want to do anything they didn't want to do. Plus, they are in a financial pinch so they don't have much and they are too embarrassed to go to church because they have no formal clothes and because they haven't been in forever. Man I was a wreck right there, I can't imagine what that must feel like having a dad one day and then the next he is gone, after all, he is pretty much dead to them because they can't get a hold of him. Gosh these situations really make you think of all the blessings you have. After Elser Richins came in the daughter came in and I told them that I had a surprise for them but they needed to come with us. We called a member to pick us all up and we took them to the mall and I told them go buy some church clothes. They didn't believe me so I had to help them pick it out and I took them to one of my favorite stores H&M. They were so happy and the cool thong was so was I. We got REALLY behind on our schedule but it was worth it. And what made it all the better was two things: (1) they came to church and (2) Daniel told me thanks for being his older brother. Charity never faileth that is for sure.

I also went on splits this last friday with Elder Apo who is from Samoa. Turns out that we know someone in common, Nick Bigler. I don't know him but I know that he is from our stake and that has got to count for something, right? It was fun going on splits with him, especially, because their area touches the beach. Naturally, we went there. haha. It was way cool, we did service most of the day and I got to ride a broken bike and somehow I managed to get back in one piece. Then another interesting thing that happened is that we walked into a church building that I had never been in before and I was looking at the missionary wall and I found someone I know. Marc Oslund from my BYU ward. It was pretty cool seeing his pictures. The funny part was that I remembered that he was from California but I had no idea that his family lives within my mission boundries. So I got permission to go visit them after email. It was an interesting day that day.

Alright enough with the sappy moment, now onto the funny stories. So this week we got threatened with our lives right outside our apartment by these two cholos, no worries it was taken care of give me a minute to explain, and we didn't think too much of it because that always happens to us but that was until we found out they live either right next or in our apartment complex. At first we were pretty freaked out because, well that is a little scary but that all changed Sunday morning. At about 3 in the morning we heard some people screaming and yelling at each other saying "I don't give a ****" and so on, rather colorful words, and it woke us up. NOT COOL. Anyways we woke up to see what was happening and that's when a huge fight started happening. The started throwing fist and the one guy that was getting wailed on landed on the car and the car alarm started going off. So, of course, we stayed and watched because it was pointless to try and sleep but it eventually started getting worse. A couple cars came with some more cholos and the one guy that was getting wailed on was saying "chill out man, chill out" and I think that mad the other people even more mad for some reason, so they all ganged up on him and were kicking him and punching him while he was on the ground. The girlfriends were all freaking out and crying, trying to make everything stop but it didn't change anything, they only got hit. Just shows that alcohol only makes problems because they were all drinking before the fight happened. Eventually, some of the people left and the guy was still on the ground, so we called the cops and two firetrucks came instead and the cop came later. It was so weird having them there because obviously they couldn't do anything. PLUS when I was calling 911 the operator asked me to go down there to ask if the guy was ok, and I said "heck no I don't want to get in the middle of this that is why I'm calling you." Silly LAPD. Eventually the cops came with an ambulance and they took the guy away but the other people that live under us got cited, so hopefully things will quiet down a little. They are way annoying. Moving on a little things in our apartment got a little worse, I got bed bugs and boy they are way nasty. I woke up the other morning with like 20 bug bites, 6 on my left foot and 5 on the other. It's sort of hard to walk because some of them are on the bottom of my foot but I'm still moving along haha. We might have to leave our apartment to get it bombed by the experts and what not. I heard that a couple of other missionaries had to stay in their car for 3 days while they were fixing the apartment up. That would be pretty cool. Haha.

Like I said before my week hasn't been the greatest, had some cool experiences, but none the less it's been hard. Carrying the area by yourself is not fun but hopefully I will be able to get some work done in the up coming transfer. I heard this poem the other day that helped me, it says:

What God Has Promised by Annie Johnson Flint

God hath not promised
Skies always blue
Flower-strewn pathways
All our lives through.

God hath not promised
Sun without rain
Joy without sorrow
Peace without pain.

But God hath promise
Strength for the day
Rest for the labor
Light for the way;

Grace for the trials
Help from above
Unfailing sympathy
Undying love.

I know that sometimes things get tough but I also know that is the only way we learn. Plus God wouldn't put us through something that wasn't for our good. I know that it is hard to see that sometimes, but I know if we start believing not just accepting things will go way better because our perspective will change. I love you so much and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to serve as a missionary. It's hard but worth it. Church is true.

Elder Leavell

Oh my pday might be switching to tuesday soon because all of Los Angeles County Libraries are closed on Mondays now to save money, so just a heads up, it's nothing for sure yet.

Oh another note, Sister Ludwig, I talked with Drew today, he was on at the same time as me. Seems like he is doing very well! It was legit talking with him.

Whoa!

2010-07-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

When you think that there is nothing more that can go wrong, you might want to reconsider what you are thinking. The reason I say this is because, literally, EVERYTHING that could have gone wrong did. At least Spain won the world cup!!!! The game was so freaking awesome!!!! I think that is what has kept me sane through this whole mess of a week. Any who...I honestly hope that everything went well for all of you and that you are all safe, healthy, and happy. I have learned a lot this week, despite the chaos that has gone around here. The quote that says "whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" is soo true. The good news is that we are safe and healthy, that is such a blessing that I never really appreciated before.

So onto all the "chisme" of the mission, where do I begin. I will start with what came most recently. Elder Carroll last night got in a huge bike accident and had to be rushed to the emergency room. A neighbor, I might add a drunk African American lady, called an ambulance as she was sitting on her porch and saw the entire thing. Crazy huh? Elder Hoggan called and told us that we had to go pick up because the ambulance people didn't quite understand the whole idea of companionships because they said family only can go in the ambulance. After all, our companions are our family for, at least, 6 weeks. Anyways he was left stranded there waiting for a supposed cop that was supposed to come, so he was all alone waiting in the middle of Wilmington. So we rushed over to the hospital and I tried to frantically call the mission president and his wife and after an hour of calling they finally answered. At first they didn't understand the situation (but that is probably because they were in shock) but they finally got organize and headed to the hospital. Elder Carroll is pretty banged up, the front windshield is all smashed, as well as the hood, and unfortunately he doesn't remember anything that has happened in the last 4 weeks. Also, his face is pretty messed up BUT he released late last night, if it wasn't early morning. Please pray for him and his family that he will be able to continue his mission after this whole ordeal is situated. Now if that wasn't enough bad/interesting news, the Santoyo family dropped on Saturday after we had an awesome lesson with them about the commandments the night before. It was so awesome because we talked about their baptism that was coming up and the mom and the kids were all excited and were asking all the questions like "Do we have to buy white clothes? Am I ready? Do I have to do anything before then? Oh my gosh let me get a pen I have to put this on my calender!" I was in CVS trying to copy some pictures for Tracy and the fam when the husband called and said "Thanks so much for everything that you have done for me and my family, but I talked to my family and we decided that we don't want to continues with any of this. We thank you for the invitation
and I thank you for the effort that put of me but I'm not interested, I actually have been avoiding you and since I'm the head of the house what I say goes." Whoa. I definitely didn't see that one coming. They were all doing so well, except for the husband, of course. We were both depressed and frustrated at the situation because they were the only people that had baptismal dates within the transfer. I think that once again the Lord is really trying to teach me something about His timing and also, that this is His work not ours. After all, if it is our work and our timing, the mission wouldn't be too difficult and we wouldn't really learn anything from it. Hopefully we will be able to settle things in the coming weeks, but we as missionaries are not going to go there anymore to not cause a bigger problem with the husband. The Bishop and the Relief Society President said that they would stop by and try to figure things out with them, but it's all up to the Lord what happens with them. It's really frustrating though, not going to lie.

Moving on from the bad news, we still have some investigators. Victoria is still hanging in there. We have been working with her for awhile but she hasn't gone anywhere, so we might have to drop her. I hate dropping people, have I ever said that before? The Sisters found a really awesome family, Marta, who has a 4 kids and a husband. We taught her and her daughter the first discussion and talked about the importance of prophets, and they both really liked it. We left them with a baptismal date for August 1st and to not repeat history, like with the Santoyo Family, we are not going to work with them unless the husband goes somewhere with the family as well. They seem ready to me, at least. They had been taught before but had never gone to church, and as a manner of fact haven't gone to church, in general, in a really long time. We received them as a referral from a member that had talked with the wife at a dentist appointment and I guess that she said that she wouldn't mind having the missionaries over again. Even though, we have had some disappointments during this past week, we have seen,once again, that the Lord is providing and helping us along the way. Hopefully, they will progress and be able to enter the waters of baptism and enjoy the blessings of going to the temple, and be sealed to their family for time and all eternity. I'm so thankful for the gospel and for the knowledge of why we go through hard things, because to me that gives me confidence that, at least, it is supposed to happen and second, that it is for our own good. Another interesting story that happened this week, was that I had to give two talks this last Sunday. Apparently, I have been thought of a lot and am in high regards with people. It's a little strange. So on Thursday I got a call from one of the members of the high council and they said, "Elder Leavell", "yes", "We have been think a lot about you and we decided to pick you to speak at the Carson Ward this Sunday." First off, I'm not in that ward and, second, the Carson ward is an English ward, so it's not even in the language that I'm called to serve in. Then Saturday night I get a phone call from Bishop Madrid, our Ward Mission Leader, saying that he was thinking of me and he wanted me to take his spot and talk in the Harbor 3rd Ward. So I had to do one in English and one in Spanish.

So here is the one that I wrote in English:

A wise person once wrote:

"Master, where shall I work today?
My love flowed warm and free.
He pointed out a tiny spot.
And said, tend that for me.

I answered quickly, oh no, not there.
Not any one could see
No matter how well my work was done;
Not that little spot for me.

When He spoke He was not stern,
But He answered me tenderly,
Little one, search that heart of thine;
Are you working for them or for me?
Nazareth was just a little place.
And so was Galilee.

As a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we do such everyday-not because we have to but because we have been called to tend this part of the vineyard and have been found ready to love the people, just as the Savior. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve, to serve with love because I know that this gospel changes lives and I know it because I'm the product of this work.

As many raised in the gospel, the thought of becoming a missionary is a long term goal, a golden treasure, or, in other words, the highest honor. I, on the other hand, never thought of becoming a white shirted nerd but when I came to know and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ the thought of being a missionary was natural. I first encountered the missionaries after the STRONG encouragement of some member friends that wagered me that I could not be Mormon for a week. I took that wager and went to seminary (even though it was WAY early in he morning and even past the fact I was struggling going to school), tried my best to adjust my language, my weekend habits, and went to church for all 3 extraneous hours. Not going to lie, I didn't feel much different than what I was doing at the baptist I was going to with my parents. I didn't feel much different because I left that week at that and didn't think much about it. That was until I decided to meet with the missionaries and hear what they had to say. I don't remember what they told me, I don't remember what trey showed me but from them on it changed my life. To confirm this belief my parents asked me to meet with their pastor and boy was I scared because all I knew about the church was some boy prayed and saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Before I met with him I prayed more fervently than I had ever before, most likely, to know if what I heard was true and I asked him to give me a sign if it was, a sign of knowledge. I testify to you that I received such knowledge. When the pastor started to ask me about baptism and where it said it was required in the Bible, I was shown, and I was shown every time I was asked a question. I got baptized a year later, when I was 18. Two years later I'm here on a mission being a white shirted, changed guy, having served a year already. Yes it has not been easy to get to this point but neither was it for the Savior, all He said was that it is worth it.

I remember a story given to us during a General Conference session, it said:
"In 1968 a marathon runner by the name of John Stephen Akhwari represented Tanzania in an international competition. 'A little over an hour after [the winner] had crossed the finish line, John Stephen Akhwari...approached the stadium, the last man to complete the journey. [Though he was suffering from fatigue, leg cramps, dehydration, and disorientation,] a voice called from within to go on, and so he went on. Afterwards, it was written, "Today we have seen a young African runner who symbolizes the finest in human spirit, a performance that gives meaning to the word courage. For some the only reward is a personal one. [There are no medals, only] the knowledge that they finished what they set out to do." When asked why he would complete a race he could never win, Akhwari replied, "My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; my country sent me to finish the race." He knew who he was-an athlete representing the country of Tanzania. He knew his purpose-to finish the race. He knew that he had to endure to the finish, so that he could honorably return home to Tanzania." Elder Hales continued, "Our mission in life is much the same. We were not sent by Father in Heaven just to be born. We were sent to endure and return to Him with honor...We learn to endure to the end by learning to finish out current responsibilities, and we simply continue doing it all of our lives. We cannot expect to learn endurance in our later years if we have developed the habit of quitting when things get difficult now."

The same can be applied to missionary work. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are not only asked to endure but, also, help those that stand in need of comfort and mourn with those that mourn. That's our baptismal covenant, brothers and sisters. We, as members, have the benefit to be a little ahead, in some circumstances, in our race to our Heavenly Father because we have the gospel, BUT there are many that are without. I have seen that as a missionary, I'm not only running through my own personal trials but, also, running back to help those that are facing trials of their own. Yes, it's exhausting; yes, we become weak; yes, we get injured; and yes, we are sometimes damaged, but yet, we still go out and walk the streets of Los Angeles because we love the people. We have all heard the scriptures, "(45)And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (46)Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail— (47)But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him." But wouldn't it be great to apply and live it? When we develop a natural love for everyone, we are able to carry the burdens of others and the reason is because of charity. The reason why these scriptures are so famous is because the Savior did just that. He showed and did everything with charity. We are also asked to do the same, and the wonderful blessing is that we can also reach the same potential as Him—meaning that we can also carry things that we could not possibly carry on our own. Additional strength is a promised blessing when we do these things.

I challenge all of you to take a leap of faith, a leap to better serve others, to magnify and take advantage of our baptismal covenant. I know that we will be blessed for our service, when we do so with charity, not because we want the blessings and not because we have to. I know no better way to do this, than the way Harry Ward Beecher showed us, he said:

"If you want your neighbor to see what Christ's spirit will do for [them], let [them] see what it has done for you."

I know that this Church is true and that everything that the church professes is true. I know that we will receive additional strength to carry the burdens of others, and I know this because I'm currently and will do this during my mission. Take the leap of faith and you will be blessed.

I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Elder Leavell

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

Well it's another pday and that means that you get to hear from me,what a joy right? Yeah I know it's pretty legit too. Haha. Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July, it was a first for me this go around because I was on the mission and holidays in the mission are always different. We didn't do much BUT I did get some sick pictures of the city all lit up from the roof of our apartment. So that was pretty cool I guess.

The rest of the week wasn't as enjoyable, it was pretty much the same as last week just without zone conference even though we had even more missionary meetings because we got a new mission president! Here comes a story. So on Tuesday we had set up a member present with Brother Torres at 10:30am with Victoria. Elder Richins and I were so excited for it because the member volunteered himself to come with us since he took her home. Of course something doesn't go the way we want them to. Our lovely APs called us the night before to tell me to give the opening prayer at a surprise "Get to meet the President" meeting and that I needed to be there early, he said "so around 10." Yeah I know it's during the lesson and so we freaked out because we bailed on her because of another surprise meeting that we had and the worst part was that she doesn't have a phone! So the morning before the meeting we were frantically calling the member trying to see if he could go there by himself with his wife because we couldn't go. He didn't answer but we left a message and hoped for the best. Turns out he didn't show up either since he called us that he got called into work. FREAK! I was so bummed that no one could make and we stood her up again. So right after that meeting we were thinking to head over to make amends but then our Zone Leaders decided that we should have another meeting with all the leaders in the zone. FREAK! That took us to about 5pm and by that time we had a lot of set appointments that we had to go to so we didn't even get to see Victoria that day. We felt so bad that the next day we went over there to try and make amends an set up another appointment but she said she didn't think it was a good idea since the last two times we didn't come but she said to call her the day of and she'll try to be home. I was almost balling and we know that isn't a good sight. FREAK! She was so ready and everything, it just shows that the adversary is working hard against this work. Anyways the Sisters told us to make her the best brownies we can make and hope for the best. So that is what we did but we didn't realize that we didn't have a pan until after we had mixed it and after some quick thinking we put it in a soup pot and stuck it in the over. Turns out brownies don't really poof up and it turned into some really thin brownies so we cut them into circles to make brownie cookies. They did turn out to be delicious by the way. After that whole ordeal we went over to her house and gave them to her and she really liked them and told us that we shouldn't feel sorry anymore because things happen. She didn't end up going to church this past Sunday because she had to go get paid from the other church since she had made some vests for them but she said she'll come this next week.

Phew, that was a longer story than I thought it was, but now onto the new mission president, which I know is what you all want to hear. His name is President Baker and, of course, his wife's name is Sister Baker. They are from Riverton, Utah and let me add one more thing, he is very different than President Blackburn. First impression was how did he know my name? Haha. I'm not going to lie, I'm going to miss President Blackburn, I learned sooo much from him, in the sense of how I need to be as a person. Yeah, he made us do things that we didn't want to do BUT they were necessary. I don't think I would be the same missionary if he hadn't been my mission president. I'm very hopeful that the new mission president will also teach me things that I also need to learn to become a better person. His wife is very nice lady, doesn't talk much but I'm sure that is because she is scared out her mind right now and is overwhelmed with information. At least I would be. Haha. I know they will do great, so keep them in your prayers they need them.

Alright back to the Santoyo Family, they are doing great. I have no complaints with them. I'm so excited for them and I can't wait to see their baptism. The husband came to church this last week and he also managed to find a SUV that could fit all of them. He said that he felt a little embarrassed for asking for a ride last time so he didn't want to come. I don't think he liked it too much since it was a little boring and the teachers were freaking out that they had an investigator come into their class. Guess they haven't had many of those in recent times. We did let them know that they were coming, so we will have to do some work with them so that they feel more prepared and are confident in what they are doing. The mom, Gabby is still doing great. It's so awesome. She is ALWAYS shacking her head as if she is agreeing with everything that is being said. The kids like if a lot too. From what we have heard with the mom, the kids have had some bad experiences with church and so they don't like it anymore but she is so happy that they like it now. Of course, it might not be because of the doctrine yet but I'm sure as they keep continuing coming to church that they will increase their testimony. Which reminds me, we were talking to Vanesa and Jonathon about prayer and the importance of prayer. We taught them lesson one, so on the restoration, and told them that they needed to pray and they did! A couple days later we went over and asked them how it went and they said they felt very happy like they never felt before and they said they know it's true. How cool is that? That a 11 and 9 year old can also gain a testimony the same way us old folks do. I don't think the husband will be ready for the 18th because he always cancels appointments that he makes with us but we will continue trying. If he shows progression we will postpone the baptism but if he continues to flake then we will baptize the mom and the kids and wait for the husband to turn around. The cool thing is that he knows he needs to change but doesn't want to stop his family from waiting. We are really praying for them that they can all get baptized at the same time because it will do wonders for all of them, especially the husband since he has a drinking problem.

WELL yesterday we had a HUGE soccer tournament as a mission and it was way sick. We had a whole soccer field to ourselves, so we played small games. I think I was more excited to see everyone than to actually play but that doesn't mean I didn't play. It was fun going back to my roots and playing and sweating and then the best part of getting sore. I miss that feeling. President Baker and his wife came as well so that was cool. On 4th of July it was way cool, we watch "Journey of Faith" as a zone and then we went home and watched all the fireworks. The entire city was lite up and fireworks were going off like crazy. A big mortar went off and tipped over and hit a house and now the house is burnt haha sucks for them. It was really funny actually.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and I hope that you all counted all the blessings you have from living in this wonderful country. Yes it's not perfect but we are way better off than many. I love you all and hope all is well.

Elder Leavell

Exhausted

2010-06-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Today is another pday and you all know what that means, yes you get to hear how my week went! Woo Hoo! I can't believe that it was my year mark this past week, it's so crazy to think that I'm no longer counting but I'm now counting down. Sister Ludwig thanks sooo much for the album that you sent me, it was great to see pictures of everyone again. I need more of those.

This week has been another interesting week, I know I saw that a lot, but missionary life always seems to have something interesting happen. So this past week we have worked with a lot of families, as usual, but sadly only one of them had progressed and the rest have been dropped.The good news is that the Santoyo family came to church! The husband didn't come but he rest of the family came. But that's not all.Victoria came to church, not sure if I have talked about her but she is an old lady that didn't really show any promise but she came to church. It was funny yesterday morning, as were getting the Santoyo family to church, we had totally forgotten about her until the member came. So we asked if he could Pick her up as well and he said fine. I felt bad but we piled everyone in and raced to Victoria's house and she was there waiting for us. We felt like Shepard's leading to children, it was an awesome feeling. Then the worst thing happened to us as we were going to church. We ran over a squirrel. The thing freaked out and ran back into our lane after it had ran into the next lane. Good times huh? Oh well life moves on and we didn't really think much of it because we had 7 people on their way to church! It's awesome to see how hard work pays off. The other family, Guadalupe and her kids, have been dropped. We went over to their house several times to see how they were doing and everything seemed normal and perfect. The Saturday before church everything changed. We went over there to say hello, since we were in the area, and talked with Guadalupe. She said she was excited for church because she doesn't have to work this Sunday. I was so excited for her and I asked her if her son was at home. She said no he was at work. As we were walking out we say Edgar's son playing with a girl from the apartment complex and asked her how her dad was doing. She said "why don't you ask him?" She ran upstairs and went to go get him but came out and said "he isn't home." My companion said something isn't right, he is home. I was so bummed the rest of the night. I thought back through everything I said to them to see if I said something that could have offended him, nothing, I thought back through everything they had said to see if they showed disinterest, nothing. I kept thinking about it and nothing. Every missionary goes through this when someone drops them but this time it was different. I loved that family, they were so cool and so ready but, obviously, it wasn't. I learned a valuable lesson that day and that is-you are not in control, the Lord is. I want to share this story that I hard while at a baptism this Sunday. It comes from the second counselor of the bishopric.

"My dad was a truck driver and when I got older I got to learn the trade from my dad. As a truck driver we travel long distances and drive through different terrains almost daily. In fact, we become so accustomed to it that driving on 18 wheels becomes the norm and driving on 4 wheels becomes awkward. One of the most valuable lessons that I learned from my dad was the one where I learned to travel over the lovely element of frozen water. Now anyone is scared of driving over ice but imagine driving over 6 tons behind you and all you can do is drive and watch. My dad told me to do one thing when that happens-drive faster. He said that when driving over ice the first thing that happens is that the trailer looses it's alignment with the rest of the vehicle and the worst thing to do is adjust. If you try to adjust over ice the trailer could flip and possibly kill you in the process, but if we hold firm to the steering wheel and accelerate the trailer won't swerve as much and will give you just enough time to get off the ice to adjust to swerving trailer. I want to compare this to us now. Our life in the scriptures is described as going along the path to our Heavenly Father, so we will say we're driving a trailer down that certain path. The things in the trailer are things we can control, such as our obedience, our willingness to serve, or in other words ourselves because that is the only real thing we can control. The ice patches, on the other hand, are the things we cannot control, such as family members, church members, employers, or in other words things or people that can affect us. Now in life, we all know that the we will hit patches of ice that the adversary throws at us to make us loose control, but just as literally driving a trailer on an icy road everything is determined on how we react. In life, we try to adjust and make corrections while we go through difficult times but we will fail. However, if we hold firm and accelerate, meaning look to the things we are founded on and focus on them even harder, we will succeed. The reason for this, occurs because we failed to prepare and now it's too late. The eternal law in all this is change is immanent, progression is optional. Icy patches will happen but how we react and learn from the past is how we progress.

I thought that that was amazing. That is such a true principle. The Lord puts things in our lives because he knows that we can overcome them, after all he has promised that to us. They are blessings as long as we react to them with the mind set that we will succeed. We have the power to overcome, it's all up to us. At zone conference that we had this past week that is what we mostly talked about. It was definitely different because they are leaving tomorrow at noon. It will be sad to see them leave but they have served us well and they deserve to be released. It's amazing to see how hard they have worked to change the mission that didn't baptize to now a baptizing mission. Sister Blackburn talked about the things that she has taken from her mission and that the treasure that everyone is seeking is right here, right now. She explained that we have all partaken from the goodness but we all must continue diligently to seek after it and that is what has kept her sane. She then applied it to us and said that we have done the same even though every morning we say "I'm exhausted, weak, injured, and hurt" but she told us that despite all of that "we all still go out and walk the streets." The next thing she said she learned was that when we were all in the temple, dressed in white, that that is how heaven is going to be. Seeing everyone we love and cherish dressed in white and that she wants to see ALL of us there. Then it was President Blackburns turn and he talked about church government and how everyone is called to their callings. It was really cool how mission president are called (don't have time to explain). He then told us that there is one thing that he wants us to do as missionaries, to magnify our calling. He said "If we magnify our calling it WILL be hard to leave, but if we don't it WILL be a joyous time." He said that he wants us to be depressed to be sad when we leave our missions because we gave it our all. It reminded me what Elder Holland said "I want to have to call an ambulance to wait for you at the airport when you go home from all the work you have done." Those words encourage me to work harder, more diligently to do the Lord's will. Hopefully I will be able to do such.

I told you that the beach was in my area!

Well i love you all and don't worry I'm doing well. Later.

Elder Leavell

One Year Down, One to Go

2010-06-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hey mom thanks for the package I think that I can safely say that I will be good on snacks for awhile, it doesn't even fit in the cubboards (hope that is right). Dad hope you had a wonderful Father's day. Sorry I couldn't call you but I did send you a card BUT it will get there late I sent it on Saturday haha my bad. Grandma, hope you had a wonderful birthday. Once again sorry I couldn't be there, I will say I was there in spirit though.

Back to the rest of you how are all of you doing? This week has been another hectic one but when is it not? The good news on the other hand is that we finally for a hold of some people/families that we have been trying to get a hold of, so that means more investigators!

Now for how the week went went. Due to the changes in the mission and because my companion is a district leader we had to take some extra dinner appointments to make everyone happy. But that means my stomach has been suffering a little bit. So that was my Monday after p-day, dinner appointments. Fun huh? On Tuesday we picked up Elder Mitillo and Elder Cottrell to do some service for this black lady Asia that is in the Carson. She is moving to Long Beach to help her nephew, who turns out that help her come to the gospel, come back to the church so that is pretty cool and very thoughtful. The rest of the day we went to visit people that are in our area book since we still hadn't caught up and visited everyone that the other missionaries had been visiting. One lady in particular was an interesting one. Luz Ortiz has a looonng teaching record and normally it means that they have problems keeping commitments, or in other words not worth our time. But we decided to visit her because Elder Richins said that most of his baptisms were from looonng teaching records. We figured out why the instant we got there-she loves her cigarettes. As we talked with her she pulled one out and lit it up right in front of us. Interestingly enough she has come to church several times, so we will see if she reads the pamphlet we left her with. Probably not though. Oh well. After that we didn't do much, tracted a little until we got to the Santoyo family! They are awesome. Husband is gay but the mom and the kids are ready. Satan is exactingly obedient at daily contact because every time we are there the husband feels the spirit and says he wants to go to church but the second we leave he changes his mind and goes wacko. This last Sunday they didn't come so we stopped by to see if they needed anything and the husband left when he saw us. So we decided to take the opportunity to talk with the mother and explain the importance of setting the example for her husband. We shared our experiences with turning families into church attending families and promised her that her husband's mind will change if she sets the example and goes to church. She promised next week she would come to church. I have great hopes for that family. Moving off the investigators a little bit, we had another mission devotional, even though it should have been titled President Blackburn's going away party haha. We first met in the chapel that was in the temple and the awesome part was the we were all in white. It was so great to see all of the missionaries from the different zones come in as a mission. We waited there for about 45 minutes because we were waiting for the other zones to get there but once we were all together the temple president came up to speak to us. It was amazing. He asked us to focus a lot on the symbolism of the things that happen in the temple and proceeded to explain the importance of the temple in the restored gospel. There is a reason why only certain people can be presidents of the temple. Then we heard from President and Sister Blackburn and then went through the temple. Afterwards we all ate together and it was a big party. I wish we could have more of those since the mission is small anyways. Hopefully the next mission president will do some more of those. Any who...back to the investigators. We finally got a chance to meet with Guadalupe and her kids. Turns out she is a really nice lady and is just worked like crazy at her work so she hasn't been able to come to church and/or meet with us. After church we went over there to see what was up because she told us that she would be there, but it turned into a blessing. When we went over there her 16 year old daughter, Iselia, 26 year old son, Edgar, and 6 year old niece, Alisia (Edgar's son) were all there. We had an amazing lesson with them about families and the restored gospel. The little girl was bored and went crazy and ended up in her room. As I was teaching the lesson, I don't know why but I started focusing on Edgar only. I wanted to focus on everyone but I couldn't. It turned out to be an amazing lesson and we will be seeing them all on Wednesday and hopefully they will read the pamphlet and pray. I know I'm praying for it because they really need the gospel. Through out the week we did service with Sister Green, where we plucked plums and made jam. It was soo good...mmmm. We went with Mitillo and Cottrell and we will all go again this next Wednesday. I remember now, it was on Tuesday that we went to go pick plums because Mexico was playing and everyone was screaming when they scored. It would be soo sick if Mexico won because they have never won before. Yeah that was my week for the most part. Sounds busy huh?

So as you probably all know I'm now at my hump day, it being tomorrow. It's so crazy to think that a year has gone by, it feels like not a lot of time has gone by. Well that is probably because we do the same thing over and over again but still it doesn't feel like a year has gone by. I'm so thankful that I have gotten the chance to serve and to do the Lord's will. I don't think I was ready but I think that I have finally planted my feet and am able to go about the work with ease. Yes the mission isn't easy but it is so worth it. For all of you who are debating, just go. Take a leap of faith and do it because in the long run it is worth it. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to do this, yes I'm not perfect but I'm good enough. Sister Ludwig emailed me this Sister's list of things that she has learned, being in the same mission as Elder Ludwig, so I decided to do the same.

Things I've Learned so Far:

Simply Juices are EXPENSIVE!
Sales are our best friends
Why people invented the motor vehicle because bikes take too long and are tiring
Happiness comes through obedience, always
Gained a testimony of the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon
How to fix a toilet with tape and a rubber band
To love everyone
To sow
The American society is going too virtual (like virtual gifts...?)
Panda Express' fortune cookies are true doctrine
Koreans can't drive (sorry it's true, biking through Korea town is like Russian roulette or even worse)
There are too many churches
Families are everything
That everything and anything can be related to the gospel
To not ask why I'm asked to do something but to just do it
That creating habits is key to being successful
Half a phone is better than nothing
To laugh
Small and simple things are best
Commitments are the steps towards covenants
American Sign Language, making me trilingual
Sticky notes are great for reminders
Importance of scripture reading
Trials are blessings for the future
Change a bicycle tire
Fix a bicycle chain
Fix bicycle brakes
Get cockroaches out of a microwave
Perform a baptism
Work on a swollen ankle, with the swine flu, with a temperature, and many more sicknesses
Work is hard
Wake up at 6:30 in the morning
Talk with everyone (I'm like my dad now)
Sit through 8 hour meetings with ease
Translate without thinking
PepBoys take FOREVER even if you can do it in 5 minutes
That I have taken a lot of things for granted like having a car, nice cell phone, music, quality food on the table, my parents, friends, TV, computer, free laundry, school, fresh fruit, the gym, soccer, my comfortable bed, pets, waking up at ridiculous hours, Ines, my grandma who volunteered to wash everything for me, nice haircuts, random outings with family and friends, knowing spanish, and I can't think of any else but I'm sure there are more.
Go to bed at 10:30pm
Planning works
The Lord will and does relieve burdens when we trust in Him

Once again I can't believe that a year has flown by but I know that means that this next year will go by even faster, so in other words I'll see you in no time. I love you and miss you all a lot. I'll see you in a jiffy.

Elder Leavell

Hasta La Vista South Bay Zone

2010-06-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

Alright this is the moment you have all been waiting for. TRANSFERS! So normally I would say that I have not been an ordinary missionary and there are many reasons why I say that but staying in one zone for a year of the mission is anything but ordinary. That all came to an end this transfer because I'm now in Peninsula Zone. It was great news that I would finally get a change but now that time has set in it has started to be such a bummer because that is the place that I have always been and it is different now. Anyways how have you all been? Any big changes over there in the LV?

First weeks of the transfer are always the most difficult ones, especially when you are flushing. This is my second time doing it but either way it is really difficult when your area is so big. The area that I'm covering now is Wilmington-now you might say that is small but that isn't the only area in my area. I cover from the ocean (Redondo Beach) to the Harbor (Mormon Island). So imagine a BIG "L" and that is what my area looks like. So because of this we decided to change the name of the area to The Mermaid. Haha. Funny thing is that it really does look like a mermaid since the bottom of the area is in the shape of a fin. Enough geography. Due to the changes in the mission, going from bilingual to separate, has made it very difficult because both Elder Richins (my new companion) and I are flushing the area, meaning we are new to the area. The cool part is that we absorbed a bunch of areas and have a lot of investigators from the Sister missionaries and some Elders. I would talk about them but I really haven't gotten the chance to meet them really well, but suffice to say we have about 10 investigators and 3 have baptismal dates for the coming month. Pressure is on to continue that. Funny thing is that literally every couple minutes we would get a call from the Sisters and the other Elders "oh hey umm...sorry I haven't called you before but you have an appointment at such and such. hope you can make it." It was nice but insane at the same time because we got really over booked and had to reschedule a bunch of appointments. I haven't even gotten the chance to unpack because of all the appointments and all the meetings that we have to go to. But there is a couple of people that I got to meet that seem to have some potential. One of them is a family of 5. The wife's name is Guadalupe and she is the most interested out of all of them. The husband was drunk when we got their but turns out that he has a really active sister in Mexico that is a member of the church, so he is a little interested but it will be interesting how we get him off the booz. Then the other person that seems a little bit more interested is Guadalupe. I actually haven't gotten the opportunity to meet her but I have talked to her on the phone and she seems really excited to learn more about the gospel. But somethign that was really intereting was that on the first day we found 2 people that want to know and then the most amazing thing happened. We were sitting in our car, after tracting for about an hour, trying to figure where we should go next when a random person comes up to us. He first started out by saying thank you for everything that you do but then he started talking about church. he said that he hadn't been to church in awhile but that he wanted to get back to church. We invited him to come to church with us and he said "I'm catholic but I think I can do that." It was so awesome and random haha. I'm so excited to see what comes from all the investigators and hopefully we won't let anyone down. Unfortunately it gets worse. I think that I'm cursed with the curse of "terrible first weeks." I got to the area and the phone was already sketchy but manageable. Turns out that it was more sketchy than I thought. When we were calling the office and saying that our phone was about to break everything was fine. Then we dropped the phone and then the screen came off. I don't know what I do to phones but things like this just happen. The funny thing is that it still works. We have been using it like that for a couple of days now. The only thing is that you can't talk and listen at the same time. Meaning you can't leave it on speaker when we're talking. Haha. Got to love ghetto. But that is all I really know about the area, I'm sure next week I will have much more to say.

I love you all and I will miss you. Hope you have a great week!

Elder Leavell