7 Reasons why this week was Fantastic! April 9, 2018

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was amazing! So let's just get to it!

MLC Singing!

1. MLC 

    It was super great to see so many of my friends! Sister McArthur, Sister John, Sister Fiagle they are all sister Training Leaders! This meeting was absolutely amazing because we talked alot about General conference and how to apply many of the things we heard to becoming a better leader. I loved a quote that the assistants shared about how "Great leaders make great leaders." We are here to help the other missionaries to become leaders to teach them to be an example. "Great Leaders are also the greatest followers." Some examples we see this in is when Russell m Nelson was an apostle he followed so well to the prophets council. He heard the call to read the Book of Mormon and he continued to study more diligently. But the Best example is our Savior Jesus Christ. He was the greatest leader on this earth but he was also the greatest follower. As he followed in his father's footsteps.  

Mission Leader Conference

2. Panda! 

     So on our way home from MLC we stopped at panda for dinner. It was packed full because a softball had apparently just got done. So here we are walking through the line and the lady that is taking my order asks if we are with a church.

Me: "YEAH! We are missionaries!"

Her: "Like the ones that knock on doors?" She was saying this while getting my order wrong. Haha 

"Yep that's us!"

"They make so many memes about you guys! Do you get yelled at alot?"

I laugh as I say "Yep it seems to happen."

 She then goes on to tell us how she had missionaries come to her door and her dad just yells until they get off the porch. She told us how she felt bad because they were probably really nice girls like us. I made her promise to be nice to future missionaries that knock on her door and she did! Success! 

Then a member from a different area come up and offered to pay for our dinner. What a blessing! As we walk away you hear the lady that took my order talk very loudly to her co worker about how we are real missionaries that knock on doors. Hahaha I think the whole restaurant could hear her! 

Sister Mousser & Sister Leavitt at Panda Express

3. Lila heart attack

    So we try and keep in touch with our people on date every single day. But I wanted to do something special for Lila. At the same time Sister Mousser and I almost spontaneously said "let's heart attack her!" So Lila has a pretty big window at the fount of her house so we have to army crawl past it to get to her door. She is watching TV.  Perfect I thought. No way she will see us. So as I stick the heart on her door I look up and I see Lila walking to the door. I turn to sister Mousser "we are caught!" We think about running but it was already to late. So we finish putting the hearts on her screen door as she comes outside. We all had a good laugh about that one!  

4. Lila baptism tour

     We went to the church on Friday to do a tour of the font and how everything would go down for her baptism on Saturday. She had seen a baptism before but when she saw the font this time she felt so much peace. Lila is afraid of the water because of a past experience but she was able to see that there are railings to hold onto as she walked down and Brother Sharp came and practiced how the baptism would go. 

5. Mel's baptism (the riverside sisters are teaching Mel)

    So after our baptism tour with Lila she had to go. We were hoping she would stay because the sisters were having a baptism for their investigator Mel. We technically can not go to a baptism without an investigator there but as we were about to leave the building the sisters were so overwhelmed because the person baptizing Mel wasn't there! So we call up the riverside Elders and tell them that we need one of them to baptize Mel. Elder Swenson tells me over the phone that His trainee Elder Smith is going to do it. I thought that he just threw this on his companion and I check to make sure Elder Smith is comfortable doing this. Elder Swenson tells me how he started to grab his things and stopped as he saw his companion watching him. He then asks Elder Smith who's only been out for 8 weeks if he wanted to baptize her. Elder Swensen described the Joy of his companion as he jumped up and down and started to gather his things. 

As the baptism gets started about 35 minutes late. The pianist has to leave. So Sister Mousser ends up being the pianist. And Elder Swenson was a witness. You know, sometimes it takes a whole zone to get a baptism done but I just kept thinking bout 1 Nephi 3:7. It's a commandment for us to all be baptized and the Lord will provided a way. We all grew so much from this experience. Elder Smith did a great job showing Mel what was going to happen and it ran smoothly from their on out. 

Sister Mousser, Lila & Sister Leavitt before her baptism.

Sister Mousser, Sister Leavitt, Lila & Brother Sharp

Sister Mousser, Lila after baptism & Sister Leavitt

6. Lila Baptism!!!

    Saturday was a Miracle day! Lila after investigating the church for 3 years was baptized! Everything went so smoothly. The spirit was so strong! We sang for her "if the Savior stood beside me." The talks were great!  Lila ended up leaving a few things at the church so we had the great opportunity to stop by and visit and talk about how she felt afterwards. She looks so happy! Then that evening we got a Facebook message from the Sister Missionary that first knocked on the door of Lila! What a blessing that is to see the seeds you planted be harvested. She was super excited! The ward members were all on a high spiritual note. Many of them thought this day would never come. 

7. Marshmallow fight

     So here we are eating dinner with the Morris family! They feed us almost every week super fun! They have 5 kids from the ages 3 months to 7 years old. We are eating ice cream when they get a knock on the door so the parents are just around the corner and I grab some marshmallows. I ask the kids if if they think I can catch them in my mouth. They nod and say yes! So I throw it up in the air. Sister Mousser says semi quietly says "Don't teach them that!" Right as Brother Morris walks in. Busted! He asked what I was teaching his kids. The kids tell him that I was trying to catch the marshmallows in my mouth. Brother Morris gets so excited he takes the whole bag of marshmallows and starts throwing them at his kids faces! His wife comes in and he is just hammering her with them! So that is the time I started a fight in a home. Sister Mousser said I had to write about this to you all! 

I hope you're all doing well and having as much fun as I am!  I love you lots! 

Love 

Sister Leavitt