June 24, 2013 Just Lived Through The 4th Hottest Day On Record

Dear Home,
I just found out this week that I am training another missionary. It is going to be a lot of fun this time around and hopefully I wont brake the poor mans soul. I am excited! Its going to be weird though because I don't know the area very well so I'm still not sure if I will be able to see the right people at this time and not forget about those that are in need of us so many prayers on that behalf would be much appreciated.

Receiving the message that I was training was actually pretty fun as well. It was a long day in the 4th hottest day on Phoenix Arizona record, 121. Cold...(with sarcasm) We had a few clouds roll in too and that brought in some humidity with it and we were out biking all day. We thought that if it got hot enough that we could stay in for a few hours but we never received word so we kept working. We were drenched in sweat! So when we got in to our apartment Saturday night at 9, still 110 outside, we planned and I hit the showers. Half way through the showers there were tons of people banging on the door to the bathroom and wasn't sure if the place went up in flames or what. I threw on a towel and hurried out the door into our study room and there everyone was huddled around the phone because our mission president was on the other end of the phone asking for me. I went through the whole phone call feeling so unprofessional but it still went OK.

Something that seems to stay on my mind a lot as of late is the Will of the Lord. Many of the tasks I have been dealing with is trying to find members that are not so active in the church and trying to help them out. The problem is that since there is very little communication with the individuals we almost never catch them at home. We also try to see other people that have been interested in the church before to see if we could continue to meet with them again and they up and leave or decide against us.

We taught a young lady at a members home the restoration. At the end we talked about how God can communicate with us and the ways many of us feel the Spirit influence us. When we asked her if she has felt the Spirit of the Lord she went off testifying how great she feels when she prays and the feeling she had at that moment. She knew she was feeling the Spirit and getting answers to what she needed.

The coming Saturday we were going to meet with them again and she was going to attend and right before the appointment she cancelled on us and said she wasn't interested. I'm OK with it because after all Gods greatest gift to us is our agency, freedom to choose for ourselves. I look at this experience in many other ways and see how this concept is expressed in other ways. Such as with children, you tell them one thing and they do another or try and protect them as much as you can but fall short when you turn the protection into there own hands. Sometimes its hard but other times I understand that I need to just move forward and do what I can and not worry about that which I can't change.

The more and more I am here in the AZ the more and more I kind of like it. I don't sweat until it is over a 100 and when it gets above 110 it all just feels hot.

Skies are clear and the air is clean. However I need my four seasons. I hope the weather is just as great or better where ever you are and enjoy what you have. I love you all!
Love Elder Caleb Johias Leonhardt