Dear Home,
I have just received notice that I am being moved to a different area and
will be serving with a new companion somewhere new. It is always nerve racking at
this time because I have absolutely no idea where I am being sent and what kind
of issues they might have there or what kind of personality my new companion
will have. I hope I get sent somewhere north where its cooler during the summer
or at least has a few other colors to look at rather than red or brown. No
offence Peoria but you're not very diverse. I leave my best wishes with my
companion Elder Empey and pray that he does his best while on his mission,
hopefully I have taught you enough. It's a weird feeling of being nervous
and excited at the same time. I wonder if this is how some parents feel when
they take their kids to college and leave them for the world to take in.
During this week we had a number of set backs and a lot of lessons fell
through. Last Saturday we had all 7 of our scheduled appointments/lessons fall
through and none of them called us to let us know. We got a little tired of the
theme for the day so we started to call all of our appointments ahead to see if
they were still ok but they weren't. Some people even told us they would be
there about an hour before we showed up and when we got there they were no where
to be found. The Human Race....impressive. Just kidding we have our proud and
not so proud moments. I'm included.
I want to thank all of you who have read my emails and have sent
responses back to my mom, she forwards them to me. They enlighten my entire week
when I get to hear from everyone. Thank you.
We taught Makell this week about the Plan Of Salvation and midway through
as we were talking about Christ's major role in the plan he expressed the trials
that he was going through. He made comments that seemed to say that he believes
in Christ, but maybe only for the moment. His faith is being tried and hasn't
felt the love of Christ at this time in his life. He exclaimed that his thoughts
about the Atonement that Christ went through only covered those people at that
time and that he wasn't covered and that's why Christ must come again. Those
words as they came out cut me deep. I felt so sad that because of the trials he
is going through he is losing his faith and trust in the Lord. I bared my
testimony about how large the Atonement is and the beauty of it but it didn't
make an impression on him. The only way for him to receive that witness is by
kneeling and praying about it, sincerely desiring to see and feel the Love of
the Lord that forever and always will reign above us. He needs a hug from the
Lord, but he's not sure why he hasn't been getting one. I realized that because
he has stopped reading the scriptures, stopped praying as often, and he hasn't
gone to church yet he is feeling himself getting distant from his presence. The
answer to his personal and spiritual problems go back to the fundamentals. God
has given us these commandments to bless us and he knows they will but we cannot
see or truly understand them at this time and that's why its hard, but he must
endure. He later told us that his girlfriend doesn't want to meet with us
because she had been hearing rumors about the church from people at work. Many
that I have never heard before and all that are far from the truth. Christ is
the Redeemer of all mankind. I have a hard time understanding where some of
these rumors come from but it brings me back to what I mentioned a couple months
ago. If you want to hear an elephant, go see an elephant not a grasshopper.
Check your source and your foundation. Allow yourself to have Christ at the
center of your foundation, build off of Him, live in Him, rejoice in Him, love
others the way he did and never forget Him. This month I have been studying a
lot about repentance and two of my favorite verses are Ezekiel 18: 29-32.
Repentance is a gift that we have, lets us use it.
I love you all and am always praying for your protection. I know that
Christ is the Redeemer and that all things are covered by and through Him, God
lives.
Elder Leonhardt
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