February 24 2014 "Mutiny, Flu, Dodgeball, Cops and more"

Feb 24 2014,

This week was jam packed with lots of fun! From children on the terror,

to me being sick. Hold on to your seat because this is going to be a
good one. Also I made a list of what I wanted to say so I had more to
write.

We had a meeting on Sunday with a number of the church leaders. We

were talking about concerns each leader is having in their
position. We talked about the young men, then us as missionaries, then
the Primary President (over the kids age 3-11) and she said there were
a number of kids acting up in class and not respecting the teachers.
Misbehaving and calling others names as well as fighting. Most parents
could relate to this I'm guessing, at least my parents could! They
were talking about what the teachers could do because it isn't really
their place to discipline the kids. After this talk someone spoke up
and said, " there's a mutiny in the primary, the kids are going
crazy!" It was abnormal because the kids have been great the whole
time up until now. Their poker face has worn out.

Last preparation day, Monday, we played this awesome Dodgeball game in

the gym. We put chair racks scattered throughout the gym
and 5 balls scattered all throughout as well. The balls ranged
from a regular large Dodgeball to a small clear and light up ball,
which was hard to see when coming at you. It got really intense and we
all just about threw out our arms. It was great! We then went to a
batting cage. It has been so so long since the last time I had hit a
ball. It felt so great! And we got to teach Elder Stulen from Sweden
how to hit a ball. It has pretty funny because they don't play any
sports like it.

I went on an exchange with Elder Shawn Boyce from Virginia. An

exchange is when 2 companionship switch a companion for a day to learn
from each other and have change of scenery. It was so much fun being with him.
He is hilarious as he lives up to his name on the basketball court of
yoda, because he can levitate through the air. He can jump. We talked
to some pretty interesting people in their area. The most interesting
was when we rode by a members home and they were training for a
competitive martial arts fight in Vegas so to help him train by
provided live fighting....just kidding that's not Christ-like. But I
found out that Elder Boyce used to fight competitively and broke his
nose a couple times while doing it so had a nose surge like I did.

Once I got home from that exchange Wednesday night, I has feeling great
but a little tired. Went to bed at 10:30, woke up at about 2 a.m. because I
had pain in my stomach. Thought it might pass soon
so I waited it out but it didn't get better. At 2:30 a.m. I jumped down from the
top of the bunk bed and went to the bathroom where I threw up twice.
Went to bed again feeling great and woke up again at 3:30 but this
time in a rush. The rest of the night was terrible. I had gotten sick
and I couldn't get up....to my bed so I slept on the floor. It was
only a 24 hr bug though.

The next day I was feeling great and going out to work and teach

people. One of the elders I live with is disabled for the moment from a torn ligament
in the knee. We have to take turns sitting with him. So my companion and the other one
went to one of their appointments and I stayed at home with the injured one. Low and behold
they forgot to pick me up after their appointment so I could go to
some of the appointments we had set up so I got stuck at home for the
rest of the night...I got really bored!

While we were out working and making some visits we went to see

someone that lived in the area for a little while but we have never
meet them so we were in their area about 8 pm. When we pulled up there
was a cop car across the street. We weren't sure what house they were
visiting so we went about our business. Knocked on the door
and dogs started going crazy. A man opens the door all flustered and
said "not now" as a cop started walking towards the door. We left but
once we got to the car we thought, were is the backup? This cop was in
there solo, he needed back up so we decided to be his backup and stood
watch till he gave us the word to brake down the door. Well at least
we imagined it.

One of the blessings of keeping a journal is being able to see

patterns in yourselves. One of those patterns I have noticed is every
3 months I have a week were I get a little down on myself for things
that are going on and most of the time it's because I don't have
anyone to teach. This was one of those weeks. It doesn't get really
bad but I'm just not as off the wall as normal. While seeing someone
we met someone outside the house we intended to see and talked to her
and their daughter. They were members and were baptized about 8 yrs
ago. They talked to us about their conversion and it was so nice to
talk to them positively. During the conversion I made the connection
that I needed to just make the decision to be happy and take
everything with a grain of salt. So I did and I have been crazy happy
since then. Happiness is a choice, don't delay it!

Love Elder Leonhardt!

February 17, 2014 "Tough Times"

February 17, 2014

We have been teaching this lady who is a long time member but her and

her husband haven't been coming to church for awhile and she has had a
lot of questions that she couldn't get answered. She just read through
the Old Testament for the first time and now feels like she is ready
to finish the Book of Mormon for the first time. We just finished
1 Nephi and are starting on 2 Nephi. She is seeing so much on how the
Old Testament is helping her understand the Book of Mormon and the
Book of Mormon is helping her understand the Old Testament. It is
really cool how the 2 can help and support each other. Now we just
need to help her and her husband see the importance of coming to church.

We taught another other lesson to a family that has had a tough time this

past year. Their year first started off by coming down to AZ to help a grandma
through cancer and turned into a longer stay than normal. Towards the
end of it their oldest son committed suicide that left a big scar on
everyone. The parents asked all of the siblings to come home and help
out so they all did and put life on hold for a year. To add to the
death of their son, at the funeral their grandfather died. So the family
was traumatized and attributed their not coming to church as their way of
getting through this tough time. I have knocked on their door for 9 months
and no one has answered until now. We felt prompted to talk
about the commandment of the Sabbath Day along with the sacrament. The
concern that the father had was that when he was 16 he read everything
on the church and now when he goes to church he is bored because he
has heard it all. He says that he doesn't feel the Holy
Ghost at all. We talked about if you go to a meeting with a question in
mind that you can always be learning something from the spirit and he
just expressed more of his frustration with not feeling the Holy
Ghost. He is stubborn but I think we know how we can help him in his
challenges and his questions.

I have learned that when it comes to letters that it is easiest to

write them when you make a list of what you would like to say,
As you can see I did not make a list this time around. But next time I will.
There is an Elder that we live with that hurt his knee while coming home
Saturday night and is now out of commission so we are all changing our schedule to help.

Sincerely Elder Leonhardt

February 3, 2014 "Tranfers and New Companion, Elder O'Neal"

So we had transfers this week and my new companion is Elder Adam
O'Neal who has been serving is a place north of here called Prescott.
He is from Treeport, Louisiana and is related to the big basketball
player that many of you may remember as Shaq...I'm just playing. He is
as country as someone can get with a cool southern accent. Since
I have been with him, he has brought out a Wisconsin accent that I
thought was gone. It's really funny to talk to other people when
that pops in because we don't sound like or act like what your typical
Utah or Idaho LDS missionary would sound like.

Elder Wardle was just transferred to a zone just south of us that is small in
size as well. It's funny because he just crossed the street into a new zone
and is still really close.

Elder O'Neal and I were talking to a man from Shanghai
China that was visiting family here and it was so interesting to talk
about his view on religion and how it's not allowed in main land
china, well Christianity anyways. He said he was very interested in
church and wish it was allowed but explained why the government won't
allow it yet. He said he would join a church if he ended up living in
the USA.

On Tuesday we went by our Ward Mission Leaders house, Jason Fifield and
talked with the family saying that Elder Wardle was being transferred.
It was a sad experience. One of the girls, and there are 4 girls
total no boys, Jada answered the door and said in her 8 yr old voice,"
Why do YOU (Elder Wardle) have to leave? I liked you the most out of all of the
missionaries that have been here." We didn't know that they knew yet
but they found out. They expressed their sorrow and all gave him a hug
and a secret handshake. Took a picture with them and we left. When we
got home later that night, we are allowed to check our facebooks to
see if we got any messages that would effect our plans. We saw a video
posted on his wall from the family of the girls all saying goodbye. It
was heart warming. The whole ward misses him but is excited to have
Elder O'Neal here as well.

On Thursday we had dinner at the Bonnels home where there are 3 boys
about 7,5,4 and they are everywhere. They have so much energy it's
crazy! It reminded me of back at home when I was younger and we all
ran around playing games in the house and throwing each other around.
Good times! It was cool because when we left, their neighbor Brian
Cammack said that was the best those kids have ever behaved and
cooperated. It's so interested the things we don't notice because we
are new to an environment or only see something once. Without him
telling us what he saw from a previous time we would have thought they
were always like that but with his comment we now know there was a
change/improvement.

Of course yesterday we heard about the Super Bowl, people on the
streets were telling us all about it and what was going on. Go
Seahawks! First Super Bowl game where it wasn't much of a game. I hope
the commercials were good this year, I love watching them.

I have made a goal that I will start once off of my mission that I am
excited for. I feel that one learns more when there is repetition
added to it so I am going to read through the Book of Mormon
completely through each month for a year, then do the same with the
New Testament 12 times in a year. I am excited because I know that in
reading we often can get caught up in a lot of the small things that
we can miss the big picture idem. The small things are important as
well and I will study that as well but first I need to swim across the
water before I start to scuba dive. Try it out with me.

Thank you again for allowing me to occupy some of your time this week
and let you in on my life in Arizona. I hope all is going well with
you and that life is being lived to the fullest! I love you all!

Love Elder Caleb Leonhardt