July 28 2014
Hey Family, Direct or not haha, I have a joke for you. Who was the first prophet to enter the MTC? Huh any guesses?....Moses! He put his staff in the water of the Red Sea and the waters parted so he could enter down into the MTC(empty sea). Haha Hope you got a Kick out of it.
Eric Mattison who we have been teaching lately had a speed bump come up and so we spent our visit talking about that. He expressed some of his thoughts and feelings over feeling alone in this process of learning because the only people that he hangs out with are members of the church. He felt alone in his beliefs. I brought up an experience that I have had in when I felt alone as well. It was the years before coming on my mission. He then asked a question to me, "How was I able to come out on a mission not having read the Book of Mormon and not knowing a lot of the teachings of the church?" I had previously never thought about that but it goes a lot with the thought of how I was always a little envious about missionaries that came from Utah or Idaho because they knew more about the church than I did. Compared to my knowledge of the church I didn't know much at all. I got to tell him about the why I came out even though I felt inadequate and maybe didn't know that much. I wish I knew now what I did at the beginning but then again I have learned a whole lot more out here than I ever thought possible.
Teaching Eric Hoffner has taken a turn where he is starting to teach me. This normally starts to happen when I feel that I am learning to have a love for them. Bothhim and his wife work right now and have to work opposite shifts so that they can take care of the kid without having to do a lot of daycare because of the expense. Sometimes they have to meet half way while one is on the way to work and the other on their way back from work to hand off the child. Life is stressful for them. Anyways I feel that tiredness can wear off on people. When we were teaching him one time and the spirit was there and my companion invited him to be baptized but...was looking towards the wife who is a member. She didn't know what to do because she thought my companion was inviting her to be baptized. haha So she said yes hesitantly. We just had to laugh about it.
So something else that was cool was We met the sister of the NFL player from Weber State during dinner one evening. I live very close to where he went to high school. MR. Toon. How is he doing?
Jennifer Barnhill is a member of the ward of whom we met Sunday night. She is a single mother of an autistic son. The father died of a disease early on in the sons life and so she was left with him to raise alone. She said that when her life was being uprooted and falling apart was right when the Phoenix Temple was breaking ground. Even though she lived so close to it she didn't know that was going on. She told us of the special significance this temple has to her because she had to rebuild herself at the same time it was being built. She comes to church every week and tries to control her son and listen to the spirit but struggles often. She is an example to many others that feel they have it hard and don't know what to do. Her advice is to have a vision, work towards it constantly, and press forward. That is only made possible by Jesus Christ to which all strength comes from.
Love Elder Caleb Leonhardt
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