I didn't get to send you a letter last week because i was running out
of time, life over here has been pretty hectic. I got to talk with Ben for a little bit
when he was in the hosptial I will see if I can reach out to him again,
thank you for letting me know.
I would like to first apologize for not sending an email out last
week. Hopefully by the end of this email you will have an
understanding as to why, haha my life has just been thrown around
lately. Even among the hectic swirls of life, peace and joy can still
be found so I would like to first start off talking about some of the
joys I have experienced lately. The first full week of August was my
companions last week in the mission and with that understanding he
wanted to work his tail off with the time he had. The greatest
blessing to that mind set was that it came with the understanding of
where he felt he needed to go so we were able to put our head down and
work hard. Within the first 2 days of that week we taught 12 lessons
and were cruising around like wild men. It was good to see at the end
of the day the smiles on the face from satisfaction of our works being
accepted of The Lord, it made it all worth while!
Elder Jackson went home August 9th from the Sky Harbor Airport in
Phoenix. Our mission President allowed me and and 2 other missionaries
to drive him down to the airport and see him through the gate. It was
good to be able to see him that far and to make it not just an easy
transition for him but also for me. He was the 3rd companion I have
sent home, it does get easier over time. Out here in the field someone
going home is almost like a death in the mission family, obviously not
as dramatic as a real death.
Went to a single moms home for a lesson and afterwards asked if there
was any service we could do and they accepted. We went back the next
day and helped with some yard work for about a hour and then right
before we left we used this money that a member gave us to buy them
pizza. We told the pizza guy to say it was a friend that bought them
and to not say it was us, because it wasn't our money. They were
having a depressing week and it was great to see the facial expression
change.
I have been in an interesting situation moving from one area to
another and living with a couple groups of missionaries. Kind of feel
like a rag doll with the many different things pulling me and trying
to work as hard as I can. My new companion should join me August 27th
and then everything should be back to normal and working as I used to.
Lately I have been learning a lot about forgiveness. The challenges
and the success I have made over the years in forgiving. The reasons
why I feel that I have been learning this lately is because of a
couple situations where a missionary close to me has been verbally
attacked by an individual including a two faced interaction for the
individual. The missionary has tried to seek for understanding but the
other end refuses to do so but to rather judge them showing no love
towards them. I have tried to help with the situation but some very
rude things were said. I have learned that for a number of things one
can forgive someone quickly but for larger things that have no reason
to happen it takes time. Time is sometimes required to go through the
repentance process so forgiveness can be applied. So know that the
importance is to forgive, don't let an opportunity pass where
forgiveness is company.
Met with Elan, a 19 year old jewish man that goes to MMI, who we have
been teaching a lot lately. He said that he grew up believing in God
and having strong spiritual experiences but lost his belief in Him
because of the loss of loved ones and friends. We talked about his
parents situation and the deaths that had the largest impact on him.
Afterwards he taught how the atonement of Christ could heal him so
that he doesn't need to just barry it but can be relieved from the
sorrow. It was a very spiritual lesson and to add the cherry on top as
we were saying the closing prayer someone in the next room over in the
church started playing some spiritual music on the piano. It was theme
music to the prayer and really confirmed that the spirit was there. I
wish I had theme music to my life.
Thank you for listening in and sorry for not writing last week,
hopefully this will suffice.
Love Elder Caleb Leonhardt
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