Thursday, December 19, 2013
Elders Salas, Knabe, My Secret Santa.....broke.
Only two Midwest missionaries in Phoenix Arizona Mission
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Elders Smith, Christensen, Wainwright, Salas, Stulen at Arizona Temple
Tuesday, December 17, 2013 "Finding Joy"
Hello From the Winter Wonderland of 80
degrees!
azphxmission.blogspot.com This is the
blog for our mission that our mission presidents wife does for us,
check it out!
I made a snowball! The first time in 14
months and boy do I miss it. We had a Christmas Conference this past
Thursday with a group of about 80 missionaries. We started out at a
church building with some Christmas songs and talks/presentations by
your Mission President and his wife as well as the Assistants to the
President. Then had lunch and went to the Mesa Temple to see the
Christmas lights. It was really nice to see a lot of the missionaries
that I have served with on my mission and the friendships I have
made.
I went into the conference with some
questions in mind. One was how does one see more joy in everything?
Lately I have been a little down because of some of the people around
me not really wanting to be here. Trying to motivate someone that
doesn't want to be motivated is like catching water with laundry lint
or pushing a car without wheels. No real point. So with that question
I went in searching for what the Spirit would teach me. I found out
that joy is a choice. How to look for it is to expect it. Then not
look for the imperfections but be focused on that one goal of where
is the joy, and take whatever your can get. There was also a talk on
angels and what I learned is there are 2 types of angels. Now this is
on a large scale. We know that there are arch angels, messenger
angels, destroying angels and more. There are angels that are
spiritual bodies of those that have once lived on the earth and are
now waiting for a resurrected body. And there are angels who haven't
been born yet and does not have a physical body. There are angels who
have resurrected bodies such as Jesus when he had risen after being
crucified.
While at the Conference I found out
that there is a missionary in my mission who is from Wisconsin. We
are the only missionaries here from the Midwest. We are like the few,
the proud, and Wisconsinites!
We visited via skype and taught
Madelene, the 16 yr old girl who has cancer. We read through some of
the Book of Mormon with her and learned a little more of her
situation. She is having Bone Marrow transplant on Christmas Day.
From now till then she is being administered a trial drug. She was a
little worried about it but as always the most positive and loving
person ever! It was a good lesson. We set up another for yesterday
and her mom was going to be there as well. When we were trying to
have the second lesson her camera wasn't working but the mic was. We
could hear her try to get everything worked out but nothing was
happening. We then heard her mom ask if she was feeling ok and later
heard her throw up. Elder Wardle and I are just as scared for her as
she is for herself. We think about her all the time and pray that she
will get better.
I am also sorry to my family for not
following the instructions on my Christmas Present. Mom sent me an
email chastening me. I wasn't sure if I should open the presents or
wait till Christmas. Now know that I am behind. So I am sorry but I
will take pictures of me opening each one and send them back.
I also found out from Tracy Watson,
head of missionary department for the LDS Church, that we are the
first mission ever to go completely with iPad's. Its kind of cool but
frustrating as well because we are working out all of the bugs. We
feel like pioneers!
Merry Christmas Everyone! Pray for the
Spirit of Christmas and I guarantee that you will feel it, as well as
those your pray for. I Love you ALL!
Love Elder Caleb Leonhardt
Monday, December 9, 2013
December 9, 2013 "I Hate Contention"
Well this section of writing started
off terrible! I sit down, log on, start to log on to my email and a
man strolls up to me and asked, "Do you really believe that
Jesus lived on this earth so long ago?" With some attitude. I
said “Absolutely I believe.” He goes off about how there is no
proof that he came back then, but that he is here now and lives in
Washington. Said he knew his address. I said “That's great...can I
write him?” He told me no and was so disoriented. Anyways he was
deliberately trying to contend with me with some interesting views...
I testify that he did not bring the Spirit into the conversation. My
mind isn't in the most positive mood right now but I will try my best
to forget about him and focus on writing to you, The Happy Moment Of
The Day!
First off going along with the
statement above. Why do the meek and humble get beaten down so much?
Your thoughts? I hate contention.
This past week we had a lot of
meetings. We had a meeting with the mission president and just the
zone leaders and sister training leaders, and worked on different
leadership roles of the mission. It was interesting getting to know
President Taylor more and understanding his motives for us. The
principle I love the most that he is teaching to us is "I want
obedience for you, not from you." A concept I didn't really
think about beforehand. I learned a lot. The next day we had a larger
meeting with all of the leadership of the mission and had a number of
skill training. The flu is going around so a lot of missionaries are
getting sick but I hope I stay strong. This time last year I got sick
with the stomach flu and it was nasty. So both of these meetings were
to prepare us for the zone meeting my companion and I would put on
for 20 missionaries. I got nervous right before it but afterwards it
went great!
Anyways I still am getting cut short on
time for the moment but next monday/tuesday I will do better. Don't
worry I am still learning a lot.
Love you all! Oh one more question.
What are you doing special this year to remember the birth of Jesus
Christ?
Merry Christmas!
Elder Leonhardt
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