Joe Joe

The bird in the tree is named Joe Joe and we got to play with him at a part member families home.

letters from kids

This is a letter that Rosa Chapman's, recent convert, kids made for Elder Wardle and I before he got transfered

spiritually AND physically HUGE

11 March 2013

Dear Home,

Well I'm not dead....and neither is my companion. The first couple days were not the greatest for me as you could tell from the last email but life is now looking up. We are starting to get along better and have held one or two conversations since he got here. He is a really nice guy and likes to work hard which comes from working on a farm. So thank you Ron Bula for letting me work on your farm, I now have something to talk about with my companion. One of the topics that we got talking about last night actually was about lifting and where we want to be with it after the mission. He started lifting in 7th grade and in high school got his bench up to 310 which was a little better then my best...135. We joked with each other about it and set goals for each other and now we are going crazy with the arm lifts. I'm going to be Spiritually and Physically HUGE when I get back. I can't wait.

It rained again down here while we were working and got soaked. My shoes are still drying out and I now have athletes foot, as well as stinky feet.

We got the opportunity to teach a family of four, father and mother Travis and Jennifer and the kids Travis and Tyson. The parents aren't married and when we brought up baptism with them it was a conflicting matter because they would have to be married before they could get baptized and they weren't ready to move on with that part. The questions that Jennifer brought up were very good questions and made me think a lot about families after we had left. There are so many people in the world where the central values of a family have been distorted and crumbled at the foundation. Many people don't know what a good family looks like as well as how one would function. I can tell that this is a large targeting point of the adversary. We often times get distracted from the fundamentals that matter most in life and for a lot of us, including me, don't even know it. Such as when is the last time we sat down and talked with our Grandparents either in person or on the phone. What about contacting all our our brothers and sisters each week. I have noticed with people down here that most talk with their family members about 3 times a year and they are ok with it.

I also thought about the comment I made last week about being a father and have decided that I am training my companion so well that I am ready for fatherhood and the day I get home I am adopting myself a child. Or a dog. Which ever one can learn to get the newspaper first. Ah just kidding parenting is hard and I have to give anyone credit that can do it with a smile. The mothers and fathers of this world have a large responsibility upon them and that is to prepare the world for the third generation, through their next generation. All the problems of the world can be fixed through parenting. A lot of pressure but lots of blessing as well. Thank you parents for putting up with me :)

Love Elder Leonhardt

I'm training...not exactly what I was anticipating

March 4 2013,

Dear Home,

Yup I'm a training...not exactly what I was anticipating but with the large number of missionaries coming to the mission they really had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for trainers. It was not easy for them to extend the assignment nor was it easy for me to say yes with a smile.

The first couple days were the worst because I was so used to teaching with my old companion that I forgot that I was going to have to do both parts of teaching the lessons until my companion picks it up. I wasn't ready for that. I prayed HARD those first couple nights asking for help with the lessons that I could teach the lessons effectively and that I could teach my companion how to teach. Good thing God answers prayers! The next day we had 2 lessons that we taught and they went surprisingly well.

There are always going to be struggles that I'm going to have with training but our mission president said that being a trainer is the first glimpse you are going to see of being a parent. So, if I do a good job here it means lots of females will want to marry me because I'll know what to do right? But then again if I do bad girls won't want to be around me and I won't have to worry about the drama that comes with that, so now I have a dilemma...

My companion is from Idaho Falls, Idaho and comes from a family of 11! 6 girls and 5 boys. Oh and his name is Elder Empey. He used to wrestle, run track and CC so the first couple days of morning workouts I went on extra long runs to test his limits. It wasn't a good idea. I became more tired and had less focus on my studies as well as we were putting 20-30 miles on the bikes a day. I still think I was beating him in the mornings but the rest of the day I was so tired that I repented from my challenge.

The work has started to pick up in both wards that we cover and we are getting lots of opportunity to teach people. It is so interesting to see what kind of people have been prepared to meet Elder Empey. I have really seen a difference in those who we have been running into. We are preparing 4 people for baptism. It is very exciting to see some of our hard work begin to pay off.

We got to take part in a spiritual experience yesterday as we were out at 730 pm. We prayed with a member at his house who hasn't been able to get to church for awhile because of work and really needed a prayer at that time. He said we made his week. We asked him if there was anyone else that he knew that we could pray with and he secretly pointed us to some other members down the road. We went and prayed with them right away. They have a son who just left for a mission and needed comfort on what was going on with him and what things a mother and father could do in support for him since it was their first kids going on a mission. They were also having some family problems with a 18 yr old daughter and we were able to calm their fears with that. They then gave us 5 referrals to go pray with and that never happens. We then thought we wouldn't have time to go pray with some other members but quickly tried that they sent us to their neighbor for a pray. They were home and asked us in sincere desire for a blessing over the home and the moment the prayer was over she felt the spirit come into the home!

Love this work and Love you

Love Elder Leonhardt

New address

I now know where I live please tell everyone to mail me at 7403 North 83rd Dr Glendale Az

For the zip code could you go on to google maps and look it up. Just type in the address and it should tell you.

I am a live.

Love Elder Leonhardt

Well, it's the end.

Dear Home,

I found out at 9:44 pm Saturday night the 23rd of February that I am going to get the opportunity to ruin a missionaries mission by training him. I am most likely going to get a new 18 yr old missionary fresh and scared like I was. President Taylor was telling us that being a trainer is the most important part of a mission. The training will reflect on that missionaries entire mission and they are the future of the mission and they might train more which will set the tone for the mission and soon the whole area is effected by me. Eh nothing that important though. I am excited to learn from a new companion and to help aid in the development of a new missionary.

I have been thinking about those that I have been able to teach in my area such as Brittany Rowland and Ben. Those two stuck out to my the most because I had my most spiritual moments with them. They know that the messages that we've shared are true and that the Book of Mormon is true as well. Both have cried with tears of joy and felt the Spirits press upon their heart. They have now though decided to stop striving for the beginning of the journey starting with Baptism. They haven't come to church for over a month now and haven't been able to sit down and teach them either because they have become to busy and unreliably. They are starting to go back to the normal life with out those feeling. We are told that lots of people will have a spiritual conformation that this is true but still some will choose to disregard them. That is why agency is such a large and important part on God's Plan for us, we must choose him. We can ask, he will answer, we have to choose to listen and act on the answer given. It sometimes seems so disrespectful to God that when we ask for help or for knowledge and he answers and we don't act on it, God knows that that will happen why does he give the answer. He does so much for us. He truly is a merciful God for being so willing to help us and not expect us to follow through perfectly but that he is willing to help. How many of us are willing to help those around us and not ask or expect for something in return. Its sometimes hard to give someone something that is so precious to us and not expect for them to destroy it. Its like giving a homeless man a new home where he can have shelter and protection then him setting it on fire without taking in the warmth from the flames. Sounds terrible but that is what God has done for us. He gave Jesus Christ and the human crucified Him. Jesus Christ gave us the Atonement for us to use and save us from our sins but most of the world goes each day without using it. The work of God is not frustrating but the works of men are.

My companion and I also got the opportunity to teach the young women class in church and they didn't participate very much so I now know what its like to be a teacher. All the power to you men and women that can do that everyday and stay sane. We have begun to teach Ciera, a young lady age 14 who used to be taught awhile ago. She is the most spiritually mature person I have met so far. She reads the Bible alot and now the Book of Mormon and tells us that she prays every night to find the truth, the true church and to know if meeting with us is wasting time. She doesn't want to waste time on something that is not the truth. How many times do we step back and do the same. I definitively didn't do that when I was her age but I have begun to do it more now. Her big think which I believe is the big think with everyone is knowing what our answer is. She feels good when she prays but is looking, like most of us for a big answer. We can relate this to the story of Saul on the road to Damascus. 

Love Elder Leonhardt 

The Diverde's

I was going to take a picture of me riding it with a cowboy hat but I thought that my mom wouldn't be happy about that.

These are the Diverde's They are an old couple in one of my ward. They are the funniest and most adorable couple I know, other than my grandparents :)