Monday, August 1, 2016

Hey fans sorry this is going out so late but we have been doing a lot today! Since this is one of Elder Porter's last P-days, we have been doing a lot of things that he wants to do before he goes home. It has been a lot of fun, but now lets get into what has happened this week!

This past Wednesday we had our interviews with President and Sister Loveland and it's always a joy to be with them. It amazes me how much personal revelation I can receive when I sit down and talk with them both for only about 15 minutes each. They really reflect the spirit of their calling in everything they do and I'm glad to have them as leaders and examples.

On Friday we had one of the most powerful lessons with our investigator Larry. We have been praying for an answer to what we needed to do to help him quit smoking so that he could get baptized and the topic of fasting came into our minds. We went and talked to him about fasting for strength to over come hardships and he just started to cry. He told us that he has fasted many times for other people but he never thought to fast for himself. We told him that if he fasted and prayed for strength to over come his addiction, then he would beat this awful burden and we fasted along with him. I've never met a man so ready for baptism and he desires it more than any person I've ever known. God knows his heart so we know He is going to take care of Larry.

We also have a part member family that we teach a lot and one of the kids turned 8 a while back. He has always had a problem concentrating so whenever  we taught, we had no idea where he really was. When he turned 8, the parents said that they wanted it to be his decision to get baptized and not theirs. So this last week we went over there for our usual discussion and he told us that he wanted to be taught and baptized. He was taught the Restoration right then and he took a Book of Mormon. He's 8 so we didn't expect him to read but we went back the next day to check on him and he was beyond excited to see us. He wanted to read the Book of Mormon with us SO bad! We sat down and read quite a bit with him and explained it and he is so excited for the next lesson already!

We are seeing a lot of blessings coming out of the work that we are doing. The evidence of them is beyond the lessons we teach or how many people are prepared for baptism. I'm loving the opportunity to serve! I hope you all are able to see the blessings in your own individual lives as well.

Love,

Elder Leavitt

A member sent this picture to our family after dinner with Elder Leavitt.
So grateful for good people who take care of our boy!