Monday, October 17, 2016

Hello friends and Fam!

First off, we have an investigator that is 95 years old. Her name is Naohma and she is also deaf. She is the nicest lady ever! She doesn't like cooking so every single day she goes to the Golden Corral buffet down the street from her for dinner and breakfast on the weekends. We were over there on exchanges one day this week and after we got done with our lesson she asked us if we wanted to go to Golden Corral with her for breakfast in the morning cause she gets really lonely going by herself. We couldn't say no to Naohma! So we went to breakfast with her the other day and I'll have to show y'all a picture of her cause she is just the sweetest old lady.

We had some really great lessons this past week as well! We were able to find a couple of people that we hope to keep visiting. We met up with Ted again and got to talk a little bit but he had to reschedule for this upcoming week so we hope that goes well! Last night, we went by a recent convert that a member said he hadn't seen in awhile. He has been a convert for a little over a year and a half now and he was going to be going to the temple soon for his Endowments. We stopped by to check on him and he invited us in and just started pouring out all of his concerns and feeling. He's been going through a lot of hard things lately and he still just loves the church but he is struggling with some personal life stuff right now. We were able to talk with him and bear testimony that the Sacrament is the time for us to sort out our lives with Christ. It is what he needs in his life right now. It really brought the spirit and we were all feeling it there. It was incredible.

We actually got to give talks in Sacrament meeting yesterday on member missionary work so we invited all the investigators we have and one named Joel that has never been to church before came! He really liked it so we are going back over this week to talk with him. Everyone needs to go back and read Dallin H. Oaks talk on member missionary work cause honestly, sometimes we don't fully see the impact we can have and how crucial we are to the Lord's work. I hope all is well where ever you may be. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Leavitt

Naohma is #1

In a members decked out van

Bentley Jr.

Us and the neighborhood kids in our apartment complex

Monday, October 10, 2016

Things have been going really well in Bentonville! We have been teaching like crazy so that's been a ton of fun. I've met all of the investigators we have and this week we were able to find a couple more people to teach. We are in a car share area so one week we have a car and the next we are on bikes. Going up all these hills has been a grind but I'm hoping it will just get me into shape! It has helped us teach a couple of new people too so that's good.

We got a referral from a less active lady a couple days ago for a guy named Ted. He has been searching for a religion. We pulled up on our bikes at his apartment and noticed an elderly lady getting groceries out of her car. We went over to help her and afterwards she randomly said,"You boys need to come over and teach me how to do that family history you guys are all about." We got in contact with the lady in charge of that and we all are going to the FHC this Wednesday to talk about it! All went well with Ted too. We taught him the Restoration and he is really interested so we are going back this week.

You guys have to look up this place called The Bentonville Square. We go there a couple of nights a week and just talk to people cause there are always so many there. This past week there was a huge fair thing Friday night so we just talked to everyone and passed out so much church material. It's been a ton of fun.

Elder Maddox and I are really working on talking with everyone because something Elder Oaks said in his past conference talk. It was something along the lines of, We don't have the right to judge who is ready to except the Gospel and who isn't. We have taken this to heart and have been working on it but I know that as members, we should all be ready to share the Gospel when the Spirit directs us. We honestly don't have the right to judge how ready they are. I love y'all and hope you all have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder Leavitt

 An office couple (the O'Briens) in our ward left for home this past week. They are the best!

The crew biking home after a night at The square.

Monday, October 3, 2016

I made it over to Bentonville this week and have been loving it the past couple of days! I've got my new comp Elder Maddox and it's been so much fun. He's been telling me what things were like back in the real world and I don't even recognize half of it anymore haha. He told me finna is the new word to say so I've been trying it out lately. HA! Also, I don't know if you know what Spike Ball is but Elder Maddox is #1 in the nation at it. He's been teaching me how to play so we are going to be doing that for p-day today. I'm actually serving in two wards again! It's going to be the Bentonville 2nd ward and the Central Park wards. I've already met members from both areas and it's really bumping here. It's going to be great!

Conference this past week was so perfect! A lot of powerful talks this time that really gave me a lot of new perspective. Some highlight talks for me were Elder Andersen's talk on all of us being puzzle pieces in the Restored Gospel and Elder Ballards talk about remembering why we are a part of the church in the first place. Very inspirational conference!

I said all my hard goodbyes to the people of Tulsa and have just been spending all of my time lately saying hey to all of our new investigators and ward leaders. I don't think I have any new updates for ya. It's so cool serving in the heart of the mission and I haven't been here long but I know that there is a reason I'm here right now. I love you all and hope that as we continue to study the words of our leaders that we will continue to learn what is expected of us and what we can do now.

Love,
Elder Leavitt

Also, the new address is:

1100 NW Lincoln Ct apt. 4 Bentonville,AR 72712

Do a good deed, send a missionary some letters :)

Dinner with Elder Maddox at a members home

Our traditional Conference breakfast :)

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Hey everyone I've got some transfer news for ya that I know you are dying to know! So we got our transfer calls yesterday which is why we have pday on a Wednesday this week. Some pretty crazy things are happening. So, the sad thing is that I'm going to be leaving Tulsa. That is a real bummer. I've loved it here so much and I'm going to miss a ton of people I've become super close with. I'm also not going to get to finish training Elder Olsen. He is getting a great new companion to do that for me. I'm actually getting transferred to the one and only Bentonville! I'm really excited to serve there cause I heard it's an awesome area to be in. I'm also going to be finishing up training a different missionary that came out with Elder Olsen. His name is Elder Maddox and I've heard he's a stud so it should be good. I was asked to serve as the new Zone leader there too. I'm going to be serving as the only zone leader there so I'm hoping all goes well with this new assignment!

Last week, we had a really great week and yesterday I got to start saying my goodbyes. I've already said goodbye to both Larry and David and his family. David actually said that they are planning on being sealed in the San Diego temple in a year from now and they invited me so I have that to look forward to! There have been a couple other people I've already said bye to and it's been pretty sad but I know I'll see them all again eventually.

We saw Susan a couple times this past week. We went over to her house last week and helped her lay some sod down which was a lot of fun. She also came to church again this Sunday and got to stay for all 3 hours and just loved it, but the greatest of all these meetings was the one we had last night with her. We answered a ton of questions that she had and she was very happy with the answers she received and she agreed with all of them. Just before we left, I broke the news to her that I was going to be leaving and she was pretty tore up about it. I got to bear my testimony to her one last time and I felt the spirit there in her home so powerfully. It was incredible! I'm going to miss her a lot but she is progressing well and she'll be fine.

I'm super excited about this upcoming transfer. Every transfer, I get a renewal of my testimony that God knows where we need to be and who we need to be with. I've seen this time and time again while serving my mission and I now I'll continue to see that. God knows you perfectly. He also knows those who need you perfectly. I love you all and hope all is well. Hold off on all the letters and packages I know you want to send to me until next Monday and I'll have the new address for y'all.

Love,
Elder Leavitt

We set up a traveling visitors center at a park. It was very successful!

Saying goodbye to David and his family. They are actually moving so we helped them out.

Monday, September, 21, 2016

Hey Everyone!

Pretty incredible week this week. As you know, I talk about Kamal (our Syrian convert) a lot. Well, this past week were able to go to the OKC temple with him for the first time! It was so cool to go and see him do baptisms for the first time. He told us afterwards that he hasn't felt so much peace before and he kept saying that it's still with him. We got to go with a couple of less active members that we have been working with also. It was cool to see them all there too.

We had David's baptism this past Saturday and it was seriously indescribable! He was so ready for this next step in his life. Yesterday, he was confirmed a member and the spirit was so strong. He is going to do amazing things in his life. He is going to church a lot with his wife who is becoming active again. They are preparing to be sealed together a year from now so that's going to be an amazing day also.

It's cool to see that even though we had a baptism this past week, there is still a whole lot more work to do in this area. The YSA missionaries found a couple that wants to be taught so we went over there last night and taught the Restoration and the spirit there was very powerful. They really are looking for truth in their lives so we are going to help them know how to find it. We are way excited for them now!

It was quite the eventful week and I'm super thankful for that. The Lord is progressing His work here in Tulsa. We have recognized the obvious blessings, but we need to be thankful for the little ones that we have to look for also. Hope y'all have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder Leavitt

At the Oklahoma City Temple with Kamal.

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Davids baptism day.

Monday, September 12, 2016

Hey y'all! It's been another great week! I got to go on a couple exchanges this past week with some other Elders. On Tuesday, Elder Bayles from the Spanish branch came over to New Haven to speak some English for a change. He just barely came out this transfer. It was cool to see all the progress he has made as a missionary. Then on Friday, I got to go on an exchange with Elder Strobel and he came to New Haven too so that was a good time.

We weren't able to have a lesson with Preston this past week cause work has kept him slammed! He told us that 3 life guards just randomly got up and left and quit right in the middle of their shifts. He is the head at that pool so he had to cover for all 3 of them. This kept him from meeting with us which was a bummer. He said he has tonight off so we will  hopefully be seeing him at dinner with the member that introduced him to us!

We were able to go and see Susan again this week and she is just the sweetest thing ever. She's been trying to do all these projects around her house by herself so we showed up in service clothes and told her to put us to work! While we were helping her with her yard, she came out with some lemonade for us and just kept saying how grateful she was. After our service, we went inside and had an awesome discussion with her. The spirit was so strong when we testified of baptism to her. She said she'll pray about it. She also came to church yesterday again and the members just love her! We are excited to see her again this next week. Our next project with her is ripping out some wood flooring. That should be exciting!

We are going to have a baptism this Saturday! It's a part member family that we have been teaching for awhile. The dad's name is David and he is so excited to get baptized! If everything goes well, it should be done this Saturday!

The Lord has been pouring out blessings all over Tulsa lately and it's so cool to be able to be a part of that. This truly is the Lord's work and it will be done His way. As soon as we submit our will to his, we can be an instrument in his hand to help accomplish His work. Much love to all of you and I hope this next week is real swell.

Love,
Elder Leavitt

Chef Kamal's special this week: Mjedra

We have 3 Elders in the district training this transfer. Heres a family photo

Straight Thuggin

With Elder Olsen

Monday, September 5, 2016

#EarthquakeSurvivor2k16

So pretty cool story this week! A couple days ago we were sitting in our apartment at 7am. We had just got done with our workout and all of a sudden, our whole apartment starts to shake and it was shaking for a solid 10 seconds! We live on the 3rd floor of our building so we were freaking out! After awhile, we started getting calls from all these members asking if we were alright. Turns out we survived the biggest earthquake in Oklahoma history! A 5.6 earthquake a couple miles away from Tulsa. So now I've experienced an earthquake and a tornado. All I'm needing is a hurricane sometime soon.

This past week, we had our first lesson with Preston and it was such an awesome lesson. He's a lifeguard and we had a member working with him over the summer. Right before she left to go back to school, she gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to go to church. He came to church and then we had our lesson on the Restoration and he just kept telling us how it made sense. He was telling us about his reading of the Book of Mormon and he said he is ONLY in Mosiah! We were impressed! That's pretty far into it! He came to church again yesterday and he's eager for our next lesson. We set a date for him at the end of this month and we are hoping everything goes well.

We are also teaching an elderly lady named Susan who is just the sweetest thing. We invited her to church yesterday and she came! Some members saw her in the parking lot and didn't recognize her so they invited her to sit with them and they showed her around. It was really cool to see her there and we are planning on teaching her again this week!

We had Zone Conference this past week and one of the biggest subjects they hit on was repentance and I want to add my testimony of that. It honestly is the sweetest feeling in the world to know that you have been forgiven of your past mistakes and I would highly recommend it for those who are questioning it. I love you all and hope everyone has a blessed week!

Love,

Elder Leavitt

#workers

Our recent convert, Kamal made us a Syrian dinner