Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Hey Friends,

It's another one of those transfer weeks and we got our calls the other night! It looks like I'm going to be leaving Branson again and I'm pretty bummed about it. I've loved being able to come back and serve here again. We've had a ton of good times lately. Elder McArthur will be staying and he will be getting a stellar comp so it's comforting to know that I'm leaving the ward in good hands. I'm going to be getting transferred over to Rogers, Arkansas which is pretty much Bentonville so I'm going back over to that area again! I was asked to serve with Elder Green as the assistant to President Loveland and I'm pretty nervous and unsure about it. I know that the Lord has something he wants to teach me through all of this so we will see how it goes!

We got to teach our deaf couple again and it was so much fun! We have been studying up on our gospel terms in sign language and we've been getting pretty good. We taught them the Plan of Salvation this past week and I think it went really well! It's been amazing to see how much they have progressed in the amount of time that I've known them. We invited them to be baptized and they said they were going to pray about it and talk to us about it at our next lesson with them. I'm pretty sad I won't be here for that but I pray all goes well for them. I hope the new Elder coming in can pick up on it fast because this sign language thing is crazy!

Half of Branson is out of power right now because of a huge storm last night so we are actually emailing at a Best Buy right now so I'll have to keep it brief haha! I love you guys and hope all is well with you. I'll have my new address to you this upcoming Monday so I'll be looking forward to those letters and stuff :) Have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder Leavitt

Tracting in the rain!

Monday, April 17, 2017

Sup!

We had a super crazy and exciting week this past week! Since we have had the two wards combined, we have been super busy putting our schedules together and making sure we don't forget about anyone. It's been fun since I served in the 2nd ward at the beginning of my mission so now I'm

getting to experience the old Greenie area and meeting a lot of the people I knew!

We got to meet up with our deaf friends Barbie and Ryan again and I've got to tell ya, my sign language is coming along pretty well. We actually got permission from our mission President to watch these little kid shows called "Signing Time" to help us learn how to communicate with them. They came to an Easter party our ward had and had a great time! They got to meet a lot more of the members of the ward.

We were super blessed this past week to have 3 baptisms! We had 2 in the 1st ward and 1 in the 2nd ward. Lisa and Peggy both were baptized this and I was honored to be able to baptize them both. It was a super spiritual experience to help these two daughters of God make that covenant with our Heavenly Father. They both received the gift of the Holy Ghost in church yesterday as well. They both are going to do amazing things in the church, I just know it. In the 2nd ward there was a lady named Nina. She has been investigating for a long time and now she knows for sure that this is something she needs to do. It was a really powerful weekend. Probably the best way to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.

We are all doing great over here! It's starting to be Spring and it's super beautiful. Everything is turning green and it's amazing to reflect on how everything was made so perfectly for us to enjoy. I hope you have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder Leavitt

Lisa's baptism

Peggy's baptism

Nina's baptism

We found some puppies while out working

       

Also found this turtle

My sister sent us pizza while we were doing our weekly planning!

Comp photo with a bunny. Really weird animal week.  Ha!

Monday, April 10, 2017

Pretty solid week for us!

The other day we finally got to meet up with our deaf friends again and teach them another lesson in the members home! We taught them the whole Restoration in sign language and it was such an amazing experience. We've did all we can trying to study for it but it's just one of those things you can't really prepare for. We went in with a prayer that we would be able to communicate and the Lord blessed us again to be able to teach them a whole lesson and have the spirit there so powerfully. They were saying how impressed they were with how fast we were able to pick it up and communicate with them so smoothly. We were definitely blessed with the gift of hands once again to have that lesson. They are excited to keep learning and they were planning on going to church yesterday but had a emergency with a friend come up so they are planning on it this week. We also got a return appointment with them for this week so we hope we can have it work out again!

So both Lisa AND Peggy had their baptismal interviews this past week and they are both set to be baptized this upcoming Saturday if everything works out! We are planning on keeping close contact with them this week to ensure all goes well and we are all super pumped for them. They have both over come so much to be where they are now so we will keep praying for them!

We got some pretty sad news this morning. A missionary in our zone is having to go back home so there is going to be an emergency transfer. We are going to be having Elder Kealer join our companionship to make three of us and we are now going to be covering both Branson wards. It's going to keep us really busy but it should be fun.

Hope everyone is doing well! Love ya!

Love,
Elder Leavitt

We went on an awesome hike for pday

Monday, April 3, 2017

Hey There!

Alright, first off: How awesome was conference this past weekend? There were seriously so many notes being taken during it. Those men and women that spoke to us were all so inspired. I went to conference with a lot of questions in mind and they helped me resolve a lot of them just by what they were talking about. I've got some studying to do for sure. One of my favorite talks was President Nelson's on the Power of Jesus Christ and His atonement and how we can draw closer to Him. That really put a lot of things into perspective for me. I encourage you to go back and read it or watch it if you didn't get the chance!

Other than all the personal revelation I got the past couple of days, we are still teaching a couple of solid people. Got to visit with Peggy again this past week and we had a super great lesson on the plan of Salvation with her. She pretty much just taught herself the whole thing because she knows it so well. She also came to the church for conference yesterday and she said she learned a ton! Lisa came to the church yesterday as well and she loved it! That talk by Joaquin E. Costa was just what both of them needed to her so we are hoping they were paying close attention to everything being said and to the spirit they felt.

The best part about conference is that it is so easily accessible today that we can just go back and listen and read them all the time! There is so much wisdom in the words spoken and I invite everyone to go back and ponder on the messages contained in each talk. Hope all is well where ever you are and I hope you have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder Leavitt

Conference breakfast with my district

Our new ride. Haha

Monday, March 27, 2017

Super good week for the Missionary work in Branson!

I was blessed to be a part of some of the most powerful lessons of my mission this week. Elder McArthur and I have been teaching super well together and it's been helping out a lot with the people we are teaching. We had a really powerful lesson with Peggy and Lisa this past week. We had a member with us and he was quiet almost the whole time. At the end of the lesson, we felt prompted to ask him his feelings towards everything we had discussed. He bore one of the most powerful testimonies of the Book of Mormon and the church that I have ever heard and the spirit was so evident there. The Lord taught me so much during that lesson. After we left, we got a text from Peggy saying that we were definitely the missionaries that need to baptize her and she set a date for herself! She has been taught for over a year now and she is coming so close to baptism! We are really excited for her. She also came to church!

Another Highlight: We met a guy outside of CiCi's that was being taught in Tennessee and then moved to Branson right before he was going to get baptized. He said that he has been looking to find the missionaries and then we just walked out of nowhere right into him. He wants us to come by and teach him later this week! This has helped my testimony grow even stronger in the fact that God knows us all personally and he is so involved in this work. Love you all and hope you have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder Leavitt

Yeah...we have a good time!

Bro & Sis Williams are leaving us so we got a pic

Zone Conference with friends

Monday, March 20, 2017

It hasn't been too long since my last email so I'll keep this one a little brief!

We had a super good couple of days. I got my new comp Elder McArthur on Thursday and we have been doing great together ever since! He is from Paradise, CA and he's been out a little less than me so we are working great together.

Some updates on the area: We went and saw Peggy again this past week and had a super good lesson with her. We read from the Book of Mormon and had a lesson about it and the spirit was obviously there. She started to tear up and she held up the Book of Mormon and said,"I know, with all my heart, that this is true." It was super powerful! These are the moments I live for. She said that she still has some demons in her life that she has to get rid of before she gets baptized so we are working on it. Our Bishop is super involved with her too.

Also! Lisa, the investigator I was teaching right when I got here and was suppose to be baptized, showed up at church yesterday! We haven't been able to contact her for awhile now but she showed up and said that she is ready to put everything aside and join the church. We are meeting with her this week and it should be a good visit!

The Lord is preparing this area because we have a ward that is super involved. There is a lot of work to be done here so we are pretty excited about it. The gospel has been restored to the earth and it is a pleasure to share the good news. I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Leavitt

Sister Taylor  from the office is going home

My comp, Elder McArthur is on the far right

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

It's been a pretty crazy week!

First off, we had our transfer calls again this week and it looks like I'm going to be hanging out for another 6 weeks in Branson! Really excited about that but Elder Powell is getting transferred over to Arkansas which stinks cause I thought we would have another one together but he is going to be with one of my old comps so he will have fun! I'm getting Elder McArthur as my new companion and I don't really know him but I'm excited to get to know him!

So, I was blessed to have another Tornado experience this past week! We were driving past the church when all of a sudden the sirens started going off and it started raining and hailing like crazy! We went to the church and a couple of the other Elders were already there. We had to hang out in the church for a couple hours while it all went down. The safest place in the building is the baptismal font so we were told to sit in there for a while until the worst part was over. We made it was a good time! Also, a couple days later, we had a huge snow storm happen here. It was the most snow Branson has seen in awhile. Then, the next day, a less active family had their house catch on fire and we had to help clean up with that. It was so sad.

We have some good stuff happening here in Branson so I'm excited to be staying another transfer. We had and investigator come to church on Sunday that we have been working with for awhile and she has accepted a date to be baptized! I love the work here. Hope all is well with everyone.

Love,
Elder Leavitt

We did some service at a  city skate park 

Strike a pose

Snow day

Tornado!!

The refugees taking cover at the church. We barely made it!

House fire :(