Monday, October 28, 2013

Office Sisters

My apologies- this is going to be a short one-

This week was awesome! I am just loving my time with Hna P, She´s just great and we get along swell. We worked really hard this week too. Like harder than I´ve worked in a long time. I´m pretty sure I´m going to wear through my shoes a lot faster than I expected. I don´t know how many miles it is every day- but we´re racking them up! My companion studied nursing at BYU-I for 4 years, so I guess you can say she has more experience than me. :) She is so awesome and we get along great and we´re working hard. She´s from Arizona- one of 11 kids

Some news- We are going to be working in the Office! We´re Office sisters! (I´ve always wanted to be in The Office- like the TV show- and now my dream is basically coming true!) Hermana P is going to not only be in charge of taking calls and telling people what to do, but she will be in charge of making the appointments at the hospital as well. Kind of cutting out the middle man, so to speak. Which means, when she´s not training me, I will be in the office too. And I´m also going to be helping people out in the Family History Center we´re having there. Kelsi- you would be so proud of me! :) We start Wednesday- and our P-Day will be changed to Saturday, so when you don´t get emails on Monday, don´t worry.

I´m not going to lie, I´m a little overwhelmed at times, when I think "In 4 months, when Hna P leaves, I might be the mission nurse." But I know that with Heavenly Father- I can do everything. :) Pray for me though- prayers never hurt.

I´m so sorry to hear about Kelsi- she´s going on my prayer list. Let´s get this girl some answers! Abby- I´m so proud of you for finishing Harry Potter 4!!! Way to go! Hannah! Way to turn 17- send me some of your clothes! Rachey!! Way to make it to STATE! Superstar! Allie- way to keep on being CUTE! ZACH! I HOPE YOU´RE ALIVE! Grandparents- I love you! Dad! Good luck with your eye surgery- think of me and my eye patch when you get it done! Mom! Keep being the best mom ever! Did you get my birthday letter? I wrote you a poem! Chase! Happy 21st birthday!!

I love you all!

Hermana Leavitt



Monday, October 21, 2013

Happy, Happy, Happy!

Happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy! If you can´t tell- I´m so happy! For lots of reasons-

-I got to have an interview with Presidente Zorbrist this Tuesday, and it felt so good to just lay it all out there on the line. I told him everything. Everything that I´ve been thinking and feeling and doing and why I never called and lots of other things, and I felt so good afterwards. It was such a good time. I´ve come to gain a testimony about leaders that have priesthood keys and who can receive revelation for you. Before, I think I thought I could only talk to him if I needed to confess something that I did, but honestly, I can talk to him just to get counsel about things as well. :) It was great, and much needed. He also asked me if I had any medical experience, to which I replied "Does Girl´s Camp Certification count?" and then I proceeded to tell him that I have passed out not once, but TWICE while getting an X Ray. Which is why I am surprised to be...

-The new companion of the mission nurse! Hermana P! She is so great! I came to love Hermana Z, but it was time for us to part ways. I learned a lot from my time with her though. Lots of kind of hard lessons to learn when you can´t communicate all that well- but I know my time with her will help me for the rest of my mission. It will also help me, should I have the opportunity to train. But right now- I´m with Hna P! A gringa! She´s awesome. The first thing we did when she moved all of her stuff in our room was use these dart guns that she bought. We have kind of the same sense of humor, and we kind of like different things, but we´re getting along great so far. I know, it´s only day two- but I am loving my time with her. I feel so much better, and the effects of being stressed out for weeks are starting to fade just a bit. :) We have a lot more responsibilities, because she´s the enfermeda, and people call her all the time, but I´m looking forward to it. I´m probably going to be her last companion, and I guess I´m supposed to learn as much as I can from her, so I can help Hermana Zobrist out when she finishes her mission in 4 months.

I´m so happy! I´m doing so much better, and I´m so optimistic about this time I have with my new companion. :)

A birthday shout out to my girl BANANERS! Happy 17th this 25th girlie!!! What do you want from Perú? That goes for all of you, start sending me ideas for what you´d like, cause I´m sending something home this Christmas. :) I already got something for mom.

I love you all, and thank you so much for all that you do. For all the prayers, all the letters, all the support. I really am so blessed to have you. Thank you for the many emails from both of my Grandparents. What a legacy! :)

More from your favorite Hermana in Perú next week!

Loves,

Hermana Leavitt

After further clarification from Melissa, this is what Alan thinks Melissa meant."What she means is that her new companion is like a (my own words here), kind of like an assistant to the president (AP)'s wife (Hermana Zobrist). Hermana P is the mission nurse, and it sounds like they want Melissa to learn all she can from her and if it works for her, to possibly be doing that when Hermana P leaves in 4 months. And she thinks she'll be with Hermana P for 4 months, until she leaves. So this could be a very enjoyable stretch of her mission I'm thinking. How funny and ironic it could be if she became "the mission nurse!!""



Thursday, October 17, 2013

No longer a tourist

Mom! Hope that you weren´t too concerned to not recieve an email yesterday- because I had to leave Arequipa for Lima- to finally get my Visa! That´s right folks- your Hermana Leavitt is finally all legalized in Perú. I´m happy to no longer be a tourist, but an actual foreigner here. It´s exciting stuff.
Going to Lima was absolutely awesome, because I got to hang out with my hermanas from the CCM! I missed them all so much. And, I realized that I needed people to talk to more than I realized. Did I tell you that there are no other hermanas in  our Zone? None. And I´ve been through some hard things. And I have had some hard times. So, you can imagine, after 12 weeks of not being able to talk and JOKE- it was just awesome. I miss being able to joke around! I can´t joke aorund in Spanish! I went a little crazy, every sentence out of my mouth was either slightly sarcastic or a movie reference, or a song lyric or a LotR joke. I miss being able to make people laugh so much. I think that´s why I loved Duo with Hanna so much- I love making people laugh! 

It was such a great blessing, to be able to talk to Hermana V. again. She´s so great, and I love her. I can´t even express how happy I was with all of them yesterday! I felt like myself for the first time since the CCM- I didn´t feel like someone trying to be a perfect missionary and always falling short of expectations that someone else has set up for me. I felt like Hermana Leavitt. And I needed that so bad.
I finish my training this week- and we have cambios this Sunday. So- this next Sunday- I´ll either be somewhere new, or I might have a new companion.

Friday, October 11, 2013

A Tale of Fathers

October 7, 2013

-I was surprised beyond belief that I recieved a Cannon Chronicle in the mail this past Thursday! Surprised because I didn´t know they still did this, and also surprised because I´m in Perú, but the biggest suprise came when I saw that you sent in part of my emails for our family contribution! YOU CHEATERS! Hahaha, no, it´s smart, to get out of writing something, to send what you´ve already got. I´ve decided to not use as many exclamation points in my emails, should this happen again. Also, my Zone teased me mercilessly that my extended family apparently does ¨The most typically Mormon thing since the crossing of the Plains.¨(In the words of my LD) They couldn´t get over the interviews and the crossword puzzle. But I have to admit, it´s impressive. And I loved reading about my Aunts Laura (I thought you´d appreciate that grammar Dad). I also couldn´t help but feel a surge of pride when good ol´George Q. was quoted in this conference. What a legacy we´ve got.
-I learned a lot about heartbreak this week. It started with a new convert, who lives in the same building as us. We came home from emailing last week, to hear someone sobbing in her room. Tentatively, we knocked, and found her just devastated, on the floor of her room. Long story short, after promising her all sorts of things about taking her to the temple, and about adopting a child because they couldn´t have any, her husband left for a "business trip" but in reality, he cleaned out all their bank accounts and took all his valuable stuff, and he left her to live with another woman. We sat there and cried with her, and then we read scriptures and prayed, but I had no idea what to say to help this woman wth this broken heart. Wé´ve been checking up on her, and she seems to be doing okay, but talk about heartbreak. The only thing we can say, over and over again, is that her Savior knows her, and her pain, and her situation, better than anyone else in the world, and she can rely on Him, and the healing power of the Atonement, to help her cope.
-I also had the chance to learn about Fathers this week, we´ve been teaching a man for about a month now. Long story short, we thought he was ready for Baptism, we went for a visit, found his 13 year old son, began teaching him, and then his dad came home, and grabbed him by his ear, and threw him into their room, and then took a piecve of wood that was used to prop open the door, and began to beat him. He shut the door, so we couldn´t see, but we could hear. We left as soon as we could, and I just wanted to sit down and cry. But apparently this form of discipline is the most common form in Perú, and Hna Z couldn´t understand why I was so worked up about it. I think it´s because I´m from a home where my father hardly ever raises his voice, and never ever raises his hand. It was really sad, but it helped me appreciate what I´ve got.
I love you all, I´m happy, and healthy, and I´m going to try and send another letter this week. Be patient with me! :)
Hna Leavitt