Branch Baptisms

This week was awesome!! It was a week of baptisms for the branch. Through the amazing process of “going to the rescue” we have been able to see more and more families come together. I'm sending a picture of us with a family, whose little boy was baptized this past Saturday. The Dads name is Juan Carlos. He recently came back to the church after being less active for years, and separating from his wife and doing dumb things that he shouldn’t have done- and when he came back- he REALLY came back. He started reading everything he could get his hands on, and watching all the church videos that we had, and was recently called to be YM President and has been working really hard to get the YM active. And he has been praying that his wife would come back to him. We had visited her once when she rolled into town a month or two ago, she had on heavy makeup, immodest clothing, and kept on saying that she didn’t want to be with her husband, she just wanted to be by her kids. And then we couldn’t find her after that.

Then, it was so awesome to see, that when I went with Hna Payton (a new missionary I did divisions with. She is just so excited to work!)  to visit them- that she had come back, and she looked like a normal, happy person. She is ready to try and put her family back together, and they both supported their son (Juan Carlos Jr.) in getting baptized.

That same day, Samantha was baptized as well. Her family has been inactive for a long time, but the missionaries have always visited them, so they still know a lot about the church. Her mom still isn’t too interested in coming back, but it was so cool to see her at her daughter’s baptism. Samantha is so excited about everything, and she wants to be my best friend. (a.k.a. she goes through all my stuff all the time and clings to me glue.)

Then, later that afternoon, Adriana was baptized, whose family is working to come back as well. (Shes the one who was sitting on the bench with me in the blue dress in that picture I sent last week.) Shes an incredible little girl...  when she shared her testimony she said that "she felt that she had been touched by God" and then she proceeded to invite her family to join her up front and then shared a very dramatic and very cute testimony.

It was such a good day, a day where families seemed more united, and their children, who should have been baptized when they turned 8, were finally able to make promises to their Heavenly Father and  get the blessings that we all so desperately need

We also have been working with a less active family who have already started to progress so much. They started doing their family prayers and scripture study, and they have plans for an awesome FHE tonight. I love them so much…. And their son isn’t baptized either, so hopefully I'll be sending some more baptism pictures soon! (The Dad drives a MotoTaxi, so that’s where all the pictures of that come into play….)

Things here are good. Changes are coming up next week. But Hna Robinson and I are pretty sure that we are staying together (but throwing some prayers our way for a 4th change wouldn’t hurt at all…. Please and thankyou).  I love you all so much and hope that things are good back home!! Have a great week!

Love,
Hna Leavitt

Juan Carlos and Juan Carlos Jr

The Valley from Aplao

ONE YEAR

Yep- its true- its almost been 365 days since Ive been here in Peru! I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it either- part of me is excited to be able to say that I have been serving and sacrificing for my Heavenly Father for a full year now, but the other part of me views the short time ahead and sees December turn from a finish line to an expiration date. There is so much urgency about my work now, as I see the time that I have to wear a name tag on my chest dwindle every single day. There is so much to be done, so much to get better at, so many people to help. I want these next 6 months to be the most intense, tiring, and fulfilling months of my life. I love it so much, being out here and helping people understand who they really are.

I had such a sweet experience this week with a girl named Esther that brought the reality and divinity of my missionary purpose to life like never before. We were on divisions with Hna Ango and Hna "Unsinkable" Brown in Camana, and the night before we had a coordination meeting with the District President in an attempt to get some organized training and help from Camana, and then that night we went back to their pensionistas, and were just sitting there, eating dinner, when Esther walked in and sat down with the two of us (everyone else had already finished up by that time) and we just started chatting. We had met her a few months before, when we did our first divisions there, and we found out that she was an orphan, that both of her parents had died a few years ago in an accident, and that she had just been bounced from home to home, and was now staying with the sisters pensionista. So as we were talking, we asked her if she knew why we were there, in Peru, so far away from our homes. She said she didn't know, so we explained to her that we are here to help people with their faith in Jesus Christ and to help everyone make it back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. And then, knowing her past, we asked her if she knew why we were here, on the earth. She said she didn't know, so we explained our purpose as children of God. And then.... then we told her that after this life, there is another one. The surprise and confusion was so easy to read on her face, and she said that she had no idea what we were talking about. So we took it really slow, and very simple, and explained to her that our goal is to make it to a beautiful, bright, happy place (called the Celestial Kingdom) where we can live with God and Jesus Christ, and our families forever, and we saw happiness replace confusion and the sweetest question that I have ever been privileged to hear  in all my life fell from her lips "You mean... that I can find my family again?" It was so sweet and so tender and the spirit was so strong that Hermana Robinson had to explain it as I turned my head to hide my tears ( I didn't want her to worry her or anything.) But in that moment- what we were all experiencing just pierced my heart and touched my soul. There wasn't much potential for her to be a future investigator, as their pensionista is strongly Catholic, and it wasnt our area and we couldn't count it as a lesson, but I felt like I had better fulfilled my purpose as a missionary in that moment than ever before. In an instant, that little kitchen turned into a holy place, as we helped a little girl understand that families could be together forever, and that her Heavenly Father loves her so much.

And that was the "crowning experience" this week that assured me that I'm here,  in an extraordinary work that will roll forth until everyone has the chance to understand who they are.

I love you all and hope that you have a fantastic week!!

Hermana Leavitt

Me with a Llama

 

 

 

Another Picture at Natalys Baptism

Our GIANT friend... Baxter. He likes to follow us and protect us from mean people. And he also likes to kind of slobber attack me when I sit down.

With some of my friends (under the age of 10) after they had a fathers day dance festival.

A beautiful Peruvian Flag on Flag Day!

A picture of me on Flag Day! Red and white all the way!!

A branch activity- Christmas in June

Me and my compy at Consejo

From my visit to Andy!

TRAINing

We are training here. Actually, maybe it would be better to say that we are TRAINing here in Corire, allowing the leaders to be able to magnify and fulfill their callings so that they will be self sufficiently "steaming along" on the path of correct church administration (to borrow the Train metaphor that Dad came up with...)

But in all seriousness- we really are doing some intense trainings here in Rama Aplao. This past Sunday we had all the leaders stay for a mandatory "introductory" training, where we gave them a checklist of things that they need to do for their organizations. Its something pretty simple that we came up with, and with the help of the elders and the presidency, was executed fairly well. We had presidente Zobrist skype call in, and then we presented the papers, and then they all split up to plan. I think it will really help the ball get moving! The goal is to have them doing the right thing well enough that the next missionaries here will be able to focus more on the traditional missionary work, and not have to worry about things like this. I think we are most definitely on the right track, and now that we have a system to be able to use to do more followup, I think the rate of improvement is going to increase dramatically. Its all about thinking outside of the box, and doing new and innovative things that they have never ever done before. These people are amazing, and I know that if they can just get the tools that they need to be able to do their work the way the Lord wants it done, then miracles will happen.

I am, yet again, so happy here! We had an amazing activity, Christmas in June, that 60 people went to. We did basically everything for it, but it was our "example" to the ward of what needs to be done... and its the last time we are being that involved, so if they want to have fun activities, they will have to work for them. We are willing to support, but its time to start stretching and growing a little bit.

We have a little family that we are working to get baptized, and I am so excited for them!! They are all so awesome. Also, we are trying to help a less active who is living with this man get married, so that they can get baptized, and now that he has a ring to propose with, we are excited to see the results!

Things are moving and progressing here, and I am so blessed to have been able to  be such an active participant in hastening the work. Ive learned so much in these past.... 355 days. I love it so much and I hope that I get to stay here for a long, long time!

I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!

Hermana Leavitt

Natalys baptism

Skypin' with the Prez

Training Checklist for Leaders

The Road to Pitis

- A few months ago (2 months more or less) a lady was baptized into the branch, and her name was Paulina. She is 57 years old, comes up to about my hip, and has a broken arm, and osteoporosis, so the broken arm cant be put together, and it just kind of dangles there, out of place. She also has problems walking and uses a cane. And she doesn't have teeth. (If you go back to the email when we had to help get her dressed for her baptism, that's the same lady.) She hasn't been to church for the past 3 weeks, due to health reasons, but the thing is that she lives so far away that its hard to visit her. We had been thinking we probably should, and then the Lord made it clear to us that we needed to.

We saw her once in Corire, moving super slowly and taking a break about every 50 feet, so we went and chatted, and she said that her health is getting worse. So we made plans to visit, for the next week, because our schedule was just too  full for the weekend. Then, the next day we were up in Aplao, running around trying to get things ready for a mission night, when we saw her, resting about 20 ft away from the entrance to the emergency room. So we went up and talked to her, because she is so cute and we love her so much, and she said that she needed to go to the hospital for an injection because her bones hurt so bad. So we helped her with a bag, took her in, got her the help  that she needed (I didn't watch her get the shot, believe it or not) and then we bought her some snacks, put her on the combi and sent her away, wondering how many times we were going to run into her.

Then, that next day, all of our appointments fell through, a day decided to prevent us from finding an investigator, and we weren't sure what to do, so we thought that we better pay that lady a visit. She lives on the other side of the valley/river in a little tiny pueblito called "Pitis", which we remembered walking by one day as we were stranded in Pedregal Chico before the bridges were built and we had to walk home ( a 3 hour walk), so, trying to be smart, we took a bus all the way up to the Mesana, and then got off, thinking that in 10 minutes we would be there.

Turns out, its more of a 45 minute walk.

So we ended getting there around 6 at night, and had a nice visit with her and her family. She was even worse that day, because she ended up twisting her ankle on her way back from the hospital, and her daughter (LuzMarina, who is her exact same size) had to literally pick her up and carry her in the room. Her daughters not a member, and she is 25 and just works in the fields all day when people will hire her. So we started talking about how special Paulina is for us, and how much we love her, and how we know that things are hard right now, but that with faith we can bear all the burdens in our lives. I felt impressed to talk about how we know that Jesus Christ visited the Americas after he was resurrected, and as he visited the people here, he taught them the doctrine of prayer, through teaching and also through his example. She was so excited and changed by our visit, we left basically ready to start filling the font again! But, due to the spontaneous nature of the visit, and also because we had no idea it would take that long to get there, it was pitch black outside.

And we were a long way from home.

So.... since we couldn't stay there forever, we started walking. And, to make a long story short, it was a scary walk home. All the circumstances made it seem like the longest road in the history of roads, and all I wanted to do was get off of it. But, we had felt distinctly impressed to go visit Paulina, and we knew that the Lord would protect us for following a prompting, so we walked. It was literally, walking by faith. Because we couldn't see anything and we had only been there once before. But, as we half walked and ran home, I couldn't help but feel protected, like we were literally being surrounded by angels that kept all the danger away. It was a special, exhausting time.

But it was one of the best visits we have ever had.

An update on the branch:

People finally have callings! We have had a dramatic increase. Now almost all the callings are filled, and more and more men are advancing in the priesthood. Now comes the tricky part: training. Our District isn't too much help. At all. They do live 2 hours away, but still. No help there. So, its yet again, up to us. But I'm excited, because I have had an idea.

We have been trying to get the organizations going for awhile now.... but they just don't know what to do. And then we tell them, and they get all overwhelmed, and then they don't do anything. We try and do simple things, but it still hasn't been giving us the results that we need. Things need to start moving and rolling here in the branch!! So, I got this idea of having a mandatory training next Sunday, and then presenting all the leaders with a little "checklist" of things to do. The first thing: get your presidency full (if its not) and registered in MLS system. Then, they have a list of trainings that their presidencies need to attend (allowing them to schedule 2 of their own and 2 that we are putting on in the church), then, they need to plan out their meetings and activities for the next trimester, and do the simple things every week, like going to ward council and cleaning the church. And we made it in a nice, pretty format, that they should take seriously.

Sometimes I wonder if I need to have more patience.... I want it all to be perfect. And I know that perfection takes time and faith, so that's the challenge now.

Guess who I am going to visit in 10 minutes?! ANDY!!!! That's right, we are in Hunter, going to visit my old family. And I am just giddy with excitement.

Well, that's about all the time I have. I love you all so much, enjoy the pictures!! (yay for fast internet!)

Me and my companion Hermana Robinson

Us with some newly activated members (he become 2nd counselor shortly after this picture)

Making some tin-foil dinners

Tender mercy - getting a ride on a tractor so we wouldn't be late to an appointment

Norma and Aldo with their bap certificates. And Angeles. She is crazy.

This is a dog we found, shivering on the side of the road. So we made him a dog shelter. And then my heart broke when we had to leave. But there is a part II to this story. Its a happy ending.

Lehi's Dream Activity with other missionaries

End of Lehi's dream activity

This is me with Norma, she is awesome!

Picture of the valley

Knocking on a scary door

The Pursuit of Happyness

5/26/14

I just got back from Arequipa, and am finally able to email. And I only have a few minutes.

Its been quite a week, I actually havnt been in my area. I went to Arequipa to get some things taken care of last Monday, and then... we ended up being there all week. More details next week, I've gotta go. I am so sorry, I will try and get on tomorrow! I love you all so much!

5/28/14

Here I am again, just like I promised! I am so sorry about the quality of my emails lately, but I think I am coming upon the busiest (and possible best) part of my mission. There is so much to do, and so much that we can do to help, and that desire to be as useful and productive as possible gets stronger and stronger everyday.

I am so happy. I cant explain it, and don't know if I should even attempt to do so, but all I know is what I feel right now. My life is filled with purpose and direction, and I get to interact with people that I love every single day. I know my purpose as a missionary, and I have come to know the true purpose that I, Hermana Leavitt, have in this specific area. I know that I am so blessed to be here, to be able to feel this love for the people, and to feel their love in return. For example, Francisca, our recent convert, just bought us jello about 30 seconds ago. The other day we were going to be late to an appointment, and a man gave us a ride on his tractor. Our Pensionista has agreed to use filtered, bottled water when she cooks, so maybe I don't get sick. I know that these aren't huge events or anything, but they have filled my life with such happiness, I cant help but be grateful. Ive heard it said once that every person can contribute to the overall happiness of the world by small, simple daily acts of kindness done for others, and I really have come to believe that's true. I know that its contributed to my personal happiness. That's something that Ive been working on my entire mission, trying to feel that perfect love for everyone in my life, and last week I memorized a scripture that helps me every single say. Moroni 7:48.

Let me tell you a little bit about Norma and Aldo. They live in this place called Pedregal Chico, and are a little family struggling to get by. Shes a single mom, 29 years old, with 2 kids- Aldo and Angeles. Her boyfriend really isn't the best person in the whole wide world... and the pain that he has caused her is something he will have to account for someday. To watch her come to understand the Gospel has been an incredible journey. She was an investigators of some elders that left awhile ago, and had been coming to church by herself for awhile now, and one Sunday when she was there, I gave a talk on what we need to do to go to the temple, and how important the ordinances are, and she came up afterwards and asked me what she had to do to get there with her family, and one thing lead to another, and then, last Saturday, they were baptized!! She is so amazing, and so accepting, and he is just a regular kid that likes to play and mess around, but he is getting the priesthood this week and will be passing the sacrament the week after. We went last night to give them some presents, and I have some good pictures of them with their baptismal certificates I will try and send another day. I love them so much, and our lesson with them last night, as we explained, that if they want to do vicarious work in the temple this year, that they could go with the branch in September. Her eyes filled up with tears, and said that she was so happy she didn't know how to explain it. She had a cousin take her own life about 18 years ago, and has always wondered, what her life would be like if she had this Gospel, and that she wants to do the work for her cousin, so she doesn't have to wait anymore. I love this family so much, and Angeles ( 5 years old) is so cute, and one of my best friends. I have my small army of children in the branch that are  some of my best friends. I think they can tell that I wish that I was still a kid, and that's why we get along so well.

Speaking of which, I am sending a picture of me with Luciana. She is the daughter of a recently activated member, and I played with her the other day while her mom received some training on her new calling, and we had a blast. I don't think the kids here get too much attention, and it feels good to be able to be the person to show them that they are loved and important.

Well, that's about all the time that I have. Sorry that it wasn't too much of a news update and more of a feelings letter, but that's what I felt impressed to send. I don't know where the time goes every week, but I promise to be better and write you all next week, like I should. I love you all so much, and want you to know how happy and content I am. This is the best decision I could have ever made! My mission has helped me become more of who I am really supposed to be. I love it. :)

Love,

Hermana Leavitt

Sorry, sorry, sorry...

5/19/14

My week has been good. I wrote a lot in my journal..... can we just read it together when I get back? I don't have too much more time to write. Actually, not true, I am just lazy. I mean, I just lived through it. And some weeks I don't want to rehash it.

Our branch IS growing and we have the Young women presidency completely FILLED!!!!!!!! And that my dear mother is a miracle!!!


I got all my packages! Well, the food ones, not the one with the My Family booklet. But anyways, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I LOVE GOOD FOOD. :)

Happy Mother's Day

5/12/14

Sorry, sorry, but today's email will be short short short, because we have got to prepare and execute an activity here with all of our sisters, and there is still so much to be done. So we are cutting down  on email time to make that happen.

This week- has been an interesting one for sure. We have had the chance to work a lot with our branch president, Presidente Vitaliano. And its been an incredible blessing! He is such a sweet spirit. He loves the work and he loves his people. He will work for 3 days and then spend 4 days visiting people and doing things for his calling. Some of the members don't really respect him like he deserves, but he just keeps going forward, trying to be the best that he can be. He told us that when they called him as Branch President, that he looked towards the door and seriously thought about trying to escape, but even though he felt inadequate and had just got out of the hospital after being in there for a year, he accepted. And he has not had the help or the training that he needs, but that never ever gets him down! We went and did visits the other day, and people were so rude, we just kept getting rejected in these terrible ways, and then we asked him how he felt and he said "I feel good about doing my part. And.... they can hide from us, but they cant hide from God." He really means so much to us, and its a huge blessing in my life to know someone like him.

Happy Mothers Day Mom!!!! You're the best mom in the whole wide world. :)

Love you all, sorry, sorry, I will write more next week.

Hna Leavitt