Buenas Dias a la Mejor Familia en Todo el Mundo!
Wow, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your emails. I loved reading about Mom's crazy adventures getting to Michigan (the things Grandma is willing to do to see her little Emma-boo!), the cozy, fallish life in Michigan, the hooligans back in Highland cooking huge breakfasts and going to Chinese restaurants (just kidding guys), and feeling of your love and your incredible spirit. I honestly and sincerely have the best family in the whole entire world.
Life is wonderful here in Buenos Aires, and I continue to learn every day about how to be a better missionary. How about Conference eh?!! I loved reading about what you guys gained from it, and I gained many of the same things! (even though it was a tiny bit hard for me to get all of the details in Spanish) Mom, that talk about the Sacrament and how we can receive revelation about our challenges and problems in life was like an aha moment for me too! My personal fave was Elder Uchtdorf's. You don't want to regret that you didn't choose to be happy in the moment! And the missionary age!! Holy cow, I was shocked, but all I can say is WOOHOOOO!! From a missionary´s point of view, I agree with President Monson that some of these young missionaries are absolutely incredible, little spiritual packs of dynamite. :) So I'm sure the whole world has been asking Cam, but dude! What do you think about all this? Are you thinking of leaving in the summer? And yes Dan, I'm so excited for the younger age for girls too! Maybe a little jealous that I didn't get to leave when I was 19. ;) Except not really because I've come to learn in these past few months that everything happens according to Heavenly Father's plan, and there are thousands of reasons why I am here in this moment RIGHT NOW.
One evidence of this was a letter that I received from my dearest friend, Manuel! Do you remember Manuel? He was the one back in Washington who called us on the phone one day and asked us to bring him a Book of Mormon. He soaked up the Gospel of Jesus Christ with every fiber of his soul, and is now one of the most faithful members, home teachers, and priesthood holders in Spokane Washington, actually in the world! In part of his letter he said (translated from Spanish :) "Hermana I never imagined that being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be such a beautiful thing.. . I continue reading the Book of Mormon to learn more of Gospel and the more I read Hermana, the happier I feel because I learn something new for my life. I hope that you find many people like me who need to hear this message, and I thank my Heavenly Father every day that he placed you and Hermana Ruiz in my path. I'm still learning more about the Gospel, and it fills me with happiness." Oh how I love and admire this faithful man! He truly is an example of the thousands of Heavenly Father's precious children who have humble hearts and hungry spirits, ready to receive the light that the Gospel of Jesus Christ offers. He told me that his foot is completely miraculously healed now, he has gone back to work, and will be working to earn enough to go back to be with his family in Mexico. I cried with happiness. :)
And here in San Justo, we saw another miracle! After weeks of praying and maybe a few tears of frustration on our part, Amalia has made the decision to be baptized! One morning we went to visit her, and the conversation started heading in the direction it always does. She was frustrated because she felt like she hadn't felt the answer in her heart and was receiving alot of pressure from family and friends against the church. As we sat in the lesson, I was praying as usual that Heavenly Father would guide this lesson, and we started taking an unexpected route, talking about the nature of Satan and how he operates. I know, I know, it sounds kind of morbid and dark. But in that moment, it proved to be just what Amalia needed. We talked step by step with her about her feelings when she read the Book of Mormon, and she testified boldly that she knew it was true. And then we talked about all the things that were telling her not to be baptized. Did they feel good? Was she happy when she had those thoughts? It was as though a light switched on in her head , and she asked, "when can I be baptized?" And then she got mad when she found out that she couldn't be baptized this Saturday because of General Conference! For the love! Hahah, needless to say we were some pretty happy missionaries, and she is going to be baptized this weekend along with the little Grandma Cocentino who is the "member slash non-member" of the ward. I can't wait to send you pictures of the little grandma baptism. :)
Well fam, the hour flew by. But I love you all more than all the facturas in Buenos Aires! Have an amazing week!
Love,
Hermana Leavitt
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