April 15, 2013
your welcome. ya i sent it off Friday i think i kept forgetting to get it in the mail.(letters to sisters) I will let you know when i send the package off.
I have picked up a few more sweater vests so I wear those a lot.
I would be fine speaking the sunday I get back. That would probably be best.
Any colors that the girls would like best? or types of rocks/jems?
We have not gotten a ward mission leader yet. so that hasn't been helping the work much.
what dental care insurance do we have? There is a dentist in the ward so I should be able to set up an appointment there.
We got more snow today! just a dusting but it was cool to see the snow coming down
I have picked up a few more sweater vests so I wear those a lot.
I would be fine speaking the sunday I get back. That would probably be best.
Any colors that the girls would like best? or types of rocks/jems?
We have not gotten a ward mission leader yet. so that hasn't been helping the work much.
what dental care insurance do we have? There is a dentist in the ward so I should be able to set up an appointment there.
We got more snow today! just a dusting but it was cool to see the snow coming down
April 8, 2013
I will write Jacklyn today.
I am with the same companion.
Conference was really good! we watched it mostly at the church and then with a less-active family.
Well so much for it warming up! it has been in the mid 50's for the high and the mid 30's at night and then this weekend was even colder and we just got some more snow last night, about half an inch.
We had a pretty good week this week. Conference was great! We spent a great deal of time telling as many people as we could about it so we are hoping that we will get some calls or that when we follow up they will have just spiritually melted over the inspiring talks. It really is neat to watch them speak. When you listen to and watch some of those TV evangelists your just filled with doubt and skepticism, and sometimes even wanna laugh because it is so ridiculous. When they speak however it is almost undeniable that they are serious and they really are representing the Lord.
We had gotten a less-active part member family to invite us over to watch part of conference with them. We are teaching the daughter and missionaries have forever and the mom is very against her getting baptized but is fine with us coming over to teach. The dad was giving us and the speakers a lot of grief and bringing up all his 'issues' with the church and the daughter wasn't very excited about it either and told us she wasn't really sure she even wanted to keep up the church thing. We just persevered and just bore testimony of conference and so they sat through and by the end of just the one session they did a 180 flip and were super excited about it and they learned a bunch. It was really cool to watch just how powerful it was in bringing the spirit into their home.
it was especially uplifting to us because lots of the people who said they were going to watch it did not, even some members who said they would invite investigators and less-actives over.
That was the highlight of the week.
Hopefully we will get a ward mission leader here soon because I think things are slowly trickling off with our connection with the ward. We haven't had any meetings in a month so that really doesn't help. And with all the holidays and vacation stuff these past few weeks we haven't had much contact with the ward leadership. So we will see.
things are going good. I need to send a package home with a bunch of old letters and some other stuff and then there will be something for dad inside.
Also there are a lot of jewelry shops in town mostly hippie shops with crystals to release your inner energy but you can just use them are regular rocks from the ground :) so if the girls want anything let me know what they might like. maybe a favorite color rock or kind, something like that. earnings, necklace, etc.
Love Elder Leydsman
I am with the same companion.
Conference was really good! we watched it mostly at the church and then with a less-active family.
Well so much for it warming up! it has been in the mid 50's for the high and the mid 30's at night and then this weekend was even colder and we just got some more snow last night, about half an inch.
We had a pretty good week this week. Conference was great! We spent a great deal of time telling as many people as we could about it so we are hoping that we will get some calls or that when we follow up they will have just spiritually melted over the inspiring talks. It really is neat to watch them speak. When you listen to and watch some of those TV evangelists your just filled with doubt and skepticism, and sometimes even wanna laugh because it is so ridiculous. When they speak however it is almost undeniable that they are serious and they really are representing the Lord.
We had gotten a less-active part member family to invite us over to watch part of conference with them. We are teaching the daughter and missionaries have forever and the mom is very against her getting baptized but is fine with us coming over to teach. The dad was giving us and the speakers a lot of grief and bringing up all his 'issues' with the church and the daughter wasn't very excited about it either and told us she wasn't really sure she even wanted to keep up the church thing. We just persevered and just bore testimony of conference and so they sat through and by the end of just the one session they did a 180 flip and were super excited about it and they learned a bunch. It was really cool to watch just how powerful it was in bringing the spirit into their home.
it was especially uplifting to us because lots of the people who said they were going to watch it did not, even some members who said they would invite investigators and less-actives over.
That was the highlight of the week.
Hopefully we will get a ward mission leader here soon because I think things are slowly trickling off with our connection with the ward. We haven't had any meetings in a month so that really doesn't help. And with all the holidays and vacation stuff these past few weeks we haven't had much contact with the ward leadership. So we will see.
things are going good. I need to send a package home with a bunch of old letters and some other stuff and then there will be something for dad inside.
Also there are a lot of jewelry shops in town mostly hippie shops with crystals to release your inner energy but you can just use them are regular rocks from the ground :) so if the girls want anything let me know what they might like. maybe a favorite color rock or kind, something like that. earnings, necklace, etc.
Love Elder Leydsman
April 8, 2013
we had transfers and this will be staying the same here.
I did get the package, thank you! most the candy is already gone...
Angela will actually be on the east coast this week. Starting Thursday. She is going to DC with some family. I told her she should go visit you guys. So i gave her your phone number and address. so she may or may not call.
That is quite the fulfilling weekend!
I wrote Alexia a letter and sent it off last week.
I do not have aunt Becky's address. I need to write her anyways.
this week was pretty good. ready for conference and suit coat season to be over! it has been raining lightly in the morning so it is really nice.
not much else to say...
take care.
Love Elder Leydsman
I did get the package, thank you! most the candy is already gone...
Angela will actually be on the east coast this week. Starting Thursday. She is going to DC with some family. I told her she should go visit you guys. So i gave her your phone number and address. so she may or may not call.
That is quite the fulfilling weekend!
I wrote Alexia a letter and sent it off last week.
I do not have aunt Becky's address. I need to write her anyways.
this week was pretty good. ready for conference and suit coat season to be over! it has been raining lightly in the morning so it is really nice.
not much else to say...
take care.
Love Elder Leydsman
April 1, 2013
we have transfers in a week. I hope I stay but we will see.
That is really cool that he asked dad! that will be a neat experience!
that is a lot of mulch to spread!!
Yes june 25th is the day I will be home
I didn't get it today so yes hopefully tomorrow.
----------
This week went pretty good. Mostly after seeing how many people came to church made the rest of the week feel much better. We had a great ward conference and were taught well by our stake presidency.
One of our investigators who is married to a recently returning lady said that the biggest difference he has seen in the few times he has come to church (4-5 times) has been that in every class they always are teaching to point everyone to a productiveness. Which I thought was really neat to hear him say that. I told him that is the whole point. Teach to live the teachings, the perfecting and the edifying of the saints.
Our other investigator Angela is moving to Medford. She said she will still been in our area on weekends and she wants to continue having lessons but is not so sure about the idea of transitioning to the missionaries up there. So we will see how that goes.
We had a lesson with a lady who will soon be married to a recently returning member this week. He had told us that his girlfriend who had moved in with him was reading from the Book of Mormon a little bit and she was interested in learning more. It took us about a month to finally get a lesson set up and when we went over she had finished the Book of Mormon and the D+C and had already received convincing witness from prayer that it was true and then proceeded to give up tea to live the word of wisdom. Talk about prepared. All that is a hold up is that she is living with the member and the wedding is in three months and she was upfront that she didn't want to be rushed or pressured otherwise she would only want to quit. But there is no reason to rush. It always seems that those that missionaries take a slower more personal track with people they end up better.
Well take care! Invite people to watch General Conference with you (non-members/less-active). It is a great opportunity for people to learn and grow!
Love you all! take care!
March 25, 2013
Snow! lucky! I hope we get one more snow storm. kinda. There is a lot of hiking to do so no snow means we can do that on our days off.
I am too behind on letters so less letters means I am less behind.
take care, love you lots. Look forward to hanging out. We need to go shooting before we go to england.
I'm trying to finish strong.
Love Elder Leydsman
I am too behind on letters so less letters means I am less behind.
take care, love you lots. Look forward to hanging out. We need to go shooting before we go to england.
I'm trying to finish strong.
Love Elder Leydsman
March 18, 2013
That is alright about the confusion. Now I am more ready for when I really do have to sign up. So it is all good. Do you know when I can sign up for financial aid or if I can? ( thought he needed to sign up for fall classes already)
It was really neat to be able to meet with Elder Andersen.
I am the driver all the time.
That is pretty cool we have both sets in the ward. There is definitely a big difference with the two and how they work. That really stinks that they are so strict on when dinner has to be. 5-6 is usually a really good time to be out working too. It also really restricts who can feed the missionaries. most the time we don't even have dinner until 6:30.
We do have a lot of good members that are missionary minded.
Missionaries really can not do much with out the help of the members. Especially when if comes to retaining members. Missionaries can baptize people with out ever talking to the ward if they wanted to. but that wouldn't get anybody anywhere.
In Preach My Gospel it asks us to always ask everyone for referrals by saying "who do you know that would be interested and benefit from the message we share" then "Whom else do you know". Also to teach the missionary lessons to members to strengthen their own testimonies. Everything we can do to get the members involved and always thinking about the work the better.
I got alexia's letter.
Love you too. Take care.
Love,
Elder Leydsman
It was really neat to be able to meet with Elder Andersen.
I am the driver all the time.
That is pretty cool we have both sets in the ward. There is definitely a big difference with the two and how they work. That really stinks that they are so strict on when dinner has to be. 5-6 is usually a really good time to be out working too. It also really restricts who can feed the missionaries. most the time we don't even have dinner until 6:30.
We do have a lot of good members that are missionary minded.
Missionaries really can not do much with out the help of the members. Especially when if comes to retaining members. Missionaries can baptize people with out ever talking to the ward if they wanted to. but that wouldn't get anybody anywhere.
In Preach My Gospel it asks us to always ask everyone for referrals by saying "who do you know that would be interested and benefit from the message we share" then "Whom else do you know". Also to teach the missionary lessons to members to strengthen their own testimonies. Everything we can do to get the members involved and always thinking about the work the better.
I got alexia's letter.
Love you too. Take care.
Love,
Elder Leydsman
March 11, 2013
This week has been good. really long though! I hopefully will have time to write some letters today. I did get Jacklyns letter. I got the College stuff you sent me this week. So I am going to pick CIT as my major and minor in Finance. If there is anything I need to pick classes for that if you could email me before thursday that would be great. I will be signing up at 8am here. If I can not get all the classes I need or want I will just send you which ones I need and see if you can get me in.
We got to meet Elder Neil L. Andersen! That was really neat! The meeting was down in roseville. We rode down to Redding and stayed with missionaries Friday night. Then we left at 6am saturday. Got there at 10am. Left at 2pm and got home at 8:30pm. I drove about 500 miles that day! I was so tired!
We are still working with the young lady Angela. She is doing good. For a little bit she was kinda slowing down and was more just interested in talking about religion then figuring out if it was true. We had a lesson with her though this last week and we talked about it and she has felt a stronger disire to find it out. She has been having a hard time with the reading but she is doing it which is a big sign of faith. She is half way done with 2 Nephi.
That is sad to heard about grandma. Hopefully things will improve and things will get better. Patience is really thing only thing you can do.
I am trying hard to keep working and to keep growing in my testimony.
Love,Elder leydsman
We got to meet Elder Neil L. Andersen! That was really neat! The meeting was down in roseville. We rode down to Redding and stayed with missionaries Friday night. Then we left at 6am saturday. Got there at 10am. Left at 2pm and got home at 8:30pm. I drove about 500 miles that day! I was so tired!
We are still working with the young lady Angela. She is doing good. For a little bit she was kinda slowing down and was more just interested in talking about religion then figuring out if it was true. We had a lesson with her though this last week and we talked about it and she has felt a stronger disire to find it out. She has been having a hard time with the reading but she is doing it which is a big sign of faith. She is half way done with 2 Nephi.
That is sad to heard about grandma. Hopefully things will improve and things will get better. Patience is really thing only thing you can do.
I am trying hard to keep working and to keep growing in my testimony.
Love,Elder leydsman
March 4, 2013
Well this week comes with bad news. Sadly our ward mission leader past away about three days ago after about two weeks in the CCU. It has already had a big impact on the ward. He was a very strong member and carried a lot of weight. Testimony meeting was also was filled with great testimonies of the plan of salvation and how diligently Brother Lewis served the Lord and was a true example of Him to those he helped.
Other then that is has been a good week I guess. not much to report on.
I can sign up for my classes out here. I just have to talk to president about that. I sent a note about it to him. so I should know here soon. If you could send me the layouts for what classes I need to take for certain degrees that would be great. If you could send me one for:
Social work, psychology, accounting/finances, programing, and anything else you think might be good. I really do not know what I want to do.
I got two letter a week and a half ago I think.
other then that I have not gotten any mail from anyone in several weeks.
Other then that is has been a good week I guess. not much to report on.
I can sign up for my classes out here. I just have to talk to president about that. I sent a note about it to him. so I should know here soon. If you could send me the layouts for what classes I need to take for certain degrees that would be great. If you could send me one for:
Social work, psychology, accounting/finances, programing, and anything else you think might be good. I really do not know what I want to do.
I got two letter a week and a half ago I think.
other then that I have not gotten any mail from anyone in several weeks.
February 25, 2013
This week has been a good week. Being with Elder Allred is fun. He has a neat personality. He is a different Elder Allred then the other one I served with. We have been working hard to help get the members involved with the work and get them excited to share the Gospel. The ward is a great ward and has great potential. I feel that the only reason they have not had better success is due to the missionaries. Missionaries really just have not be involved with the ward well. They talk and hang out with them and are their friends and the members remember them forever, But it just doesn't do anything for the ward. So we are trying hard to change that.
We are looking for new less-actives to teach. People who are ready to come back rather then just the same people missionaries have met with for years just to get numbers with. We are trying to clean out all our records and get this area going on the right foot. We had lots of great plans to get the work going with our ward mission leader, but sadly he is very very ill and has been in the Cardiac Care Unit at Mercy for a week now hooked up to the machines to help him breath. Bishop said that they will probably pull the plug here soon and see if can make it. So things are not looking good. and even if he does get better his recovery will be long. So we are pretty much two new missionaries in the area with no ward mission leader.But we are slowly building up the members assistance to help in the work.It will be good.
Things are going good with those we are teaching. it is slow but they are moving. Once we get members better involved they will progress much faster.
England sounds like it will be really fun! Rural will be nice. That is what I am used to right now.
for The Bionicles... I would like to keep them so that way I don't have to buy more Lego's later on. But they would most likely just sit for a long time. And I wouldn't know what pieces go with what. You cant get any of that anymore. But it is whatever. It would be a lot easier to just give them to someone else who would use them now. If I have maybe one or two of just the regular ones made I could just keep those.
I finished the Book of Mormon two Tuesdays ago. I am now going to read the new testament. I figured all I have to do is read two pages a day and I can be done with it before my time is up. The Book of Mormon was and is great. It really is just so plain and simple. It is just too clear for people to believe I guess. They don't want it to be that easy. All the answers can't be in one place, in one church, and be know. People make the gospel so complected. it is silly sometimes. I am very grateful for all the answers in one place.
Love Elder Leydsman
We are looking for new less-actives to teach. People who are ready to come back rather then just the same people missionaries have met with for years just to get numbers with. We are trying to clean out all our records and get this area going on the right foot. We had lots of great plans to get the work going with our ward mission leader, but sadly he is very very ill and has been in the Cardiac Care Unit at Mercy for a week now hooked up to the machines to help him breath. Bishop said that they will probably pull the plug here soon and see if can make it. So things are not looking good. and even if he does get better his recovery will be long. So we are pretty much two new missionaries in the area with no ward mission leader.But we are slowly building up the members assistance to help in the work.It will be good.
Things are going good with those we are teaching. it is slow but they are moving. Once we get members better involved they will progress much faster.
England sounds like it will be really fun! Rural will be nice. That is what I am used to right now.
for The Bionicles... I would like to keep them so that way I don't have to buy more Lego's later on. But they would most likely just sit for a long time. And I wouldn't know what pieces go with what. You cant get any of that anymore. But it is whatever. It would be a lot easier to just give them to someone else who would use them now. If I have maybe one or two of just the regular ones made I could just keep those.
I finished the Book of Mormon two Tuesdays ago. I am now going to read the new testament. I figured all I have to do is read two pages a day and I can be done with it before my time is up. The Book of Mormon was and is great. It really is just so plain and simple. It is just too clear for people to believe I guess. They don't want it to be that easy. All the answers can't be in one place, in one church, and be know. People make the gospel so complected. it is silly sometimes. I am very grateful for all the answers in one place.
Love Elder Leydsman
February 18, 2013
I will be staying in Mt. Shasta. I will be getting a new companion. Elder Allred. He had been out for a little under a year. Elder heward who I was with in corning trained him. I will keep it short because I want to get off pictures. If i have time I will write more. Thank you for all the good notes and good advice. Good luck on the trip Father! speaking of stomach.. My stomach has been fine from the dairy but Friday after noon I got hit hard with the stomach flew. I was throwing up all Friday night and Saturday along with diarrhea. I couldn't keep liquid down until Saturday night. then finally got some food down Sunday afternoon. I have eaten more now so i am pretty good. just really tired from it.
February 11, 2013
The week has been good. We have had three lessons with our investigator Angela this week. In the first lesson on Tuesday Elder McMurry (we were on exchanges) and I went over prophets more in detail with her and their role. We watched President Monson's talk Looking back and moving Forward from the conference when he was sustained as the prophet. After the talk the room was thick with the spirit and we asked her how she felt about him being a prophet. She said at first she didn't believe that she would be able to tell the difference because she felt like he was just another good guy talking about good things. Then she said about half way through it hit her. She knew something was different and she knew that she had received a witness that he truly was the prophet of God.
Sadly she is still being stubborn about making the next step. She really is having a hard time coming to the fact that who she is, a Catholic is all going to change. She has already said she doesn't feel the spirit as much as the catholic church and she has begun to receive more answers to her prayers and her over all life has been better. We are not exactly sure what to do about her just being really afraid of the change and how her family will react and how her friends will treat her and how her whole life will be different. We keep going over with her to just listen to the spirit and nothing else because only God's answers matter. Have you seen any other missionaries find a good way to address this concern?
She will come though. She has already made leaps and bounds in just the four weeks we have been meeting with her.
The other family we are working with, the Carpenter family, is doing well too. Especially Sister Carpenter. She really is on fire with the gospel. She is studying the scriptures every day and taking notes. She really is studying the scriptures.
These people who just get it and really such remind me of the scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, I believe verse 7 or so. It takes about how our faith should be established on the power of God and not the wisdom of man. Those that really get it receive witness from God and not just by things that sound good. People who do good because man said so are far less motivated then those that know God has commanded it.
The Gospel really is a great thing to share.
I did get your letter. I am really behind on letters once again. Hopefully I will have some time today.
we get transfer calls this Sunday night.
Thank you for the comments Father. One thing I never knew until probably 6 months ago is that the lessons for priesthood come from the teachings of the prophet’s books. I had never seen them or something. I am not sure why. I really enjoy them. Sadly I have never had time to read from any of them but from what people share from them they have a lot of good information.
It really is important to have our own knowledge or things. There is so much information out in the world today about who knows what from who knows where. How can you possibly know what is really true unless you seek it out for yourself.
I am really excited to be able to come home and study a lot more and build in every area.
Love Elder Leydsman
Sadly she is still being stubborn about making the next step. She really is having a hard time coming to the fact that who she is, a Catholic is all going to change. She has already said she doesn't feel the spirit as much as the catholic church and she has begun to receive more answers to her prayers and her over all life has been better. We are not exactly sure what to do about her just being really afraid of the change and how her family will react and how her friends will treat her and how her whole life will be different. We keep going over with her to just listen to the spirit and nothing else because only God's answers matter. Have you seen any other missionaries find a good way to address this concern?
She will come though. She has already made leaps and bounds in just the four weeks we have been meeting with her.
The other family we are working with, the Carpenter family, is doing well too. Especially Sister Carpenter. She really is on fire with the gospel. She is studying the scriptures every day and taking notes. She really is studying the scriptures.
These people who just get it and really such remind me of the scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, I believe verse 7 or so. It takes about how our faith should be established on the power of God and not the wisdom of man. Those that really get it receive witness from God and not just by things that sound good. People who do good because man said so are far less motivated then those that know God has commanded it.
The Gospel really is a great thing to share.
I did get your letter. I am really behind on letters once again. Hopefully I will have some time today.
we get transfer calls this Sunday night.
Thank you for the comments Father. One thing I never knew until probably 6 months ago is that the lessons for priesthood come from the teachings of the prophet’s books. I had never seen them or something. I am not sure why. I really enjoy them. Sadly I have never had time to read from any of them but from what people share from them they have a lot of good information.
It really is important to have our own knowledge or things. There is so much information out in the world today about who knows what from who knows where. How can you possibly know what is really true unless you seek it out for yourself.
I am really excited to be able to come home and study a lot more and build in every area.
Love Elder Leydsman
August 7, 2012
I am here in corning safe and sound.
I got the letter and the package but I just had time to check what they were not actually read them. So I will make sure to look.
I am in the corning ward. We meet at 10 am it is off margeritte affect or something like that I think. If they have time that would be cool to see them.
I think elder king was in rose ill last I heard. Everyone grows weed everywhere in CA but ya a lot more up here in the north.
My stomach is doing fine now. It feels bloated every once in a while.
That is sad the hear everyone is leaving. Course we are too.
My bike is just in the apartment in the living room. So its good.
Everything is going good. I am just really tired from sitting in a car every day.
Love elder leydsman
I got the letter and the package but I just had time to check what they were not actually read them. So I will make sure to look.
I am in the corning ward. We meet at 10 am it is off margeritte affect or something like that I think. If they have time that would be cool to see them.
I think elder king was in rose ill last I heard. Everyone grows weed everywhere in CA but ya a lot more up here in the north.
My stomach is doing fine now. It feels bloated every once in a while.
That is sad the hear everyone is leaving. Course we are too.
My bike is just in the apartment in the living room. So its good.
Everything is going good. I am just really tired from sitting in a car every day.
Love elder leydsman
July 30, 2012
I am getting transferred to corning. It is the very bottom of Andersen. Very rural. I will be in a car.
What is Mandi's last name?
Things are well. just packing up.
We got a new ward mission leader and he is way on top of things so that is helping a lot!
Don't have a lot of time. So hope all is well. Take care and I will talk to you next week.
I have not gotten my package yet they are probably holding it since transfers.
I drink rice milk already so I have gotten that part down.
Love Elder Leydsman
have you guys gotten the voting thing yet?
What is Mandi's last name?
Things are well. just packing up.
We got a new ward mission leader and he is way on top of things so that is helping a lot!
Don't have a lot of time. So hope all is well. Take care and I will talk to you next week.
I have not gotten my package yet they are probably holding it since transfers.
I drink rice milk already so I have gotten that part down.
Love Elder Leydsman
have you guys gotten the voting thing yet?
July 9, 2012
The week has been kinda slow. Lots of people were really busy with the fourth of July week. Then On Tuesday I was having really bad abominable pains so I went to the doctor on Thursday and they didn't find anything so far. I am just waiting to hear back still on the blood tests.
That is really good to hear that your back is doing better. Hopefully it keeps getting better.
The work is going alright. Things are just slow. We did set a baptismal date with one of our investigators for august 4th. So hopefully it will go through. Those two families are doing pretty good. On they have been stuck in their life style for so long and because of certain choices they may never get out of it due to their mental capacity. But for what we can do they have been a lot better.And the other family is doing well too. She has been coming to church a lot more which is great! Victoria is doing pretty good. She still has struggles (as all new members will) and getting the ward to be more involved and give her the support and friendship she needs has been a challenge which is really the biggest hold back. Other then that she is doing well. That is really true, we can't say who is ready and who is not. All are worthy for it and we just need to go forth with faith and share as much as we can with them and let them decide if they want to accept.
I have only written her twice I think? I was way behind on letters. and everyone's letters. I am kinda burt out about talking about the same stuff to everyone. It is a lot nicer getting letters then writting them :)
That is way neat about the temple experience! that would be really cool!By the end of this month I will be able to go again. and it will be 3 months since Ive gone. There are 4 sisters or 2 companionships in the zone.
I think i am doing good on everything. Everything is holding up so far.I am just really tired.
Love Elder Leydsman
That is really good to hear that your back is doing better. Hopefully it keeps getting better.
The work is going alright. Things are just slow. We did set a baptismal date with one of our investigators for august 4th. So hopefully it will go through. Those two families are doing pretty good. On they have been stuck in their life style for so long and because of certain choices they may never get out of it due to their mental capacity. But for what we can do they have been a lot better.And the other family is doing well too. She has been coming to church a lot more which is great! Victoria is doing pretty good. She still has struggles (as all new members will) and getting the ward to be more involved and give her the support and friendship she needs has been a challenge which is really the biggest hold back. Other then that she is doing well. That is really true, we can't say who is ready and who is not. All are worthy for it and we just need to go forth with faith and share as much as we can with them and let them decide if they want to accept.
I have only written her twice I think? I was way behind on letters. and everyone's letters. I am kinda burt out about talking about the same stuff to everyone. It is a lot nicer getting letters then writting them :)
That is way neat about the temple experience! that would be really cool!By the end of this month I will be able to go again. and it will be 3 months since Ive gone. There are 4 sisters or 2 companionships in the zone.
I think i am doing good on everything. Everything is holding up so far.I am just really tired.
Love Elder Leydsman
Thank you. I'm glad you liked the pocket. (Elder Leydsman sent a picture frame with a shirt pocket that had a missionary planner, pen and name tag with his name on it. We will try to add a picture of it. )
That is pretty crazy! I do miss the rain storms. They don't really get rain storms here. never in the summer. The power went out at church last Sunday which was crazy. right in the middle of testimony meeting. No one knows why it went out either. no rain no wind nothing.
Ok, ya that will be good that you guys fill out the forms mostly since I really wont have much time to fill it out. (absentee ballet)
I did get your letter a few days ago. I will try to write back as soon as I can. I have gotten a few letters from the ward. The Hargis send me a letter once every month or two. (Thank you!)
That sounds like it will be quite the challenge. But the poorest people are usually the most humble and willing to listen. The wealthier people have everything established and don't want to leave it. I was telling him about where Elder Tenny is serving now)
That's not good that you haven't been able to work. Hopefully things will work out and your back will start getting better, and the shots work. I was fasting for you this Sunday. (I love my boy, I wished I could of hugged him)
I have been working out more so I am working on getting stronger.
Love you too. I am doing good at following all the rules.
Elder Leydsman, 2012
That is pretty crazy! I do miss the rain storms. They don't really get rain storms here. never in the summer. The power went out at church last Sunday which was crazy. right in the middle of testimony meeting. No one knows why it went out either. no rain no wind nothing.
Ok, ya that will be good that you guys fill out the forms mostly since I really wont have much time to fill it out. (absentee ballet)
I did get your letter a few days ago. I will try to write back as soon as I can. I have gotten a few letters from the ward. The Hargis send me a letter once every month or two. (Thank you!)
That sounds like it will be quite the challenge. But the poorest people are usually the most humble and willing to listen. The wealthier people have everything established and don't want to leave it. I was telling him about where Elder Tenny is serving now)
That's not good that you haven't been able to work. Hopefully things will work out and your back will start getting better, and the shots work. I was fasting for you this Sunday. (I love my boy, I wished I could of hugged him)
I have been working out more so I am working on getting stronger.
Love you too. I am doing good at following all the rules.
Elder Leydsman, 2012
June 25, 2012
We will be emailing Mondays now.
Hopefully they have a great time at girls camp. Last time the girls were at camp I was just barely starting my mission.
I am sure they will have a good time.
I still have the same companion that I had last transfer. Elder Allred. from Sara Toga Springs Utah. Where the big fire is at. His whole neighborhood is being evacuated. So it's pretty crazy.
I did get the packages. I take it you sent the DVD as well. Thank you!
I sent you guys a packages. I finaly got your mothers day gift off and it can be for fathers day too. And I can't every remember when yours and dads birthdays are so if I miss them or have missed them sorry.
teaching is going alright. just getting people to set lessons is really hard. people are just super busy and dont want to make it a priority in life. So things are going ok.
So I was thinking about the phrase "everything happens for a reason", because so many people use it to just pass off things that happen in life, whether good or bad. People just accept when things go bad in life and just say oh well this is meant to happen for a reason. And it really gets frustrating because people don't see that you can't just make bad choices because maybe you are supposed to go down that road. The statement "everything happens for a reason" is a true statement though. and that reason is your choices. So you choose what happens in your life. So when life sucks and noting is going your way and you want to tell yourself "well everything happens for a reason" you need to remember that that reason is your own choices.
God doesn't want us to make mistakes. He doesn't want us to suffer and be unhappy. He wants us to be perfect and be happy. He knows, though, that we will make mistakes. And that is why we have the atonement to make up for those mistakes. We should strive to make as little mistakes as possible in life. And learn from the good choices we make and keep being better.
Hope all is well.
Love Elder Leydsman
p.s. can you send me the information I need to vote absentee. and also check if I am registered to vote.
Hopefully they have a great time at girls camp. Last time the girls were at camp I was just barely starting my mission.
I am sure they will have a good time.
I still have the same companion that I had last transfer. Elder Allred. from Sara Toga Springs Utah. Where the big fire is at. His whole neighborhood is being evacuated. So it's pretty crazy.
I did get the packages. I take it you sent the DVD as well. Thank you!
I sent you guys a packages. I finaly got your mothers day gift off and it can be for fathers day too. And I can't every remember when yours and dads birthdays are so if I miss them or have missed them sorry.
teaching is going alright. just getting people to set lessons is really hard. people are just super busy and dont want to make it a priority in life. So things are going ok.
So I was thinking about the phrase "everything happens for a reason", because so many people use it to just pass off things that happen in life, whether good or bad. People just accept when things go bad in life and just say oh well this is meant to happen for a reason. And it really gets frustrating because people don't see that you can't just make bad choices because maybe you are supposed to go down that road. The statement "everything happens for a reason" is a true statement though. and that reason is your choices. So you choose what happens in your life. So when life sucks and noting is going your way and you want to tell yourself "well everything happens for a reason" you need to remember that that reason is your own choices.
God doesn't want us to make mistakes. He doesn't want us to suffer and be unhappy. He wants us to be perfect and be happy. He knows, though, that we will make mistakes. And that is why we have the atonement to make up for those mistakes. We should strive to make as little mistakes as possible in life. And learn from the good choices we make and keep being better.
Hope all is well.
Love Elder Leydsman
p.s. can you send me the information I need to vote absentee. and also check if I am registered to vote.
June 18, 2012
Now we will probably be going to be emailing on Monday. they are letting us email at the family history center. all is well. We got transfers an I will be staying. all is well. hope Jacklyn gets better! love elder leydsman
June 13, 2012
I bet the girls are excited to get out for summer!It is already getting to the 100's almost every day this week and next. I got the package with the mouth guard but I havent gotten anything else. You will have to show me a picture of the shirts when you get them
we don't meet with the mission president very often. But as a district leader we go to the leadership meetings so I get to see him more often. Ya if she goes then we can just go up together and if we come home to visit then we can just come together too. I would probably survive without a car another year or two. Probably want to wait as long as I can before I get any of that stuff. Things are going good.My companion has been sick with allergies and colds a lot the last few weeks so I have been with different missionaries a lot latley which has been fun. We picked up 3 new investegators just this sunday night in about 2 hours. Me and Elder Kuhlenholter were our and both our companions were sick and we decided to go out for just a bit and we visted a few people we felt we should go see and sure enough they all wanted to learn. so that was sweet. just goes to show when you work and follow the spirit the lord blesses you.
love Elder Leydsman
we don't meet with the mission president very often. But as a district leader we go to the leadership meetings so I get to see him more often. Ya if she goes then we can just go up together and if we come home to visit then we can just come together too. I would probably survive without a car another year or two. Probably want to wait as long as I can before I get any of that stuff. Things are going good.My companion has been sick with allergies and colds a lot the last few weeks so I have been with different missionaries a lot latley which has been fun. We picked up 3 new investegators just this sunday night in about 2 hours. Me and Elder Kuhlenholter were our and both our companions were sick and we decided to go out for just a bit and we visted a few people we felt we should go see and sure enough they all wanted to learn. so that was sweet. just goes to show when you work and follow the spirit the lord blesses you.
love Elder Leydsman
June 5, 2012
Sorry I didn't write last week. I forgot my wallet so I couldn't get on the computers at the library. I did get the package thank you! ya just those little mouth guards work great.
Things are going good.We have been doing a lot of work with less-actives lately so that is where the majority of our focus is going right now.
(To keep some details about 2 families to a minimum....Elder Leydsman and his companion had been working with 2 families. They both came this last Sunday for all 3 hours) It was just the greatest thing ever. Just to finally see it all come together. The power of forgiveness works miracles. So we are going to keep working hard on keeping the progress up!
other then that we are just trying to fix up the area from bad missionaries in the past. A lot of missionaries just hang out with people, especially the less-actives so they are used to having missionaries in their home just not them teaching them. The ward is picking up to and we are working hard to get them more in the loop.
Hope Jacklyn gets feeling better!
I am still waiting for something to come in to send your gift. So I am just going to send the letters separate. So you should get them by the end of this week.
I also wanted to figure out if I could do absentee voting. I don't want to vote un- informed but I feel between the two candidates we have I am informed enough to make a decision.
Can you go on facebook and look up an Amelia Johnston Randolph from citrus heights to my page. She is in another ward but she comes to some of our activities and is a recent convert. I had brought duct tape to one p-day and she was asking about it and wanted to see some of the other stuff I've done. So if you could add her on my page that would be great.
hope all is well.
Love elder Leydsman
Things are going good.We have been doing a lot of work with less-actives lately so that is where the majority of our focus is going right now.
(To keep some details about 2 families to a minimum....Elder Leydsman and his companion had been working with 2 families. They both came this last Sunday for all 3 hours) It was just the greatest thing ever. Just to finally see it all come together. The power of forgiveness works miracles. So we are going to keep working hard on keeping the progress up!
other then that we are just trying to fix up the area from bad missionaries in the past. A lot of missionaries just hang out with people, especially the less-actives so they are used to having missionaries in their home just not them teaching them. The ward is picking up to and we are working hard to get them more in the loop.
Hope Jacklyn gets feeling better!
I am still waiting for something to come in to send your gift. So I am just going to send the letters separate. So you should get them by the end of this week.
I also wanted to figure out if I could do absentee voting. I don't want to vote un- informed but I feel between the two candidates we have I am informed enough to make a decision.
Can you go on facebook and look up an Amelia Johnston Randolph from citrus heights to my page. She is in another ward but she comes to some of our activities and is a recent convert. I had brought duct tape to one p-day and she was asking about it and wanted to see some of the other stuff I've done. So if you could add her on my page that would be great.
hope all is well.
Love elder Leydsman
May 22, 2012
Elder Leydsman sent several pictures this week, so that was nice.
So I remembered that I wanted to ask if you guys would at all be able to make me a dvd for me with all the Mormon messages on it to show investigators. if not don't worry about it. (David found one on line and sent it to him)
I forgot the razor number again. and there was something else I remembered that I wanted to ask but I totally spaced on it.
hopefully everything with the bathroom gets sorted out. Water damage is never good but it is good that it wasn't a fire.
hope you all are doing well.
Love elder leydsman
May 15, 2012
It was great to talk to you all as well! it was kinda weird because I felt like there was no gap between the last time we talked. It didn't seem so weird like last time to be talking to you guys and be using a computer. I'm glad you guys were able to talk to Sister Gallacher. I bet it was a good relief for the girls.
hope you all keep doing good.
I needed the mouth guard and a new cover thing for my razor but I forgot to write down the number so either I will send it in a letter or email it next week. which ever comes first. I got all the girls letters done. and started yours.
I am good on stamps I haven't used much at all.
Love Elder Leydsman
hope you all keep doing good.
I needed the mouth guard and a new cover thing for my razor but I forgot to write down the number so either I will send it in a letter or email it next week. which ever comes first. I got all the girls letters done. and started yours.
I am good on stamps I haven't used much at all.
Love Elder Leydsman
May 8, 2012
I need another mouth guard. I looked for one but I couldn't find any. We got transfers and I will be staying here in the same ward and will still be district leader. I will be getting a new companion this transfer. His name is Elder Allred(I don't know if that is how it is spelled?). There are a few people we are working with but sadly we just can't get people to meet with us regularly, so progress isn't the best.
The picture is of the Zone except for two sister missionaries that left early before we took pictures.
The picture is of the Zone except for two sister missionaries that left early before we took pictures.
May 1, 2012
Elder Leydsman sent pictures of his wounds from his bike crash but I am still deciding if I want to add them to the pictures. He said he is healing.
So for district meeting we talked about revelation thought the book of Mormon. And I wanted to focus on more the aspect of revelation itself. and why it is important any why we need to understand it. so I cant really explain everything we went over so I'll just lay out the final product
God - must understand who he is, his attributes. loving, unchanging, merciful, just, patient (and so on)if you understand that that is who God is you will understand that he would provide us with continuing revelation
continuing revelation - it is broken into 2 forms of revelation
- church/world wide through a prophet
- Personal (which is made up of 2)
- confirmations that what the prophet is true and all things
- individual guidance
knowing the book of Mormon is true - to know we need to know/understand these different forms of revelation in our lives. the three things we need to do to understand the book of Mormon is read, pray, and know when we ready we gain personal guidance from it when we pray we receive a confirmation it is true then we will know we have a prophet and heed his council so it all goes back to understanding God and who he is and how by understanding him we can understand the role of continuing revelation in our lives as well how to recognize that.
so that was district meeting in a nut shell. thank you dad for the added input for ward council a lot of it we all already know, it is just putting it into action that is the trick. the difference from knowing to understanding. everything else is good.
oh for mothers day we will be allowed to skype.we have church from 11:30 - 2:30 our time we are out by about 3. the morning we have meetings and such so we will only be able to do it later then 3ish. so let me know.
love Elder Leydsman
I'm working on the letters. So one of these days I will finish and be able to send them off. there is no time for anything it seems.
So for district meeting we talked about revelation thought the book of Mormon. And I wanted to focus on more the aspect of revelation itself. and why it is important any why we need to understand it. so I cant really explain everything we went over so I'll just lay out the final product
God - must understand who he is, his attributes. loving, unchanging, merciful, just, patient (and so on)if you understand that that is who God is you will understand that he would provide us with continuing revelation
continuing revelation - it is broken into 2 forms of revelation
- church/world wide through a prophet
- Personal (which is made up of 2)
- confirmations that what the prophet is true and all things
- individual guidance
knowing the book of Mormon is true - to know we need to know/understand these different forms of revelation in our lives. the three things we need to do to understand the book of Mormon is read, pray, and know when we ready we gain personal guidance from it when we pray we receive a confirmation it is true then we will know we have a prophet and heed his council so it all goes back to understanding God and who he is and how by understanding him we can understand the role of continuing revelation in our lives as well how to recognize that.
so that was district meeting in a nut shell. thank you dad for the added input for ward council a lot of it we all already know, it is just putting it into action that is the trick. the difference from knowing to understanding. everything else is good.
oh for mothers day we will be allowed to skype.we have church from 11:30 - 2:30 our time we are out by about 3. the morning we have meetings and such so we will only be able to do it later then 3ish. so let me know.
love Elder Leydsman
I'm working on the letters. So one of these days I will finish and be able to send them off. there is no time for anything it seems.
April 24, 2012
We had two baptisms this Saturday, a mom and her oldest daughter who is 10. I had the great privilege to confirm them both. It was a really neat experience for sure!
I thought I told you guys about the other two. They were march 17 and it was two children to less-active parents (each in a different family). They were 12 and 9. The work is going pretty good. I am really enjoying being district leader. I feel that I am learning much more as I am trying to teach and lead the other missionaries. today we were learning how to better work with ward members and for our practice teaching we had a mock ward council meeting which actually went better then I thought. Since you(dad) have worked in a ward council what are some things that could help them run better from the members side and then what can the missionaries do to better convey their information to the ward council?
Things are going good. The ward is pretty good so far. There are a lot of things that need improving. Hardly anyone does their home teaching / visiting teaching, not even the active members.
We are picking up some good investigators and the work is picking up so that is good! We are going to the temple on Thursday which I am excited for!
Love Elder leydsman
I thought I told you guys about the other two. They were march 17 and it was two children to less-active parents (each in a different family). They were 12 and 9. The work is going pretty good. I am really enjoying being district leader. I feel that I am learning much more as I am trying to teach and lead the other missionaries. today we were learning how to better work with ward members and for our practice teaching we had a mock ward council meeting which actually went better then I thought. Since you(dad) have worked in a ward council what are some things that could help them run better from the members side and then what can the missionaries do to better convey their information to the ward council?
Things are going good. The ward is pretty good so far. There are a lot of things that need improving. Hardly anyone does their home teaching / visiting teaching, not even the active members.
We are picking up some good investigators and the work is picking up so that is good! We are going to the temple on Thursday which I am excited for!
Love Elder leydsman
April 17, 2012
It is really weird that it has been almost another 6 months already. time flies fast!I do have a new companion, Elder Mingo from rockland Idaho I got the package too, thank you!we should be going to the temple soon. Everything is going good.- Elder Leydsman
our new apartment is on a little lake
our new apartment is on a little lake
April 10, 2012
ya we will email Tuesdays now while I am here in citris heights.
I am getting adjusted for the most part now. Easter was just kind of another day for us. It was and it wasn't. I was on exchanges with one of the other missionaries in our district and we were visiting with some investigators of theirs and we were sharing a Easter message with them about the resurrection. And the thought cam to me while teaching to talk about a spiritual resurrection we can have with ourselves. How when we repent we are essentially being resurrected from the sin. Sin = spiritual death. So when we have a sin (which we all do) we are "dead" in that sense of our life. But as we repent and change for the better then we can be resurrected through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Christ is the life, or we are are alive in Christ. Without Christ we are dead. both spiritually and physically. We will all receive a physical resurrection so we really don't have to worry about that part. But the spiritual resurrection we need to do each day. that should not wait until the second coming or judgement. that is not free. We can not say lord lord when we are brought to that awful crisis. We have to be reborn now. and tomorrow. and each day. We need to be clean of sin BEFORE we reach judgement.
A young lady that I have been writing she shared the story of lazurreth with me and relating it to our own personal resurrection. Christ talked about knowing that lazurreth was dead. Christ understands when we have sinned. And through him is always willing to cleanse us. As we come to Christ then he comes to us. His hand is always out stretched towards us, we just need to reach for it. So as we look upon what Christ really did for us we see that his role is fulfilled in overcoming our sin. Yes he still helps us, but it is our task to use the atonement that has been made and heal or resurrect ourselves from what ever sins may be holding us back or what ever pains they may be. So Thinking on the Patrick's, they need an emotional resurrection from what they are going through. they need a rebirth, an reconfirmation of the power of the atonement to know and understand the plan of salvation that God has for them. To know the will of God in their life. For God always has a plan, if we are but willing to seek and find what that plan is we can have a peace to know all is well. I know that as missionaries that is what we are doing. Resurrecting people from the dead(apostasy) for the whole world was dead. And it is up to us to bring back the restoration of life and gospel to everyone.
hopefully i will be getting much better sleep now that I have a new box-spring and mattress. It was really bad before. I have been having pretty bad back pain. so it should go away now. I have been eating a lot better. I have been making sure to buy fruit every week so i have some to eat every day of the week. and having a healthy variety in my other food. my eyes are doing better. I think it was spring. and Chico had a lot of trees.
love elder leydsman
hope all is well. I will try to get letters to you all soon.
I am getting adjusted for the most part now. Easter was just kind of another day for us. It was and it wasn't. I was on exchanges with one of the other missionaries in our district and we were visiting with some investigators of theirs and we were sharing a Easter message with them about the resurrection. And the thought cam to me while teaching to talk about a spiritual resurrection we can have with ourselves. How when we repent we are essentially being resurrected from the sin. Sin = spiritual death. So when we have a sin (which we all do) we are "dead" in that sense of our life. But as we repent and change for the better then we can be resurrected through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Christ is the life, or we are are alive in Christ. Without Christ we are dead. both spiritually and physically. We will all receive a physical resurrection so we really don't have to worry about that part. But the spiritual resurrection we need to do each day. that should not wait until the second coming or judgement. that is not free. We can not say lord lord when we are brought to that awful crisis. We have to be reborn now. and tomorrow. and each day. We need to be clean of sin BEFORE we reach judgement.
A young lady that I have been writing she shared the story of lazurreth with me and relating it to our own personal resurrection. Christ talked about knowing that lazurreth was dead. Christ understands when we have sinned. And through him is always willing to cleanse us. As we come to Christ then he comes to us. His hand is always out stretched towards us, we just need to reach for it. So as we look upon what Christ really did for us we see that his role is fulfilled in overcoming our sin. Yes he still helps us, but it is our task to use the atonement that has been made and heal or resurrect ourselves from what ever sins may be holding us back or what ever pains they may be. So Thinking on the Patrick's, they need an emotional resurrection from what they are going through. they need a rebirth, an reconfirmation of the power of the atonement to know and understand the plan of salvation that God has for them. To know the will of God in their life. For God always has a plan, if we are but willing to seek and find what that plan is we can have a peace to know all is well. I know that as missionaries that is what we are doing. Resurrecting people from the dead(apostasy) for the whole world was dead. And it is up to us to bring back the restoration of life and gospel to everyone.
hopefully i will be getting much better sleep now that I have a new box-spring and mattress. It was really bad before. I have been having pretty bad back pain. so it should go away now. I have been eating a lot better. I have been making sure to buy fruit every week so i have some to eat every day of the week. and having a healthy variety in my other food. my eyes are doing better. I think it was spring. and Chico had a lot of trees.
love elder leydsman
hope all is well. I will try to get letters to you all soon.
April 3, 2012
I can't remember anything you said in your other emails at the moment. and it takes like 15 mins to scroll to the bottom of a page on these awful computers at this library we are at. It is closed on mondays so normally we will email on tuesday unless we have things going on. Everything is going good. I am in the Tempo not temple park ward. people just pronounce it temple park. being a district leader is exciting. so I am having fun with that. super busy what little time I hardly had is now filled with prepping for district leader responsibilities. So if you don't get a letter for a long time that is why. love Elder Leydsman
March 26, 2012
Things are going well. We got transfers in and I am going down to the Temple Park ward in Citrus Hights. The very bottom of the mission. I am going to be the new district leader down there. So we will see how that is going to go!
We had our baptisms last week. Two. Both a young girl and a young boy both from different families in a part member family.
I have to do lots of packing today and running around to say good by to as many people as I can.
Tell Nate good luck! and sorry I haven't gotten a letter off to him yet. I will have to get his mission address so I can write him then. It just gets too busy.
Hope the family is all doing well.
Have a safe trip!
take care
Love Elder Leydsman
We had our baptisms last week. Two. Both a young girl and a young boy both from different families in a part member family.
I have to do lots of packing today and running around to say good by to as many people as I can.
Tell Nate good luck! and sorry I haven't gotten a letter off to him yet. I will have to get his mission address so I can write him then. It just gets too busy.
Hope the family is all doing well.
Have a safe trip!
take care
Love Elder Leydsman
March 12, 2012
Things are going well. We got transfers in and I am going down to the Temple Park ward in Citrus Hights. The very bottom of the mission. I am going to be the new district leader down there. So we will see how that is going to go!
We had our baptisms last week. Two. Both a young girl and a young boy both from different families in a part member family.
I have to do lots of packing today and running around to say good by to as many people as I can.
Tell Nate good luck! and sorry I haven't gotten a letter off to him yet. I will have to get his mission address so I can write him then. It just gets too busy.
Hope the family is all doing well.
Have a safe trip!
take care
Love Elder Leydsman
We had our baptisms last week. Two. Both a young girl and a young boy both from different families in a part member family.
I have to do lots of packing today and running around to say good by to as many people as I can.
Tell Nate good luck! and sorry I haven't gotten a letter off to him yet. I will have to get his mission address so I can write him then. It just gets too busy.
Hope the family is all doing well.
Have a safe trip!
take care
Love Elder Leydsman
March 19, 2012
So I don't have a lot of time today I have to get some stuff done for a lesson tonight. I am doing good. I saw your email pop up right as I hit the log out button last week. so sorry.
I just want to talk really quick on a scripture. It is Ether in chapter 4 i think when the brother of Jared saw the Lord. He had so much faith that the Lord could not keep anything from his sight. Everything is dependent on faith. Hebrew 11 is a really good chapter on that. As we have more faith the Lord can keep less from us. or really we can keep less stuff from ourselves. While we may all never have the faith to see the Lord Physicaly we all have the potential to see the hand of the lord Spiritually. We can see his guidance in our life. and see the revelation he gives us to help us out in our trials.
just that quick thought.
Love you all.
-Elder Leydsman
I just want to talk really quick on a scripture. It is Ether in chapter 4 i think when the brother of Jared saw the Lord. He had so much faith that the Lord could not keep anything from his sight. Everything is dependent on faith. Hebrew 11 is a really good chapter on that. As we have more faith the Lord can keep less from us. or really we can keep less stuff from ourselves. While we may all never have the faith to see the Lord Physicaly we all have the potential to see the hand of the lord Spiritually. We can see his guidance in our life. and see the revelation he gives us to help us out in our trials.
just that quick thought.
Love you all.
-Elder Leydsman
March 12, 2012
That is awesome to hear that they will be going to the temple soon! (I was telling him about those who were going to the temple for the first time.
Patience is definitely required in all things.
It is hard to schedule all the time. And there is a difference when people schedule at the beginning of the month and don’t get into the home but make lots of contact in between while trying to reschedule then just scheduling at the end and then let it fall through and just make a quick call. (Visiting teaching & Home teaching)
my eyes are still sore. I put some eye drops in them to see if that would help. it did for maybe a minute. I feel like it is more tension around the eyes.
Hopefully she will keep getting better. (Grandma Sam)
I haven't gained any more weight yet so I am doing good. Being on a bike has helped a lot.
Things are going good.
Love you all
Elder Leydsman
Patience is definitely required in all things.
It is hard to schedule all the time. And there is a difference when people schedule at the beginning of the month and don’t get into the home but make lots of contact in between while trying to reschedule then just scheduling at the end and then let it fall through and just make a quick call. (Visiting teaching & Home teaching)
my eyes are still sore. I put some eye drops in them to see if that would help. it did for maybe a minute. I feel like it is more tension around the eyes.
Hopefully she will keep getting better. (Grandma Sam)
I haven't gained any more weight yet so I am doing good. Being on a bike has helped a lot.
Things are going good.
Love you all
Elder Leydsman
February 27, 2012
I am about done with my letter for you so I should be sending it off this week.
for the work we have 11 investigators and about 6 are steady investigators. We have 3 baptism dates set for march 17th. We stay pretty busy. The biggest problem we have is the word of wisdom. Every single person in Chico smokes I think. So its an automatic problem when you teach someone. Almost every one of our investigators are from a less-active family. Less-active work is where the wards should put there focus. There really is no reason to look anywhere else for people to teach until you have already exhausted all possible progress with all the less-actives in the ward. You have to have a strong ward before you can think about bringing people in from the outside. Retention is what hits the church the hardest. If we can't hold onto the people we are baptizing then we need to stop baptizing and work with those that are lost first. If a ward can really focus it's efforts on retention and reactivation I think that, that will do more for the ward then anything else. Because the things that are required to do that are things like home teaching, visiting teaching, ward activities, quorum unity, etc. Home/visiting teaching is one of the biggest correlations to a wards strength and retention. When a ward has poor activity in that area the number of people that go less-active increases. Too many people count a quick phone call a visit or if they write a letter to them or tried knocking on their door a visit for the month. Seeing how the wards work from the inside I have seen how good the members get a fudging the numbers to boost their statistics to make it look like they are doing really well. It really isn't that hard to go see 5 families each once a month. The people who are the best at it are the ones who have the least amount of time and are in the poorest of circumstances. They have the best reasons to miss a few times yet they don't use them. Then there are those that are well off yet get caught up in their own lives and don't have time for others. yet they fake numbers to make it look good. If people did their home/visiting teaching honestly and with a loving heart the ward strength would increase dramatically.
the wards need to use ward council and other meetings more wisely as well. Wards know so little because the people do not come together well enough as one group. wards need more outreach then just sending the missionaries out. The missionaries should not be the face of the ward. and should not be the first contact source every time. Preach my gospel makes it pretty clear and the ward council information for the rescue and other programs. members should be the anchor and contact that people get first. then the missionaries can come in and do their job to teach and prepare for baptism and or the temple.
those are just some of the thoughts I have on the system that is the ward. ( I had asked him how things were going in the ward, his first area had a huge support from the ward so this was a change for him)
I bet 20hrs adds up! that is neat. so you will be really good at genealogy for family work then. ( Mom got a a job)
that is not good at all. That is good you had the missionaries go visit her. This is a really good opportunity for the ward to make an impact on her heart. In these moments of complete dependency what better group of people then the ward to reach out and help her in any way they can. I think it could touch her greatly. (I was telling him about my mother being in the hospital and the missionaries stopping by)
I am going my best to stay in shape.
My eyes have been really sensitive lately. I am not sure if it is just stress and lack of sleep or something else?
things are going good.
Love Elder Leydsman
for the work we have 11 investigators and about 6 are steady investigators. We have 3 baptism dates set for march 17th. We stay pretty busy. The biggest problem we have is the word of wisdom. Every single person in Chico smokes I think. So its an automatic problem when you teach someone. Almost every one of our investigators are from a less-active family. Less-active work is where the wards should put there focus. There really is no reason to look anywhere else for people to teach until you have already exhausted all possible progress with all the less-actives in the ward. You have to have a strong ward before you can think about bringing people in from the outside. Retention is what hits the church the hardest. If we can't hold onto the people we are baptizing then we need to stop baptizing and work with those that are lost first. If a ward can really focus it's efforts on retention and reactivation I think that, that will do more for the ward then anything else. Because the things that are required to do that are things like home teaching, visiting teaching, ward activities, quorum unity, etc. Home/visiting teaching is one of the biggest correlations to a wards strength and retention. When a ward has poor activity in that area the number of people that go less-active increases. Too many people count a quick phone call a visit or if they write a letter to them or tried knocking on their door a visit for the month. Seeing how the wards work from the inside I have seen how good the members get a fudging the numbers to boost their statistics to make it look like they are doing really well. It really isn't that hard to go see 5 families each once a month. The people who are the best at it are the ones who have the least amount of time and are in the poorest of circumstances. They have the best reasons to miss a few times yet they don't use them. Then there are those that are well off yet get caught up in their own lives and don't have time for others. yet they fake numbers to make it look good. If people did their home/visiting teaching honestly and with a loving heart the ward strength would increase dramatically.
the wards need to use ward council and other meetings more wisely as well. Wards know so little because the people do not come together well enough as one group. wards need more outreach then just sending the missionaries out. The missionaries should not be the face of the ward. and should not be the first contact source every time. Preach my gospel makes it pretty clear and the ward council information for the rescue and other programs. members should be the anchor and contact that people get first. then the missionaries can come in and do their job to teach and prepare for baptism and or the temple.
those are just some of the thoughts I have on the system that is the ward. ( I had asked him how things were going in the ward, his first area had a huge support from the ward so this was a change for him)
I bet 20hrs adds up! that is neat. so you will be really good at genealogy for family work then. ( Mom got a a job)
that is not good at all. That is good you had the missionaries go visit her. This is a really good opportunity for the ward to make an impact on her heart. In these moments of complete dependency what better group of people then the ward to reach out and help her in any way they can. I think it could touch her greatly. (I was telling him about my mother being in the hospital and the missionaries stopping by)
I am going my best to stay in shape.
My eyes have been really sensitive lately. I am not sure if it is just stress and lack of sleep or something else?
things are going good.
Love Elder Leydsman
February 20, 2012
You’re welcome. No need to worry about being behind. I am perfectly fine without. That is good Grandma Sam is doing better.
The atonement is really important. Without it nothing would ever work because we are not perfect by a long shot. In Gospel principles we were talking about forgiveness and one of our investigators was talking about when do you draw the line and stop forgiving because in his life forgiving people has gotten him nowhere and just made it harder for him and easier for other to walk all over him. One Quote I remember hearing is "saying you don't need to forgive someone else or yourself is to say that the atonement is not good enough or sufficient to cover that act". And it is true. The atonement covers absolutely everything. We have been commanded to forgive everyone and the lord can forgive whom he will forgive because he has the perfect knowledge to judge and we can not judge until we are perfect first. So we always need to forgive every time. And when we have the eternal perspective then we stop worrying about what happens now. we know that good things will come in the end.
Best of luck with the job! What all do you do for it??
Love you tons.
The atonement is really important. Without it nothing would ever work because we are not perfect by a long shot. In Gospel principles we were talking about forgiveness and one of our investigators was talking about when do you draw the line and stop forgiving because in his life forgiving people has gotten him nowhere and just made it harder for him and easier for other to walk all over him. One Quote I remember hearing is "saying you don't need to forgive someone else or yourself is to say that the atonement is not good enough or sufficient to cover that act". And it is true. The atonement covers absolutely everything. We have been commanded to forgive everyone and the lord can forgive whom he will forgive because he has the perfect knowledge to judge and we can not judge until we are perfect first. So we always need to forgive every time. And when we have the eternal perspective then we stop worrying about what happens now. we know that good things will come in the end.
Best of luck with the job! What all do you do for it??
Love you tons.
February 13, 2012
Nothing is changing for us for this next transfer. so I will be here in chico for another 6 weeks.
Realists lack faith therefore are pessimists. True optimism is a faith driven attitude.
So some thoughts I was thinking about was about the law and the nature of God. Also consequences and how they happen. The reason God is God is because he is perfect. So in order to be perfect you need to be perfect comparative to something. You can't just say your perfect. So God is perfectly obedient to the laws which in D+C 130 says is irrevocably decreed. So the law is above God. God does not make the rules. He follows the rules. he has gained experience through applying the rules and knows the negative and positive outcomes of all choices. So when we do something and things go wrong in our life we often say God is punishing us for it. Which is not really the case. We punish ourselves. The Law punishes us. God simply tells us what the outcome is or what good choices are and what bad choices are. When we are judged God judges us on our works. We are the judges of ourselves. We make the choices that allow us to get into the kingdom of God or not. It is not God's decision to let us in or not it is ours. he wants all of us to return so he tells us exactly what we need to do to get there. And it is up to us to decide what outcomes we want in life. We need to live that Law that we are taught because only through living that law can we be saved. And God is simply the one who teaches us the law through the prophets and his son Jesus Christ. There is no way around the law, it is the only way to be perfect. The law has always existed and will always exist. No one can go against it or change it, not even God.
Tell Grandma sam I love her and I hope she gets better soon! tell the girls I love them too and to keep being good! Happy Birthday Katelyn! Hope you got my letter! sent jacky a letter today. is alexia going to write?;) (Alexia has actually been the best at writing him maybe she missed responding to a letter)
Love you too mom and dad, keep being great parents!
Love Elder Leydsman
Realists lack faith therefore are pessimists. True optimism is a faith driven attitude.
So some thoughts I was thinking about was about the law and the nature of God. Also consequences and how they happen. The reason God is God is because he is perfect. So in order to be perfect you need to be perfect comparative to something. You can't just say your perfect. So God is perfectly obedient to the laws which in D+C 130 says is irrevocably decreed. So the law is above God. God does not make the rules. He follows the rules. he has gained experience through applying the rules and knows the negative and positive outcomes of all choices. So when we do something and things go wrong in our life we often say God is punishing us for it. Which is not really the case. We punish ourselves. The Law punishes us. God simply tells us what the outcome is or what good choices are and what bad choices are. When we are judged God judges us on our works. We are the judges of ourselves. We make the choices that allow us to get into the kingdom of God or not. It is not God's decision to let us in or not it is ours. he wants all of us to return so he tells us exactly what we need to do to get there. And it is up to us to decide what outcomes we want in life. We need to live that Law that we are taught because only through living that law can we be saved. And God is simply the one who teaches us the law through the prophets and his son Jesus Christ. There is no way around the law, it is the only way to be perfect. The law has always existed and will always exist. No one can go against it or change it, not even God.
Tell Grandma sam I love her and I hope she gets better soon! tell the girls I love them too and to keep being good! Happy Birthday Katelyn! Hope you got my letter! sent jacky a letter today. is alexia going to write?;) (Alexia has actually been the best at writing him maybe she missed responding to a letter)
Love you too mom and dad, keep being great parents!
Love Elder Leydsman
February 6, 2012
So I have forgotten to tell you guys. Since We have hmong people in our ward the english elders get hmong names. My name is nuj nplhaib that is pronounced Num Ply. it means like warrior/Champion/hunter
We have one baptism date set for march. Hopefully we will get more soon!
Things are going good.
I am working on letters to Katelyn and Jacklyn.
Love
We have one baptism date set for march. Hopefully we will get more soon!
Things are going good.
I am working on letters to Katelyn and Jacklyn.
Love
January 30, 2012
I am working on your letter. so I should send it some time this week.
Honduras! That is way cool! (Isaac’s mission call)
I wish we got to go every 6 weeks. If you are in Chico or further north you are not allowed to go at all. Then just south of us you can go once every 6 months and if you are in the way south you can go once every 3 months. (going to the temple)
Service is a great goal to have!
Primary went good. (He and his companion taught primary)
For my old drivers license should I just cut it up and throw it away?
I thought this was funny and silly but in this ward they have hall monitors for seminary. I don't know if that is something new but it sounds like it it been around for a long time. They have adults stand out of the class to make sure kids don't leave. I think if kids want to leave and waste their time then they can choose to.
We have started teaching several new people, all of which are under the age of 12. We are working with a lot of kids. Which I actually like. It is much better then adults. They are not as stubborn and more willing to listen and learn. Then the rest of the people we are teaching are over 60, so a very big gap.
I am pretty lettered and talked out so that is why I haven’t been writing much. (Although he said he hadn’t received many letters lately, I think it just is hard for him to write back. Please continue to write to him even if you don’t hear back. Missionaries survive on letters)
All is well.
Love elder Leydsman
Honduras! That is way cool! (Isaac’s mission call)
I wish we got to go every 6 weeks. If you are in Chico or further north you are not allowed to go at all. Then just south of us you can go once every 6 months and if you are in the way south you can go once every 3 months. (going to the temple)
Service is a great goal to have!
Primary went good. (He and his companion taught primary)
For my old drivers license should I just cut it up and throw it away?
I thought this was funny and silly but in this ward they have hall monitors for seminary. I don't know if that is something new but it sounds like it it been around for a long time. They have adults stand out of the class to make sure kids don't leave. I think if kids want to leave and waste their time then they can choose to.
We have started teaching several new people, all of which are under the age of 12. We are working with a lot of kids. Which I actually like. It is much better then adults. They are not as stubborn and more willing to listen and learn. Then the rest of the people we are teaching are over 60, so a very big gap.
I am pretty lettered and talked out so that is why I haven’t been writing much. (Although he said he hadn’t received many letters lately, I think it just is hard for him to write back. Please continue to write to him even if you don’t hear back. Missionaries survive on letters)
All is well.
Love elder Leydsman
January 23, 2012
_I have your letter and Jacklyn and Katelyn's letters. I just
realized that in the folder you sent me that katelyn had a letter in it.
So I just read that. I will send the SD card when I send those letters.
what do I need to write on the letter?
That sounds way cool! I wish I could be there for that! (David's lesson on David and Goliath, he made a life size Goliath that marshmallows were shot at with a slig shot)
Just this past sunday all 4 of us missionaries spoke in sacrament meeting and we preformed a musical number. It was pretty cool. We are working hard to get the ward involved with missionary work. Without the ward, missionary work in the area is very limited. This next sunday us missionaries are running primary. The Hmong Elders are doing singing time, and me and Elder Clanton are in charge of teaching the lesson. We need to make an activity to help the kids learn the 1st and 2nd articles of faith. any ideas? Everything is going good.
Love Elder Leydsman
That sounds way cool! I wish I could be there for that! (David's lesson on David and Goliath, he made a life size Goliath that marshmallows were shot at with a slig shot)
Just this past sunday all 4 of us missionaries spoke in sacrament meeting and we preformed a musical number. It was pretty cool. We are working hard to get the ward involved with missionary work. Without the ward, missionary work in the area is very limited. This next sunday us missionaries are running primary. The Hmong Elders are doing singing time, and me and Elder Clanton are in charge of teaching the lesson. We need to make an activity to help the kids learn the 1st and 2nd articles of faith. any ideas? Everything is going good.
Love Elder Leydsman
January 9, 2012
_Training is going really good so far. Elder C. is his name. He is
from Georgia. No accent though. The work is going good.
There are four people that we are mainly working with. They all belong
to lees-active families. two of them are 10. and they are the most
promising and best to work with. Things are going pretty good though.
Hopefully we will have 3 baptisms by the end of February. Along with the
reactivation of the rest of there family. I did get my birthday box. it was really nice! I really
liked the calender! I probably don't need any more gum though. I have a
ton of packs and since we are not supposed to chew gum in public I don't
chew it often. I have only gotten through one pack.
Love Elder Leydsman
_January 2, 2012
_So I am going to be training! I am pretty excited. I will update you on
who he is and all that next week since I no nothing yet. I will be going
to pick him up from the mission office at 4 tomorrow. So today it is
just me and the 2 Hmong elders. I will get to have an FHE in Hmong
tonight. it will be pretty interesting!
Just thinking about all of the things in our church that pretty much scream out that we are the one and only true church, the biggest one for me, at least since being on a mission, has been the power of the priesthood. Which I guess if you think about it we wouldn't have anything else in the church without it. But really all the blessings that come from the priesthood, especially blessings. Of all kinds. Really the ordinances that we can preform through/with the priesthood. There is always just the overwhelming feeling of the spirit that what is taking place is true and has that stamp of approval from God. It is a hard feeling to deny. If you think about it, that is as close as we can get to feeling God's presence in our life. It is God's power given to man to act in his name. So, any person with the priesthood is the same as God himself being there. Because no unworthy person can hold the priesthood. Only upon the principles of righteousness can it be used. So always be worthy to hold the priesthood and use it regularly because that is how God gets his work down, through those who are worthy to act in his name.
Love Elder Leydsman
Just thinking about all of the things in our church that pretty much scream out that we are the one and only true church, the biggest one for me, at least since being on a mission, has been the power of the priesthood. Which I guess if you think about it we wouldn't have anything else in the church without it. But really all the blessings that come from the priesthood, especially blessings. Of all kinds. Really the ordinances that we can preform through/with the priesthood. There is always just the overwhelming feeling of the spirit that what is taking place is true and has that stamp of approval from God. It is a hard feeling to deny. If you think about it, that is as close as we can get to feeling God's presence in our life. It is God's power given to man to act in his name. So, any person with the priesthood is the same as God himself being there. Because no unworthy person can hold the priesthood. Only upon the principles of righteousness can it be used. So always be worthy to hold the priesthood and use it regularly because that is how God gets his work down, through those who are worthy to act in his name.
Love Elder Leydsman
__December 26, 2011
_It was really good to talk to you all! It was a really weird feeling. It
felt as though i hadn't really left more then a few days ago. Especial
since the girls haven't changed much ;) tell them to keep being good!
and to read their scriptures every day.
Don't worry I am being good.
I am doing my best to write in my journal often.
You will have to tell them to send wedding invites out my way. (We told him about a few people getting married)
Love you all!
Elder Leydsman
Don't worry I am being good.
I am doing my best to write in my journal often.
You will have to tell them to send wedding invites out my way. (We told him about a few people getting married)
Love you all!
Elder Leydsman
December 19, 2011
_
We were going through all the stuff in our closet and I found a pair of pants that matches pretty close to my suit jacket and fit pretty good too. So I should be good. Giving blessings whether at the hospital or anywhere I think is probably the best way to feel the power of the priesthood. There is just something about it that is unexplainable. But you just know that what you are saying is by the spirit. It is always a really powerful experience.
We were going through all the stuff in our closet and I found a pair of pants that matches pretty close to my suit jacket and fit pretty good too. So I should be good. Giving blessings whether at the hospital or anywhere I think is probably the best way to feel the power of the priesthood. There is just something about it that is unexplainable. But you just know that what you are saying is by the spirit. It is always a really powerful experience.
December 12, 2011
_
Don't worry about the jacket thing anymore. I will be fine now. I also found a nice polo in the closet too. So I got that too. I sent the girls a letter just the other day. So this week we were able to go back down to Roseville and go to Spencer's baptism. It was a really good experience. The spirit was really strong. It was wonderful to see the fruits of our labors and to see the progress the family has made. We spent some time with the members as well. We got lunch and then they took us to krispy cream and they said if you don't eat 6 donuts then you are a sissy. So I ate 6 donuts. and I was full for about 2 days straight.
Don't worry about the jacket thing anymore. I will be fine now. I also found a nice polo in the closet too. So I got that too. I sent the girls a letter just the other day. So this week we were able to go back down to Roseville and go to Spencer's baptism. It was a really good experience. The spirit was really strong. It was wonderful to see the fruits of our labors and to see the progress the family has made. We spent some time with the members as well. We got lunch and then they took us to krispy cream and they said if you don't eat 6 donuts then you are a sissy. So I ate 6 donuts. and I was full for about 2 days straight.
December 5, 2011
_I don't think it is being on a bike that is wearing out my pants more.
Because they wore out while we had the car. Instead of just getting more
pants what I can do is just get a sweater vest or something that looks
like a suit jacket. That is what Elder Garner does so he can wear
different pants to rotate them more. Something that looks formalish. he
has a charcoal color one so he can wear both black and gray pants with
it.
I am not sure if we will get to skype or not. Last year missionaries were allowed to skype but for mother's day they were not allowed to. so we will find out. Elder Garner goes home January 2nd. So hopefully we can skype. I don't know when we will find out. Also we would have to find a member with skype too. So if no one has it then we wont be able to. Other wise we will just call from a member's phone. You will have to have people come over to say hi as well.
The area is pretty good. A huge adjustment from Roseville. It is pretty run down. Reminds me of west Virginia, everyone loves hunting, everyone smokes or does drugs, and they all have piles of garbage in their yards. The ward is great though. It was maybe 80-100 people the first Sunday. This Sunday there were about 120 so it was close to being full. The inside of the church walls are painted pink. Very odd.
In this ward we have four elders covering it. two of the elders Speak Hmong (Mong). There are about 20 members that are Hmong. which is just another nationality of Asian decent. the Hmong elders translate for the Hmong people during church. Chico state is the 2nd biggest party school in the nation. we are not allowed to proselyte near the college because missionaries will get harassed and stuff. it is pretty mellow now though since it is the holiday season. but I guess summers get pretty crazy. we don't have very many investigators. there are more less active members in the ward then active so we have a lot of work to do.
We also have the hospital in our area as well. and we have lots of needy members as well. So we give blessings just about everyday.
So far it is pretty good over all. It is getting pretty chilly at night. So the liner is good to have.
Love elder leydsman
I am not sure if we will get to skype or not. Last year missionaries were allowed to skype but for mother's day they were not allowed to. so we will find out. Elder Garner goes home January 2nd. So hopefully we can skype. I don't know when we will find out. Also we would have to find a member with skype too. So if no one has it then we wont be able to. Other wise we will just call from a member's phone. You will have to have people come over to say hi as well.
The area is pretty good. A huge adjustment from Roseville. It is pretty run down. Reminds me of west Virginia, everyone loves hunting, everyone smokes or does drugs, and they all have piles of garbage in their yards. The ward is great though. It was maybe 80-100 people the first Sunday. This Sunday there were about 120 so it was close to being full. The inside of the church walls are painted pink. Very odd.
In this ward we have four elders covering it. two of the elders Speak Hmong (Mong). There are about 20 members that are Hmong. which is just another nationality of Asian decent. the Hmong elders translate for the Hmong people during church. Chico state is the 2nd biggest party school in the nation. we are not allowed to proselyte near the college because missionaries will get harassed and stuff. it is pretty mellow now though since it is the holiday season. but I guess summers get pretty crazy. we don't have very many investigators. there are more less active members in the ward then active so we have a lot of work to do.
We also have the hospital in our area as well. and we have lots of needy members as well. So we give blessings just about everyday.
So far it is pretty good over all. It is getting pretty chilly at night. So the liner is good to have.
Love elder leydsman
___November 28, 2011
_WE HAD SENT ELDER LEYDSMAN A FEW EMAILS WITH QUESTIONS LAST WEEK BUT HE
DIDN'T GET TO ANSWER THEM SINCE HE HAD TRANSFERS LAST WEEK. THESE ARE
RESPONSES TO THEM. I HOPE TO GET A LETTER TELLING ABOUT HIS NEW AREA AND
HOW THINGS ARE THERE)
We ate thanks giving at the church with the bishop and his extended family.
Right now we have a car but we are a biking area. So until the car is taken we don't have to ride bikes.
We are not allowed to have any mp3 players. That would be a good way to do it, but I don't want to break the rules. I do not have a CD player with me. But so far every apartment I have visited has a CD player in it. (HE WANTED SOME MUSIC SO WE WERE THINKING WE COULD SEND HIM SPEAKERS AND A SHUFFLE WE HAVE, WE WILL STICK TO A FEW CD'S)
I got the package. The corner of it was ripped off so hopefully nothing was stolen out of it. It had the sweater vest, the liner, a shirt, the batteries, the camera, and the sent balls. I think that was all.
Just don't send too much stuff because I have to keep track of it all and I have to be able pack it up whenever I am moved.
We wear our suits everyday. We have what is called suit coat season. Were we are required to wear our suit everyday. My black suit on the pants I have worn down the fabric between the legs so I have two holes there now. And I checked my blue suit and it is getting worn down too. I am not sure why they have worn so much. If it is the frequent use or what. (I NEED TO TELL HIM I THINK IT IS BEING ON A BIKE FOR 5 MONTHS) I don't want to waste money on another suit. It may just be that since it is wool it rubs more where as the silky polyester pants have less friction. That is just a guess. So I am not sure what to do about that.
For pictures, I do not want to ruin another card. so I guess that sending the cord to upload them onto the computer here is best. Then I can email them to you.
Love Elder Leydsman
We ate thanks giving at the church with the bishop and his extended family.
Right now we have a car but we are a biking area. So until the car is taken we don't have to ride bikes.
We are not allowed to have any mp3 players. That would be a good way to do it, but I don't want to break the rules. I do not have a CD player with me. But so far every apartment I have visited has a CD player in it. (HE WANTED SOME MUSIC SO WE WERE THINKING WE COULD SEND HIM SPEAKERS AND A SHUFFLE WE HAVE, WE WILL STICK TO A FEW CD'S)
I got the package. The corner of it was ripped off so hopefully nothing was stolen out of it. It had the sweater vest, the liner, a shirt, the batteries, the camera, and the sent balls. I think that was all.
Just don't send too much stuff because I have to keep track of it all and I have to be able pack it up whenever I am moved.
We wear our suits everyday. We have what is called suit coat season. Were we are required to wear our suit everyday. My black suit on the pants I have worn down the fabric between the legs so I have two holes there now. And I checked my blue suit and it is getting worn down too. I am not sure why they have worn so much. If it is the frequent use or what. (I NEED TO TELL HIM I THINK IT IS BEING ON A BIKE FOR 5 MONTHS) I don't want to waste money on another suit. It may just be that since it is wool it rubs more where as the silky polyester pants have less friction. That is just a guess. So I am not sure what to do about that.
For pictures, I do not want to ruin another card. so I guess that sending the cord to upload them onto the computer here is best. Then I can email them to you.
Love Elder Leydsman
_November 21, 2011
_I am getting transferred. I am leaving the Roseville 7th ward to go to
the Chico 1st ward. It is about an hour and a half north of where i am
now. I will be serving with elder Garner who will be leaving home after
this next transfer.
I don't have a lot of time so I wont be replying to all the emails. I just want to let you know I am doing great and all is well. I will reply next week to the emails.
- Love,
Elder Leydsman
I don't have a lot of time so I wont be replying to all the emails. I just want to let you know I am doing great and all is well. I will reply next week to the emails.
- Love,
Elder Leydsman
_November 14, 2011
_This week has been a rough week. It has been very productive. but it has
just been hard. Working with people can really be a challenge. It is
hard to always know what to do for them and what is best. And when they
are not progressing or start digressing and you wonder what you are
doing wrong. It is especial hard when you think they are ready for the
next step, and you tell them that is what is coming and then you find
out they really are not ready and you have to tell them they are not
ready. It is a pretty big emotional roller coaster. I can't imagine
trying to work with people like this without having a real love for
them. I don't think it is possible. If you can't truly care for the
people you teach you can't really work with them when you get to those
touchy moments. And I would also say that you could not truly love the
people you teach if the gospel was not true. If it was something
foolishly made up we would not care for the people so much. We would
only work with those that we could persuade and convince. But since the
gospel is true it causes us to want to share the love we feel from God
and want to share it with everyone. We want to truly Convert people. Not
convince. That is way we tell people not to believe our word for it,
but to truly study it out in their heart and mind and to sincerely ask
God with real intent if it is true. And that is how they will receive
their answer. From God. Not man. They need to come to know for
themselves if it is true. Not for us to just persuade and push them to
give in. I am very grateful for the power that comes from this knowledge
and having a personal testimony of it. It really does change lives. And
if any one simple exercise even a particle of faith they shall know of
this truth as well. And shall know and see the great blessings that come
with it.
Just this Saturday night I got into a bike crash. I was on exchanges with Elder D. my zone leader (who has a long reputation for very bad driving) but we were ridding down the street and we drifted too close and we snagged and when he panicked and I pulled away I got thrown to the ground and he hit the car we were next to and then kept going forward and hit me on the ground and hit me in the face and toppled on me. Luckily I had my helmet on or I would probably have been pretty badly hurt. I barely got a scrap and a bit of a bruise on my head. My bike is a bit messed up but I should be able to get it fixed. My suit is a bit torn on the inside. My glasses are a bit bent. and sadly the LCD screen on my camera is completely shattered. I can still take pictures and it works. I just can't look at my pictures or see what I am pointing at. Besides that it is fine. If I had the view finder I would be good. I asked someone in our ward about getting it fixed. He said if would cost about $100-$150 to fix so a new camera would be cheaper. I hate to get a new one now and risk it being broken again. Maybe you can find a cheap $30 one on black Friday or something? (WE SENT HIM OUR CAMERA, SO HE IS BACK IN BUSINESS, THE LAST TIME HE SENT HIS SD CARD HOME THOUGH ALL THE PICTURES WERE LOST)
The car that got hit was pretty scraped up. We talked to the people and exchanged info and such and called the mission office. They haven't called back or anything so I am not sure what will happen.
besides that all is good.
Love Elder Leydsman
Just this Saturday night I got into a bike crash. I was on exchanges with Elder D. my zone leader (who has a long reputation for very bad driving) but we were ridding down the street and we drifted too close and we snagged and when he panicked and I pulled away I got thrown to the ground and he hit the car we were next to and then kept going forward and hit me on the ground and hit me in the face and toppled on me. Luckily I had my helmet on or I would probably have been pretty badly hurt. I barely got a scrap and a bit of a bruise on my head. My bike is a bit messed up but I should be able to get it fixed. My suit is a bit torn on the inside. My glasses are a bit bent. and sadly the LCD screen on my camera is completely shattered. I can still take pictures and it works. I just can't look at my pictures or see what I am pointing at. Besides that it is fine. If I had the view finder I would be good. I asked someone in our ward about getting it fixed. He said if would cost about $100-$150 to fix so a new camera would be cheaper. I hate to get a new one now and risk it being broken again. Maybe you can find a cheap $30 one on black Friday or something? (WE SENT HIM OUR CAMERA, SO HE IS BACK IN BUSINESS, THE LAST TIME HE SENT HIS SD CARD HOME THOUGH ALL THE PICTURES WERE LOST)
The car that got hit was pretty scraped up. We talked to the people and exchanged info and such and called the mission office. They haven't called back or anything so I am not sure what will happen.
besides that all is good.
Love Elder Leydsman
November 12, 2012
_From a letter sent to his mother.....
Things here are going quite well. Life is really busy as a missionary, and time passes by even faster. Since every day is almost the same everything blurs together and it becomes really hard to keep track of the days. It is really disorienting. But everything is going great and I am loving it out here.
Elder Passey, my new companion is great. We work well together which makes doing the work much easier. He is district leader as well. It is a neat experience to work closely with the district leader.
(In answer to some of mom's questions)
1. We have a small patio and it has a room with the water heater and it has a washer and dryer in there with it.
2. We have a shopping center right next to our apartment complex and there is a dry cleaners there. It is like $15 per suit so it is really expensive, so I haven't done that yet.
3. We have meals at members houses every night. Rarely do we not have one. For lunch we usually eat at home. Once in a while we eat out and we always eat breakfast at home.
We went to a couple of different people's homes for conference. We went to the Bishop's, the Tanner's twice and the Anderson's. Conference was really good this year. It was also lots better because I watched every talk and took notes on all of them. It was a much bigger meaning as a missionary. It isn't just good talks but it's the Prophet of God that is speaking to us along with His other Apostles. That is pretty big. Who can say they get to hear the words of a living prophet? Not as many as should.
If I stay here I won't get a car but if I get transferred up north then I will most likely get a car.
Hope all is well at home.
Love,
Elder Leydsman
Things here are going quite well. Life is really busy as a missionary, and time passes by even faster. Since every day is almost the same everything blurs together and it becomes really hard to keep track of the days. It is really disorienting. But everything is going great and I am loving it out here.
Elder Passey, my new companion is great. We work well together which makes doing the work much easier. He is district leader as well. It is a neat experience to work closely with the district leader.
(In answer to some of mom's questions)
1. We have a small patio and it has a room with the water heater and it has a washer and dryer in there with it.
2. We have a shopping center right next to our apartment complex and there is a dry cleaners there. It is like $15 per suit so it is really expensive, so I haven't done that yet.
3. We have meals at members houses every night. Rarely do we not have one. For lunch we usually eat at home. Once in a while we eat out and we always eat breakfast at home.
We went to a couple of different people's homes for conference. We went to the Bishop's, the Tanner's twice and the Anderson's. Conference was really good this year. It was also lots better because I watched every talk and took notes on all of them. It was a much bigger meaning as a missionary. It isn't just good talks but it's the Prophet of God that is speaking to us along with His other Apostles. That is pretty big. Who can say they get to hear the words of a living prophet? Not as many as should.
If I stay here I won't get a car but if I get transferred up north then I will most likely get a car.
Hope all is well at home.
Love,
Elder Leydsman
November 7, 2011
_I
just sent off a letter to all of the girls.
Sorry, I did write last week. But for some reason it just kept giving
me an error each time I tried to send it off. And we were really rushed on time so i just wrote one email.
Things are going good here. We are really busy. We are teaching a family of 6 and we hope to have them baptized by December. They are progressing really well. The only thing we are struggling with is getting them to our ward. They go to other wards with friends every week which is great but we need them at our ward.
We are still working with the one boy. The parents have set the date of December 10th. I really hope they stick to it.
If you could send my liner for my coat that would be good. It is really cold. I got used to the extreme heat and now I am a pansy to the cold. And being in church clothes doesn't help. I could use another long sleeve shirt as well. A few pairs of long garments could be good too. Being on a bike in the rain is not so much fun. It is fun, but not when you are in church clothes. Starting tomorrow we have to wear our suites every day. I am not looking forward to that. I am hoping to catch up on lots. I probably wont respond to all of the letters you guys have sent or just respond to several in one letter. I get pretty 'lettered out' after talking to everyone about all the same stuff. Everyday is almost exactly the same so there is not too much to
say.
Tell Katelyn and Jacklyn to keep it up on practicing. They can play a musical number when I come back. You could record them playing some
hymns and send them to me too. That would be cool! Alexia could play the piano with them too. That game sounds pretty intense! (David was telling him about game for seminary)
You definitely have to be careful with those kids. They go wild over the games. It sounds kinda like the straw game.
You need to bag a deer this year, then you can send me some jerky from the deer to me!
Elder Passey is a good Companion. We get along good and work well together.
It rains a lot now. Elder Passey says its really only been like two times. But it feels like every day and it is cloudy and windy too.
We have had several flat tires this week too. Thank goodness not my tires. "knock on wood"
I will probably be getting transferred this coming transfer on the 20th. Not that I have any way of knowing but it just feels like I will.
All is going well.
Hope all is well for you all.
Love Elder Leydsman
Sorry, I did write last week. But for some reason it just kept giving
me an error each time I tried to send it off. And we were really rushed on time so i just wrote one email.
Things are going good here. We are really busy. We are teaching a family of 6 and we hope to have them baptized by December. They are progressing really well. The only thing we are struggling with is getting them to our ward. They go to other wards with friends every week which is great but we need them at our ward.
We are still working with the one boy. The parents have set the date of December 10th. I really hope they stick to it.
If you could send my liner for my coat that would be good. It is really cold. I got used to the extreme heat and now I am a pansy to the cold. And being in church clothes doesn't help. I could use another long sleeve shirt as well. A few pairs of long garments could be good too. Being on a bike in the rain is not so much fun. It is fun, but not when you are in church clothes. Starting tomorrow we have to wear our suites every day. I am not looking forward to that. I am hoping to catch up on lots. I probably wont respond to all of the letters you guys have sent or just respond to several in one letter. I get pretty 'lettered out' after talking to everyone about all the same stuff. Everyday is almost exactly the same so there is not too much to
say.
Tell Katelyn and Jacklyn to keep it up on practicing. They can play a musical number when I come back. You could record them playing some
hymns and send them to me too. That would be cool! Alexia could play the piano with them too. That game sounds pretty intense! (David was telling him about game for seminary)
You definitely have to be careful with those kids. They go wild over the games. It sounds kinda like the straw game.
You need to bag a deer this year, then you can send me some jerky from the deer to me!
Elder Passey is a good Companion. We get along good and work well together.
It rains a lot now. Elder Passey says its really only been like two times. But it feels like every day and it is cloudy and windy too.
We have had several flat tires this week too. Thank goodness not my tires. "knock on wood"
I will probably be getting transferred this coming transfer on the 20th. Not that I have any way of knowing but it just feels like I will.
All is going well.
Hope all is well for you all.
Love Elder Leydsman
October 17, 2011
Things are going good. Elder Passy is my new companion. He is really good. He is hard working and a cool guy.
We just had our first baptism. Bro. George Perry. I just send my SD card home so you will get some pictures. And the baptism date for Spencer fell through once again. He is way ready and doesn't want his parents to push it back but the parents just wont get motivated to be active and the mom has no interest in supporting the rest of the family and the dad just wont stand up to her so he just caves and is just helping all success we have had with them disappear.
Besides that things are going pretty good. We are hoping things will pick up and we can start teaching more people on a regular basis.
Hope all is well.
Love Elder Leydsman
We just had our first baptism. Bro. George Perry. I just send my SD card home so you will get some pictures. And the baptism date for Spencer fell through once again. He is way ready and doesn't want his parents to push it back but the parents just wont get motivated to be active and the mom has no interest in supporting the rest of the family and the dad just wont stand up to her so he just caves and is just helping all success we have had with them disappear.
Besides that things are going pretty good. We are hoping things will pick up and we can start teaching more people on a regular basis.
Hope all is well.
Love Elder Leydsman
October 3, 2011
Sorry for not emailing last week. We were in a rush and i wrote some but forgot to send it.
I'm pretty tired. This past week we (us four elders) have been getting up at 5am to do heavy weight lifting and working out with a member from the 2nd ward.
I got Katelyn's massive box of food! hopefully I don't get transferred because i don't think I will be able to eat it all in the next two weeks! We all had pancakes one morning together. that was fun!
This week:
I got both packages. There isn't much to write on. Things are well and we are slowly making progress with some and some still just wont make progress, simply because they don't want to make the effort to do so. You get frustrated with some people sometimes because they know what they need to do and they ask us to help them yet they wont do a things on their own.
We did have a mighty miracle this week. About 2 weeks ago we were stopped behind a guy in his car. he got out and at first we thought he was going to be mad at us for getting too close to his nice car. But he asked if either of us were from Utah. His son lives in Utah and is currently in Argentina on a mission. the dad we talked to is not a member. He told us what street he lived on and to stop by whenever but gave us no address. So we went up and down the street several times throughout the week and obviously no luck. Then just last week we were tracting a street else where in the area and we ran into a lady. She said that she was dating a guy whose son was on a mission in Argentina so she would be interested in hearing more about it. after we left the door it hit both me and elder call. we just looked at each other and were like nooooo.... what are the chances. then just last night I had the feeling that we should try going down the guys street again. so we were riding and we saw a similar car ahead of us but it had a different license plate so we didn't think it was him. but sure enough it was. he pulled into his drive way and got out and flagged us down. We asked him if he was by any chance dating the lady we meet at the door and sure enough it was!
What are the chances?!?!?! talk about prepared by the lord or what. Goes to show that as long as you are out working the lord puts the prepared in your path and works miracles. Doesn't matter so much what you are doing as long as you are doing something to serve and build the kingdom. we have a lesson with both of them schedualed this week so hope things go good!
Love Elder Leydsman
I'm pretty tired. This past week we (us four elders) have been getting up at 5am to do heavy weight lifting and working out with a member from the 2nd ward.
I got Katelyn's massive box of food! hopefully I don't get transferred because i don't think I will be able to eat it all in the next two weeks! We all had pancakes one morning together. that was fun!
This week:
I got both packages. There isn't much to write on. Things are well and we are slowly making progress with some and some still just wont make progress, simply because they don't want to make the effort to do so. You get frustrated with some people sometimes because they know what they need to do and they ask us to help them yet they wont do a things on their own.
We did have a mighty miracle this week. About 2 weeks ago we were stopped behind a guy in his car. he got out and at first we thought he was going to be mad at us for getting too close to his nice car. But he asked if either of us were from Utah. His son lives in Utah and is currently in Argentina on a mission. the dad we talked to is not a member. He told us what street he lived on and to stop by whenever but gave us no address. So we went up and down the street several times throughout the week and obviously no luck. Then just last week we were tracting a street else where in the area and we ran into a lady. She said that she was dating a guy whose son was on a mission in Argentina so she would be interested in hearing more about it. after we left the door it hit both me and elder call. we just looked at each other and were like nooooo.... what are the chances. then just last night I had the feeling that we should try going down the guys street again. so we were riding and we saw a similar car ahead of us but it had a different license plate so we didn't think it was him. but sure enough it was. he pulled into his drive way and got out and flagged us down. We asked him if he was by any chance dating the lady we meet at the door and sure enough it was!
What are the chances?!?!?! talk about prepared by the lord or what. Goes to show that as long as you are out working the lord puts the prepared in your path and works miracles. Doesn't matter so much what you are doing as long as you are doing something to serve and build the kingdom. we have a lesson with both of them schedualed this week so hope things go good!
Love Elder Leydsman
September 19, 2011
September 19,
I got Alexia's letter the other day, but i have not gotten a box or other letters. I will probably get them soon.
Its been a really nice week. It has been really cool. It is hot again sadly. But it should stay cool soon. We've been tracking pretty much all week. Always meeting the most "friendly wonderful people ever". Not really. There are some great people we meet but most not so much. There seems to be one type of person we keep running into. It is the old man who just makes the conversation at the door more awkward than it needs to be and has no intent on rationally talking things out with you. they just get all up in your face and and slam the door and its like why did you answer the door if that's all you were going to do? Then there are tons of 'Christian' people who say they read the bible every day and they are always trying to follow Jesus. Then we say that's great how would you like to learn more from us, then they say were not christian and how we are wrong and there is no true church and all kinds of crazy stuff. On guy was saying that once Christ left the earth he left the church in the hands of the people and it is the people's church now and that every Christian church teaches the exact same stuff and all interpret the bible the same way, I was like uh no they don't, and he was like uh no your wrong. we showed him plenty of verses in the bible that showed we needed prophets and apostles to lead and guide us because people interpret the bible differently and he said that we don't need prophets or apostles because he was convinced that was false and that was misinterpretation of the bible because its the peoples church not Christ’s until he comes again. He never made any sense and so does anyone who doesn't listen and try to argue their point. They only win because they are so stubborn and wont listen and bible bashing doesn't work no matter how much sense you make and how wrong they are.
I saw Emilee Johnson's profile on Mormon.org when we were looking at the site.
We learned how to change a tire the other week. A lady was pulled over and we helped her fix her flat in our shirts and ties.She invited us to dinner that night. She was staying at her brother in-laws or something. When she told the family she was staying with they were all fine with it except the brother inlaw so she had to call us and un-invite us to dinner. We had given her a book of mormon so that was good.
We also learned how to fix a pipe. We were working in a less active member's yard and elder call was turning up dirt and he hit the main water line to the house. The lady had warned him about the sprinkler pipes on one side of the yard but had no idea the main water line was where we were working. It was a tiny 3/4" PCB pipe about an inch under the dirt. So that was a task to fix. It took us about 5 hours to finally get right. But it is fixed and all is well!
We had a half mission conference a week ago and Brother Keeren of the 70 came and spoke. That was pretty cool. During lunch we sat next to one elder and he asked where i was from and I said Fairfax, and he said is that near oakton? I said oakton is in Fairfax, he said do you know Brianna Doran? I said ya! He is her cousin and I guess she just got married a month ago so he was out there for that, He knows Rachele Landrith and Kelsy martain and Lindsy Baily and some other people. So that was pretty neat.
We when to visit another Less active the other day and it was a good visit, but it was pretty clear he had just got done smoking some weed. And That is probably why he was so open and friendly. I felt pretty messed up afterwards. So Me, elder call, and our ward mission leader probably all got high by the second hand smoke.
Today I am going to get Pancakes in an spray can. I thought it would be fun to try. It is like the easy cheese but its pancakes in a can! I hope they are good!
Oh, Sister Tanner said she emailed you guys. She is pretty cool. Hopefully it was a good report from here.
Well thats about it. Hope all is well.
Love Elder Leydsman
I got Alexia's letter the other day, but i have not gotten a box or other letters. I will probably get them soon.
Its been a really nice week. It has been really cool. It is hot again sadly. But it should stay cool soon. We've been tracking pretty much all week. Always meeting the most "friendly wonderful people ever". Not really. There are some great people we meet but most not so much. There seems to be one type of person we keep running into. It is the old man who just makes the conversation at the door more awkward than it needs to be and has no intent on rationally talking things out with you. they just get all up in your face and and slam the door and its like why did you answer the door if that's all you were going to do? Then there are tons of 'Christian' people who say they read the bible every day and they are always trying to follow Jesus. Then we say that's great how would you like to learn more from us, then they say were not christian and how we are wrong and there is no true church and all kinds of crazy stuff. On guy was saying that once Christ left the earth he left the church in the hands of the people and it is the people's church now and that every Christian church teaches the exact same stuff and all interpret the bible the same way, I was like uh no they don't, and he was like uh no your wrong. we showed him plenty of verses in the bible that showed we needed prophets and apostles to lead and guide us because people interpret the bible differently and he said that we don't need prophets or apostles because he was convinced that was false and that was misinterpretation of the bible because its the peoples church not Christ’s until he comes again. He never made any sense and so does anyone who doesn't listen and try to argue their point. They only win because they are so stubborn and wont listen and bible bashing doesn't work no matter how much sense you make and how wrong they are.
I saw Emilee Johnson's profile on Mormon.org when we were looking at the site.
We learned how to change a tire the other week. A lady was pulled over and we helped her fix her flat in our shirts and ties.She invited us to dinner that night. She was staying at her brother in-laws or something. When she told the family she was staying with they were all fine with it except the brother inlaw so she had to call us and un-invite us to dinner. We had given her a book of mormon so that was good.
We also learned how to fix a pipe. We were working in a less active member's yard and elder call was turning up dirt and he hit the main water line to the house. The lady had warned him about the sprinkler pipes on one side of the yard but had no idea the main water line was where we were working. It was a tiny 3/4" PCB pipe about an inch under the dirt. So that was a task to fix. It took us about 5 hours to finally get right. But it is fixed and all is well!
We had a half mission conference a week ago and Brother Keeren of the 70 came and spoke. That was pretty cool. During lunch we sat next to one elder and he asked where i was from and I said Fairfax, and he said is that near oakton? I said oakton is in Fairfax, he said do you know Brianna Doran? I said ya! He is her cousin and I guess she just got married a month ago so he was out there for that, He knows Rachele Landrith and Kelsy martain and Lindsy Baily and some other people. So that was pretty neat.
We when to visit another Less active the other day and it was a good visit, but it was pretty clear he had just got done smoking some weed. And That is probably why he was so open and friendly. I felt pretty messed up afterwards. So Me, elder call, and our ward mission leader probably all got high by the second hand smoke.
Today I am going to get Pancakes in an spray can. I thought it would be fun to try. It is like the easy cheese but its pancakes in a can! I hope they are good!
Oh, Sister Tanner said she emailed you guys. She is pretty cool. Hopefully it was a good report from here.
Well thats about it. Hope all is well.
Love Elder Leydsman
September 6, 2011
Me and Elder Call are still both together in the same area. Elder Peterson moved and we got a new Elder. Elder Long. He is a Greeny (missionary fresh out of the MTC). He is from kaysville UT. He is 20 but sure doesn't look it.
Thank you for the ties. but I didn't take the ties just because the ties I have at home are my nice ties and ties have a big reputation of getting ruined on a mission. So dont send any more. I already have about doubled my tie collection from missionaries leaving and getting rid of old ties.
When I send a written letter home I will be sending a sheet that our ward mission leader (Bro. Pickett) made to help the members out in member missionary work. We have been using it for our dinner message. It is really good. It helps members get more familiar with PMG as well.
Sorry we didn't get to email yesterday but since it was labor day everything was closed. Everything is good. We finaly have our first baptism set up with a finalized date. Hopefully it stays set. We just lost one of our investegators. He moved to live with other family today. But we are counting him as baptized because he couldn't be more ready and excited to be baptized.
We are going to have a family of 6 come to church next week who are possibly interested in investigating. And some other members of the ward are inviting more friends to church as well. Our big push on member missionary work is paying off. We will be busy if everyone is ready to be taught all at once. But busy is good. I like having the day full of lessons.
Hope all is well. Tell the Girls good luck in school!
Love you all!
-Elder Leydsman
Thank you for the ties. but I didn't take the ties just because the ties I have at home are my nice ties and ties have a big reputation of getting ruined on a mission. So dont send any more. I already have about doubled my tie collection from missionaries leaving and getting rid of old ties.
When I send a written letter home I will be sending a sheet that our ward mission leader (Bro. Pickett) made to help the members out in member missionary work. We have been using it for our dinner message. It is really good. It helps members get more familiar with PMG as well.
Sorry we didn't get to email yesterday but since it was labor day everything was closed. Everything is good. We finaly have our first baptism set up with a finalized date. Hopefully it stays set. We just lost one of our investegators. He moved to live with other family today. But we are counting him as baptized because he couldn't be more ready and excited to be baptized.
We are going to have a family of 6 come to church next week who are possibly interested in investigating. And some other members of the ward are inviting more friends to church as well. Our big push on member missionary work is paying off. We will be busy if everyone is ready to be taught all at once. But busy is good. I like having the day full of lessons.
Hope all is well. Tell the Girls good luck in school!
Love you all!
-Elder Leydsman
August 29, 2011
One of our investigators went to the temple with one of the ward missionaries this week. He had a great time. He just keeps getting more excited about the church each time we teach him. We are even more sad though that he is leaving. The ward has been fantastic about fellowshipping. The ward we are in is an amazing ward. It feels just like our ward. Fantastic members that form a strong sturdy ward. The Bishop is a great bishop too. He is young and energetic and always excited about the work and getting the ward more involved. He reminds me of Bishop Allsop a lot. One thing that is really cool in the bishops office is he has a picture of all the missionaries from that ward that are out and then has an empty picture frame that says reserved for "insert name of all the young men in the ward that have not gone on a mission yet" it is pretty neat. It helps him remember all the boys names and puts some obligation on the boys which is good.
Church is long. We start at 8 with meetings and don't get home until about 3:30. Church is 11-2 and we have a meeting after church with the ward missionaries and ward mission leader.
Elder Call turned 20 on the 25th. He got some Mega Death Sauce in his package. It is super hot! On drop in your salsa and it is pretty potent. Dad Would enjoy it. We will probably get the new Elder Coming in to try it in a large quantity :).
Notes from Elder Leydsman’s latest written letter explaining some of the things he is seeing as they teach different individuals…
You really can see that when we make a push for good, Satan pushes right back. Satan tries hard when he knows good is coming and often times people take it as a sign that what they are doing is bad. They take the opposition, as a sign from God telling them this is wrong. They forget all of their past experiences. They forget where they are going and get lost even though it is so easy to tell good from evil (Moroni 7:15). People just don’t use the light they have been given to judge. They can’t get past the way the world judges and views things. They sometimes assume and blindly go with the flow.
Every family/investigator /person we teach has a lesson we learn from.
· You can see principles of the gospel come through as you teach people.
· When we do our part with full sincerity the Lord blesses us abundantly.
· When we don’t do our part we will never see any progress
· We have no promise from God when we don’t do our part
· We can’t expect to see progress when we don’t put our effort into it
· You don’t have to be called as a missionary to be a missionary
· You can tell when the Spirit is teaching and when we are. The Spirit teaches a lot better than we do.
Church is long. We start at 8 with meetings and don't get home until about 3:30. Church is 11-2 and we have a meeting after church with the ward missionaries and ward mission leader.
Elder Call turned 20 on the 25th. He got some Mega Death Sauce in his package. It is super hot! On drop in your salsa and it is pretty potent. Dad Would enjoy it. We will probably get the new Elder Coming in to try it in a large quantity :).
Notes from Elder Leydsman’s latest written letter explaining some of the things he is seeing as they teach different individuals…
You really can see that when we make a push for good, Satan pushes right back. Satan tries hard when he knows good is coming and often times people take it as a sign that what they are doing is bad. They take the opposition, as a sign from God telling them this is wrong. They forget all of their past experiences. They forget where they are going and get lost even though it is so easy to tell good from evil (Moroni 7:15). People just don’t use the light they have been given to judge. They can’t get past the way the world judges and views things. They sometimes assume and blindly go with the flow.
Every family/investigator /person we teach has a lesson we learn from.
· You can see principles of the gospel come through as you teach people.
· When we do our part with full sincerity the Lord blesses us abundantly.
· When we don’t do our part we will never see any progress
· We have no promise from God when we don’t do our part
· We can’t expect to see progress when we don’t put our effort into it
· You don’t have to be called as a missionary to be a missionary
· You can tell when the Spirit is teaching and when we are. The Spirit teaches a lot better than we do.
August 22, 2011
I got the package on Wednesday. Thank you for sending all the stuff. I also got my bike lock. I am really enjoying the lemon cookies! I just sent Katelyn a letter back. I haven't gotten any dear Elder Letters, so I don't know if you have sent any. Which is ok. But you had just said to check the date on the letters. I am not sure they actually say the date it was sent. But I haven't gotten any so I haven't been able to check. I am working on a written letter for you. It will be more detailed then my emails. It is already two pages.
Tell Happy Birthday To Jacky for me! Hope she had a great day! And enjoyed her gift. You'll have to tell Amy happy birthday too. It’s pretty late. But she should be home now. Have Katelyn text Sarah for me and tell her happy birthday too. It’s not till the 28th.
So the members of the Roseville 7th ward really spoil us. They feed us pretty good and are always giving us treats. We got a big shopping bag of candy on Sunday. We also got a bag of ties and shirts from a recent convert in the ward. She takes care of people when they are pretty much on their deathbed. And so they are cleaning out his place and she gave us his ties and white shirts. So we have some 50 year old shirts and ties to wear now! One shirt I got is short sleeve and has two pockets!!! Its pretty awesome!
We ride our bikes a lot! We have ridden 400 miles in the five weeks I have been here! So all the food gets burned off pretty fast. I haven't gained any weight so I am happy about that!
Don’t send my camera cord. I will send my SD card home at the end of each transfer. so once every 6 weeks. If you send my cord I can upload the pictures onto the computer but if I want more room on my card I don’t have anywhere to store them. So when I send my card home just take all the pictures off and save them on the computer and delete them off my card.
We hit up a bunch of yard sales this last Saturday. I got a mug that says general dynamics on it, I got a zipper (for a duct tape jacket or something) and a USB thing that you plug in and gives you more USB ports, can't think if it has a name or not. I got all that for 50 cents! We also got a new lamp for our apartment and an air popcorn popper and some speakers for the cd player all for another $4! I want to send the mug and usb thing home. I'm not sure how the best way to send a mug will be.
My ankle is fine now. It hurts a bit some mornings but its good. My Companion ran into a bush the other day. We went through a big swarm of bugs and he covered his face to keep them out but lost control of the bike and when straight into the bush. He was fine though.
Well I think that's about it.
Talk to you next week!
Love Elder Leydsman
Elder Leydsman was asked for some advice on teaching Seminary.....his reply...
I think its definitely important for the kids to play the scripture chase games every Friday. It is fun and a nice break. But at the same
time it helps them learn the scripture mastery scriptures. Which is really important even if they are not going to compete for the stake
scripture bowl. They should be able and ready to win even if the stake doesn't do it. It also keeps the kids excited for learning. So if they wont listen to your lesson they will at least play the games and learn that way.
For lessons I would say help the students experience the principles/doctrine as best as possible. A lot of the old testament is pretty thick and not too exciting at times. But there are a lot of good lessons to be learned. If they can be applied to modern examples
and the students can gain experience working with the lessons, I think that would be really beneficial. Being able to see doctrine and
principles in action. They can be so clear that we often can skim right over them and miss how much value they have.
I guess that would be my two cents.
Love Elder Leydsman
Tell Happy Birthday To Jacky for me! Hope she had a great day! And enjoyed her gift. You'll have to tell Amy happy birthday too. It’s pretty late. But she should be home now. Have Katelyn text Sarah for me and tell her happy birthday too. It’s not till the 28th.
So the members of the Roseville 7th ward really spoil us. They feed us pretty good and are always giving us treats. We got a big shopping bag of candy on Sunday. We also got a bag of ties and shirts from a recent convert in the ward. She takes care of people when they are pretty much on their deathbed. And so they are cleaning out his place and she gave us his ties and white shirts. So we have some 50 year old shirts and ties to wear now! One shirt I got is short sleeve and has two pockets!!! Its pretty awesome!
We ride our bikes a lot! We have ridden 400 miles in the five weeks I have been here! So all the food gets burned off pretty fast. I haven't gained any weight so I am happy about that!
Don’t send my camera cord. I will send my SD card home at the end of each transfer. so once every 6 weeks. If you send my cord I can upload the pictures onto the computer but if I want more room on my card I don’t have anywhere to store them. So when I send my card home just take all the pictures off and save them on the computer and delete them off my card.
We hit up a bunch of yard sales this last Saturday. I got a mug that says general dynamics on it, I got a zipper (for a duct tape jacket or something) and a USB thing that you plug in and gives you more USB ports, can't think if it has a name or not. I got all that for 50 cents! We also got a new lamp for our apartment and an air popcorn popper and some speakers for the cd player all for another $4! I want to send the mug and usb thing home. I'm not sure how the best way to send a mug will be.
My ankle is fine now. It hurts a bit some mornings but its good. My Companion ran into a bush the other day. We went through a big swarm of bugs and he covered his face to keep them out but lost control of the bike and when straight into the bush. He was fine though.
Well I think that's about it.
Talk to you next week!
Love Elder Leydsman
Elder Leydsman was asked for some advice on teaching Seminary.....his reply...
I think its definitely important for the kids to play the scripture chase games every Friday. It is fun and a nice break. But at the same
time it helps them learn the scripture mastery scriptures. Which is really important even if they are not going to compete for the stake
scripture bowl. They should be able and ready to win even if the stake doesn't do it. It also keeps the kids excited for learning. So if they wont listen to your lesson they will at least play the games and learn that way.
For lessons I would say help the students experience the principles/doctrine as best as possible. A lot of the old testament is pretty thick and not too exciting at times. But there are a lot of good lessons to be learned. If they can be applied to modern examples
and the students can gain experience working with the lessons, I think that would be really beneficial. Being able to see doctrine and
principles in action. They can be so clear that we often can skim right over them and miss how much value they have.
I guess that would be my two cents.
Love Elder Leydsman
August 15, 2011
The email this week was about 3 sentences long or short depending how you look at it. He did say all was well but we were thinking that is all he has to say. We hadn't received any letters from him either. He did say he hadn't gotten any mail since the end of July, and was asking for people to write him and make sure to include their address so he could write back. Not sure why there was a delay in mail, since we did sent him Dear Elder letters a package and a few letters by mail. I think they just were getting there that day. He had said he sent a package to us. Today we came home and there was a package from him for all of us and a letter (front and back) for Alexia. In the package he included a gift for everyone a picture from the ward's pioneer day and a very nice letter. So I am posting part of his letter as it made me very happy. It made me miss him more of course but I am so proud of him. Not seeing or talking to him at all is hard so you live for that letter or email. I do know he is in the right place doing the right thing. I felt bad we were feeling a little annoyed that he didn't say more, it was just on it's way. Patience is a virtue. (Mom)
Letter
And just a thank you for all that you do and have done for me. As you get older you really do see how much your parents do for you. It has become especially clearer how important it is to have two worthy/active parents members of the church as parents as well. Seeing families we teach, the kids struggle because the parents struggle. The kids need so much more correction in their life because their parents didn't teach them right when they were kids. Or when only one parent is active it splits the family until it breaks up or goes completely inactive. In my patriarchal blessing it says I have been given that strong foundation from my parents to build the rest of my life on. You and Dad aren't always perfect, but you have always strived to live worthy lives and it has blessed me and the girls greatly.
Elder Leydsman
Letter
And just a thank you for all that you do and have done for me. As you get older you really do see how much your parents do for you. It has become especially clearer how important it is to have two worthy/active parents members of the church as parents as well. Seeing families we teach, the kids struggle because the parents struggle. The kids need so much more correction in their life because their parents didn't teach them right when they were kids. Or when only one parent is active it splits the family until it breaks up or goes completely inactive. In my patriarchal blessing it says I have been given that strong foundation from my parents to build the rest of my life on. You and Dad aren't always perfect, but you have always strived to live worthy lives and it has blessed me and the girls greatly.
Elder Leydsman
August 08, 2011
Number one excuse people give for not letting us in or cancelling appointments - "I don't have time, I'm too busy"
People just don't realize how important the message we bring is. They don't care to make it a priority in their life. They don't care to really put the effort in to make the changes they need. People always say "I know i need to..." pray, read, go to church, etc. yet they never once make the effort to try and do it. They don't see the fruits of their labor right away so they quite. People want instant results and if they don't have them then they think it can't be so. Us as missionaries and member missionaries need to constantly show and teach others the importance of what we believe and that it only comes from strict obedience, and constant diligence.
Families
We are teaching someone from Africa. We had set a baptismal date but he is going to be moving soon so we want to wait until he gets to his new ward. He has a very thick accent. But as we have been teaching him more we have been able to understand him better and he understands us better. It is easy to see the difference when we teach by the spirit and not. Communication is much better when the spirit is there. Missionaries speak the lessons, and the spirit teaches the lesson. He is very excited and eager to learn more, especially about the plan of salvation.
Another family we are teaching it is a mom and two daughters. The mom and the older daughter were baptized but that was about 5 years ago. She moved here shortly after the baptism and has been inactive since. We want to work towards getting the youngest girl baptized but we wont get any where until the mom puts some effort into steering the family in the right direction. and every time we try to push a little more she puts up the wall and backs off. we just need to get something to get the message through to her. We are also teaching a family who has been off and on in activity for a long time. The husband and wife are sealed in the temple, they have a daughter who is baptized and loves the church. and a boy who is 12 who we committed to baptism on the first day I was out in the field. They are getting back into the church and have been coming for the past 3 weeks straight! The mom hasn't been to church in forever. about 5 years ago the family tried to get back into church but the wife didn't want to come so the dad just couldn't do it without the wife after about a year or two. So we are hoping that the baptism will help get the mom out and active. They family is fitting back into the ward which is great. We just have to find out how to get to the mom so we don't have a repeat of last time.
Other stuff
So we took a short cut and had to hop a fence and when i was sliding over my foot got caught in the bad and I twisted it pretty bad. We are getting it looked at today. so the last few days have been slow since I can only hobble around. We went to the 2nd wards baptism on Saturday. It was a mom and her daughter(12 but could pass for 17). It was a really good experience. When i was on exchanges with the elders in the 2nd ward I got to have a lesson with them. It is a much different thing to see people get baptized when they are converts compared to kids at 8. Youth baptisms are great. But it is a much different experience for someone who has lived a much longer life. The concept of being made clean and a fresh start means a lot more. There is also a better understanding of what is happening. At 8 its really just because your supposed to and its what you do. An 8 year old cant really understand what they are doing. But at an older age the comprehension level is much higher and the meaning much greater.
Food
I ate some squid a week ago. we made a 5 year old cake this week and we make a tuna fish sandwich with mayo relish and pulled pork.
People just don't realize how important the message we bring is. They don't care to make it a priority in their life. They don't care to really put the effort in to make the changes they need. People always say "I know i need to..." pray, read, go to church, etc. yet they never once make the effort to try and do it. They don't see the fruits of their labor right away so they quite. People want instant results and if they don't have them then they think it can't be so. Us as missionaries and member missionaries need to constantly show and teach others the importance of what we believe and that it only comes from strict obedience, and constant diligence.
Families
We are teaching someone from Africa. We had set a baptismal date but he is going to be moving soon so we want to wait until he gets to his new ward. He has a very thick accent. But as we have been teaching him more we have been able to understand him better and he understands us better. It is easy to see the difference when we teach by the spirit and not. Communication is much better when the spirit is there. Missionaries speak the lessons, and the spirit teaches the lesson. He is very excited and eager to learn more, especially about the plan of salvation.
Another family we are teaching it is a mom and two daughters. The mom and the older daughter were baptized but that was about 5 years ago. She moved here shortly after the baptism and has been inactive since. We want to work towards getting the youngest girl baptized but we wont get any where until the mom puts some effort into steering the family in the right direction. and every time we try to push a little more she puts up the wall and backs off. we just need to get something to get the message through to her. We are also teaching a family who has been off and on in activity for a long time. The husband and wife are sealed in the temple, they have a daughter who is baptized and loves the church. and a boy who is 12 who we committed to baptism on the first day I was out in the field. They are getting back into the church and have been coming for the past 3 weeks straight! The mom hasn't been to church in forever. about 5 years ago the family tried to get back into church but the wife didn't want to come so the dad just couldn't do it without the wife after about a year or two. So we are hoping that the baptism will help get the mom out and active. They family is fitting back into the ward which is great. We just have to find out how to get to the mom so we don't have a repeat of last time.
Other stuff
So we took a short cut and had to hop a fence and when i was sliding over my foot got caught in the bad and I twisted it pretty bad. We are getting it looked at today. so the last few days have been slow since I can only hobble around. We went to the 2nd wards baptism on Saturday. It was a mom and her daughter(12 but could pass for 17). It was a really good experience. When i was on exchanges with the elders in the 2nd ward I got to have a lesson with them. It is a much different thing to see people get baptized when they are converts compared to kids at 8. Youth baptisms are great. But it is a much different experience for someone who has lived a much longer life. The concept of being made clean and a fresh start means a lot more. There is also a better understanding of what is happening. At 8 its really just because your supposed to and its what you do. An 8 year old cant really understand what they are doing. But at an older age the comprehension level is much higher and the meaning much greater.
Food
I ate some squid a week ago. we made a 5 year old cake this week and we make a tuna fish sandwich with mayo relish and pulled pork.
August 01, 2011
(Part of his letter, he answered questions we had along with this)
My bike is all fixed now, i got a new crank arm, it was like $15 with labor to put it on. The peddle was fine, I think it just wasn't put in right when we assembled it. I got the U lock you sent but it doesn't really fit on my bike. I thought you guys were just going to send the lock that i always have on my bike at home.It has the combo lock on it.
I went on exchanges the other day with another elder, and we had dinner at the Gouldings. It is the Goulding's (from our ward) son. They took a picture and should have sent it to you.
The weather is very hot, it has been in the 100's this last week. and supposedly is to get hotter. I got to give a talk in church just yesterday. That was pretty neat.
Not too much has happened this week, so there is not much to say. Wrote Alexia a letter back. I got a letter from Ashlee Olsen and Kate Henninger (There are also Henningers in our ward who said they are probably related.)
My bike is all fixed now, i got a new crank arm, it was like $15 with labor to put it on. The peddle was fine, I think it just wasn't put in right when we assembled it. I got the U lock you sent but it doesn't really fit on my bike. I thought you guys were just going to send the lock that i always have on my bike at home.It has the combo lock on it.
I went on exchanges the other day with another elder, and we had dinner at the Gouldings. It is the Goulding's (from our ward) son. They took a picture and should have sent it to you.
The weather is very hot, it has been in the 100's this last week. and supposedly is to get hotter. I got to give a talk in church just yesterday. That was pretty neat.
Not too much has happened this week, so there is not much to say. Wrote Alexia a letter back. I got a letter from Ashlee Olsen and Kate Henninger (There are also Henningers in our ward who said they are probably related.)
July 25, 2011
I am serving in the Roseville 7th ward. My trainer is Elder Call. Things are great so far! We stayed at the mission home for about 2hrs. and we were off. Living quarters are all right. It is just a small apartment with 4 of us.
Can you guys send my other lock to me. The lock you sent doesn't work too well, the trees and poles are too big for it to fit around, and it doesn't attach to my bike well. My bike peddle is bent so I will probably have to get a new crank arm soon. It stripped the treads inside. Not sure how it happened.
Ya it is really hot here. mid 90's every day by about 10am and until 8pm. we don't have too many lessons, it is really hard scheduling with people. They like to drop us a lot. Tracking is way hot. we sweat like crazy!I could use one or two more short shirts. We have committed two people to baptism so far. So we are doing good. The ward is great. We are a biking mission. My butt is sore. We have ridden about 50miles this week. Just send all packages and letters to the mission home. if it is the USPS they will forward it. If it is fedx or UPS it will take a bit longer for them to get it to me. besides that all is good.Sorry if i don't respond specifically to everything. There is just a lot to remember for only 30mins.
Love Elder Leydsman
Can you guys send my other lock to me. The lock you sent doesn't work too well, the trees and poles are too big for it to fit around, and it doesn't attach to my bike well. My bike peddle is bent so I will probably have to get a new crank arm soon. It stripped the treads inside. Not sure how it happened.
Ya it is really hot here. mid 90's every day by about 10am and until 8pm. we don't have too many lessons, it is really hard scheduling with people. They like to drop us a lot. Tracking is way hot. we sweat like crazy!I could use one or two more short shirts. We have committed two people to baptism so far. So we are doing good. The ward is great. We are a biking mission. My butt is sore. We have ridden about 50miles this week. Just send all packages and letters to the mission home. if it is the USPS they will forward it. If it is fedx or UPS it will take a bit longer for them to get it to me. besides that all is good.Sorry if i don't respond specifically to everything. There is just a lot to remember for only 30mins.
Love Elder Leydsman
July 19, 2011
We are safe and sound in California, here at the mission office. We are just allowed to email saying we are safe and sound. I'll mail you my address when i figure out what it is and when we are all settled in.
Love you all,
Elder Leydsman
Love you all,
Elder Leydsman
July 13, 2011
Katelyn,
The MTC is good. There are over 2000 missionaries here. I have seen a few people I know. I enjoyed the Wrapping paper, it made me smile :) Be good and have fun!
Family,
I had the shot paper, but it didn't say if i had gotten the booster shots or not. I got both boxes, it was really nice to get stuff! Thank you!! With Dear Elder I get the letter the same day as you send it, but I can't write or email until Wednesday (or whatever day is Pday) I have not met Elder King yet, he is probably in the Spanish district. We will be picking them up on our way to the airport on Tuesday. I was talking about the scripture mastery card that has all four years on one card - its ok though i got one at the store here. I am glad it isn't humid here, some people are complaining but it's nothing. It is really hot though.
Week Summery: We've Already gotten our travel info, and are supposed to start packing as well. We leave at about 5 am on Tuesday. We are allowed to call anyone for as long as we like at the airport, but i am not sure how that will work or if we will even have time. Lack of sleep is catching up to all of us. It is really hard to stay awake. Tuesday one of our investigators, Alan (our teacher playing an investigator), called us up urgently to meet us. He had fallen out of a tree (he cuts down palm trees for a living) and broken his back a few days ago. He was lost on what to do and if he should continue to have faith or not when he has been doing nothing wrong and yet bad things are happening to him. We just sat on the ground with him and talked, and then left him with a priesthood blessing. It was a really good experience.
Notes: What keeps Missionaries alive:
- letters
- Gym
- Humor/sarcasm (both which are not "approved" uses of time)
Quotes/Important info:
- Repentance is a way of life, not an event
- Ask yourself "How do I feel towards the Savior? How will I serve him?"
The MTC is good. There are over 2000 missionaries here. I have seen a few people I know. I enjoyed the Wrapping paper, it made me smile :) Be good and have fun!
Family,
I had the shot paper, but it didn't say if i had gotten the booster shots or not. I got both boxes, it was really nice to get stuff! Thank you!! With Dear Elder I get the letter the same day as you send it, but I can't write or email until Wednesday (or whatever day is Pday) I have not met Elder King yet, he is probably in the Spanish district. We will be picking them up on our way to the airport on Tuesday. I was talking about the scripture mastery card that has all four years on one card - its ok though i got one at the store here. I am glad it isn't humid here, some people are complaining but it's nothing. It is really hot though.
Week Summery: We've Already gotten our travel info, and are supposed to start packing as well. We leave at about 5 am on Tuesday. We are allowed to call anyone for as long as we like at the airport, but i am not sure how that will work or if we will even have time. Lack of sleep is catching up to all of us. It is really hard to stay awake. Tuesday one of our investigators, Alan (our teacher playing an investigator), called us up urgently to meet us. He had fallen out of a tree (he cuts down palm trees for a living) and broken his back a few days ago. He was lost on what to do and if he should continue to have faith or not when he has been doing nothing wrong and yet bad things are happening to him. We just sat on the ground with him and talked, and then left him with a priesthood blessing. It was a really good experience.
Notes: What keeps Missionaries alive:
- letters
- Gym
- Humor/sarcasm (both which are not "approved" uses of time)
Quotes/Important info:
- Repentance is a way of life, not an event
- Ask yourself "How do I feel towards the Savior? How will I serve him?"
Wednesday July 6, 2011
Sounds like Trek couldn’t have gotten any better?! I’m glad Alexia was
tough and pulled through! I wish I could have gone.
I’m doing pretty good. I have seen Elder Hills And
Elder Abutaa. I’ve seen a few other boys from school and
from efys.
Glad you got my letter. We have a clock counting down our time from 30
mins and it starts as soon as you log into the computer. So I don’t
have much time to read your emails and respond to them, sorry. I am
just going to email letters for now. You can send me letters in the
week and I can right my responses then type them up on Wednesdays.
Those are really good comments. You’ll have to tell Nate thank you for me. (He was taking about notes from testimonies in combined YW/YM and Nate getting him a bracelet from trek.
Good luck Father! You'll be great and I’m sure the kids will love you! (David is going to be teaching seminary)
Since we can only write one day of the week, I will just give you a
week summery of things that happened and such.
Day 1 - MTC feels like an EFY / College orientation. Everything moves
really fast and takes forever to finish. There are about 600 new
missionary’s this week alone. Not used to everyone calling me Elder,
very weird. The missionaries that have been here forever (5+ weeks)
Act like really big little boys. (Most boys never change) Got a
companion already. Very small living space. About the size of
Katelyn’s room but there are four guys in it.
Day 2 - longest day of my life!!!. We have classes twice a day for
3hrs each to learn the purpose of a mission - baptism baptism baptism,
is all they say.
Day 3 - moves faster (kinda) companion is really good. Elder
Kulenholter. We had papa john’s pizza for dinner. Pizza never tasted
so good! Was for sure a moment of heaven on earth.
Day 4 - another endless day. Saturday is no longer a special day. So
don’t look forward to the weekend in the MTC
Day 5 - each day you are tasked with about 5+ things to do and you are
given enough time for maybe 1 or 2. Met our branch presidency. The 2nd
counselor is Bro. Pinegar (Mike Pinegar) were related. Knows Grandma
well and said Father has been at their house when he was really
little.
Day 6 - feels like we have been in the MTC for a lifetime. Feels a bit
like Boot camp for sure.
Day 7 - After a week your whole life and days here blend together and
you feel like you know nothing but life here. We taught several
investigators and we are getting pretty good..
Other info:
Our district is 10 elders
5 Roseville 5 Arcadia
Food: - Fact - it is the leftover food from BYU
- Myths: the orange juice does bad things to you, and that they add
fiber to all the food to "help" us (fact: half of the missionaries
spend half of their time on the toilet.)
Wake up - 6am
bed - 11pm
No personal time (unless PDay)
Pday is the best day
Both the gym and the temple are closed the weeks we are here
I love being in civilian clothes more then ever now
Quotes/important things learned:
Listen!!
To access the atonement you need faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost
Book of Mormon + Spirit = most fertile ground to know truth
A happy Wife is a Happy Life
The more you work the more you can handle
Be the missionary God can trust
It’s not what you know, its what you feel
Sometimes our investigator is not the one who needs to be converted,
sometimes it’s you.
Love Elder Leydsman
tough and pulled through! I wish I could have gone.
I’m doing pretty good. I have seen Elder Hills And
Elder Abutaa. I’ve seen a few other boys from school and
from efys.
Glad you got my letter. We have a clock counting down our time from 30
mins and it starts as soon as you log into the computer. So I don’t
have much time to read your emails and respond to them, sorry. I am
just going to email letters for now. You can send me letters in the
week and I can right my responses then type them up on Wednesdays.
Those are really good comments. You’ll have to tell Nate thank you for me. (He was taking about notes from testimonies in combined YW/YM and Nate getting him a bracelet from trek.
Good luck Father! You'll be great and I’m sure the kids will love you! (David is going to be teaching seminary)
Since we can only write one day of the week, I will just give you a
week summery of things that happened and such.
Day 1 - MTC feels like an EFY / College orientation. Everything moves
really fast and takes forever to finish. There are about 600 new
missionary’s this week alone. Not used to everyone calling me Elder,
very weird. The missionaries that have been here forever (5+ weeks)
Act like really big little boys. (Most boys never change) Got a
companion already. Very small living space. About the size of
Katelyn’s room but there are four guys in it.
Day 2 - longest day of my life!!!. We have classes twice a day for
3hrs each to learn the purpose of a mission - baptism baptism baptism,
is all they say.
Day 3 - moves faster (kinda) companion is really good. Elder
Kulenholter. We had papa john’s pizza for dinner. Pizza never tasted
so good! Was for sure a moment of heaven on earth.
Day 4 - another endless day. Saturday is no longer a special day. So
don’t look forward to the weekend in the MTC
Day 5 - each day you are tasked with about 5+ things to do and you are
given enough time for maybe 1 or 2. Met our branch presidency. The 2nd
counselor is Bro. Pinegar (Mike Pinegar) were related. Knows Grandma
well and said Father has been at their house when he was really
little.
Day 6 - feels like we have been in the MTC for a lifetime. Feels a bit
like Boot camp for sure.
Day 7 - After a week your whole life and days here blend together and
you feel like you know nothing but life here. We taught several
investigators and we are getting pretty good..
Other info:
Our district is 10 elders
5 Roseville 5 Arcadia
Food: - Fact - it is the leftover food from BYU
- Myths: the orange juice does bad things to you, and that they add
fiber to all the food to "help" us (fact: half of the missionaries
spend half of their time on the toilet.)
Wake up - 6am
bed - 11pm
No personal time (unless PDay)
Pday is the best day
Both the gym and the temple are closed the weeks we are here
I love being in civilian clothes more then ever now
Quotes/important things learned:
Listen!!
To access the atonement you need faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost
Book of Mormon + Spirit = most fertile ground to know truth
A happy Wife is a Happy Life
The more you work the more you can handle
Be the missionary God can trust
It’s not what you know, its what you feel
Sometimes our investigator is not the one who needs to be converted,
sometimes it’s you.
Love Elder Leydsman