Week Three

Pamilya!!

It is insane how the time is just flying in here. I said i was going to send a letter home with everything else i want to say but i just did not have time to send it. I will send it off today with another letter about this last week.

I really only have time to share one experience this week...yes, it will take a half an hour to tell this whole story. So! On my first sunday here we watched a talk given by Elder Bednar here at the MTC last christmas. In the talk he spoke about what he called the "hostile phase." He explained this to be when an Elder wakes up one morning and is mad at the world. Annoyed with his companion, thinks the teachers are out to get him, does not want to talk to anyone, just all around a really horrible person to be around. And the only way to get out of this was by giving service. We all laughed at this thinking that even though he said it happens to everyone here in the MTC, it surely would not happen to us...right? Wrong! This last monday i woke up in the worst mood. EVERYONE was annoying me. My Kasama, Sister Schuhmann, Sister Walker, like everyone! And the worst part was, i did not care. I was ok with just being in a bad mood. This went on the whole day, and let me tell you, i know it was bad. I had to go back and apologize to a few of the Elders in my district for how i had treated them. Well i was done, i did not want to see anyone. I was in bed before ten...that is how bad it was. As i was laying in bed my Kasama decided to iron my shirt for the upcoming day. He was determined to help me be in a better mood. After ironing my shirt he looked in Elder Kauvaka's closet deciding he would iron one of his shirts too. We only found four shirts and three pairs of socks. We knew that his family did not have money, but we had no clue that it was that bad. I immedietely felt horrible. Both my kasama and i gave him two pairs of socks so that he would have seven total, and it still left me with more than i needed. He asked about the socks and we just told him that we had too many. He did not seem happy that we had done this, but he still wore the new socks the next day :) Well, he still only had four shirts. And not only that, but he is a pretty big boy. He is Tongan, and played line in high school. But! was offered a scholarship to UCLA to be a fullback. Anyway! He sweats a lot being so big so after wearing the shirts once, it stunk. We decided that we were going to get him a few shirts. We talked with Sister Schuhmann and Sister Walker and they decided they were going to help as well. It was going to be a sacrifice, but we were all willing to go in there and spend $20 each to help him out. He is the most giving, helpful, nice, incredible missionary i know. If you knew him you would do anything you could to help him. So we found out where we needed to go to buy the shirts.

We go in there asking if we could buy a few shirts for a guy. She gave us a slip and told us we needed to have it signed by someone here at the MTC if he needed assistance. We told her no, this was our gift to him. We were going to buy them as a gift to him. So! She called up mr mac and just like we thought, it was going to be $20 a shirt. We told her that we wanted three. She said ok and then just walked out of the room. It was a little weird, not going to lie. About five minutes later she comes back in holding a stack of shirts. With a smile on her face, she said that they just happened to have six of the exact shirt that we were looking for. The exact size. We were happy, but told her we only needed three. That is how many we decided we were all willing to pay for. She looked at us and said no, this is my gift to you. My jaw dropped and i just about fainted. I KNEW that the Lord was looking out for our amazing friend Elder Kuavaka. What are the chances? Six shirts in the very unique size that we needed? It was such a huge miracle.

We take them back to our room, in the middle of the day. We knew we would not be caught by him because everyone else in the MTC was in class. As we went to hang the shirts up we realized that none of us had the hangers to do that with. We walked out in the hall and saw that the door to another room was open. Puzzled we walked in and saw a few missionaries we had never seen before. I asked if they happened to have and hangers we could have. Without me even asking they gave us six hangers. Boom! Another miracle!

He has been very grateful to wear these shirts. After a few days we explained the whole thing to him, so that he could see how the Lord was looking out for him. I know that the Lord was looking out for all of us. Not only did it help him, but it helped me get out of my "hostile phase." I sat down for dinner that night and thanked the Lord for the many miracles that had happened throughout the day. For the first time in my life i cried while praying. I know for a fact that the Lord hears our prayers and that he cares for each and every one of us. We have all been placed in each others lives for a reason. To help build the kingdom of heaven, and to bring others, our brothers and sisters, unto christ.

I love you all and i am so grateful for everything that you have all done for me. Thank you for the prayers..keep them coming!

Mahal Ko Kayo,

Elder Leonard