Happy Thanksgiving....week 5

Here is her letter this week.  In her email to me she said it is kinda strange to be so close to home at Thanksgiving and not be able to come home.  She LOVES the MTC, and she and her district have decided to try out fot the Christmas Day Talent Show, they are going to sing a Russian song.  She is excited to do that.  Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Here are some pictures that she jus sent home for you to enjoy too.

This is her district in front of the Provo Temple. 

And this is Sister Ward and Sister Leavitt at the MTC.

Hello!!!

Wow! I can't believe that it's already Thanksgiving week. This means I have been here for oh 5 weeks or something. I have had to clip my fingernails twice and I my idea of sleeping in is sleeping until 6:30 instead of 5:40. I've also grown accustomed to having to make up fun games to keep myself entertained. But most of all I have learned what I am truly grateful for. I have to say that since being in the MTC and not getting to listen to music since I've been here I am 100 times more grateful for music and I miss it so bad and I go around all day singing songs because I just want to hear music. I am also grateful for mondays because on mondays I get to make everyone's beds and it's my favorite. I get so excited. I am grateful for my family and friends who send me letter and make me feel so loved. I am grateful most of all for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the joy it brings to my life. I know that I would not be a happy camper at all if I didn't have the gospel.

Well about my week... The older districts in my zone left this week so that's exciting! The new district comes in next wednesday and I am so excited for that. We are getting 26 new missionaries but we don't know how many elders or sisters yet, so I'll let you know. Tomorrow night is the first night that sister ward and I will be speaking in all Russian when we teach... I'm kind of nervous for that, but it will be great. Also my departure date changed again to the 10th of January... Yep, so that's weird, but it will be good. I miss my first name so sister Haymond and I started calling each other Sister Hannah Haymond and Sister Courtney Leavitt just so we can hear our names. I figured out the secret to making time go fast at the MTC... All I have to do is work hard every day and then it goes by faster! Great trick. I've decided that I don't know how I'll do with the cold in russia ... I already think it's too cold here! Yikes! And last of all I heard this great quote this week..."Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the ground in the morning satan thinks 'oh crap, she's awake'", so that's my challenge to all of you this week. :) Well I love you all! Have a great thanksgiving and I'll talk to you next week!

Love,

Sister Courtney Leavitt

Hello World...week 4

Sister Leavitt had such a great Birthday yesterday,  who would have thought a bag of Mint Oreo's would make her day!  Enjoy her great letter, and see if you can answer her joke.  Keep those letters coming to her, she looks forward to hearing from all of us!

Good Morning Starshine, the Earth says HELLO!!

So this has been another amazing and spectacular week. I thought that this week I would tell you a little bit more about my companion Sister Ward. She is from Orange County California and has two sisters and a mom and a dad. Both of her parents served missions in South America so she speaks spanish pretty well. She's super cool and can fit her entire hand into her mouth. She wants to be a kickboxing teacher one day and she went to BYU for 3 years studying elementary education. For my birthday she got me the coolest present. She got me a tour of the MTC kitchen! It was so cool and I got to ask them questions and look at all of their cool gadets and learn how they do everything... Pretty much I just loved it more than words can explain. She is so amazing and I feel so lucky to have her as a companion.

Well last Tuesday night Elder Bednar came to speak to us. That makes 3

Apostles in a row! So that was pretty fun. I learned a lot more about loving and serving this week. I learned some more Russian. I have been learning how to describe my family. My mom is loving, my dad is kind, my sister is joyful, my older brother is funny and my younger brother is on a mission. That's what I can say... I think that sums up our family pretty well.

Yesterday was my birthday and it was pretty much amazing. The elders in my district got me a present which consisted of various items from  the free box, a peice of gum, some nyquil, and chocolate, (oh also some nasal spray, but they advised me to not use it and to throw it away, so I did.) I got a lot of cards and letters from my friends and my family and they all made me so HAPPY! So thank you very much. Let's see, I got mint oreos from my family, so it was pretty much the best birthday ever. It was mostly just a normal day, I went to classes, taught an "investigator", ate spaghetti for dinner, had a jello eating contest..., and just had fun.

Some random things that happened this week... I saw Isaac Haupt in a picture hanging in the MTC and I also met Jacob Haupt's other cousin that is here in the MTC. Oh and I learned a new joke, a loaf of bread was flying an airplane and it crashed... see if you can figure that one out... the elders told it to me.

Well I love you all and I hope you are all doing well.

Until next week,

Sister Leavitt

Three Weeks In....

Here is Sister Leavitt's email this week.  She sent us pictures and we had to scan them in to share, so  enjoy her letter and pictures!  She sure loves all of you!

Hello Everyone!

So Today is my third p-day here! Can you believe it? Three weeks have already passed! So this week I thought I would tell you about the possessed drinking fountain. By my room there is a drinking fountain that is possessed. The water pressure changes all of the time and by the time I am done filling up my water bottle my hands are soaked. So kinda crazy. This week has been so amazing! Last night I finished memorizing the first vision in Russian! It was quite an accomplishment for me. Sister Ward and I got to teach "investigators" two times this week and it was amazing. We have truly been blessed to be able to be companions. She is so amazing!

There is this Elder in my district, Elder Stanford, and he's our district leader. Last week when he was teaching an investigator they decided to have a prayer at the end of their lesson and he was saying it and going along and decided to be thankful for the two investigators. He said the first investigators name just fine, but when he got to the name of the second investigator, he couldn't remember his name. So he sat there for a minute and then said the fist name that came to his head... "Thank you for Charzard." Yep, in his prayer he called the investigator by the name of a pokemon... hahahaha! So that made for a great laugh.

I also found out this week that my departure date got changed and I will now be leaving on December 28th, so that's exciting. A whole week early than expected. I actually have mixed feelings about it because That means I have to leave Sister Ward, but I know it will be great.

This week I learned so much. Sheri Dew and M. Russel Ballard spoke to us and something that Sheri Dew said really stood out to me. She said, "God knows who you are and where you are. He knows your mission and He knows exactly what you need to complete your mission." So I just thought that she is exactly right. Our heavenly father does know each and every one of his children and he wants us to become what he know we can become. He knows us so well and he is willing to give us the tools that we need to be successful in our missions. I want to challenge all of you to get down on your knees and talk to our Heavenly Father. Tell him the desires of your heart and ask him what his feelings are for you. Ask him if you are his child. I know that if you will ask, he will tell you. He love us!

Well I hope you all had a great week! Thank you for all of the letters and support.

Until Next Week,

Sister Leavitt

                                Sister Ward and Sister Leavitt, Courtney's companion.

Courtney took this picture and then looked down at the sign "Do NOT touch the Statues"  Ooops, same ole Court!

The sisters are all pointing to the mission they are going to.  Sister Ward is going to the Ukraine, Siter Whiting and Sister Harrison are going to Russia also. 

Sister Leavitt pointing to her mission.  Soo far away.

What a week!

Here is Sister Leavitt's email to everyone this week.  She is loving her work at the MTC and really loves her companion Sister Ward.  She loves you all!

Hello!!!

So I have some very important things to tell you all about. First of all my zone leaders name is Elder Mahoney... Does that sound familiar? Well it should because that's the main character's name on Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium... Well besides Mr. Magorium. So this week Sister Ward and I have been working very hard! We have made so much progress in the language and in teaching together. I feel so blessed to get to spend time with her and work hard with her. I love her so much. She is always serving me and helping me and motivating me to do more. Yesterday was sort of a rough day. We spent the afternoon working on conjugations and cases and writing sentences, it made my brain hurt so bad, I was good at doing it in the beginning and by the end I was horrible which I think was the opposite of what should have happened. But luckily on Mondays we get new sheets! So at the end of the day I got to make everyone's beds for them and it made me feel so much better about life. I love making beds... Oh and we went to choir on Sunday, that was fun. Also in our teaching this week Sister Ward and I have been pretending to be different people we know so we can practice teaching different people. So I just wanted to tell you that I may have pretended to be you this week! Fun! I really am having a blast here! Oh, and on Halloween all the sisters in my zone, which is kind of a lot for one zone, decided to dress up for Halloween. We all wore black skirts and white shirts! Now that's just crazy isn't it. We took pictures so I'll send them to you. I love my district, there are 6 sisters and only 4 elders. I guess they have decided to start sending more sisters to Russia and the Ukraine . That's where my companion and 2 other sisters in my district are going, the Ukraine . Anyway I also wanted to let Grandma Haupt know that I am growing up and getting more mature everyday. I know... Hard to believe that I could become anymore mature that I already was, but it's true. This is the hardest work I have ever done! But I'm doing it with the Help off my Heavenly Father. I know that He is the reason I haven't failed yet! I love you all! Hope to hear from you soon!

Love,

Sister Leavitt