I LOVE my Mission

Hello everyone :) Im so happy Boston got baptized!! Thanks for the pictures :) He is getting so big I cant believe it! So this week was pretty good.. We got to teach Brother Presley the black guy that we tracted into. He is so awesome!! We took a member with us and they knew each other! Then Brother Presley was telling us that he knew some Mormons and come to find out it was the bishop of the Knox 1st ward that meets at my building.. Then the member told him that Bishop McKellars son Sterling is leaving for his mission and he is going to give a farewell talk this sunday so Brother Presley and his whole family are going to come to support his son Sterling :) Im so excited for them to come to church!! Pray for him :) We did a lot of finding this week and we ran into a guy named Adam and he told us we could come back so we went back 2 days ago and I was holding a BOM like I always do and he came out and said what did you bring me? And I said this is a BOM haha then he said "how is your church different from all the other churches here?" So we were able to teach the restoration and BOM and he was like that's awesome can I have that book? haha Hopefully we will see some success with him :) were also teaching a lady named Mindy. Her husband is a member but speaks Spanish and doesn't speak any English... he was baptized about 20 years ago but we cant find his records. She has been having a lot of questions epically about polygamy. On Thursday we were there and we hadn't even started the lesson and she said " Why is the BOM so important? Why do you talk about it so much?" I was so happy that she asked that so I could tell her all about it!! We gave her one and asked her to read it and pray about it and then we invited her to be baptized and she said "if I know this book is true then I will definitely be baptized" :) We taught Maddie last night and moved her date to Sept 6 :) She is so excited to be baptized! Pray that everything will work out for her :) awkward story for the week... We had to go to this dance studio to contact one of our investigators and while we were waiting there I just wanted to dance so bad!! Well this was a dance studio for like ballroom dancing... We were sitting there and this older couple came in to dance and the lady was probably like 65 and she was like do you wanna learn? I said no and she insisted that I dance with her..... She grabbed my hand and pulled me out to the dance floor...and started teaching me the Waltz...I couldn't figure out how to get myself out of the situation! haha It was so awkward!! But it made for a funny story :) Hope you all have a good week! :) Love Sister Leifson

Hello Everyone

This week has been pretty good! We had zone Conference this week, It was our first one with President Griffin. I love him so much! He reminds me a lot of Brother Dickerson so that's why I like him so much :) We learned a lot of great things from him. He had really high expectations for this mission so im excited to be serving with him. I have been able to spend a lot of time with him because my companion has been having some problems so we spend a lot of time with him trying to help her. We met a new investigator this week. His name is Brother Presley. He is a black guy that was mowing his lawn and we were lost and I just had a feeling to go talk to him, We went to our appt that was across the street then went and talked to him. at first he just wanted to talk about politics and told us that the world wont be around for 5 more years haha but he doesn't have a church that he goes to because he is sick of pastors spending his tithing money... But he has such strong faith! He said he knows a lot of Mormons and he wants up to come back and teach him. He has a wife and 3 kids. He told us he had a problem with drugs and alcohol but has been clean for 20 years! He is the nicest guy ever! I love him and im so excited to teach him on Wednesday :) So last week I told you about Maddie that we are teaching, We found out this week that her mom was excommunicated, so she will be a convert baptism. She wants to get baptized on Sept 13 but she is ready right now so were going to try to get her to move it up :) I got to go to Sister Plass' funeral on Saturday. It was so neat to be there. Im so grateful I was able to meet her and I cant wait to see her again after this life! So something really special happened yesterday at church... we were waiting at the door and in walked a Less Active from my ward in Pellissippi and she was with her 2 sons that are investigating the church. I worked a lot with her a lot in my last area and she recently went to that ward for the first time in a long time. She came to West Hills ward to see me and she stayed the whole 3 hours! In Sacrament someone from the stake presidency talked about rescuing those who are lost or off the path and she was just crying and told me that I am the one that helped her become active again. It was so neat! She felt like the talk was exactly what she needed to hear. I love this Sister so much.. I am so grateful I was able to meet her and influence her in a small way. I love being a missionary :) its the best thing ever!! I have met so many amazing people here and I have learned so much. I hope you all have a great week! Love Sister Leifson :)

An EXCITING Week !!!!

Hello!

This week has been pretty good. I have a couple cool stories! So we got a new investigator this week. We were tracting and he invited us in and told us that his son died just 2 months ago. he hadn't heard from him in a couple days and he went to his apartment and found him dead in his bed. He never really said what happened, he was only 27. But we were able to share the Plan of Salvation and he agreed with all of it. He is such a great guy. His name is John, keep him in your prayers! He told us we could come back anytime so hopefully he will come to church sometime.

So in May when I was in Pellissippi we ran into a guy that was in the YSA ward and he gave us $25 to get dinner and he was so nice but we never even caught his name! so for 3 months now I have felt bad that I was never able to really thank him. well this week we stopped at a less actives house and this young guy answered and I felt like he was really familiar but I didn't know why. We left and I asked Sister Roundy what ward he was in and she said the YSA ward and immediately I knew where I had seen him. So we turned around and went back to the house and knocked again and I said " im sure this is really random but I have seen you before somewhere" and he said ya I gave you $25 a couple months ago! hahah I was so happy I found him so I could thank him! It was so crazy that I actually ran into him. So cool :)

We are teaching an 8 year old right now her name is Maddie. she lives with her aunt and she brings her to church. The mom was a member but were pretty sure she got ex communicated so maddie might be a convert baptism! We cant find the moms records so were not sure yet. But we asked her to pray about a baptism date and when we saw her yesterday she said September 13 :) im so happy for her! My favorite Senior couple left this week. ;( They are the ones that served in the Philippines on a couples mission and he served there when he was 19, We had a special connection. They live in bountiful so I will see them again! 

Something really sad happened this week tho... So in Pellissippi I was visiting a Less Active couple Bro and Sis Plaas. They were only LA because of health problems. They both served missions in the Netherlands and He was the first stake patriarch in the Knoxville stake like 50 years ago. They have been like my grandparents. we would visit twice a week and they are just the sweetest couple ever. Well brother plaas has been the sick one for years and about 2 weeks ago he had to get moved to a rest home/rehab place, and sister plaas was having her knee replaced so they would be in the same place for recovery. Well we went and saw her the day after her surgery and they both seemed to be doing okay. I told her I was getting transferred and She told me how much she has loved getting to know me and some really spiritual things and I just cried because I didn't want to leave and not see them again. Well a couple days later sister plaas had a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest. Brother Moss called and told me and I just cried!! I have grown so close to her. She was in a coma until last firday and then she passed away Friday night. I got the call and I was really sad, I felt like I was loosing my own grandma. Brother Plaas doesn't want to live with out her so he told the dr. that he doesn't want any medicine to help any of his health problems he just wants to go when its his time. Her funeral will be this Saturday and President Griffin gave me permission to go to it. pray for Brother Plass and their children! Well I hope you all have a great week!!

• Love Sister Leifson :)   

pictures from my new area I LOVE IT

she loves the cute black kids  she loves kids she might bring one home.LOL

Linzi and new Companions 

This is David and Bethany ,  David was her Baptism last month. She loves  this couple so much . Glen Beck planted the seed for David...

sorry this was last months picture 4th of July.

Hello:):)

Hello :)

This week has been good, lots of mixed emotions! So I found out I was getting transferred so I said bye to everyone thinking I would never see them again on my mission. I was so sad to leave my two companions.. They were so much fun! On Monday we had a dinner with David and Bethany and then they took us to get ice cream after. Im going to miss them so much!! Then on Wednesday morning David took us on a tour of his radio station! it was so awesome :) So my new area Is called West Hills! And it is literally 5 minutes away from my last area. So Im still in the Knoxville North zone im just in a different district. The West Hills church was actually closer to my last apartment than the Farragut building was that I went to. Im so glad im so close to my last area! So on P day we all go to Farragut building and hang out so I will see my old district :) And now people from my old area can come get us and take us to dinner and stuff because im still so close :) Its great! Definitely an answer to my prayers! So my companion is Sister Roundy. She is from Provo and she has been out for almost a year. This month she hits her year mark and I will hit my half way mark :) She is so great! She has been in West Hills for 3 transfers so I might only be with her for this transfer. My new area is great. The work is slower than my last area, but that's about to change! We don't have very many investigators so we have been doing a lot of finding activities to find more people to teach! But this week we were able to teach 16 lessons and that is the most that Sister Roundy has gotten since she has been in this area so that was really exciting!! There is a place in my area called Bakertown and it is like super Ghetto. Its really poor and there is like a million little black kids that live there. When we pull up they all come running to hug us and ask us for food. Its really sad, but it reminds me of the Philippines :) We got to meet a new family this week while we were tracting. We told them we had a message about Jesus Christ and asked if we could share it and the husband said " im not the boss.. let me ask my wife" and she said we could come in and we taught them the restoration and gave them a BOM. They seemed really interested. Only problem is that they don't speak much English but that s alright! Im really excited to be in this area! Its going to be good! The ward is awesome here :) And my apartment is super nice haha :) Well that's about all for this week! I hope you all have a good week!

Your commitment for this week is to contact the missionaries in your ward/area and go out with them! We love going out with members :)

Love you all!

Love Sister Leifson :)