Email from Sara 9/22/08

Dear Fam- (and eveyone else who reads this :)Wow! This week has absolutely flown by, and if I didn't have such a long list of things to say I would think that someone tricked us into thinking that we skipped Thursday and Friday.

Alright, I went through letters and I think I have all the questions and topics that I'm supposed to cover written down.

First off, because it's I just got my emails, I cannot look at the album of pictures you sent. It shows up on the first page, but then I can't connect to the website to look at the pictures. Secondly, I am only allowed to write and recieve emails from family (I may have already mentioned that, but I can't remember).

Okay, Now... I wanted to tell you about a musical number that I participated in on Sunday. One of the Sisters (who actually left this morning) had written an arrangement of "I Stand All Amazed" We have a very musically inclined zone- and there were six elders, and 5 sisters singing, and my companion was accompanying us. We went to audition with Sister Boone (who is actually Barbara Boone's Mom- She is the Mission President's wife) And she said that she doesn't like to have big groups perform becuase then it's more like a choir than a special musical number, but we convinced her just to listen to the song. After we sang it for her she was moved to tears and said she took back everything she'd said. So we sang it Sunday at a fireside for the entire MTC. It was a great experience, and I've heard that they record all of your musical numbers since the firesides are recorded anyway and send a dvd to your family when you leave the MTC. I can't confirm that, but that's the rumor anyway.

Another fun thing this past week was our Zone volleyball tournament. We had a Milan v. Rome game and it was so so fun. Everyone played- not all on the court at the same time, but it was a blast. I've also gotten to play basketball with the Elders a couple of times (Sisters are allowed to play as long as there is another sister and they guard each other) Anyhow, that's really fun. I look forward to gym time.

I've really grown to look forward to tuesdays, not just becasue we get to email and wear pants, but because we also get to go to the Temple. My testimony of the temple has grown so much as I've been able to go more and more. Today my companion and I are actually going to do sealings for some family names on another sister. I'm looking forward to that.

We are expecting two more elders tomorrow, and then 14 more the following wednesday. Only 5 are leaving today- so it will be a really big zone.

I have fantastic teachers here. I can't remember if I told you this, but one of them is actually Matt MacDonald, from Anderson. It's kind of funny that he's my teacher, but I didn't really know him that well when I was at home so it's not too big of a deal. My other teacher is Sorella Emily Clayton and I love her to death! She is so enthuastic and such a good teacher.

On a somber note... You can hear the football games from the MTC. It's pretty much torture. My first Saturday that there was a game, we didn't realize there was a game and we had gone outside to study and we kept hearing the crowd roaring.... we had to go back inside. :( Luckily- they are out of town for the next two weeks.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to see the Relief Society Conference this Saturday, I haven't heard anything, but I do know that we will get to watch the sessions of General Conference and I'm pretty excited. I was hopeful that I was going to get to sing at conference, but apparently they are only having the Elders sing at the Priesthood session. Bummer. Oh well.

I did write Crystal and tell her, but I got her package and it was delicious. I still have like two pieces left. I also mentioned that suger is rather abundant so if you're going to send something else, go easy on the sugar.

That is crazy about the gas prices, it makes me really glad that I don't have to drive anywhere.

Thanks for the updates on carpet, classes, pregnancies, etc. I like to know what's going on.

Alright, well, my time on the computer goes so fast so I've gotta end this. You all are in my prayers and I'm so thankful to have such great support from home. There is one elder in my district who hasn't recieved any mail from his family and I'm so thankful for the stack that I have. I love you all!

Love,
Sorella Leckie

Letter & Pictures 9/16/08

Dear Fam-

Okay - So I couldn't email pictures and I forgot to mention that I can only send emails to parents and that I can only get emails from family - but that could change when I get to Italy.

So - the pictures were mostly taken my first day/week and we took pictures last Sunday with our zone, but I haven't had a chance to get them developed.

Love ya!

Sorella Leckie

Sara & her MTC companion Sorella Hawkey

Sara & Sorella Hawkey at the Provo Temple

Sara & her MTC district

Email from Sara 9/16/08

Dear Family (and anyone else who might read this =),

Life at the MTC is going well. Right now the laundry is going and we only have a few more hours before I have to go back to the skirt and nylons. I guess I'm kind of getting used to that, but it's still not my favorite.

Thanks for all the letters I've received! Yesterday was a great mail day and I got four letters! Happy Day!

Alright, I'm going to try to answer questions that were posed in the letters. I may have answered some of these before but I don't remember so if you're getting duplicates, me dispiachi.

Okay, my companion and I are the only sorelle in my district and there are 10 anziani. They are great and it puts a little pressure on the sisters because they all seem to look up to the sisters.

There were 26 missionaries that came in with me who are all going to either Rome or Milan. In my room there are 6 sorelle. My companion, Sorella Hawkey, is from Arizona and we get along so so well. I actually told her this morning how thankful I am that we're on the same page most of the time and even when we aren't that we're not so stuck on different pages that we can't work things out. We're both pretty laid back about little things and agree on the important things, like being obedient and learning, etc. It works out great. She took a semester of Italian at BYU so she helps me A LOT! She's only a year younger than me and graduated from BYU with a degree in MFHD, and taught junior high for a semester before coming on a mission. We have fun and enjoy being companions.

Last Tuesday I went to the temple with my zone and it was so great to see all of my new friends there. I was reminded of Alma when he rejoiced that his brethren were still his brethren in the Gospel. We were also privileged to hear from President and Sister Uchtdorf last Tuesday and we look forward to another fantastic devotional tonight.

The days in the MTC can be so so so So long. But the time is already seeming to fly by. The Italian is coming very slowly, but it is coming. As long as I have a chart with all the rules I seem to do okay, but as soon as I try to actually put a sentence together in my head everything falls apart. Every Monday we go to the LRC- Language resource center. There we do "door approaches" to volunteers. We do them in Italian. Before we go we practice all sorts of phrases and approaches and all that good stuff, but it seems like as soon as they open the door that everything I've tried to remember jumps out of my head. Very frustrating. But I guess I can get the general idea across even if the grammar and pronunciation is very very very wrong. After our LRC we have a "Teaching Appointment" where we go back and teach the volunteer one of the lessons. For the past two weeks we have been teaching lesson one on the Restoration. Teaching has gone very well for me and my companion- we work well together and have been able to feel the spirit very strongly when we've been teaching. It's a testimony builder for me to feel how the spirit will help you when you sincerely pray before you teach. I love the message of the first lesson and feel so grateful to have that knowledge in my life. That I am a child of God, that He loves me and wants to answer my prayers. That Heavenly Father wants us to have the truth and not wander in darkness and confusion.

The Italian is rather poor, but apparently Dad was disappointed that I didn't put more Italian in my last letter, so I'll leave my testimony (It's one of the only things I know in Italian :) I am using my notes this time though, so hopefully it is a little more.... uh... right.

La mia testimonianza:

Io so che Padre Celeste e Gesu Cristo amano tutti i loro figli. Io so che Padre eleste ha un piano per me. Io so che Dio ha restaurato il vangleo di Gesu Cristo mediante Joseph Smith. Io so che Joseph Smith e un profetta e Thomas S Monson e un profetta oggi. Io so che le famiglie sono eterne. Io so che il Libro di Mormon e vero. Io so che dio guida la mia vita. Io so che Gesu Cristo e il nostro Redentore e Salvatore.

Nel nome de Gesu Cristo, Amen.

I love you all and look forward to more letters!! Thanks for the endless love and support!!!

Love,

Sorella Leckie.

p.s.- I'm going to try to attach some pictures but I'm running out of time. We had a regular photo shoot at the temple the other day, so this is what you get. It's my zone and the sisters. Okay, apparently that's not allowed, I'll print off some pictures to mail... Okay... I'll talk to ya all next week!!! Love ya!

Another letter...9/12/08

Ciao!
Buon giorno mia familia!
Well-That’s about all the Italian I know. Just kidding! It’s a work in progress, but it is coming. I’m waiting on my laundry right now and you wouldn’t believe the line to use the computors. So hopefully I’ll get a chance to set up an email account.
In the mean time there’s always snail mail. I also would love to encourage y’all to use “dearelder.com.” It pretty much is like email, but they print it off and put it in our mailbox-and it’s free! So you can send lots of short notes-at least while I’m in the MTC. And they also have packages that you can send to your missionary-hint! hint! : )
Anyhow-It feels like I’ve been here forever and it’s only been a week, but luckily it’s getting better. (Warning-since I’ve started learning Italian I’ve completely forgotten how to spell. :-\) Anyhow-the first week was pretty rough-compounded by a nasty cold, which is hopefully on its way out. The first night in our room the thermometer on my alarm clock was at right around 58 degrees so that probably was a contributing factor in getting a cold.
A little about my zone/district. There were 4 Italian sisters and 1 anzione here who have been here for 6 weeks. The sisters are great and were so excited to have more Italians here. And the one anzioni (elder) was so excited to not be the ONLY elder. There were 26 Italian missionaries that came in with me. 3 of the sisters and about 8 of the elders are going to Rome. The others are going to Milan. But while we’re here we’re kind of mixed up in our districts. I absolutely love my district. Me and my companion (colega) Sorella Breaana Hawkey are the only sisters and there are 10 elders-and they crack me up. They are all so nice to the sisters. Our entire zone stands up when the sisters sit down for us and open doors for us. And they’re all trying so hard to be good. It makes me happy. I’m not sure what happens to the young men in the MTC, but it’s kind of amazing to see the transformation.
The MTC president is also amazing. He shares the most analogies and stories than anyone I’ve ever heard, but his talks are fantastic.
It really has been good for me to be here. As much as I may have resisted, the desire to serve is growing-slowly but surely, just like the language. My companion is amazing and I really feel SO lucky that we’re in this together. She’s one of the nicest people I’ve met, while still lmanaging not to make me feel bad for being judgmental-she makes me want to do better. She doesn’t seem to mind being my companion so we’re doin’ good. We’ve already decided that it would be awesome if we were each other’s last companion on the mission.
Anyhow-all is well here. I would love to hear from anyone who would like to write. Look into the dearelder.com thing. I’ll let you know what my email address is soon if you haven’t already gotten it.
Thanks for being so loving and supportive and for instilling in me a deep knowledge and testimony of the gospel. I love you all!!!
Love, Sorella Leckie

DearElder.com

Okay, so here's the deal with DearElder.com. I remember now that I used this years ago and it is a very cool service provided to missionaries. Go to the website, write a letter, and they print it off, put it in an envelope, and deliver it to the MTC the same day (as long as it is sent before noon MST). It's great because Sara can get more mail and more often (hopefully!) and when she has her 30 minutes to email, she can JUST write emails rather than spend the time reading emails. So, I'm not going to post her email address at this time because you can use the DearElder.com which is even better. And she'll get whatever you say the same day rather than just on Tuesday. So, yeah...DearElder.com. It's GREAT!

Email from Sara 9/9/08

So, I'm going to hurry since I just set up my email account and I'm almost out of time- and I already wrote you a letter today so I don't really have too much more exciting stuff to say, but this is my email address, so I would love to receive letters. Also, I mentioned this in the letter I wrote today, but you guys should use "dearelder.com" It pretty much just works like email, but I don't have to use my computer time to open and print it. It's free, easy, and fast, so it will save you the postage. You can pass that word on to anyone else who may be interested. But that is only for while I'm in the MTC. So.... I got to go to the temple today, and I'm going to audition for a musical number with my district. My district is the best!!! and my companion is AMAZING!!! So, life is good... Gotta run!!!

Love you so so so so so much!!!

Sorella Leckie :O)

First letter...9/3/08

We got our first letter in the mail from Sara today!

Dear Fam-
I'm here!!! I guess I was worried for nothing-or at least that's the way it feels right now. So far everything has been great. I'm in a room with 5 other sisters. Three of us are going to Rome and three are going to Milan. The only thing I'm worried about with them is that we might have a little too much fun.
My first class is at 7:00 tomorrow morning so I'm looking forward to diving in. I have a HUGE pile of books that I'll be taking to class with me so I better learn something.
Well-I still have to write in my journal and I don't have much time-so I'll write again soon...I'll have 30 minutes every Tuesday for emailing so hopefully you'll get this before then. I love you!
Love,
Sorella Leckie
Sorry so short-I'll write again Tuesday!

WRITE TO SARA!!!!

This just in: Sara's MTC address:

Sister Sara Sophia Leckie
MTC Mailbox #314
ITA-ROM 1104
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

Sara would love to get letters and packages! She will be in the MTC until November 4th.

Entering the MTC

At 12:30 (mountain time) on Wednesday, September 3rd, Sara entered the MTC. I don't have pictures or any details, yet, but in an attempt to keep this as chronological as possible, I'm going to add this today and hopefully edit later as I hear from Sara and get pictures.

Sara still had her phone this morning, so most of us got to talk to her for at least a little bit until she mailed the phone to Emily to use until the contract ends. I only cried a little bit after I said good bye since I knew I wouldn't get to talk to her again until Christmas.


On her way...





The name tag....she really looks like a missionary now!

Go BYU!

Sara was very excited about being in Utah, and especially going to see part of the first BYU football game of the season. Sara absolutely loves BYU football and hated not being able to go to the games last year. It was quite a treat when she found out that there was a game the same day she flew out there. Her friend Marlyse picked her up from the airport and they went to the game, only missing part of it. As if that weren't great enough, BYU even won 47-17. Woohoo!

Sara and Marlyse met up with their long time friends Ryan and Jeremy at the game.

A little Mexican, please?

This is slightly out of order, but I didn't have this picture until today. The day before Sara left we went out to dinner with Nate's family. After MUCH deliberating, Sara FINALLY decided to go to Molka...Makah...Mahkahe....ummm, her favorite Mexican restaurant in Greenville. It was a lot of fun!