Letters from Leslie

Re: Monday, Monday....‏


From: Leslie Ann Freitag
Sent: Mon 3/29/10 3:36 PM

I love Monday's too! Cus I get to hear from the best parents in the world!! =) I'm glad you received the pictures. I should be sending some next p-day (when we get paid again!) We have been doing pretty well with dinner appts, we have one almost every night of the week it's been nice. And nothing to awful yet thank goodness nothing close to rice with ketchup and mustard!! Are you excited to have Melissa and the kids? Are they staying with you? That is fun that they will be there. I'm glad Kelly and Luke had a good time with Jay and Stacy as well. The Monster Truck show is always something to look forward too! Your book sounds interesting! I love that time frame! Have you finished it yet? Are you still enjoying it? That's so fun you were able to see Joe and Bonnie! How are they doing? I'm sure the kids are all big now, that's crazy! How old are they youngest two now? I'm excited to hear from you soon! I love you both and hope all is going well! Things here are going pretty well! The work is somewhat slow with new people being hard to find, but we are doing our best! I will write more about our appts and everything in a letter this afternoon. Unfortunately last week when I fell I think I busted up my ankle pretty good. I've been icing it and have had it wrapped all week, so hopefully it will start getting better soon! I got a blessing for it last night from one of the senior couple's Elder Andra. He is such a sweet man. I was grateful to him! Well I love you and will write more this afternoon! Have a great week and Happy Easter!! Hope you enjoy time with Melissa and the kids. Give them all hugs for me! Love, Leslie

Mike's email from leslie (same day)
DUKE IS IN???!!! UGHH! is right! That's awful! I can't believe that! I hope anyone else wins also! I'll go for the underdog of Butler, that's great that they got in and never been in before! I didn't get to hear the YW broadcast, but many people spoke a little bit about it in Testimony meeting yesterday, especially President Uchtdorf's talk. It sounded like it was great, I'm sad we didn't get to hear it. I as well am VERY excited for conference! That's cool that someone is your ward's son-in-law got to hear everything already. What a neat job! I would love that! We are definitely very blessed to be lead by a Prophet and all the special leaders we have for sure! And we've been able to talk to a lot of people more about that this week. With our recent converts and less activies that we taught this past week we have focused on Prophets and getting them ready for Conference. It is great to be able to testify about their authority and how blessed we are at this time so often! That's fun that you were able to have Kelly and Luke around this weekend. That stinks you didn't see to much of them. Did they stay with you? Kelly sent me a picture a couple of weeks ago and she was starting to show more in that so I can imagine now!  How was the High Preist meeting that you went to? I hope all is well for you! I love you both so much and am exciting to hear from you again soon! Have a great Easter and enjoy Conference! I know we all will! Stay awake...I'm not there to throw M&M's at you to make sure you are! =)


This email arrived today March 22, 2010

Hi!! Wow it does sound like it's been a crazy tournament! I have heard a little bit about it, President and a few members have kept me somewhat updated! That is sad that I can't watch it with you. That's awesome about the upset with Kansas though! And that's okay being taken out by the team who also took out the number one seed! Sad that our teams aren't looking to good again this year. Hopefully next year will be better and we can go to a game together out here!! That's fun that you and Allen got to go out to dinner and have a boys night. That's exciting that you had a band job!! Sad I missed that, 50's dances are always fun when you guys play! How did it go? Are the girls pretty much a lost cause now? Do they come much anymore? How is practice at Norm's house going? You aren't blabing to much! I promise I can never get too much from either of you! But I hope all is continuing to go well!


Things here have been great! We had a recent convert teach us on Tuesday and she is amazing! She taught the lesson perfectly and had so many good analogies and everything and she's only been a member for a month! She is huge in geneology and I told her to call you if she has any questions. Her name is Barb so if she calls you that's why! She is very excited about doing Temple work. We had two lessons with Mary Beth this week she is our investigator who is getting baptized in April one of them was at Presidents house. I was a little nervous to teach in front of him and his wife (his wife is a little intimidating) but it went very well! We taught her based on a talk from last conference from the heart surgon in the 70. I can't remember his name...Lundberg? But it did go excellent it was off of that and Mosiah 3-4. Her other lesson we taught her about Prayer and Prophets and we were able to watch part of the Special Witnesses of Christ video which is so powerful and amazing! I love that movie, it brought in the Spirit so strongly! We were able to teach how to do a door approach for mutual on Wesdnesday night and there are a few deaf kids in our ward!! Exciting! So I was able to help them, it was so fun! They were shocked when I started signing to them and we were able to talk a little bit after about how I knew sign. Is there anyway that you can send out that church sign words book? We want to take them to a lesson with us because they are amazing kids, very strong in the gospel! Then we had a lesson with Bill and Angie. We had been trying to plan out a lesson for two days for them, but nothing was coming together. They are the ones we are reading the Doctrine and Covenants with. So we decided we were discuss that a little and go from there. It was amazing. It is such a humbling experience and also so empowering to know that you are not the one doing the talking. The Lord was definitely the one guiding that lesson and we taught them exactly what they needed. They live together and are not married and we have been trying to bring up obeying the commandments and blessings of that for a while. But we needed to have a hard core lesson with them and this was it. But through the Spirit we were able to do it through the Scriptures in ways that I never would have made those connections before and in a loving way. It truly was amazing and so exhillerating! All of us were teaching boldly and powerfully and so in tune with the Spirit. It was a huge testimony builder that I can do this. And also that this is the Lord's work and He is and will guide and direct it through us. We found out yesterday, BIll ended up proposing to Angie and they are getting married! A huge blessing from the Lord and so exciting!! Miracles are happening and things are going great here! I am learning so much from my trainners they are great and I love them both. I'm so sad Sister Baker is going home at the end of this transfer! I am learning a great deal from our investigators and recent converts also it is so fun to see their connections and insights and learn from them as much as we are teaching them. But I have to get going, I love you both, thank you for all that you do! That you for all that you've done and your examples all growing up! You are the best parents I could ever ask for! Hope your week continues to go well! Love you! Love Leslie



p.s. I fell off the stage when we sang in the chior during sacrament meeting yesterday, somethings never change! =)




Re: How is Illinois?‏

Sent: Mon 3/15/10 5:39 PM

It was wonderful to talk to both of you as well!! I was so excited and I've only gotten more excited. It's wonderful here!! I did great on poudage for my suit cases I was under for both! I think I was at like 45 on each, so I was lucky! But however our first flight was supposed to leave at 7:05 am and it got cancelled, fog and plane problems. So we had to go and reschedule our flights, We didn't get a flight to Chicago until 2:00 so we spent the whole morning and afternoon switching off taking naps because we were all exhausted from barely sleeping and then we got to Chicago about 6:00, went and got dinner and then our flight to Peoria wasn't until 9:40. Then we got to the mission home about 11:00 p.m. it was a very long day! I am writing lots in my journal and trying to keep up as much as possible. So much happens in a day here! That's crazy that your still receiving so much rain there! Very unusual. It's true the first two days here were great weather wise. It was warm and wonderful. Ever since then it's been raining so it's been fun to go tracting in that and we just laugh and have a good time. Well guess what...I'm still in a tri companionship out here! Kind of funny huh? But this one is great! I love both my trainers they are amazing! Sister Baker is from Colorado and this is her last transfer so that is so sad, and then Sister Wright is from Idaho and is half way. So it's way fun to have one of each of us and the big points in our missions. It's also nice to have two beacuse I have learned so much from both of them. We all get along great and they are taking such good care of me. I am in Peoria, so I stayed right here. We are working with a few people right now and it's so exciting. We have had lessons everyday since I got here. We had one the first night with Bill and Angie, Bill has been a memeber for a few years, but is still having some issues keeping the commandments and then Angie is a recent convert. We taught them about the Armor of God and how it protects you and how we need it every day of our lives. As we were leaving the appt that night both SIster Wright and Baker both commented on how amazed they were that I just jumped right in to the lesson making comments and everything. They said they just expected me to hang back, but were glad I didn't. It was so fun!! Thursday was my first real day here and it was mostly just planning and going over things that I needed to learn and get aquianted (Wow sorry can't spell! =) ) with but we did some tracking and had another lesson then too. We had a lesson with Mary Beth who has a baptismal date April 13 and is AMAZING! She is so awesome, has all the perfect answers, loves the gospel, and she just gets it. It was so great to meet her. We had another appt that night but mainly just checking in on the family the wife Sandra is a member, her husband Jerry is not he has a smoking problem he doesn't want to give up, so he says that he doesn't believe in the D&C because of that. He says that he thinks Joseph Smith's only calling was to translate the Book of Mormon and that's it. However both the Sister's have said that you can tell when he says stuff like that you can see in his face he doesn't really believe that. But we are also working with their 16 year old son Billy. We had district meeting on Friday where we talked about the Holy Ghost and it's promptings and then did some tracting and guess what?! I got my first door approach! Now don't think I'm a slacker I've tried for days, but this is the first time someone answered, I was so excited. They weren't interested, but were really nice and I left her with a Finding Faith in Christ pass along card. Lots since then as well but I will write more in a letter.

How are you two? How are things going? President said UNLV won against Utah on Thursday, he's a huge Utes fan! I was excited to hear that. How is sewing coming mom, still pretty busy? Are all those weddings coming through? Dad did you ever get a chance to finish the sprinklers system or is it still raining too much? What are you reading and studying now? Dad how was your High Priest lesson that you taught? How did it go? I'm sure it was great! Sorry I haven't asked about that yet, I haven't had a pday in like a week and a half! But Pdays will now be on Mondays. Oh yeah I forgot to say this, as of July 1 of this year the Illinois Peoria mission will be no more. Kind of crazy we will find out in two transfers whether we will be in the Iowa or St Louis Missouri mission. I'm hoping to go to the Iowa mission, that is the one Nauvoo and Normal will be in. So that will be exciting to hear where we are going. Not enough missionaries coming out, and Peoria is the only mission that has had a steady increase of Baptisms compared to the number of missionaries out in the last 10 years. But anyway off track again. But I hope you both are doing fabulous!! I am exciting to hear more from you soon! I love you both so much!! Thank you for everything you do and your examples!! =)



p.s. address:

935 W Loire Court # 701

Peoria, IL 61615





March 4, 2010

We are almost done with the second lesson, we are doing well, i'm having an easier time teaching this one than i was the first. we have been focusing a lot this week on teaching skills and how to improve our teaching. i do have flight plans my first flight is at 7:05 am (utah time) and am getting to chicago at 11:20 am (illinois time) then will get to peoria at 1:25 illinois time. so i will be calling probably early. i'm going to pick up a calling card today from the bookstore here to call with. sounds great, thank you for doing that, i will definitely be excited to call. there are 7 of us going to peoria together. sister miller and i and then 5 elders. couple very immiture, but there is one that will be a great missionary a little bit older and has more idea of what he's doing here. hosting girls from u of u? you've done that before? where are they performing at? You both are always in my prayers especially during these health scares. we do get to go to the temple today at the 3:00 session, so i'm excited for that. but i am sending out a letter and a few pictures hoepfully today so there is more about what's going on in there, i love you both so much. i hope your week is great. talk to you soon.