my name

I was bored, so I decided to research my name.  I've done that before, but I found a lot of new stuff that I liked a  lot.  Here's what I found:


English name (gracefull willow)
Old French Meanings of Leanna (Female)- Faithful, Loyal.
Leanna (from two names)
     The name Leanna that comes from the two combined names of Lee and Anna would mean ‘one who is imbued with both prosperity and grace’. From the biblical definition prosperity means to advance, have peace, make progress, and succeed. (Prosperity in the Bible rarely has little if anything to do with gaining wealth. God does do this for His people, it just does not necessarily coincide with the word prosperity.)
     Grace means the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God. Usually when the word grace is used in the Bible it has to do with God giving someone the ability to do something that they would not be able to do on their own merit. (I call this God given ability power of a sort.) Therefore the name Leanna here would mean one who is empowered by God to prosper her in her ways and in her life.
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            The name Leanna means ‘one who is empowered by God to prosper her in her ways and in her life’.  Of course none of this can take place until and unless Leanna gives the reigns to her life and heart to God for Him to be able to guide her in the way she should go and what it is He has called her to do. When this is done, Leanna becomes a powerhouse for God.
            There is an old saying that still water runs deep. Leanna may or may not be a quiet person when she is around other people. But when she is alone with her God she is quiet, and still. For it is there that she hears God speak to her and learns the things He would have her to know.  Getting alone with Him and truly listening with her heart and putting into action the things the Lord has instructed her to do causes Leanna to     develop a deepness within her soul. A deepness that only a few are able to acquire.
            Is Leanna a super saint that only thinks of God, studies His Word day and night and in general lives a monastic life? No, she is as spiritual as the rest of us and she sins and makes mistakes just like the rest of us do. The only Perfect One died on the cross for us. Leanna is an ordinary person living out her life and trying her best to do what she believes the Lord is telling her to do and go where He leads.
            Psa 1:3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

You always bring to completion anything you start. You are generous but want returns from your giving. You have an executive ability, you are a leader. You are moral, balanced, honest and intellectual, and you may attain spirituality. You are wise and practical with an appreciation of beauty. You always think before you act. You have an eventful, exciting life. You are versatile and have the ability to learn easily, but may be nervous and temperamental. In critical situation you can become nervous, and it may interfere with your sound judgment.
You are always looking for an opportunity to achieve financial and emotional security. You are basically peacemaker. You understand the law of harmony and desire to balance your life with those around you. You may feel incomplete without someone to share your love, ideals, wealth or work. Symbolically, your prime challenge is fear, fear of being alone, but on a higher place, you just feel unhappy where there is a lack of harmony or evidence of disapproval.

You can be very sensitive and could appear a bit shy and perceptive. You have developed intuition, patience and the ability to nurture others. You can achieve the state of happiness if you is willing to accept your needs in a complimentary relationship and go to create them. That gives you freedom to be the way you are, instead of being compelled into addictive behavior patterns.

Your first name of Leanna makes you a quick thinker, both philosophical and creative.
You appreciate music, art, and drama and, if given training, could excel in those fields.
Self-consciousness may prevent you from feeling at ease in positions of impromptu expression.
Desiring to be free from detail and monotony, you find it difficult to finish what you start if it does not hold your interest.
You enjoy reading and the beauties of nature, experiencing peace and relaxation in outdoor activities.
A very individual, independent person, you live within your own thoughts.

Helen (torch or light)
scottish: bright one/shining one
Helen
     The name Helen means 'light'.  Light has many meanings and applications. One meaning of light is the knowledge gained by the act of studying. One application of light is the imparting of that same knowledge. Helen, once she has allowed the Light of the World to come into her heart and soul becomes a light to those around her.
    Helen is usually a good teacher, using stories and illustrations to make ideas more clear while trying to help someone understand a difficult concept. Teaching is sometimes a good method of bringing light. When Helen does turn the light onto a subject or person she often uses humor.  She finds it a way to ease tense circumstances and to help lighten an otherwise dark situation.
    She finds that others come to her, not only for advice, but also for help in understanding the whys and wherefore’s of their lives.  There are times when it is hard for Helen to let her light shine for her life is not always ideal either. But the Light of the World gives her the light by which she needs to walk. And as she walks in this Light she is able to light her little corner of the world.
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men. . .

Happy Birthday Maia

Our sweet puppy just turned 10.  Yeah, she is still our puppy even though she has more white on her face than red.  I can't believe how quickly time has flown.  

Here's a picture from when she was young.

Maia got spoiled on her birthday.  

I took her for a fun walk and I think she got multiple yummy bones just because she looks cute.

I made a cake for us to celebrate Maia's birthday.  The frosting wasn't very good, but Maia didn't care.  

Mission Plaque

Mission Plaque

I finally have a mission plaque, and this is the picture that will be on it.  It was taken 4 days before I left for the MTC.

The scripture I chose is 3 Nephi 5:13

I have it memorized in French, not english, so I don't want
to mess it up. But in french its:
Voici, je suis disciple de Jésus-Christ, le Fils de Dieu. J’ai été appelé par lui pour annoncer sa parole parmi son peuple, afin qu’il ait la vie éternelle.

I am lucky that I didn't get a plaque until after my mission because of my mission changing, so I have the symbol for both the Geneva mission and the Lyon mission.

Mission Homecoming Talks

These are my written talks/notes.  I usually write everything I imagine myself saying, so it’s very thorough.  But I don’t always end up sharing everything in the same way I wrote it.  I personally think that is unfortunate because I rather like the way it comes out on paper, where nerves don’t interrupt.  The two talks are very similar, but I decided to use different experiences to share the same lessons the second time I spoke.

Talk #1                  Singles’ Ward             13 May 2012

I have a lot of mixed feelings, mixed thoughts and mixed words.

I know some of you, but I’ve been away from this ward long enough that there are a lot of you I don’t know. 

I served my mission in Geneva, Switzerland, but my mission was later consolidated with the Toulouse mission into the Lyon, France mission in 2011.

I could tell you a lot of things I learned, including how to make crepes, but it was difficult to decide what to talk about.  So I chose to share some lessons that I learned and some experiences that taught me those lessons.

While I was in Geneva, we had a conference with Elder Causée, a French member of the area presidency.  He is now in the Presiding Bishopric.

He shared with us a story about a Pearl.

A renowned jeweler obtains a gorgeous, valuable pearl and decides that such a magnificent pearl needs a magnificent box to show it off.  He needed a box worthy of holding such a valuable jewel.

He has a gorgeous wooden box made with small, intricate carvings and he displays the pearl in the window.

As he stepped back and watches people react to the pearl throughout the day he was pleased to see many smiles and wide eyes.  But he realized, and was devastated to see that the people had lost interest in the pearl because they focused only on the beautifully crafted box.

When we focus on the boxes in our lives, we lose sight of the valuable pearls.

We learned many lessons during that conference from this story of the pearl and the box and I started noticing the pearls and boxes of missionary work.  Now I notice them in my life.  True joy comes when you find and treasure the pearls.  For me, most of my pearls in my mission were people.

 I seized any opportunity I was given to serve and uplift these people, and that gave me so much joy.  After my trainer was moved to another area, I had another opportunity to see her.  She said to me that she got to Dijon and was sad because she wasn’t close to her companions and none of them would feed her like I did. 

She told me, “then I thought how much I love Sœur Read because she always fed me.  So I started feeding my companions.  And it worked!  They loved me!”

So she learned my secret.  Charity is serving with and because of love.  It is what I sought for every day.  What Sr. Smith didn’t say, but she knew, is that when you serve others (or feed them) your love for them grows.

One of my most memorable experiences was from Geneva.  One day we had a couple messages on our phone.  My companion listened to the first message while we ate our dinner.  Soon her eyes were so wide they were going to pop.  She put the phone on speaker and said, you have to listen to this!

The woman leaving the message said she was calling to arrange meetings with the missionaries because she wanted to be baptized.  We listened to it multiple times before finally calling her back.  It took us that long to get over the shock.  News flash, that never happens.

So in a course of a few weeks, we were able to help Rachel get baptized.  It was slightly hectic to prepare for and organize, but all of the stress that I experienced was swept away when, on my last day in Geneva, Rachel’s sister, who was one of the first members I met in Geneva, hugged me, with tears spilling from her eyes.  I treasure this experience because Rachel is a pearl, and her sister is a pearl.  The greatest pearl of a mission is helping a family come 1 step closer to being eternal.

“How great shall be your joy with them in the kingdom of my father.” D&C 18:15

Everyday we should collect our eternal treasures.  Helaman 5:8

“lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven, yea, which is eternal, and which fadeth not away.”

What are the treasures that God gives us?

There is only one physical treasure that we can take to heaven, our bodies.

I learned exactly how precious our bodies are while I was on my mission.  You can’t work without it.  I felt so old near the end of my mission because my bones almost creaked every morning, and when my six-foot companion stood on my back, every vertebra popped like fireworks.

As a missionary, I had to learn how to stay in good health so that I would be able to accomplish my work.

Our life is work, and we get tired physically as well as spiritually.  I find it significant that God advises us how to stay healthy in everyway.

In Geneva I had the pleasure of teaching a man named Patrick.  He was the most humble soul I’ve ever met.  By the time I met him, he was preparing to be baptized and he had just given up smoking.

The events of his life had brought him so low that he sought help, first from public institutions, and then God put wonderful missionaries in his path so he could find full healing.  He will continue to have struggles, but he was ready to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

By following the commandments of God, he found a better spiritual and physical life.  Patrick is a miracle, and I was truly honored to know him.  He was one powerful testimony of how much God loves His children.

Loving people the way God loves them is a celestial experience.  When a missionary is fully in tune with the spirit, they will see people the way God sees them, and an indescribable love fills their soul. 

On my last day of my mission, as we were headed home after a wonderful Sunday dinner, I learned one of the biggest, most humbling lessons of my whole mission.  I saw a man approaching us and he looked a little ragged, dirty, and he was holding a cigarette in one hand with an open beer can in the other.  My first thought was, “I really am not in the mood for a weird or inappropriate conversation.  It is my last night and I just want to get home to pack.”  I regret these thoughts.  I regretted them very quickly.  My companions and I were speaking in English, which always draws attention, especially from drunk men. So I quickly elbowed my companion and said, don’t speak in English.  She was already following my line of thought.

Instead of us stopping this stranger, as we do all day long, we walked by.  But this man did something different.  He stopped in front of us and said, “can I tell you something?”

“Oh boy,” I thought “here we go.”

“I just want to say one thing.”

“Ok, what is it?” I asked.

He proceeded to make a rude political comment which I didn’t follow or remember, except that it was about the President.  This happened to be the day that France elected a new President.

This man turned out to be a big surprise.  I get too excited about details, so I will avoid them and simply say that we spoke quite a while with this man and ended up getting his number, giving him a book of Mormon with personal testimonies from all of us that we wrote on the spot, and setting up an appointment with him the next day. Oh, what a pearl he was.

 I will tell you why I will never forget this experience.  In the very beginning of the conversation with this man, I was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of love for this man.  I had no idea who he was, and there wasn’t much reason to like him on first sight, but God decided I needed to take a look through His eyes.  It was so brief, but so powerful.  His love for His son filled MY soul.  And through OUR message, and OUR spirit, he was able to listen to a message from his Heavenly Father.

I have tried to be brief, but it is hard to share so much in so little time.  I want to close with one last story.  I left a dear friend in Lyon, my last area. What I need to say about my dear Catherine is that God loves her so much, and my companions and I quickly tuned in to that love. Our message only reached her because of the love we felt for her.  When I met her she was a lonely, depressed woman.  When I left her, she would laugh herself to tears with us, she had friends in church, and she knows that God has a plan for her and her family to be eternal. I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach the Plan of Salvation, which gives us hope for eternal life.  I knew the principles before my mission, but now I really understand why it is so important and so special.  I wish I could share many more experiences with you, and I hope someday I will.

Following tradition I’d like to bear you my testimony in French.

Je sais que ces choses don’t j’ai parlé sont vraies, que nous sommes dans le service de notre Dieu alors que nous servions nos semblables.  Je sais que nous avons beaucoup de boites qui sont moins important.  Je témoigne que Dieu vit, qu’il nous aime, et qu’il veille à chaque instant.  J’aime nom Sauveur de tout mon cœur.  Son expiation est le sacrifice infini qui nous rend auprès de notre Père Céleste.  Finalement je sais que l’église de Jésus-Christ est rétablie aujourd’hui à laquelle nous nous appartenons.  Je remercie Dieu pour ma mission et je dis ces choses au nom de Jésus-Christ, Amen.

Talk #2        La Mesa 2^nd Ward                  Father’s Day June

This is kinda surreal to be speaking to you all- it has been a very long time.  I know most of you, but for those of you who don’t know me, I am Leanna Read, the middle of the Read children. I served my mission in Geneva, Switzerland, French speaking.  In 2011 our mission grew, absorbing the Toulouse mission and became the France, Lyon mission. 

Missions change people- we learn lessons.

I am still trying to wrap my mind around everything that I have learned- and I’m still trying, even struggling to apply these things permanently in my life.

But one lesson still stands out.

We had a conference with Elder Causée, from the area Presidency, and he shared a story which was discussed so many times for the rest of my mission.  Its ironic that now I will be repeating it again.   He told us the story of a pearl.

A renowned jeweler obtains a gorgeous, valuable pearl and decides that such a magnificent pearl needs a magnificent box to show it off.  He needed a box worthy of holding such a valuable jewel.

He has a gorgeous wooden box made with small, intricate carvings and he displays the pearl in the window.

As he stepped back and watches people react to the pearl throughout the day he was pleased to see many smiles and wide eyes.  But he realized, and was devastated to see that the people had lost interest in the pearl because they focused only on the beautifully crafted box.

President Monson talked during the last conference about what is important, and what is trivial.  He taught me that trivial things are not worthless or bad, they are simply things that are not urgent, or are not the bigger picture. 

When we focus on the trivial boxes in our lives, we lose sight of the valuable pearls. 

The biggest Pearl/Box comparison in missionary work is a principle from the manual Preach My Gospel.  Teach People not lessons.

The growth of missionary work is about learning to teach people for their own needs and to view them the way God does.  Every missionary gets nervous about a lesson and wants to be so prepared that they don’t always focus on who they are teaching.  We’re all growing- and even at the end of my mission I wasn’t perfect.  But the lesson is a box- the person we teach is a pearl and the message they need is a pearl.

I remember a woman from my first city- I was still a very new missionary when I met her.

My companion and I were knocking on doors one night and the second door we tried was a very dark apartment.  It wasn’t very late, but it seemed like no one was home, or they would likely be sleeping.  So we were surprised when someone answered.  It was so dark inside, and she only opened the door a couple inches, so I couldn’t even see who we were talking to.  She was on the phone with her sister in the States, and it was simply because we were Americans that she let us in, not knowing who we were or what we wanted.  She just handed the phone to my companion and said, “talk.”

I was still such a new missionary that I didn’t speak French very well, and it was really hard for me to follow conversations.  But every time we taught her I felt so calm and never nervous about what to say.  But more importantly, I loved Anne-Therese.  I knew that she was a most precious pearl- but she had no idea.  One of the most stunning turn arounds of my mission was seeing the light fill her life in a manner of weeks.

I experienced a very similar situation with a woman named Catherine in my last area.

Both of these women are pearls that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

My experiences with these women showed me the value of knowing that we are children of God.

Before my mission I didn’t have a strong or well-founded testimony of the Plan of Salvation.  I knew that it teaches us about those huge life questions, where did we come from, why are we here, and where do we go after we die?

My biggest joy was sharing the message that God loves all of us and he is working every minute to help us all return to Him.

I wish I could remember every little miracle that I experienced on the mission.  Last week in Stake Conference a speaker mentioned that missionaries are so receptive that they see miracles everywhere. It is true- and it taught me that we are not alone- God is always watching over us.

In Lyon, my companion and I were trying to find some new people to teach.  My companion was looking through the ward list when she came across an unfamiliar name and she made a goal to call this sister Barney (pronounced Bar-nay).  For the next couple weeks she always said that she would take some time to make phone calls.  This woman’s name always remained on her mind.  One day the elders called to give us the number of a woman that spotted them and stopped them.  They told us that she was inactive and wanted to come back to church.  When we asked for her name they said ‘its something like Barney (bar-nee).’  My eyes shot up to my companion’s; I couldn’t believe it, but I already knew that it was the same woman.  My companion didn’t make the connection. 

“What?” She asked, confused.

“Barney.” And it hit her.  We both almost broke into tears at the magnitude of this miracle. 

My beautiful companion privately blamed herself (though I never did) for never calling her before, but we were humbly blessed by her being brought by other means to us. 

Her story over the next few weeks includes many more miracles, but in short, the quality of this woman’s life soared higher than she thought possible through the service and the inspiration that she received from coming back to church.  This story would have meant very little to me if we had not seen so many miracles along the way. 

When we open our eyes and pay attention, even to the smallest miracles we will find pearls.  The scripture tells us to lay up for ourselves a treasure in heaven, yea, which is eternal, and which fadeth not away. 

To close I want to share a lesson I learned on the last night of my mission, before reporting to the mission home.  Part of my growth was learning to view people the way God views them.

In the Missionary Training Center my district did an activity where we shared which Christ-like values each of us had.  My district all mostly said that I had charity.  This is not one that I expected to hear at the time.  It really made me ponder about the meaning of charity, and I often did so throughout my mission.  I found it non-coincidental that I finally learned it, at the end.

On my last day of my mission, as we were headed home after a wonderful Sunday dinner, I saw a man approaching us and he looked a little ragged, dirty, and he was holding a cigarette in one hand with an open beer can in the other.  My first thought was, “I really am not in the mood for a weird or inappropriate conversation.  It is my last night and I just want to get home to pack.”  I regret these thoughts.  I regretted them very quickly.  My companions and I were speaking in English, which always draws attention, especially from drunk men. So I quickly elbowed my companion and said, don’t speak in English.  She was already following my line of thought.

Instead of us stopping this stranger, as we do all day long, we walked by.  But this man did something different.  He stopped in front of us and said, “can I tell you something?”

“Oh boy,” I thought “here we go.”

“I just want to say one thing.”

“Ok, what is it?” I asked.

He proceeded to make a rude political comment which I didn’t follow or remember, except that it was about the President.  This happened to be the day that France elected a new President.

This man turned out to be a big surprise.  I get too excited about details, so I will avoid them and simply say that we spoke quite a while with this man and ended up getting his number, giving him a book of Mormon with personal testimonies from all of us that we wrote on the spot, and setting up an appointment with him the next day. Oh, what a pearl he was.

 I will tell you why I will never forget this experience.  In the very beginning of the conversation with this man, I was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of love for this man.  I had no idea who he was, and there wasn’t much reason to like him on first sight, but God decided I needed to take a look through His eyes.  It was so brief, but so powerful.  His love for His son filled MY soul. 

 (ok- honestly, I don’t remember how I introduced these following scriptures, but these are what I shared last- at least part of them, but these are the scriptures I had in my notes)  Alma 26:28-29,30,37

Following tradition I will bear my testimony in French for you. (no need to copy and paste from the first talk, just scroll up.)

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Mission FAQs

These past few months have been so interesting.  I feel so stupid for having never blogged about the fun events and things we did.  I have been even more awful with my journal.  I highly praise anyone who is a steady journal keeper, and I invite everyone who is NOT to join me in a pact to always do better.

I just realized that I haven't even talked a little about the mission.  There is NO way I can share many great details, but I would like to share how I feel about the experience.  People always ask the same questions.  Its not annoying, but it does get kinda old.  So here are the mission FAQs and my answers:
1. How was your mission?
It was amazing and incredible.  It was the best 18 months of my life.
2. How are you adjusting to being home/ what is it like to be home?
It was sometimes still is weird to be home. I still expect people to speak french in public.  I am very used to speaking english with the american and english missionaries, but I still do a double take when my cashier or waitress don't speak french.
So, even though being home is weird, it is really good.
I tried to explain it in many ways, but it was actually a Harry Potter quote that helped me find a simple way to describe how it feels. I came to the conclusion that even though you feel pain of ending, pain of loss, pain of change, you feel like a large weight has been lifted off your shoulders.  Despite the hardship of change, you feel lighter.
But I certainly learned that the transition is easier when you have lots of stuff to do.
3. What was France/Switzerland like?
I LOVED the countries.  I loved getting to know the people.  I very much miss the cultures.  And I can never get the sights out of my mind.  Both countries were BEAUTIFUL!  I would go back as soon as I have money for a ticket.  The big cities don't always look much different from home, but there was still a beauty that you don't find in San Diego.  I would have given anything to serve in a small village, but sisters rarely do. But even in the big cities I had enough beautiful things to see to make me wonder at the foreignness of Europe.  I want to see so much more!
4. So you speak french now. (this is rarely inflected, so it often sounds like a statement)
yeah
5. What are your plans now?
I am not planning on going back to school this year, but hopefully next year, at SDSU.  But I still might sign up for yoga and dance at Grossmont this fall- those are my favorite forms of exercise.
I have never been employed, and I want to take this year to get work experience and make money for school and for having fun.  I mean, how am I ever going to get back to Europe if I don't have money?
3 months home and I now have a small job as a nanny for a 2 year old. Its only about 3 days a week, but it is something!
I also am volunteering at the aquarium, as soon as their computer lets me log in.
This Saturday I will start taking a midday shift at the Temple.  I will be there every week, but I hope it doesn't make me miss any important events, since it IS a saturday.
6. Was it a hard mission?
It certainly had its difficulties.  It was very rare to find true French/Swiss people willing to accept the gospel, but we still had much success because there are a LOT of foreigners in the country.  Half of the population are people from very humble backgrounds, from places where religion is so much more important.  In switzerland there were so many people from south america, which is a place we know that accepts the gospel very well.  In france, you find an incredible number of people from africa, which we know are the most humble, loving people on earth.
Every mission is different, and each has unique difficulties, but there are always more blessings, more positive things to see.  Its not a balance, it is more GOOD than hard.
My mission president said in his homecoming talk that people always say that their mission was a big sacrifice, but he never associated the word sacrifice with his mission.  He was living in the garden of Eden- surrounded by the best scenery, the best people, and the best cheese and chocolate in the world.
I say ditto.

I can't think of any more common questions right now.  If there is something you want to know, post a comment with a question, and I will answer it!

Someday I hope to share all my photos and experiences with everyone who wants to know about my mission.  I am so passionate about it and I think about it all the time.