Leah

Just heard tonight that our dear, sweet Leah has passed away.
She has been in and out of the hospital since December...never quite able to recover her health.
Leah has been like a second mother to me since we moved into this ward....(she reminds me so much of my own mom...her sweet disposition, mannerisms, the way she talks, her amazing faith....I've told her several times what a blessing she has been in my life...then when she became my visiting teacher, we became very close.
I could write a whole book about what an amazing visiting teacher she has been. If you looked in the dictionary for a description of a perfect visiting teacher, you would see her picture there.
She would call several days before they were going to visit...(usually within the first two weeks of the month). If she couldn't reach me, she would leave a sweet message, then call back again and again until she got a hold of me.
She has had a few different partners while she was my visiting teacher. All of them wonderful too...but I knew it was Leah that made sure all of their ladies were visited.
When Leah came into your home, she brought the sweetest spirit... she is one of those people who let the light and love of Christ flow from their countenance.
She always asked about each one in my family, and how we were all doing. She wanted to hear about how KC was doing and always had something sweet to say about the service he is giving.
I always got the visiting teaching message, either from her or her partner. You could tell she had put a lot of thought into the message...didn't just read it, but gave her own thoughts about it. I remember several times we would all be in tears as she bore her sincere testimony.
She was a great listener...someone who was easy to talk to and open up to.
She was always bringing me sweet little gifts... I loved when she would bring me things from her garden. After she brought me a spaghetti squash one year, I knew I wanted to grow some too...and I did! She was very generous with everything from her garden and with her gardening knowledge too...
A few years ago, she brought me a beautiful picture of Christ for my birthday...It's hanging in the living room...my favorite!

Leah would never let a month go by without visiting me. When her health started to fail, she would still try to come visiting. The last time she came, as she was going down the stairs, she lost her balance and fell. I was standing right at the door, but couldn't reach her in time. Anne and I got her up and into the car, I felt so bad for her. You could see she was just feeling frustrated and sad that her body wasn't letting her do what she wanted to anymore.
After that she called me to do her visiting teaching..."I'm so sorry I'm not going to be able to visit you this month... this call will have to do until I'm back on my feet..." what an amazing example!
She was always the one who was serving others, so when it was her time to be served, it was tough for her to let that happen. She didn't want people to bring meals in to her or have help around the house, but people just loved her so much, they would just do it anyway.
Everyone loved visiting Leah...instead of you going there cheer her up and make her feel better, she always made you feel better instead. Amazing humble lady. I feel so blessed to have had her be a part of my life.
I am happy for her to be with her dear Bernard again... she often spoke of how much she misses him and looked forward to their reunion. She is one of those people who you know without a doubt is going straight to heaven... I'll have to tell my mom about her...I bet they would be best of friends when they meet in heaven.