Who am I?
My name is Nancy Leonard. I was born and raised in Rapid City, SD. I have a BA in Business Management and attended college in Spearfish, SD. I have four brothers and one sister that live all over the country. My parents are deceased and I have no living grandparents. I have been married for 23 years to my best friend – Mark Leonard. We were married in Las Vegas, NV and together we have triplets. Their names are Alaysa Lillian, Christian Whitney, and Zachary Wellington Leonard. We have four dogs (Barnabe, Maxwell, Gracie, and Bagel) and a parrot named Skittles-all have been rescued from shelters to come live in a Leonard forever home. I have lived in Rapid City, SD, Las Vegas, NV, Fort Collins, Co and Lenexa, KS, and Overland Park, KS. We have lived in the Kansas City area for almost 15 years and really have enjoyed raising our family in the Midwest. We love the four seasons Kansas has to offer.
I have worked as a Freight Broker at Freightquote.com for 10 years and really enjoy the constant change in demand of the market. Every day is a new adventure as to what products need to be shipped across the country. I have always been in Sales and enjoy talking with customers daily and developing relationships with customers around the country. There are no two days the same in this industry. My customers keep it fun for me. Before this position I don’t think I even gave any thought to how goods move across the world – how we are all dependent on this. I now have a much better grasp of knowledge and respect for how our economy is reliant on the shipping industry.
What was your Tres Dias Experience?
My experience started when my husband was asked to go to Tres Dias in Nashville, TN. He came home one day and said he met Wes Schlobohm who inspired him to go to this weekend to get a closer relationship with God. My husband and I have been to many types of seminars (class room style, rope courses events, couples retreats, prosperity seminars, and personal development courses). We attended and worked many of these weekends in leadership roles and I felt like I had paid my dues and gotten all I could get out of any type of weekend retreat. We are all doing just fine and I was not ready to get involved in another organization, especially one that does not pay us for our time and effort. I truly was resistance to hearing about Tres Dias. Mark joined Wes for the weekend and upon him arriving home he was so moved by the power of the Holy Spirit that he kept telling me that this was unlike anything seminar we had attended, facilitated or produced. He immediately wanted me to attend and I agreed because of what I was seeing in him.
It was four months later when I got sponsored to attend a weekend in St. Louis, MO. I was told on a Thursday that I was going to meet a group of ladies at a church and take a bus ride to Tres Dias. I thought ‘great just what I wanted to do, ride for four hours and pretend like I was so excited about this.’ I had no expectations of what I was to get, hear, or feel on my weekend. I tried to keep an open mind and let the weekend unfold before me. I had no emotion until Saturday when a groups of ladies shared a few words of their past. It was then that my heart opened up and the tears started to flow. All these beautiful women were touching my heart in a way that allowed me to realize that maybe there is more for me in this if I let it unfold. I was so unaware of the level of support that was around me – I was just trying to take it all in. In a busy family, I give and give and many times my well runs short of getting replenishment. I was also surrounded by love, a genuine love, one I had not felt in a long time from women. These women did not want anything in return and genuinely seemed to really like each other. I felt special with my items that were given to me — such thought and creativity was used.
After I returned home I was still unsure how this weekend was going to change my life. I really felt like we had gotten so much from the weekend but now that it was over, our Tres Dias experience was done. We ran into Wes later in the month and he shared his dream to join Vic Lutrell in starting a Kansas City Tres Dias. Mark and Wes had a few more meetings at a Reunion Group on this and then Wes said that he had to get positions filled and we were the only married couple in this area that both have attended Tres Dias; so we had to be the Pre-Weekend Couple. We said yes, but we had no idea what that entailed. I thought sure, we can greet people and call them ahead of the weekend with details on how to get to the facility with little effort. Little did I know it would be more involved… We have no idea of what a tradition or an essential was, nor what it meant to serve, to truly serve others. We just baby stepped into it and learned as we went.
My first weekend to serve was a stretch in the Kitchen area. I cried every night due to the pain in my feet. I asked God really…. you want me to keep doing this in pain, and I keep hearing… it just gets better and bring a change of shoes. Mark and I have been serving and served on the Board of Directors until 2015. We have not missed a weekend and love watching our community grow.
Why did you serve on the board?
I sat on The Board because I now understood Servant Leadership and want to bring God’s Word to Kansas City. The Lord is removing and revealing stuff in my ‘like an onion’ all the time. The Lord and The Board Family, has brought me a circle of women that I truly call my sisters. The Lord has taught me the value of living each day with him and how to remain in constant prayer and watch the miracles unfold before my eyes and TRUST HIM in all things. I sat on The Board because I rejoice in seeing lives changed and witnessing the seed that was planted here by Vic Lutrell blooming like a spring flower in Kansas City.
I love to watch the new candidates come through the weekend and share what the Lord has revealed to them and how their lives have been impacted and restored. We also get to watch them come back and serve and then step into leadership. I truly believe serving is where I got my “Ah Ha” moment and my awakening of a renewed spirit with God and the Holy Spirit. I now listen to and seek guidance from the Holy Spirit in all areas of my life.
I sat on The Board because The Lord showed me that with my words I can change someone’s life and I really do have something to share with others. When I was asked to be a Rollista, I asked God, “What do I have to share?” “Why would anyone would want to hear about my messed up life and challenges?” He revealed to me that I went through these life events so that I can help others to heal. I have many gifts to offer and the Lord is pleased with me using them for the benefit of His Kingdom. In this world we all need a safe place to heal, feel, grow and return back to love– a love from our heavenly Father. I choose to do that within my Tres Dias Family and through my church home Heartland Community Church in Olathe, KS.
I served on The Board because my life works better with God in it. I have never been with any other organization that I have felt so loved by God, by others, and supported to the highest level. I have been covered with prayer in tough times which has made tough times easier to go through. When I play a bigger game–I see God calling me to bigger things. I believe it was no accident for Wes to have us sit on The Board. Mark and I are truly an example of when you answer the call to serve, God will equip you with the tools to carry out the mission. I want blessing and joy in my life and when I give, it always returns back to me ten-fold.
The number one reason we are here is to Love and share Love with all. Thanks Wes for inviting and nudging us to stand alongside you and honor this Holy Ground in Kansas City with Tres Dias!
Nancy Leonard – St. Louis Tres Dias #19
