September 14, A New Chapel in Burgos!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been another wonderful week in Burgos! This past week had many highlights including Clarence being baptized and attending church in our new Chapel! So first the baptism was beautiful. We had a lot of support from the primary come out and a priest in our ward who was present at all our the lessons for Clarence was able to baptize him. Everytime we have a baptism I really feel the spirit. There is such a real joy I feel as I witness or perform baptisms that is hard to describe. We have 2 more investigators that have a baptismal date for September 24. They are Nora, and her daughter Ronalyn. Their conversion has been awesome. For the first 2 weeks of teaching them they didn't participate much or keep their commitments but then one day there was a change. You could see it in their faces. This change came because they felt for themselves the Holy Ghost through prayer. They know that this is the true church. They also have made great sacrifices to attend church and keep their commitments. They are excited for their baptism and I pray that they will continue to progress.

Yesterday we had church in our new Chapel and it was an awesome experience. The new chapel is on the opposite end or our area in comparison with our old meeting house. It actually is in Lawac not Burgos so the name of the branch and my area is probablly going to change. It works out a lot better because of the way transportation works in our area. Yesterday we had a lot of less active members and investigators who are close to the new chapel attend church for the first time. We were able to meet with some of them after and they all had great experiences. The new chapel is beautiful and our members finally feel like they have a real home. They have moved a lot of times in the past 10 years and are so excited to finally have a chapel, not a tent, or a house, but a chapel. The new chapel has helped spark the excited for missionary work in the members here. They are not only excited to do missionary work but also to help rescue less active members and help them become active again. Yesterday was just a great spiritual day.

This past week there were a few verses I read in my personal study that I really loved. Alma 53:20-21 about the Strippling Warriors, "And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all - they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted. 21- Yea, they were men on truth and soberness, for they had been taught the keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him." The strippling warriors are a great example to all of us of the type of people we ought to be. I really like the phrase "they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted". This helped me realize the importance of be constant in our obedience to God and in fulfilling our responsibilities. We need to be true at all times. As a missionary I need to be a missionary in all I say and do 24/7. For us in our daily lives we need to strive to be true to our covenants and to who we are as children of God.

Before I end this email I just got to say that I love Elder Tating. I am very blessed to have him as a companion. We are becoming such great friends and we learn and grow together everyday. We are able to be obedient and work hard as a team. Because of that the work is more enjoyable and we are able to have fun and laugh together. It is so important to be unified and have love in your companionship. Missionary work really starts in the companionship.

I really love this work. I love the people, I love the Lord, I love being a missionary.

Fight the Fight of Faith

mahal ko kayo

Love Elder Leishman

August 29

Dear Family and friends,

As you probably guessed it has been another great week in Burgos. It wasn't without challenges but it was great! This past week we had a mission tour where the new area 70 in the Philippines Elder Ardern and his wife came and visited the mission. Elder Ardern is from New Zeland, has a great accent, and is just awesome. Our zone conference with him was such an incredible experience. I think my favorite message from Elder Ardern was about the scriptures. He said, "The Lord packs more into the scriptures than we unpack". He then went through his own personal scriptures study from that morning and how he tried to unpack the verses. It was awesome. Since then my personal scripture study has completely changed. I'm not thinking so much about how many pages I'm reading or how close I am to finishing the Book of Mormon but how I what can I get out of what I read. By doing this I have been amazed with the things I have learned and found. There are treasures on every single page of the Book of Mormon. It's up to us to unpack them. I have found that the Book of Mormon is a powerful source of personal revelation. Often times we find the answers to our prayers in the Book of Mormon. Sister Ardern talked about how we need to "match our message" through obedience, conduct, language and appearance. This was a good reminder for me that I am a missionary of Jesus Christ. I need to represent him in all I do. There are unseen eyes that see the things we as missionaries do so we really need to match our message.

Yesterday was my last sunday of church in Burgos because this week we have stake conference and then on September 11 we will start at our new chapel! I don't know how much I have told you about the new chapel but I'm so excited! Right now our meeting house has literally been a house that the church rented. I have grown to love our little crowded meeting house but I am also so excited to have a real chapel in our area. The member are super excited to. This new chapel is doing awesome things for the work right now because it is in a different area than our meeting house and it's by the main road so everyone sees it and has questions. We also have a lot of progressing investigators close to new church who are preparing for baptism, including Nora, her daughter and the Alcantara Family (Mayann'es family). Our branch continues to grow and become stronger and it makes me so happy!

Here in the Philippines investigators often describe the spirit as "magaan", or "magaan sa loob", which means light (as in not heavy). They say that the heaviness inside them leaves and they literally feel light. I have really thought about this. I love this explaination of the spirit because it is so true. When we spirit isn't with us, the world can really weigh us down. Our sins can make us feel heavy too. Through repentance and through the spirit the things of the world leave us and we come closer to our Heavenly Father. We feel magaan.

This past week we had one teaching experience that really stood out to me. We have an investigator with some real Law of Chastity concerns. Elder Tating and I planned really well for this lesson. When we showed up to the teaching appointment I felt a prompting to change our approach. We did and our lesson ended up being very different from our plan. However is was just what our investigator needed. Through the whole experience I literally felt guided by the Holy Ghost. I felt like the questions I asked and the things I said didn't come from me but from the Holy Ghost. It was a powerful lesson and afterwords Elder Tating said he felt the same way. Our investigator commited to live the Law of Chastity. He knows it's a commandment of God and it's what he needs to do. I also learned the importance of being bold. Not overbearing, but being bold with love. For me not beating around the bush. As we are straightforward with our commitments with our investigators we can show are love for them and invite them to repent. Really it all comes back to love. The gospel is about Love, about our Heavenly Father's and Christ's love for us. I know that Christ loves us all more than we can understand.

Well I love you all. Mahal ko kayo.

Fight the Fight of Faith!

Love Elder Leishman