Frog Adobo

Dear loved ones,

As usual we had another amazing week in Burgos. On saturday Jennifer was baptized and it was perfect. Her brother Cesar (a recent convert) was able to baptize her. The morning was beautiful and the spirit was so strong! It made me so happy to see Cesar baptize his sister. The gospel really is for families. This saturday we have two more baptisms. One is Richieanne daughter of a recent convert and the other is her cousin Mayanne. I don't know if I talked about this last week but we recieved a portable dvd player to use in our companionship study and for the new 12 week training program. We only use it to watch the preach my gospel dvds. I have absolutley loved using it in companionship study. It is such a big help and has helped Elder Tating and I learn how to improve our teaching and how to become better missionaries. When watching the short segments I have received promptings about how we can help our specific investigators. I am thankful that we can use technology to help the work of the Lord move forward. This past week one of our focuses in our study was on finding. We focused on finding in our area this week and had great success. We have 5 new investigators 2 who attended church and many more potential investigators. We also received 3 referals from members. Right now our real enemy time. We don't have enough time to teach all the people we want to. This past week has strengthened my faith that God prepares his children to receive the gospel. He will lead us to them or lead them to us. We always need to be finding.

So this past week I ate frog twice. It's a lot like chicken with a lot of little bones. The second time I was the one who cooked it and not going to lie, my frog adobo was pretty amazing. Masarap to say the least! My cooking is actually getting pretty good. I am learning how to cook a lot of Filipino food and most of the time it's not half bad. I have had a couple epic failures but they were funny so everything was good.

As far as the pictures go two are from the baptism. One is of Elder Tating and I in the poring rain. Elder Tating's umbrella got locked in the church so we didn't have umbrellas and the rain started to pore just as we started our 1 and a half walk from from Labney. We were very wet, but it was a really funny walk home. The last picture is of a member and I in our branch president's tricycle on the way to the baptism. Don't worry my companion was in the tricycle too:)

Sorry this letter is so short. I love you all. I love Burgos and I really just love it all.

Mahal ko kayo

Love Elder Leishman

Ribbbit

Dear Family and Friends,


This past week has been great! I want to begin my letter with something I am learned this past week. This past week I have realized more than ever the importance of members in missionary work. This past week many of Elder Pioquinto and I's efforts with the members have brought forth great opportunities. Since the first day I came into the field Elder Pioquinto has stressed the importance of your relationships with members. This doesn't mean spend four hours at their house eating dinner and talking, it means building relationships of trust as you are friendly, try to serve them, try and help strengthen their testimony's and share your excitement about missionary work. This past week I really tried to increase my efforts with the members active and inactive. Through the great members in our branch this past weeek we recieved many referrals, got 7 new investigators through members and increased attendance in our branch through effective fellowshippers and our efforts with inactive members. When members help with missionary work they are an automatic support system for the investigators and it helps the members be excited about the gospel. It has been awesome to see how missionary work can flourish with the help of the members.


This transfer we won't have any baptisms but we have many investigators that are really progressing right now. May has soooo much potential to be a month of harvest. I mentioned one of these investigators last week. Tatay Tanedo is amazing. I love this 67 year old man. His desire to follow Christ and faith are a great example to me. He has been drinking Coffee everyday for years and he quit drinking it the day we taught his the Word of Wisdom. He read out of the Book of Mormon and restoration poleyeto everyday. He went to the church for the first time and he prayed for us in a lesson for the first time. His progress is awesome. One of the best parts about teaching tatay is seeing how happy it makes sister Tanedo to see tatay change and accept the gospel. The gospel blesses families and is blessing the Tanedo Family.


There are four pictures attached and I'll explain them to you. The first one is me at the baptism of a member girl in the Burgos Branch. The third picture is of the group of us from the branch at the Baptism. Here in Burgos our baptismal font is a river and it's beautiful! Elder Pioquinto and I were speakers at the baptism. The second picture is Elder Pioquinto and I at our weekly CSP (community service project). Most weeks we are out with a machete clearing out yards of members or similar work. I love a good csp. They are a great opportunity to serve and get to know members and investigators better. The last picture was taken at our apartment. After we finished our nightly planning session I went into the kitchen to turn on the water and something moved. It turned out to be my buddy the frog. He was super dry and had someone gotten into our apartment while we were gone. I still don't know how but it was pretty funny.


I really am beginning to love it here. I love the food, I love the people, I love the cold showers(not really.... but they are getting a lot better!), I love the work, I love the members and I just love it all. I would love Tagalog a lot more if I could speak it well but slowly but surely I'm making progress.


The lastly I want to share my favorite verse from this past weeks personal study Alma 57:21 "Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them". We all need to strive to be like the strippling warriors. Be exactly obedient, rely on our faith and remember who we are the teaching of our parents. I love the last part about what their mothers have taught them. Our mothers play such a big influence in on our lives and the people we become. We need to honor them, love them, and like the armies of Helaman remember and trust in their teachings so we can become strong disciples of Christ.
Love
Elder Leishman