What a treat to receive pics from Joe's first baptism in the Philippines! You can read the last blog entry for the narration on the pics. Nothin like a little rainstorm in the Philippines :)
Saturday, May 28, 2011
May Pics
What a treat to receive pics from Joe's first baptism in the Philippines! You can read the last blog entry for the narration on the pics. Nothin like a little rainstorm in the Philippines :)
Monday, May 23, 2011
Magandang Araw!
Dear Family and Friends,
This past week was a great one! Everything went perfectly with our four baptisms and confirmations! It was an awesome experience. As you can see our baptismal font is a river and it's beautiful. The spirit was so strong and there was a smile on every face there. You couldn't hold back the joy. It really was a different feeling but it was so great. It was especially touching to see the gratitude and happiness of Sister Tanedo. She spoke at the baptism and her remarks were perfect. For her it isn't just about the baptism of her husband. It's about becoming an eternal family. Tatay and Sister Tanedo have already started their family history and are now counting the time till they can go to the temple to become sealed as a family and perform ordinances for their ancestors. It helped me realize just how blessed I am to have the family that I have and to have been born into the church. This experienced also helped me realize how important it is to focus our missionary work on families. We need to try and find and teach families. The gospel blesses families in so many ways and only through the gospel can we live with our loved ones again.
This week I had another great experience. One of the things I have struggled with these past few weeks have been trying to recognize and follow the promptings of the spirit. The spirit is absolutely essential in every phase of missionary work. This past week I realized that I had been relying to much on myself, my own skills and what I thought should be done rather than seeking the Lord's guidance through the spirit for the things I should say and do. One morning we were on our way to our first appointment (Hinckly, who is the farthest from our apartment) and I decided to pray. I was sitting on the back of a noisy bumpy trike it wasn't quite peaceful or reverent but I prayed really really really hard to have the spirit with me that day as I taught so I would know what to say and do. Our next teaching experience was great. I taught the restoration and as I shared the story of Joseph Smith and bore my testimony about him I felt the spirit like I hadn't felt teaching for a while. The words came to my mouth. I taught the restoration a little differently than I usually do but it was what my investigators needed to here. I felt the spirit and I know that my investigators felt the spirit too. This experience taught me that to have the spirit as my companion I need to plead with the Lord for guidance. I also need to be humble enough to recognize the promptings of the spirit and follow them even if they don't make sense. I have a feeling that this is something I'm going to have to work hard for throughout my mission.
This week I came across a scripture in Mathew that really stood out to me. mathew 16:25 "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it". This scripture applies all people. When we are focused on ourselves and our own personal needs we can't can't become true disciples of Christ. When we loose ourselves in the service of others we find out more about ourselves and about our Savior. When we serve others we are happy and we can really get to know our Savior.
I don't know what things were like this past week in the states but here there were tons of people that said the world was going to end on May 21 and 6:00. The world didn't end but it was actually really funny because at about 5:30 a big storm rolled in. I laughed.
As far as the pictures go. The first three are from our baptisms and the last one was taken last night. When it rains in the Philippines it really rains! It actually feels really good! Last night it started to rain right after we started the hour and a half walk home. Thankfully a nice man on a trike picked us up halfway home so we didn't have to walk the full way in the rain. However we were already as wet as wet could be! I actually love the rain here so no complaints on my part!
Fight the Fight Faith
Mahal Kita
Love Elder Leishman
This past week was a great one! Everything went perfectly with our four baptisms and confirmations! It was an awesome experience. As you can see our baptismal font is a river and it's beautiful. The spirit was so strong and there was a smile on every face there. You couldn't hold back the joy. It really was a different feeling but it was so great. It was especially touching to see the gratitude and happiness of Sister Tanedo. She spoke at the baptism and her remarks were perfect. For her it isn't just about the baptism of her husband. It's about becoming an eternal family. Tatay and Sister Tanedo have already started their family history and are now counting the time till they can go to the temple to become sealed as a family and perform ordinances for their ancestors. It helped me realize just how blessed I am to have the family that I have and to have been born into the church. This experienced also helped me realize how important it is to focus our missionary work on families. We need to try and find and teach families. The gospel blesses families in so many ways and only through the gospel can we live with our loved ones again.
This week I had another great experience. One of the things I have struggled with these past few weeks have been trying to recognize and follow the promptings of the spirit. The spirit is absolutely essential in every phase of missionary work. This past week I realized that I had been relying to much on myself, my own skills and what I thought should be done rather than seeking the Lord's guidance through the spirit for the things I should say and do. One morning we were on our way to our first appointment (Hinckly, who is the farthest from our apartment) and I decided to pray. I was sitting on the back of a noisy bumpy trike it wasn't quite peaceful or reverent but I prayed really really really hard to have the spirit with me that day as I taught so I would know what to say and do. Our next teaching experience was great. I taught the restoration and as I shared the story of Joseph Smith and bore my testimony about him I felt the spirit like I hadn't felt teaching for a while. The words came to my mouth. I taught the restoration a little differently than I usually do but it was what my investigators needed to here. I felt the spirit and I know that my investigators felt the spirit too. This experience taught me that to have the spirit as my companion I need to plead with the Lord for guidance. I also need to be humble enough to recognize the promptings of the spirit and follow them even if they don't make sense. I have a feeling that this is something I'm going to have to work hard for throughout my mission.
This week I came across a scripture in Mathew that really stood out to me. mathew 16:25 "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it". This scripture applies all people. When we are focused on ourselves and our own personal needs we can't can't become true disciples of Christ. When we loose ourselves in the service of others we find out more about ourselves and about our Savior. When we serve others we are happy and we can really get to know our Savior.
I don't know what things were like this past week in the states but here there were tons of people that said the world was going to end on May 21 and 6:00. The world didn't end but it was actually really funny because at about 5:30 a big storm rolled in. I laughed.
As far as the pictures go. The first three are from our baptisms and the last one was taken last night. When it rains in the Philippines it really rains! It actually feels really good! Last night it started to rain right after we started the hour and a half walk home. Thankfully a nice man on a trike picked us up halfway home so we didn't have to walk the full way in the rain. However we were already as wet as wet could be! I actually love the rain here so no complaints on my part!
Fight the Fight Faith
Mahal Kita
Love Elder Leishman
Monday, May 16, 2011
Jubilee!
Dear family and friends,
This past week has been a good one! This upcoming week we have 4 baptisms and I am sooooooo excited! Tatay Tanedo, Nicko and Joshua Haro, and Rolando Organista will all be baptized on may 19. It's going to be a great day. They are all very prepared to be baptised. Besides these four investigators we have a lot of other investigators. The problem is most of them aren't progressing or are having a difficult time following commitments. One of these investigators is named Arturo Lenuza. He is awesome and pays a lot of attention during the lessons and has great comments. The problem right now is I think he is being more converted to us(Elder Pioquinto and I) rather than the gospel. He has expressed his concern that when we leave he doesn't know if he'll have the desire to go to church. Right now our focus with him is helping him gain a stronger testimony in the gospel and find effective fellowshippers in the ward to give him support. This past saturday there were Jubilee Celebrations all around the Philippines celebrating the 50 year aniversery of missionary work in the Philippines. President Puzey encouraged us all to attend. It was a great experience to go to the Tarlac Stake Jubilee and watch the primary, youth and young adults participate in cultural songs, dances, clothes, special numbers and watch some slide shows about the growth of the church in the Philippines since the first missionaries started their work. It was an awesome experience. Throughout the Jubilee thought about lucky I am to be here among these great wonderful people continuing the great work of the Lord here in the Philippines. I also had a very strong feeling about how great my responsibility as a missionary is here. I have seen how much of a difference the missionaries make here. In my area where there isn't a big church foundation the members look to the missionaries for everything. It has been very humbling to see how much of an impact we make and makes you realize that members and nonmembers see everything you do (so everything you do needs to me in done in obedience and diligence to the Lord)
This past week I had an exchange with one of our zone leaders which was a great experience. It was great to see another missionary's style of teaching and get good feedback about how I can improve as a missionary. One thing I learned was the importance of asking questions in effective teaching. For me I find my self talking too much and teaching too little. Talking isn't teaching. As we ask effective questions it helps investigators think about the principles we teach and find answers to their questions. It also helps me as a missionary be able to better discern their needs, concerns and understanding. I still have a lot of progression to make with my teaching skills but I have seen some great things happen as I have tried to teach more and talk less.
This past week I recieved a letter from Elder Tomasi which was great!! Elder Tomasi has to be one of the greatest people ever! He didn't have a church email when he came so his new email is eldertomasi@gmail.com. If any of you have a spare minute or two to drop him an email I'm sure it would mean a lot to him. In his letter he expressed his gratitude for all the support he recieved from all you while we were in the mtc. He is doing great!
This week is the 4 month mark of my mission..... It's crazy how fast these four months have gone by. It makes me realize how much I need to make everyday count.
Mahal Kita
Elder Leishman
Fight the Fight of Faith
This past week has been a good one! This upcoming week we have 4 baptisms and I am sooooooo excited! Tatay Tanedo, Nicko and Joshua Haro, and Rolando Organista will all be baptized on may 19. It's going to be a great day. They are all very prepared to be baptised. Besides these four investigators we have a lot of other investigators. The problem is most of them aren't progressing or are having a difficult time following commitments. One of these investigators is named Arturo Lenuza. He is awesome and pays a lot of attention during the lessons and has great comments. The problem right now is I think he is being more converted to us(Elder Pioquinto and I) rather than the gospel. He has expressed his concern that when we leave he doesn't know if he'll have the desire to go to church. Right now our focus with him is helping him gain a stronger testimony in the gospel and find effective fellowshippers in the ward to give him support. This past saturday there were Jubilee Celebrations all around the Philippines celebrating the 50 year aniversery of missionary work in the Philippines. President Puzey encouraged us all to attend. It was a great experience to go to the Tarlac Stake Jubilee and watch the primary, youth and young adults participate in cultural songs, dances, clothes, special numbers and watch some slide shows about the growth of the church in the Philippines since the first missionaries started their work. It was an awesome experience. Throughout the Jubilee thought about lucky I am to be here among these great wonderful people continuing the great work of the Lord here in the Philippines. I also had a very strong feeling about how great my responsibility as a missionary is here. I have seen how much of a difference the missionaries make here. In my area where there isn't a big church foundation the members look to the missionaries for everything. It has been very humbling to see how much of an impact we make and makes you realize that members and nonmembers see everything you do (so everything you do needs to me in done in obedience and diligence to the Lord)
This past week I had an exchange with one of our zone leaders which was a great experience. It was great to see another missionary's style of teaching and get good feedback about how I can improve as a missionary. One thing I learned was the importance of asking questions in effective teaching. For me I find my self talking too much and teaching too little. Talking isn't teaching. As we ask effective questions it helps investigators think about the principles we teach and find answers to their questions. It also helps me as a missionary be able to better discern their needs, concerns and understanding. I still have a lot of progression to make with my teaching skills but I have seen some great things happen as I have tried to teach more and talk less.
This past week I recieved a letter from Elder Tomasi which was great!! Elder Tomasi has to be one of the greatest people ever! He didn't have a church email when he came so his new email is eldertomasi@gmail.com. If any of you have a spare minute or two to drop him an email I'm sure it would mean a lot to him. In his letter he expressed his gratitude for all the support he recieved from all you while we were in the mtc. He is doing great!
This week is the 4 month mark of my mission..... It's crazy how fast these four months have gone by. It makes me realize how much I need to make everyday count.
Mahal Kita
Elder Leishman
Fight the Fight of Faith
Monday, May 9, 2011
Happy Mother's Day!
Family and Friends,
It has been another great week here in Burgos. It was so great to be able to call my family on mother's day. It felt really short but it was great to hear everyone's voices and know that everything is going well. This past week we gained a new investigator named Adonis Benosa. Adonis is in his late 30's and his wife and children are members. His 6 year old daughter passed away from leukemia last week and I actually dedicated her grave. That was definately a experience were I felt very inadequate and unqualified. While the death of his daughter is very sad it has been a great experience to teach him about how the Gospel blesses families and the plan of Salvation. I have seen the gospel bring him comfort already and he has a strong desire to be united as a family. Right now his baptismal goal date is 6/11/11 and with the support of his family and his desire to know the truth I have a really good feeling that he will continue to progress. Tatay Remegio, Nicko, Joshua and Rolando are doing great with their preparation for baptism. Tatay Tanedo is great as always. This past week while visiting him he talked about his experiences with other churches and there was always something that he didn't like about them. He said that things feel right in the lds church. The things we do and teach follow the teachings of Christ. Right now all of my investigators have had some experience with religion in their life. The thing that is true of all of our progressing investigators is that as they follow commitments and learn about the gospel things feel "right". It's sometimes hard for investigators to recognize these feelings of things being right as the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost doesn't always bring powerful strong feelings but when we feel the spirit and recieve answers to our prayers things feel "right". Right now one of the biggest challenges for our investigators is church attendance. Most of them read the Book of Mormon, pray and follow most of their commitments but when Sunday comes they don't attend church. This week we are focusing on helping our investigators learn the importance of church attendance and helping them make their own plans to attend church.
One thing I have learned to value so far on mission is planning! Before my mission I wasn't a big planner but it is so effective and necessary. Our missionary days are crammed full! There is always something we need to do and it feels like there is never enough time to do it all. Effective planning leads to more efficient work and more efficient days. When you plan well you are able to work smarter and work harder. This past week we made some extra efforts with back up plans because we had had some appointments fall through and due to these efforts we taught thirty lessons in one week. This is the most lessons in a week Elder Pioquinto has taught his whole mission! They were meaningful lessons too! It was a good week. I pray that we can continue to progress in the work.
As far as the pictures go the first is of the famous Tatay Tanedo! The second is a group of brothers that we are teaching (two of them are getting baptized on may 19). The third is my zone this morning in Capas.
Mahal Kita
Elder Leishman
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Hot and Happy :)
Dear Family and Friends,
I am pleased to announce, that I will be staying in Burgos this transfer will Elder Pioquinto. That means that I will stay in Burgos till at the the end of July because I will have my follow up trainer in Burgos too. What a blessing it will be to spend at least 4 1/2 months here! It's hard to believe that I've already done with my first transfer! It went so fast. I have a feeling that things will only get faster. This past transfer definitely wasn't an easy experience for me but it was a great one. Some of the important things I learned this past transer have been to trust the Lord. If we do our part the Lord will do his in his own time. For me I was really impatient with myself and my progress with the language and with my teaching skills through most of the transfer. I went through periods of being overwhelmed with all the things I need to learn. However through it all I learned that becoming an effective missionary is a process that doesn't happen all at once. The important thing is taking things one at time and striving to get better everyday. Having a smile through it all helps significantly! It has been a real humbling experience. The journey is more important than the destination. Even though this transfer was very difficult at first, I wouldn't trade the experiences I have had for anything.
This past week was a good week in Burgos. Elder Pioquinto let me lead the area in case he was to be transfered and it was actually way fun. We have 4 investigators that are waited to be baptized and we gained some great investigators. We found the Dupitas family who was taught by the missionaries back in 2001 but were never baptized. Despite not being baptized many family members have continued to read the Book of Mormon through all the years and already have a strong testimony of it and of Jospeh Smith. Jojo is 19 years old and his knowledge of the Book of Mormon is amazing. He wants to be baptized and is a potential missionary. The teaching experience very different with this family. Elder Pioquinto and I are striving to teach to their needs in this unique situation to help them come unto Christ. I am so excited to teach the Dupitas!!! Tatay Tanedo, Nico and Joshua Haro, and Rolando continue to progress at a fast rate and are very prepared for their upcoming baptisms. I love teaching Tatay Tanedo. Everytime we teach Tatay Tanedo he ends up teaching me something. He states the truths of the Gospel that he learns in ways that I have never thought of before. Watching others come unto Christ is a great experience! This past week we also were able to teach some great less active member lessons. Many of the less actives here have a strong testimony of the Gospel. Most of the time sharing a spiritual thought with them helps them feel the spirit and reminds them of the joys the Gospel brings to their lives.
So I love Preach my Gospel. It is the best. If you don't have a copy in your home I recommend getting one! It is an awesome reference for so many gospel things and the principles in it don't just apply to missionaries. Also I will probablly reference a few times in emails. Also mom and dad, I need a copy of my mission call letter. A note for the Davies- don't worry, there are lots of crackers in the Philippines!
Mahal Kita
Elder Leishman
Fight the fight of Faith
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