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