A Wet Week In Burgos! 10/2

Dear Family and friends,

This past week has been an exciting one! This past week we had 2 bagyos come through central luzon, which means lot's a rain! This past Thursday Elder Tating and I headed into Tarlac so I could conduct an exchange with a member of my district. The rain was really coming down but we thought it would be all good. When we got to the apartment of the missionaries in Tarlac we got a text from the zone leaders telling us we were now in level 2 which meant we couldn't leave our apartments. I ended up staying the day and night in Tarlac and it was a pretty impressive storm. Not going to lie, I really didn't like not working but I got some really good study in. That was the first Bagyo. This past saturday we had another one but luckily the wind wasn't as strong in Burgos so we were able to work. Right now there are a lot of areas in our mission that are flooded. There are some missionaries sleeping in Chapels, but luckily Burgos is higher in Elevation so there are currently no problems with flooding. About a month ago President and Sister Martino really stressed getting a 72 hour kit and I know that for many missionaries it was a great blessing. It helped me realize the importance of Following the council of President Martino.

Besides the weather this past week has been a really good one! Yesterday we had a lesson with Brother Adonis which was awesome. Adonis is the father of 6 children and is the only non-member (besides the children not of baptism age) in his family. We started teaching him last april and teaching him has been a joy for these past few months. He has struggled a little bit with his testimony of Jospeh Smith and the Gospel because he hasn't had some great, wonderful, powerful experience. However last night he told us that he knows that this is the true church and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I asked him how he knew that and he explained that over time as he read the Book of Mormon, prayed and was taught by us he felt that things were right. "Dahan dahan" or a little bit by a little bit he has felt that this is the true church and he as gained a testimony. This was such a great thing to hear from Him. He has made big sacrifices to attend church, and keep commitments and he wants so badly to be unified with his family. This was a good reminder for me that conversion doesn't happen all at once, neither does gaining a testimony. Conversion is a process of change that usually happens a little bit at a time, but it takes effort on our part and on the part investigators. I like the example of a seed that Alma used in Alma 32. The seed doesn't become a tree with fruit in an instant. There is a process of growth before the tree has delicious fruit. This experience helped me learn how I can help other investigators recognize the spirit and gain a testimony. Side note: Adonis has a baptismal date of October 15!

This past Saturday was a bagyo day as I mention earlier and saying it rained is an understatement. Despite the rain we worked and had a great day! We used umbrellas but it still didn't take to long till we were drenched head to foot. One of the things we were able to do was offer our umbrellas to those who got caught without them when the rain came. It was a great opportunity for little service. Little acts of service make a big difference. It was a good reminder to me to always search for opportunites to serve. No matter how busy I am, I always need to look for opportunites to go about doing good.

For us here in the Philippines, general conference is this upcoming weekend and I am very, very excited! I really love general conference and am trying to prepare myself to listen to words of the prophets and receive personal revelation. I was glad to hear some good things about conference in your emails and am really looking forward to it.

My favorite quote I read this week is from Jospeh Smith,"When the Lord commands, do it". I could go on for a while about this, but it is a great definition of obedience.

I love you all! I love the work and I love being a missonary!

mahal ko kayo

Love Elder Leishman