Mission Tour with Elder Nelson! May 27

Dear Friends and Family, This week has been quite the week, the highlight of the week by far was our Mission tour with Elder Russell M. Nelson! This was the first time that the entire mission has met for a conference so I was able to see all of my batch and old missionary friends. However the best part of the conference of Course was hearing from Elder Nelson. We were all seated in our seats reading the scriptures when we came in and then we were all able to shake his hand. He was on a really tight schedule so our conference wasn't very long. We first heard from a member of the Area preisdency Elder Neilson and his wife who talks were both amazing but my favorite was Elder Nelson's talk. The spirit was so strong in that room and I listened in awe so the things he said. He gave us some opportunites to ask him questions and the way he answered the questions and his Gospel Knowledge is just on a whole other plane. Right now I want to share some of my favorite things that he shared with us. He talked about the way we look at people and this what he said, "We see what we see, but beyond what you see, see what they can be". He talked about how we need see people for their potential not just as who they are at that moment. He also talked about how the future potential of people is contingent on their encounters with us. He shared a story about meeting a chinese man in china and seeing him in white baptismal clothes. Many years later that man was baptized. This has helped me change the way I now look at people. When I see them I picture them at baptism or in the temple. This has also helped me a lot as I have worked with members of my zone. I seeing the great potential they ahve and it just makes me excited. I feel a greater love for people and am that much more excited about missionary work. Elder Nelso also talked about how it's important to find common ground while teaching people like Ammon did with kind lamoni in Alma 18. That has helped me a lot to. He said so many things that I want to share you. He talked about what a prophet of God see's when he looks in our eyes and he also talked about our families while we are on missions and the blessings they will recieve (D&C31). It was just an amazing experience. I feel truely changed because of the spirit I felt, the promptings I felt, the things I heard and the revelation I recieved. The spirit is just a wonderful thing and I am so thankful for it. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to be a part of our misison tour I hope that one day I can share more of what I learned with you. This past week we also saw some great success in our work. Our church attendance yesterday was 104 which is the highest I have ever seen it and it's all because of our rescue efforts with the less-actives. I really feel like we are establishing the church in San Jose by helping priesthood holders come back and by helping families get to the temple. This past week we taught a lot of very spiritual lessons but some of my favorite were to the De Dios family, who I have talked about in Previous weeks. We taught them about tithing and it while we were teaching it they talked about how most of the time money is really tight for them. Brother Dexter then told us that he realized that things were hard financially because he hadn't payed his tithing in 10 years. It was really cool to see the spirit testify to him that if he paid his tithing the Lord will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings on their family. Right now Brother Dexter is getting ready to be ordained as a priest so he can baptize his two boys this upcoming june 9! I love this family so much and love seeing them live the Gospel. Things are going really good here in San Jose. Elder Revillo and I are working well together and I know that this is going to be a great transfer. The zone is also really excited and we have a lot of good missionaries here serving in San Jose right now. June is going to be a month of Miracles! The pictures I attached are all from the conference. The first picture is of my MTC Batch. The sisters in my batch go home the first week of August which is weird to think about! The second picture is of Elder Tomasi and I. It was so good to see and be with Elder Tomasi. The first time I saw the entire mission was at transfer announcements so it was good to see him again! I really really love Elder Tomasi! The last picture is the Burgos family tree. All of us there besides Elder Pioquinto got trained and trained in Burgos. The Elder With the Red hair is my great, great, grandson in the mission! It was also really good to see Elder Pioquinto again. This is his last transfer and I probablly won't see him again before he goes home. I love being a missionary! I love San Jose! Mahal ko kayo Love Elder LEishman Fight the Good Fight of Faith!

Transfers! May 21

Dear Friends and Family, THis past week has been another good week! This letter is going to be a little bit short so I apologize. This past week we had transfers and Elder Adao transffered. It's always hard to have your companion leave. Elder Adao and I worked really well as a team and were on the same page about a lot of things. Over the past two transfers we became like best friends. Elder Adao was sad to leave but that's the life of a missionary. My new companion is Elder Revillo from General Santos Mindanao. He is the nephew of Charlie and Carlos Revillo, two of Grandpa Lolo's missionaries. This is his first transfer as a zone leader and I can already tell he is a good missionary. Whenever you get a new companion is the mission there is always a lot of little adjustments you ahve to make in order to be unified with your companion and to invite the Holy Ghost into your companionship. These past few days have been good and we are off to a good start. I am really really excited for this transfer. We have a lot of really progressing investigators, and families we are working with right now. We also ahve some families preparing for the temple which is very exciting! THis past week we had 6 investigators at church again and the De Dios family is making awesome progress! I am loving my area right now. This past week we still got punted a lot but we have put a lot of effort in to our finding and am having some good success with our new investigators. I am thankful for revelation in this work. The holy Ghost is key! Well my email time is up. Sorry my email was so short! Next week I'll make it longer! I love this work and I love being a missionary! mahal ko kayo Love Elder Leishman

Happy Mother's Day~ May 14

Dear Family and Friends, It was awesome to talk to this morning on the phone! I really enjoyed it! It was fun to hear everyone's voices! I hope that I wasn't awkward at all. It's amazing how fast those 40 minutes go on the Phone. Anyways I am glad that everyone is doing well and that things are good at home! This past week has been a really good week. We had a lot of good things happen! For the past couple weeks we have kind of seen our teaching pool fall apart. However this past week we found a lot of new people to teach and saw some miracles happen with our investigators and less-active members. We found a less-active member who went inactive right after his baptism 12 years ago and he doesn't really remember anything about the church. He experienced an accident in the ricemill where he works and broke his leg. He isn't working while he is waiting for his leg to heal and this has given us the chance to teach him the Gospel. I know that God has a plan for all of us and he puts people in our path that are ready to receive or re-recieve the Gospel. Last sunday we also had a less-active member come to church with her husband. They moved here to San Jose from Paniqui a year ago and they just found the Church. We went and taught them last saturday in a place called palasapas. It's beautiful there! up in the Mountains but the road is paved there. The area and the people there actually remind me a lot of Burgos! They came to church again yesterday and so happy that they finally found the LDS church in San Jose. One of the highlights of this past was having the De Dios Family attend church as a family and attend all 3 hours of church. Right now one of the big struggles we have with our less-active members is getting them to attend church for 3 hours. Most of them leave right after sacrament meeting. We try and get out into the foyer quickly to help them stay, and we have fellowshippers to help take people to classes but somehow they end up sneaking out and going home. I talked a little bit about the De Dios Family last week. They are awesome! They are a less active family who in the process of coming back to church. They two oldest children aren't yet members and they loved church. I really love teaching them because every single one of them is excited about the Gospel. We really have had to adjust our teaching to meets the needs of Brother and Sister De Dios and they children. Brother De Dios's mother is actually a temple worker in Manilla and I know is very excited for her son and family to come back to the Church. I really just love teaching families. Seeing a family accept and live the gospel is about one of the most rewarding things a person can do! For the past two months we have teaching an investigator named Crison. He is super smart and really wants to know the truth. He is aready in Alma in the Book of Mormon but is having a hard time recognizing the spirit. Part of his concerns come from his family members who are devoted Catholics and don't want Crison to Join another a religion. This past week Elder Adao and I fasted for Crison and we taught him about fasting and how through fasting we can receive answers to our prayers. We havn't been able to follow up on his fast yet put I am praying that he will have received a witness through the Spirit about the Truthfu

lness of the Gospel. Lately I have been better able to understand the Power of Fasting in our lives. Through fasting we come closer to our Heavenly Father and We show him that we are willing to sacrifice and humble ourselves to gain spiritual power. I know that fasting brings spiritual power and sensitivity into our lives that helps us help others and receive answers to prayers. Well, I love being a missionary! What a Blessing! I love San Jose and I love my Savior. This wed. Is transfers. I'll let you know what happens next week! mahal ko kayo nagmamahal Elder Leishman

Tag-ulan, na?

Dear Family and Friends, I hope that you are doing great! This past week has been a very busy and awesome week! THis past Tuesday and Wednesday we had our zone leader's council meeting at the mission home again and it was awesome. To go to ZLC we woke up at 1:30am walked to bus station (because all the trike diver's are sleeping), took a bus to Cabanatuan, then took bus to San Fernando, Pampanga then, we took a jeep to a bus terminal where the assistants picked us up. Needless to say it's always an adventure traveling to ZLC. Especially because we almost missed one of the bus's we were supposed take... This transfer Elder Tating became a zone leader so it was really fun to see him! It was also good to see a lot of my batch, and other missionaries who I love a lot. ZLC is my favorite meeting in the mission. We talk about mission business, our mission training plan, have an open forum, receive training and have a testimony meeting. This month our mission will be focusing on the atonement. I love the Atonement and I am so excited to study this as a mission. President Martino gave training about the atonement and it was amazing. He talked about so many things I have never understood about the atonement before. It was almost mind-blowing. The atonement is one of my favorite things to study and I am so excited to study this as a mission. For the past month we have really been struggling to get investigators to church. We have been doing all me could to invite them, commit them, involve members, and pick them up to go to church. However we havn't had very much success until yesterday! Yesterday we had many investigators at church and we also lots of less-actives attend who we have been working with. Yesterday our attendance was 100! That is the highest by far I have ever seen it. It's all because of the rescue program. It is such a joy to see the people you work with come to church! It's hard to describe the feeling as you see a less-active family who you have been fasting and praying for walk into the chapel for the first time in 9 years. It's a feeling of true joy. This family I am talking about is the De Dios family. Brother and Sister De Dios are both members and have 4 children none of which who are members. They were a referral from our Bishop and when we went to visit them the first time they weren't that excited to see us. The first thing they asked when they opened their door was "Sino ang nagsabi sa inyo na pumunta dito?", or "who told you to come here" They weren't that excited at first but after talking on the doorstep for a couple of minutes they invited us in and we shared a message about family prayer. By the end of our lesson they had lots of questions and were excited to set a return appointment. It has been wonderful to see the Gospel flame reignited in their hearts. Right now their two oldest son's ages 12 and 10 are preparing for baptism. They should hopefully be baptized on the last week of may! Things are going well here in San Jose. I love Elder Adao. I'm am so thankful he is my companion. I learn a lot from him everyday! Next week is transfers already and I have no idea what's going to happen. I'll let you know when I find out! Fight the Good Fight of Faith mahal ko kayo Love Elder Leishman ps. the pictures are 1 me and Elder Andrus at ZLC. Love Elder Andrus 2- Me in Front our the Church after our P.E.C. meeting yesterday and 3- A picture of my district. We played basketball this morning with some members.

April 29, 2012

Dear Family, This past week has been another great week. We had a lot of unexpected things happen. Our zone interviews this past week went great. Elder Adao and I felt like our workshop went great and that it really helped the zone. At our interviews the Assistants gave a workshop on companionship unity. It was a great workshop and it gave Elder Adao and I new ideas to help us be more unified. Because of this workshop we changed the way we do companionship study to focus more on specific lesson plans for investigators. This change has made a large improvement in the work. We still end up adjusting a lot of our plans according to the needs of our investigators and to the spirit but we are teaching with even more unity and the spirit is stronger in the Lessons. We experienced this, last wednesday with one of our investigators named Crison. Crison is 21 years old and we met him through his cousin, who is one of our investigators. Crison is searching for the truth and is super smart. He has lot's a questions and is slowly gaining a testimony. We made a plan to teach him about the word of wisdom and we planned specifically for the questions we thought he might have and gave extra time to making the lesson plan fit him. When it came time to teach him he ended up asking a lot of the questions we had planned for and because of our planing we were able to answer in unity and the spirit magnified what we said. It was a wonderful lesson and it helped teach me the importance of unity. This past week there were some members who went to the temple and the Bade family was able to go and to baptisms for the dead. They even prepared 5 names which they took to the temple with them! It was wonderful to have our converts visit the temple and to hear about their experiences there! What a blessing temples are! For the past 2 weeks a few of the wards in San Jose stake started a little basketball league. About a quarter of the team for ward 1 is made up a less-active members who our bishop invited to come and play. Through this activity these less-active members have renewed friendships with active church members and yesterday we had one come to church. It has been such a blessing because this past week we found 3 part-member families just from Less-actives playing basketball! They are all awesome and some really have a testimony about the church. I'm excited to work with them this month and I pray that we can help their families come back. One of the crazy things that happened this past week happened to an Elder In our zone. We were at our house eating our lunch when one of the Elders in our zone burst through the Door and said his companion was in the trike outside. We ran out to the trike and the Elder's foot was covered in a bloody bandage and blood was dripping on the the floor of the Tricycle side car. Elder and Adao and I hopped in the trike and we headed off to the hospital. It turns out the Elder was drinking soda out of a glass bottle and it slipped while he was drinking it. When it hit the ground if broke right next to his foot and his heel got sliced open pretty good! I'll attach a picture so you can see it. Anyways long story short, he got it stitched up and is all good now. This past week has been awesome! I wish I could tell you about every lessons we taught and all of the wonderful people I work with everyday! The zone is full of awesome missionaries and is on fire right now! I love being a missionary! I just love it! I love the Gospel. Last week I read a talk about the Atonement by David A. Bednar in the Liahona and I recommend it to all of you. He talked about how the atonement isn't just power for bad people to become good people. It's also the way for good people to become better people and how we can use this power in our lives everyday. I am thankful for the atonement in my life and the role it plays in everything I do. We are hopeless without the atonement, but thankfully we all have hope. mahal ko kayo Love Elder Leishman ps. Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 is going to visit our mission in May!

Tag-init!

Dear Family and Friends, This past week has been a very hot, sweaty, amazing week! Right now summer is in full blast and it is HOT!! It's to describe how hot it is. The package you sent with the Old spice came just in the nick of time! This past week we had a lot of wonderful experiences and a lot of challenges as well. One of the great parts of this past week was preparing a workshop we are going to give to our zone. Tomorrow we zone interviews with President Martino and we are givin a work shop. We have been thinking and praying about this workshop for weeks but we really weren't sure what the Lord wanted to talk about with our zone. After much prayer and fasting we recieved inspiration and revelation. The revelation didn't all come at once but it came. It came while we were in lesssons, in Nightly planning, on exchanges and in companionship study. We decided that our workshop needs to be one finding new investigators through less-active members specifically through part-member families and asking referrals from less-active members. With the huge focus right now on rescuing less-actives and seeing the needs of our zone we know that this is what our workshop needs to be about. This past week we have tried asking referrals from less-active members and have seen wonderful things happen. This is a way of strengthening less-active members and at the same time helping others come unto Christ! I am excited to give it tomorrow with Elder Adao. This past week we had soooo many lessons fall through. Probably more than I have experienced in my whole mission. However because of that we were able to find some awesome new investigators and we actually ended up teaching a lot of lessons. We also saw an improvement in our investiagtors attending sacrament meeting, One of the Highlights of this past weeek was teaching a less-active family for the first time as a complete family. We have been trying to teach them for 2 months and last night it family. We sang families can be together forever and taught them about the importance of family prayer. As we taught about family prayer the mother told us how they used to have family prayer when their children were young and they were all active. She spoke tenderly of the joy and love that family prayer had brought to her family when they were young. By the end of the lesson the entire family had commited to us and to each other to have family prayer. They miss the church and now are looking for a way back. This lesson was special for so many reasons. The first was that we were able to teach a full family. A mother, father and 5 children. It was also wonderful because the parents both shared their testimonies and everyone in the room felt the spirit. The Gospel really is for families. I love it! There are a thousand more things I want to say but I want to say that I know this church is true. I love this Gospel and I feel so blessed to be a missionary! It's hard work and I love it! I love San Jose and I feel like my love for all people is increasing. I love the Philippines ad i love my Savior! mahal ko kayo Love Elder Leishman p.s. As far as the pictures go... The first picture is of Me and a Kalabaw. We took a short cut through the recently harvested rice fields on a way to an appointment and ran into a Kalabaw. The second picture is of me in front of our neighbors house. They have a ton of these flowers that grow on these vine type of things. The third picture is of my shoes. That's what a lot of walking will do to a pair of echos! However don't worry I'm going to get them repaired and it's going to cost me 30 pesos Or about 75 cents. p.p.s. The pictures were taken with the camera you sent me which is working great.

nanakawan and baptism! April 16

Dear Friends and Family, This last week started off as a really rough week! I'm not going to lie the first half of the week was not at all, however the second half of the week was wonderful. As many of you already know our house got broken into Tuesday while we were sleeping. Elder Adao were the first to get up and when I was walking into our kitchen Elder Adao exclaimed "Elder, nanakawan tayo!" Which means we get robbed. I was shocked. One of the doors in our house had been opened from the inside and our bags were outisde with the contents scattered on the ground. What heppended is the thief climbed into house through a small gap between our roof and ceiling. He then opened up one of the boards in the ceiling of our house and grabbed our bags and other items off our desks. He also grabbed a pair of pants that had a lanyard with a key to the house tied onto the belt buckle. He used that to unlock our door from the inside. He empited our bags outside and took what the wanted. When we went outside our gate was open and the lock was opened, and the key attached to the pants was in the lock. I'lll send you a picture of that. The items that were stolen were my camera, money, our two cell phones, and our dvd player. None of us woke up while the robbery occured which we feel is a blessing. The odds are if we woke up we would have been injurned the the theif in some way. Over all it was not a fun expereince. The saddest party about getting robbed was loosing my pictures. I still have my first member card from the mission, but this was my second card which had all my ipctures from cabanatuan and San Jose. However I copied a few of my pictures onto Elder Adao's usb so I was able to recover some of what was lost. After the showered the morning our house got broken into we went to the sisters appartment to use their phone to call president. We then went to the Barangay, the police and to our land lord. The Barangay capitan and the police pretty much said there was nothing they could really do. They weren't really helpful in any way at all. Our land lord however was more helpful. ON saturday morning we helped our landlord install bars on our roof, for safety and this week we are putting up barbed wire on our fence. THe first half of the day we got robbed was rough. I couldn't concentrate on anything. I struggled to read my scriptures and to even pray. The spirit wasn't with me and my mind felt like it was going 100 miles an hour. I felt unsafe, and almost week. However when we went to our first appointment we decided to sing an opening hymn. We sang I am a child of God and the minute we started singing I felt the peace of the spirit. I felt God's love and I ok. I was able to focus my mind on the Gospel, and we taught a wonderful lesson. I am so thankful for hymns and they power they have to bring the spirit and to touch lives. This past week we also had sooooo many appointments fall through. However we didn't let that get us down. We kept goign and worked hard. We didn't teach as many lessons as we usually do but so many of our investigators made some big steps! I want to talk about everyone of them but I don't have time.. Sorry! The highlight of the week for me was Charlene's baptism. It was a very special baptism. Charlene was baptized by her recent convert father, Brother Bade. It was a very spiritual baptism and one of my favorite parts was Charlene's testimony after her baptism. She cried as did her parents and others in the room she talked about the blessings the Gospel has brought to her family, and how thankful she was that she is a member of the Church. It really is so so great to see families growing together in the gospel. Charlene's brother is the only member of their family who isn't yet a member. We will be teaching him next week and a pray that he will accept the Gospel with his other family members. Another great item of news for the Bade family is taht they are going to the temple in two weeks to do baptisms for the dead for their ancestors taht they have done family history for. They are so excited and I am too! There are a thousand more things that I want to say but I don't have enough time to do so so I will say this. I love this work! I know that it is true. I know that obedience, love and hard work are the keys to misisonary work. I love the philippines! I love being a misisonary. I know that the Lord knows each of us. I love my Savior and he loves all of us. Being a missionary is such a privilege. This past week was ward but the Lord showed us his tender mercies. Mahal ko kayo Love Elder Leishman Pictures: THe first picture is of the Bade Family, at the baptism. The second picture is of me at a fence that I saw. The lettering is P.M.G. which is the abbreviation we use for Preach My Gospel. I'm a P.M.G. Missionary! The Third picture is me picking mangoes at our house. Yes we have a mango tree at our apartment. It's not the sweet kind of mangoes but a different class that is sour. They are actually really good, especially with a little salt. ps. Sorry the story about being robbed was so long..... p.p.s. Let me know what you thought about the package. I hope it was ok. I know it was small but I tried to but a few good things in it.

General Conference! April 9

Dear Friends and Family, This past weekend has been marvelous to say the least! It was conference here in the Philippines and it has been the conference that I have enjoyed the most in my entire life. Before I talk about conference I want to talk a little bit about the week. This past week one of the Elders in my zone was informed that his grandmother had passed away. His grandmother raised him like a mother and one thing that makes it harder is that this is his last transfer in the mission. When I heard the news my heart broke. I love Elder Cabanisan and I love his attitude about misisonary work. When he heard the news he wanted to go home for the funerals due to comments from his non-member family members. However through prayer and the scritpures he decided to stay. Before our transfer announcments this past week he Elder Adao and I to give him a blessing. We went into an empty classroom in the church and gave him a blessing. It was an amazing experience! It's hard to describe the love in that room. We hugged after the blessing and the spirit was so strong. We didn't say a lot but we didn't have to becase the spirit said it all. Elder Cabanisan is an amazing example and an amazing missionary I won't ever forget. If you wouldn't mind keep him in your prayers. As far as general conference goes, I don't even know where to begin..... Every word that was said was inspired. There were periods during conference where my pen coulnd't keep up with the promptings of the sprit. Some of my favorite talks were from David A Bednar in Priesthood sesion,Deiter F. Uchdorf's talk in Priesthood, and especially on Sunday, Donald L Hallstrom from Satuday morning, President Eyring Talk about challenges, Jeffery R. Holland, M Russle Ballard, and David F. Evans. I know that's a long list and I would love to talk about every single talk, but I start talking about some of the things that stood out to me the most. Firstly Thomas S. Monsons the 12 Apostols and the General Authorities are inspired men called of God. One of the strongest themes of conference for me was about family."Happiness depends of hte family". In some way or another every talk related to family. The Church is for for Families. It's in families taht the church is established. Successful families live the Gospel. Gospel living includes being kind. "be kind. It's a happy way to live"-Jeffery. R. Holland., Gospel living also requries, not judging, holdling grudges, desire evil ect... We need to apply the following "Stop It". To live the Gospel we also need to serve others. Small acts of service changes lives and bring happiness. I felt like many things that were said were said just for me. I realized so many things I needed to change about my life and I am excited to change them. I will need the Lord's help as we all do as we try to change and become better people. After conference I left wanting to be a better person. I want to serve more, Love more, be a better missionary and better leader. I love teh many references to D&C 121. I am excited to study that this week. I also have to say I can't wait for hte My Liahona to come out! (sorry that this past paragraph was jumbled and not very organinzed and also that my english isn't good..... English is getting harder the longer I am here in the Philippines) This saturday we have a baptism! Charlene Will be baptized by her recent convert father. I am so happy that this family is embraces and enjoying gospel living. Everytime I am with them I am so happy. This past week while we prepared charlene for her baptismal interview, I was a little worried about the strength of her testimony. However 2 days before her inteview I asked her why she wanted to be baptized. In response she shared an incredible simple testimony. It wasn't borrowed from her parents but it came from her heart. She talked about how before she didn't want anything to do with the church. She still didn't want anything to do with the church when her parents invited us to teach her. However she decided to pray about Jospeh Smith and she felt somthing. She couldn't explain it well, she just said that I knew that it was true and that when I hear someone say something bad about the church I feel annoyned because I know that it's true. She has had a change of heart and is ready to enter the waters of baptism this week. I am so excited. The worth of every sould is great in the sight of God. THe work here in San Jose is awesome. WE are having some challenges and successes. We are working hard and striving for obedience. I love this work. I really do. I love the Philippines. I love the wonderful people. It's all about love! mahal ko kayo Love Elder LEishman THe Pictures are from transfer announcements, and of Martin Harris, the son of one of the members here!