Rescue! July 9

Dear family and friends, This past week has been amazing! We are seeing so many good things happening in our area. This past week on of our big success has been with the rescue program for less-actives. We have seen really the church be established here in San Jose over the last few months. Yesterday at church we still had high attendance and we had so many less-active members attend church that there was no room for anymore people in our Sunday School class. It was so full. This week we also have temple preparation class starting this week for all the former less-active members and recent converts namin that are preparing to go to the temple. It has been so amazing to see less-active members come back to activity. It brings true joy. One of our success this past week in with the rescue has been with Vincent. Vincent is 21 and belongs to a strong active family. He is the only inactive member and hasn't wanted anything to do with the church. The first time we went to his house to meet him he wouldn't come into the room to talk to us. Our following visits to the family resulted the same way but finally we were able to teach him and started to teach him about the very basics of the Gospel. Prayer, the Book of Mormon, the Restoration and plan of salvation. Over the past few weeks he has rediscoverd his testimony and finally attended church yesterday! His father (a former Bishop) was shocked when we saw his Vincent getting dressed in the morning to go the church with the family and expressed his joy and gratitude after church. He told us he has been praying and fasting for his son and is so excited to see him come back. It made me think of Alma and Mosiah praying for their Sons. Vincent was was warmly welcomed back yesterday and it filled me with joy. This past week we have been struggling to find new investigators. We have been talking to so many people and most people don't want to listen to us because their busy, but we aren't getting down about it. We are still opening our mouths and know we will find the people the Lord is preparing for us. Last friday I went on exchanges with Elder Blackham a trainee in our zone. He is in his second transfer in the field and we worked in Lupao (his area). It was a great exchange. It reminded me a lot of my first exchanges with the zone leaders in Burgos. Working with new misisonaries is always fun becuase they are just so excited about missionary work. They are just filled with excitement and want to work and learn. While working with Elder Blackham I felt his love and sincerity in everything he said as he found and taught. Since he is new he is still really working on Tagalog. Even though his Tagalog wasn't perfect i know the people we taught felt the spirit and the truth of what Elder Blackham said. It made me realize how important it is that we as missionaries speak from our hearts. We need to be sincere and love all people. It's sometimes easy to go though the motions especially when talkilng with people on the street or in your finding but if we love all people we will tough lives. I also told mom a funny story early about the exchanges. You can ask her about it! I love love love this work! mahal ko kayo Love Elder Leishman