I Have Fought A Good Fight 1/13

Dear Friends and Family, It feels strange to sit down at the internet shop to type my last email to you here in the Philippines. I cannot believe how fast it has come and it still feels unreal. As I reflect on the past 2 years and I can't help but smile. These 2 years have been two years of true joy! The feelings you have as you serve the Lord and see others change and accept the Gospel is a joy that is hard to describe. In my call letter it states, "Greater blessings and more happiness than you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord in this labor of love among his children". When I first read that I had no idea what it really meant but it's so true. One of the greatest things i have gained from my mission is a knowledge of my Savior Jesus Christ. Before my mission I knew who he was but now I know him. My relationship with my Savior and my Heavenly Father is the greatest treasure of my mission. Like it says it John 17:3 "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee only rue God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent". In my mission I have learned how to love in a way that i didn't before. I love people and know that everyone is a child of God and has something good inside of them. You can find something good in any person! I love the Filipino people! I love the Philippines. This wonderful nation has become my home. I have gained a love for the scriptures and have learned the importance of exact obedience. I wish i could write all the things I have learned and expereinces i have had in the past 2 years but one email sure won't do it. Because of my mission I know I will be a better son, brother, student, employee and one day a father. My heart if full of gratitude for my mission and the effect it has had on my life. I am a different person now than I was when i entered the mtc in January 2011. The Gospel has changed me and my mission has changed me. I hope that anyone who has a desire to serve a mission will start preparing now and go out as soon as they can to help bring Heavenly Father's children back to him. Last week i had one of the greatest experiences in my mission. Last saturday night we attended the area broadcast at the stake center in San Jose. After the meeting was over I felt a child pull on the back of my pants and I turned around and saw little 3 year old Dwayne Vergel De Dios holding a picture of their family at the temple! When I first met that family in San Jose they were super less-active and I was privileged to help them back into activity and to see their two oldest sons baptisms. Last December 21, 2012 they were sealed as a family in the Manila temple for time and eternity! My hard was so full of joy as I saw that picture and talked with them for a few minutes after the meeting. They are now serving as executive secretary and ward family history consoltant in San Jose ward 1 and are so happy. I think that that's the greatest gift I could recieve on my mission is helping a family make it to the temple! The Gospel is for families and my mission has helped me realized more than ever how the Gospel blesses families and has blessed my family. I attached a picture of a picture I took of the picture of the Vergel De Dios Family at the temple. It's not the greatest quality but i hope you like it. Things are going great in Portal. We are teaching some of the coolest investigators and have some less-actives coming back to church. I feel so blessed to be assigned here right now and I have so much work to do here this last week. I always feel like there is always one more person you need to talk to and one more person you need to help and serve. I want you to know that I know that this is the only true church. Jesus Christ is at its head. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and through his atonement we can all change and be clean. I know t he power of prayer and that our Heavenly Father loves us and answers our prayers. Joseph Smith restored the Gospel and saw what he said he saw. The Book of Mormon is true and is a powerful tool in changing lives for the better. Families really can be together Forever. The finish line is close, and I still have lots of work to do as I sprint to the very last minute. I'm going to continue to give it my all so i can say like Paul "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith". I love you all so much. with love

Bagong Taon 1/6/13

Dear Friends and Family, This past week was an awesome week. New years was pretty uneventful in Portal. The entire mission had a curfew of 6:00 pm because it can be pretty dangerous and crazy in some areas. Portal was pretty quiet compared to Cabanatuan last year. To celebrate I cooked bicol express and made new years resolutions. I also did my laundry which was an eventful new years eve activity to say the least ( picture included). It wasn't half as loud as it was in Cabanatuan. The videoke was a lot louder than the firecrackers. After new year our week was a really good week. One of the big successes this week was our church attendance. Last week our attendance was 27 and yesterday it was 64. It more than doubled! We had some investigators and lots of less-actives attend. One of the less-active members who attended is the former branch president here who has been less-active for about 6 years. The missionaries have visited him many times but nothing has every happened. When we got into the area our branch president told us to visit him and he wasn't happy. He didn't want anything to do with us. But after stopping by him house a couple more times we finally caught him laying in hammock on his front porch holding his sleeping granddaughter. He didn't have any where to go so he let us teach him. We taught him about the atonement since it was Christmas time. After that we taught him basic gospel principles like family prayer, the Book of Mormon, prophets and we never mentioned attending church. We slowly started to see him change and warm up to us and as he started the live the simple principles we taught him he starter to get happier. Yesterday he attended church for the first time in 6 years with him wife. He was beaming as he walked into our meeting house. It was really special to see. Brother Vizon is a leader that our branch is in great need of. That was one of our miracles this past week. Right now we are currently teaching 5 young families. It's so awesome to teach families. On of them is the Likodo family. We met brother Likodo while walking down the street we stopped to talk to him and asked him how his new year was. He said that he got drunk with his buddies. I then asked him about his family and he told us about his wife and 2 young boys. I then I felt inspired to ask about how is drinking effects his family. He then started to talk about how his wife hates it and wants him to quit but he just can't seem to quit. We told him that we could help him quit drinking and bless the life of his family and he gave us his address. When we went to teach him he was surprised that we actually came and was excited to see us. His wife was in other room when we started the lesson and didn't want to join but as we started talking to teach she came in and joined the lesson. We usually don't mention the word of wisdom in the first lesson but it was what this family needed. It feels so good to teach people not lessons. One of the things we are working on as a mission right now is asking inspired questions in our teaching. I ask a lot of questions while I teach but I don't know how inspired they are. After training from our zone leaders this past week on inspired questions Elder Soberano and I set a goal to ask more inspired questions in our lessons. It was difficult at first was the effect in our teaching and finding has been awesome. I feel like I'm teaching more like the Savior would teach and we are finding out the real concerns of the people we are teaching. Talking isn't teaching. This past week I finished reading the Book of Mormon again and this time I around I highlighted every reference to the Savior and all of his words. It was amazing to see the pages be filled with color as I did this activity. This helped strengthen my testimony in Jesus Christ and his mission as our Savior and redeemer. One of my favorite things about this activity was seeing all the titles that Jesus Christ goes by. I made a list in my study journal of all of his titles and I was surprised at how many they were. The Book of Mormon really is Another Testament of Jesus Christ Every page testifies of him! I love this area. I love the members, less-actives and investigators here. I just love it. Everyday I feel my love grow. It's so hard to know that I won't have that much longer in the area... There is so much work to do here and I want to do it! I'm trying to make the best of everyday to give it my all and establish the church here in Portal. Elder Soberano and I have high goals and we are doing all we can to acheive them. Working with Elder Soberano is awesome. He's a good elder. Thanks for all of you who emailed him. Fight the good fight of faith Mahal ko kayo Elder Leishman. The first 2 pictures are from new years. The first is Elder Soberano and I before we ate, the second is me doing my laundry on new years eve. The last picture is me with the Atonio Family. They are members here in Portal.