Diligence April 2

Dear Family and Friends,

It's crazy how fast time flies. Right now it's the last week of the transfer. We have transfers on Thursday so I'll let you know what happens next week. This past week has been an awesome week! We had 2 exchanges this past week which went really well. The hardest thing about exchanges is leaving your area. Even if it's for a day I can't help but think about what's going on in my area and how my investigators are. It's sometimes hard to let someone else teach the people you love so much.

This past week we were teaching an investigator and I made a very simple mistake in Tagalog, and the investigator got pretty offended at what I said. I didn't have any bad intentions in what I said but the investigator didn't see that. I felt really bad after the lesson, but that experience taught me a lot. Since then I have a new desire to master Tagalog. I can speak Tagalog pretty well but sometimes I make stupid mistakes and i am still working on my accent. I know that I need to keep studying dilligently to recieve the Lord's help through the gift of tongues. However don't be to worried about the investigator. We went back and taught him and everything was good. He is the part member father I talked about last week and he is making awesome progress! He is slowly recognizing learning to recognize the spirit and is excited for conference this upcoming week.

One of the things that I realized this past week was the need to focus on Preach my Gospel. Sometimes I get so focused on the scriptures that I forget about Preach My Gospel. Preach My Gospel is such an amazing book and I know that every page of it was inspired of God. It's our guide as missionaries and we need to study it. When I started to study it more in depth this past week I learned so much and was reminded of so many important principles of missionary work and of the doctrine in the missionary lessons. We are so blessed as missionaries to have preach my gospel.

This past week has been a great one! Sorry if this email is pretty boring. It was a really good week. The picture I sent is of a spider we caught in the house the other day... It's pretty good sized. As far as god stories go. Last week we were walking through the ricefields to one of our apointments and I had to jump to another dike where I we could walk and I when I landed I slipped and fell flat on my back. My pants but super muddy but it was so funny. I laughed really really hard. Gotta love it!

I love being a missionary! This is such a rewarding work. I am also excited for general conference! I have been preparing for weeks now and I cannot wait till this sunday. I figured out that a lot of what you get from general conference comes from your preparation so I ahve been trying to get really prepared.

mahal ko kayo!

Love Elder Leishman

Hot and Happy :)

Dear Family and Friends,

I am pleased to announce, that I will be staying in Burgos this transfer will Elder Pioquinto. That means that I will stay in Burgos till at the the end of July because I will have my follow up trainer in Burgos too. What a blessing it will be to spend at least 4 1/2 months here! It's hard to believe that I've already done with my first transfer! It went so fast. I have a feeling that things will only get faster. This past transfer definitely wasn't an easy experience for me but it was a great one. Some of the important things I learned this past transer have been to trust the Lord. If we do our part the Lord will do his in his own time. For me I was really impatient with myself and my progress with the language and with my teaching skills through most of the transfer. I went through periods of being overwhelmed with all the things I need to learn. However through it all I learned that becoming an effective missionary is a process that doesn't happen all at once. The important thing is taking things one at time and striving to get better everyday. Having a smile through it all helps significantly! It has been a real humbling experience. The journey is more important than the destination. Even though this transfer was very difficult at first, I wouldn't trade the experiences I have had for anything.

This past week was a good week in Burgos. Elder Pioquinto let me lead the area in case he was to be transfered and it was actually way fun. We have 4 investigators that are waited to be baptized and we gained some great investigators. We found the Dupitas family who was taught by the missionaries back in 2001 but were never baptized. Despite not being baptized many family members have continued to read the Book of Mormon through all the years and already have a strong testimony of it and of Jospeh Smith. Jojo is 19 years old and his knowledge of the Book of Mormon is amazing. He wants to be baptized and is a potential missionary. The teaching experience very different with this family. Elder Pioquinto and I are striving to teach to their needs in this unique situation to help them come unto Christ. I am so excited to teach the Dupitas!!! Tatay Tanedo, Nico and Joshua Haro, and Rolando continue to progress at a fast rate and are very prepared for their upcoming baptisms. I love teaching Tatay Tanedo. Everytime we teach Tatay Tanedo he ends up teaching me something. He states the truths of the Gospel that he learns in ways that I have never thought of before. Watching others come unto Christ is a great experience! This past week we also were able to teach some great less active member lessons. Many of the less actives here have a strong testimony of the Gospel. Most of the time sharing a spiritual thought with them helps them feel the spirit and reminds them of the joys the Gospel brings to their lives.

So I love Preach my Gospel. It is the best. If you don't have a copy in your home I recommend getting one! It is an awesome reference for so many gospel things and the principles in it don't just apply to missionaries. Also I will probablly reference a few times in emails. Also mom and dad, I need a copy of my mission call letter. A note for the Davies- don't worry, there are lots of crackers in the Philippines!

Mahal Kita

Elder Leishman

Fight the fight of Faith