Elder Tanner Leishman Serving in the Washington DC South Mission: Week #4 in the Field

Another week has come and gone. It's crazy to see these weeks start
flying by. They have a saying that says "on the mission, the days are
weeks and the weeks are days." I can totally attest to that. Each day
feels like it takes forever but then I get to pday each Monday and I
look back on the past week and it feels like it was just pday the day
before. It's crazy. The mission definitely plays with your mind.
Whether it's getting rejected time after time or just sitting there
thinking about life at home and all the things you miss. It definitely
takes a toll on you. And satan knows when we are going through those
rough times and he uses that as an opportunity to attack us. I feel
like he has been working double time on me. I feel like he just sees
all the weaknesses that I have and he is just set on trying to magnify
them. I've been on my knees a lot lately asking for strength from
Heavenly Father when i go through those difficult times. By doing
that, he has helped me really start to realize the tender mercies that
he is giving me. He helps me to see the small blessings and comforts
that he throws into my life. Whether it's some members feeding us
dinner or testifying in a lesson and seeing your testimony spark a
little light in someone's eyes.

So last pday we were able to go into downtown DC to the national mall,
which was super cool! We got to go to the air and space museum which
blew my mind with all the cool stuff that was there. We rode the metro
into DC which is another experience in itself. It was my first time on
a metro and those things are crazy. Especially when we came home
around rush hour time and the whole train was packed. But after the
air and space museum, we walked to a restaurant by the Capitol
building. It's called Good Stuff Eatery. It was so good, it was like a
burger place that's super popular here. A lot of famous people go
there and they have burgers named after people such as president
Obama. I tried to get some pictures but i really couldn't because a
lot of stuff was under construction. And I didn't want to feel like
one of those basic tourist missionaries lol. But after we got back
into falls church on Monday night we were kinda completely lost on
what we should do since Neeta was our only real progressing
investigator. So we decided we were going to go to the park and play
some ball with the brothers lol. It was good to get back on the court
even if I was in proselyting clothes lol. When we told some of the
guys there that we wanted to play, most of them laughed and thought we
could even play. I kinda took that to heart. Like you think because we
are missionaries we can't break your ankles? So we started to play and
mine and elder mcinernys team was kicking tail and we won't like 3
straight games. Let's just say we earned the respect of the brothers
and Jefferson park that night. Although I got my nice clothes all
sweaty and I was playing in dress shoes, it was still fun! It made me
miss playing in actual games and what not.

We were able to have interviews with President Huntsman. Holy cow it
was probably one of the best days on my mission so far. It was so good
to actually sit down and have a one on one conversation with him. We
talked a lot about my decision to serve a mission and kinda the road
that brought me to where I am now. He told me that he's super excited
that I will be the first set of missionaries he has for the most part
of the two years. He also told me that most of the mission goes home
in the next 3 transfers so he is expecting me to step up and be a
leader in the mission. Elder McInerny said something to him about
having me be a trainer right after I'm doing being trained, and
president said that will probably happen. Crazy..... I feel so young
to be on a mission let alone being a trainer. But hey I'm willing to
step up to the challenge and serve with everything I've got!

The rest of this week has just been full of tracting and some member
lessons. We have this pretty big apartment complex that we are trying
to tract the whole thing. It's been taking a lot of time and effort
and we've gotten a ton of referrals for the Spanish sisters but nobody
for us to teach. But hey I guess we are all on the same team so it
doesn't matter if we teach them or the Spanish sisters, they just need
to hear our life changing message.

I started read True to the Faith this week which is awesome. I'm
almost done with it and I started on like Wednesday. It has taught me
a lot of things about the church and what we believe that I didn't
even know before. When I got to the part that talks about marriage, I
couldn't help but think about my family and the amazing parents that
Heavenly Father has blessed me with. Parents that love the gospel and
don't just teach us how to live, they show us. It brought me so much
peace and assurance that I can be with my family forever and that even
though death may temporarily separate us, there will be a time when we
can see our family and loved ones again in the next life. It really
made me think about the parent that I want to be and how I want to
build a strong foundation in the gospel for my family to build on.
Seeing the many great examples of awesome families that I have had
such a blessing being around has made me so excited for the joy and
happiness I will receive when I have a family of my own and that my
family and I will be strong in our gospel roots and valiant in our
testimony of Jesus Christ. I want my kids to be able to know without a
doubt that I have a testimony that Jesus is the Christ and that he
atoned for all of our sins and that through him we are made clean
again. They will know that if it weren't for the infinite love of our
savior that nothing we have can be possible. I can't wait to share
that message to my children. It's one thing sharing it to random
people you meet on the street and it's another thing sharing it with
someone that you know and that you are around a lot and that you love
with your whole heart. I can't wait for the day when I can be sealed
in the temple for time and all eternity to a wife and to my kids. Oh
the joy and happiness this gospel gives me.

Love you all,
Elder Leishman