Week #8 - In the field

Hello everyone. I hope everyone is well and having fun as summer is
almost over! I can feel it starting to get a little cooler here which
is awesome. I'm excited for fall and winter. It's going to snow like
none other. I'm excited!

Well, this week has been a crazy slow week. Not a lot is happening
here in Falls Church. We really only have 4 solid investigators right
now and 2 of them leave for college this week. So we will be down to 2
investigators by the end of the week. Which means, let's starting
tracting and trying to find some new investigators. It's been pretty
hard lately with trying to find new people. I feel like everyone we
ever talk too is never interested and it's super discouraging a lot of
the time. There just comes a point where you feel like there is
nothing you can do to get the work moving fast or your teaching pool
bigger. That's how I felt this week. It's the struggle. It's crazy how
the adversary can work on us like that? Tell us we aren't good enough?
Or tell us that all the work we are doing is for nothing? You hear
people talk about how you need to turn those rejections and turn them
into positive moments. And let me tell you, that is a whole let easier
said than done.

On Thursday we were able to go with a family we have been working with
to the temple visitors center. We were scheduled to leave their house
at 12pm. We showed up and knocked on their door and their daughter
answered and said that her parents were still in bed asleep lol. So
she goes and wakes them up and the dad comes out and says that they
totally forgot but to give them 20 minutes and they will be ready to
go. So we said ok and said we would just be waiting in the parking
lot. Well, needless to say 1:45pm rolls around and we finally leave
their apartment. Definition of missionary work. But we were able to
have the sisters at the temple visitors center share a message with
them about eternal families and the spirit was so strong there and
really touched the heart of the family we brought. We were able to
discuss and explain how those "castles" that Mormons have are there to
seal our family together for all eternity. It was such a great day.
There were a lot of mini miracles that happened that day.

Other than that, on Sunday night we were able to go to a fireside that
just so happened to be at the temple visitors center. Technically it
was for the Washigton DC North mission but we saw a flier for it when
we were there Thursday so we decided to have neetas husband take us
out there and it would be really good for him to hear the message too.
It was a "why I believe" fireside and there were testimonies of recent
converts and the speaker there was a man named Jason Hinds who is
sprinter from Jamaica. He went to BYU and was on the track team and
served a mission in the New York New York North mission. It was
awesome to hear is story of how he decided to go on a mission and some
of the amazing things that happened to him on his mission. He said a
mission really shaped him for his life and he actually tired to major
in "missionary work" at BYU hahaha. But I can already see my mission
shaping me. A lot of it is gospel oriented but there are also many
other ways it is shaping me. To eat healthy, to exercise and workout
everyday, to make sure I'm completely obedient, to live on my own, and
many other things. It's hands down the hardest thing I've ever done
and 90% of the time I have no idea what I'm doing but I just have this
super strong testimony that I want to share with everyone. God loves
us and he looks after missionaries especially the young and
inexperienced ones. It's crazy to me that entrusts pretty much the
face of his entire church with some 18-20 year old kids. This has to
be the true church or some of this kids would have run this church
into the ground by now. You can definitely tell we have a higher power
on our side that is testifying with us and leading us as we attempt to
share the gospel with everyone!

I hope you all have a good week! Be good!

Elder Leishman

At the Washington DC temple vistors center withh Anjalie and her family.

Neeta's husband came  to lunch with us.

Travis Goldrup served in our ward in Las Vegas.