Elder Tanner Leishman Serving in the Washington DC South Mission: Week #57

So, I'm sorry for not emailing everyone yesterday. We had to switch
our pday because president huntsman scheduled a meeting for all the
zone leaders and sister training leaders to meet with Senator Orrin
Hatch at the Capitol.🇺🇸 It was a once in a lifetime experience, I'll
talk about it in a little bit! Also, I'm sorry I'm sending this email
so early, we are going into DC for our actual pday today and going to
visit the zoo so I need to send off some emails before we get in
there!

Holy cow, where do I even start? This week has been filled with so
many miracles and great experiences. Elder Holdaway and I worked super
hard this week and got a lot of things done which was awesome. The
week days were pretty normal, taught a lot of people, did some serve
and helped someone paint, got blood drawn haha, went to the mission
office, and did a zone service project! It was such a great week.

There were so many highlights from this week, I don't even think I
could pick one. We can start with the baptism of Jose and Sandra on
Saturday! It was such a great service. You know that the adversary is
trying to do all he can to stop someone from getting baptized when the
whole baptismal program doesn't come together till about 5 mins after
it was scheduled to start. But it happened and it was awesome. Jose
and Sandra are so awesome. I love them and their family so much. I
baptized Jose and elder Holdaway baptized Sandra. After they were
baptized, Jose stood up and bore a powerful testimony about how the
gospel has blessed them and how he wants to share it with others. The
spirit was super strong! Then we went and got Mexican food with them
after and I about exploded with how full I was....🍴 Bishop Dzaran
confirmed them in church on Sunday and it was so sweet, they were
given the gift of the Holy Ghost and are now ready to battle the
storms of life. Then, on Sunday night, William and Brian spoke at
what's called a New and Returning Member Fireside. It's put on by the
mission and it's where recent converts or less active members who are
returning to activity come and bear their testimony and share their
story about how they came to know the gospel was true. So William and
Brian spoke at it. They were so funny and had the best story, they
both talked together which was pretty sweet too. They bore awesome
testimonies about the Book of Mormon. I'm so proud of those boys. They
are like my adopted little brothers! William is now at youth
conference this week 👍🏼

Yesterday, we went to DC to visit with Senator Hatch. It was actually
really sweet. We all met at the Centerville Stake Center and carpooled
to the district. Let me tell you, I'm so glad I don't have to drive in
DC normally. The traffic there SUCKS! People cutting you off left and
right. The struggle was definitely real. But we got to his office and
were in one of his board rooms and we got talking to one of his
interns, I think. He was a member as well and served a mission in the
Netherlands. He was a pretty sweet guy. He was also from Las Vegas
☝🏼️! But then senator hatch came in and talked with us. He was
running a couple minutes late because he was opening the floor for the
senate. Usually he is the one to open the floor because he is the most
senior senator, he is actually 3rd in line to be president of the
United States, he has been in the senate for 40 years!! That's a super
long time. So when they open the senate floor, they usually start with
a prayer which I think is super awesome. But he made it in to talk
with us and he shared some awesome stories. He really left the time
open for us to ask him questions. There were some great questions
asked about politics, life, the church, leadership, etc. but what was
really cool is he related everything back to his mission. All of the
stories he told were from his mission. He sounded like a great
missionary. He told us that he would trade his 40 years in the senate
for his 2 year mission. He said that his mission was more important
and better for his life than the 40 years in the senate. I thought
that was super cool. I mean, being a senator? That's a pretty dang
important job. But he said he would give it up for his mission. That
was such a testimony builder to me of the purpose the lord calls
missionaries. Not only does a mission bless the people we teach, but
it blesses our lives forever as well. We will learn things and have
all these great experiences that can shape us to be the people we are.
I'm so grateful I had the chance to go, really a once in a lifetime
experience. I'll send the pictures of our trip up there. It was so
sweet.

This week, with everything that's been going on, I've had the chance
to reflect on our purpose as missionaries. We are called to INVITE
other to come unto Christ. We aren't called to go out and just
baptized everyone or just teach everyone. We are called to bring them
closer to Jesus Christ. Look at this promised blessing from the Book
of Mormon if we just "seek to bring forth Zion."

"37 And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that
day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and
if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day,
and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso
shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the
mountains shall they be." (1 Nephi 13:37)

We are just called to invite, we are called to seek to bring forth
Zion and there are so many blessings that follow. Now, let's all seek
to bring forth Zion because I don't know about you, but I want to see
the view from the tops of those mountains. Much love everyone!!

Elder Leishman