run down of what happened with our investigators then I'll talk about
our mission Conference. So we still have our investigator, Yolanda, on
date for February 11th. She's still out of town but should be back
soon. We put our investigator Kristin on date for January 28th, which
is super soon but she's so ready to be baptized. I'm really excited
for the work that's been going on. We have had a lot of success
teaching the past couple weeks. I'm so glad Heavenly father is
blessing us with work to do! We also had zone Conference this week. I
love getting instruction from president huntsman. We have a lot of new
rules coming out in our mission. It should be exciting to turn our
mission into the "Washington DC South 2.0" mission. We gotta take it
to the next level with our work and our obedience!
Now let's get to the good stuff Saturday, we had a double mission
Conference. Our mission and the Washington DC North mission. We all
met at the Mt. Vernon Stake Center. We were joined by Elder Ronald A.
Rasband and Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles. There were some members of the Seventy there as well. All
together there were about 10 General Authorities if I had to guess.
They were all in town for a military fireside which was going to be
held Saturday night as well as a YSA Stake Conference which they
would preside at on Sunday. . And so while they were in town, the
requested to meet with the missionaries in the area. We started off
the morning taking a mission picture with both of the brethren. That
was awesome. It was like as soon as they came into the cultural hall
for the picture, it got silent. You could hear a pin drop. You could
tell as soon as you saw them that they were servants of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Elder Rasband talked to us about how we can invite our
investigators to repent and how that is the most important thing that
anyone can do in this life. Elder Ballard promised us that if each of
us talk to at least 10 people everyday, our mission will teach and
baptize more than we have before. I thought that was pretty awesome to
hear that promise come from one of the Apostles. The spirit was so
strong all morning. It was literally like a spiritual thanksgiving
where you keep going back for seconds and thirds and fourths. I'll
never forget that day for the rest of my life.
A pretty cool story, so prior to the visit with the brethren, the
weather forecast showed that we were going to have snow, rain, and
freezing rain. Well, Saturday morning rolled around and we had a
little rain but nothing else. I thought that was pretty cool. But
wait, it gets better. The next day at church, we were talking to our
bishop about the whole experience and how the weather calmed and what
not. Now, our bishop, who is a marine, went to the military fireside
on Sunday night with the Apostles. And while Elder Rasband was talking
to them, he told a story about how before all the events that were
supposed to happen this weekend, they saw the weather forecast and saw
that it was going to be horrible weather. Well, he said that him and
Elder Ballard both prayed together, out loud, and asked to Lord to
calm the elements so they could still meet with everyone. And what do
you know? The weather wasn't bad at all and we were able to meet with
them. How awesome is that? Miracles are real, that was one that I
witnessed this week.
While still riding our spiritual high from meeting with members of the
Quorum of the twelve, elder Williams and I prepared a presentation
that we would be giving at our wards Mission Prep. We had an
invitation from our bishop to preform the haka for all the youth that
were preparing for missions. And so if anyone of you are poly or know
what a haka is, you'll know how special it was for us. Well, all week,
elder Williams and I practice the haka in preparation for Sunday night.
Sunday night, we talked to the youth and tried to motivate
them to be warriors, to enlist in the war that is going on right now
between good and evil. Then at the end, we did the haka for them. It
was such a spiritual experience and elder Williams definitely killed
it and I tried my best to be as "non-palangi" as I possibly could. We
went all out and you could tell the youth know what they needed to do,
they knew they needed to become the warriors that we were changing
about in the haka. I'm so glad I got to be a part of that tremendous
experience. Someone took a video of it that maybe will get sent out at
sometime haha. But if not, I'll attach the pics we took afterwards.
To top it all off, we went to the temple this morning. What a great
way to end off one of the best weeks of my mission. I'm so thankful to
have a temple that I can attend so close by. I'm so blessed to be a
part of this restored gospel. The gospel is true. This work is true. I
stand as a representative of the Lord, Jesus Christ and I know that he
lives and he has his hand in the tiny fragments of our lives. I love
and miss you all. Have a great week!
- Elder Leishman🕴
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| Elder Williams and I after our Haka at our ward Mission Prep class |
- Elder Leishman🕴
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