May 23, 2011
Dear Family,
Another week has come and gone. I can't believe how fast time is going. I guess the key is just staying busy and working as hard as you can. I only have 7 months left. I need to make the absolute most of it. This week was a pretty good one. Elder Hilton and I are getting along really well. We are really similar and like a lot of the same things which is great! He is the first companion that I have had that I can actually talk music and bands with. :) We're both way chill and it's fun. We have been working hard to find some new investigators and get things going in our area. It's slow, but we have faith. We had a baptismal date last week, like I told you, but over the weekend we had to drop the date because the investigator won’t make it. His name is Tadas and he is a great guy! Last week we taught him about the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. His only problem is that he is living with his girlfriend. He said that one of them won’t move out because his girlfriend is dependent on him. And he said that marriage wouldn't be possible for a few years until he is done with school. I have seen that they always do big weddings here and I guess he won’t have money. But we asked him to pray about what to do. He came back in our next meeting and said that he had decided to just wait til next year until he can maybe have the money to get married. Elder Hilton and I were so sad! We don't want him to wait until then because the spirit is really working on him right now and if he puts off those promptings, the spirit will leave! At least, I have seen that happen a lot. We asked if they could just legally get married and then have a big celebration next year, but he said no. All we could do was exhort him to stay strong through this next year and to not lose that fire that he has. He wants to follow Christ, but he just has this one hold up. I think that Elder Hilton and I have felt just a little of how Heavenly Father feels. We will continue to work with him and we are praying for a miracle. I hope that it all works out. And I know that it will. We have also been working with a few less actives in our area. There is a Chinese man that lives here and is a member. His name is Du Wei and he is married to a Lithuanian. He is the nicest man but has his own restaurant and can't come to church very much. Plus he can't understand Lithuanian so it's hard for him to want to come. His wife isn't a member either. But we taught him about Charity this week and he said that it was exactly what he needed. He said that he and his wife have been having some troubles in their marriage and that he wife wants him to be more charitable towards everyone. It was such a spirit filled lesson and I know that the Lord prompted us to teach him about that. We promised him that if he and his wife would have Charity towards each other, everything would be ok in their marriage. At the end of the lesson he asked us if his wife had called us and told us to talk about charity. It was really funny because she didn't! The Lord just knew what he needed. :) Anyways, that is what is up with me this week. Things are going well. It has been really rainy here too and it has been nice and warm. That is crazy that there has been so much rain there in Utah! That never happens! I have also been working really hard to get some plans in place to improve my language skills. Elder Hilton is helping me out a lot. I really appreciate your thoughts that you sent today. I had a lot of good impressions while reading the things you wrote. Thank you both for writing what you did. As you talked about the way that I learn, it made me so grateful for great parents that know me. Thank you for your thoughts. You guys are so great. I will be working really hard to incorporate the things that you said and I will continue to pray for guidance. This is a challenge, but I CAN DO HARD THINGS! With the Lord's help of course.
I need to go, but I hope that you all have a great week. I'm always praying for all of you. I love you!
Love, Elder Leishman
