August 29

Hello Everyone!

I have had a good week!  I have been super busy here in the office.  I am the supplies manager, and so I have been busy taking care of everything that needs to happen in the transfer.  I am in charge of all of of the supplies for the mission.  Ordering and distributing.  I am also in charge of making sure the apartments are safe and well equipped, which is sometimes a hassle because sometimes missionaries want things they don't really need, but its ok.

My new companion is Elder Nuada.  He is from Manila and is a joker.  He is a really nice guy though and really hard working.We got to hang out with some of the new missionaries that came in, and we got to eat out a lot with president because of it.

We usually spend the morning in the office, and then the afternoon we proselyte.  But last week we didn't proselyte too much because we were super busy getting everything ready for transfer day.

Our area is still in Laoag but kind of far from the office.  We ride bikes to get there and there are lots and lots of progressing investigators there.  We will be having some baptisms this september.

Our apartment is close to the office.  Its two stories and has air conditioning, which is really nice, except its also really expensive.

I have been learning lots of good life skills here in the office, like prioritizing, which I have  always been really bad at.  Hopefully I will be able to use that in my studies after I get home.

I have been learning a lot about the need to change though lately, so I really liked the quote that you sent.  I think that if I can change even a little bit every day to be a little bit more like the Savior, I will end up being alright at the end of my life.  So I hope that I can really follow through on that.

Pagmamahal,

Elder Childs

August 23

I have really almost no time today.  I am going to make this a quick email.

I have gotten transferred into the office, and right now, we're getting ready for all of the new missionaries coming into the office.  I'm back in Laoag again and I'm glad to be here.  We haven't really stopped since I got here, and its been an adventure trying to adjust to everything really quick.  But I have seen a lot of really great miracles as I have been doing it.  There are four of us here.  Me and my companion and then a senior couple here.  The Kohls.  They are from Colorado and they are super nice!  Their mission is actually in the temple, but it is closed right now, so they are here with us until November.  They don't really know Tagalog so I have been practicing my English.  Sister Kohls always laughs at me because I speak Tagalog to her and she has no idea what I'm saying.

My companion is Elder Nuada and he is from Maynila.  He is a super nice guy and I think we will get along really well.  He loves to play basketball and be outside and all that great stuff.  He is actually going to be going home at the same time as I am so that's pretty cool!!!

Thats all I've got. This is a picture of me and brother Kohls.

August 15

Hello Everyone!

I have had a great week!  The two biggest things that I have learned this week are this.  First, The importance of Self Evaluation.  The second, is the importance of family history.  I will talk a little about the first first.

We were having a little bit, or maybe a lot a bit of a bad week.  We hadn't been able to teach hardly any lessons and it was getting us a little bit down as a companionship. So one night in our nightly evaluation, we decided to think about what we were going to change in order to make a change in the work we were able to do.  We decided to give it a day to just think about and receive revelation, and then the next day we were going to talk about it.  Me and Elder Ibanez thought about it for the next day, and were taught by the Holy Ghost.  Then when our companionship study came around we were able to set some solid goals and plans for what we were going to do. Then for the rest of the week we tried our best to apply the things we had learned, and we ended up doing so much better.  We were able to really meet people and talk with them about this Gospel that I love.  It really made an impact on me, and I know that just taking time to evaluate yourself is super important.

As for family History, we started working with one of the YSA (Dante Baltazar) to help him connect his family tree together.  He started with absolutely nothing, and we have been just working on getting his parents and grandparents, and great grandparents entered in, with all of their children.  The thing that really impressed me was the spirit that I felt as we were working on that.  I know that it was the Spirit of Elijah that was promised, and I love it.  There really is such a power that comes into your life as you work to complete saving ordinances for those who cannot do it for themselves.  It was fun for me to feel again.  I challenge each of you to do something with family history this week, and I know that you will really feel that same spirit.

I know that this is the true Gospel, and I love it.  I love you all,

Elder Childs

August 7

We finally got our power back after five days.  It turned out that our meter had been completely fried, so they put a new one on and it was alright!

We still don't have water, but our landlord says that he will be fixing that soon.  We have a toilet, but there just isn't any water in the tank.  We just have to put our own water into it.  I didn't actually know you could do that until I got here in the mission, but it flushes just fine like that.

My daily routine goes like this.

6:30 Wake up, carry water upstairs.

7:00 ish.  Take a shower

7:30 eat breakfast.  Usually eggs and rice or ramen and rice or anything, as long as it has rice (:

8:00 leave!

12:00 come home eat.  See breakfast for what (:

1:00-4:00 STUDIES (so so so important)

4:00 leave again.  Work work work!

9:00 come home.  Sometimes earlier, depending on appointments.  We can't always stay out till nine, in which case we come home around 8

then we eat write in my journal, sometimes extra studies, or talk or whatever.

10:30 go to bed.

The other night we visited our investigator Princess, and she has been struggling to know for herself if the church is true, but last week we committed her to read every day.  She did it and this week, when we taught her, we talked about her upcoming baptism on august 20 and if she had received an answer, and she said that she had.  She said that she believed it was all true.  It really strengthened my testimony that we really need to read the Book of Mormon.  It really will strengthen our testimony and spirituality.

I won't list all of our investigators today. We have almost 40, but they are all doing good.  The progressing investigators are Menalyn, Ednalyn, and Princess.  Some others that have lots of potential are Bong, Nilo and Nirio.  They could all use your faithful prayers.

I love you all!

Elder Childs