April 23

Hello Everyone!

We have had a good week this week.  We have done a lot, and learned a lot too.  Its been fun.  On Wednesday we had interviews with President Andrada, and it is always good to go and meet with him, and get to check my progress as a missionary.  Then Thursday was Zone Conferences in Aparri.  We woke up at 4:30 in the morning to make it on time.  It was fun, it reminded me of going ice fishing with Dad way back when (:

Zone conference was great, we learned a lot.  One of the things that President Andrada has been stressing lately is the need to have a vision.  He always reminds us that if we do not have a vision for our areas, we don't have anything that we are working for, which makes for bad work.  So me and my companion have been working on that.  We have been talking and deciding what we want for this area.  We feel that we need to focus on the less active and part member families, and hopefully through that, we can really help the branch grow.

As I've been thinking about it, I think that it is just as important for us to have a vision in our own lives.  I remember a talk that President Monson once gave.  He told a story of one day as he was going up an on ramp to the freeway, he saw three hitch hikers.  The first held a sign that read, 'California'.  The second held a sign that read, 'Oregon'.  But President Monson said that it was the third that really caught his attention.  The third hitch hiker held a sign that read, 'anywhere'.
President Monson taught that when we have nowhere that we are going, we do not have anything that we are aiming for, and we will more likely than not end up unhappy with where we go, but too often, we go through life without a plan or a vision of where we want to be.

So I decided, that whatever I do in life, it must always be working towards my vision of success, to what I want to become, and ultimately, everything I do must lead me to my end goal of Eternal Life in the presence of our Heavenly Father, and I would encourage each of you too keep that in perspective as well as you move throughout your life.

I love you all and have a great week!

Elder Childs