January 31

Good Afternoon!

Or morning, or evening.  Whatever time it is where you are.  At Mom's request, here is a week in my life.  I hope you're not bored to death:

Monday:  We woke up at 6:30, and went to play some basketball.  Afterwards we bought some pan de sal, and then went back to the apartment and cleaned.  Then we went to the computer shop to email, then went to the palengke (market) to buy groceries, then home for studies.  At six we headed out and met with one investigator, he is the only non-member in his family, and really wants to understand everything, then we visited a couple of recent converts and then one more investigator.

Tuesday: Woke up at 6:30, got ready for the day, ate breakfast, then at 8:00 out of the apartment to Barit.  Its the farthest part of our area, and its pretty rural.  We talked to our members there and then came home. ate lunch, and then did our studies.  At four o clock we headed out again, this time in the city part of our area.  we talked with our investigators, then we ate dinner at a members house.  We had pancit and igadu.  Then we went home, evaluated the day, and went to sleep.

Wednesday was pretty much the same.

Thursday:  In the morning we had weekly planning. Normally this is on Friday morning but we had other stuff to do on Friday.  So after weekly planning we headed to Barit again.  We did some finding in an area that we hadn't been to before, and it was good!  We found one investigator that is ready for baptism, except she hasn't been married to her husband, and can't.  But the church has some new revelation for the Philippines, that if you've been together for more than five years, and don't plan on separating, and can't get married, you can still get baptized.  So hopefully they will have a baptism soon! We also found a lady and she was the one asking us what we were about, what was different about us, when church was, things like that.  Hopefully we'll get to talk to her again!  Then we went back to the city and did some finding, talked to some investigators, then went home.

Friday: in the morning we had a world wide mission conference, and that was really good!  I learned lots of good things!  then in the afternoon we worked in the city, did fun stuff like that.

Saturday:  The same as Wednesday, the only difference was that we had a dinner appointment, so we ate at a members house.

Sunday:  In the morning we went to Barit until 12, then came back to get ready for church.  1:00 we had an interview for one of our investigators that will be getting baptized next week.  Then 1:30 we had classes then sacrament meeting.  One of my companions spoke in sacrament meeting.  Then after church we had MCM, then visited one of our recent converts, then went home at 7:00 for accounting!

That was my week.  I think I'll just list all the foods that I ate.  Ready?
Pancit, rice, igadu, sinigang, rice, inihaw, eggs, hotdogs, rice, ginataan, oh, and a little bit of rice.

These are called turon!  They're fried bananas wrapped in a crepe ish thing.  It's delicious.

It's been a good week here in the Philippines, and the Lord has taught me a lot.  I am getting a little bit better at learning from Him, and am discovering the wealth of knowledge that is waiting for me.  This week I have been focusing on two things.  The first is really pondering and learning from the scriptures.  So often I feel that I just read and skim over the top of it, but there is so much waiting below.  One of the members of the Seventy compared it to the difference between snorkeling, and scuba diving in the last conference.  Snorkeling is fun, but it is never the same after you've gone down and really seen what there is there.   So I've been trying to become a scuba diver as I am studying this week.  One person that is a good example for me is Elder Holland.  There have been many times that he tells stories from the scriptures, but really makes them personal to us.  When he tells the stories, you can really tell that he has thought about it, what was really happening, and what that means for us.  I love it.

 The second thing I have been focusing on this week is prayer. Earlier I was reading in the Liahona, and there was an article about Christmas.  Elder Anderson talked about an interview he had read.  The interview was with the Archbishop of South America.  The interviewer asked him how his relationship had changed with God as he grew older.  His response was that he had learned to "shut up more" in the presence of God.  He then shared about how when he was younger, he went before God with his "shopping list"  He had a bunch of things that he wanted to get from God.  Then he shared his view now. "I am trying to grow in just being there.  Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter, you are just there in front of the fire, and you don't have to be smart or anything.  The fire warms you." (Desmond Tutu)  I want to get a lot better at that.  Just being warmed.  Many times I say what I want to say and then its into bed, because I have to get up early in the morning.  I want to take more time to just listen.  Just feel the spirit, feel the revelation that God is waiting to give me.  That has been my goal this week.  Hopefully I get better at it.

    I love you all, and want to say thanks for the role that each one of you has played in my life.  For the ways that I have learned from you, and the help you have given me to grow.  Have a great week!

Elder Childs

P.S. The baptism did go on, next week I will tell you a little more about the people.

The Beautiful Philippines: