It has been another good week here in the Philippines Laoag Mission!!! I hope you have had a good one this week as well. Some updates on life, we will be having a baptism this Saturday!!! It is the baptism of Brother Edwin Tesora! He is the only one in his family who hasn't been baptized, and now he will be baptized and headed to the temple next year! I am so happy for him. He has really embraced the Gospel and is ready to live these sacred covenants. We also have some baptisms that should be on the way. If you guys ever wanted to pray for them it would be a huge help! The first one is Brother Dennis. He had a son that passed away a couple of months ago, while the missionaries were teaching, but instead of turning from God, he is turning to God, and is really trying to find out if this is God's church. He is super nice, and such a joy to talk to. the second is Sister Heil Aguino. She is a 15 year old and is getting ready for baptism, she should be there in a couple of weeks. The second is sister Michell. She is so smart and goes to church every week, but she just really wants to know for sure that Joseph Smith was a prophet before she is baptized. She is really doing some study in the BOM right now, and hopefully she will be baptized this month! The last is Sister Marites. She is so nice and has really seen the light of the Gospel come into her life, but her husband died a year ago and she is struggling being the sole provider of her family. She is trying to find a job, but if she can't find one here, she will be going to Manila. Please pray that she will be able to find good work here in Laoag.
This week I have thought a lot about change. Change should be a regular thing. Whether you are ten, fifty or one hundred, change should be something that we do every day. A thought that came into my head as I thought about this was this,
Stagnant is the pool of water
that remains in a single place
always it must be moving onward
to retain its cool clear taste.
Our lives are just like the water. We must change. We must grow. Every day that we live is a day to become something better than we were yesterday. We don't have to do it alone, we have the atonement, but we do have to do. Something it says in the true to the faith is that repentance is not an easy process. It isn't just something that you say sorry and then everything goes away. We must really feel sorrow, and then make changes in our lives and in ourselves to reflect that sorrow. Change is essential.
Another thing that President Andrada said while we were eating one day was that these days, many people are too smart to commit outright sins. There obviously are people who do, but many people in the world, and especially in the Philippines are really trying to do what God wants. So Satan has changed his tactics a little bit. Instead of outright sins, he gives "time wasters" We are not helping the kingdom grow, or preparing ourselves for the Celestial Kingdom, if all we do is sit in front of the TV all day. Or Play video games, or whatever other kind of time wasting device you can think of.
We really need to be careful, be diligent that we are always trying to change, change to become more like our Savior and if we do, we can look back at the end of our lives and say that we've done something important. We will be able to say that we've helped others grow closer to Christ and done so ourselves, and we will be happy.
I love you all,
Elder Childs
Answers to random questions:
We have a laundry machine right now. You put it in the wash and when that's done you drain the water and put some more in for the rinse, and then when that's done you put it in the dryer, but it doesn't dry it all the way. It just spins super fast so that the water all gets wrung out, but then you still have to hang it out for a day until its all the way dry.
We don't have house help. That is sadly something that was done away with a while ago. Not super long ago though. I'm not really sure why it stopped.
In the office it's just me and my companion and then the senior couple. I'm in charge of all the supplies, my companion is in charge of all the money, The senior couple takes care of records and travel stuff. They're a fun bunch! The senior couple always buy us food so that's good!
We do eat with members but not every day. They make good food. There are lots of ward family home evenings too so that's good as well.
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