January 15

Hi Everyone!

We have had a good week this week!  We did experience an earthquake, but nothing broke here in Santo Domingo.  It just felt a little bit like we were on a ship for a while.  It was good though.  That was probably the fourth or fifth earthquake that I've been through.  They're fun (:

We have had some progress in the area.  Last Wednesday we had exchanges with the elders in Vigan.  It was good!  I had the opportunity to go to Vigan to have some work.  (They're having the miss universe competition there in a the coming weeks.  Just a fun fact)  It was good.  We had a lot of fun times, its always good to go out and learn from other people.

We met some new investigators here that seem like they're going to progress.  Hopefully they will.  Thats the biggest problem in the Philippines.  We can get people to listen to us, but they don't always want to change their lives.  We heard a lot this week that people just wanted to stick with their traditions.  It is sometimes frustrating, but it is also true that change is hard.

But one thing that I've been learning a lot about is commitment.  In Preach my Gospel commitment is defined as "the act of obligating oneself to a course of action and then diligently following through on that decision."   It is essential to repentance.  So many times as missionaries we hear, well I don't want to promise because I might not do it.  Usually this ends up as a problem with priorities.  If going to church is a priority, it will happen.  You will feel alright about committing to go.  But if going to God's house is given a lower priority, then you actually going there is just by chance. The same thing applies to every aspect of the Gospel.

If we want to come closer to God, to repent of our sins and become clean, we have to commit.  It must become a top priority in life, and then we will receive the help that we need.  But only when we are truly committed will that happen.  Repentance and salvation never comes by chance.

I pray that we can all come close to God, and feel more of his love. I love you All!

Elder Childs

We went and almost got eaten by a tiger, so that's fun right??