Week 14 - LOVE

HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO

So.. to kick off this weeks email I got two quotes from a great movie. First off, "THATS NOT THE LANGUAGE THEY TAUGHT ME IN THE MTC!" just got to get that one out here. Holy cow. Tagalog is pretty crazy out here, but turns out that Tagalog isn't even what they speak here. They speak Ilokano!! So.. that's literally not the language they taught me in the MTC. Second quote: "I'm LOSING MY MIND" The part of the movie when Elder Van Pelt gets a bunch of letters and his mind goes crazy. Yeah. I got 37 emails since Monday, so thank you all for those. I will try and respond but our email time here is pretty limited. a lot more limited than it was in the states. When I opened my inbox, I actually felt jittery and like I was actually losing my mind. If I don't get to respond to you, please know that I really appreciate your love for me and taking the time to email me.

Alright let's talk about my week. It's been a transition for sure. Where do I even start?? Elder Ruiz is my trainer, and we are serving in the area of Abulug. It's the biggest area in the mission, and so far I'm just loving it. I think that this past week I have felt more personal growth than I have ever felt in my life.

SO.. it turns out the Philippines is pretty different than the USA. A lot different actually.

Something that Elder Jeppson in Wisconsin taught me was to always respond with love. So, that's what I made my big goal going into this whole thing. I wanted to love no matter what. Love my companion, love the people, the food, everything!!

Love is what is keeping me going. And honestly, it works. Trying to love something actually is working. Love is helping me be okay with ice cold bucket showers. It's what helps me get down different food, or be okay with not understanding the language quite yet. Love is the reason why me and my companion are getting along really well, even though he's from Texas!

Love is the reason why I'm doing really great. I am in love with the people here. They are so kind, humble, hospitable, and so easy to love.

That being said, it's been the absolute biggest transition I've ever had to go through. I like my clean and neat living space which doesn't exist here. The first night when we moved in there was a huge cockroach next to my bed. Who knew cockroaches had wings?? What?! Also I should have believed everyone when they said that there is no toilet paper in the Philippines. Yeah. That's weird. Our house has so many huge spiders which is fun. Also I've woken up in the night to a lizard crawling up my leg.

This place is just awesome. I'm so grateful to finally be here. In Wisconsin I wasn't ever sure if I would be able to get to come here, so being here along is such a blessing. And that's making the transition easier as well.

My book of Mormon study this week taught me an important truth: 4 Nephi 1:15 "And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people." LOVE is the key to this transition. I'm trying so hard to have the love of God in my heart so that I can get rid of any contention I have with this enormous change.

Really, I love you all. I think about you and I pray for you. This week- try to respond to whatever happens with Love. I promise that you'll end up loving it :)

Elder Childers

So the pics: there's one with me holding a bike pedal. Funny story. I've been borrowing this members' bike these past few days. It's a small girls bike, the brakes don't work at all, the handle bar needs to be tightened every 20 minutes, and the seat is stuck all the way down. It's a mess. It's been so fun to ride it. But, we were riding the other day to an appointment and the pedal screw fell off on a dirt road, so we tried to look for it but couldn't find it. So we had to walk our bikes back into the town to get it welded. When we got back to town, I looked down at the bike and the PEDAL HAD FALLEN OFF! So we had to walk all the way back to the road and find the pedal... hahaha just crazy