top of page

Week 45: Because of their love

  • Writer: Ansel Childers
    Ansel Childers
  • Mar 18, 2019
  • 3 min read

Hello everybody!! Another week is gone, I think this week was the absolute fastest week I've ever experienced in my life. It's really starting to pick up, just crazy! We have had a lot of opportunities to find new people to teach and it's been great, just great. The Lord really does prepare people to accept the message of the restored gospel :)

Our "finding" hasn't been the typical house to house missionary work that I think everyone expects we do all day. We've had some great crazy and new opportunities to share some of our message with lot's of people, especially those of other faiths. Lemme tell ya all about it!

Last week we were trying to contact a referral and we came across a Nanay who is a devout member of Iglesia ni Cristo. Anyone who is familiar with the Philippines knows this church. They're known for their pride in knowing the Bible and they claim to be Christ's restored original church. Also they believe that Jesus isn't a God. Anyways, after talking a little bit with this Nanay, she invites us to come into their church for a bible study. My mind immediately jumps to the scripture stories of Alma and Almulek preaching in the people's synagogues and getting delivered from prison and stuff like that, so of course we accept the invitation.

On Tuesday night we went to the Nanay's house and we were picked up by some members and driven to their church, which is huge and a little intimidating. But, I was trying really hard to be Christlike in every way. I was able to make friends with a lot of their members as we came to their service and respectfully listened. After the service, we had a group of Iglesia members that was asking us questions, giving us an opportunity to teach a little about our message of the restored gospel. I also gave their leader a Book of Mormon :)

Working later that week, we've seen some miracles from doing this. I was worried that going to a different church service would somehow affect our work negatively, but so far it's going great. We're working through our new Iglesia friends to get referrals and teach from the Book of Mormon :)

Here's a cool scripture that goes along with these experiences:

"And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked... Now behold we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us"

One thing that I absolutely love about the people here is their love for others. The people are so loving. It's pretty humbling to see their love and to share the love of love of the gospel with everyone!

I guess my invitation to you all is if you meet another person of a different faith, sincere love is the best way to go. Sincere love and understanding. Take the example of President Nelson, who just met the Pope. He was very loving and focused on the similarities of our faiths, on the Savior Jesus Christ. I know that if we love first, we can gain opportunities to share what we believe.

Have a great week!

Agyaman, ingat po kayo

Elder Childers

Pics!

I wore this same tie for 6 months. Every day. Dedication. It's gross.

More studies on the beach. Love it here.

This Nanay gave us a tour of the Catholic Church here. Absolutely beautiful. The painter is a super nice guy. Beautiful paintings. Cool old bells.

We also went to a Catholic wedding which was fun. They also baptized their infant. Good experience. My first time at a catholic service!

We met a bodybuilder this week.. the GREEK FREAK.. he's from Greece and he married a Filipino. He lives here now. He doesn't speak Tagalog but speaks alright English and great Illokano. Super cool guy. He's the biggest dude I've seen in the Philippines. He's won the bodybuilder contest back in the day in Baguio City.

"Classic practice teaching picture"--doing some roleplaying at a Zone conference--just got the picture from the APs


Comments


bottom of page