Week 68: Strength

Ansel Childers
Aug 26, 2019
3 min read

Hello everyone!! How's it going for you all? I hope you are are doing great, enjoying some late summer lemonade and watermelon under a nice sunset :) I for sure miss those cool summer nights. I say cool because I'm comparing to what I'm experiencing here. haha

This has been a cool week. Elder Griffiths got transferred. Which was sad, I really liked being with him and what we had going. I now have a new companion, Elder Hall! He's from Meridian Idaho, so not to far from me in Washington. He's pretty cool and I think I'm really, really going to like my companionship with him.

It's weird because I feel like I just got here in Batac, but now I have to lead and am expected to know the area. It's going by pretty good this week, we've been exploring some new areas and finding a lot of good new people.

I started studying the Old Testament this past week. I actually really like it so far. I thought it would be super boring honestly but it's got a lot of good stories and principles. Here's one of the verses that stuck out to me:

"The Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation" Exodus 15:2

I like this a lot. I think when we are weak or even just tired we look to different sources of "strength" to help us. It could be a cold bottle of Gatorade after a tennis match, or a couple hours of Netflix and snacks after a long stressful day. I've noticed out on my mission that all these original sources that I used to go to for strength and relief are now scarce/against the rules/not here. I can't just listen to music or go talk with friends whenever I feel lonely or weak.

I have found that true strength comes from the Lord. If we truly strive to rely on them, he will be here to guide us, both day and by night. I know that we can find peace through our hard times because I do. The Lord is my strength, and has become my song, my battle cry every single day when I feel like I have no more energy. It's the strength to continue to press on, to talk to everyone, to walk those miles, to serve for two years and on.

I love this work. I know it is true.

Alright I'm sorry I didn't take a lot of pictures this week but these are all the ones I did take.

8/19/2019

This is us at one of the part member families we are working with right now. They are super nice and ready to get baptized. We are trying to overcome their concerns and answer their questions to help them start their covenant path. They are one of the coolest families I've met so far.

Got some cool matching companion shirts. gonna miss this guy

8/22/2019

This is my new companion, Elder Hall. He's awesome. I love him and we have a lot in common. We are getting along great. Here's his "favorite book" in the library we went to. hahahah (DISCLAIMER: no political point meant by this don't get mad at me pls)