Week 82/83: Already to harvest

Woah it's been awhile everyone! My mom told me that some people actually noticed an absence of email last week.. So here's a big thank you to everyone who is thinking and reading about my adventures here in the Philippines. I love you guys.

If you didn't notice that's really okay, I still love you too :-)

So I think I'll start by sharing a quick story of our work this last last week. On Tuesday Nov 26 I was out finding with one of the zone leaders who I has on an exchange with. It was a great day and we talked all day about why we need to talk to everyone, and what the approach is for when we talk to people.

We went to a part of our area that I had never been before and we started to go house to house and talk to everyone. There were a lot of people not really interested, but we came across this one guy who was sitting next to a "tindahan" (a little neighborhood store) smoking and playing on his phone. I began to talk to him to get to know him and he seemed like a nice enough guy so I began to ask some questions about God's plan and about how God wants us to change. We came to know that he really felt like he had no direction in his life, and didn't really know what God wanted him to do. But, he knew he needed to change and he said he wanted to but didn't know how. We talked about that for a little bit and I promised him his life would change if he came to church that Sunday.

He was our first of 15 people we're teaching to show up. He brought 2 of his friends.

"The field is white and already to harvest." We keep meeting people who are ready and willing to come to church, even on the week that we meet them. As we have begun focusing on inviting people to church I have gained a testimony of God's presence in this work. He has prepared people to accept the gospel and that are ready to act immediately. Those are the people we're trying to find.

This whole idea of finding and teaching people who are ready to be taught now has changed my mission. We've coined it as "Finding PSA". This last week at Christmas conference we led a discussion on it with all the District Leaders which went really well. We're trying to help others understand that we can no longer waste our time teaching people who are not willing to change when there are so many people who are willing to change NOW.

Christmas conference was an absolute blast. Monday and Tuesday we were at a place called Fort Illocandia with the Ilocos half of the mission. It was so good to be able to see and connect with all of my mission friends again and play basketball, talk and spend time with. The hot shower and air conditioning was really nice as well. Wednesday we worked all day and it was so good. We taught 20 people who are wanting & preparing to be baptized in the coming weeks. We should have 6-7 baptisms this week, assuming everyone is ready :)

Wednesday after work we took a night bus to Santa Ana, Cagayan for the second half of the mission's Christmas Conference. We held another workshop with the District Leaders which went even better and we had a great discussion on finding and teaching those who are willing to come to church.

Friday after the conference we were trying to send people back to their areas but due to heavy rains, flooding/ landslides only half of the mission we able to get back. The other half stayed another night with us at the resort which was fun. The senior missionaries thought of some last minute games and they had a movie night which kept people happy. Me and Elder Wilson took the opportunity to go out and work with the Santa Ana elders. That was really good and very eye-opening on things we can improve on as a mission. I tried to help them understand how important it is to become friends with people and to not be robots when we meet people. It made me realize how much my mission has taught me of being friendly and interested in other peoples' lives.

Saturday morning we sent the last of the missionaries back to their areas and everyone was able to get home safely.. except for us. (see attached map below) We hopped in with the office elders and began to drive home but got stuck in Claveria due to landslides/flooding. The road completely washed out and the ONLY road to get back to the mission office inside my mission was destroyed. The policemen there told us it would be days until they could fix the road, so we called our mission president and he told us that we were going to have to take the LONG road home.. down through like 4 different missions. So we stayed Saturday night in Magapit and woke up Sunday morning, traveled to Tuguegarao city where we attended church/ate some burger king. We rented a van and had a member drive us all the way down to San Jose city and back around through Vigan to Laoag. It was such a long car and we finally got here earlier this morning around 3:30.

I'm so tired. I'm really looking forward to a week with a normal schedule, no car rides, and missionary work. I love this work. It's harvest time!

Love you all.

Elder Childers

here are some pictures of the Christmas conference. it's been a fun 2 weeks.