My
plaque is over my heart and in my heart. I will always and forever be a
missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Love this Jersey Missionary,
Hermana Childs
Monday, March 31, 2014
Addicted
Monday, March 24, 2014
InterCAMBIOS
"CAMBIO" = Change
Change
is all around in NJ. The weather is changing, our companionship might
be changing (we have transfers next week), and I have seen changes in
our area. I have also seen changes in myself!
This
week we had "intercambios", or exchanges, with the Sister Training
Leaders. Exchanges are when each companionship swaps one companion for
24 hours. One companion will stay in the same area and "lead", or direct
the lessons, and the other will leave and trade places with a Sister
Training leader.
Thursday
night our district leader called and told us that Sister Jordan would
be leaving the area. Instant panic. I was going to be leading our area.
Our Sister Training Leaders are called as English speaking missionaries
and don't speak any Spanish. This also meant that I would have to
translate. As unprepared as I felt, I knew the Lord wouldn't give me a
trial that I couldn't overcome, so I began praying for help.
Friday,
the day of exchanges the Sister Training Leaders arrived at our
apartment. I said goodbye to Sister Jordan for 24 hours, and Sister
Varble and I went off to our first appointment. During the whole drive, I
was praying that I would be able to understand each accent of Spanish
that I encountered that day (we teach people from several different
countries and the accent varies from country to country), that I would
be able to teach clearly, and that I would be able to bring the Spirit
into our lessons.
Our
first lesson was with a new investigator: Andres. He is 21 years old,
from Costa Rica, and is living with a member family. We had encountered him
once before and were able to talk to him for 15 minutes, but this was
the first actual lesson. During the lesson we were teaching about the
Restoration; we were teaching about prophets and dispensations and the
Spirit was so strong. My Spanish seemed to come so easily; I didn't
hesitate, the points of the lesson came to my memory, and I taught with
conviction. It was amazing! I know Heavenly Father was helping me. There
is no way that I could have done that by myself! At the peak of the
lesson, we invited him to be baptized. He accepted! His baptism will be
on April 27.
All
throughout our exchange I saw miracles! There was a CHANGE that happened
that day. A change of companions, a change of Spirit in our area, and a
change in me as I gave everything to my Heavenly Father and trusted Him
with all my heart.
Miracles happen when we trust the Lord. We need to not only trust Him, but FULLY trust Him.
So, trust Him. Let the "cambio" take place. Miracles are awaiting.
Hermana Childs
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
La Vida es la Universidad por Adversidad
This
week was hard. Really hard. Satan has been working incredibly hard on
us and our investigators. I have seen it and felt it. The harder we
push, the harder he works, but it's alright because he will NEVER win.
He can "send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind"
but he will NEVER win. (Helaman 5:12)
Hermana
Jordan and I have our feet planted in the gospel sod, our roots are
firm in Christ, our house is built upon a rock, and how firm is our
foundation, even that the temptations of Satan will not shake us. We are
representatives of Christ. We wear His name on our hearts and our
plaques. "[He] will be on [our] right hand and on [our] left and [His]
Spirit will be in our hearts, and [His] angels round about [us] to bear
[us] up. (Doctrine and Covenants 84:88)
"I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The dye has been cast! I
have stepped over the line. The decision has been made; I am a disciple
of Jesus Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, or be still. My
past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I’m
finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees,
colorless dreams, tainted visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and
dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions,
plaudits or popularity. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk
with patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power. My face is
set, my gait is fast, and my goal is Heaven. My road is narrow, my way
is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is
clear! I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided or
delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the
presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder
at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t
give up, shut up, or let up, until I have stayed up stored up, and paid
up of the cause of Christ. I must go till He comes, give till I drop,
preach till I know, and work till He stops me." -Unkown Author
I
know the Savior is with us, and even though Satan is doing his best to
slow us down, we are as the army of Helaman; "we are as the Lord's
missionaries to bring the world His truth".
Sending all my love,
Hermana Childs
Monday, March 10, 2014
So Much Faith
The people here have so much faith; and because of their faith, we have seen so many miracles.
We
have a recent convert in our branch who has a burning testimony of the
church. He bikes 6 miles to church every Sunday...even when it's too
cold for me to walk out to the car; or when the cold sinks through my
coat, skirt, and leggings within a matter of minutes; or even through
the rain. He is truly amazing. This week we were teaching him about
family history work because our branch has a special temple trip next
week. He is so excited to do the work for his family. He is not yet
endowed, so he can only do baptisms, but he has already requested the
full day off of work to travel to the temple (4 hours away), and spend
his day off to learn how to do family history work with us. This week we
met him at the Princeton Library for our appointment. We signed onto a
computer and began helping him set up an account for FamilySearch.org.
As we were setting up his account, it requested his name, we wanted him
to practice each step, so we asked him to fill in this information. He
had only used a computer once or twice before, so it took him 3 minutes
to fill in his first name because he was trying to find all of the
letters on the keyboard. After his name was successfully entered in, he
needed to click the mouse to go to the next step. We had to explain this
too because he had no idea how to use a mouse. It was very difficult
for him. It took us a full hour just to set up his account. I marveled
as I watched him struggle just to move the mouse around and get it to
land on the icon just right before he could click. Sometimes when he was
about to click, his hand would accidentally bump the mouse again, and
he'd have to try again. It was amazing. This work is so important to him
that he is willing to struggle through HOURS of work trying to enter in
the documentation for his family. I have never seen such faith in my
whole life. It is amazing.
Later
on in the week a member wanted to take us out to lunch. We finished our
food at the restaurant and were on our way out when we passed by the
waitress. My companion and I handed her a pass-a-long card and explained
who we were and a little bit about what we believe. To our surprise her
response was, "This is exactly what I have been looking for! Thank you
so much for sharing this with me. Can I get the address for your church
so that I can attend?" We gave it to her, met with her yesterday, and
she is well on her way to being baptized.
Also, our
mission has a goal to contact 10 people everyday. This is a bit
difficult for Hermana Jordan and I. Our area is very large and we do a
lot of driving, so our numbers are usually around 7-8 contacts every
day. One of the first days that this goal was given we were walking to
one of our appointments and passed by a young man sitting next to the
library. We walked by him because we were going to be late for our
appointment, but a few steps after we had passed him, Hermana Jordan and
I felt that we needed to go talk to him. We turned around, introduced
ourselves, gave him a Book of Mormon, invited him to read the
Introduction, and set up an appointment with him. We went to visit him a
few days later and while we met with him, we followed up on his
reading. Not only had he read the Introduction, but he was curious about
his book and so he kept reading. He believes it to be true. He has been
prepared. We plan extend a baptism invite at our appointment later
tonight.
The area we are in has been prepared. The
seeds have been planted long ago and now we are harvesting these
children into God's Kingdom. I am so thrilled for this goal of
contacting 10 people every day. Being a missionary is such a blessing.
It's a joy.
I love my mission, my companion, these people, all of it.
Sending my love back to Utah,
Hermana Childs
 |
| This is me trying my first platano :) |
 |
| Volunteering at the Food Pantry |
Monday, March 3, 2014
Miracles in New Jersey
 |
| My Trainer and companion Hermana Jordan from Bolivia |
I love my mission.
Miracles have happened in New Jersey. Miracles.
Yesterday
was Fast Sunday. I love Fast Sunday. Fasting brings miracles. After
church ended, my companion and I returned to our apartment, broke our
fast, and then headed off to our appointments.
Our
first appointment was in a city called Trenton. Trenton is ranked 2nd
or 3rd for the most dangerous cities in the United States. We pulled up
to the investigators house, parked, said a prayer, and were getting out
of the car when I stopped. Hermana Jordan looked at me and said, "Esta
bien?" ("Are you alright")? I got back in the car and closed the door. I
said, "I have this really anxious feeling. It feels like something
isn't right". She had that same feeling. We sat in the car, locked our
doors, and offered another prayer. Afterwards we parked our car in a
different area and the feeling went away. We have no idea why we felt
that way, but Heavenly Father was watching out for us. That is the first
miracle. Second was during that same appointment. Hermana Jordan had
told me that for the next week she was going to talk less and leave it
up to me to lead the discussions. I was so nervous! There we were trying
to teach a lesson on faith and it was my turn to lead. My Spanish
wasn't perfect, but the Spirit was there. Heavenly Father helped me
during that lesson.
That
same night we had an appointment with a family from the Dominican
Republic, the Martinez family. The Martinez family has 3 daughters all
older than 24 and then their mother. One of the daughters is a recent
convert and has a testimony stronger than steel. She has a strong desire
to have the rest of her family join the church. The other members of
her family have been investigating the church for a month or so and are
really skeptical about it. There is a lot of tension when, as a family,
they talk about the church. Last night, before we drove over to our
appointment with them, we called to confirm. One of the sisters texted
us and told us that no one was home and that we'd have to reschedule.
After we received her message, the other sister, who is a member, called
us and told us that everyone was at home and for us still to come over.
We drove over, went to the apartment complex door, rang for their
apartment number, but one one answered. We called the sister who is a
member and she said that her sisters and mother didn't want to receive
us and listen to our message but that she was going to come and let us
in anyways. Once we were let in, Hermana Martinez (the member) explained
that one of her sisters was so set on not listening to our message that
she locked herself in the bathroom and would not come out. We arrived
at the door, greeted each of the remaining family members, and invited
all to listen to the lesson that we had prepared. Only the mother and
the husband of the member came to listen. One sister was still locked in
the bathroom and the other stayed in the kitchen and stated that she
couldn't come to listen because she was cooking and couldn't let the
food burn. Their kids ran wild as we began the lesson and things weren't
looking promising. I prayed for Heavenly Fathers help that this lesson
would go well. If it didn't, things would have gone worse, and I don't
think they would have anything to do with us. At that moment, our lesson
plans changed. The Spirit entered the room, the noise of cooking in the
kitchen stopped, all the children (except one) fell asleep, and we
taught with such conviction that it startled even me. We had the full
attention of everyone present. I don't think I have ever felt the Spirit
so strong. It was amazing. We closed our lesson with a prayer and set
up another appointment for the next week. Hermana Martinez, the member,
walked us out to our car and pleaded with us to stay longer. She said,
"I wish that you could be here forever. You have the Spirit with you,
and they can't contend with you because you guys bring the Spirit so
strong." We told her that we could teach her how to have the same power
if she would like. She agreed and thanked us again.
Miracles.
Miracles happen. They happen when we are obedient. They happen when our
will is in line with God's will. They happen because we have faith. I
have faith in miracles.
I have a testimony of this work and that God's hand is in it.
I am so grateful for this opportunity to represent my Savior.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughts. They help bring forth miracles like this.
Sending much love,
Hermana Childs
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