Beautiful reflections, Elder Child! We have absolutely loved following your adventures, reading about your faith-filled experiences, and seeing you change lives for the better - including your own! Thank you for your dedicated service on the front lines for the Lord! We know that you are loved and appreciated, honored and revered by so many. Your influence could never be measured! Those whose lives you have touched will be forever blessed because of your actions as an instrument in the Lord's hands. We certainly have been blessed by your example, testimony, and the love you show to all who know you. WELL DONE THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT!!! Thanks for being you! We love you forever, and can hardly wait to see you and give you gigantic hugs again! With love and gratitude, G and G Anderson 333 Onward, upward, and outward to your next adventures!
On Wed, Apr 6, 2022 at 10:32 PM Evan Child <evan.child@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello all you wonderful people!! I hope you're doing absolutely fantastic and I'm excited to see you! I am happy, grateful, and well, and currently on a plane en route to see my family. Tomorrow I'm to be released as a full-time missionary of Christ's restored Church. This is a longer email, but I wanted to reflect a little bit on my mission and what I've learned. I hope that these reflections can be of use to you; they most certainly have been for me!--How I have loved proclaiming the gospel of repentance in Jesus Christ these two years! There is no greater nor more important work than that of gathering Israel, and during these years I have come to know much more what it means to be of Israel. For many missionaries, their favorite aspect of mission life is seeing how letting God prevail changes people's lives. Some of my most treasured moments of these years have been those of seeing people do just that, especially when living and making covenants with God has been involved.I want to share three stories of people from my mission who were willing to let God prevail in their lives (taking a leaf out of the other Elder Child's book and changing all the names, since this will include some personal info).One afternoon, Geraldo was praying fervently to know which was God's true Church. He got a peaceful feeling and decided to leave his house. Two elders felt an impression to talk to him, and they began to explain to him about the First Vision. They asked him if he believed, and he said yes! In that brief conversation, he'd felt that their message was true. If I remember correctly, he went on shortly afterwards to pray about the message and received a stronger impression that it was, in fact, all true. However, in the following weeks, it became difficult to get ahold of Geraldo. He didn't answer calls, canceled several lessons, and rarely attended Church. After about two months of this, something changed. We began to be able to teach him regularly, he began to never miss Church, and he kept every commitment with joy. What changed? I think it wasn't his answer but rather his faith and courage to act on that answer. That faith is essential to let God prevail in our lives.Martin was married to Yanet, a wonderful member of the Church who decided to come back to living her covenants. She invited the missionaries to their home and they began to teach Martin and their two sons. We began traditionally, teaching the plan of salvation and the Restoration and helping the family develop basic discipleship habits. In a subsequent visit, we were told that Martin had overcome some difficulties the previous weekend, something that was extremely difficult for him. We went on to find out that from then on he'd given up drinking... before we'd taught him the word of wisdom. Dear Yanet had invited him to give up alcohol, and the faithful man had the faith to lean on the testimony of his consecrated wife to let God prevail even when he did not understand all the reasons why.Alyson was a nine-year-old girl who had come to know the Church through her member aunts and had been attending Church for five years. Her parents were very supportive but did not yet desire to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ. Her testimony was that of a child. It was not based in complex doctrinal understanding or the result of patient doubt-weeding but rather a simple knowing of truth that this is the restored Church of Jesus Christ. She was able to let God prevail based on a simple and strong testimony.Elder Razhuilca was the only member in his family. He was baptized at 12 and left on his mission without knowing yet the truth of the Book of Mormon. He felt that the Church was true because of how he felt in all the meetings and activities, but didn't feel yet that he knew the Restoration was real. However, he had a profound desire to repent and to develop Christ-like attributes and felt that the mission would help him to do so, and so he decided to serve!In these stories, we can see that it takes true faith to let God prevail. The faith to act on an answer, the faith to lean on the testimony of others, the faith to act with unwavering determination based on a simple testimony, and the faith to keep the commandments in spite of unresolved doubts are all examples of having the faith to let God prevail. How joyous is this work!!! Geraldo, Michel and his two sons, and Alyson were all baptized and confirmed and are progressing steadily towards making more covenants with God. Elder Razhuilca now knows that the Book of Mormon is true by the power of the Holy Ghost and is bearing powerful testimony.I have absolutely loved helping people like these, seeing miracles, and changing during these years. However, on my mission, I have been very far from perfect. My mission president and companion shared some powerful thoughts on the topic. How can we know if we've been successful, if we've done something in our lives "right" or "good enough?" First off, because of Christ's Atonement, if we repent, "Did I do it right?" is not the right question, but rather, "Am I doing it right?" Christ will make up the difference. He just asks that we don't give up as we keep repenting and living His gospel. However, there are a few questions that can be educational and motivational in helping us reflect on past chapters of our lives without falling into the trap of "Did I do it right?". A few I like are:- Did I feel joy in my labor?- Did I see the Lord's hand in my life and those of others?- Did I work to gather Israel?- Did I repent of mistakes?- How can I learn from these experiences to be more Christ-like tomorrow than I was yesterday?I've re-learned on my mission that we can know these things. Every human being has chosen once to follow Christ, and because of that, we are beings of intelligence imbued with a light from Him that allows us to discern between good and evil, light and darkness, truth/intelligence and the lack thereof. Knowing this is far more than an urge to avoid cognitive dissonance or rationalizing oneself out of fearing death. It is the power in us as children of God to KNOW.The Book of Mormon is true. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. Christ's Church is restored. I know this by the power of the Holy Ghost. I bear testimony that Jesus Christ lives. He is the Son of God. He stands today on the right hand of His Father with arms of mercy extended to all those who will receive Him. He is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Healer, our best friend. There is no wound He can't heal, no scar He can't fix, no soul He can't lift, and no sin that He won't forgive if we truly repent. By living His gospel, we can receive the eternal glory that He and His Father live. That gospel is thus the most important message for anyone to come to know! I've loved proclaiming it for two years. Here's to ninety-two more 😁🎉🙏Love you all dearly! See you soon 🤗Elder Child
To see all of Elder Child's email, see https://elderelichildinperu.blogspot.com/
Elder Child loves to get notes. Please send them to elijah.child@missionary.org.
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