Chapter 4: The Soiled Soul

"Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him. Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God."

Mormon 9:27-28

This week I made it to Reading, PA, the place where I will spend the first three months of my mission. To be quite frank, the past couple of days have been filled with hard work every spare second to try and clean the house my companion and I are living in. The culmination of cleaning hours have given me a lot of time to think and ponder on the idea of uncleanness, and how the state of our soiled souls leave us distanced from God. As I tirelessly scrubbed stained floors, I thought of the stains in my life. As I wiped and dusted the deep hiding places I delved into my own hiding places. As I encountered the filth of this home, I couldn't help but see and feel the grime of this great experience of mortality. All of us are unclean, and all of us need the power of Christ to help us. He is the master cleaner; because of his sacrifice, we are given the conditions of repentance to allow us the chance to strive to become better and follow his will. But even after all we can do, it is still his grace and his grace alone that can truly remove the stains from our hearts and purify our soiled souls. I invite all of you to strive again this week to come closer to him, to "ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God."

I love this experience and I wish all of you the best. If you haven't already, please consider listening to the words of the Prophets and Apostles from this past General Conference; the pertinence of their messages and the pure power that flows from their words can change your life.

Life is Good. 

God is wise. 

Let Him prevail. 

Elder Childers

The sunrise on a new adventure as I left Washington for my mission.

Cool building called The Pagoda here in Reading. It's actually a book store but it was closed due to covid. Reminded me of my East Asian Humanities class at BYU.

Gross home.