Chapter 9: He Heals Amid Hardship

"To anybody struggling today, I say: Be hopeful, be happy, and smile. Remember that God is in your side. He is not an angry, vicious God trying to trip you. He is for you—not against you. He is your Father. He is anxious to do everything possible to bless you."

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles This week was full of hardship, and quite possibly one of the hardest weeks of my life. It seemed like at every turn there was fierce physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual opposition to all of the good that I was desiring to do, and to be quite frank it was definitely disheartening. I struggled this week; I fought tooth and nail for my faith and my testimony. Perhaps the hardest news of all, news that I am still trying to process, came yesterday when I found out my opportunity to go to the Philadelphia Temple next week would now be canceled due to rising cases of COVID-19. I have been preparing and waiting for the past 9 months or so to have an opportunity to go through the temple, and when I finally thought it was going to happen, well it didn't. So how do we face hardship? When expectations, even righteous ones filled with good desire, are lost, how do we cope? How do we reconcile seemingly hopeless or completely disheartening situations?  We turn to our understanding of who God is, and who the Savior Jesus Christ is.  God is our loving Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is our loving Redeemer. Both of them understand all things. They know us. Christ knows and understands any and all of our experiences and our hardships, and we can find healing through Him.  We really can!  As I've fought hardship this week, I spent a lot of time thinking about Jesus Christ and who he is and what my relationship to him is, and likewise in terms of Heavenly Father. Understanding who we are as children of a loving God and a precious soul worth the unspeakable pains of Gethsemane and Calvary to the Savior can help us more than anything in our struggle against life's hardship. I invite you all to read the following scripture and ponder and pray on these things. I promise you, healing will come.  Romans 8:16-18 Life is good.  God is wise.  Let Him prevail.  Never give up.  Elder Childers  Just because it's a hard week doesn't mean there aren't fun pictures

Pagoda: Night edition

District Counsel with the zone leadership, super fun! 

Me with zone leader Elder Rowley, my actual role model for life. I'm extremely grateful for him and all he's done for me these past short months. 

Classic mask selfie

Us with the sisters AND Templeton, Elder Logan and I's squash we drew a face on and decided to take with us everywhere 

Basketball with the bros, so fun