February 2016 Departing and New Missionaries

February 22-23--We said good-bye to 19 missionaries; 7 of the 19 were sisters who were great missionaries and so much fun. We greeted the seven sisters as they got off the bus (except for one we picked at the Manila MTC). The elders are great too and we have served with them the majority of their missions. One elder had been a wonderful Assistant for 8 months and two had been great office elders at separate times for several months each. It was a very international group with missionaries from Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Tonga, the United States, and of course the Philippines. Many of them have great musical talents that we will miss as well. We enjoyed spending time with them and loved hearing their memories and heartfelt testimonies. I have such personal memories of each of them for various reasons. It was really hard to say good-bye. I know I always say that, but it's true! We were able to meet one of the elder's family when they picked him up. We always enjoy meeting the families of our missionaries.

February 24-25--We greeted 14 new missionaries including a brother of one of our missionaries that left in October. This group had only 2 sisters but they are both impressive along with the elders. We enjoyed the time with them and were touched by the strength of their testimonies as we had a testimony meeting the morning before they left for their first areas. Several of the missionaries are the only members in their families and they are demonstrating great faith serving without family support. We already love each of them.

February 2016--What a month!

     February was a busy month! It is supposed to be one of our slower months but it certainly didn't work out that way. We had our last zone interviews, Mission Leadership Council, a senior couples activity, a Worldwide Missionary (re)Broadcast, District Leaders Training, Missionary Check-up, Train the Trainers, Transfer Week, district meetings, baptisms, interviews, and the highlight of the month was an amazing visit to our mission from President Russell M. Nelson and his wife!!!!

    February 1-6--We finished our zone interviews during the first week of February as well as had our Mission Leadership Council. After MLC we rode a ferry to Mindoro where the next day we had our last  interviews and Bart did some temple recommend interviews as well. Sunday we attended Church in Naujan which is held in a rented meetinghouse. The Branch has grown so a few months ago they changed the meetinghouse location. This building has been a bank, a restaurant, a clinic, and a resort. In the back are two empty swimming pools--an adult and a children's pool. The classes are held in Nipa Huts. The day we attended it was raining hard and the rain dripped through some of the roofs but the lessons were nice and there was a great spirit. Because it was raining so hard some of the members were unable to get there that Sunday so the missionaries said there are usually more in attendance. A great young man was leaving on his mission a few days later and he started the testimony meeting by sharing his testimony. After he spoke there was never a break in the stream of members sharing their testimonies. It was a sweet experience. This island had a lot of damage from a typhoon in December and many of the people are still recovering. After the block of meetings President Mangum set apart the missionary and did a few more temple recommend interviews before we boarded the boat to return home. The waves were bigger than usual as we traveled back.

A classroom (with the pools in the background), wet rice fields, the outside of the Naujan Branch meetinghouse,
the waves on the ride back, the Branch President and new missionary, the sweet Relief Society sisters. 

    February 7-8--Sunday we returned to the mission home late and missed having dinner with our senior couples. The next day all of the senior couples enjoyed a fun day of visiting and seeing some of the sights in our mission. We went to the home of the Pakil Branch President to see his woodcarvings. It's a quaint little area with a few homes, animals grazing and running around the yard, and an overhang where he and his sons carve their beautiful carvings. He specializes in LDS Artwork: Liahonas, Book of Mormon prophets, Joseph Smith, and the Savior but he also does a carabao, Jeepney, and chess sets. We enjoyed our time there and the Branch President and wife enjoyed all of the orders they received! We then drove to the next little town called Paete that is also known for wood carvings and paper mache' products. It was fun looking in shops as well as watching the artists at work. We visited another woodcarver's home who does wonderful Filipino Nativity sets. He is also a strong member of the Branch there. Our missionaries keep these woodcarvers busy. We then drove to Lumban which is known for their beautiful embroidery crafts. It is amazing to see the women hand or machine embroider their beautiful items. We finished the day by driving to a fun little town called Liluw which is known as the shoe capitol. There are shoe shops lined up along the sides of the main road as well as a giant flip flop mounted on top of a building. Along with shoes they have a very nice restaurant called Arabella's. It serves really good Italian food and delicious cheesecake that is beautifully served. Most of the couples had never been to these towns and the scenery was beautiful and the time together was great. We were also able to discuss mission items throughout the day mixed in with the relaxation and fun.

     February 10--The Worldwide Missionary Broadcast was actually in January but because of the time difference and unreliable internet service in our mission we needed to wait for DVDs from the Area Presidency before we were able to show the training to our missionaries. The missionaries met as Zones on February 10 to watch this historic missionary broadcast. It was a wonderful meeting taught by the members of the Missionary Executive committee. The broadcast was entitled, "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts." Elder Neil. L. Andersen, Elder David A. Bednar, Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, Sister Bonnie Oscarson, Elder Whitney Clayton, Elder Brent Nielsen, and Elder Dallin H. Oaks each taught.  There were a couple of talks and the rest of the training was with a group of missionaries who had the privilege of being taught by these Apostles and Church leaders. The focus was basics from Preach My Gospel and the scriptures. The leaders are all powerful teachers and the missionaries really enjoyed the training. Now we just need to apply what we were taught!

    February 11--Our District Leader Training was an all day meeting with 4 of our District Leaders, our Assistants and President Mangum all doing training and teaching. It was a great meeting.

    February 18--We had the January Batch Missionary Check-up in the morning and Train the Trainers in the afternoon so it was another whole day of meetings. We always enjoy getting together with the newest missionaries to see how they are doing and to teach them. Both President and I teach as well as the Assistants. President Mangum and the Assistants taught the missionaries about the First 12 Week Training program and how to be effective trainers.

Baptisms, after a District Meeting, and a couple we saw baptized on Christmas Day 2015.
They just recently went to the temple. It was great to see them at a Sacrament Meeting we attended. 

 

     

      

January 2016

Departing Missionaries-January 11 & 12

We spent time with our smallest group of departing missionaries. Although there were only five they were a fabulous group and had all served as leaders in the mission. We enjoyed the normal events as well as a great visit with them after our testimony meeting. The sister was in our first batch of missionaries and had spent her first two nights at the mission home because of the typhoon. She ended her mission the way she started--staying in the same bedroom--but this time she was alone because the other sisters left in December. We miss this group already!

New Missionaries-January 13 & 14

The magic of a mission is you feel sad as you say good-bye to missionaries you love and then the next day your heart opens and you are filled with more love for another group of missionaries. There were eleven in this batch and they are a fun, friendly group and are doing great. 

In January we had a fun visit with two of our beautiful RMs who came back to visit the mission. We also had a surprise visit from one of our wonderful former assistants and his lovely fiancé. Bart had a Coordinating Council Meeting and I attended a training about histories for the mission and Church units. We had our Missionary Check-up for our December Batch and a Train the Trainers meeting. Bart had been really sick and probably should have stayed home but he went to the two meetings. After the second meeting I was giving two of our missionaries their English exams and Bart laid down across some of the chairs in the Relief Society room. A couple of the missionaries saw him and were very concerned asking "Is President okay?" Obviously not. The two Assistants gave him a priesthood blessing before they left. The next morning he felt better and was able to go to MLC. At Mission Leadership Council I taught about charity. The Assistants taught a great workshop on weekly planning that involved all of the council members. Bart taught about mission culture and the purpose of teaching repentance and baptizing converts.  We also had zone interviews in January. Because of the timing of transfers we finished zone interviews the first week of February. We enjoyed visiting with all of our missionaries. During the month we also attended District Meetings, baptisms, Sacrament meetings, and a great Stake Conference. Attending stake conference in Cabuyao is similar to attending in Utah because there are so many members in attendance there are overflow rooms filled. They also have a strong stake presidency and leadership. The talks and music were wonderful.

Top: Mission Leadership Council   Bottom: New Missionaries with the Trainers at the Check-up Meeting

Missionaries, return missionaries, and Coordinating Council members. 

I attended the San Pablo Coconut Festival with some of the seniors. Bart wasn't interested so he stayed at the office and worked but it was fun to see part of the Filipino culture. The photos show some of the decorations, a marching band, and some of the booths where they sell clothes, t-shirts, souvenirs, food, and pretty much any and everything. The little children are looking at "colored" chicks to buy. We left the car at the stake center and walked down to the town but rode a tricycle back--I always take pictures when I ride in the cozy tricycles. They had fresh juice that you could buy 1 kind or mix the flavors. I asked for coconut and pineapple and the sales girl said that those two flavors couldn't be mixed because one is sweet and the other sour. It took our Filipina sister to convince her to make it for me and it was delicious. It was a hot day so the cold drink was extra nice to have. 

We had a fun adventure one weekend in January. We were in Siniloan for zone interviews and afterwards we went with the District President and his wife to their duck farm. We drove out of the town following them as they drove their tricycle, parked the car and walked quite a ways to their farm. It was a beautiful walk and we saw the sunset along with rice fields, mountains, and Laguna Lake. They have nearly 2,000 ducks! It was very interesting to see their farm and hear about the process--as my cute dad would say. They sell fresh duck eggs, as well as salted duck eggs and balut (duck embryo--No, we haven't tried it & we don't plan on it!). The ducks live in a large pen with a cover over the top. They feed them grain and snails (top left photo) for protein. They have a great demand for their product and he transports hundreds of eggs in his tricycle to various areas. They are wonderful people who we love and admire; they are such hard workers and valiant disciples of Christ. The next morning we left Siniloan early and drove about an hour and a half to a remote area where we attended Church at the Infanta Branch. It's a small meetinghouse and Branch but the meetings were great and we were impressed by the faithful members. We no longer have missionaries in the area because it's so remote and with 50 less missionaries there are more effective places for missionary work. The members are understanding about the situation and are doing missionary work without the full-time missionaries. It's a beautiful drive through mountains and along the ocean. We had a great weekend. 

More Christmas Family Fun!

     We're thankful for pictures that help us to share the fun of Christmas with our family.

A glimpse into some of the Christmas season fun.

Family Christmas Party

     On the morning of December 20 (their evening of the 19) we were able to join our family Christmas party. Our connection wasn't the best but it was wonderful to see all of the family together enjoying each other. We visited one on one with some of the family; were able to hear the grandkids sing to us; saw baby Colby in the same Christmas outfit his dad, Collin, wore on his first Christmas; and got to see them unwrap a couple of gifts. We sent each family a wood, hand carved Liahona. One of the Branch Presidents in our mission is a skilled woodcarver.

Family Christmas Party Fun as seen from the Philippines!

We didn't get to watch them act out the nativity but we know it was extra special--
just look at this beautiful group of grandchildren in their costumes. They're amazing!

This is a wonderful family photo!!!!!
There's only one problem, our cute daughter-in-law took it so she's not in the photo.
She's a great photographer so maybe she can photo shop herself in it.
Our family has grown a lot in 40 years--it even grew by 3 in 2015!



Visit with Dad and Mom

A couple of days before Christmas we were able to Face Time
with Dad and Mom and Craig.
Dad hasn't been feeling very well so it was great to visit with them.
 I love the photo of Bart and his dad, both smiling,
and how the picture makes it look like they're together--very sweet!

Christmas Visit

     This year we had the wonderful gift of having Candace, Mike, and their 7 beautiful children join us for Christmas!!! It was so much fun and truly brought the magic of Christmas into our hearts and the mission home. They arrived about 12:30 a.m. Christmas Eve--exhausted from a very long day of 3 airplane rides and a 2 hour ride from Manila. It was wonderful to see them and get to give them actual hugs. We stayed up for a couple of hours visiting and enjoying the time together before the last of us finally went to bed.

     On Christmas Eve we relaxed, played games, put together some goody bags for neighborhood children, some had naps, and we took a ride to San Pablo and rode around the lake. The ride gave them a glimpse into the fun of travel here in the mission. By evening everyone was already tired so we had a little program and grandpa read the nativity. We opened the gifts of pajamas and put out stockings. It was so much fun. The kids went to bed and the adults stayed up and visited for a while.

     Early Christmas morning the grandkids were awake and played games in the back bedroom while they waited for 7:00 a.m. when Candace told them they could go downstairs. I told them they could wake grandpa up at 6:30 and we could go downstairs. So they climbed on the bed by grandpa Bart and sang "We wish you a Merry Christmas . . . we won't go until you get up." It was so fun and reminded me of years ago when Candace and her siblings were young. Candace then lined the children up and they headed downstairs where everyone looked at the treasures in their stockings. Most of them got kendamas, including Gabe who got a mini one (it was so cute to watch him play with it and hear him say "kendama" in his cute voice). They loved playing with them and their other gifts. We then ate breakfast before opening the gifts under the tree. It was a wonderful morning and we loved the time together. We played Scrabble and other games and had another relaxing day. During the afternoon we took the goody bags (with chocolate peso coins and a few real pesos) and went to the neighborhood behind us wishing people a Merry Christmas and giving the bags to the children. At first the grandkids were hesitant but soon they were asking to be the one to hand out the candy. We visited with some of the neighbors and the Larsons were able to see some of the humble homes of the sweet people. The assistants and office elders joined us so we saw them as they shared the gospel with some of the people. That evening the assistants, office elders, and three of the senior couples joined the family for dinner and a program. We had a delicious Christmas dinner and a wonderful program with piano numbers, songs, and a sweet nativity acted out by the children. Calder wrote an original composition "There's No Place Like the Philippines for Christmas" all about coming to see us. It was too cute! Truman showed his skills at doing push ups and the elders sang some Filipino Christmas songs. Once again, the kids started falling asleep early so the family photo has two of them asleep--it's a priceless memory.

  Of course, some of our Christmas fun was being able to join the other children and grandchildren 

on Skype and Face Time to share in their Christmas fun. We are so thankful we could visit them all!

It was so fun to visit with everyone. We got to watch some of them open presents
 and even got to watch the fun of Kaleb and Kat's kids coming into see what Santa brought.
We love our family and loved our Christmas visits with them!!!

     After the Christmas celebrations were over we continued to have a great time with the Larsons being together and sharing a little of the Philippines beauty and culture with them. We also got in a little mission experience by attending a baptism, meeting missionaries, and Zachary and Calder were able to teach with the Assistants for a couple of hours. We're so thankful that the Larsons were willing to have their own Amazing Race across the world to spend Christmas with us. We had a wonderful time with them and shared tearful goodbyes when the week was over.

Christmas Zone Conferences

     On December 21, 22, and 23 we had our Christmas Zone Conferences. They were wonderful! We loved being able to see all of our missionaries and share some spiritual training as well as some fun and games. We began the meetings with some business then followed that with a great Christmas DVD that the office elders had put together. The DVD had fun and funny pictures of our missionaries but also included the missionaries holding their "A Savior is Born so I . . . " signs, quotes about Christmas and a video clip of President Monson teaching about the Savior and Christmas. We had short, powerful testimonies given by our January and February departing missionaries which includes two of our wonderful senior couples. It was tender to listen to the testimonies and hard to think about losing so many great missionaries. Bart and I did a follow up on what the missionaries had learned from reading the Book of Mormon in 90 days with a focus on the Savior. We had missionaries share their testimonies and experiences. I then talked about the gift of the Savior and the many gifts He has given us as well as the Book of Mormon. I taught that we learn in Moroni that all the good gifts we have come from Christ. We then challenged the missionaries to write down what gift they will give the Savior this year. They filled out a paper with their gift and put it in a wrapped gift box. Through-out the day we had some nice musical numbers as well.

      Our wonderful assistants did a powerful workshop on finding and teaching. They related the Christmas story and the characters to the people we meet and teach as well as to ourselves. We all need to continue to be like the wisemen, actively seeking and acting upon the knowledge we have so that we can have the Savior in our lives daily.

•  Wisemen are those who are seeking for the truth (Proverbs 3:5, Matthew 7:24, D&C 58:26, 122:2 are a few of the references they used). True seekers have trust, receive the commandments, don't need to be compelled, build on a solid foundation, and are pure in heart. 
•  Innkeepers are those who are not seeking and not interested (Luke 2:7).
• Shepherds are ordinary people who become seekers as they hear the gospel truth. Luke 2:8
•  Angels are the missionaries who share the glad tidings and truth of the gospel (Luke 2:10).
• The Star is the Holy Ghost (1 Nephi 10:17).
• The Baby Jesus is of course our Savior and Redeemer.

     We then ate lunch which included the missionaries' favorite Christmas treat--lechon or roasted pig. We had a nice lunch and zone photos and then headed back for more training from President Mangum. He reviewed 2015 and the things we had focused on as a mission as well as talked about 2016 goals. He shared insights and teachings from our mission presidents' seminar and taught the importance of seeing what we can become or the area we are serving in, the people we are teaching, etc. can become. It was a great training.

      It was now time for fun and games! The missionaries love to be able to relax, have fun, move around a little, and of course, laugh. Before the games began we had a couple of musical numbers in each zone conference. In one we had a group sing "You're a mean one, President" to the tune of the Grinch. It was a funny song talking about how mean President is because he doesn't let them disobey, have girlfriends, etc. It ended with a shout out of love for him but it was funny watching the nervousness in some of our missionaries as they looked to see how President Mangum would react. It was all in fun and sung by great missionaries who actually show their love and respect to the president so it was all good. In another zone conference one of the great zone leaders sang an original composition about missionary work here in San Pablo. It was great. Our Pakistani sister sang a Christmas hymn in her native language which was nice. There were also a few other numbers. At all of the zone conferences the senior couples sang a version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" missionary style written by a senior sister. We each wore Santa hats and the missionaries seem to enjoy watching us and laughing with us. The missionaries were divided into groups of three and they rotated through three areas of games and a photo shoot area. We ended this time with a gift exchange. Some wonderful people from Australia and the U.S. (and maybe other countries) sent a couple of boxes of socks, ties, personal care items, and random gifts so we wrapped them and the missionaries each received a nice gift.

      The day was not over yet. We returned to the chapel where President Mangum showed a cute photo of our grandchildren acting out the nativity and shared how that had been an important part of our Christmas for years. He then read the nativity in parts and we sang a Christmas hymn between each part. It was very sweet. He ended with a picture of Christ saying "Each of us is an innkeeper who decides whether or not there is room for Jesus" (Neal A. Maxwell). President Mangum bore a strong and powerful testimony, we sang "Silent Night" and ended the day with a tender, kneeling prayer offered by President Mangum. It was a powerful way to end the day.

       Well, it was almost over--we still wished a Merry Christmas to each missionary personally, giving them a hug or handshake depending on if they were elders and sisters (we can only hug our own gender), expressed our love, and of course, gave them a goody bag. It was nice to be able to greet them each one on one. Okay, now it was over although it took a while for everyone to leave. 

        It was a wonderful three days and made the week of Christmas very special to spend time with our mission family that we love so much.

As part of the goody bag we gave each missionary a 5x7 picture of Christ,
entitled "Abide With Me" by Simon Dewey.
We also had this scripture reference with the picture:
 ". . . remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God,
that ye must build your foundation . . . which is a sure foundation,
a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."   Helaman 5:12

Zone Conference at Lucena Stake Center 

for Lopez, Lucena, and Marinduque Zones

December 21, 2015

Zone Conference at Batangas Ward Chapel 

for Batangas, Lipa, and Mindoro Zones

December 22, 2015

Zone Conference at San Pablo Stake Center 

for Cabuayo, San Pablo, and Santa Cruz Zones

December 21, 2015

       

December Happenings

 December Mission Leadership Council 

   Mission Leadership Council was on December 11 and we welcomed several new leaders. I talked about the importance of having integrity and keeping the commitments we have made to the Lord. In Preach My Gospel we're taught "What you choose to think and do when you are alone and you believe no one is watching is a strong measure of your virtue." The Assistants gave a great workshop using Jacob 5 and relating it to finding, teaching, and baptizing. President Mangum taught about a variety of topics including information from the mission presidents seminar. He taught the importance of having a vision and had the council decide with him on the focus and mission goals for 2016. He also taught about what it means to establish the Church. He taught that as we truly work we will have real growth but we must act on our faith. He used President Monson's quote "Fear not. . . the future is as bright as your faith."

December 2015 Mission Leadership Council

Christmas Open House

     On December 12 we held a Christmas Open House for the Mission Priesthood Leadership (Stake and District Presidencies, Bishoprics, and Branch Presidencies) and their wives. Because of the distance some brought their children with them. We had talked about having one last year and it never worked out so we started planning this in October. When Bart presented it to the Stake and District Presidents they said it needed to be all day to accommodate the people from all of the areas. We had it from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and pretty much had people there the whole time. The sweet sister who helps at the mission home baked hundreds of cookies and made macaroni and buko salads. I made four different kinds of sweet breads and made cabbage salad. We also had fresh fruit, vegetables and dip, artichoke dip, cheese ball, crackers, chips, and salsa. As you can see it was mostly American food. I called it an American Merienda because that means snack so they wouldn't think it was a meal. They seemed to enjoy the food although there were a couple of people who asked where the rice was.

     We had around 100 or more people come and we enjoyed visiting with them. We even had a few from the two islands which was so nice that they had made the effort to come. We were happy to be able to express our gratitude as well as give them the chance to come to the beautiful mission home. Many of them had never been here. It was so fun to host a Christmas party and fun to see everyone visit and enjoy themselves. It was a great day!

Christmas in the Philippines

Some of the Christmas decorations we enjoyed during the "ber" months.
The first time we saw a countdown it was 79 days until Christmas.
It came and went too fast as always!

Saying Good-bye

     Sometimes, especially in December, we have missionaries go home off cycle for different reasons. We said good-bye to four great missionaries including a wonderful former assistant to President Mangum.