When two worlds collide!

    About 11:30 p.m. on August 30 our youngest son, his wife, and their adorable 2 year old daughter came to visit us! After a very long day of three flights they arrived. I have to be honest I wasn't sure what it would be like to have "our two worlds collide" but it was wonderful! Our sweet son said that he was exhausted but as soon as he saw us and hugged us the travel was worth it.
     They were here for a week and it was so much fun to get to know Ari who was not even walking when we left and now runs and talks and is so full of energy and fun. It was great to be able to visit with Collin and Cecily and we had plenty of time to catch up since we were riding in the car around the mission a lot. We enjoyed giving them a glimpse of our life and the beauties of our mission. Of course, it was hard to say good-bye and we really missed Ari's cute sayings, especially :"you ok?" and "oh no". It's a good thing we had a busy week after they left.
     This is a very small sample of the photos from the week they were here but it shows some of the things we did. We so appreciate their bravery in coming to see us and loved every minute--it just went too fast.

October Transfers

October 20, 2015

     Saying good-bye is never easy but we have fun with the missionaries before they leave as well as enjoy sharing memorable experiences and tender, heartfelt testimonies. This transfer turned out to be extra interesting because we were on the island of Mindoro for our last Zone Interviews and District Conference. On Saturday we found out the ports were closed because of a typhoon. We were supposed to return to the mission home on Sunday evening but the ports were still closed. The island got some rain but nothing serious but the port city we were going to was having more effects from the typhoon. On Monday morning the ports were open but there were lines of large semi- trucks filled with produce as well as other trucks, buses, and cars lined up to get on a boat. Only a few boats were even running. When we finally got to the end of the line it was about 2 1/2 kilometers. After over 4 hours we had only moved about 500 meters. A man came by and tried to get us to follow him telling us he could get us to the port, but we weren't too sure if we could trust him so we didn't go. A while later he returned and the great elder that was with us talked to he and a woman that was with him and told them if we got out of line and lost our place he would know where to find them. Elder felt like it was worth following him so the man ran ahead of us and took us down a little "road" that cut through to the main road by the port. The man then jumped on a bike and told us to follow him. I was nervous but the police that were on the road kept waving us through and before you knew it we were at the port where you pay your fees! It was a tender mercy and we feel like it was divine intervention. We had already missed the day's activities with our departing missionaries but now we would be able to make it back that night. Our "angel" probably saved us waiting in line for at least another 7 hours. We made it to the mission home just as the departing missionaries were finishing their dinner but at least we made it. Thankfully we have two wonderful office couples who took care of everything (as well as our house help). As far as the typhoon our mission only got extra rain and wind but nothing serious but a couple of the northern missions got hit pretty hard. 

So many wonderful missionaries who have touched our lives and many lives as they served here in the Philippines, San Pablo Mission.

We love you all!

A few pictures of our adventure as well as pictures of two of our missionaries and their families.
It's always fun to meet the families. We appreciate them sharing their sons with us. 

This fun elder left a couple of weeks early to get back into school. We'll miss his fun personality, great smile and laugh.

October 21, 2015

     The good news is every time we say good-bye to a great group of missionaries we get to welcome a great group as well. We're excited to work with this fine missionaries.

September Transfers

September 8, 2015
     In September we said goodbye to our smallest group ever. Two great missionaries who will bless their homelands as they return. We will miss them and their great attitudes and wonderful smiles.

September 9, 2015 

    We welcomed a group of 7 to our mission. They have great attitudes and we had a good time with this new group and look forward to getting to know them even better.

     September 9 is always a tender day as it marks the day of Brittney's death. I made the mistake of looking at an email from Harmony on my iPad during a meeting with the new missionaries. It had sweet photos of her and Britt and the sweetest comments. This is one thing she wrote: "Sometimes I wonder how I made it these six years without her but then I realize that I didn't. I made it through these six years with her by my side!" What an amazing young woman she is. I'm so grateful that she still feels Brittney close by. These are three of the photos she sent me along with one I added. I love these pictures!

 This week also marked two years since I said good-bye to my mom. I still miss these two wonderful women who continue to influence my life.

July Transfer Week

     In July we said good-bye to some wonderful missionaries, including a great former Assistant. We had a lot of fun with them as well as a sweet experience as we shared experiences and testimonies.

     We said good-bye to 11 but got 14 new missionaries and they have strong testimonies, many talents, and great enthusiasm. They will be a great blessing to the mission.

Mission Tour July 7-9, 2015

     This year we had Mission Tour with Elder and Sister Ardern. We had another wonderful experience. I have to admit I was nervous again about having a member of the Seventy stay with us, but they are warm, personable, and fun. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and learning from them just like we had last year with the Bowens. What a blessing to be taught by these consecrated disciples of Christ!

Our faithful couples had the great experience of sharing an evening of good food and fun with the Arderns on Wednesday evening. Elder Ardern let the couples ask questions and it was very insightful to learn about his calling and speaking in conference as well as other things. It was a wonderful evening.                        

     The Mission Leadership Council had the bonus of being taught by Elder and Sister Ardern. There were many wonderful things taught but this a very short summary of the main topic:
               Prepare Spiritually + Develop Christlike Attributes + Develop Teaching Skills
                                                   = Master Gospel Teachers
A couple of other significant things they taught were that we cannot increase our faith without studying doctrine daily. Elder Ardern ended the meeting by saying the leaders needed to "awake and arise . . . and be the leader you are called to be."

Mission Leadership Council on July 7, 2015

 Mission Tour Meeting at Lipa Stake Center on Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Mindoro Zone

Batangas Zone

Cabuyao Zone

Lipa Zone

Mission Tour Meeting at San Pablo Stake Center on Thursday, July 9, 2015

Lucena Zone

Marinduque Zone

Lopez Zone

Santa Cruz Zone

San Pablo Zone

     Elder and Sister Ardern are both incredible teachers and taught with power. Elder Ardern taught a few different things at each of the meetings. I'm grateful that I was able to hear both days.
     They began each day with Sister Ardern sharing about her family's conversion story and her memory of being sealed in the temple even though she was a very young girl. She taught the missionaries the importance of being diligent, obedient and told them to make sure they were "honorable missionaries"! Elder Ardern began by saying that "participation increases revelation". The most important thing is what the Spirit teaches. He then taught about his conversion and the importance of the follow up missionaries that he had. He said they taught by principle and example and he trusted them. He taught that we all leave a legacy--what kind of legacy will will leave? That was really a strong reminder to me. They taught how important it is for us to read the scriptures with the idea of not turning the page until we have learned something. "The Lord packs more on the pages then we unpack." Elder Ardern teaches the importance of writing in a journal and having it an example of an honorable mission. He used his as a storybook for his children to teach them the importance of missionary work.
     Elder Ardern had missionaries come up and share a scripture and then he expanded on them. It was wonderful. I gave a talk about the importance of understanding that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father and what that should mean to us. President Mangum taught about that we're not here by chance and used the scripture from John 15:16. He taught about the importance of increasing our faith. He also taught about transfers, companionships, and agency.
     Elder and Sister Ardern had a question and answer period that the missionaries really enjoyed and we all learned a lot from. Elder Ardern taught about his calling as a Seventy. Sister Ardern taught about the message of the restoration of the gospel by reading from Joseph Smith History and then had the missionaries share words that matched the message of the gospel. Afterwards she had them share words that described missionaries that match the "glorious message" of the restoration of the Gospel. Since the March zone conference we have focused a lot in our mission about being missionaries that match His message. She took it up to the next level from doing things that match the Savior's message to becoming missionaries that are like the Savior. It was wonderful.
     Elder Ardern taught about finding and teaching the doctrines. He has a wonderful way of teaching involving the missionaries, demonstrating, using the scriptures, and most importantly teaching by the Spirit. He keeps the missionaries totally engaged and learning. I had one of the missionaries tell me "Elder Ardern uses every teaching method from Preach My Gospel." Another missionary commented, "I loved watching him respond to the Spirit and change direction at times." All in all it was an amazing teaching and learning experience. I feel so blessed to have been a participant in the learning process and being taught by the Spirit as well as by Elder and Sister Ardern and the missionaries.

June Meetings

    Missionary Check-up with our May Batch of missionaries was on June 4. This is always a great meeting because the batch is excited to see each other. I teach about Adjusting to Missionary Life and stress. We separate the new missionaries and their trainers for part of the time. President Mangum leads the new missionaries in a discussion while the Assistants lead one with the trainers. President Mangum asks them three questions: 1. What's different than you expected? 2. Better than you imagined? 3. What's your biggest adjustment. It's always interesting and insightful to hear their answers. We then have them all back together and President Mangum talks to them all about the discussion as well as gives them some counsel. The Assistants teach a workshop on how to do base lesson plans on the lessons from Preach My Gospel.

    Mission Leadership Council on June 5. In May we had a special council on ways that we can help improve the mission so we had a follow up on that and there was a great discussion on what the leaders had been doing in their zones to help improve the obedience and joy of the missionaries. I taught about the Stress of Leadership and I used the principles of President Uchtdorf's wonderful talk "Forget Me Not". 1) We need to be patient with ourselves. 2) We need to understand the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice. 3) We need to be happy now. 4) We need to remember the why of the gospel. 5) The Lord loves you! The Assistants taught the importance and power of prayer as leaders and missionaries. President Mangum taught about patience and the importance of not being short-sighted and delaying gratification while we press forward. He said that patience is an action word and gave examples from the scriptures. Alma the older praying, watching and waiting for Alma, the younger; Nephi building the ship; Alma and the people in bondage. He also said that God demonstrated patience with the process of the restoration of the gospel. Patience is a purifying and refining process. It's important to learn to wait as we continue to be steady and persistently work. He taught that patience is actively working without getting discourage and cheerfully doing all that lies within our power. As always, it was a great meeting with wonderful missionaries.

Specialized Zone Training Meetings
    We decided to have some Specialized Zone Training Meetings in June. We wanted to teach some principles in smaller groups so there was more interaction. They turned out to be very positive experiences and we will do them again sometime when we feel a need. A lot of the information we had been taught at the Mission Presidents Seminar in April and then tweaked to fit our mission's needs.
     President Mangum began with some business items and then shared the beautiful prayer given by  Elder Gordon B. Hinckley to dedicate the land of the Philippines for missionary work:

“We invoke Thy blessing, Father dear, upon the missionaries who shall come here, that Thy Spirit may touch their hearts, that their lives may be clean and virtuous, that their examples may be marvelous before the people, that they may be blessed, as it were, with the ‘gift of tongues,’ that they shall speak the language of the people, that they shall work with singleness of purpose to Thy name’s honor and glory, that they shall go forth without fear, that none shall stay them, and that they shall declare with teaching and testimony, the restoration of Thy holy work for the blessing of Thy children. Father, give them joy and courage and faith and satisfaction in their labors, and make them fruitful.

“We invoke Thy blessings upon the people of this land, that they shall be friendly and hospitable and kind and gracious to those who shall come here, and that many, yea Lord, we pray that there shall be many thousands who shall receive this message and be blessed thereby. Wilt Thou bless them with receptive minds and understanding hearts, and with faith to receive, and with courage to live the principles of the gospel, and with a desire to share with others the blessings which they shall receive. We pray that there shall be many men—faithful, good, virtuous, true men—who shall join the Church and who shall receive the blessings of the priesthood, and who shall accept and grow in leadership, that Thy work here shall be handled largely by local brethren, under the direction of those who hold the keys in this day and time, according to the law and order of Thy church.” (Gordon B. Hinkley, “Commencement of Missionary Work in the Philippines.”)

President Mangum then discussed how this prayer is being fulfilled and told the missionaries that they are entitled to the blessings promised if they work for them. He also taught about the importance of keeping covenants. 

     The meetings were long but filled with great training and interaction. After the introduction we passed out some puzzles without showing them a picture of the puzzle and had them work on them as companionships. After a few minutes we asked how things were going and asked if there was anything that would help. Of course many said having a picture would help (some had already asked). We then put up the picture; the Manila Temple. We let them work on them for a while longer and then asked what they had learned from the process. It was fun to hear the things they learned--working together, teamwork, unity, it was hard, etc. The principle we were teaching was that we need to begin with the end in mind. We need a vision/picture of where we want to go. We then taught about how going to the temple needs to be the focus of our investigators and new converts.

"Missionary work should begin and end with our minds focused on the blessings of the holy temple."
Elder Russell M. Nelson

     Along with teaching about the temple President Mangum explained the process of finding, teaching, baptizing, and helping the new converts to become truly converted. We taught about ways to find because as we're taught in Preach My Gospel "nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach". We divided the zones into smaller groups and had them act out ways to find and the rest of the missionaries guessed what they were doing. We then talked about that type of finding. It was a fun break for them as well as a good way of teaching of different methods to find people to teach.
     We also taught about the importance of an investigator really understanding the covenants of baptism. We studied from Doctrine and Covenants 20:37 and talked about the Lord's Standards of Baptism and how they would be manifest in the investigator. We also talked about how they should be manifest in each of us as members of the Church because the standards are the same for us as we partake of the sacrament weekly and endure to the end.
      The Assistants taught about the importance of being sealed in the temple and the power of the temple. They used great illustrations and a touching video about the sacrifices of a family to go to the temple. They taught that we need a vision to accomplish the things the Lord has asked us.
       President Mangum concluded the day with closing remarks. We held seven of these meetings throughout the mission. Each of them turned out great and it was worth the time and effort. We also enjoyed the time visiting with the Assistants in our travels.

San Pablo Zone--June 1

Santa Cruz Zone--June 2

Lucena Zone--June 8

Lopez and Marinduque Zones--June 9

Cabuyao Zone--June 10

Lipa Zone--June 11

Batangas and Mindoro Zones--June 12

June 2015 Departing and Incoming

     We said good-bye to our largest batch on June 16. There were 26 of them--actually 27--but one had to leave 3 weeks early because he broke his arm and needed surgery. This batch had great and strong missionaries and the mission will feel the loss. We enjoyed a long but wonderful evening of sharing memories and testimonies. We love our missionaries and it's always tender to say good-bye.

This was an extra large, extra fun group. We will miss them.

We said good-bye to a wonderful Assistant as well as the rest of this great group.
The Elders loved how they looked in their suits. They don't wear suits at all in the Philippines so they hang in a closet
in the Mission Home for the 2 years. Some of them had them tailored so they would fit well. Great looking group!
The last group of photos shows them crowded in the 3 Jeepneys and ready for the 2 hour drive to Manila.
It's worth it--they get to go to the Manila Temple before heading home.

Two of our wonderful sisters had their parents (and one brother) come to pick them up. 

After a few days of visiting and enjoying the sights in the mission they stopped by for a fun visit before heading to Manila. We loved our visits.

We only received 11 new missionaries---they are a great, enthusiastic group!

We had a great sister arrive off cycle the first week of June so we consider her part of this batch.