President Jensen, Paalam na po

Posting from the Mission Blog: The Buzz in Baguio Philippines, 

Philippines Baguio Mission

 

Saturday, June 30, 2012

We bid you "Paalam na po"...

"Paalam" in Tagalog means "good bye - I am leaving now"...

And yes, it is time...

70,000km put on the car. 467 missionaries later...
It is difficult to describe our feelings as we depart for home after serving here for three years. With five children and ten grandchildren and family and friends waiting for us at home, our homecoming will be sweet, but not without some sadness of saying goodbye to the people we love here.

Despite our white colored skin, I think we both have become Filipino in our hearts.  Despite my legs not seeing the light of day for the last three years,  I am still waiting for shades of brown skin to appear - and dark black hair to appear on my bald head.  The color of our eyes is not yet black, but getting close...  Perhaps we need more time here?  Our feelings and respect for our Filipino friends are tender and we will miss them deeply.  We have become part of them and they have become part of us and now we must say, "Paalam na po".

What we will surely miss the most is our missionaries.  Every one of them that we have served with for the last three years.  They have come from Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuato, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, England, America, Canada and the Philippines.  I think our feelings about our missionaries can best be summed up using Helaman's own words, "And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay not amongst all the Nephites.  For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me, ...behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall...".

We will deeply miss being around them all the time. We will also miss our senior missionaries that we love so much - The Andersens, Thomsons, Allreds, Perkins, Sister Cooper and Sister Walker, The Lindsays, Mortimers and the Engels. It has been such a wonderful experience to know and work with such consecrated people and they have truly enriched our lives.

What have I learned?

Many things for sure...  Firstly, that the love of Heavenly Father for every one of us is incredibly generous and tender and Divinely anxious (no exceptions please).  Secondly, that this is not my work but the Lord's.  We are stewards serving in the The Master's vineyard.  It's not my vineyard - but His. We have seen his hands, heard his voice, felt his Spirit, witnessed his miracles and tasted the sweetness of his infinate grace .  I have learned that most of his miracles have eyes and mouths and ears and noses and feelings, and they just need to be loved.  I have learned that greatness is not in us, but flows through us from Above.  I have learned the importance of having His Spirit to be with us always - as much as humanly possible.

What have I felt?

Firstly, deep gratitude to the Lord for so much.  Also deep gratitude to my wonderful 'asawa' Kathleen who has been the best eternal companion possible.  We could not have succeeded without each other.  That is the essance of marriage and companionship.

Secondly, hold on to the Iron Rod and don't let go.  Never quit.  Never say die.  Never, never, NEVER!  Stay firmly planted on that pathway to the Tree and keep your hand firmly grasped on that Iron Rod.   Nephi says that we must endure to the end.  That means never letting go and never giving up.  Those that do - will die.  I see it happen everyday.

What have I often been reminded of?

The correctness of the Restoration and the miracles that happened to bring it to pass and that I am standing on the correct side of the fence...  His Atonement and my part in it...  And also that 19 and 21 year old young men and women can move mountains and fight great battles and experience wonderful miraculous changes within themselves.  They are so impressive.

What would I do differently?

This one is hard to answer.  I think it is the little things in life that bring about the greatest changes.  The little things that add up along the way that make the biggest differences.  Big changes in life don't come by making big leaps.  They come by smaller steps of change and attitudes of pressing forward day after day, despite adversity.  It really is the small and simple things that make great things come to pass.  I would try to improve the small and simple things in hope to serve others in a more effective way.

What has been the saddest moments for me?

Having to see a missionary go home early.  I feel crushed.  But in some cases pain turns to joy and tears turn to smiles.

What has been the happiest moment?

Besides our grandchildren being born and the joys within our family - Watching our missionaries change.   I see them coming into the mission and watching them change and "become" what they need to become during their 18 or 24 months.  That has brought the greatest joy to mom and I.  Our happiest moments have come to us by just being with our missionaries and loving them, working with them and watching them.  We have received from them FAR more than what we have given.

What do I hope for the most?

Obedient, healthy and happy missionaries.  Also that our missionaries will go home and stay strong and true and have His Spirit to be with them always.  I also want the people of the Philippines to get out of their poverty and challenge.  Tithing and obedience, including Sabbath Day obedience will be the only way for that to happen.

What advice do I give to a new missionary?

NEVER give up!

What advice do I give to a missionary going home?
NEVER give up!   And prepare yourself to be offended many times.

What is my best advice to the new Mission President?

Besides to keep your cell phone turned on all the time - Love them with all your capacity - and then some more...  Be patient and firm.  Tell them what you expect.  And stay incredibly close to them without them knowing.  And don't stand between them and the Lord.  Point them all to Christ as much as you can, and not to yourself.  Expect greatness but be increadbly patient.  This will be my best advice.  And maybe also - have your wife make sure there are cookies in the freezer when tissues don't wipe the tears away.  Sometimes even a 19 year old just needs a breather and a handful of Sister Jensen's cookies.  She tell's all the missionaries that her cookies have a very special ingredient - "love". They just smile when she says that - and they know it's true...

Previously I shared a story that I still feel best describes our feelings...

Years ago I sat in a restaurant waiting for my breakfast.  I looked down at my menu and on the bottom of the menu was printed a little line that said, "Our company motto - Give the customer more than they expect."  My breakfast was served and indeed I was not disappointed at all.  The food came hot, delicious and abundant.  I have never forgotten that.  And I don't think the Good Lord has forgotten that motto either - because in our three years He has given us much more than we ever expected.  His love has been generous.  His tender mercies and blessings have been abundant.  We never could have imagined the abundance of rich experiences and blessings that were in store for us here.  When the call came to leave home, family and business - and come to serve a mission - we just said - "yes".  We always say yes to the Lord.  He always has a way of giving so much more to us when we love Him and just say - "yes".

Paalam na po to our loved ones here.  

Mahal namin kayo.  Magpakailanman...

President and Sister Jensen

Delivered Again

It seems like I always have the medical issue when we leave the country! In Egypt I broke a tooth and in the Dominican Republic I tore cartilage in my knee and needed some surgery to repair it. Now I lost a crown on one of my teeth and need to get it repaired. We were so blessed that President and Sister Jensen knew a great dentist to refer us to after some tough experiences with some not so great dentists. It's good it happened on their last week in the mission. The next week they would not have been here to give us directions and counsel on a good dentist. We left home about 1:00 PM and followed the directions and got to Manila 3 and 1/2 hours later. We stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn Downtown and the next morning we took a taxi to the dentist's office. An hour in the dental chair and I was set with a temporary fix, until I get home.

We watched the sun set out our hotel window.

It was so nice and quiet in the room... not like the noisy streets below.

The sun faded away by 6:30 and then we enjoyed a quiet dinner for two... soft food only please.

Something is missing! A quick picture in the morning before we left for the dental office. I was so blessed... I had no pain. We had a great breakfast at the hotel buffet and then on to the dentist by taxi. The office was nice, the dentist was great and the work was very reasonsable... less than $60 for an hour of X-rays, evaluation and consultation, novacane, tissue removal, grinding, and repair. We enjoyed some of the sites of Manila on the way home and spent a quiet night in that big soft hotel bed.

The next day we went to the Manila temple for an endowment session. It was a real treat to be able to attend the temple. If it hadn't been for my broken tooth we couldn't have gone to the temple because it is outside our mission boundries.

We had the priviledge of meeting our name-sake counter parts, Elder and Sister Lindsay 'the temple workers'. They are from Utah and will be returning to their family soon, after serving at the temple for two years. We heard great things about them from all the members here in our mission when they retruned from a temple trip. We just happened to talk with them as we were leaving and they were reporting to the temple for their work shift. We got one of the returned missionaries (Sister Palma) from our mission, that we met there also, to take a picture of us together.

I love to see the temple. I'm going there someday

to feel the Holy Spirit, to listen and to pray.

For the temple is a house of God, a place of love and beauty.

I'll prepare myself while I am young; this is my sacred duty.

I love to see the temple. I'll go inside some day.

I'll cov'nant with my Father; I'll promise to obey.

For the temple is a holy place where we are sealed together.

As a child of God, I've learned this truth; A family is forever.

We were delivered again! ...to the busy downtown Manila hotel, to a good doctor and to the House of the Lord. What wonderful tender mercies we receive from the Lord. He always hears and answers our prayers.

Final Zone Conference for President and Sister Jensen

We left the house and noticed a new stem of bananas starting to grow. These banana trees in our yard are quite prolific. They give them no care, no water and hack off leaves when they get in our way and still they bare lots of good little bananas. We are on our way to the last zone conference with President and Sister Jensen. It will be hard for all of us to see them leave us and return to their family.

View of the bananas from our bedroom window.

A basket cart was outside our gate and I just had to include it in the blog because it reminds me of our daily sights on the street here.

This is Elder and Sister Engels. They are working in the office and doing an outstanding work. They are the greatest people.

Here we are in Baguio.

President and Sister Jensen

After a wonderful conference, we gathered for a a nice meal in the cultural hall. We would have organized good-bye songs and farewell notes, but we could tell it would be too hard on the Jensens.

The food was great and the missionaries made sure there were no left-overs to worry about.

The birthday group included Sister Lindsay this time.

The birthday missionaries get to pick two items from the birthday treasure box!

Sister Lindsay chose a "King Jim" notebook and a small copy of the Book of Mormon.

Sister Lindsay made flowers for all the the sister missionaries.

Zones gathered for their last pictures with President and Sister Jensen.

I'll slip this picture in of our own zone that met in Dagupan.

They always have great fare at the zone conferences. A spiritual and temporal feast!

Sister Mortimer and Sister Lindsay. Elder and Sister Mortimer serve in the Employment Resource Center in Dagupan and hale from Herriman, where he was mayor before their mission.

Sister Lindsay's flowers brought smiles to the faces of all the Sister missionaries.

Rains Abate for Baguio Apartment Checks

We always feel the Spirit when we meet with the missionaries... even on apartment checks. We want our missionaries to be clean, healthy and develop good living habits that will be a blessing to them and their families in the years to come. It is always an adventure whenever we leave the house. Driving is a real thrill, with cars, turcks, animals and people coming at you from no where. It really keeps you on your toes! Today we prayed for the rains to let up for the apartment checks. (Note: Baguio is the word for "storm" in Tagalog). We endured the trial of our faith as we drove for 90 minutes through the rain to get to Baguio for apartment checks.  When it rains in the mountains of Baguio waterfalls appear where you never saw them before. Sometimes they spill onto the road and wash down pebbles and rocks with the water, so you don't drive through the waterfalls.

We enjoyed our drive up the mountain in the rain and avoided the waterfalls.

We saw waterfalls on the mountainside that we never saw before. They were springing up everywhere.

The rains bring this home has a pretty nice view out their back window! 

We met the zone leaders at their apartment and the rains stopped before we got out of the car... our prayers were answered! We greeted the zone leaders, had a prayer, reviewed their apartment and we were off to see the rest of the apartments in the zone. They got a good score, but they wern't the winners... much to their dismay. They can't complain though because they score the apartments.

This is a view from the window of one of the missionary apartments in Baguio.

You have to climb a lot of steps and stairs to get to every apartment in Baguio. You have strong legs by the time you are transferred from Baguio. Most of the apartments have a nice view of the mountains and valley. All of them have a true view of eternity!

This is one of the new apartments in Baguio. It overhangs a cliff like most of the homes in Baguio. The first window area is anchored to the mountain and the rest of it is suspended on stilts.

This is their valley view.

This is the missionaries favorite place to be from 8-10 every morning. Scriptures, Preach My Gospel, planners, pens, markers... everything they need to study, plan and prepare to serve the Lord everyday.

We had a great day reviewing the Baguio Zone apartments with the zone leaders and now it is time to go back to our little home a couple of hours away. The apartment checks were done our prayers were answered and the rains started again. Ten minutes after we dropped off the zone leaders the rain waters were gushing down the monutain and making quite a specticle for us as we drove home. This water was splasing over seven feet into the air. We had a safe trip down the mountain with all the water.

Another sweet answer to our prayers for a safe journey, no rain during the apartment reviews and a feeling of joy and the Spirit as we met with the missionaries. The Lord hears and answers our prayers.

Potpourri

Sometimes we stop on our way home from an event and take a few pictures of the cultural sites, but they aren't in a series of pictures that tell a story, so I often don't use them in the blog.  I thought I should share a few of them and let you see some of the sites too. Here are a few single pictures that have a story behind them and give you a taste of the culture and experience we are having.

This is a "tindahan" - a little store in the neighborhood that sells a lot of essentials so people don't have to go all the way into town for a basic item. Here the woman was showing us her boco - coconuts. The foil wrapped items are pressed rice patty, eaten like a sandwich.  

We stopped in a little basket shop in Agoo (a-go-oh) and bought a few things. When we were done the owner was quick to show us around his shop. In the back this man was weaving baskets, other men were working the reeds. Next door to the shop was an extension with more baskets. They all sell for about $5 - $15.

Mom was frustrated that she couldn't fit all these baskets into her luggage to get them home. I was kidding the shop owner that the baskets looked like a snake might be in one. He was quick to assure me that there were no snakes in his baskets.

Our lola - grandmother, that lives next door to us sent this friut to mom for her birthday. Mangos, bananas, and pineapple. You can see a few of our wood carvings and woven trivets.

This is President and Sister Karganilla with us at their stake youth conference. Sister Karganilla is the stake YW President and is employed at the Church Employment Resource Center (ERC) in Dagupan. Great people!

This is President and Sister Balanon and their daughter from the Bayambang Stake. We spoke at seven youth conferences and had a great experience every time.

This is President and Sister Dungan from the Agoo District.

We spoke at the Mangaldan District youth conference, but didn't get a picture with President Jardeleza. All of the youth conferences had banners printed for each branch or ward and also one for their district/stake.

We were drove by two women that were making brooms, so we stopped and they told us about the brooms. They were busy, but took time to greet us as complete strangers and smile for a picture. The people here are so warm and friendly. They work hard and make just enough money to get by day-to-day.

This is President Cabrito of the Baguio Stake. He is the first person I saw in a scout uniform in the Philippines. A few minutes later I saw almost all of his young men were wearing a scout uniform at the opening of their youth conference. His son is an Eagle Scout and very proud of him. What a great sight!

Every once-in-a-while we see a trike with a load of balloons go by us on the way to a party. It's a real challenge to get the balloons to their destination through the traffic and sometimes through the wind and rain! No one's going to rain on their parade!

We knew this was a sign from heaven, so we stopped for a Big Mac meal for lunch.

This picture made me think what it might be like if the Savior was to come again here in the rice fields of the Philippines.

We currently have four couples in the mission: Jensens - mission president, Engels - office couple, Mortimers - Employment missionaary couple and us - Member/Leader Strengthening couple. We will be sending the Jensens back to their family in Vancouver, Washington at the end of the month and receiving the Monahans from Arizona as new mission president. We will also receive several a new couples in the coming months: the Stamps, in mid-July, the Fulmers, in mid-August and the Dinkels at the end of October. We look forward to meeting the new couples and sharing some wonderful experiences together.

I saw the town basketman at home with his three carts. One is horse-drawn cart and the other two are trikes like this one, covered with baskets for sale.

I had a fun chat with the basket man and his son. Most of the baskets on this cart sell for about 250 pesos - $6.00. You can see the Baguio brooms and the different types and sizes of baskets he makes and sells. He and his family ride the carts around town selling baskets all day or until it starts to rain. He was very proud of his baskets and his son!

Hope you enjoyed a look at some of the sights we see each day along our way in the process of doing the work of the Lord. Great people, great experiences... what a blessing to serve the Lord here in the Philippines Baguio Mission!