October 2011 Transfers

The wonderful cycle of missionaries continues. Some return home with powerful testimonies and rich gospel knowledge and a new batch of missionaries arrive to replace them in the great work of the Lord. There is a constant process of teaching and training missionaries as well as investigators.

 The Jeeps are all lined up with their destination banner on the front of each of them.

The Jeeps are colorful, bright and well maintained compared to most in town.

 Doesn't it make you want to take a ride around town in this just looking at it. Remember it is 90 degrees and a dew point of 80 degrees. Not fun!

Here is a look inside a Jeep. Nice vinyl seats, this one has closing windows... most don't. It's hard to decide if you want hot air blown into your face or close the window and get hot on the vinyl seats in close quarters with other people.

 The fun begins after the transfer meeting. The missionaries find their luggage and drag it over to the Jeep that will take them to their new location. Just try putting everything you own into two bags and a small box and then dragging them by yourself from Jeep to Jeep and through drop off points. The missionaries are much better at it than I would be.

 Some of our new missionaries... full of excitement and energy, ready to get to their first area and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and baptize.

 Three Philippinos. Two are serving, sacrificing and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and the other is getting paid 5,000 pesos today. Who is happiest?

The missionaries make new friends, meet old friends and share love and greetings with all. You can see mom in the center back, talking with a missionary... giving encouragement and sharing in the joy of the day.  It's a wonderful work and we are so blessed to be a part of it!

Well Done - Time to Go Home

Well done thou good and faithful servants! Returning missionaries gathered at the mission home for the final lunch and testimony meeting with the mission presidency. It is always a tender time to see those that you have labored together with depart and know that you will likely never see them again. Powerful testimonies of Jesus Christ and the blessings of sharing the gospel filled our hearts with the joy born of hard work, service, sacrifice and the Spirit of the Lord.

The sisters played the piano and sang hymns after lunch and before we gathered for testimonies.

The elders were searching out some of their favorite scriptures.

After the powerful spiritual experience we experienced together, it's now time to pack the bags into the vehicles...

...and drive to the bus station where the missionaries will board a nice bus and travel 4-5 hours to the temple in Manila Temple. They will spend Friday in the temple and Saturday they will begin their travel home.

We call the group of missionaries that came out together a "batch". This batch is one of the largest. We will miss their experienced service.

Forty-five minutes and we all arrived at the bus station.

We're still losing and finding bags, exchanging email addresses and talking of the great times we had in the work of the Lord.

Some of us are lucky enough to stay and continue in the good work with gladness.

Companions are taking their precious memories with them and returning to their families in different parts of the world.

One last picture and they are on their way. God bless you my dear brothers and sisters.

Elders Holland and Callister Speak

This morning we got up at 4:00 AM and by 5:00 we were on our way to San Fernando to meet with Elders Holland and Callister in a Priesthood Leadership meeting for the stakes and districts located inside the boundaries of the two missions (Baguio and Toag). We also joined the Baguio missionaries for a 90 minute meeting with our visiting authorities. When we were on our mission in Cairo we enjoyed a very special blessing of hosting Elder and Sister Holland and their traveling companions for several days and now to see him again on our mission in the Philippines was an unexpected blessing. We have read Elder Callister's book "The Infinite Atonement" and were honored to meet him also.

We were told it would take 2 hours to travel to San Fernando, but we arrived an hour early because there was no traffic at 5:00 AM when we were traveling. We met with the President Jensen and helped setup chairs a bit and mingled with the saints that were gathering and took a few pictures. We received clear instructions not to take any pictures of the visiting authorities... but we did get one picture of them with the mission. They took time to shake hands with all that attended every meeting and our highlight was the apostolic blessing that Elder Holland pronounced upon all present and their families at home. 

 The San Fernando Chapel where we met with Elders Holland and Callister.

 The courtyard where the Baguio Mission group picture was taken later in the day.

 The chapel that was filled with leaders for the morning meeting and with missionaries for another meeting in the afternoon. The Single Adults were privileged to be taught by Elder Callister on scripture study in an evening meeting.

 Our wives got comfortable in the cultural hall to eavesdrop on the Priesthood Leadership meeting.

The cultural hall was beautifully arranged for lunch after the 4-hour leadership meeting. Many of the brethren will have 2-3 hours to travel to get home.

 A wonderful lunch was served to the leaders after the morning meeting. Mom and I were in charge of providing 200 sack lunches for all of the missionaries when they returned home after their meeting.

The Baguio Mission with Elder Holland. Front row Sister Callister, Elder Callister and Elder Holland, Elder Teh (Area President). We were invited to sit right behind the honored guests and next to President and Sister Jensen (mission president)

It was a beautiful experience to meet with the brethren and receive their instruction.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
As I mentioned above, we hosted Elder and Sister Holland and their traveling companions in Cairo for the better part of a week. I knew that Elder Holland meets many people all around the world everyday and probably wouldn't remember me and our brief work together in the Middle East, so I had no expectations. During the first meeting I smiled and studied Elder Holland's face, remembering our experiences we shared together. During a break in our 4 hour meeting, I was crossing from one side of the courtyard to the other to get back into the chapel, when out of nowhere a big arm reached around my shoulders grabbed me and squeezed me tight... I looked up, right into the smiling face of Elder Holland. "What are you doing here, elder? When did they let you out of the Middle East?", he asked. I reached for words to respond and said, "We got home, saw the family and felt an urgency to return to serve another mission." He responded, "Lord bless you brother!" He was anxious to introduce me to Elder Callister. We exchanged greetings and I expressed my appreciation for his marvelous book "The Infinite Atonement". I said it would be a life study, thank you. We all moved to return to the chapel to continue the second half of the meeting and my experience was over as quickly as it had begun. I returned to my seat and pondered how I felt, that the Lord knew me and was mindful of my service because Elder Holland, the Lord's Special Witness, had remembered me. It was a sweet feeling of comfort, peace and joy that gave me assurance that the Lord is mindful of our service here in the Philippines, in the middle of the rice fields among a very humble people. I know that He is aware of each of his children no matter where they are in the world and he loves them all and will answer their prayers. I marvel at that reality. I testify it's true.

Malimpec - Chapel in the Rice Fields

Today we went with the zone leaders to do apartment checks in the Bayambang (by-am-bong) Zone. One of the missionary apartments is in Malimpec, a little village in the middle of the rice fields. The story we were told is that virtually everyone in the community joined the church. There are over 1,500 members of the church in this little village. The missionaries live in an apartment just behind the chapel in Malimpec, so we asked people along the way the direction to the chapel. We kept following their directions, but I thought as we drove along the dirt road, certainly we will come to a paved road soon that will get us to the chapel. Wrong! 3.5 Km down the dirt road...

We passed puddles, that a few days ago were lakes.

We passed the carts carrying the harvest of the day. (Not an easy task.) And then after 15 minutes of dirt road... just around the bend...

The Malimpec chapel!

It is the largest chapel I have seen in the Philippines! And it's on a dirt road in the middle of the rice fields. That must have been some construction project. I wonder if they did a helicopter drop?

And sure enough the missionary apartment was just down the street. Everyone in the village knew where the missionaries live.

Some new little goats were staying near their mother at the front door of the elders.

Hey! Who are you!

Pretty shy when it comes to getting their picture taken.

This is a sled that is used in the rice fields. It glides over the mud and is often pulled by a large carabou

People from the village work the fields. It's harvest time and there is a good crop!

It looks like a field, but there is water under the growth.

A foot bridge... no it's a dock.

Bamboo grows everywhere and it grows quickly. It is very strong and durable.

Time to move on to the next apartment, but this was a fun surprise to see a big chapel in the rice fields.

Ridin' Home From Church

Church is over and it's time to go home and have some lunch. President Ramos (counselor in the district presidency) has his family in his trike as well as a few extras to drop off along the way home. No seat belt laws here! Come to think about it, there aren't any safety laws or even traffic laws here at all!

President Ramos is driving his children and a few extras home from church. Four on the motorcycle, a full sidecar, one on the side, one on the back and one on top. Com' on get in there's plenty of room for a few more. Many of the trikes have a name on the front and family names on the back. You can see the distinctive "Liahona" on the front of his trike. You would never know from all the smiles that it was Fast Sunday.

One Wet Week - Nesat & Nalgae Typhoons (Hurricanes)

A Typhoon is another name for a Hurricane. These last two were Super Typhoons before landfall and were category (signal) 3 as they moved across the island of Luzon. With winds of 150-180 mph at the center of the storm when it was at sea and 120 mph when it hit land, we are glad to see them leave.

Before Typhoon Nesat last Sunday. This was a little afternoon thunderstorm. Notice the foliage tall tree in the background and the banana leaves in the foreground in this series of pictures.

During the storm. There were lots of leaves and small branches on the ground everywhere. When we went out last week after the first typhoon there were lots of banana trees and wooden fences blown over, road signs were bent over and homes were flooded.

After Typhoon Nalgae today, Saturday. The rains started yesterday evening and continued through the night. This morning more of the same and then we got a text from the mission president telling us not to go out because a Signal 3 Typhoon was coming. It didn't show up until about noon, but lasted with high wings and rains until about 4 this afternoon. It's back to just rain, but that means more water in the rivers and more flooding tomorrow. The tree in the background lost a few branches and a lot of leaves, but it is still standing and will recover just fine.

After the storm there were a lot of branches missing from the trees.

A look out our bedroom window at the storm. We are high above the flood plain unlike many, so we don't live in fear of the storm floods. Our home is also sheltered from the high winds. We are so blessed. This was a humbling way for us to begin our fast and give thanks for our safety. Conference is delayed a week for us so tomorrow is Fast Sunday.

We live in Manaoag, a little town north of Dagupan that you can see on the map above.

This was a Super Typhoon when it was at sea with winds  up to 180 mph and 30 foot waves.

 We are somewhere right under the eye of these storms.The storms moved and at on point they each covered the China Sea from Viet Nam to China, Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines.

October 2, 2011 12:24 AM

 (AP)  MANILA, Philippines — Rescuers scrambled Sunday to deliver food and water to hundreds of villagers stuck on rooftops for days because of flooding in the northern Philippines, where back-to-back typhoons have left at least 59 people dead.

Typhoon Nalgae slammed ashore in northeastern Isabela province Saturday, then barreled across the main island of Luzon's mountainous north and agricultural plains, which were still sodden from fierce rain and winds unleashed by a howler just days earlier. Nalgae left at least three people dead Saturday. Typhoon Nesat killed 56 others and left 28 missing in the same region before blowing out Friday.