CONTACT WITH THE ALLREDS

When we talked with President Jensen this week he mentioned Elder and Sister Allred that had returned home the first week of February. We will be taking on their roles and responsibilities when we get there. They left for their mission from AZ, but during their mission moved their home to Payson, UT. They emailed us yesterday to say they are still in AZ with family and friends and will report to their high council this Sunday. They are so kind to share their time with us when they return to UT. We will have a lot of real life questions for them when we get together.

Elder Rick and Sister Margaret Allred

FIRST CONTACT

We received our call letter Wednesday, 9 February and immediately wanted to speak with our mission president to share our joy and excitement to serve with him and our fellow missionaries... but we had no contact information. That led us to the Internet and the discovery of the mission blog. But alas, no email or phone contact information there. A few days later we called the Missionary Department and they gave us the mission home phone number and we called. No answer. We called again... no answer, and again and again. We thought that the mission president and others were either very busy or taking a long lunch break, but knew from the Missionary Department that the mission president would contact us about 2 weeks after we received our call. OK, we'll be a little more patient.

Tuesday, 22 February, we received an email from our mission president, President Jensen, with a warm greeting and an interest in a video call later that evening (our time). We returned an email to him with our greetings and indicated we would be available that evening for a Skype video call. The evening came and Cam, a close family member and returned missionary from the Philippines came for dinner and a Tagalog lesson. We finished dinner and got started in the lesson with numbers and simple greetings and then the time came for the call. I remembered we didn't confirm the time, so I checked email and saw a brief email from President Jensen... 8:00 pm was the time and he needed my Skype name! Only 15 more minutes 'til the call! I returned to the lesson. A few minutes later I felt prompted to check the computer again. President Jensen had called just moments before and needed me to accept his call and add him to my caller list. I did that and called him back and there he was. Our first contact! 

I called Marlene into the office and we joined President and Sister Jensen in a warm and informative conversation that lasted almost 2 hours. We got to know each other and shared family information. Moved into the mission basics and spoke of the imminent move of the mission home from the cool mountain resort community of Baguio to the hot, humid lowlands of Urdaneta. The new location will make them more accessible to more missionaries and district members. It will significantly cut their travel time to get to the missionaries and district events they need to attend. There is a large stake center there, now a mission home and soon a temple.

We then spoke about our work, strengthening the saints and supporting the priesthood leadership and working with the missionaries. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity to love and serve the saints and also do some proselyting there. We will have a clean, air conditioned apartment, and a car for transportation. It reminds us that we will return to our familiar third-world living mode and enjoy the simple life, albeit hotter this time! We should have an Internet connection (likely a slow connection, but a connection) in our apartment, so we can continue the blog and emails.

We felt a bond of love and a great desire to work hard and build the Kingdom together with the president and the missionaries there. We are ready to get over there and get into the work, but we will be patient and put everything in order here so we can give our full attention to the work there. We are so grateful for the love and support of our family. We love the grandkid's letters that express their love and expression "they will miss us on our mission, but they will pray for us." We have done it before and we can do it again! It is truly a mighty sacrifice we offer to the Lord each time we leave the comforts of home and the loving, close associations with family, but it is such a sacred blessing to those we serve, to our family at home, and to us.  

We are sharing this sacred experience with two other couples in our home ward. One couple will serve in the Boston, MA Mission and the other just got their call yesterday to serve in Tacoma, WA Mission. Both of those couples will be leaving next month. We have added them to our list of missionaries we pray for throughout the world.  It is an exciting time, but also a perilous time. We trust in the Lord to deliver us and make us instruments in His hands.  

We especially appreciate these words of President Hinckley:

One Bright Shining Hope

We know not what lies ahead of us. We know not what the coming days will bring. We live in a world of uncertainty. For some, there will be great accomplishment. For others, disappointment. For some, much of rejoicing and gladness, good health and gracious living. For others, perhaps sickness and a measure of sorrow. We do not know. But one thing we do know. Like the polar star in the heavens, regardless of what the future hold, there stands the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God, certain and sure as the anchor of our immortal lives. He is the rock of our salvation, our strength, our comfort, the very focus of our faith.

INTRODUCTION TO BAGUIO

We have been called to serve in the Philippines Baguio Mission serving under President Tom Jensen, as member and leader support missionaries. We will report to the MTC on May 2, 2011. Hurray!!!  

You can see on the map below that we will be across the "bay" from Vietnam and just south of Taiwan.

Philippines Baguio Mission, located 150 miles north of Manila. A new mission home is under construction and President Monson announced, at the last General Conference, that a new temple will be built in the same town as the new mission home.

(Pictures and information from the Jensen's blog)

 

  President and Sister Jensen, from Vancouver, Washington

We love our Missionaries

President Tom Jensen and two of his elders.

Sister Kathleen Jensen and some of her missionary sisters.

Getting the "lay of the land" 

A look at Baguio City from across the valley. It is about 5,100 feet above sea level, population of about 300,000 and one working traffic light. Note the airport runway in the center of the picture... don't go too long on that runway or it will be your last flight.

 There is really no flat area in the city. We'll come home with strong legs!

 Notice the broccoli garden on the side of the hill below the road.

Stone steps are all over the town.

 Rainy season is from May through October, with 40+ inches of rain per month in the summer. We'll arrive just in time for the water fun!

 How many baskets can a single motorcycle carry? This reminds us a lot of Egypt, but it's a lot greener, cleaner and not as much traffic.

 This is a manicured lawn.

Rice is a staple of the diet here. We're looking forward to some new low-cal recipes for rice.

NOW IT BEGINS

Well today is suppose to be the Big Day when we receive our mission call. We've been anxiously waiting for four weeks and no matter how many times you've gone before there is still that feeling of excitement. We went to the temple this morning and want you to know I normally don't go to the mailbox in a suit and tie, but after getting home we went to the mailbox to check to see if our call had been delivered.

The last moment of anticipation. Will it be here today?

YES!!! We got the big white envelope addressed to Elder and Sister Lindsay.

We will gather with family tonight to open it and then we will take the rest of the evening sharing the news with family and friends as well as assimilating the reality of the assignment. We will know where we are going and when we will report to the MTC, but we may not know exactly what we will be doing. It is a process of gathering information and trying to prepare, but you never can. It is always different than you thought and mostly better than you expected.

That night (9 Feb 2011) we gathered with family in our home and over the Internet to open our call letter. It was pretty exciting for the grandkids to see each other on Skype and share the experience. We sang "Called to Serve" and reflected on the Lord's great blessings to us and our family in our prior service and the love and support we have always felt from our family. My heart was filled with gratitude for this opportunity to serve once again... wherever it may be.

We opened the letter together and read, "You are herby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Philippines Baguio Mission as a member and leader support missionary." Now we know where we will be and what we will be doing for the next 18 months as of May 2, 2011.

We are excited to join in the work of the kingdom with President Jensen and the other wonderful missionaries serving there.

HERE WE GO AGAIN

After 2 wonderful years we returned from our first mission in Egypt. There we provided humanitarian services to the needy. We delivered hope through; wheelchairs, clean water, vision care, NRT training for doctors to save newborn babies with breathing problems, audiology training and equipment, national MMR inoculation campaign, material support for orphanages and schools, as well as many more community projects. What a marvelous experience we had in new culture to us. That experience took us out of our comfort zone and expanded our love for all God's children.

We came home in October 2009 just in time for General Conference. We got the yard ready for winter and enjoyed the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays with family and friends. After the holidays we received a call from the Church Welfare Services Department to ask if we would go to Haiti to help the church with the Earthquake Emergency Response. Of course we were ready in a heartbeat.  What a special experience we had again in serving those in need. We returned a few months later to continue strengthening our family relationships, getting to know the grandkids, and enjoying our new friendships made over the past few years.

Now that we have been home a year and shared two holiday seasons with family we are renewed and ready for the next adventure. We submitted to the physical exams, shots and stress tests to complete our new mission application. We passed the exams and completed our ecclesiastic interviews and now are waiting for the mission call to arrive. We're a little nervous because we know there are some really challenging assignments out there. We'll trust that the Lord will send us where we are needed most.

We are so grateful that our family is so supportive of our desire to serve another mission. We're anxious to see where the Lord will have us serve next.