Brother N was the first--a tale of brothers in the gospel

 Probably our final meeting with the N family. Forty years ago I taught and baptized the woman in the hat, Sis C.  who is visiting Cebu from Sacramento where she now lives.  Her brother and his wife are in front.  I taught him, Bro N., who now serves as a sealer in the Cebu Temple and was made a Patriarch last year.  We have such love and respect for this man and what he and his dear wife have made of their lives. They are now our eternal friends

Bro N's son Bishop N who is a second generation member with his wife and two sons. The oldest one "H" was just baptized. A third generation member. Born in the covenant. They shared with us a video of him singing at his baptism with his lolo (grandpa) on guitar. So tender.

We are with Dean Edward, Bro N's son named after me. Wow!

We were visiting with one of the branch presidents and he told us of a missionary couple in his mission who were on their 7^th mission!!!.  Yikes!  They were both in their late 70s and he said they lived in a place where they had to fetch (haul) their water! He had some endearing stories of their kinda cute limitations, like her sight wasn’t very good so she would always mix up the missionaries unless she could actually grab their name badge and sight in on it. But still he had great respect for them.  Heck, I mix up the missionaries and my sight is just fine (ya, with my glasses on). So who knows if we will still be doing this in another 2 decades.

They just received their mission call from Tanjay branch.

We will be home in 3 1/2 weeks, and we have the proverbial mixed emotions. We know that asking "why" is rather futile and often dangerous--why me? Why now?  Why this?  But we find ourselves asking it anyway, only not on the murmuring side, more on the stand-all-amazed side.  Like why did we get to live in this house, why did we get to use all our skills and still get challenged, but not too much?  And why did we get to be involved in helping so many people find the joy of returning to their Savior?  Not everyone gets all that on a mission.  We know that.  And not all joyful, rewarding experiences can be numbered or measured or compared.  Certainly God has his reasons, but whatever they are, we are grateful—grateful that we can look at a list and write down actual names and count up the souls who are now remembering their covenants to always remember him and reaping the blessings of doing so.

An FHE at Sis B's. We baptized her last year

You should have heard them sing for their teacher!!

In addition to Bro. T, from our last post, and more than a dozen others from throughout our mission, there are 3 men in particular in 3 different branches who we are grateful for of late.  Each of them has a different story, but each has a couple things in common. They had all separated from the church, and they had all served as branch presidents in the past. These are men who knew and understood the gospel, who had studied the scriptures and the handbooks of instruction and who were converted enough to accept this rather daunting calling.  They were men preparing for or recently sealed in the temple when satanic disaster struck.  One transgressed, drinking with the boys at Fiesta, and his repentance and disciplinary process was not well handled and he slipped away for 10 years.  Ya, ten!  One was behind on his tithing. He went in for settlement, intending to clear it up, and his temple recommend was taken away.  No one has been able to resolve his concerns for the last 5 years.  One was just about to preside over the open house of the chapel he had worked so hard to oversee the procuring and building of, when he was accused of some kind of financial impropriety. He too has been gone almost a decade. All the details didn't come out.  No need for that.  We just listened and loved, and helped them remember who the Savior is, and how to return to Him.

Need we say more

Each man attended church for the first time within a couple of Sundays of each other, and all three bore testimony on Fast Sunday in three different branches in 2 different districts unbeknownst to each other.  Imagine!!   

As an element of our visits with them, Elder Cropper would ask if they wanted a blessing, and they each adamantly did.   Then Elder Cropper asked the husband if he would like to join him as he gave a blessing to the wife.  For the first time in years, each man felt the love of the Savior as a fellow priesthood holder placed his hands on his head and called down the power of Heaven to comfort and strengthen him.  Then each man stood and for the first time in years and exercised the long atrophied power of the priesthood which they still held. The first time this happened, and I watched the man in tears of relief and joy, I expressed to him that I really knew now the reason we left our home and family.  I know now the answer to our grand daughter's question, "Grammy why do those people in the Philippines need you more than we do?" God doesn't always let us know the reasons why, but he has been most bountiful in His allowing us to know.

Brother F described his experience thus: “your message has awakened the yearnings in my long dormant heart”.  Now that is a man who was prepared to return.  He began reading his scriptures again, asked a few doctrinal and historical questions that had plagued him over the years and that his buddies would torment him with, and he began to repent.  We visited him one Sunday, grateful he had attended in his branch as he had promised (we had asked the missionaries to watch for him, welcome him and report back).  We asked him about his experience there.  He told us that he had quit drinking a week before so he could be prepared and feel ready when he got to church.  Because of his preparation, his experience was really powerful.  Apparently he had been drinking every night for most of the last decade, but he gave it all up overnight in order to feel the Spirit again.

One of our favorite families. The father baptizing his daughter-in-law

Sis. B's daughter's baptism

 His wife is still hesitant, waiting for him, busy in the end of school whirlwind that teachers all experience here, and plagued with a virus that has kept her feverish and coughing. But she has wept for joy at the changes her husband is making, knowing he so badly needed the gospel in his life. She has not yet had her own mighty change of heart, nor invested the effort he has. They both acknowledge that she waited for him to lead out when they were being taught the gospel, and now, she is waiting for him to lead out on their return.  We attended their branch last Sunday.  Sister F was home sick, but there he was in white polo, with his little girl happily sitting beside him. As we taught this man each week, we saw him change physically and spiritually.  His questions were more thoughtful, his repentance more evident, his thirst for scripture and doctrine more pronounced.  It was a joy to help awaken his “dormant heart” and see him figuratively yawn and stretch and then dig back in to his spiritual labors. 

It’s a miracle.

Stay tuned for the next 2 episodes--if we don't run out of time :)

The senior couples of Cebu Mission with Our President and his wife front and center. Great people!!! Are YOU ready?