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 7th
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.
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| 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.
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| An FHE at Sis B's. We baptized her last year |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| One of our favorite families. The father baptizing his daughter-in-law |
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| 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 :)
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| The senior couples of Cebu Mission with Our President and his wife front and center. Great people!!! Are YOU ready? |
