Malipayon Bag-ong Tuig! (Happy New Year!)

Malipayon Bag-ong Tuig!

Well, we finally completed all of our holiday parties. We attended seven in all and dressed as Elder and Sister Claus for six of the seven.  We were pretty ready to retire the outfits by the end of the party season.  But, we really enjoyed our time with all of the members in the Calape District.  They are so fun.  They really love to spend time together.  A branch Christmas Party is a big time commitment.  Most of the parties lasted about five hours.  There was lots of food, usually a roasted pig and rice side dishes.  A couple of them had 'dirty ice-cream". Which is the term they use for homemade ice cream.  It is so delicious usually a mango and/or banana flavor.  We really like dirty ice-cream!

Christmas alone in the Peens is a little different from home but we really enjoyed it.  Our favorite part was delivering 32 santa hats stuffed to the top with surprises for all of our missionaries.  They all loved it and were so appreciative of the little effort we put in to that project. No one even complained about the toothbrush I stuffed in there! (How could I not do that?)

 This is Sisters Mendoza, Reyes, Contago and Tomas enjoying their silly Santa hats.

At the end of Christmas Day we were able to share a dinner with our family here on Bohol, The Halladays.  We love them so much and wonder what we are going to do without them when they go home in a couple of months.  After our dinner together we attended the house blessing of the new house we are going to move in to in a couple of weeks.  It was blessed and sprinkled with Holy Water by the local Catholic Priest.  About two hundred people came and the owners of the home fed them an amazing feast.  Every tasty dish you could imagine and lots and lots of people!  The home is just behind our current apartment but will get us off of this busy, noisy street.  And, it has an extra bedroom and bathroom for all of our guests that will be coming.(hint, hint! we would really love to have guests!)

This is just one of the buffet lines for the night of the house blessing. 

This is just one of the buffet lines for the night of the house blessing.  There were others outside of the house. It is a beautiful home and we feel blessed (and spoiled) to be able to live in it.

When we were set apart as missionaries by President Jones, he blessed me that I would be an influence in the lives of children and through them their parents would be brought to the gospel truth.  I have the opportunity every single week to work with primaries in several different branches.  This is an area that really needs some training in most branches. But, I have grown to love this little group of primary kids in Sagbayan, our struggling little group, beyond words to express.  And every single week they use the paper and crayons the have in their quiet bags to draw me pictures and write me notes.  I feel so loved and needed by these children.  It makes every effort I put in to teaching them worth it.  I am reaping rewards in great abundance! This is a picture of one of the love notes I received today from Claudelyn, one of our new converts.

 I am getting all my rewards while still on earth….there may not be many in heaven for me!

John Rey

This little guy in the purple shirt is Jon Rey.  He is 5 years old and has never spoken a single word in his life.  He is so shy that the first week he attended primary he left in tears he was so afraid of me.  We had a break though a couple of weeks ago when I handed him the 'oatmeal carton drum' so he could beat the time to our Christmas song about Samuel the Lamanite.  He was the best drummer of the whole group.  He had great rhythm and a smile that stretched from ear to ear that day.  He comes now every week and is making some good progress.  That is a pay day folks!  It makes my heart sing.

We have lots more to tell this week and so I am going to sign off and turn this computer over to Elder Bell.  We really love you all and I gotta admit I was really homesick this week or all of you and for the snow and for the chaos of Christmas with family and friends.  But, we know that this experience is going to be over before we blink and so we are trying to soak in every emotion and every experience good and bad that we are having.  It is true that time and distance makes the heart grow fonder because I can hardly think of a single one of you and not get a lump in my throat thinking of the love and appreciation I have for you.  We could not do this without you.  All week long we make a list and take pictures of every experience we have because we are thinking about the blog on Sunday and what we want to share with you at weeks end.  It makes us feel accountable for our time because we don't want you to be disappointed in what we are doing here and we know that come Sunday night we will have to return and report our week.

I love you forever my family and friends,
Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)


Happy New Year!     (Malipayon Bag-ong Tuig!)

I have 2 amazing stories to share so here goes the first one.

Bro. Reylan and Sister Rosalia Batulat

The Branch in Calape and the missionaries have been working with this family for a year.  I will tell you our experiences with them in the last 4 months we have served in Calape.

The first time we met them was at a family home evening in their home.  Sister Rosalia was pregnant (7 month along), and Bro. Reylan was suffering from swollen eyes and had very hard time working.  There 2 young daughters also had swollen eyes.  Bro. Reylan had climbed the coconut trees by the hut to provide a treat for the family home evening.  They treated us with such gracious welcome (they were actually not just giving part of what they had but most of what they had) to thank us for coming to there home.

Sister Bell saw this pregnant Rosalia sleeping on a bamboo bed with no mattress  The next day we delivered the newly purchased softer mattress purchased for our bed to their house and dropped it off.  The other harder mattress we sleep on now was never softer or more comfortable than it is now.

Later we learned that they had not been able to baptized because they needed to get married.  They needed to get registered with the city and pay to them a large amount of pesos before that could happen.  Some members of the branch had given them some money to help but they found themselves in the position of either using the money to buy rice to live on or have no food for the family, and no medical care for the coming child.  They had to care for their family.

When we learned of there dire circumstance we asked what we could do to help.  It was too late to buy rice for the family and the baby was due in the next few days.  We decided to replace the money they had to use for rice and medical care.  That allowed the family to use the $20 in US money to get married and be baptized.  They had been working for a year to scrap up a extra $20 to complete the most important step in there life, Baptism.

Bro. Reylan & Sis. Rosalia Batulat Family at their wedding before the Mayor of Calape.

 (December 22, 2015)

Bro. Reylan & Sis. Rosalia Baptism

December 26, 2015

It was so nice to be able to see them finally, after such a long wait, get baptized!  Brother Reylan isn't one for much of a smile but if you look really close…he was actually almost smiling!

Second story, Family Home Evening in Sagbayan:

When we were set apart by President Jones for our mission he told me I would be called on bear testimony of the Saviors and his Gospel and the Atonement.  I find my self being called upon many times in week.  Many times with no warning.  We are trying very hard to learn the language of the people we serve so we can more effectively do this.  Many times the Elders and Sisters will call us to help with investigators and less actives when they feel they need strong witness to help with a problem that always arise in giving investigators the information so the Spirit can help them gain a testimony.

We were asked to attend a Family Home Evening in Sagbayan that has 10 investigators meeting together to hear lessons.  I told them I would present the lesson and planned to present a lesson I had worked on for couple of weeks about Families, Family Pray and Recognizing the truth by the Holy Ghost to bless and direct your family.  This was all prepared in Cebuano and required noted to follow to keep on course for the lesson.  The problem with these lessons is just this.  I can give the lesson OK but I do not know how to ask or answer questions, or sometimes give the heart felt words that are given to you by the spirit in Cebuano. 

After much consideration on this issue Sister Bell and I felt that when either of use gave lessons we would give as much as we possibly could in Cebuano and fill in the blanks with English and the Lord would bridge the gap and let them feel the Spirit of the entire message.  And that is what I decided to do.

On Saturday about 2 hours before going to the Family Home Evening we were talking with Sister Nueva and her daughter Sariaha from Calape.  They asked when we were going to Sagbayan next because they wanted to go with us.  We told them we were going in couple of hours and asked them if they wanted to go with us.  They accepted the offer and went with.

On the ride up to the Family Home Evening we worked out a plan to have them help with the lesson, give personal experiences and bear testimony.  The lesson went very well.  The lesson was presented in Cebuano along with testimonies from the mother and daughter. Some of my heart felt items were presented in English, and all understood and rejoiced together in feeling the Spirit of the Lord testify to the hearts of all.  The Lord really does give divine intervention when we do all that is in our power and ask for his help.   We felt that the Nueva's offering to go with us was one of those tender mercies of the Lord as He directs this work.

A snapshot of about 1/3 of people playing games at the Family Home Evening

(Elder Bell is always smack-dab in the middle of the silly games. And they love him for it.)

An unexpected visitor and the Family Home Evening

My heart if full as think of my family, friend and the people we work with and serve each day.  The Lord Blesses his missionaries with a special Spirit you have hard time capturing and maintaining at home.  We are thankful for all of you and the missionaries and people we have the privilege of serving.

Salamat Kaayo,

Elder Bell (Tatay, Lolo and Amigo)

Malipayon Pasko!

Malipayon Pasko!

Merry Christmas Cebuano style!

Every little town around the island seem to go all out decorating some part of their town with lights, manger scenes, Christmas trees and stars…lots and lots of stars.  This one is in Tubigon and made of banana leaves.  It has a whole manger scene as well.  I liked it.

Carmen Christmas Lights

This is in the town square in Carmen, which is in the middle of the island by the Chocolate Hills.  It is so giant. Those are adult people under the tree.  We have driven past it many times this month but always in the day light and I thought then it was beautiful.  But, to see it lit up at night was Nindot Kaayo!! (Very Awesome!)  It took my breath away.

So this is how Poinsettias grow!? Why do we try to grow them in Utah?  They are tropical plants!

It was a very busy week with more holiday parties.  We attended three more this week.  We went as Elder and Sister Claus to two of them and shared our suckers with all the kids.  It was very fun but I am not the party animal you all think I am and so I am really ready for the parties to be over for this holiday season but we still have two more branches having parties this coming week.  So, we will put on the Claus outfits two more times before we box them away for the year. We also attended a social for all of the adults in the Calape District.  It was a very nice affair with linen table cloths and catered food.  Again we participated in the riotous games they always play here.  Our Philippino friends really love fun party games and they are so simple and so much fun,  We are going to bring a few of them home when we come and see if we can't spice up some of those ward parties back home.

We did not fall in the path of the typhoon that plowed through the islands this week but we did receive an unusual amount of rain from the edge of the storm.  It rained steady for two days and nights and there were lots of fields flooded.  But, apparently rice farmers like flooded fields so we are all well.  Steady rain is not the norm here.  We are islands in the middle of a big ocean and so it rains a lot but the rain clouds are quickly blown away and so the storms are not usually all day like this last one was.  The church we attended this morning had two inches of water in the primary room which was in the basement.  No one seemed worried about it though except me.  So I made the Elders help me mop it all up before we left.  I guess it is a common occurrence when the ground water gets too high.  I will know better next time and not jump to mop it up so fast!

I just want to wish all of you the Merriest Christmas possible!  It will be a little unique for us but please be assured we are happy and staying very busy.  We love you all and think fondly on our memories of past Christmases with you.  Malipayon Pasko!

Love you forever,
Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)



Maayo Pasko Pamilya & Amigo's

Sister Bell told you a lot about all the parties and such.  We work in the entire Calape District with 6 Branch's and two Groups, it is a formula for a lot of Elder & Sister Claus Parties.

We also had transfer week this week that made things really busy.  This transfer we had 3 Sister and 8 Elders.  It is hard to see some of them go.  A few of these Sisters and Elder were the one who helped us so much when we first came to Bohol.  They helped us set a path of learning language and customs of a foreign land when we moved here.  In a sense they were our trainers and they did Nindot Kaayo job of it.

Sister Stanley, Sister Morales, Sister Astilla (All three have been our trainers. We are going to miss these Lovelies)

Goodbye Elders!

Elder Navarro

Well that sums up a lot of our week.  Transfers, Parties and teaching Seminary filled up all the time.

Just a few pictures from one of the most beautiful places on the earth.  If we can't have snow for Christmas at least this comes in a maayo (good) second.

Sunset at Loon. (Elder Bell was in the right spot at the right time for this shot)

Tubigon Port Waters in the morning are very calm

This is early Thursday morning at the Tubigon Port when we dropped missionaries off for the Ferry.  The calm before the storm the next day.  The sea was so calm and the smoke from the cooking fires over the town was ethereal. This is a truly beautiful place to serve.

Merry Christmas to all from Elder Claus.  This is a great time of the year for all of us to remember our Savior and the great miracle He has given to all of us.  Because He came to this earth people have hope and promise for a happy future now and forever.  May we remember Him at all times and in all places.

Malipayon Pasko,

Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo, Amigo)

Elder & Sister Claus Take The Peens by a Storm

Maayong Buntag Pamilya & Amigos

This was a whirlwind week that includes Mission Christmas Party in Cebu, Temple Trip, more Teaching and Christmas Parties.

Mission Christmas Party.  This probably doesn't seem like such a great undertaking unless you take into account there are 80 missionaries on the Island of Bohol that need to ferry across the ocean to Cebu. Well after ferrying and transporting and busing we finally got all 200 Missionaries together. We had a great time.  It is so fun to hang out with 200 young people who love the Lord and each other with all of their hearts.  Words can not describe the wonder of rubbing shoulders with so many wonderful people.

One of the most touching moments is when the Calape Zone from Bohol (that is where we live) put their program on for the rest of the mission. To start off Sister Tahaafe (from Tonga), Sister Morales (from the Philippines) and Sister Ross (from Utah) sang a song in Tongan that is known throughout the entire Tonga.  After that we sang a medley of Christmas songs with Sisters and Elders.  To top it off Sister Tahaafe sang the first verse of Silent night in Tongan, then the whole zone sang the first verse of Silent Night in Cebuano. It was very touching and one of the tender mercies I will always remember from our Mission in Bohol.

Elders & Sisters riding Jeepney to Mission Christmas Party

   

Mga (munga) Missionary

(Mga makes something plural. I think adding an 's' is a little easier but oh well)

Pin the Red Nose on the Mission President (Pres. Tanner)

While we were in Cebu we attended the Temple for the first time.  It was great and we were so happy to attend the temple after so many months without a temple near us.  Utah Mormons are so lucky!

Us at the door of the Cebu Temple

We are enjoying our mission and the missionaries we serve with.  They are so inspiring to hear all of their stories of their conversions to the church.  Many of these young men and women came from a home with mud floors and very little of the necessities of life we take for granted. They inspire us to see their courage to spread the word of what they know in their heart to be true.

May the Lord Bless all of us to have that kind of courage in our lives.

Love you always

Elder Bell (LoLo, Tatay, Amigo) 

Ayo All!

Wow!  We had such a busy week.  It was all a party that just kept on going.  We were able to get a good afternoon of teaching with our Sisters Bolo and Gil.  They are two little Filopinas that may look small but they carry a pretty big teaching schedule that is for certain. We were able to visit several little families and teach with them on Friday afternoon.  One of the biggest challenges here that hinders baptism is marriage.  Because the country is so predominantly Catholic and the Catholic church does not grant divorces, when a marriage breaks up the people just move on to other relationships and can not marry because they can not divorce.  Another big problem is that you can not marry unless you have a birth certificate.  People are so poor that they have never registered their babies births and so they have no birth certificate.  They can get one but it cost them so much money that it is prohibitive for most of them.  They have to pay fees for each year they have lived and so those add up to be quite a lot of money for them and so they don't marry.  They live together and have families and when they want to get baptized they have to remedy these problems before they can get baptized.  It takes time and money to fix the problems and really derails many baptisms.

This is Roel, Jelelyn, and Sisters Bolo & Gil.

This is Roel, Jelelyn, and Sisters Bolo & Gil.  They are expecting, anytime, their first biological child.  They adopted a baby a year ago.  They are waiting to have the baby then try to get married so they can then get baptized.  They are very strong investigators who really want to join the church. And yes that is their little hut with not a single piece of furniture but they are so happy.  It was wonderful to be with them for a lesson.

I forgot to tell you how we started off the week…with the Sisters favorite P-day activity…..Yoga with Sister Bell!

So that leaves one last event to tell you about.  I think the first time the many branch members met Elder Bell they have been dreaming of him playing Santa Claus.  They have never seen such a dako (large) man before and they have been anxiously waiting for this week because finally they got to see just what kind of Santa Claus Elder Bell could be!  So we were asked by several branches to attend their Christmas Parties and please be Mr. and Mrs. Santa.  But, we are missionaries so we had to keep the name tag in place, which led us to create the costumes for Elder and Sister Claus……..

Check out the red slacks.  We had those custom made for 15 bucks!                     

We have dozens of photos with all the children from two different branches sitting on Santas lap.  We were treated like Rock Stars all day.  The kids loved it, but I just have to share my favorite.  We were at the party in Loon and all the kids were lined up to get to see Elder Claus.  After everyone had a turn I noticed this boy with downs syndrome standing off to the side looking shy and nervous.  I motioned for him to come over and to my great delight he strode right past Elder Claus and plopped himself down on my lap!  It was the cutest thing I have ever seen.

This is Jelou Sefuentes with Sister Claus and Elder Claus!  He is one great kid!

Well that is about it for another week in Paradise.  I have no idea why people are not lining up to sign up for this mission!  It is the greatest thing we have ever done as a couple.  The experiences we have had are priceless.  Everyday has it's own kind of challenges and huge rewards.  We are loving every minute of it! The only thing that could possibly make it better is if you were here sharing it with us!

Love you forever!

Sister Bell (Nanay, LoLa, Amigo)

Elder Papalo still loves Sister Mamala!

Greetings from the Peens Family and Friends!!

Another week has come and gone much too quickly.  This whole mission is going to be over before we blink.  It is passing too quickly to suit us.

We had the great opportunity to take two families from Calape to pick their daughters up when they returned from their missions this past wednesday.  Both of the women came front the same branch and were best friends.  They got their mission calls the same day to the same mission but they never got to be companions.  It was such a joy to share that special moment when they get to see their families after an 18 month separation.

The sweet joy of hugging your mom when you finally get to see her!

                          The sweet joy of hugging your mom when you finally get to see her!

Our Returning Sisters greeted by their Families

Our returning Sisters.  Sister Perez is the daughter of our new Calape Branch President.  And, Sister Estorgio is the daughter of Sister Demi Estorgio whose baby grandson's funeral we told you about a few weeks ago.

While we waited at the airport for a couple of hours Elder Bell took to entertaining Sister Demi's grandson, Rabin and granddaughter, Janine.  They loved Elder Bell and never tired of his antics.  We were with these people for a long time that day and later on in the day little Rabin had gotten so comfortable with Elder Bell that he slipped and called him, Papalo.  That is the name he uses for his grandpa.  So everyone grabbed on to that name and now it is Elder Papalo and naturally if Elder Bell is Papalo they decided I should be called Sister Mamala.  So there you go…we have new nick names!

Papalo to all!                                                             

We had another really great experience this week.  We get to start a seminary class with all of the youth that attend our Sagbayan Group!!!  This is so exciting.  The school year is nearly over.  The seminary class is supposed to be on lesson 22 of the 32 Units that home-study seminary students do, so we are starting a little late but we have 30 weeks to complete the year before the next school year starts and I think we can do it.  We were so thrilled when 11 kids showed up saturday morning at 9:30 for seminary!  How great is that? Eleven kids from that little church group want to take Old Testament.  It is going to be so fun to teach them because these kids are serious about the gospel.  They all want to be missionaries some day and so they are preparing.  Today at church they told me a couple more kids want to join us so we may even have a few more.

Our wonderful, new Seminary Class from Sagbayan!                                     

The church rounded up an old truck for us to use temporarily until we can get a new van to replace the one that got totaled last month.  So on friday night we had to drive up to Ubay (2 hours drive) to meet the boat that the truck came in on.  Of course the ferry was an hour late and so at 1:00 AM we finally got the vehicle and then had to make the drive home and make it up and back to the 9:30 AM Seminary class.  I told the younger missionaries that we senior couple really need a curfew.  That was much too late for us to be up and much less driving the dark, winding roads.  But, we do have a truck to drive and for that we are grateful.

On Thursday we got to have a Zone training meeting and it was great but I am going to let Elder Papalo tell you all about that and a few other great experiences we had this week.  But before I sign off I want to tell you all how much I love you.  I really am so happy to be able to be a missionary at this time of my life. I love the Lord and I know that he wants all of his children to return to live with Him someday.  It is so wonderful to be involved in the work that can help bring His children home.  I am learning and growing everyday and it is wonderful to be here doing all of these exciting and challenging things here on Bohol.  Thank you so much for all of your letters and calls.  We could not do this if we did not have all of you supporting our efforts.  I hope you are all well and happy and enjoying the wonderful holiday season.

Love you forever,
Sister Bell (Mamala, Nanay, Amigo)


Maayong Gabii from the Peens Pamilya and Amigo's!

Well we have finish another fun filled, whirlwind and exciting week on the Island of Bohol.

We had Zone Meeting this week and it was great. A lot of great training, association with missionaries we love, and great departing testimony form a amazing Zone Leader with an amazing story.  So here is the story.

Elder Saenz was raised by his mother because his father left when he was very young.  His mother was the leader of a Bible study group.  He was schooled in the teachings of the Bible from a young age.  One day he noticed a group of young men playing basketball at the church he passed by ever day.  He asked if he could join them. After a time he decided he would attend the LDS church and see what it was all about.  After 4 weeks attending church no one had asked him anything about if he wanted to hear about the church and its teaching.  He inquired with the Branch President and the missionaries quickly were involved.

Elder Saenz decided to join the church even though his mother strongly opposed.  He had based his decision on his testimony of the Book of Mormon and the answers he received to his prayers.  He was faithful to the testimony he had received.

Elder Saenz then decided to go on a mission. Just a short time before he left to go on his mission his Mother looked in to the church and was baptized a member of the church.  His goal on his mission was to find, teach and baptize an entire family.  During his mission he has become one the strongest and greatest leaders a mission could hope to have. He worked very hard on his mission and saw some baptisms, but never a complete family.

He said in his testimony his mother had been working on family and friends while he was on his mission and had 5 complete families ready for him to baptize when he returns home in the middle of December.  All this from one boy that stayed true to what he believed when the Lord answered his prayers.

I have grown to love Elder Saenz by all the things were have been through together.  Such as a van plunging off the hill into a swamp and he was the driver whose life was saved by the angels watching over them that day.  There are many other transfers, training, working out problems as they arise and many other experiences we have shared together. It is really hard to see him go.
(Elder Saenz told us in his finally testimony Thursday that he had never known the love of a father until he met President Tanner and now Elder Bell. He now felt the love of two righteous men that he loves like his father)

My dear friend Elder Saenz

Calape Zone choir practicing for Mission Christmas party next week 

Sister Tahaafe preparing Zone for a great choir presentation.

Sister Tahaafe preparing Zone for a great choir presentation.

 She sings first verse of Silent Night in Tongan and the rest of the choir sing the 2nd verse in Cabuano.

If this doesn't touch your heart nothing will.

It is Nindot (Great)!

Elder Papalo still Nahi Gugma (Loves) Sister Mamala!  We love our family at home, the family of missionaries we serve with, and the people we serve on the Island of Bohol.  We love our mission and the Lord for all the great blessing and tender mercies he gives to us each and ever day.

Elder Papalo still Nahi Gugma (Loves) Sister Mamala! 

Love to all

Elder Bell (Papalo, Tatay and Amigo)