Malipayon Pasko!

Malipayon Pasko Pamilya ug mga Amigo!

(Happy Christmas Family and Friends!)

Well, we had to hit the ground running this week.  Fortunately the jet-lag is not as bad coming back this direction as it was going back your direction.  We had to do apartment checks as soon as we got home so we hit that really hard on Tuesday and Wednesday.

This is the very dako (large), scary kaayo Santa that we came across in Sierra Bullones on our trip through the middle of the island to do apartment checks.

And the very tall tree in Carmen.  This is beautiful at night.

All the apartments were in good shape (or I was in a charitable mood) as they all got great scores.  Thursday we headed back to Cebu for a Senior Couples meeting.  It was good to see all of fellow seniors and enjoy some down time with them.

Senior couples having dinner in the Mission Home

Oh my goodness!  Look at that American food! 

Oh my goodness!  Look at that American food!  It was so delicious and the company just so amazing.  We had to say our goodbyes to the Bocks.  They are from Austrailia and will be leaving the mission for home in just three weeks.  They have served for 23 months and done so many wonderful things for the people in the Bogo area.  We will miss them but we are also happy to have friends in Austrailia to go visit. They also told us they will be visiting America next Fall so maybe we can see them then as they are going to try and go to General Conference.  We are hoping so….it made goodbyes easier hoping that this will be so.

Yesterday we had our Sagbayan Branch Christmas Party and it was quite a party!  Elder Bell will fill you in on the details.  But, I just wanted to shout out to some of our kids who helped with many gifts.  They donated and put together much of the 75 gift bags we had put together for our branch members!  We really appreciate our selfless, giving family!  The gifts were very appreciated by our members.

Today, Christmas, Elder Bell had assigned us (as in he and I) to speak in Sacrament Meeting.  So a few weeks ago I had this great idea to have a program including the scriptural reading of the nativity story from the Bible and Book of Mormon sprinkled with Christmas songs (Like 10 songs) so that I would not have to speak so long.  It was all good on paper!  Seriously, it was somewhat chaotic but all in all the members pulled it off pretty well.  And the best part is that I really did not have to speak very long.  I got brave and bore my testimony in Visayan (this is very scary for me).  I am not sure how it all sounded but I am glad it is over.  It helped me think about the true reason we celebrate this wonderful event.  The birth of this most holy child set in motion the events that lead to His ministry and eventual sacrifice for me, a weak and lowly child of God, that allows me to see Him and again!  This is why we celebrate….why we reflect…why we keep trying.

I love my Savior.  I am so grateful for His redeeming sacrifice for me.  I am so thankful for his enduring love and patience.  I know He lives and for this very reason I am here today doing what I do in Bohol, Philippines.  I love you all.  Malipayon Pasko!!

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Mamala to all)

Maayong Pasko sa karon adlaw (Merry Christmas today)

When you receive this your Christmas day will just be starting while ours is wrapping up.  This is always a great time of the year.  This year has been a great Christmas season for us.  It was great to see our family for Thanksgiving and the week after. It was tugnaw kaayo (very cold) while in Utah and Wyoming. And very rainy upon arrival to Bohol. I am just grateful that we have such a great family and such great friends all over the world.

Well the Christmas party..... It stared for me at 5:00 AM.  Come to find out I was 2 hours late for the dressing of the pig for the party.  I arrived in time to get some great snap shots of the whole event.

Tatay Viodor dressing the pork

Brother Jandayan, Nanay Claudia and Cathleen Enad prepare meat for cooking

Lola Conchita preparing fire for cooking

Lola Conchita cooking pork 

Now on to the party.  We all gathered together at the church at 1:00 and started by watching a slide show or pictures from Sagbayan in 2016.  It was great to look back over all the memories of things that have transpired with this group of people over the last year.  At this time last year many of the leaders in our branch where not even members of the church. Now they are leading the Primary, Sunday School, Young Women's and Young Men organizations. My Branch Clerk also was not a member. It is amazing to see how the Lord has bless these people over this last year.

Then we stared the program after everyone was gathered around 2:30. Many presentations were given by members and nonmembers that were in attendance.  The missionaries had about 15 or 20 investigators present and they participated right along with the rest of us.

Nanay Claudia & Daughters

Arc Umbang on the guitar 

Then we started the minute-to-win-it games and fun was had by all.  At this time the room was just in uproar as every one competing was cheered on.

Sister Gambi and others doing the 'Cookie face off' game.

Then it came time for the Budol Budol (large feast).  Their was plenty for all and no one went home hungry.

Budol Budol

After that there was food and gifts donated by some of the members. The gifts were given to all members and investigators present at the end of the party.  For people who do not have a lot of worldly possessions they sure reached down into the bottom of their hearts and gave to each other.  No expensive toys or other item were part of the gifts. These a just the necessities of life that they are grateful to have.

Well to wrap it up for my part we have been greatly blessed to have such great family and also humble friends to share the Thanksgiving and Christmas season with.  We are truly blessed.

I know the Savior was born and died for us. This truly is the greatest event to happen in the history of mankind.  His birth truly gave hope and joy to all of us. May we always be thankful of the gift of His life and example.

Daghang Salamat (Much Thanks) to all of you.

Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo, Amigo)

PS….

We just got finished with our Christmas celebration.  We invited our Sagbayan missionaries and our zone leaders over for Christmas Dinner!  We ate, played games and sang, celebrated Sister Andersons birthday and had a really memorable Christmas Day!

L to R:  Elders Goulding, Bell, Johnson, Susi, Santos, Crowley, Minoc

Sisters Anderson and Cook

Thanks to Sister Maughn for the donation of cans of pumpkin, we had real pumpkin pies made from scratch by me!  

Happy Birthday Sister Anderson!

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Enjoying being Back in the Saddle again

Maayong Gabii Pamilya & Amigo's

Well its time for us to roll up our sleeves and go back to work aging.  We actually missed two different weeks with blog posts.  That is something that normally just does not happen. So after jet lag going and coming home from Utah to Bohol we need to hit the ground running this week with much to do and little time to do it.

I shared with you a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving when my children all came from out of town and visited.  So I will share a few pictures from when Kathy's children visited the next week.

Philippino game with Grand Children

The Candy Cane Game

Well we made it back after 24 hours of travel on Saturday.  The Branch had 2 baptisms on Saturday.  Our plane was delayed by 4 hours from original schedule so we missed the baptisms.  We also spent the rest of the day trying to recover from jet lag.

We had Sacrament Meeting today and it felt good to be back with the missionaries and members that we have grown to love so much.  We had 75 at church today with about 25 in Priesthood meeting today.  That was pretty good.

So in the next 2 weeks we have apartment checks to complete, couples get away to attend, Christmas party on Saturday and tithing settlement before new years.  That will keep us on our toes and will be a busy 2 weeks to finish out the year.

We love our family and we love the Lord and his work. It has been great to see our family and also to have a renewed effort to finish the work the Lord sent us to Bohol to complete.

I will leave you with a great shot of the beautiful land we are living in for 2 years as we serve the Lord.

The rolling hills of Bohol

Sister Bell and Sister Bertoldo catching a ride to heaven.

May the Lord bless all of you as you serve his children.

Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo & Amigo) 

Ayo Family and Friends,

It was a long trip home!  We finally made it safe and sound after 24 hours of travel.  It is so exhausting to sit and sit and sit!  I guess it would not be so exhausting if I could sleep on a plane but that is not in the plan for me so it was just a really long trip!  Elder Bell, on the other hand, did a great job of sleeping and got home refreshed and ready to roll.  I am still a little tired even though I slept well last night.  

We were so happy to see all of you.  Thank you family for traveling so far to visit us for just a few days.  It is amazing how much the grandkids have all grown!  We got to meet our two new grand babies, Violet and Zealand.  Thankfully the little ones had not completely forgotten us yet.  Thank you friends, for all of the lunch and dinner invites, the visits, and hugs.  It was wonderful to see all of you.  I thought it would be hard to go home and then have to leave all of you again but it was just what I needed to head on back here to Bohol and finish the work we have started.

Please excuse our lack of pictures….We somehow did not think you would want to see a picture of our tired faces and that is about all we have for you today.  It was actually a little chilly when we got in yesterday which was a good thing because we were having an all-day brown-out again. So with no power…no air-conditioning.  We were glad for the cool breeze as we had to just open the doors and windows and pray for the breeze.

We will report in next week…in the mean time, have a glorious holiday week leading up to Christmas! Spend time with the people you love.  Don't get lost in the hustle of the holiday.  Take time to listen to wonderful music, watch sappy Christmas movies, snuggle your kids, visit your parents!  None of the hustle matters…..think of He for whom we celebrate this wonderful time of year.  

We love you and are missing you already!

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Mamala)

Another Week Away from Paradise

Maayong Gabii Pamilya & Amigo's,

We had a great week this week connecting with family and friends at home in Utah. We love seeing all of our children and grandchildren.  At the same time we miss our Philippine family that consistts of Missionaries and Members.  We have learned that we need to enjoy the people we are with today because our days are numbered with all and we need to make the best of all the relationships in our life.  The heart is a funny thing.  You can suffer from not enough family and friends but your heart can except and love more people than you can ever imagine.  You can never have too many people to love.

I will start off by telling you of a live nativity we visited on Friday night with our family. The weather was tugnaw kaayo (very cold) with wala uwan (not rain) and mga tawo (many people). The Hunt family has held this tradition for 3 generations now and give much Christmas cheer to many.  Maayong Pasko (Merry Christmas) from the Hunt Family.

Hunt's live Nativity at Weber County Fair Grounds

Today on Sunday we traveled to American Fork to see Jason and Aly give baby Zealand Luca a name and a blessing.  There were approximately 30 or 40 family members who attended and it was great to see and hear Jason give a name and blessing to his first son.  They are such good parents and it will great to see them grow with Zealand.  You can never have too many grandchildren.  I can attest to that. They are Nindot Kaayo (very great).

Jason Aly and Zealand Luca

We have spent a lot of good quality time with family this week.  We are so glad to reconnect with all of our grandkids.  I think it will help gramma to get through the next 8 months without them.

I would like to let you know what joy we have in our hearts for all of our family.  We have a great family in the United States that we love to bottom of our hearts.  We also have family scattefred all over the Philippines and all over the world for the missionaries we have grown to call our own.  We also have Branch of People we dearly love in Sagbayan Bohol and the Calape District in Bohol.  We love you all and are so thankful to have you in our lives.  Our lives are very blessed because of you.

I love the Lord and love His work.

Many the Lord Bless you with the righteous desires of your heart.

Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo & Amigo)

Apostle of the Lord and a whole lot more.

Maayong Gabii Pamilya & Amigo's,

Well last week was the first week without a blog since the beginning of our mission.  The main reason why is we were traveling from Bohol to Utah and that put us off schedule. So I am going to recap the last 2 weeks.

So on November 18th Elder Quentin L Cook of the Quorum or the Twelve Apostles visited Cebu and meet will all the missionaries in our mission. It was an inspiring meeting with a living Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He bore a special witness of the Savior and talked of how he knew the Savior personally in his life.  It is a strong testimony to hear from a living Apostle.

A rare picture of our entire mission gathered in Cebu

The missionaries from Bohol traveled in the morning to Cebu on the ferry and retired  back to Bohol that night.  Sister Bell went home with the missionaries and I stayed in Cebu overnight for a meeting with all the Branch, District Presidents along with all the Bishops and Stake Presidents on the Islands of Cebu and Bohol.  That was also a very inspiring meeting with Elder Cook.

Then, on Sunday we started our travel home to the USA so I could testify in a trial for a court case that stared in 2009 while I still owned K Bell Plumbing.  It was frivolous lawsuit where attorneys were just chasing insurance money.  To make a long story short the suite was settled out of court 2 days after we returned home and we no longer need to testify.  Well the insurance company bought our plane tickets so we will return to Bohol on Dec. 15.  We were able to visit our family and be home for Thanksgiving.  A great time was had by all.

Sister Bell helping Jason preparing Thanksgiving Dinner

(It was amazing Jason!  Thank you!)

Shannon, Kalea and Ever waiting for dinner to be served

Jason and Alley with our new grandson Zealand

Kelly & Will with Max and Rock

Keri, our sweet daughter

Robin our daughter from Michigan

We had a great Thanksgiving and we will have more family pictures next week when the rest of our family comes into town.

We also were able to attend the welcome home for our dear Sister Ross.  We served twice with her for half of her mission.  She is and was always an amazing missionary.  The 2 stories she spoke of in her talk were concerning miracles she had experienced while on her mission.  We were in the middle of both of them as they happened and between Sister Bell and I their were not any dry eyes.  We were also privileged to see President and Sister Tanner at the farewell and we loved seeing them again.

Elder & Sister Bell, Sister Ross, Sister & President Tanner

Well I will close with my testimony of the great work we are engaged in.  The Lord's work is moving on in the mission field and also at home.  Hearts are being prepared and testimonies are being given to all who will open their heart to receive them.  The Lord truly is in change and this is His work.  My prayer is that we will always be prepared and ready to help or serve in any way we can.  I know the Lord lives today and he loves each and every one of you. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Bell  (Tatay, LoLo, and Amigo)

Sister Bell (gihapon)(also)

My Large Cup Runneth Over

Maayong Buntag Mo!

This has been a very eventful week.  I would say this is what you go on a mission for.  It makes all the trials and hard work worth ever minute of it.  On Tuesday and Wednesday we traveled to Cebu Temple with two sisters from our branch who were planning on taking out their endowments.  We came home for one day and then headed back for a youth temple trip.

Well I am going to let Sister Bell tell you about the first part of the week and I will tell you about the youth temple trip we made on Friday and Saturday to the Cebu Temple.

We started the youth temple trip on friday morning at 6:00 am rounding up all 21 or us to go the temple.  Each of the participants came in for an interview to receive a limited use recommend for the temple.  It was Nindot Kaayo (very great) to talk with all the youth one on one and hear of their great testimonies. About 3/4 of them have been members for less than a year, some only a few weeks and many scattered over the year.  So we traveled to Tubigon in the Multi Cab to get on the ferry.

Ready to get on the Boat.

In arriving at the temple at approx. 11:00 we prepared to a 12:00 to 2:00 session of baptisms for the dead.  Well my councilors were planning on going and at the last minute did not end up going because of work. They informed us at the temple that only endowed members holding the priesthood could perform the baptisms.  That left just me. So I told them I would do all the baptisms if they could get temple workers to assist with other necessary duties.  This not like it is in Utah. The temple workers are very limited so groups are instructed to bring their own priesthood holders.

So I proceed to do 68 baptisms on that session.  We also had a session lined up for 6:00 to 8:00 pm. We preformed 108 baptisms in that session.  It was great to witness all of these youth humbly go down into the waters of baptism for those they could help on the other side.  It just doesn't get better than that.

That afternoon and the next day they spent time in the Family History Library. Elder and Sister Grey assisted them in setting up LDS accounts and start on their family tree.  One of the newest member brought names of her relatives to be baptized for.  She learned how to start the process to make that happen.

Elder Grey with Jamaica Jandayan starting the work for her family

  

Sister Grey with Jaiquin Jandayan

The couple that works in the family history library does a great job and they sure love working with such humble and thankful people they have met in the Cebu Temple.  They are a great blessing to the work of the Lord in Cebu.

A great shot as we are getting ready to depart.

Today in Sacrament meeting Sister Bertoldo spoke as she is leaving the mission field today.  Sister Cook sang a song with some of the members.  I could not hold back the tears as I started thinking about  her and Sister Ross leaving the mission field.  These missionaries hold such a special place on your heart as you serve with them.  As we have found in the past those who will come will also be very special also.

I leave you with my greatest love and feeling from my heart.  My cup runneth over does not describe the fullness of the love we feel from the Lord when we are actively engaged in his work.

Cebu Temple

Kita Kits sa sunod simana (See you next week) for the one of the most beautiful places sa kalibutan (the world).

With Love  Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo & Amigo)

Ayo Family and Friends!

It was a glorious week!  Nearly the entire week was spent at the Cebu Temple.  As Elder Bell said we were able to take Sister Claudia Enad with her daughters Cathlene (13) and Claudelyn (10) to the temple.  We also took Sister Analie Calunia so that she could take out her own endowments.  It was really so amazing.  Both of these Sisters and the girls have been baptized since we have been here so we have been with them through this entire journey so far.  Claudia's husband was killed in a construction accident 4 years ago and the minute she learned about eternal families she has wanted to go be sealed to him.  I am sure it was a bitter-sweet moment for her.  But, with the eternal perspective of temple sealings, there is great hope in the future.  Cathlene and Claudelyn were also sealed to their parents.  They all looked like angels.  

Cathlene, Claudia, Claudelyn

Claudia, Cathlene, and Claudelyn looking so beautiful!

Sister Claudia had been waiting and dreaming of this beautiful day for a long time and so she decided she would never have the opportunity again to let the girls have such a wonderful day.  She rented wedding gowns for all of them so they could feel like princesses for just one brief moment!  And they really did look like princesses!  It was very special for us just to be a small part of it!

Sister Analie

This is Sister Analie after the endowment session.  We love her so much.  She is married and has one daughter.  She and her daughter are members but we still have to work on her husband because she wants that forever family too.

It was a very special day for me to be able to be escort to both of these sweet women whom I so dearly love.  They are remarkable woman who love the Lord and show their faith by taking these monumental steps to be able to return to live with Him one day!

Another thing that we got accomplished this week is the paperwork finally submitted for Marjonilo to go on a mission.  It is no easy task here in the Peens to get through the medical part of the application.  It has tested my patience more than once and I suppose will do so again.  Nothing about the medical world here is orderly, or efficient.  But, we finally accomplished the task after only an 8 hour day of waiting on doctors last Monday!

And now the waiting begins for Marjonilo Seliote Viodor!

We love this young man!

Sister Morales

While we were getting checked in at the Patron house on Friday, we ran in to this dear old friend, Sister Morales who we served with last year.  She has since gone home from her mission but was in Cebu attending the temple as the Manila Temple is closed for cleaning currently.  What a joy to run in to her and get the best bear hug ever!  We love you Sister Morales!

Well, that was our week in a nut-shell!  It was wonderful and tiring!  If you have not heard yet, we will be in Utah for the next few weeks.  We have to come home for a trial that should have been settled some 8 years ago, but alas, it is a law suit that is just now going to trial.  We may or may not be able to write the weekly blog….it will be boring as we will be in court all day every day, but we will try.  We will not be able to get around to see all of you but if you see us on the streets of Hooper….don't be alarmed, it is really us and we are really still full-time missionaries.  We love you all and ask that you pray for us these next few weeks…that this law suit can be settled and we can return quickly to the work that is so much more important than the silly law-suit!

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Mamala)

Banana Splits!

Ayo Family and Friends!

We had a great week!  Busy, but great!  We had the great opportunity to have a conference this week with Elder and Sister Haynie.  Elder Haynie is from the Quorum of the 70 and his current assignment is counselor to the Area President here in the Philippines.  The Haynies are truly wonderful people.  They are really down to earth and had the most wonderful teaching conference.  They were touring the entire mission so on Thursday we were able to meet with them and all of the missionaries on Bohol.  The thing I really loved is that they took 40 minutes at the beginning of the meeting and wanted to shake every missionaries hand.  And it was not just a quick little shake-all-the-hands-line.  Elder Haynie took the time to visit with each missionary and find out some personal things about each one of us.  I also loved their messages.  Elder Haynie talked about 'Gathering Scattered Israel' and gave us some very practical, implementable advice on how to go about doing that.  So today is Fast Sunday and we Sagbayan Missionaries had a joint fast and several joint prayers to help us be able to do all of those things we were taught in our efforts to gather Israel right here in Sagbayan.

The reception line…Sister Maughan, President Maughan, Sister Haynie, Elder Haynie

All the missionaries on Bohol for the conference

Well, we were really hoping to get all of our missionaries to do a better job of cleaning their apartments so we threw out the challenge a few weeks ago to all of Bohol….Any zone that got every single apartment in their zone with a perfect score (60/60) when we did apartment checks, would get banana splits!  Man oh man!  These missionaries really, really love a good treat.  So, out of all the apartments on the entire island only 2 apartments did not score a perfect score.  So, then we had the dilemma….do we punish all of the perfect apartments for the lacking of 2 apartments?  This was our solution….we ordered a big batch of 'dirty ice-cream', and bought a whole bunch of bananas and a whole bunch of toppings and we let the errant missionaries scoop ice-cream (for a very long time) for all of their fellow missionaries so as to redeem themselves!  It was the perfect solution!  And they really enjoyed the treat!  And we got a lot of really clean apartments out of the deal.  (Bribery works every time!)

Dirty Ice-cream (Homemade) Banana Splits!

So on our Monday it is P-day and also Halloween back in the USA so we decided to have the 6 Sagbayan missionaries and the zone leaders over for a Halloween dinner at the end of their P-day.  It was a bit last minute so I decided to finally open up the singular but hallowed can of Pumpkin that my sweet sister-in-law, Holly, sent me last year.  And I made for dinner pumpkin-spice pancakes and made the missionaries decorate them like jack-o-lanterns.  We have only 2 Filipino missionaries in Sagbayan but they soon caught on to the whole idea of a jack-o-lantern.

Elder Crowley with his jack-o-lantern

Sisters Cook & Bertoldo with their jack-o-lanterns

It was a holiday week here on Bohol!  Apparently November 1st and 2nd are a holiday, much like our Memorial Day, where everyone honors their dead ancestors and decorate the graves of their loved ones.  And just like our holidays, there are a lot of family gatherings and we were lucky enough to score a dinner invite on Tuesday night.  We have such good members in our branch. They are always taking care of all of the missionaries….which is no small task when you have 8 of them living in your branch!

Today in our fast and testimony meeting, I was just tickled to watch the testimony meeting unfold!  One person finishes speaks and several stand at once to make their way to the front.  One of them makes it to the microphone and the rest have moved a few rows closer.  After that person is finished the whole thing happens again and in this way many people eventually make their way to the microphone and share with us the joy and happiness they have found in becoming members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It is just a remarkable experience month after month.  It reminds me of the joy I feel in not only my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel but of the joy I feel serving here in Sagbayan.  It is a joy to be part of God's Army!

I love you my family and friends!  I miss you and pray for you and hope you are finding joy in your journey through this life!  May God bless you all during this election week….I think you are going to need it!

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Mamala)

Kamusta ang Pamilya Ug mga Amigo!

Well another post for the other side of heaven where the uwan (rain) ug mga panalangin (blessings) anhi kanunay (come continually). This year the rain is more steady each day than it was last year and just more of it.  Its quite muddy at times but we are shielded from it most of the time in our vehicles and the nature of what we do each day.  On the other hand we are more focalized in a branch with a certain group of people that are literally on fire when it come to missionary work.  The Elders and Sister in our area are seriously the best missionaries we could have ever hoped or prayed for and the members are the same.  We feel the Lords' hand in our work daily and the blessing you receive from that are marvelous.

Well, we will start with the baptism on Saturday.  Sister Joenalyn Cansancio was baptized at the Tubigon Chapel.  Her sister was baptized a couple of months ago in the branch and she was very happy to see her sister join the church. 

After listening to Elder Haynie's talk last week we see how the gathering of Israel is happening right in front of our eyes.  He told us that scattered Israel normally hang out around gathered Israel.  We see that every day as we prepare people to go through the Temple many of their family and friends feel the same spirit and see the changes on their lives and they want the blessing of the gospel also.  The missionaries are seeing this vision unfold in front of their eyes.

 Marjonilo with Sister Joenalyn with her sister, Jovelyn, and Sisters Bertoldo & Varias

The Sisters were talking with us tonight between the 2 two sets they have 5 or 6 more baptisms coming over the next month or two.  The Elders are opening a new area and have many coming along also.  Sometimes it takes a couple of months to get the ball rolling.  With the fast we had today and also the dedication of the Elders we expect great things from their area also.

Well on monday we had a youth activity in Tubigon. It was the missionaries P-Day so we joined with them to have great fun in volleyball and basketball. It was great to see them allow all to be involved regardless of the skill level. They just have fun with each other.

Volleyball at youth activity

Basketball at youth activity

So on Wednesday I met with two representatives from Manila that handle the real estate for the whole area in the Philippines.  We were looking for a building site to build a chapel or an existing building that could be used as a chapel with room to grow in the future.

The first week we came to Sagbayan at the beginning of our mission I saw a large house, that was 3/4 of the way built and had been left and not finish, on the main road coming into town.  I remember saying that would make a great chapel for future growth in Sagbayan group.  Now we are part of the Sagbayan Branch I can see that the Lord knew something we did not know at the time about the growth of the church in this area.

I took one representative from Manila by the site a couple of months ago and he contacted the owner and provided us with a set of plans for the house.  So we went through the building and decided it would be sufficient for the present time and also provided space to expand for future growth of the Branch. 

Possibly the new Chapel in Sagbayan

So if everything goes ok with the purchase price of this house and land we could be in the new chapel as early as 4 month if things go well.  That would be great to see this new Branch have a good place to meet before we leave at the end of July.  The Lord truly does direct his work.

Well the last story happened today.  We were planning on visiting one of the members and when we tried to leave our home there was a string of people filing past in front of the gate at the end of our driveway that seemed like would never end. Come to find out that a group from Thailand that was donating 20 kilos of rice to each family in Sagbayan and the center of distribution for the rice was at the school behind our house. These great people from Thailand give each family a sack of rice once every 4 months.  They have been doing this for 3 years since the Earthquake.  Sagbayan was the center of the Earthquake and this is their way of giving their neighbors a hand up.  It is great to see a thing like this in this part of the world.

A charitable act from their neighbors in Thailand

Well its time to close and start another whirlwind week starting on Monday.  We have Temple Sealing trip this week and also a youth Temple trip.  That along with branch business and missionary work we may be able to have a few minutes to catch our breath next Sunday and share it with you.

I love the Lord and I love His work.  His hand truly is gathering Israel at this time in this part of the world.  May we all be worthy to stand at the last day.  I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. God did put forth his hand to restore the Gospel in these latter days and we are grateful to be part of this  restoration that is still taking place as we gather the lost tribes of Israel.

May the Lord bless you with the righteous desires of your heart.

Elder Bell   Kita Kits sa sunod Dommingo (We'll see you next Sunday)   

Many Blessings with Many Irons in the Fire

Welcome back to the Other Side of Heaven!

This week has been action packed with with daghang (many) irons in the fire.  There are many programs and things going on in all direction. Nindot kaayo (very great) mga missionaro ug Nindot kaayo Branch.

I will start with the self reliance program.  If you want a first hand look of your donations to the Perpetual Education Fund of the Church then keep tuned as we show this program unfolding from the grass roots up in a newly formed branch of the church.

I am the facilitator for the group Starting and Growing My Own Business.  The name of our group just happens to be called Helaman's Warriors.  The name was created by our group.  There are 8 members of the group not including myself. We had our first meeting this week with is a great discussion of fundamental ways to be successful in business and also spiritual values, that when applied to business, help all involved to benefit from the blessings of the Lord in our entire lives. Starting and running a business in the Peenes is not as complicated as in America but the basic principles are the same.

Great shot of Helaman's Warriors at our first meeting.

The business interest here range for Joaquin Jandayan (second one in on the right) 16 years old.  Joaquin wants to make and sell ice cream.  Other interest include making and selling natural oils, stating and running retail outlet in the market, running a fruit and vegetable stand.  Other possibilities are being explored as they do simple market research over the next 12 weeks to start or improve existing business. It will be great to see how this all unfolds.

Second is the CSP (community service project) at nanny Claudia's balay (house).  She receive and small humble home from the Habitats for Humanities organization after the earthquake 3 years ago. All the branch member went out on Saturday to help level the floor to receive concrete.  She is widow with 2 young daughters and is most appreciative of all help she receives. These homes are interesting construction. They have an aluminium frame and then they weave bamboo strips throughout the metal framework.  Some folks live in them like this but usually they do stucco work on both the interior and exterior of the bamboo and it makes for a cozy little home.

 The leveled floor and the lunch after

We are going into town tomorrow to finish the last medical requirements for Marjonilo Viodor's mission papers.  He is my branch clerk and my right hand man.  We will keep you up to date on his progress as he gets his call.  January 7 will mark 1 year as member of the church.  What a difference 1 year makes in the lives of these young people as the Holy Ghost teaches them the Gospel and they have amazing testimonies.

Well I will turn the rest over to Sister Bell.

I love the Lord and I love his work.  May all of us love and serve others in a way we can feel His love in our lives. When you lose yourself in the service of others you find the real you.  Just try it some time and you will also know of His love and spirt in your life.

Kita Kits sa sunod simana (See you next week)

Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo & Amigo)

Ayo!  How are all of you this week?  Just a little reminder….we write you every week!  We would love to hear from you once in awhile…in fact we would love to hear from you every week but I am realistic!

Well, I am going to be doing a little bragging here….today we had the very first ever (this is historical) beloved Primary Program!  After our disastrous practice last week I have entertained serious doubts all week that we could pull it off.  But, I was so pleasantly surprised.  These kids did fantastic.  They all said their parts. The big kids all came with actual talks written and we sang 13 songs!!!  Can you imagine the magnitude of this?  Less than a year ago these kids had never heard of Primary or heard any Primary songs and today they performed flawlessly!

We were soooooo proud of these kids!

Claudalyn and Miezel working on their posters

Sister Anderson and Janalyn

So after Sacrament Meeting we took a little break from singing and drew pictures of our wonderful program.  This is Sister Anderson and Janalyn showing off their picture (really Sis Anderson is the artist but she gifted the picture to Janalyn).  I might add here that Sister Anderson played all of those 13 primary songs for the program plus all of the other sacrament meeting songs today!  Thank you Sister Anderson!  You are wonderful!

Our Saturdays are always crazy busy and yesterday was no exception.  We had our typical seminary class (I might note here that we are exactly half way through with this year's studies now) and then the youth had planned an activity they called…Visiting and Home Teaching.  These programs have not yet been introduced to this branch (But will be very soon) and so it was cool of the kids to realize that everyone in the branch needed a visit.  We all split in to 6 groups with a full-time missionary leading each group and with the addition of 2 or 3 youth it made up each group.  They met for a few minutes and planned a lesson and then I took 3 of the groups and President Elder Bell took 3 of the groups and we headed out.  It was really dark when we headed out as the sun always goes down at 5:30 year round and so it is a little unsettling for me to drop off groups and see them march out through the jungle on the very darkest of nights with usually only one dim flashlight.  I wondered several times if we would ever see them again.  But, we were able to collect them all up after 6 very successful visits.  Today, a less-active member that none of us had ever met before came to church with her 3 children because that little group took the time to go visit her last night.  This amazing branch takes seriously their missionary work and it shows.  I have said it before and I will say it again…..they are the most 'Zion-like' people I have every known.  They teach me so much of love and patience and unconditional service.

Mariel and Lowella working on a 'Doctrine Mastery' assignment.

So, you know how I have told you before that a mission really brings in to focus ones short-comings and faults?  Well, it is no secret that one of my biggest short-comings is patience!  You throw my 'A-' type personality in to a third world country and it is a recipe for some serious stress.  I am a person that abhors meetings starting late, waiting for people to arrive, etc, etc…..Well, you add that to the fact that generally speaking, even though I have a smart-phone, I can rarely communicate with other people (It turns out that you need a smart network to support a smart phone) and you have one very impatient, stressed out senior missionary!  I find this a problem on a daily basis.  And so I am going to publicly state here and now that I am going to pray for more patience!  I am going to pray and work for this Christ-like attribute that has here-to-fore eluded me.  So, keep me in your prayers people….I am going to need them!

Well, that is going to wrap up another week here in Paradise!  We are living it and loving it and will confess that it is one of the hardest things I have ever done but one of the most wonderful things I have ever done.  The challenges are real….the blessings are many…..and that is what makes it all worth it!

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Mamala)