Our hearts are full as we feel more and more part of the Land and the People we are going to love as our own.
1st Elder Lagahit:
This is a special Elder that we have only had the privilege of knowing for 6 weeks. The first time we met him we could both feel the strength of his spirit and testimony. After working with him in the field, church meetings and with the missionaries in his zone we realize how special he really is. He inspires all who are around him to be better and achieve their full potential. He is going home this week and we had the privilege of taking him to the ferry today. As tears streamed down his check and ours also we sent him to the mission home from is his last area. This is such a bitter sweet experience, we are happy he is able to be reunited with his family and friends at home. At the same time our hearts break along with his as he leaves the land and people he has served and loved with his whole heart for 2 years.
Elder Lagahit is a special person with a very special spirit. He was surely one of the "Nobel and Great Ones" saved for the last days. To do the work of the Lord in the last of the eleventh hour before the Lord comes again. If all men could have this strong of spirit the gates of ______ would shake.
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| Elder Lagahit |
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| Great Missionary Transport |
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| Sister Bells favorite tree at Chellanne' |
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| Night time dining at Chellannes |
The Moon as it sparkles across the Bay from the Chellanne's (This was such a beautiful sight as the moon was full and sky pretty clear. We were eating in the open-air and the ocean breeze was blowing. It was the only time I have been a little chilly since coming here. Kevin however, was not chilly just for the record.)
We also have been privileged to see 2 of the young men and 1 older man be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. They are part of the Sagbayan Group that is applying to become a Branch. It is amazing to be part of organizing a new Branch of the Church. Two more families the missionaries and members have been working with decided to be baptized. The struggling group of 20 we first visited when first arrived has grown to 50 or 60 and with 2 more families will grow even larger over the next few months. This is living testimony of how members, missionaries and leaders working together can spread the truth of the gospel to all the people of the Earth. One group, one branch and one ward at a time. It is fantastic to be involved in the work of the Lord on the Island of Bohol.
Well time to turn this over to Sister Bell.
I Love the Lord and I am thankful to be engaged in His work.
Pinaka Salamat (Most Thankful) to all of you.
Elder Bell (Papalo) - Tati, LoLo, and Amigo
Hello Dear Pamilya and Amigos,
It has been a really busy week (as they all are), but this week we had the added busy of moving to a new house. Our Landlord built a new house right behind our other apartment. It has two bedrooms and an unheard of, second bathroom. I feel a little spoiled when so many people here do not even have one bathroom in their house. But, as you can see, we are now ready for the visits to begin, so start booking your tickets now (but call and check on availability first or you may have to sleep on the hide-a-bed). We are very comfortable here and it is a nice place to come home to at the end of the day.
We also spent Friday with the Halladays. It was a very pleasant day and we so enjoy our time together. They spent the day showing us all of the apartment on the other side of the Island that the missionaries live in so that when they go home in six weeks we will know where all the missionaries on the island live. There is no other senior couple coming to replace them and so it means that we will have 30 apartments and 75 missionaries to care for when they leave. (Did I get the count right Sister H?) It is a little overwhelming to think about it but I am sure with the Lord's help we will be able to do it all. But, just in case any of you out there are thinking of serving anytime soon……we would love to have you here. You will be very much needed and be able to serve literally in Paradise.
Saturday of this week we attended a Missionary Musical Fireside in Ubay. It was for members and non-members to just share the feeling of Christ through music. It was well done and was spear-headed by our Elder Lagahit who just left today for home.
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| Elders Kuhn, Lagahit, and Mina singing their hearts out! |
Well, we had to move seminary from Saturday morning to Friday night as most of the kids have to attend school on Saturdays for a few weeks. Amazingly 15 of them showed up! Turns out there is not much to entertain these kids on a Friday night so they were more then happy to show up for Seminary. It takes a concerted effort on my part to get all of the homework books read and graded by the time class roles around again but, I have to say, I think this is the thing I enjoy most in my week. I love how they love to learn and I am so impressed they do such a good job with their homework considering it is a second language for them.
We had a really special class a couple of weeks ago that I forgot to tell you about. I am not sure what the topic was for the class but it somehow evolved in to my sharing with them my testimony of the Atonement. And as I spoke I looked around the class and saw tears rolling down the cheeks of most of the kids. I was joyous because I knew they understood with their hearts what I was saying. It was a very special moment for me and I think for them as well. Most of these kids are pretty new members or not yet members and so they are hungry for gospel knowledge and I am so happy that we are the ones to share it with them. Please pray for us to have the ability to teach them all they need to know at this time. These are the future church leaders of the Philippines and I have to believe they (the members of the Philippines) will be in good hands.
I am going to close for now and want you to all know how happy I am to be serving here on Bohol with the best kauban (companion) ever. He is so happy here I am not sure he will ever want to go home. I love you all so much and I miss you a lot some days but, when I do I just get up and go back to work so that I don't have time to mope. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. We are happily engaged in the work of bringing souls to Christ.
Love you forever,
Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)
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| Crazy stuff |
We see crazy stuff like this every day. This is an 8 foot piece of plywood being moved on the motorcycle. They move 40 foot bamboo poles, or giant pigs in crates on each side all of the time. And 6-7 people is common place. It is quite amazing really!
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| The Black Pig |
Many people own pigs. Never more that one usually and they are not ever wallowing in mud. They are usually very clean and always on a tether. This is the only black one I have seen. Most are the pink variety. I have trying to catch a picture of the man in our neighborhood who walks his pig on a leash down the road once in awhile. He (the pig) is enormous and it is quite a funny sight. I will keep working of the picture.
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