Well, this week Sister Bell and the former Sister Fowers are in the Peens to celebrate their birthdays together and do the work of the Lord in the process. Sister Bell will fill you in on that.
Well Claudius the young man preparing to go on mission started work this week. It was incredibly hard to help him jump through all the hoops and get everything he needed just to get a job. Needless to say it would be easier to get military clearance at home than to get an entry level job in the Peens. If someone does not give them a hand up a boy without a father doesn't stand much chance of making it.
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| Claudius 1st day at work |
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| White Lightning (Multi Cab with new luggage rack in down pour of rain) |
This is just a quick shot of how they make dimentional lumber on the island….. with a chain saw.
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| The lumber mill in process |
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| The finish product for the lumber store to sell. |
Now on to a fabulous day I had with the Calape Elders this week. So, I called the Calape Elders on Friday with no previous notice. The graciously excepted and so we hit the road. The beginning of the day started with a few people not home which is very common in missionary work. Then we went and taught a man that the Elders have been visiting for 10 years or so. He was a "defender of the faith" for another religion and the conversation was very enlightening but shows not much promise.
Then we went to visit a member that was having problems with her son. When we arrived there were men all around the barangay that were either high on drugs of really drunk and doing a lot of terrible karaoke. The mother was very upset and her son was involved with that eliminate that had moved into there barangay. We ended up just having to take her to the Branch Presidents house so she could have some safety from threats she had received.
Then we visited a member that had lost her husband 6 months ago and is preparing to be sealed to him in the temple in 6 months. I taught the lesson and before the lesson was over all in the room had tears in our eyes and hearts for the benefit of the sister. She has to make a trip to California to live for 2 years and has been very worried out that. As the Lord directs use to different places to help in ways we know not before they come before us. Clarke and Luci Fowers went over with us to her house this evening and helped her understand what she may face in the future trip to California. We gave her a blessing that she would know the right thing to do. The Lord seems to bring people into our lives that we need and this is what he did with the Fowers coming to visit today.
After that we taught a new investigator the Elders had just stated teaching. It is great to see the whole family accepting the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it is witnessed to them by the Holy Ghost. I love being able to testify of the truth to people in their own land and in their own tongue. There is no greater calling you can receive in the Church.
I love the Lord and I love his work.
Salamat Kaayo
Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo, Amigo)
Ayo!
As Elder Bell mentioned, my sister finally made it here! I have to give her the prize for persistence this week! It took her more than 48 hours to get here, starting with the freak storm that blew over the SLC airport just as they were ready to leave. It delayed their flight for 5 hours causing the chain reaction of them missing all of the connecting flights. So, two days later she and her husband are finally here. We are so happy to have them come and visit. We have been traveling companions for many years and it just did not seem right to not be sharing this with the Fowers.
So happy to have her here!
It was a long week of apartment checks and by weeks end it seemed as though we had not accomplished much. So one day were were traveling home from Tagbilaran (our second trip of the day) and Elder Bell turned off the main road just before we got in to Calape. He was taking me out to the ocean to take pictures of the sunset. We had just pulled off the road to park. I went around the back of the cab to lock the door before we left for the beach. But when I locked the door and slammed it shut, it would not shut. Something had broken and I could not lock or shut the door. So we had a tool box in the back and we started to take the door panel off to see if we could fix whatever had broken. With in a minute several of the members of the barangay had popped over to see if the could help us. They are all standing around in a huddle discussing in rapid-fire Cebuano what the problem was. One lady said in English, "It new?" I said yes that it was only a month old. She apparently understood me and responded, "Philippino made. No quality control. Very Bad!" I got her point and we all started to laugh. We were instantly new friends. We shortly found the loose screws and got them all tightened and the door panel back in place. Shook hands and thanked them all around. This is what I love about the Peens…my problem is their problem. They are always so quick to jump in and offer a helping hand. I really love that!
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| Our new friends! |
So after we got the cab back together we headed off down the path to the beach. Elder Bell whispers, "Look behind you". I turned around and saw 12 little kids following us down to the waters edge. They saw me pick up a sea shell and so they immediately started picking up shells and bringing them to me. Soon both mine and Elder Bell's hands were full of shells. Then the boys all started throwing rocks into the water. Elder Bell started trying to skip the rocks on the smooth water surface. Soon the older boys were showing Elder Bell a thing or two about skipping rocks. It was just the most delightful hour of the week. I love the people here. They are so friendly and so kind to Americans. We left just after the sun set and waved goodbye to all of our new little friends.
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| This is how to skip a rock Elder Bell! |
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| The sunset over the ocean. |
We had two baptisms this week but we were only able to make it to this one. Meet the newest member of the church here in the Calape District, Cloyd Sotes. He is 25 years old and Sisters Ross and Macadangdang taught him the gospel and brought him to the waters of baptism. He bore a sweet and humble testimony at the baptism. I am so happy for him and that the Sisters did not get transferred before this day (which seems to always be the case)! His mom and dad are already members so they were pretty excited for him to be baptized yesterday.
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| Cloyd Sotes, his mom, Sister Ross and Sister Macadangdang. |
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| Just one more thing to share tonight….I introduced 'play dough' to the Ubay Primary kids today. It was a smashing success! |
Well, that wraps up our week, or at least a few of the highlights. We are happy and healthy (actually gaining a lot of weigh on our all carb, all the time diet of rice, rice or rice. ) We love the work we are doing even on the hard weeks. There is no other place we would rather be right now, except maybe kissing that new baby in Elk Mtn, but even with that we are content knowing she is here and healthy. We are going to have a great week with the Fowers and will send pictures next week!
Love you forever,
Sister Bell, (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)
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