PAGBUNYAG (Baptisms) Street Meeting and More

Malipayon Easter Pamilya & Amigos

Our hearts are full this Easter Weekend for the newness of life, that through Jesus Christ and His  atoning sacrifice and resurrection we can all one day return to live with Him, our Savior.  At the same time our hearts are filled with sadness for the Harmon family and their great loss.  The thing that is amazing is that through the atonement of Christ all men will live again and our most righteous judge will sort all things out and we will be partakers of his love for us.

I will start this week with a street meeting….

On tuesday we assisted Elder Albar and Elder Racca with a street meeting in the center of Sierra Bullones.  This is a area that was just opened up a couple of weeks ago.  There is 1 inactive member in the town and this is new uncharted territory as it relates to missionary work.

So Elders Albar and Racca rented the center Barangay stage/meeting area in the center of the town.  We lined up a projector and sound system and brought chairs from neighboring town of Pilar.  We set up and started with music and music videos that Sister Bell and I manned for an hour or so.  The Elders with the help of Elders Hall and Carillo started working the streets and houses surrounding the Barangay Hall.  At first we had a lot of children playing games and coming to watch the videos.

Then the Elders returned and showed a video about the Atonement and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Within 10 minute there were 50 people watching.  Then Elder Albar and Elder Racca gave a power point presentation about the Apostasy and Restoration.

Street Meeting in Sierra Bullones

This is a shot of them going through their presentation seamlessly presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is the closest thing to Alma and Amulek teaching the Zoramites we have ever heard.  It sent chills up our spines to be witness of the power with which they bore testimony and taught. The people here are humble and have open hearts.

Members from Pilar

By the time the meeting was over there were 65 in attendance which included 15 members from the neighboring town of Pilar.

They received many names and numbers to follow up on and investigators are being taught. The Lord really works through these young Elders as they boldly proclaim the truth.

Next is Pagbunyag (Baptisms)…...

Saturday I was back in Ubay again for baptisms in the ocean.  Sister Bell had to teach Seminary in Sagbayan so we divided to conquer.  We received our truck back from Cebu after only taking 3 weeks to fix which made it possible.

I attended the Baptism of Wenna Talili and her daughter Erlinda Talil.  They were taught and baptized by Elders Lewis and Kuhn.

Elder Lewis and Elder Kuhn

Baptism of Sister Wenna Talili

When Sister Wenna Talili came out of the water after she was baptized, she jumped for joy in the water celebrating her entrance into the Church of Jesus Christ.  The picture does not even do this justice.  She literally jumped for joy and then wept as she was overcome with happiness.

Jumping for Joy

This story really speaks for itself.  The next chapter to this story is on 16th of April when sixteen people are planning on being Baptized in Ubay!!  And there are more baptisms on the other weeks in April. The Elders in Ubay are so amazing.  They are working very hard and the Lord is doing the rest.  It is so fun to watch this growth.

Well I had better turn this over to Sister Bell for the rest of the story.  We realize that the Lord is gathering the lost tribes of Israel. 2 Nephi 10:8;  "And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth", And we are in the middle of it.  I love the Lord and love His work.

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

Salamat Kaayo
Elder Bell  (Tatay, Lolo, Amigo)


Ayo Family and Friends!
Another week in Paradise!  We are squarely in the middle of the 'dry season'.  They call it Summer here just like we do at home.  And, I have to tell you it is not too bad.  It is very similar to a very hot August day.  Much less humid than the rainy season and everything begins to turn brown and burn up in just a couple of weeks without rain.  That is why the 'chocolate hills' are called such…they turn brown in just a few days without rain.  Also, many of the areas in the interior of the island are beginning to run out of water in the wells.  I don't know about you but if this is a problem year after year you would think these communities would have developed water storage spaces or reservoirs.  But, they have not and so our missionaries really have no water for two months.  They have to buy bottled water for all of their needs.

The school year ends for the kids here on April 1 this year.  They have a two month Summer break and then back to school June 1!  So, my seminary kids are pretty excited to be done with the school year.  However, we started our seminary class a good 12 weeks later than everyone else on the island, so we are going to continue with seminary all through the summer break and try and get caught up so that we can start the next class with everyone else in June.

We have been trying to fix a problem that exists throughout our mission….the broken down bikes dilemma!  It occupies a good portion of our week, each and every week.  So, we have these great office Elders that have gotten a bike shop in Cebu to build us bikes to our specifications and we are trying to replace all of our junker bikes with new, sturdier versions.  So, this week we got our first shipment of new bikes.  They are pretty great.  Of course we had to take them for a spin and make sure they were all they need to be…..If you know me, you know that biking is one of my happy places.  So, I am happy to take each and every bike for a test run!

We have been sobered by the news of Jesse Harmons (our good neighbor from Hooper) death this week.  It reminds me that we need to let everyone we love know, as often as possible, how much they mean to us.  So, can I just take a minute and tell you that I love you.  I love that you love me enough to read this blog and to follow us on our adventure.  I love that you support us with letters and prayers.  We feel your love and support and we do not take it for granted.  We could not be here doing what we do without your support.  Please feel our love across the miles.  It is real and intense and it is for you! Harmons, we pray for the comfort that only the Holy Ghost can bring to your aching hearts today.  We love Jesse and will always remember his warm smile and beautiful music.

Well, we are going to let you go.  We have had a terrible internet week and so you may be getting this without any of our pictures.  We are sorry.  We are in the Peens and sometimes you do not have internet…this is one of those weeks! (After a couple of hours Elder Bell finally got the pictures to download.  Hooray!)

Happy Easter!  I want you to know that I know that my Redeemer lives!  He suffered for me.  He died for me. And he was resurrected so that one day I could also be resurrected and return to live with Him.  For this I am eternally grateful.  For this I consecrate my life to share this message with His children who have not yet heard the good news of the gospel.  Ako nasayud nga si JesuKristo mao ang atong Manunubos! (I know that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer!)

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

Rice 102, Golden Investigators

Maayong Buntag Pamilya ug Mga Amigo!

Well, it was our first week flying solo here on Bohol without the Halladays (our other senior couple).  They are home now and hopefully resting a little.  It is still a little overwhelming to think of doing this all alone, but with the Lord's help I think we can at least give it a good effort.  So now we have 81 missionaries and all the apartments they live in to look after!  Thankfully they are amazing missionaries who really do more looking after us than we do looking after them.

I am an anomaly in so many ways here.  First, it is the curly gray hair.  Not many senior Philippinos let their hair gray naturally and so few have anything but shiny, long black hair.  So, they can't quite get over the gray curls.  But, the thing that really throws them is the fact that I drive!  It is a wonder and amazement to many of the Philippino missionaries and members.  Plus, most senior couples have just the one standard issue car, so they go everywhere together.  But, Elder Bell and I have two cars so it is common for us to divide forces to get more things accomplished in a day.  Saturday was our Relief Society Anniversary Commemoration.  I picked up a group of women in Sagbayan and headed for the party.

Sagbayan Sisters

These women have a great time together no matter what the circumstances are.  So the celebration was very similar to the Christmas Parties that we attended in December.  Every branch was to do a "presentation".  The presentations can be anything at all you have a mind to do.  But the really big thing here is 'videoke'.  This is a form of karaoke but with the dance moves.  And they all know the dance moves.  So at any given moment 12 women, of all ages, can get up on stage and bust out some dance moves.  They giggle and have so much fun together.  It is fun to watch them have fun!

Another thing that I have noticed is that March seems to be kite flying weather here just like at home in Utah.  But all the kites are handmade.  There are kids everywhere flying their great little handmade kites.  The light-weight bamboo is used for the frames and then they just use an old plastic bag for the covering.  I finally caught a picture of these boys flying their kites in the parking lot at the church.

Homemade kites!

I have no idea who these little boys are.  They are just neighborhood kids who used the tree-free parking lot to fly their kites.  There are not many open places here other than rice fields.

Another thing I have noticed is that most of the kids do not have a room full of toys to play with.  In fact I have never seen any store-bought toys in any house I have ever been in.  The kids here play outside.  They play with sticks and they all play basketball from a very young age.  The other toy I have seen a lot but never captured on film, is an old tire.  They roll old motorcycle tires down the street using only a stick to control it (just like kids did in the beginning of the last century)!  They are happy kids and easily amused.  There is something to be said for simplicity!

We had a huge primary today in Ubay!  There were 8 children there with their parents who were new investigators.  Elder Bell is going to tell you about one of the families later.  But, they really had fun in primary.  I don't think they had ever played with play dough before.  It is a big hit here.

Ubay Primary!

Today I had Elder Tomakin and Elder Caballa helping me in Sagbayan primary.  As I talked to them after I realized that neither one of them had ever been to primary before as they are both converts.  So I was explaining all the how's and why's of primary to them.  They were so excited!  They had so much fun learning the songs along with the children that I think they will become regulars.  So, I told them next week they had to give the sharing time and they were pretty excited.  I explained how everything that the children learn through sharing time and singing time, the children share with the entire branch at the end of the year in a Primary Sacrament Meeting Program.  They were pretty excited about that and then realized they would be long transferred by that time of the year and asked me to record it so they could see it later.  It is fun to teach the kids (of all ages) in primary!

Well, I will let Elder Bell take over for now.  It has been a busy week with long days in the seat of the multi-cab.  But, we come home very tired at the end of a day and know that we have done some good in the world.  It makes for good sound sleep at night and a full heart to start it all over again the next day.  I really love serving here.  It is not all easy but I see the hand of the Lord in all that we do.  I know that he loves His children in every land and in every isle of the sea.  How thankful I feel that He has entrusted a few of his children to my care and keeping.

I love you all and miss you madly!  Be happy!  Work hard!  Pray with your families and trust Him in all that you do.

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)

Nindot Jud Adlaw (Very Great Day) Pamilya ug Amigo's

Well I will start with Rice 102.  I am going to show you the different stages of rice growing and delivery to the market place.  In Rice 101 I showed the field being prepared and leveled, flooded and planted by hand. I will show in Rice 102 growing, harvesting from the fields, thrashing and drying.

This is what beautiful rice fields look like as they are growing.  They are watered at least once a week by rain or by wells drilled in the rice fields.

 Terraced Rice Fields in Danao

Scare Crows to keep birds off rice fields.

Then the rice is cut with a machete by hand and bundled and carried over by the road or open area to run through the trasher.

Thrashing Machine and Rice drying on the side of the road.

After thrashing the rice is put out for a day to dry on the side of the road or open flat spot.

Burning the chaff and stalks after thrashing.

Well one thing that reminds us a little bit of home is the burning of the chaff and stocks of the rice and also burning weeded areas.  Just like the spring burning of the ditches in Hooper.

At a later date I will show you Rice 103.

Now on to a Golden Investigator.

We were called this week to a teaching appointment with the Zone Leaders in Ubay, Elder Borrego & Elder Mangroband.  We were going to testify to Bobby and his family.  Let me tell you a little bit about Bobby.

Bobby was preacher for another church until 5 years ago.  He served as a missionary for 2 or 3 years also.  Five years ago he left the church because he could see that the gospel of Jesus Christ as described in the Bible was not being followed.  He started a self-ministry to help children and young people get to know the Savior, believing that one day he would find the truth. He has sometimes over 100 people come to his home on Sunday to hear about the Savior and his teachings.

Bobby has been reading the Book of Mormon and he knows it is true from the spirit he always feels as he reads it.  We testified to him in his language and told him we also know the Book of Mormon is true.  He agreed to go to church with us for the first time and he did on Sunday.  He also asked Sister Bell to come and teach all 100 of the youth he has come to his house.  It was at the same time as Sagbayan church so we could not do it this week.  He committed to be baptized in 4 weeks and knows that Joseph Smith was prophet.  As he comes along we will have a opportunity to teach all the people who look to him for spiritual guidance.

 Bobby and his family (8 children) coming to church for the first time.

We look forward to showing you many more experiences with Bobby and his family.

We started a few months ago attending Ubay ever sunday before we attend Sagbayan.  Ubay is on fire as far as missionary work is concerned.  There are 20 people committed to be baptized before the end of April. We have baptisms in Ubay next Saturday in the ocean. It is great to be part of the members of both the Ubay Branch and the Sagbayan Group.  They are just like our family.

Well I want all of you to know that I love the Lord and I love His work.

Daghang Salamat (the most thanks)

Elder Bell   (Tatay, LoLo, and Amigo)

Goodbye, Goodbye and New Beginning

Maayong Gabii to all Pamilya and Amigo's.

This was another whirlwind week the life of the Bell's on Bohol.

At the first of the week we said Goodbye to Holly and Tharon.  They had a very long surprising trip home.  Tharon got a blood clots in his lungs while he was here.  They discovered it when they were on the plane going home and he was taken to the emergency room when he returned home.  Gladly everything is turning out OK and he is recovering.  It was great to spend what time we did with them.  They are great family and friends.

Holly and Kathy at Sagbayan Peak in the Chocolate Hills

In the middle of the week we said Goodbye to the Halladay's, the other senior couple that have been serving on Bohol. We are sad to see them go but are so grateful to have been able to serve with them.  They were great missionaries and did so much for so many while they served on Bohol.  We will miss them but want you all to know they are the best!  

Our dear friends Elder & Sister Halladay returning home to Brigham City, Utah

We also had to say goodbye to some of our favorite missionaries this week as it was transfer week and Calape Zone had lots of missionaries reassigned to other areas.  It is always hard to see them go but we always get to greet a whole set of new equally great missionaries!

Well Sister Bell and I kind of went on splits for the transfer.  She handled the Elders and Sister from Calape and Ubay Zone from the Tubigon port with the Multi Cab and I handled the Tagbilaran port for the Tagbilaran and Velencia Zones with the truck Halladay's were using.  The Zone Leaders worked out a plan to make transfers possible without putting such a heavy load on the Couple Missionaries.

A shot of our departing Missionaries and a few extras.

Our cute little Sister Reyes with her original free copy of the Book of Mormon she received and marked before her mission.

Sister Bell and Elder Grey loading the luggage rack on the Multi Cab.

Sister Bell and Elder Grey loading the luggage rack on the Multi Cab.

(I have to admit here that I did not think that putting a luggage rack on to the Mulit-Cab was such a great idea and certainly voiced my opinion a time or two!  I stand corrected Elder Bell.  It was a fabulous idea and made transfers go amazingly smooth! Worth every peso!)

Transfers went very well this time without a hitch. Nindot Kaayo!

Well I am going to turn the rest of the week over to Sister Bell.

I love all of you and also love the Lord and his Gospel.  Thanks for letting us share a small part of this journey with you.

Daghang Salamat (the very most thanks)

Elder Bell 

Happy Day Light Savings Folks!  (this means you are only 14 hours behind us now!!)

We did have a busy week for sure and certain!  It was hard to say goodbye to the other Bells!  It was so nice to have family for 20 days in a row.  I loved every minute of it.  We even had some great P-day activities mingled in with all of the missionary work.  We are so glad Tharon made it home when he did as I am not sure how his blood clots would have faired here in the Peens!  The other day I saw a sign advertising the 'annual blood letting'….not too sure I even want to find out what that is all about.

We also had a really amazing baptism yesterday.  The core family in our little Sagbayan Group are the Racomas.  They have 13 children but joined the church after some of their older children had already grown.  Well about two months ago their oldest son, Edgar, came to church.  The first time I greeted him he told me that he had come to church with his mother to honor her beliefs but that he had no interest in the church.  But, he continued to show up for every sunday since that day and now he honors his mother by joining her church as a full-fledged member!  His second son, Lendon was also baptized with his father and both confirmed members of the church today in sacrament meeting.  What a wonderful blessing for the Racoma family.

The Racoma family (or at least a few of them)

We had yet another goodbye this week.  The grandmother of some of our seminary kids passed away.  She was not a member of the church but some of her children and grandchildren are.  They asked the missionaries to come and put on a service for them friday night at their home.  They live pretty far out in the bukid and so we gathered up some of the members from Sagbayan and headed out to their family home.  We ended up waiting a long time for everyone to gather for the service and so the many, many kids started to play games.  After a little while, I heard the strains of primary songs floating up to the house where we sat waiting for things to start.  Song after song met our ears.  I could not help but remember the very specific blessing I received from President Jones as he set me apart to be a missionary.  He blessed me that I would have a great impact on the children and that through them their parents would be taught the gospel (or something close to that anyway).  As it turns out I had taught all of those songs to the children in Sagbayan since I have been here and there they were teaching them to their new friends and all of the adults within hearing of this amazing spontaneous chorus!  I must admit I got a little teary-eyed as I witnessed this blessing coming true in a very real way as I listened quietly on the side-lines.

Angel teaching the children songs

The little girl in the bright blue jacket is Angel.  Elder Bell calls her my guardian Angel because she watches out for me always.  She carries my bag and holds an umbrella over me rain or shine.  She helps me set up and take down primary pictures.  She always makes sure I am the first to eat, etc, etc.  It is Angel leading the singing of the spontaneous choir concert.

So, just one more picture before I go.  I was transporting missionaries on Thursday and these two, Elder Jennings and Elder Lockhart snatched my camera and took quite a few pictures including this selfie!

Elder Lockhart and Elder Jennings two of our new missionaries!

We are so blessed to have so many friends and family members that support us with prayers and letters. Thank you so much for that.  We feel that love and support across the miles.  We love what we do and we know that in some small way we are helping this great work of bringing the gospel to all of the world roll forward in this part of the vineyard.  These young missionaries are amazing and we are so blessed by their amazing attitudes and hard work.  Our future is definitely in good hands with these young adults who will be the leaders of tomorrow.  

We love and miss you all!

Love you forever,  

Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)

   

Bells…..Bells

Ayo!

Well, here it is, already March!  That means we have been here six months!!! The time has flown by so very fast.  We are so busy and so fully engaged that we can not believe how fast the time is flying by.

This week we have had Elder Bell's brother, Tharon and his wife, Holly with us.  They arrived last Monday.  They had only a few hours until they jumped back on a ferry with Elder Bell and headed to Cebu for a leadership training meeting on Tuesday.  I, in the mean time, spent the night here in Calape with my sister, Luci and brother-in-law, Clarke as they did not leave until Tuesday afternoon.  I am not sure they ever really got over the jet-lag before they stepped back on to the plane to head home.  I know I sure enjoyed my week with them.  They are waiting for a mission call any day now and we will not see each other for at least 18 months.  It was hard to send them home.  Love you Fowers! Thanks for the visit!

Also, the other big event of this week was the baptism of our grandson, Rowdy.  Rowdy is a great young man.  He is kind and considerate.  He is faithful and tender.  He is a great big brother and an amazing grandson.  We are sad to have missed his baptism but we are so proud of his choice to be baptized and for his dedicated effort to read The Book of Mormon before he got baptized.  Rowdy, we really love you and I know that Heavenly Father is so proud of you and so are we!

The visiting Bells had a rough start to their visit here as Tharon was very sick when they arrived home from the training in Cebu.  He spent two full days in bed and is still struggling to regain his strength.  But he has been a good sport and followed us all over this island for the last three days.

You can certainly tell they are brothers!

One of the days Tharon was still sick, we had to leave them behind and attend a Family Home Evening in Danao.  There are two families that live there and it is hard for them to make it to church every week because it is an hour away from Sagbayan, the closest church.  So we arrived a few minutes before they all got home from work and just enjoyed a visit with some of our best missionaries and friends.

This is us with our Sagbayan missionaries, and recent converts, Claudia, John Mark and Marjonilo.

We were able to have some tourist time with the Bells on Wednesday as we went about doing a few apartment fixes for the Elders.  We were in the neighborhood of Danao again and so went on the same zip-line we had been on last week with the Fowers.  We had our camera this time and got some amazing video of our zip across a very deep canyon.  Sorry, we are not going to post it for you because it will take two days to upload with our slow internet, but, here is a still-shot of the river running at the bottom of the gorge.

View from the Zip Line

This is a really fun zip-line and not very pricey so when you come to visit we are for sure going to go on it again!

We also made it that same day to Sagbayan Peak for a few shots of the Chocolate Hills, which are now beginning to turn that famous 'chocolate' color as we head in to the dry season.

Chocolate Hills

A little selfie of us!

Before I hand you over to my good bana (husband), I just want to let you know that I sure love you all and miss you.  But, I know we are in the right place at the right time for us just now.  We love being a small part of the great work of bringing souls to Christ.  It is rolling forth and it is so remarkable to be a small part of it here on Bohol.  We have learned to love these beautiful people.  They are good, kind and so humble.   We have learned so much from them and feel the influence for good that they are having in our lives.  We will never be the same and for that we are glad.  I love the Lord and all His goodness. I am so thankful that He has entrusted me with this calling. Please know that I am giving it my all.  Thank you for all of your letters, and prayers and undying support of us and all missionaries.  We feel those prayers each day said in our behalf.

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)

Nindot Kaayo (very awesome) Pamilya and Amigo's!

Well another great week in paradise.  We started off with a bang and ended that way also. There are way too many things we could tell you but we will just hit the top of the greatest ones.

A BAPTISM FROM THE MOST HEAVENLY PLACE ON THIS EARTH!!! UBAY !!!

We attended the baptism of Brother Benidicto Vallejos on Saturday.  We have been working with him at church for a few months and the missionaries have been working with him for few years.  He is such a strong person and has overcome many trials to make the baptism possible.  He bore such a strong testimony after his baptism and in fast meeting today.  He has a special strong spirit and will be a great addition to the Lord's Kingdom in Ubay.  They say that picture is worth a thousand words.

How would you like this setting for baptismal service?

Brother Benidicto and his Asawa (wife)

This is Baptism in the Lord's baptismal font.

We also spent a beautiful evening at the Isle HayaHay with Tharon and Holy. After the mad dashes to and from one other side of the Island to the other and sending 4 missionaries to return home to their families. We spent a beautiful evening with a sunset and meal that would take your breath away.

Two special people that are near and dear to our hearts.

It has been wonderful the last two weeks to have Clarke and Luci and Tharon and Holly visit.  They are such great family and on top of that great friends.  I have really enjoyed spending time with my brother and hope to spend more time in the future. 

I love the Lord and Love the work we are engaged in. The people and the land are very near and dear to our hearts.  They teach us how to enjoy life with very little worldly possessions and embrace the good things that the Lord has blessed us with and be very thankful for all of them all the time.

Amping (good day to all)

Elder Bell  (Tatay, Lolo and Amigo)