New Beginnings and New Adventures

Maayong Hapon Pamilya & Amigo's

Well it is a new day with a new branch of the Church organized.  With new responsibilities for all and new directions.

Well I went and did it this time….  I was called to be the Branch President today of a new Branch in Sagbayan and a lot of the members speak not much English.  Since I speak not too much Cebuano this will be a learning experience for all.  I will be forced to get better at the language and Sister Bell and I will love to be in the most Zion-like Branch of people we have ever met on the face of the planet.  Our motto is, "They will never care how much we know until they know how much we care".  We are hoping the members of Sagbayan know how much we love them. They are very dear to our hearts.

So with 77 in attendance today the Branch was organized. The Branch Presidency was called with four members and two of the four members have been members of the church for less than a year.  The Elder Quorum President was called and he too has been a member for less than a year.  In organizing the other auxiliaries, we have presidents that  have been in the church less than a month.  These are fantastic people with a amazing love for the Lord and his gospel.

Bro Racoma 1st councilor, Me, Bro. Gambe 2nd councilor (front row left to right)

Bro Maxamiano Viodor Elders Quorum Pres., Marjonilo Viodor Ward Clerk

These people love missionary work and they share the gospel with neighbors and friends.  They work together and their small group has grown from 15 or 20 each week to an average attendance of 55 to 65 per week in the 11 months we have been on the Island of Bohol.

Official organization picture July 31, 2016 Sagbayan Branch

John Mark in front and center.

Well with the new beginnings with the Branch, it called for new beginnings for us.  This last week we secured a new apartment to rent in Sagbayan.  We will still maintain all other responsibilities we now have in regards to watching over all the missionaries on the Island of Bohol.  But we be will spending most of our extra time teaching and meeting with members and investigators in Sagbayan.  It will just concentrate our efforts to one spot instead of spreading out over other parts of the Island. 

Front door of our new apartment.

                                   

Frontroom of our new apartment.

Kitchen of our new apartment.

(Sister Halladay, I know you are shocked about now…they built a new apartment complex in Sagbayan since you were last there.  Pretty nice place.)

When we were looking for apartments for the Elders in Sagbayan it took 6 months to find one that could work.  The day we went looking it took 20 minutes to find the apartment.  The Lord surely does direct our path as we follow his spirit and directions.

The next story: We have shared with you in the past 2 weeks about our new friends, Matt and Joy from Calape.  The Calape Sisters taught the Plan of Salvation to Matt and Joy in 2 discussion this last week.  We were able to attend and help with the English teaching with Bro Matt.  It was amazing to hear them tell us how they had learned the truth of the message by quiet feelings and peaceful thoughts.  It is amazing to be part of this experience as the Holy Ghost teaches them the truth.

Matt and Joy Jessip

Well I am going to wrap it up for now and let Sister Bell tell you about all the other wonderful things we have been involved in this week.

May I tell you that I love the Lord and I love His work.  We have been blessed to embark on one the most glorious journeys we could dream of.  As we see the Lords hand and feel it in his work we are truly blessed to be part of it.

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

Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo, Amigo) 

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! That was a quick change of direction for our mission, huh?  But honestly, I have been thinking about this lately.  I grew up in Utah in well established, old, historical wards and stakes.  I lived in the mission field for nearly 15 years but they also had wards and stakes, however, not so many as Utah, but I have never been part of a newly formed branch.  It is so exciting to think that we were here today on the very first day of this church unit being officially formed.  I feel as though we are a part of something significant and historical.  It is an awesome place to be right now.  Everything is so new and exciting for these new branch members.  I think it will be such a privilege to be part of the growth and change of this branch. We are going to need a few prayer though.  There are not so many of the adults that speak English in this branch.  Most of the teenagers do pretty good.  I think communication is going to be our big challenge. But honestly, if any man ever deserved the gift of tongues, it would be my husband.  He has worked very, very hard at learning the language for 10 months now. 

So, on to the rest of the week….

We always start our week with P-Day breakfast and this week was no different.  We had all of the Elders in the Calape Zone (except for the ones 2 hours away) for breakfast.  It was Elder Clark's first P-day breakfast with us.  He is an American Elder and our new zone leader.  He loved the pancakes and honestly sat down and started way before anyone else.  Continued to sit and eat long after all of the other Elders had put down their forks and he relished every single bite!

Our Elders!  Elder Clark is the only American among all of the Elders.  He holds his own at the table.

We also had a few days with a very sick Sister.  Denge Fever is no laughing matter.  It is a serious mosquito born illness that often lands people in the hospital.  We try really hard to keep them out of the hospital as the common treatment in the hospital is a blood transfusion and we really do not want any of our missionaries getting blood transfusions!  So, I brought the Sisters here for a few days so that I could nurse them back to health and keep a close eye on Sister Palo.  She is doing much better now but sadly her companion seems to be coming down with the symptoms now.  We will keep a close eye on her.  Denge is not contagious so it is a fluke that they both got bitten by mosquitoes carrying the disease.

Sister Palo and Sister Tauteoli at the Bell Memorial Hospital!

This week we had President and Sister Maughan on the Island doing interviews with all of our missionaries.  We got to see them a couple of times and really enjoyed our time together.  They are still trying to figure out all of their responsibilities and I am sure they feel pretty overwhelmed with all of it but they just keep moving forward and are really doing a great job.  They are thankful for the two great AP's that President Tanner had in place when they came.  I think they have been perfect for helping guide the Maughan's through the learning process.

(L to R) Elder Baladad, Sister Maughan, President Maughan, Elder Head, Elder Bell

The majesty of God's hands!

We were out on the pier waiting for the Maughan's to arrive Monday night and this was the sunset!  It took my breath away.  The part that looks like the shadow of a mountain range are really billowing clouds from a storm that had just passed through and that setting sun was spectacular.

Tubigon from the pier

Looking back toward the town of Tubigon from the pier I couldn't help but notice that McDo's (McDonalds) had raised their arches to tower over the very tall building that is being built next to them! McDo's likes it's golden arches to be seen from far away!

Well, that is our week!  How was yours?  We would love to hear all about it.  Thank you so much for the newsy emails we get from you.  It really makes our week to hear from home.  We are happy, busy and loving every minute of it!  By the way, one year from today our mission ends!  So much to do…so few months left!

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)

PS…we keep getting texts tonight addressed to 'President Elder Bell'.  How do you address a missionary that has been called to be a branch President?  I dare say it will quickly fade to 'Prez' which is what every President of anything is called here, with the deepest of respect and emotion.

Baptisms Kanunay, Rain & Rice,

Maayong Buntag Pamilya and Amigo's

This has been a fantastic week!  Many great things and many new challenges for the future.

Let me start off with a great experience we had on Friday.  Rey Jay Bitasolo asked me to baptism him.  He is 22 year old young man just joining the church.  When he told his story while bearing his testimony after the baptism it was nindot jud (very great).

So he told of starting the lessons with the Elders and how at first he was not really learning.  He said that he really was not searching for the truth.  So part way through the lessons he realized that he really wanted to know and he would never obtain that knowledge unless took the lessons seriously, asked questions and prayed for answers from the Lord.  So he did just that.  He started listening with all his heart, and praying every night. For about a week he had not received an answer either way so he really prayed and asked the Lord to let him know.  Well that night he had a dream and he saw two churches beside one another.  And there was a young girl that told him to look up and he saw the Lord over the LDS Church.  So he sent a text to the Elders phone and said he wanted to be baptized the next day.  It just worked out that both the Elders were transferred that day and replaced by Sisters.  When the Sisters finally got the text they responded and lined up his baptism for Friday morning.

It is special to see the brightness in his eyes as he received the Holy Ghost and know that he will feel the love of the Savior Kanunay (always).

Rey Jay Bitasol

Next to the rain that started a month and a half ago.  It rains for a couple of hours most every day now and it cools things off on the Island a lot.  But with the rain come the Nindot Jud rice fields that grow in the rain.  This is shot of the Racoma farm in Sagbayan.  We just loved how the palm trees reflected in the still water of the rice fields.

Nindot Kaayo Farm sa Kalibutan

We stopped by and visited the Elders in Talibon on Thursday.  They live so far away that we do not have a chance to give them P Day breakfast ever.  So we took them to lunch at Chellanne in Talibon.  We had a wonderful lunch that only cost about $18.00 for all they wanted to eat and dessert. We love ever minute we have with all our missionaries.   

Elder Mapel, Elder Wilson, Elder Gamolo, Elder Celada

Now on to continuation of a story we started last week with Matt and Joy from Calape.  They attended church last week and invited the Sister to come and teach them.  We attended the lesson on Saturday with the Sisters.  We could tell the lesson touched both of them and especially Joy.  The Sister asked Joy to say the closing prayer.  She was very humble and scared.  After she stared her prayer the spirit was so strong and she started weeping.  She prayed for 5 minutes and said the most heart felt pray I have ever heard in my life.  We are going back on Tuesday night for dinner and another lesson.  We will share next week pictures and updates on these special people.

A shot of the Gambe farm in Sagbayan

We stop and pick up all the kids that come to seminary on our way.  It takes us about an hour and a half because they all live in the bukid, just not the same bukid, so we travel a lot!

Well by the time we write this blog again the world in Bohol will change for us in a good way.  We will have more responsibility and will be doing what the Lord sent us to Bohol to do.

I love the Lord and his work.  May you have the opportunity in your life to experience the great joy we feel as we serve others.

Love ya all!

Elder Bell  (Tatay, LoLo, Amigo)

Ayo Family and Friends!

Elder Bell is right…I do hope you all have the opportunity to serve in some way not only in the future but where you are right now.  There are people all around you that need you.  Be that one…the person who listens to the spirit as he guides you to those who need you.  It is a remarkable experience to serve a mission.  I think because for the first and only time in my life I am living fully the 'law of consecration' and the 'law of sacrifice'.  And when you live like this something amazing happens, you grow and expand yourself.  You learn to look at others through the eyes of Him who loves ALL of His children.  You feel the refinement of your own soul happening.  You feel an urgency to reach out to others and help them in the way the Spirit directs you.  And then an even more amazing thing happens. When the Lord knows He can trust you….he sends you people that need Him because He knows that you will help them find Him and the gospel and all the things that will change their lives forever.  All the things that will bring them back to Him.  It is a truly humbling and gratifying experience.  I am grateful to be able to serve here, beside my good husband, doing the things we do every day.  

Now….on to our week!

Well, Monday is what I call a 'saved by the Bells' day.  The missionaries needed lots of things that day. So we spent the day at doctor offices, dentist offices and transporting a missionary to the port, shopping  for  apartment things that several missionary apartments needed.  So by late afternoon when we were finally heading home we were tired…but, the phone rang yet again.  The Calape zone leaders had a flat tire way out in the bukid and could not get it changed.  I told them to keep working on it and when we got within an hour of them I would call and see if they still needed help.  Sure enough when we got close to Calape, they were still stranded so we headed their direction.  It was quite dark by the time we got to them and even darker when we hiked back in to where the truck was.  After great, great effort on the part of my pretty strong husband the lug nuts were finally freed and the tire changed.  I won't even go into details about how hard it was to get the truck out of the muddy bukid road they had taken it down…..So Elder Bell tells me when we get home that his back feels pretty sore.  Well, the next morning Elder Bell could not even get out of bed!  Fortunately we have Chris our family Chiropractor, who graciously diagnosed and treated over a FaceTime visit! (Thank you Chris!)  We followed his advice with ice packs and anti-inflammatory and stayed in bed all day on Tuesday.  By Wednesday it felt better to sit than to lay so he sat and studied all day and we were on the go by Wednesday night.  Did I mention he had a priesthood blessing also?  The Lord really does take care of his missionaries and for that we are very grateful.

Elder Bell on bed rest as per Doc Chris's orders!

I don't know if I mentioned lately that Seminary is up and going again.  The school year starts here on June 1 but we did not get seminary started until the first week of July, but we are in full swing now and so happy to have these wonderful young people back in Seminary.  

We told them to do "Hoorah for Israel" but they have never seen the movie so they had no idea what we were asking them to do.  We love these kids!

It was this little guys first day in primary and he loved it.  This is his mom helping him color.  He caught on to the coloring and took to coloring all the papers of the other kids sitting near him.  But he is too cute to get mad at so they just let him color away.

More of our coloring primary kids!

This is a young man mowing my yard!  I have never seen a lawn mower on this whole island.  And as you can probably guess, grass grows fast and furious here and almost all of it is mowed with a machete.  This guy is high tech and is using hand held clippers!  

Well, I am going to wrap up this week for now.  We had to go and get a sick sister a little while ago so we are a little late getting this published tonight.  Please know that we love you and we miss you.  We really appreciate the news from home and hope that this week you are all doing well.  Summer is quickly fleeing so enjoy what you have left of it….however, here we enjoy perpetual Summer and so we never worry about getting all of our summer stuff done as we can do it anytime of the year!

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)

Rat, Fat and Flats!

Maayong Buntag Akong mga Higala (good morning my friends)

Well another whirlwind week with hellos, good byes and divine intervention.

This was transfer week with many great missionaries leaving and many great new missionaries arriving.  It is kind of like a stage play that has a new scene each 6 weeks.  Their are great missionaries that leave our life and many new great ones that arrive.  That is part of what makes a mission so enjoyable for senior couples.  These young Elders and Sisters are so amazing.  And to hear the stories of theirs sacrifice they make to come and so boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world is amazing. This is a great part of our mission and we love it.

As you can see..some are happy about the transfer news and others not so happy!

Now on to the divine intervention.  Last Tuesday morning at 5:30 am the water was shut off to our house.  Recently the water has never been shut off in the morning.  So I went down the front of the complex we live in and turned the breaker on so the water pump would turn on and pump water out of the well. At 5:30 am I noticed a couple sitting by the table on the front lawn.  So I went over to meet them.  It was Matt (an American) and Joy (a Filipina).  I found they had just moved into the complex a week ago.  They were very nice to talk to and I was going to ask them if they wanted to know more about the church.  Before I had a chance to ask they asked me if I was a missionary for the church down the road a block or two.  I told them yes and the said,  "What time does the church start because we want to attend on Sunday?" Now, that does not happen very often!

So in talking with them I found out they were planning on moving out that day to a very nice house up the road a mile or two.  I asked them if we could help them move so we helped them move at 2:00 that day.  We had a great time getting to know them and told them the Sisters and some other members from the Calape would visit them later in the week.  The Sisters and another couple from the branch, that has  a US and Filipino mix, visited them.  They were planning on attending church today.  We always attend church in Ubay and Sagbayan so we were not in Calape today.  We will fill you in on the rest of the story when we hear it.

The chances that they would move in for only a week and the water pump would be shut off at 5:30 in the morning had to be planned by a higher power than myself.  The Lord truly is in charge of his work.

So on to the divine help we receive in Clarin.  I was asked two months ago by President Larzano, the first councilor in the Calape District Presidency, to present a spiritual presentation twice a month to the Barangay officials of Clarin.  So Saturday was 4th time I was able to teach them.

Teaching to the Clarin Barangay Officials

The first lesson was on God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is his son and the Holy Ghost is the 3rd member of the Godhead and guilds us in our lives.  Also that families are center to God's plan for us.

Since the first lessons on" Where we came from before this life", "What is our purpose on Earth and Where we go after we die" and "The origin of the records in the Book of Mormon and how we received them".

This has been a great opportunity and the 2nd and 3rd time we attended the Catholic Church sent a repressive to try to counter our presentation.  They came and gave their presentation and left and we gave ours.  There was no contention and we just presented the truth as we know it and let them know we respected their beliefs.  As they read verses from the Book of Mormon along with verses from the Bible they can see how they complement each other and appreciate the teachings.  This story is not over yet and may be a long time in its development.  The Lord truly again is in charge of this work.

So in closing I just want let you know that we truly blessed to be serving in this portion of the Lord's Vineyard at this ver crucial time on the earth.  The Lord truly is orchestrating this work and we love to part of that.

May the Lord Bless you with the righteous desires of your heats always.

Love
Elder Bell  (Tatay, LoLo, Amigo)


Ayo Family and Friends!

Living in the Peens is an experience that one can not take too lightly…or maybe one should take it really lightly or one might be just a little bit offended!  So, I had a very funny experience this week.  Jason tried to warn me about this but I never would have believed it if it hadn't happen to me.  It was transfer day, Thursday, and we had been dropping missionaries at their new flats and areas for several hours.  In the early afternoon we were out on Panglao Island dropping off an elder when his companion turns to me and said, "Sister Bell, you are fat!"  Not wanting to believe I had heard that correctly I said, "What?"  He repeated, "You are fat…oh, maybe you are pregnant"!  I think I probably rolled my eyes at that point and drawled out, "Not pregnant Elder.  Just OLD and FAT!"  He turned and lugged the bag into the apartment and waved goodbye!  Wow!  Talk about brutal honesty!  It is true that I have put a few rice pounds on this old body, but did he have to remind me?!!!!  I giggled all the way home.  I had to or I might cry!

Today I had another experience that reminded me that I needed to put on my big girl flip-flops and handle it!  (Remember the spider from a few weeks ago?)  I arrived in Ubay, a two hour truck drive from my apartment, just before 9:00 AM this morning and rushed into the CR (comfort room i.e. bathroom) to get ready for the meeting to start and I came face to face with the biggest rat I had ever seen!  I don't know who was more surprised me or him!  We stared at each other one brief moment and I said, "I am not sharing this room with the likes of you!" and he ran right out the 2"X2" drain he had apparently entered sometime earlier in the week.  I say it had to be earlier in the week because the floor was covered with his smelly droppings. Only in the Peens!  Where was the 'member-cleaning crew' that should have cleaned that CR yesterday???? Oh my, oh my!

Elder Bell told you that we had a few goodbyes this week but we also had a few hellos.  Look who is back?

Sister Ross teaching primary in Sagbayan

        Yes, this is our Sister Ross.  She served in our Calape District for quite a long time when we first arrived and we are so happy to have her and several others back for a rerun!  She is one of the four sisters serving in Sagbayan now.  There has previously been all Elders in Sagbayan but we have switched to all Sisters and can I just say….they are such a nice addition to our primary!  The kids love them and Sister Bell loves them!  I feel like we have a real primary staff now not just me trying to wing it.  (By the way, locals often refer to her as Sister Barbie because of that beautiful blond hair!) So with Sister Ross, Sister Cook (who is also a rerun), Sister Tatarata-Maheahea, and Sister Monteros, we are set in Sagbayan.

We also had a visit this week from one of our former missionaries, Elder Bermoy (now Brother Bermoy) and his mom and his auntie.  He completed his mission just six weeks ago and came back for a visit.  We were so happy to have them stay with us for just one night.  But we love him and have really grown to appreciate what a great young man he is.  He really bonded with Elder Bell and came to think of him as a dad while serving here.

Brother Bermoy with his Mom on his right and his Auntie on his left.

There is one real constant here on Bohol and that is road construction!  I know you Utahans think it only happens in your neck of the woods but I am here to tell you Bohol has it constantly as the weather is always perfect for the work.  So, it just goes on and on and on.  No road is ever really finished they just continue to tear up new sections.  The really hard part is that Bohol does not have a single stop sign on the entire Island.  So once in a while you will have a flagger to help with the traffic flow (not often mind you, just occasionally), but as you can see, they don't really take the job that serious. (I actually saw him asleep in that chair yesterday)!

The non-enthusiastic flagger!

Often times the flagger stands on the wrong side of the road because that is where the shade is and we don't even notice him until we have blown past!  Other times the flags are just a yellow, orange, blue, or purple grocery bag tied to a stick and they wave them but we have no idea what the colors mean so we just blow past those too.  I am seriously concerned for our return home when it comes to driving.  With literally no traffic rules and or speed limits, I am thinking these two old people are going to eventually lose their licenses!  We have fallen in to some pretty bad habits.

This is 8X4 foot sheets of plywood being hauled on this motorcycle (The driver just sits on it to hold it in place)!  We see this all the time because most people do not own a car or truck just a motorcycle and so they are really creative about hauling stuff!

Our religious dog friend

This dog was sleeping under the chair in front of me all through sacrament meeting today.  He comes to church every week.  He just follows his people when they come to church and refuses to leave until they leave.  He never causes any problems, he just stays close to his people.  My granddaughter, Liliana, would love this….dogs in church I mean!

You know, some weeks of a mission aren't all that spiritual.  Transfer weeks tend to be that way.  It is a lot of moving and adjusting and phone calls from missionaries. But, all these things are important and so we just muddle our way through and try to find some fun in the journey.  Everything will calm down this week and we will be back at our work.  We love our missionaries and are so happy they trust us enough to call when they need help.  

Not next week but the one following, July 31, Sagbayan Branch will be officially formed so be looking for that news in the near future.  We are super excited to see this happen while we are here.  We have put a lot of our time and energy in to helping this little group grow and this is the next big step.

Thank you for you support through calls and letters and emails (mostly emails).  We really appreciate hearing from you and seeing pictures about your summer adventures, youth conferences, camps and family reunions.  We love you for helping us be here.

Have a fabulous week!  Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)

Changing of the Guard!

Ayo Pamiliya ug mga Amigo,

We had a great start to our week as we got to meet our new mission president and his wife.

Welcome to the Maughans

Meet President and Sister Maughan.  These folks are from Cache Valley and they of course knew my somewhat famous brother, Jay Richards.  Rex and Scott (my brothers from Wellsville), he did not know you but I understand you know his brother.  Small world we live in.  As you can tell he is a really tall man which we just think is kind of a little joke the brethren like to play by sending him to a country where the people are on average a little short compared to most of the rest of us.  They spent most of this last week traveling around the mission to meet the missionaries and some of the local leadership.  I am pretty sure they won't remember too many names as they had a whole lots of names thrown at them in just a few short days, but I think they are going to get the hang of all of this in really short order.  They have great attitudes and are ready to roll up their sleeves and work along side of the rest of us.

So after Tuesday we were having a relatively quiet week.  Not slow mind you, it is never slow, but it wasn't frantic as it so often is.  We got a lot of studying done and even had time for a catnap one day. I love weeks like that…..and then the weekend comes.  Weekends are when we shift into TURBO Drive!

We left our house at 7:00 AM yesterday morning and got home at 10:00 PM last night.  That whole day was traveling to Talibon for baptisms and traveling home to Sagbayan to teach seminary and then had a last minute dinner appointment in Sagbayan.

Yesterday, Saturday, was also a scheduled black-out for the island of Bohol.  I am surprised at how often we have these but even more surprising is how well this society operates with a 14 hour black-out!  Seriously, business just goes on like usual.  No one but us Americans even notice the lack of lighting, air-con, and conveniences!  I am telling you, when the end of days come…these people will breeze through it.  It will not bother them in the least to have the power grid destroyed, or the internet go down.  They live survival mode all day every day and so they just breeze through it.  For example…we were invited to dinner at the Racoma's house last night in celebration of President Racoma's birthday.  The power had been out all day and Sister Racoma set a pretty wonderful meal before dozens of people.

Yes, that is the head of a roasted pig!  This was our center piece for the dinner we ate by lantern light and that was cooked on a fire.

And these are a few of our dinner mates. Elders Garcia and Cirunay and Sister Claudia.  

The lights blinked on briefly but went out again and never came on throughout the entire dinner.  The Racoma's live in the middle of the rice fields which are now flooded and being planted, so it is a little tricky to get to their home in the light of day but as we tried to find our way back through the flooded fields using only the light from our weak flash-lights in the inky darkness of the night it was a little adventurous.  Thankfully we all made our way to the truck without falling in the mud!

The missionary packing list sent out to missionaries who are going to serve in the Philippines says to bring rubber or plastic shoes!  I can not even tell you how important this little item is.  All of the missionaries, sister and elders, wear rubber/plastic shoes because about 10 months of the year everywhere they have to walk is a muddy trail.  It is the custom to always take your shoes off at the door before entering a home.  Even the houses with mud floors we take our shoes off at the door and you really only have to be here a few days to realize why.  MUD!  Shoes get so caked in mud that the only way to clean them is to wash them off…hence the rubber shoes.

Sister Huxtable and her worn out shoes

This is Sister Huxtable with her worn-out rubber shoes!  She wore them to my house a few weeks ago for P-day and I couldn't resist the photo with the holes worn through the bottom.  She had a hard time finding shoes to replace them with and so still today occasionally wear these 'holy' shoes.  I noticed that others of our Sisters have shoes in the same shape.  Hard working missionaries!

Just one more note worthy comment……..

We saw this Tom Turkey strut through our baptism Saturday with his flock of lady birds.  So the question is, why can I not find a turkey to cook for Thanksgiving?  They obviously have turkeys on the island of Bohol!  Last November we looked and looked for a turkey for Thanksgiving.  We could not find one but about two months later we found a nice Butterball Turkey in the freezer section of the grocery store so I sent Elder Bell over to get it.  They wanted 27,000 pesos for the little turkey!  That is $600 for a 8 pound turkey!  I miss turkey.  Maybe this year we can go back to that beach on a little turkey hunt about Thanksgiving time….hmmmmm!

We are happy and healthy.  The knee is almost healed from the bike crash and we are back in full swing.  Have a really great week.  Don't forget there are two old folks across the ocean that love you and miss you.  We pray for you everyday and hope that you feel the Lord's goodness in your life as we do on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis.
We love you forever,
Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)


Nindot jud ang mga pagbuyagan sa miaging simana (Awesome baptisms last week)!

The first was in Talibon yesterday where 3 baptisms took place in the Ocean at a place they call San Francisco.  It is a beautiful beach we have not been to before Saturday.  What made it special is that there was couple we had the opportunity to teach with Elder Calumpang and Elder Wilson that were baptized.

Brother Robert and sister Tanya Suarez met the Elders in mercado in Trinidad.  They approached the Elders and asked them about the church.  The Elders were fasting at the time that they would be lead to some new contacts in their area.  The Suarez family was looking for something in their life to keep their family together.  After meeting the missionaries and starting daily prayers and scripture reading together they now see great hope for their family and their future together.  We were called upon to testify of the importance of family and eternal marriage in the temple.  We promised them that if the studied together and prayed together always it would change their lives.  And it has.

Also Sister Sheila Mae Escaso was taught and baptized by Elder Lockhart and Elder Gamolo.

Elder Wilson, Bro. Suarez, Sister Sheila Mae Escaso, Sister Suarez. Me, Elder Calumpang

(left to right)

Elder Lockhart was cut out of the picture on the left.

Elder Lockhart baptizing Sister Escanso

This morning (Sunday) we started at 4:30 am so we could be out the door by 5:00. We held a baptism in the Tubigon Chapel at 7:00 am for 6 new members of the Sagbayan Group we attend every week.  This was the completion of two families in Sagbayan.  There were four members of the  Umbang and Anober family baptized two weeks ago.  We will be working on the tatay's in the future to complete the family units. We have testified on many occasion in their homes and they are great friends of ours.

We also have the fiancé of one of the girls that will be baptized in 2 weeks.

Elder Garcia, Mary Loweseth Umbang, Elysa Louie Umbang, Jaycel Mae Anober

Lowella Mary Umbang, Jeane Veb Anober, Arc Lowell Umbang

Elder Cirunay

(left to right)

Also this week it was announced by President Nueva (the district president) that Salt Lake City had approved the branch application in Sagbayan!!!  The branch will be organized by the 2nd week of August or sooner.  

It has been fantastic to see a small group of 15 or 20 grow into a Branch of the Church with between 55 to 65 in attendance every week. The Lord has surely blessed these people as they work and pull together through trials and fun times.  They are a Zion-like people. I will post later as the branch is organized and leaders are called and organizations are created and staffed.  We have truly been blessed to work with the members in Sagbayan as they grow the church in this part of His vineyard.

My heart is full as I see the Lord blessing us and also people around us to be more than we really are.  You can see the Lords hand in all we do.  The prayers that are offered at the alters of all the temples in the world many times each day for the missionaries are really answered on a daily basis.  We can feel the influence constantly and that helps us through trials and hardships, and gives us a peace in our hearts continually for the work we are engaged in.

May the Lord Bless you with the righteous desirers of your heat.

Amping,

Elder Bell  (Tatay, LoLo and Amigo) 

Epic Crash!

Ayo Family and Friends!

Our week started out so Zen-ful….but it certainly did not end that well.
As you can see we started the week out well with a P-Day breakfast for all the sisters in our district.  There are 13 of us counting me.  So, we had breakfast together and then they really like to do yoga with me and I am happy for the company.  We really like to be together but there is always so much to get done with their one P-day that they can only play with me for about an hour and then they have to attend to all the other more important tasks of the day.

Me and the Sisters in our 'tree' pose!

So then that brings me to the end of the week and the epic crash!  As I have mentioned before, when ever we have some working bikes at our house we like to take them for rides in the early morning.  Well this week we were able to get out riding twice, which is pretty unusual.  We really like to ride out this causeway that takes us out to a little Island called Pangangan.  It is about a 40-45 minute round-trip ride.  We took off at about 5:45 AM and made it out to the island and were pretty close to home when the incident happened.  I was riding on the shoulder of the road and Elder Bell was on the pavement to my left.  We were riding close enough to each other to be talking.  I attempted to go up on the pavement from the mud I was riding in but in so doing my front tire being wet and muddy just slipped instead of grabbing the pavement.  At this point both of my wheels slipped right out from underneath me and sent me onto the pavement directly in front of Elder Bell's bike!  He swerved trying to avoid running directly over my leg and before we knew what happened we were a heap of gray hair, brittle bones, bike and blood!  I have no idea how he avoided running over me other than the fact that we have guardian angels that we work over-time.  When all was said and done Elder Bell has a really big owie on his knee and I wrenched my knee is such an unnatural position that I am in a bandage and limping pretty bad.  My knee is very swollen and I can not put much weight on my left leg.  I seriously think senior couple should all be assigned a full-time care-taker while they serve a mission. (Don't let this get back to the mission president…we will have our bikes taken away from us!)

The aftermath of a senior couple's early morning bike ride!

I just wanted to show you a picture of something pretty remarkable.  This are some of the young women from our Sagbayan Group.  These girls have all received their 'Young Womanhood Recognition Medallions'.  I want to remind you that we are just a group in Sagbayan so we have no Young Woman's Program.  These young woman work on the program all on their own!  I think they are so remarkable to do it on their own.  Two of these young woman have only been members of the church for not quite one year.  The other three are sisters and have been members for about four years.  The youngest of the sisters today just received her second medallion! (Loriann, you can use this picture to inspire your young woman to work a little harder).

Tis Racoma, Jessabelle Gambe, Leizel Racoma, Mariel Viador, Janey Racoma

(Double medallion)

Another great event we attended this week was in the Calape Branch.  Friday evening they had an activity to began preparing for typhoon season.  They have never done this before but decided that they needed to begin storing food and water enough for the entire branch so that when a typhoon or earthquake happens and the members gather at the church they can feed and house them for several days.  They learned the lesson from past experience.  In 2013 when the big earthquake hit they had more than 400 people living at the church for weeks and had no provisions for them.  It was a good experience but they realized they need to be better prepared next time.  I don't know much about the weather and climate here but folks are expecting a worse than usual typhoon season.  I am hoping for the best!!

We are sealing rice in smaller bags.  Enough that one bag can feed a family of 4 for one day.

The Calape Branch are asking their member to donate one cup of rice and one can of food each week for a few months to begin building up their supply.  You are thinking right now, 'only one cup of rice?' But, I am telling you it will be a huge sacrifice for most families to do just one cup of rice a week.  But, I really applaud their efforts and know that they will be blessed for their efforts.  Storing food is a very foreign concept for members here as they truly live day-to-day.  They never have enough pesos to even think beyond the present day.

Well, we have many more experiences to share this week as it has been a really busy week but I will leave that to Elder Bell.  I just want you all to know that we are doing fine, even taking in to consideration the bike accident.  I love serving here with my good husband.  I have really learned to appreciate the amazing man he is.  I am so happy to be able to have a husband that honors his priesthood and leads our family in righteousness.  He is such a great kauban (companion).  I couldn't ask for better.  We love what we get to do here and are amazed at all of the experiences we have in just one weeks time.  It is a fast pace and we are keeping up with all of it fairly well.  Pray for my knee to heal quickly so that I can be back at it very soon.  We get to meet our new mission president tomorrow and I was hoping to not do so on crutches!

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)

Hi Family and Friends,

Well back on the road again.  We had apartment checks this week on 35 apartments that are scatted across this beautiful Island we live on.  It takes three days and we stay for 2 nights in other parts of the island to avoid extra driving.  We do minor repairs to the apartments and replace broken items like irons, light bulbs, new frying pans etc.  We also check for cleanliness and remind missionaries when they need to clean up more.

On the other side of the Island it was St. Pedros Day and many were on the beach.

We were surprised to see so many on the beach.  They all work so hard each week they do not normally have time to go to the beach.  This holiday has a tradition that everyone goes to beach swimming in the Ocean. Now, this is a holiday that we could whole heartedly support!

On Saturday we had more baptism's in Ubay.  The baptism was at 4:30 pm this time.  We did not realize that at that time the tide would be out in the ocean. We had to walk about 400 yard out in the water so it would be deep enough.  I was one of the witnesses so I walk out with the missionaries.  I made the fatal error of not taking my cell phone out of my pocket before going in water past my belt.  That had a fatal effect on my phone.  oops!

The baptism was great.  There were four members of family baptized. They were sure ready for that step in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They shared their testimonies at the baptismal service on the beach and also at fast and testimony meeting today.  They could not hold back the tears as the shared how they felt about the gospel and how it had changed their lives.  It is great to see so many that have so little possessions in this world give up so much for the light of the gospel we sometimes take for granted.

Tadio Alama Amolut being baptized by Elder Singsam

Tadio Alama Amolut, Elene Auto Manatad, Elisibeth Antor Manatad and Anita Atuel Autor Manatad.

Baptised by Elder Borrego and Elder Singsam.

It is amazing to see so many people come to the waters of baptism. It is also great to see some of those who were baptized at the first of our mission preparing to enter the temple.  I finished the last of the 7 Temple Preparation lessons for four members in Sagbayan Group that are preparing to go to the temple.  The Gambe's are going to be sealed and have their family sealed to them.  And her sister is going to take out her endowments.  This will happen in August.  Sister Claudia is going to be sealed to her husband that passed away 3 years ago and to her family.  That will take place the 1st of November.   Sister Claudia was one of the first teaching visits we attended with the missionaries at the first of our mission.

I am grateful the Lord has bless us with such a great opportunity to serve him in such a fertile part of his vineyard. I Love the Lord and I Love his work!

Daghang Salamat (the most thanks),

Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo and Amigo)