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)