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.
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Bro Racoma 1st councilor, Me, Bro. Gambe 2nd councilor (front row left to right)
Bro Maxamiano Viodor Elders Quorum Pres., Marjonilo Viodor Ward Clerk
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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.
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Official organization picture July 31, 2016 Sagbayan Branch
John Mark in front and center.
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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.
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| Front door of our new apartment. |
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| Frontroom of our new apartment. |
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| (L to R) Elder Baladad, Sister Maughan, President Maughan, Elder Head, Elder Bell |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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