Well the work of the Lord is hastening and this week was not a break from that. There are so many good things going on all over that we just have to pick the high points and let the rest just happen.
First we told you about a family in Ubay that had their house burn down a couple of week ago and were living in a make-shift shelter until they could find some way to come close to recovering.
So when we heard of the disaster we contacted our son Jason from K Bell Plumbing and asked if they would be willing to donate to a family that were truly in need. They responded very quickly and provided enough money to buy the materials to rebuild the home. So we made a trip to the top of one of the chocolate hills by Ubay and delivered the first portion of money that was needed. We walked about 1/2 mile up a muddy slippery trail to their house. We have walked this trail before but never in a driving rain.
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| The trail up the mountain. |
When they meet us they had smiles on their faces and they greeted with such positive happy faces you could not help to see how humble these people really are. The father had been cutting down trees and making them into lumber with a chain saw he had borrowed. So they took us to their humble abode.
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| The little hut the family of four lives in. |
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This was the only shelter from the driving rain.
It was built from a few pieces of burnt expanded metal from the burned structure.
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| This is what is left of their old home. |
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| The couple and the group of us that climbed up the mountain. The lady in the front in the blue shirt is Maribel and her husband is the face just to the right of Elder Bell, Julius (he is so shy) |
We promptly gave them the first installment of money to buy materials to start the rebuild project. One thing you need to understand, that a very small amount of money in the US will give them more than they ever dreamed of obtaining. So they asked for a meager amount that we gave to them and told them when that ran out we could help with tables, beds, and other household items.
It is hard describe the tears of joy that were shed by this young mother. She kept telling us over and over to give thanks to our son and his company…..K Bell Plumbing, Spencer, Eric and Jason, thank you so much. You have given hope back to a family that had little hope of being able to rebuild and provide a safe shelter for their children. I wish you could have been here to see the pure joy we saw in their faces.
We start the rebuilding project on Thursday of this week. We will keep you informed of the rest.
So I am going jump to today, Sunday, and what happened in Priesthood class. So the Sisters brought and new investigators to church today. It was a father, mother and 4 children. So the Sisters said they were very receptive and when we went to priesthood I learned this first hand.
We are following the 'Come Follow Me' program for the entire priesthood because 90% of the members have been members for less than 1 year. This month the topic is on Commandments. So the lesson today was on the law of tithing. I wondered about that because these investigators had only known the missionaries for less than a week.
We felt we should go ahead with the lesson on tithing. So my Branch Clerk, Marjonilo was giving the lesson and I was assisting. After some testimonies and teaching on the principle of tithing, the investigator asked me a direct question, "Where do I pay this tithing and can I pay even if I am not a member of the church?" I answered you pay it right here and yes you can pay if you are not a member. He then told the whole group how the sister missionaries had been lead to their home. The sisters were looking for someone else and when they could not find them they asked the wife if they could share a message with them. She promptly found her husband and they started their journey as a family. The thing that impressed them most is the teaching on the family. They had never heard such profound things before.
I showed them a slide show of the Temple trip we took 2 weeks ago with the Gambi family. After brother Gambi shared his testimony about the Temple and about the law of tithing the brother was on the edge of his seat while the slide show played.
So after priesthood my Branch Clerk assisted him in paying his tithing and we saw the family off. We will meet with them in a couple of days.
It never ceases to amaze me at how many deep spiritual experiences we have on our mission. My cup runneth over. The harvest is great and the labors are few (even though we have no spare time).
May the Lord bless all of you with the righteous desires of your hearts.
Nahi Gugma ko kaninyo kannunay (I Love you all always)
Elder Bell (Elder Papalo)
Dear Family and Friends,
Well, how did your week go? With is being a holiday….certainly you have some news to report?! Didn't hear from many of you last week so maybe this week you should make up for it….just a suggestion.
Let's start with last night. We had an unusually good turn out for seminary, nineteen kids came! It is so amazing to teach seminary here. Mind you, this is held on Saturday evening and 19 kids show up. There is not a whole lot to do around here on the weekends. Well, our new youth leaders decided that they wanted to start having mutual activities but the only time they can have them is Saturday night after seminary. (Days here are long for the kids. They go to school at 7:00 AM and school ends at 5:00 PM each day. It gets dark at 5:30 and so no activities happen on the week nights. Also, the cost of travel is too much for them to be able to come to town more than one extra time a week.) So this week we had our first mutual activity with our young men and young women.
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| This is all of us playing silly games. |
This is all of us playing silly games. They have so much fun when they get together and it does not take much to entertain. They really know some fun games….remind us to teach you "Doggie, doggie, ow" when we come home. The lady sitting just to the left of Elder President Bell is our young woman's president, Louie Mae. She is 22 years old and has been a member for just a couple of months.
Saturday morning we had a baptism. We had a young mother baptized and the youngest daughter of our primary president baptized.
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| Lhea Jane Anober (8 yrs old) and Jovilyn Castro with her 4 year old son, Ken |
The really cool thing about this baptism is that the young men who got to baptize are brand new priesthood bearers and they got to do their first baptisms. Marjonilo, on the left, baptized Jovilyn and Arc, on the right, got to baptize his cousin, Lhea Jane. They did a great job. We held the baptism in the ocean near Calape but it was a little to busy and public for my liking so I think next time we will encourage the missionaries to hold it in the chapel (where we actually have a font…just don't always have the water to fill the font).
As I was sitting in church today waiting for the members to gather….I got rather emotional as I kept seeing investigators come in. We had the whole family of six that Elder Bell told you about. We also had the oldest son of the Umbang family come, who up until now has wanted nothing to do with us. We also had Jessa, who is 15, and her two young cousins come. They have come before but not for a long time, so it was so good to see them. Our little house that we call a church is pretty maxed out for room. We are hoping that we can get a real meeting house soon. But, until then, not having enough room is a problem we don't mind dealing with. It is just so fun to be a witness to what is happening here! This little branch is growing like crazy!!
Just one more picture……
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| Ubay Chicken Farm |
This is a chicken farm that we drive by when we go to Ubay. Every one of these little huts is a house for a rooster. Chicken fighting is the main source of entertainment and gambling here. And these roosters can not live peacefully together unless they have their own space. So they each have a little teepee made out of cement and are tethered so they can not reach each other. I don't know if you can really see, but the chicken huts go back farther than my eyes could see to the end and it was really a wide swath of ground. There had to be thousands of roosters in this yard. As I said, chicken fighting is a REALLY big deal here. They happen usually on Friday, Saturday and Sundays. Each community has a great big arena where the fights are held and I have even seen the fights broadcast on television. Kinda like BYU vs UofU back home! By the way, who won?
Well, I will let you go for yet another week. We are so happy you follow our blog and take time to share in this remarkable experience. This is one of the greatest experiences of my life and I am so happy we are able to serve here. We have grown and learned so much. I feel the refining process each day….chipping off the rough edges a little more each day.
Love you forever,
Sister Bell (Mamala)
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