Well another whirlwind week with missionaries transferring, missionaries leaving on their mission and most important of all to listen to the Prophets and Apostles speak.
I am going to start with General Conference. In the Peens the satellite broadcast does not work because the time of General Conference is in the middle of the night. So we download conference from lds.org on a zip drive and play it the following week on Saturday and Sunday. This time I was able to down load the entire conference in Cebuano and in English. The Cebuano version is not available until 2 days after conference.
So yesterday and today we showed Conference at the Church. This is a shot of the Sunday Morning session.
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| We had 67 people attend. Not bad for a Branch that only has 70 members. |
The people here are so humble and have a desire to always listen to the words of the Prophets. They feel it in their hearts and act upon it. There were 10 investigators in attendance and they stayed for both sessions. Seven of these investigators are going to be baptized on Oct. 22nd. We already have callings for these new members on Oct. 23rd.
I also had the privilege of helping Marjonilo Viodor (my branch clerk) fill out his papers to serve a mission. He will be in the church a year on January 9th. He is planning on leaving as soon as possible after his one year mark. I am glad to see him go but I sure am going to miss him. He is my right hand man, translator and teacher when we visit members. He works with me 2 or 3 days a week and knows first hand what it is like to be a Branch President. He will do a great job on his mission.
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| This is Marjonilo baptizing one of the newest members of our Branch |
Well I will close now. After listening to conference and being on the front lines of missionary work, I feel the Lord working to prepare us for things that are coming. We must stay centered in Jesus Christ and do His work always or we could loose our way.
May the Lord bless all of us with the strength to be valiant in following and teaching his word.
Nahi gugma ko kanato (I love all of you).
Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo & Amigo)
Ayo!
How are you all doing? We are, as always, busy. It was transfer week and that means lots of nerves and anticipation among the missionaries. Some are happy to get the call to move but most just want 'one more transfer' in their current area. We always tell them that the one thing they can always count on when serving a mission is change because that transfer call will come! So this is how it all stacked up for us here in Sagbayan…..
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| We lost these two amazing missionaries, Sister Ross and Sister Monteras! |
We lost these two amazing missionaries, Sister Ross and Sister Monteras! Now, you have seen Sister Ross on this blog many times. We have served with her here in Sagbayan and earlier in our mission for quite a long time in Clarin. She was our Sister Trainer Leader (STL) here and we really miss her. Sister Monteras just completed her first 12 weeks of training and she is a dynamite missionary. She is going to be fantastic wherever the Lord calls her.
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| This is Sister Varias with Sister Bertoldo. |
This is Sister Varias with Sister Bertoldo. They are our STL's now and we are happy to have them. Sister Bertoldo will finish her mission here in Sagbayan after she trains Sister Varias. Sister V is also well acquainted with us as she lived right next door to us when we lived in Calape.
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| Sister Cook and Sister Anderson |
These are our other two Sagbayan Sisters…..Sister Cook has been with us for a while now and was so happy to not get transferred and her new companion is Sister Anderson from Minnesota! This is her first area. We told her that we feel a little sad because she is starting at the top as far as areas go. It is all down hill from here. These two Sisters have lots of baptisms in the near future and have an amazing teaching pool. Sister Cook is one of the best trainers ever! Sister Anderson is in good hands.
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| This is our Inabanga District before transfer day! We love them all! |
We also had the opportunity on Tuesday to take Sister Cerbas to the airport to begin her mission. She has been called from our Calape District to serve in Berlin, Germany! I think this is amazing that Filipinos are being called to serve outside of their country. Especially considering that these missionaries have to be able to speak English well enough to learn German as there is no Filipino to German language training only English to German. She is a sweetheart. We have enjoyed getting acquainted with her.
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| Sister Cerbas is the one next to me….with her father and sister. |
I wish I could tell you what else went on this week…but if there is no picture this aging brain has a hard time retrieving it! I know that we were really busy and staying really happy….I guess that is all that matters, right?
We are happy to be here. Everyone always told me that the last half of your mission moves so fast and I am believing that. We still have so much to do that it seems impossible to get it all finished in the time we have left. The longer we serve here in Sagbayan the more entwined our lives become with these dear people. We know that even if we don't feel prepared to leave them in a few months, that they will be ready and able to stand as an independent branch when we leave. They are all so willing to learn and serve in ways they have never known before. Today, after conference, our primary president came over to the apartment so that the Sisters could help bridge the language barrier as we wrote the primary program for the children. The sweet, brand new primary president asked, "How many times a year do we have to do these programs?" She was so relieved to know that it was only once! But at least now she knows how it is to be done and next year will be able to do it!
Well, I will leave you with this…
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| …...another beautiful ending to another beautiful week! |
I love you forever,
Sister Bell (Mamala)
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