Banana Splits!

Ayo Family and Friends!

We had a great week!  Busy, but great!  We had the great opportunity to have a conference this week with Elder and Sister Haynie.  Elder Haynie is from the Quorum of the 70 and his current assignment is counselor to the Area President here in the Philippines.  The Haynies are truly wonderful people.  They are really down to earth and had the most wonderful teaching conference.  They were touring the entire mission so on Thursday we were able to meet with them and all of the missionaries on Bohol.  The thing I really loved is that they took 40 minutes at the beginning of the meeting and wanted to shake every missionaries hand.  And it was not just a quick little shake-all-the-hands-line.  Elder Haynie took the time to visit with each missionary and find out some personal things about each one of us.  I also loved their messages.  Elder Haynie talked about 'Gathering Scattered Israel' and gave us some very practical, implementable advice on how to go about doing that.  So today is Fast Sunday and we Sagbayan Missionaries had a joint fast and several joint prayers to help us be able to do all of those things we were taught in our efforts to gather Israel right here in Sagbayan.

The reception line…Sister Maughan, President Maughan, Sister Haynie, Elder Haynie

All the missionaries on Bohol for the conference

Well, we were really hoping to get all of our missionaries to do a better job of cleaning their apartments so we threw out the challenge a few weeks ago to all of Bohol….Any zone that got every single apartment in their zone with a perfect score (60/60) when we did apartment checks, would get banana splits!  Man oh man!  These missionaries really, really love a good treat.  So, out of all the apartments on the entire island only 2 apartments did not score a perfect score.  So, then we had the dilemma….do we punish all of the perfect apartments for the lacking of 2 apartments?  This was our solution….we ordered a big batch of 'dirty ice-cream', and bought a whole bunch of bananas and a whole bunch of toppings and we let the errant missionaries scoop ice-cream (for a very long time) for all of their fellow missionaries so as to redeem themselves!  It was the perfect solution!  And they really enjoyed the treat!  And we got a lot of really clean apartments out of the deal.  (Bribery works every time!)

Dirty Ice-cream (Homemade) Banana Splits!

So on our Monday it is P-day and also Halloween back in the USA so we decided to have the 6 Sagbayan missionaries and the zone leaders over for a Halloween dinner at the end of their P-day.  It was a bit last minute so I decided to finally open up the singular but hallowed can of Pumpkin that my sweet sister-in-law, Holly, sent me last year.  And I made for dinner pumpkin-spice pancakes and made the missionaries decorate them like jack-o-lanterns.  We have only 2 Filipino missionaries in Sagbayan but they soon caught on to the whole idea of a jack-o-lantern.

Elder Crowley with his jack-o-lantern

Sisters Cook & Bertoldo with their jack-o-lanterns

It was a holiday week here on Bohol!  Apparently November 1st and 2nd are a holiday, much like our Memorial Day, where everyone honors their dead ancestors and decorate the graves of their loved ones.  And just like our holidays, there are a lot of family gatherings and we were lucky enough to score a dinner invite on Tuesday night.  We have such good members in our branch. They are always taking care of all of the missionaries….which is no small task when you have 8 of them living in your branch!

Today in our fast and testimony meeting, I was just tickled to watch the testimony meeting unfold!  One person finishes speaks and several stand at once to make their way to the front.  One of them makes it to the microphone and the rest have moved a few rows closer.  After that person is finished the whole thing happens again and in this way many people eventually make their way to the microphone and share with us the joy and happiness they have found in becoming members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It is just a remarkable experience month after month.  It reminds me of the joy I feel in not only my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel but of the joy I feel serving here in Sagbayan.  It is a joy to be part of God's Army!

I love you my family and friends!  I miss you and pray for you and hope you are finding joy in your journey through this life!  May God bless you all during this election week….I think you are going to need it!

Love you forever,

Sister Bell (Mamala)

Kamusta ang Pamilya Ug mga Amigo!

Well another post for the other side of heaven where the uwan (rain) ug mga panalangin (blessings) anhi kanunay (come continually). This year the rain is more steady each day than it was last year and just more of it.  Its quite muddy at times but we are shielded from it most of the time in our vehicles and the nature of what we do each day.  On the other hand we are more focalized in a branch with a certain group of people that are literally on fire when it come to missionary work.  The Elders and Sister in our area are seriously the best missionaries we could have ever hoped or prayed for and the members are the same.  We feel the Lords' hand in our work daily and the blessing you receive from that are marvelous.

Well, we will start with the baptism on Saturday.  Sister Joenalyn Cansancio was baptized at the Tubigon Chapel.  Her sister was baptized a couple of months ago in the branch and she was very happy to see her sister join the church. 

After listening to Elder Haynie's talk last week we see how the gathering of Israel is happening right in front of our eyes.  He told us that scattered Israel normally hang out around gathered Israel.  We see that every day as we prepare people to go through the Temple many of their family and friends feel the same spirit and see the changes on their lives and they want the blessing of the gospel also.  The missionaries are seeing this vision unfold in front of their eyes.

 Marjonilo with Sister Joenalyn with her sister, Jovelyn, and Sisters Bertoldo & Varias

The Sisters were talking with us tonight between the 2 two sets they have 5 or 6 more baptisms coming over the next month or two.  The Elders are opening a new area and have many coming along also.  Sometimes it takes a couple of months to get the ball rolling.  With the fast we had today and also the dedication of the Elders we expect great things from their area also.

Well on monday we had a youth activity in Tubigon. It was the missionaries P-Day so we joined with them to have great fun in volleyball and basketball. It was great to see them allow all to be involved regardless of the skill level. They just have fun with each other.

Volleyball at youth activity

Basketball at youth activity

So on Wednesday I met with two representatives from Manila that handle the real estate for the whole area in the Philippines.  We were looking for a building site to build a chapel or an existing building that could be used as a chapel with room to grow in the future.

The first week we came to Sagbayan at the beginning of our mission I saw a large house, that was 3/4 of the way built and had been left and not finish, on the main road coming into town.  I remember saying that would make a great chapel for future growth in Sagbayan group.  Now we are part of the Sagbayan Branch I can see that the Lord knew something we did not know at the time about the growth of the church in this area.

I took one representative from Manila by the site a couple of months ago and he contacted the owner and provided us with a set of plans for the house.  So we went through the building and decided it would be sufficient for the present time and also provided space to expand for future growth of the Branch. 

Possibly the new Chapel in Sagbayan

So if everything goes ok with the purchase price of this house and land we could be in the new chapel as early as 4 month if things go well.  That would be great to see this new Branch have a good place to meet before we leave at the end of July.  The Lord truly does direct his work.

Well the last story happened today.  We were planning on visiting one of the members and when we tried to leave our home there was a string of people filing past in front of the gate at the end of our driveway that seemed like would never end. Come to find out that a group from Thailand that was donating 20 kilos of rice to each family in Sagbayan and the center of distribution for the rice was at the school behind our house. These great people from Thailand give each family a sack of rice once every 4 months.  They have been doing this for 3 years since the Earthquake.  Sagbayan was the center of the Earthquake and this is their way of giving their neighbors a hand up.  It is great to see a thing like this in this part of the world.

A charitable act from their neighbors in Thailand

Well its time to close and start another whirlwind week starting on Monday.  We have Temple Sealing trip this week and also a youth Temple trip.  That along with branch business and missionary work we may be able to have a few minutes to catch our breath next Sunday and share it with you.

I love the Lord and I love His work.  His hand truly is gathering Israel at this time in this part of the world.  May we all be worthy to stand at the last day.  I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. God did put forth his hand to restore the Gospel in these latter days and we are grateful to be part of this  restoration that is still taking place as we gather the lost tribes of Israel.

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

Elder Bell   Kita Kits sa sunod Dommingo (We'll see you next Sunday)