A Little Bit of Everything!

Ayo Family and Friends!

It has been a busy week even with a sick day right in the middle of it, so I am just going to give you a pictorial walk through our week……

Sagbayan Branch arrives at Regional Conference

 We had a special Regional Conference today and so we rented the bus again to take our branch to the meeting in Calape.  It is always a fun time for everyone and we follow along behind with our multi-cab full as well.  Almost always we have about 25% of the entire congregation  with us when we arrive.

Sister Segovia

 I was so happy to see this sweet sister walk in.  Sister Segovia, from Loon, has not been out to meetings for some time as she had a stroke a few months ago.  She is now walking on her own and has good speech ability, but she has paralysis of her left arm.  She is such an amazing woman with a faith that truly can move mountains.  She had me lean in really close and she asked me for a favor…."would you pray for me?"  That was the favor….please join us in doing just that for this sweet Filipino pioneer!

Branch members and Elders on the way to Sister Verona's for FHE

 We had two different Family Home Evenings this past week.  This is a shot of some of the members and elders walking through the rice field to get back in to Sister Verona's house.  It had been raining earlier in the day and so the walk was wet and muddy but that never stops us from going.

Teaching Sister Verona

 The sweet sister in the back with the black and white blouse is Sister Verona.  She is 58 years old and she has three grandchildren attending church with her as well.  She has a baptismal date for June 24.  She is a soft spoken woman with much strength and courage.  She has been looking for the truth for some time now and is thrilled to have found something that rings so true to her.

Sister Erlinda Jandayan and husband

 The other Family Home Evening was at Sister Erlinda Jandayan's house.  She is a member along with her only living son and his family (you have heard us talk of the Jandayan Family many times) but her husband is not a member.  The elders keep working with them.  Sister Erlinda is a sweet Lola that loves us beyond reason and we surely do love her as well.

 We did a few apartment checks this week….for many months I have driven by this grove of palm trees on the way to the Pilar elders apartment.  I have always been fascinated by the amount of ferns growing on the trunks of the trees.  It is an 'old growth' grove of trees but is has a beauty of its' own.

These are our Pilar elders.  Elder Susaya and Elder Apales.  I promised them they would be in the blog this week….it is the goal of most of the missionaries to make it to the blog at least once in a while. We love our missionaries!!

John Mark and Justin

 These young men, John Mark and Justin, are always ready and willing to do whatever they are called upon to do.  This day they went to Danao with us to teach some temple prep lessons to Sister Gonzaga who will be attending the temple for the first time ever on our next temple trip in July.  She had missed the first two lessons of the class that is taught on Sunday and so we were just getting her caught up with the rest of the class.

And finally…this new little family of ducklings….Who can resist such a cute shot?

Well Sister Bell did a pretty good job of recapping the week. There are always many more people to meet and visit and in Sagbayan, always new people joining the church and gaining their own testimonies. It is exciting to see this process move forward.

I attended Branch Presidents meeting on Saturday with President Racoma. At the end they always ask each branch if they have any problems or anything that they need help from the District.  It was great to jointly go over needs of Sagbayan Branch along with President Racoma.  After I thought about it and the problems we have are the best problems any branch or ward dreams of having…...

The first is having room for all the new people investigating and joining the church. As soon as the insurance is cleared for the new chapel construction will start. But as they always say in the Philippines "There is always room for one more".  This applies in all areas of life, jeepney's, tricycles and also letting people live in their homes when they have none of their own.  But regardless of how crowded the church is they alway make room for one more.

The second was getting baptismal clothing to accommodate all the baptisms we have.  That will also be solved after the new chapel is built.

It is great to live amongst such humble people who make due with whatever they have and also share it  with others. If all people in the world today looked at life as they do it would be a Zion-like society. May we always remember to be "So Much Thankful" for life and everything we have.

May the Lord bless you with peace and joy in your hearts.

Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo & Amigo)

To close, I will just add my testimony to Elder Bell's….I am 'so much thankful' for this wonderful experience to serve by the side of my husband and among this powerful group of saints.  They have given me much and have blessed my life beyond measure….for all of this I am so much thankful!

Love you forever,
Sister Bell (Mamala to all)