August 9th Email

 FAM -

This note has taken me about 3 weeks to finish!  In the past week - we have sent 9 missionaries back home as their missions have ended.  It was really wonderful to spend time with the 9 of them playing games & visiting while M did the final missionary interviews.  The testimony meeting we had with them was really powerful and I loved it!  I just love each one of these fine young men so much!  A couple of them - WOW!  I’m so impressed with what they have done as they have served for the past 24 months of their lives as missionaries in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  What a privilege it has been to laugh with them, work with them and cry with them.  I loved having the opportunity to share with them a message from my heart!  I think these missionaries will always hold a special place in my memories even though we only served with them for 6 weeks.

These 9 returning missionaries were supposed to be picked up at 9 AM last Thursday for travel to Manilla.  The shuttle van arrived at the mission home at 5:30 AM surprising all of us.  They were loaded and on the road by 6:20 AM.  Good-by Elders!  Thursday afternoon we had a train the new trainers meeting.  It went well and we enjoyed discussing what makes a great trainer and why we need the best trainers!

Friday the new missionaries arrived by 9 AM.  10 of them!  8 Elders and 2 Sisters.  3 Elders from the states, the rest Philipino - oh and one of the sisters was from Tonga.  I’m so thrilled to have each of them serving here.  The training went well.  M had time to interview each of them and they were out the door with their new trainers by 3 pm.  Trust in the LORD!  That is what we have to do every day (araw-araw).

Saturday we attended 4 different baptisms.  The sister, Sister Fraz, being baptized in Balibago asked me to speak.  That was a beautiful opportunity for me to once again be reminded of the beauty of baptism and confirmation.  I enjoy the Relief Society sisters that I have met in that ward.  There is such an instant bond.  By the end of the day M & I were really tired!  I was reminded of the verse in Mosiah - about not running faster than you have strength!  We need to practice that!  We are trying to be efficient, but here in the Philippines Angeles mission we don’t have it quite figured out yet…

Sunday we attended a Tarlac ward.  The bishop asked us to sit on the stand and to bear our testimonies.  Sunday afternoon we were able to get slightly caught up and prepared for the coming week.  I was grateful to partake of the sacrament & renew those sacred covenants I have made.  I need the power that those covenants bring to me now more than ever!

Monday we played 9-square with the Tarlac Zone and then headed to FSY!  So fun to be with the youth.  We each taught 2 classes of about 40 youth.  It’s an experience teaching here!  We love being with these faithful youth!  We got home late that night.

Tuesday, M read letters and I tried to just pick up the pieces that needed to be done, mostly for him.  Oh WOW!  There is always much to do.

TODAY - Wednesday.  We had MLC here at the mission home!  Oh joy!  Our meeting was jam packed as we are trying to figure out exactly what the mission culture is here and where we need to go as leaders and young mission leaders.  The AP’s did a great job and we way overplanned!  It was ok - we will get to the rest of our list the next time! I loved preparing for training as we focused on higher & holier - becoming more principle based - more spiritual.  We also review the sanctifying power of the doctrine of Christ.

That is really just a skelton of our mission here!  There are always missionaries that need something or are struggling in some way.  We could minister ALL day long and still not get to them.  We are prayerfully following the promptings of the Holy Ghost and have been lead and guided to experience so many miracles!  There have been so many beautiful tender moments with missionaries!  We love them so much! 

 

These are random thoughts I had previously typed.

It’s just hard to put into words what we are experiencing here in the mission.  I suppose it is because it is hard to express such deep feelings of love, support, responsibility, faith, surprise, sadness.

Feelings of love as I see the sacrifice of so many young adults - OUR MISSIONARIES - really trying their best to teach others and bring them to the Savior.  Knowing that many of our missionaries are the only members of the church in their families has touched my heart.  I can’t even begin to express the love I feel for each of our 180!  Michael & I took some time today to just talk with a couple of the missionaries that will be going home next week.  We will only have had them as our missionaries for about 5 weeks. As they shared the joys and trials of serving my heart felt like it was going to burst!  It is a blessing from God that I feel these deep feelings of love.

Or today, when a sweet Filipina sister wept tears of joy because her husband has decided to enter the waters of baptism on Saturday.  It has been years for her, praying for him.  She shared with us how hopeless she has felt at times as she had dealt with the struggles of life but how now her faith is renewed.  This family lives in such humble circumstances!  But I know that as long as they stay on the covenant path they will be led and blessed.  I’ve seen it over and over.

Feelings of support from our family as we read their notes and messages. We have a lot of our family pictures hanging so that we can walk up to those photos of the people we love most and tell them how we are doing & that we LOVE them!  

We truly feel the Savior close by as we encourage and try leading this mission.  Words have come out of our mouths that we could have never prepared for - that’s not exactly right… we have prepared.  We have worked hard and prepared as best we could.  We have knelt in fervent prayer alone and as a couple.  We have searched our scriptures and words of the living prophets.  We have diligently listened to and read from Preach my Gospel.  And now - we are doing things that I just didn’t think we could ever do.  We couldn’t do it without the sustaining and supporting power of the Holy Ghost.  It’s like we truly feel our Savior standing nigh - watching over us.

We have been blessed with 5 senior missionary couples!  Wow - they work hard and are doing such great work!  What a blessing of support for M&me. We shed tears of appreciation when we even think about their hard work and diligence!  

Feelings of responsibility - I just can’t even believe that there are 180 missionaries out there teaching, serving and just plain working hard!  The booklet _Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ_ is really such a small booklet!  And those are the “RULES” or really those are the principles that direct their mission lives as well as hopefully their entire lives!  We have such high expectations for our missionaries!  We have such great trust in them!  We also feel a great responsibility to train them and lead them as the Savior would want.

Feelings of faith - We have had the opportunity to exercise great faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I have also witnessed the faith of young sisters and elders!  The way these missionaries pray is incredible!  I almost need to peek from my shut eyes to see if our Heavenly Father isn’t right there.  I have felt the love He has for each of his spirit sons and daughters.  The thing is - I know that some of our missionaries are strictly obedient, some are really trying to be obedient and there are even some that really need to be more obedient!  But I have faith in each of them and faith that the Savior knows them!

We definitely have experienced an element of surprise!  Surprise at how little sleep we can function on! Every day there is at least one instance that has surprised us!  We are learning so much and it’s rea

lly fun because we never quite know how our day is going to progress!

It’s a beautiful and crazy place to live.  We feel blessed to be here!