September 8th

September 21, 2025

September 8th - 21st

Don't you just love how tall Elder Callahan is?

A great baptism in Gerona - a father and son are now members and on the covenant path. There is so much joy in the ordinance of baptism and we are so privileged to witness these wonderful events.

We have a fantastic MLC right now. They are excited about the work and getting missionaries excited or "Hyped" as they love to say! It's awesome to be able to serve with this group!

Now here's a goat with style!!

Elder & Sister Smith have served as our mission health advisors with us for the past year. They have such unique stories of their past. We have loved hearing them share. One of the best blessings of serving this mission is the friendships we have made. Those friendships feel celestial

Working with Sister Norman and Sister Mamon out in beautiful Santa Ignacia 3rd ward. I love hearing and watching missionaries teach and share their testimonies of the Savior and His Atonement as well as the restoration of His Gospel here on the earth. It is such a tender experience to see interested friends respond to their teachings. Also, it is tender to see our missionaries feel the spirit as they testify. I LOVE this from PMG page 90

"Love of Others

Loving others is an extension of our love for God. The Savior taught us many ways to love others (see, for example, Luke 10:25–37 and Matthew 25:31–46). We reach out and welcome them into our hearts and lives. We love by serving—by giving of ourselves even in small ways. We love others by using the gifts that God has given us to bless them.

Loving others includes being patient, kind, and honest. It includes forgiving freely. It means treating all people with respect.

When we love someone, we and that person are both blessed. Our hearts grow, our lives become more meaningful, and our joy increases."

My heart has grown and my joy has truly increased as we have served! Those promised blessings are true.

Welcome Elder David & Sister David - our new Mission Health Advisors. They are truly an answer to prayers. I just don't think I could serve with out a doctor serving with us to take care of all of our missionary's' needs.

Meet Elder Ebrada. He will just be serving in our mission for the next 5 weeks. Then he will go to his original assignment - the Vanuatu Mission. He shared with us such a beautiful story of conversion to the gospel. The missionaries were teaching his cousins. He overheard their teachings. He was touched and interested. He noticed that the missionaries shared a book with his cousins. He went home after that and found a Book of Mormon on a shelf of his home. It has been sitting there for years. He opened the book and found a restoration pamphlet in the back. As he read that pamphlet he learned how to pray. He got on his knees and prayed - telling Heavenly Father that he was so sorry that he had never prayed before. Of course then he got in touch with those missionaries and was baptized soon after. He joined the church 2 years ago and was able to baptize his mother right before he entered the MTC.

incoming missionaries on Thursday August 28. What a privilege it is to hear their stories and come to know and love them.

Sister Reyes has 13 siblings - 6 sisters & 8 brothers. She was baptized when she was 14 years old. Her father passed away 4 years ago, during covid. Her mother is a member, but not active. She is the first missionary to serve in her family. She told us she wanted to serve a mission to "Show who I am".

Sister Agbatornu from Acra Ghana. She has an awesome mother who served as a relief society president for over 10 years and is now in school to get a business degree. She was baptized when she was 8 and is a seminary graduate. She is such a sweet young missionary with a strong desire "bring more people the Gospel".

We we visited with her 9 days after being here, I asked her how she was doing - big tears rolled down her cheeks - oh the adjusting of being here in the Philippines on a mission is a tender hard experience. Our hearts go out to these new missionaries!

Sister Mataverde from the Cavite Philippines area. She joined the church 3 years ago. For years her family wanted to be baptized because her mother was a less active member, but there wasn't a church on the island that they lived. They were thrilled when the church finally made it to their island and they were able to be baptized. She is so grateful for her mother and the way her mother helped them all come into the Gospel.

Sister Ekezoka from Lagos Nigeria. She comes from a family of members they all joined the church 2 years ago. Her friend invited her to attend a young women's activity that was her introduction to the church. She was the first member and introduced the rest of her family to the gospel. She loved attending the temple in Nigeria. It has been a blessing to her and to all of them.

Sister Osafo from Ghana. She has been a member for 9 years. Her father is also a member. She is the first missionary in her family. The first time she went to a stake conference and saw sister missionaries she had a great desire to serve. She loves reading the Book of Mormon. She is also a runner!

Sister Gonzales from Cavite Philippines. She has 9 siblings. She is the first missionary to serve from her family. She relies on the Savior to help her see the small blessings in her life. One of the reasons she is serving as a missionary is that she wants others to feel the happiness of the Gospel.

Sister Parato. She told us that the Angeles Mission is her Dream Mission! She has been waiting for the day she would arrive in our mission! She is from a broken family and lived with her mother. She is the first missionary to serve from her family.

Sister Tavo from Fiji. Her siblings are all members, but her parents are Methodist. Her aunt introduced her to the gospel when she was 13 years old. She loves the Christlike attributes found in PMG, especially charity & love. She is going to be a big blessing to our mission we can tell.

Sister Vincula was supposed to come to our mission in March, but because of health challenges she went home and served as a service missionary in the Laoag Mission for 5 months. She is so excited to finally make it to our mission! (we actually met her the last time we were at the Urdaneta temple). The Lord is in the details of each of these missionary's lives - that is evident. She shared how the Lord truly has a better plan for her.

Sister Somebody (what a great name!) from Bostwana. She joined the church when she was 19, just 2 years ago. Her mother was baptized at the same time. She loves the plan of salvation as she lost an older sister from covid a few years back. She had a wonderful experience visiting the temple in Johannesburg South Africa. She loves learning about the gospel - and especially loved what she learned in the MTC.

YES - 10 new sisters arrived to our mission. 4 of them from Africa. Evidence that the Lord is hastening his work across the entire world. What a powerful influence for good they will be.

There was a moment they day that they arrived when I stepped out from an interview and all of the African Sisters were sitting on the hard tile floor - not on the sofas or chairs in the room. Maybe it felt more like home to sit on the floor.

Elder Hilliana from Iloilo Philippines. His entire family was baptized just over a year ago. He was 19 at the time. He has 4 other siblings. They are an active family and he is so grateful for an opportunity to learn and grow. He said that he was nervous to finally be in the mission field. You should have seen the smile on his face when he was loaded in the van with his trainer and they drove off with his trainer Elder Ueno to Pandan!

Elder Abahun from Cagayan De Oro. His mother is a member but his father is a muslim. He worked as a virtual assistant before coming on a mission so his English is great.

Elder Jameson from Zimbabwe. (that makes 4 missionaries serving in our mission from Zimbabwe.) His native language is Shona. He is a former body builder, so we aren't worried about him! He told us that he even won a trophy for body building. He was 17 when he was baptized and is now 20. He is the only member in his family. He met the missionaries when they asked him for directions and he was impressed by their message. He shared with us about having faith. He attended the temple for the first time as he was in the Manila MTC.

Elder Ross from Houston Texas. He is the oldest of 5. He had a feeling like he would be called to serve in the Philippines, so it didn't come as a surprise when he opened his call and assignment. His mother is Hmong - his grandparents immigrated to the US when she was a young girl.

Elder Vea from Tonga, but has also lived in American Samoa. He is a former boxer. He told us that he would have gone to the olympics, but he lost his first match at tryouts. This was a turning point for him as he felt like he hit a wall. At that point he decided that he would turn to the Savior and serve a mission. It felt like the right things for him. His mom lives in Utah. He lived there also when he was 14-18 years old. He is now 23 years old.

We finally met the new Area Missionary Medical Advisors - Elder & Sister Black - seated on the far end of the table. They came for a visit and to do some training for El & Sis David. Their service and sacrifice is inspiring.

Last night we said good bye to Sister Vickers (next to me). She is heading home to Layton UT to figure out her stomach issues. We will miss her but are hoping that she will return to full health and return to service as a missionary. Sister Vickers - Sister Tapaya - Sister Lesano.

Zone Conference - Tarlac South Zone & Paniqui Zone.

Zone Conference - Camiling Zone & Santa Ignacia Zone.

Beautiful view of Arayat (pronounced a riot!) from our bike ride on Saturday.

We had a good mission drive on Saturday with Elder & Sister David. It's always fun to welcome new senior missionaries here to our mission. They will be such a blessing.