June 7th - 14th

 

We attended the funeral of our Service Mission Advisor, Elder Dela Cruz.  We were with him Friday at Zone Conference - had a wonderful conversation with him - and 2 days later he passed away.  This is Sister Dela Cruz.  She was happy to have us there.  It was an interesting funeral.  We are just soaking in every opportunity we have to interact with these beautiful Filipino people.  I sat next to Sister Dela Curz, that is the seat she saved for us. She is strong and we could witness the blessings that come from the plan of salvation. The choir was amazing.  We were pretty much about 3 feet away from them as they sang.   The spirit was sweet as we listened to the choir sing God be with you till we meet again, Homeward Bound, and It is well with my Soul.  Sometimes a funeral helps us to keep perspective on our life.

We love the Dulays. We will miss them.

Ran into one of our returned missionaries - Edlyn.  On the phone is another of our returned missionaries - Jethro Apayart.  So many of our returned missionaries are dating each other!  Fun to see!

Family of Sister Edlyn - the Amboas.  (Funerals have a way of bringing people together.)

We went to such a sweet baptism on Saturday - Sister Bibiana Malonzo.  She is 82 years old.  The Spirit was so strong.  The missionaries have such love for her - it really was touching to watch Elder Lister perform the baptism.  The BEST!

We are having some tender goodbyes with some of our dear friends that we have loved and served with.  The Mabalots - President Mabalot has been your dad's counselor in the mission presidency.  Sister Mabalot made us a big Filipino meal!  We crossed over their hanging bridge one more time.  Pindangan is a beautiful place!

Had lunch today with Sister Holly Robinson and her family.  They are visiting here in our mission!  So fun to catch up with Holly.

UrzLa & Richard.  UrzLa served with Mary & Jerry in the Manila Mission.  She is married to Richard.   In 2008 they visited in M&J in Alpine.  It was a sweet reunion with them.  (Thanks David for arranging our meeting.)

Here is the photo from the past!  Richard is standing next to your dad.

2 of our wonderful (maybe a couple of favorite) returned missionaries!  Woodbry & Samatha (Zabate) Sinamban.  Sweet reunion with the both of them.  They are and will continue to be such a force for good here in the Philippines.

Sister Hart from Australia - it was great to listen to her sweet accent once again.  She is back visiting her mission with her brother - who served in the Laoag Mission.

Returned missionaries!  We made them nachos!

Sad day - a flat tire on our bike ride this morning.

A short message that I shared with the missionaries

We are so grateful for our dear prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks. Recently, I have really enjoyed studying his past talks, and one from October 2002 titled "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" particularly stood out to me.

In it, he shares a powerful reminder about why we serve:

"We need to remember the purpose of our service to one another. If it were only to accomplish some part of His work, God could dispatch 'legions of angels,' as Jesus taught on another occasion (see Matthew 26:53). But that would not achieve the purpose of the service He has prescribed. We serve God and our fellowmen in order to become the kind of children who can return to live with our heavenly parents."  

What a beautiful reminder that missionary work isn't just about the work we do, but about who we are becoming. We can trust Him completely in this process. As the beautiful words of Hymn #270 remind us:

"So trusting my all to thy tender care,

And knowing thou lovest me,

I’ll do thy will with a heart sincere:

I’ll be what you want me to be."

This week, let’s all strive together to be exactly who He wants us to be. Thank you for your dedicated service Sisters & Elders