June 6, 2010
Dearest Ones,
WE were assigned to the Mandaue 3rd Ward this morning for church at 9 am. Mandaue is in a different barongay or district but is still part of the city of Cebu. AS we got into the taxi, Larry was confident he knew where the chapel was. I was not so confident that the driver knew where we wanted to go or how to get us there, even after Larry had shown him a map. For and early morning adventure Larry and Elder Ganir had ridden on two jeepney routes to find the chapel two days earlier, and when the taxi passed the road that Larry said would take us to the chapel, the taxi driver just kept going. When he pulled up in front of a chapel, Larry told him it was not the right one but the driver said it was the address we had shown him. Three people were standing in the parking lot so Larry asked them what ward met there. “Mandaue 3rd Ward” was the answer. WE were in the right place but not the place Larry and Elder Ganier had found! The instructions given to Larry went to a different chapel! It took us about 25 minutes and about 120 pesos ($2) to get to our assignment. Each week we will be sent to a different ward. Our purpose is to promote temple attendance. Not having a home ward makes it harder to get to know the members, and it means we won’t have specific assignments in the wards, but we are having the opportunity to meet many people.
Our Filipino Church members are the most hand shaking people I have ever met! At least fifty people, including children came to shake our hands. (That was one way we could tell the non-members from the members during the open house; non-members seldom extended their hands and when you did shake hands with them it was usually a dead fish shake). As we entered the chapel I was struck with how airy it was. The building was quite new, built of light colored brick, probably not more than 10 years old, but old enough that the nice landscaping had taken hold. Like the Temple Block, this chapel site was an oasis in the midst of junky looking stores and homes on a narrow street lined with tricycles. Several large ceiling fans were circulating the air in “the sacrament hall”. The classroom section was a separate building joined to the chapel by a common foyer. There were no benches in the chapel, just brown plastic chairs that stack very easily. I thought afterwards that this room possibly doubled as the cultural hall. All the floors were tiled.
We were immediately met by several people who called us by name (they have the advantage since we wear our missionary name badges. Everyone is amused by our last name: “Oh, good church name”, “Are you first ward or second ward” are two common humorous responses.) Bishop Irving Pono is another very young bishop; he and his wife Becay (Rhoda) have been married 5 years but have not been able to have children. Both greeted us warmly, the Bishop apologetically excusing himself to take care of some business. I met a young Hawaiian missionary, Elder Akina, who graduated from Kahuku High School. He told me that the students there are almost all LDS; when I attended 53 years ago, there were just a handful of LDS kids.
If the Saints here spoke as clearly as they sing, I would understand every word! There is no harmony singing; it is all precise unison singing in English. The meeting was almost entirely in Cebuano with exception of a few testimonies and the singing. Gratefully, the Spirit communicates heart to heart, not just mouth to ear. A few words jumped out in every testimony: temple and Jesus Christ. How appropriate !
One sister, Junicel Perez, wore many hats today; she played the piano for sacrament meeting, bore her testimony, taught the Gospel doctrine lesson—switching back and forth from English to Cebuano, gave a pep talk in Relief Society on visiting teaching since she is also the Visiting Teaching coordinator, and then was asked to teach an impromptu lesson, part of the time holding a darling baby (not hers-- I found out later she has not been able to have any children either). She is the sister of the Stake President in our area, President John Balledos. I also met her amazing 72 year old mother, Cecilia Balledos, who is the one who was widowed with 7 children to put through school and missions, and she did—all seven, and she attributes it to paying an honest tithing. Sister Perez’ husband was just made a sealer and she will be an ordinance worker. Her husband’s brother was called to be a Seventy recently. What good, strong, dynamic people. In Relief Society I had a difficult time determining who the mothers were for the three babies that were there; the babies were passed around and loved by nearly all the women in the room!
There was such a sweet spirit in the meetings. When we were through, the Bishop’s wife sent one of the Aaronic Priesthood boys out to the main road to get a taxi for us while we waited in the cool building. When hthe taxi pulled into the Church parking lot, she walked out with us to make sure the driver understood where he was to take us. . Larry and I wished we’d had presence of mind to take pictures of the people there.
This evening we hosted a get-together for all the couples on our floor (12 apartments) and President and Sister Mortimer to celebrate Elder and Sister Wayne and Marie Richey’s 57thWedding Anniversary yesterday. They are delightful 75 year old temple missionaries who have so much energy and vitality; they walk circles around me. This is their third mission to the Philippines. I had made a carrot cake that I cut up in 2 inch squares and served with overdone applesauce oatmeal raisin cookies (I have been experimenting with our oven—the temperature gauge is in Celsius) and water. Sister Cuyong, the wife of the first counselor in the Temple Presidency, came in, saw that I only had three plates of goodies and went back to her apartment and brought pistachio nuts, and two packages of Filipino cookies that she had on hand. I told people this was like the miracle of the loaves and the fishes--I put out a few things and we ended up with many! Sister Reed told me tonight that Larry and I will not be going to the Cultural Celebration. We are to stay here with 2 other couples to make sure food is ready for our visiting authorities as soon as they get back from the celebration. I was heartbroken. But we will be able to watch it on a screen at the stake center—and Sister Mortimer said the Coliseum is not air conditioned and the church is! Who knows, maybe I’ll be grateful.
WE love you and pray for you! Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Larry and Mary
No comments:
Post a Comment