Sunday in Cebu

January 30, 2011

Today I appreciate the long hours our General Authorities spend as they visit the stakes, wards and branches throughout the world. We left home this morning at 7:30 to get to our assigned ward/branch for the block meetings. WE weren’t sure how long it would take a taxi to get to the Danao 1st Ward Sacrament meeting at 9 am . Their youth and several of their priesthood leaders and young women leaders had been at the temple Saturday afternoon to do baptisms for the dead and we were looking forward to seeing them again. We arrived 30 minutes early and fleetingly I thought of the extra minutes I could have spent in bed, but that lasted only a moment as some of the Aaronic Priesthood were there to prepare the sacrament and they were so excited to see us, one young man particularly. This young man gave a wonderful (I think—it was mostly in Cebuano) talk on missionary work; we were so surprised to find out afterwards that he was baptized this past December! He will be an outstanding missionary in another year or so. WE were asked to sit on the stand and take a few minutes to bear our testimonies. We bore testimony of our work in the temple and the blessings that come to us through that work. One of the other speakers had come to help with the baptisms, Tyler Brown from Orlando, Florida. He had been asked to talk on tithing and he shared some very interesting months of blessings in his life resulting from him paying tithing. He was living with his father but felt strongly impressed that he was to move to his own apartment—one that was close to where his father lived, so he had a hard time understanding why he was to move, especially when rent was $599 a month and he was making $600 a month! He had some savings so was alright for the month, but when the second month came he wondered what he would do since he had no money left after paying his tithing and rent. The apartment manager had a gimmick for those who paid on time—drawing one name out of the hat and giving a reduction for that month; Tyler’s name was drawn. Two months, he had an opportunity to earn $200-300 more at odd jobs, one a food testing job. He didn’t ever tell us why he had moved to that apartment, but he was definitely blessed for paying his tithing. He has lived all over the world and is here now teaching English, but not making any money for doing so. What an interesting person.

After attending Sunday School (which was totally in Cebuano except for some of the scriptures which were read in English), we moved back into the chapel for the sacrament services of the Danao Branch. There were lots of women in the congregation but few men which is why it is still a branch; there isn’t enough priesthood leadership. Again we were warmly welcomed and asked to sit on the stand and bear our testimonies. I was so impressed with two children graduating from primary; they were asked to recite all 13 of the Articles of Faith and each did so word perfect! Even though I do not understand much of what is being said in meetings like we attended today, the spirit is abundantly strong to help me feel spiritually fed. The Church is not on the main road and there are few taxis in Danao so we figured we would have to take a tricycle to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Cebu but Sister Enriquez who works in the temple was in Danao visiting her son and had him drive us to the terminal. Our taxi fare to Danao was p385 (about $10) but Larry paid him p500 because he likely wouldn’t get passengers back to Cebu until he got to the outer barangays or districts. Our”bus” ride in a van cost us p200 because we paid for 4 seats so Larry and I wouldn’t be cramped in a very small space. The van wouldn’t leave until all the seats were filled so we had a 15 minute wait. I felt a little guilty sitting in the back row with plenty of space when the other rows were crammed with four people each. I worried that the others might not know that we had paid for extra seats and that we were just selfish, arrogant Americans. The van drove to one of the big malls in Cebu and dropped all the passengers off there which meant we still had to catch a jeepnie for the rest of our ride home. We walked into our apartment at 4 pm—8 ½ hours of sitting and sitting and sitting. But even with sore seats it was a worthwhile day.
Daddy fixed spaghetti and squash and asparagus spears for dinner while I wrote this email. I had started trifle and finished putting it together so we could share dessert with Ashers and Cummings. After listening to them I discovered that I am totally unaware of what is happening in the world. They talked about the riots in Egypt and upheavals in other areas of the world. We never listen to the news . I should stay on top of world events more. We did watch a Family History Celebration dvd last night that was excellent with David McCullough as the main speaker. He has made history come alive in his books and reemphacised in his talk how important it is to record journals. What he said made me wish I had done a better job teaching my children.

Hopefully, Natalie and David finalized their loan papers this week-end. We pray for all of you and think about your challenges and wish we could be there to help you. We love you so very much.
Mom