April 4, 2011
Dear Family,
Yesterday was another red letter day! Larry was able to confirm Pablo a member of the Church and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost along with a beautiful blessing, and Elder Winmill confirmed Gina. They were at the Church 40 minutes early and they glowed! Elder Winmill came with Elder Baldovino and his companion Elder Saet? We were saddened to learn that Elder Nelson had been put on a plane to return to the US earlier that morning; his amoebic infection had worsened and he was sent home for treatment; he has only been here for a month! We pray that the Capitol Ward members will love and fellowship the Vercide family. There are so many wonderful members in that ward that I’m sure they will reach out and lift Gina and Pablo up and help them grow in the gospel. The Pecks have gone and we will not always be there for them; in fact, we cannot attend Capitol Ward very much since we are assigned to visit many different wards, so they are going to have to stand on their own and gain their own testimonies. They are such a precious family and need the blessings of the gospel. It will be harder for them to go to Church without someone to help with the children. I usually take crackers for a snack, and papers for them to draw on.
On Saturday morning Gina and Pablo had come to the Patron House, looking for Larry, with a very sick little boy. Stephan has had an ear infection off and on for two months, but Saturday his ear was oozing green pus. I told Larry they needed to take him to a doctor. Larry called and made an appointment for 11:30 and talked to Gina to make sure she knew how to get to the doctor’s office and what time she needed to be there. Larry gave them money for the doctor and extra for medicine. Someone mentioned to us later that the proper channel would have been to have them go to their bishop to receive financial aid since they had no money, but that would have taken extra time. Larry did the right thing. We could not go with them since we were working in the temple all afternoon. On Sunday, Gina said over and over how grateful she was to us for helping with Stephan; he was a much improved child. We could never have let him go on suffering as he was, with the possibility that he might lose his hearing, when we had the means to pay for medical help.
Besides Gina and Pablo’s baptism and confirmation, this has been an amazing week at the temple—a week filled with miracles. Brother Perez (Junicel’s husband) from Mandaue 3rd Ward had hunted for months for his ordination paper when he was ordained an elder but could not find it anywhere. He could not remember who had ordained him an elder years ago, and felt he really wanted to know. He prayed that he might find that paper. One day, as he walked into the temple, President Byram, not realizing Brother Perez’ great desire, walked up to him and shook his hand and said, “Brother Perez, I know the man who ordained you an elder. He is our Stake President in Idaho. President Miller ordained you an elder when he was here serving on his mission years ago and wants to make contact with you now.” The Lord moves in mysterious ways to answer our prayers.
Another even more miraculous instance happened when a man who had traveled a great distance, came with his wife to receive his own endowment and be sealed. But when he got to the temple, the computer did not have the information that showed his Church membership and his priesthood ordination as an elder. Brother Dumas, in charge of the records in the temple, was able to call Salt Lake and get his baptismal information, but they had no record of him being ordained an elder. Just then, Brother deDios, a faithful family history consultant, walked into the office, and said to the man, “I know you. You were in my ward when I was the Bishop.” Brother Dumas asked if he remembered the man being ordained an elder. “Yes, I’m pretty sure he was, but I just saw Brother Daclan who was the high councilman for our ward during that time at the recommend desk and he might remember something.” So they went to Brother Daclan who was not even supposed to have come to the temple until the next day, and when Brother Daclan saw the man, he said, “Of course I remember him. In fact, I have his certificate for being ordained an elder six years ago at my house. When I was given the certificate to take to him, he had moved and I did not have a forwarding address. I have hung on to that paper all these years. I will go get it right now.” Brother Daclan dressed, left the temple and rode his motorcycle home, a one hour round trip, found the paper immediately (How many would know exactly where a six year old paper was stashed?—I certainly would not!) and returned to the temple, making it possible for that brother to receive his endowment and be sealed to his wife that afternoon. Miracles do happen! What a testimony that it is so important that ward clerks record all the information at the time ordinances are performed. If it had not been for the miracle of Brother Daclan having that certificate, that man would not have received his temple blessings that day.
Heavenly Father does know each of us individually. He knows our hearts and hears our prayers. When the temple opened last June, one of the first sisters to be called as an ordinance worker was Rhoda Garcia. She learned so quickly and soon became one of the first Filipino sister ordinance workers. Her leadership skills were evident and she was coordinating in different areas within a few months. After the hectic first few months of organization, President Mortimer called some of the ordinance workers in and told them they would not be able to continue as ordinance workers: some had young children and needed to be at home with them; they could act as ordinance workers when their wards came—they were restricted ordinance workers—but a few were told they could only be volunteers because they were separated from their husbands and it was against temple policy to allow a separated person to be an ordinance worker. Sister Garcia was one of these. She was heartbroken! She has been separated from her husband for 20 years. It is next to impossible to get a divorce here in the Philippines. Sister Garcia was told she could work in the office, and she came faithfully, but missed doing the ordinance work. Then I didn’t see her for a few months and was afraid she had become bitter or it was just too hard on her to come. Last week, we were so surprised and at the same time, overjoyed, when President Mortimer accompanied Sister Garcia upstairs and announced to us that he had just received a letter from the First Presidency giving permission for Sister Garcia to be an ordinance worker once again. She had known that President Mortimer had sent the letter requesting permission a long time ago, and was afraid the request would be turned down. She had prayed with all her heart for the privilege of being an ordinance worker once again. And now she is. She told us she knew the Lord was mindful of her. And I discovered that she had taken a break from the temple to help 3 of her children with new babies—that is why she hasn’t been here.
In Romans 12: 21 we read “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Two of our humble, sweet, older temple ordinance workers exemplify this scripture so beautifully. Brother Patangan, a sealer, and his wife came from Mindanao to be temple workers. They had rented their home, but for a few months had not received rent payments, so they traveled back to their home to see what was happening. They were shocked to find that their home had been taken over by a prostitution ring and had become a house of ill repute. They went to the police, but the police told them they could do nothing. (We have been told that it is very possible that the police received remuneration from the prostitutes’ madam and from drug dealers associated with them since that is a common occurrence there). Their home was situated in a dangerous area, and had they tried to evict the prostitutes themselves, there could have been serious repercussions for the Patangans; their neighbors told them they might even lose their lives. Sister Patangan who is a small, soft spoken, teddy-bear type of sister was so angry. She wanted to throw them out immediately but Brother Patangan told his wife, “We are temple workers. We work in the House of the Lord. We will handle this as the Lord would.” And so he did. The Patangans lived in one of the rooms of their home, and each morning, Brother Patangan would greet the girls with a smile and tell them how beautiful they were. He gave them church pamphlets. He never mentioned what terrible lives they were living, he simply treated them kindly. And after two months, the girls just moved out. Love is a powerful force.
We pray for each of you several times a day. You are always in our thoughts and hearts. Emails and Skype are wonderful, but no real substitute for hugs. We miss you. We have discovered that several of you hide your worries and problems from us to keep us from stressing over you, and we appreciate your concern. But if there is anything we can do to help you, we will. We love you.
Hope all of you had an opportunity to absorb the messages and spirit of General Conference. We do not get to watch it until next week, however, we did listen to the Saturday morning session on the internet. We are so blessed to have apostles and prophets to direct us. Too many in the world wander aimlessly about with no direction. We know who we are and where we are going, and what we must do to get there. Do not let the actions of others offend you. We have seen a case where one person has harbored ill feelings against another because of words spoken in haste and frustration—either intentionally or unintentionally. . .Now the offended party has let those feelings canker her own soul. It is so much better to just let those feelings go. Life is too short for contention, for hard feelings. Again, know that we love you all.
Mom and Dad/ Grandma and Grandpa/ Larry and Mary
Dear Family,
Yesterday was another red letter day! Larry was able to confirm Pablo a member of the Church and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost along with a beautiful blessing, and Elder Winmill confirmed Gina. They were at the Church 40 minutes early and they glowed! Elder Winmill came with Elder Baldovino and his companion Elder Saet? We were saddened to learn that Elder Nelson had been put on a plane to return to the US earlier that morning; his amoebic infection had worsened and he was sent home for treatment; he has only been here for a month! We pray that the Capitol Ward members will love and fellowship the Vercide family. There are so many wonderful members in that ward that I’m sure they will reach out and lift Gina and Pablo up and help them grow in the gospel. The Pecks have gone and we will not always be there for them; in fact, we cannot attend Capitol Ward very much since we are assigned to visit many different wards, so they are going to have to stand on their own and gain their own testimonies. They are such a precious family and need the blessings of the gospel. It will be harder for them to go to Church without someone to help with the children. I usually take crackers for a snack, and papers for them to draw on.
On Saturday morning Gina and Pablo had come to the Patron House, looking for Larry, with a very sick little boy. Stephan has had an ear infection off and on for two months, but Saturday his ear was oozing green pus. I told Larry they needed to take him to a doctor. Larry called and made an appointment for 11:30 and talked to Gina to make sure she knew how to get to the doctor’s office and what time she needed to be there. Larry gave them money for the doctor and extra for medicine. Someone mentioned to us later that the proper channel would have been to have them go to their bishop to receive financial aid since they had no money, but that would have taken extra time. Larry did the right thing. We could not go with them since we were working in the temple all afternoon. On Sunday, Gina said over and over how grateful she was to us for helping with Stephan; he was a much improved child. We could never have let him go on suffering as he was, with the possibility that he might lose his hearing, when we had the means to pay for medical help.
Besides Gina and Pablo’s baptism and confirmation, this has been an amazing week at the temple—a week filled with miracles. Brother Perez (Junicel’s husband) from Mandaue 3rd Ward had hunted for months for his ordination paper when he was ordained an elder but could not find it anywhere. He could not remember who had ordained him an elder years ago, and felt he really wanted to know. He prayed that he might find that paper. One day, as he walked into the temple, President Byram, not realizing Brother Perez’ great desire, walked up to him and shook his hand and said, “Brother Perez, I know the man who ordained you an elder. He is our Stake President in Idaho. President Miller ordained you an elder when he was here serving on his mission years ago and wants to make contact with you now.” The Lord moves in mysterious ways to answer our prayers.
Another even more miraculous instance happened when a man who had traveled a great distance, came with his wife to receive his own endowment and be sealed. But when he got to the temple, the computer did not have the information that showed his Church membership and his priesthood ordination as an elder. Brother Dumas, in charge of the records in the temple, was able to call Salt Lake and get his baptismal information, but they had no record of him being ordained an elder. Just then, Brother deDios, a faithful family history consultant, walked into the office, and said to the man, “I know you. You were in my ward when I was the Bishop.” Brother Dumas asked if he remembered the man being ordained an elder. “Yes, I’m pretty sure he was, but I just saw Brother Daclan who was the high councilman for our ward during that time at the recommend desk and he might remember something.” So they went to Brother Daclan who was not even supposed to have come to the temple until the next day, and when Brother Daclan saw the man, he said, “Of course I remember him. In fact, I have his certificate for being ordained an elder six years ago at my house. When I was given the certificate to take to him, he had moved and I did not have a forwarding address. I have hung on to that paper all these years. I will go get it right now.” Brother Daclan dressed, left the temple and rode his motorcycle home, a one hour round trip, found the paper immediately (How many would know exactly where a six year old paper was stashed?—I certainly would not!) and returned to the temple, making it possible for that brother to receive his endowment and be sealed to his wife that afternoon. Miracles do happen! What a testimony that it is so important that ward clerks record all the information at the time ordinances are performed. If it had not been for the miracle of Brother Daclan having that certificate, that man would not have received his temple blessings that day.
Heavenly Father does know each of us individually. He knows our hearts and hears our prayers. When the temple opened last June, one of the first sisters to be called as an ordinance worker was Rhoda Garcia. She learned so quickly and soon became one of the first Filipino sister ordinance workers. Her leadership skills were evident and she was coordinating in different areas within a few months. After the hectic first few months of organization, President Mortimer called some of the ordinance workers in and told them they would not be able to continue as ordinance workers: some had young children and needed to be at home with them; they could act as ordinance workers when their wards came—they were restricted ordinance workers—but a few were told they could only be volunteers because they were separated from their husbands and it was against temple policy to allow a separated person to be an ordinance worker. Sister Garcia was one of these. She was heartbroken! She has been separated from her husband for 20 years. It is next to impossible to get a divorce here in the Philippines. Sister Garcia was told she could work in the office, and she came faithfully, but missed doing the ordinance work. Then I didn’t see her for a few months and was afraid she had become bitter or it was just too hard on her to come. Last week, we were so surprised and at the same time, overjoyed, when President Mortimer accompanied Sister Garcia upstairs and announced to us that he had just received a letter from the First Presidency giving permission for Sister Garcia to be an ordinance worker once again. She had known that President Mortimer had sent the letter requesting permission a long time ago, and was afraid the request would be turned down. She had prayed with all her heart for the privilege of being an ordinance worker once again. And now she is. She told us she knew the Lord was mindful of her. And I discovered that she had taken a break from the temple to help 3 of her children with new babies—that is why she hasn’t been here.
In Romans 12: 21 we read “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Two of our humble, sweet, older temple ordinance workers exemplify this scripture so beautifully. Brother Patangan, a sealer, and his wife came from Mindanao to be temple workers. They had rented their home, but for a few months had not received rent payments, so they traveled back to their home to see what was happening. They were shocked to find that their home had been taken over by a prostitution ring and had become a house of ill repute. They went to the police, but the police told them they could do nothing. (We have been told that it is very possible that the police received remuneration from the prostitutes’ madam and from drug dealers associated with them since that is a common occurrence there). Their home was situated in a dangerous area, and had they tried to evict the prostitutes themselves, there could have been serious repercussions for the Patangans; their neighbors told them they might even lose their lives. Sister Patangan who is a small, soft spoken, teddy-bear type of sister was so angry. She wanted to throw them out immediately but Brother Patangan told his wife, “We are temple workers. We work in the House of the Lord. We will handle this as the Lord would.” And so he did. The Patangans lived in one of the rooms of their home, and each morning, Brother Patangan would greet the girls with a smile and tell them how beautiful they were. He gave them church pamphlets. He never mentioned what terrible lives they were living, he simply treated them kindly. And after two months, the girls just moved out. Love is a powerful force.
We pray for each of you several times a day. You are always in our thoughts and hearts. Emails and Skype are wonderful, but no real substitute for hugs. We miss you. We have discovered that several of you hide your worries and problems from us to keep us from stressing over you, and we appreciate your concern. But if there is anything we can do to help you, we will. We love you.
Hope all of you had an opportunity to absorb the messages and spirit of General Conference. We do not get to watch it until next week, however, we did listen to the Saturday morning session on the internet. We are so blessed to have apostles and prophets to direct us. Too many in the world wander aimlessly about with no direction. We know who we are and where we are going, and what we must do to get there. Do not let the actions of others offend you. We have seen a case where one person has harbored ill feelings against another because of words spoken in haste and frustration—either intentionally or unintentionally. . .Now the offended party has let those feelings canker her own soul. It is so much better to just let those feelings go. Life is too short for contention, for hard feelings. Again, know that we love you all.
Mom and Dad/ Grandma and Grandpa/ Larry and Mary
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