Mission Mom's Sweet Sabbath--day of rest

JUNE 8, 2011

TOMORROW EMILY TAKES HER ORAL EXAMS. WE KNOW EVERYONE WILL INCLUDE HER IN YOUR PRAYERS.

June 6, 2011

Larry just walked in the door after a morning at the ‘aquarium’ (that’s what Elder Ganir calls their trips to the beach and ocean). He handed me the tiniest perfect shell and then a small starfish. As I took it, he said, “It’s still alive.” Ekkkk! I dropped it on a paper beside the computer. Somehow it didn’t bother me to hold a dead starfish, but I could just feel the thing squirming in my hand! However, it hasn’t moved or changed shape since it landed on the desk; I think it probably is dead after being jammed into Larry’s pack for several hours. We need to put all of his treasures in Zonrox (the equivalent of Clorox) for a few hours to kill any creepy crawlies that may be still inside the shells.

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but as too many in the Church realize, it can be the busiest, and most eventful day of the week. “Busy” is not always a negative thing, and in our case, it was a wonderful thing. Larry wakened me at 5:45 so I could wash my hair and be ready to leave by 7 am. Elder and Sister Ganir met us at the church truck and we began our one hour and thirty minute drive to the Sibonga Branch. Larry and Wilson had made an exploratory trip the previous Monday to find out where the little chapel was, so we were able to drive right to it. Banana tree groves lined the road that wound around the island close to the ocean. It was easy to tell the depths of the water by the changes in colors. Finally we arrived at the chapel which had been converted from a previous Mayor’s home into a meeting house for the 30 plus members of the branch that come on Sunday; there are 100 on the membership rolls. The saints there were so surprized to have temple missionaries visit them. When we walked in, the branch president apologetically told us that they were suffering a “brown out” so there were no lights and no fans; we discovered later that the reason there was no electricity was because the electric bill had not been paid!—and that was not necessarily the fault of the branch. Jodi said that in their other mission, the electric bills were paid by the main office in Manilla, and that sometimes, the little out of the way places were forgotten. The spirit among those faithful Filipino saints was strong—almost enough to make us forget how hot and sticky we were. We visited with the members, mostly older women and young girls before the meeting started. The branch president (President Conde), his counselor, the elders quorum president (an unendowed older brother), a young father and another very young father, were the only men in attendance other than the four proselyting elders and Elder Ganir and Larry. We were delighted to discover that one of the missionaries was our own “adopted” Elder Baldavino. His companion was a tall Samoan elder, Elder Sepule and the other two were Filipinos--Elders Mariano and Elder Plaza. President Conde welcomed us and commented a few times how unusual it was to have visitors come to their branch. He did a very good job of conducting, and even announced next Sunday’s program telling one of the brothers that he would be the sacrament meeting speaker and assigning him a topic—right from the pulpit in front of everyone—shades of Brigham Young. A baby girl, two weeks old and so small, was blessed with the name Princess. Her name inspired me to bear my testimony about how we are all beloved spirit sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father who has blessed us with the Gospel and with temples so that families can be together forever. I am never sure if what I say is understood—all the speakers except the branch president spoke in Cebuano—but I think they understand English a lot better than they speak it, and I felt the strong spirit that was in the meeting would be felt in their hearts. The investigators class taught by the missionaries met on the porch, the Gospel doctrine class taught by the branch counselor, stayed in the chapel area; Larry and Elder Ganir went outside, Jodi and I stayed in, not realizing the men had stayed outside. Fortunately, the teacher wrote a list of scriptures on the blackboard so I could follow the gist of the lesson which was totally in Cebuano. It takes complete concentration to catch the idea of what is being said, but even without understanding, it is fun to watch Filipinos teach; they are so expressive with their faces and hands, and the tones of their voices. Relief Society and Priesthood switched places and the sisters moved to the cooler covered porch outside. A young 25 year old young single adult taught the Relief Society lesson, reading it straight from the Gospel Principles manual in English and then either explaining or embellishing in Cebuano. We told the young people that they should come to do baptisms for the dead at the temple; they did not know they could do that. After a lengthy picture taking session, we loaded into the truck, (a double seater cab) along with the four elders who had invited us to come with them to the recently organized Argao Branch. Three of them sat in the back shell with the black board and easel they were taking, and the fourth sat with us in the front.

After 25 minutes we arrived in Argao, a typical Filipino town filled with people doing their Sunday shopping. We turned down a side street filled with tricycles, barely fitting between them and the houses/shops. The elders directed us to a smaller side street and told us to park, saying we would have to walk from there. Broken slabs of cement that some had put in front of their houses, the pot holed dirt and garbage strewn everywhere made each step precarious. Small children peeked around corners curiously as we walked by their houses built right next to each other; the wall of one was also the wall of the next. When we stopped at one of the cement homes with a large covered front porch, we knew we had arrived. The Argao Branch meets at the home of one of the investigators, Jessica Villamora Gabalfin. She greeted us warmly and introduced us to her family: Jesan (18) not baptized, Marjie (17) to be baptized next month, Jhessel (15) baptized Saturday and confirmed Sunday, the son Jetter (11), the niece Lovelyn Aro (11), a sister who did not stay. A table was set up in the front with four plastic chairs behind it. The mother hurriedly took down the clothes hanging on the fence in front of the house (but left the ones hanging at the side of the porch), got a pile of hymn books from inside the house, and brought out a stack of brown plastic chairs that are used in all the churches here. She was most accommodating, and I thought it was amazing that we were holding sacrament meeting in an investigator’s home. The elders covered the table with a white tablecloth for the sacrament and filled the water cups which Jessica had them refill, saying that they had not used mineral water. (The wards are required to use bottled water for the sacrament, but I wasn’t sure about what had been used in these out of the way branches.) A faded poster of The Young Women’s theme and the Living Christ were tacked on the wall. Sister Ganir kept whispering that the elders should start, that they should be on time, but then realized that they were waiting for the Stake President to come. President Opus and his wife arrived with their newly returned missionary son and the meeting began. I was so impressed with the authority Elder Sepule took on as he conducted; the elders run this tiny (almost one family) branch. A young teenage member friend, Rachel Sasaban, was called on to lead the music, Jhessel was confirmed, the sacrament was blessed and passed and the time was opened for testimony bearing. The new convert, Jhessel, bore a sweet and strong testimony saying that at first she could not believe about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but she had prayed and received confirmation that it was all true. Even with the constant crowing of the next door rooster, the loud voices of the neighbors, people walking back and forth along the street and stopping to see what was happening, the feeling in the meeting was so strong with two of the missionaries, Elder and Sister Ganir, Larry, President and Sister Opus and their son all bearing their testimonies. This little branch that usually has 5 to 6 people in attendance had 19 there to bolster the testimonies of the Gabalfin family, two investigators and their friends. It wasn’t until we were halfway home that I felt the effects of how long we had been sitting that Sunday.

We dashed into our apartment, picked up the green jello I had made, and went back to the mission van for a quick trip to the Chung Hua Hospital to visit Lea Garcia, our dear friend and Laundry supervisor. She had been in the hospital for a week with gall bladder, kidney and possible pancreas problems. The doctors took out her gall bladder on Friday. Many had been to visit her Sunday we discovered, so did not stay long. She looked so much better than she had on Tuesday when we visited her. We are grateful she had Church insurance, but know it will not cover all of her expenses. . .It seems there are people who need our help every time we turn around. One of the faithful gospel doctrine teacher/sisters tearfully told Sister Richey that she could not even afford to buy her daughter the necessary school supplies to start school this week.

There was a note on our door inviting us to join the other missionary couples in celebration of Richey’s 58th wedding anniversary. We broke our fast with the snacks Sister Richey had prepared, visited for a few minutes, and then went to Ganirs’ apartment for spaghetti . Another full, fulfilling Sabbath Day!

We love you all so much!