Pres. Schmutz at Liloan Stake Conf. and dinners

September 9, 2011
This past month we have attended three different stake conferences. What a feast we have been served in Gospel messages. Each time we have come away filled to the brim. Last Sunday we went to the Liloan Stake Conference. President Schmutz told an amazing story from his own missionary days. He served in the North Carolina Mission 35 years ago. One hot, muggy afternoon after a very discouraging day of being turned away at door after door, he and his companion knocked on a last door which was answered by a beautiful young 23 year mother, Debbie Shelton, whose 2 and 3 year old daughters were hanging on to her legs. But when Elder Schmutz and his companion tried to talk to the mother about the Gospel, she kindly told them that she was a Methodist and was not interested in the elders’ message, and closed the door. As they slowly walked down the road, Elder Schmutz had a strong impression that he was to go back to that home and he turned around. “But, Elder, what are you going to say to her; she told us she wasn’t interested,” his companion stated, not wanting to return. “I don’t know what I’m going to say, but I know we have to go back,” Elder Schmutz replied. Even as he knocked on the door, he did not know what he would say. The young woman was very surprised to see the two missionaries again. Before she could say anything, Elder Schmutz asked, “Mrs. Shelton, does your husband know Bruce Martin?” Shocked, the mother replied, “Why, yes, he and my husband played college basketball together. My husband thought the world of him.” President Schmutz told Mrs. Shelton to tell her husband that a group of the young men in their Church got together to play basketball with Bruce Martin every Saturday morning. President Schmutz asked for their phone number to give to Bruce Martin (who happened to be their ward mission leader); he said he had no idea where that thought had come from. He hurried back to their apartment and called Bruce Martin and asked him to call Ron Shelton and his wife which he did. Because of the great respect the Sheltons had for Bruce Martin, they agreed to meet with the missionaries at an appointment that Bruce Martin made for them. As they taught about the plan of salvation, Debbie Shelton started crying. She explained that when she was ten years old, her grandmother had told her that their minister was a very good man but he didn’t know all the truth. “One day you will be taught about where we lived before this life,” her grandmother said. She felt the witness of the Holy Ghost and the whole family was baptized. . .but just after Elder Schmutz was transferred, so he did not participate in their baptism and lost track of them. One month before he and Sister Schmutz came as mission president, he wanted to find out what had happened to Ron and Debbie Shelton. His son helped his dad find their phone number in Greensboro, North Carolina and he called. They were thrilled to hear from him, and he was thrilled to find they were strong, active members. They have 5 daughters, four of whom have married in the temple and their last daughter wants to be when she gets married. Because of the good example that Bruce Martin had been, the Shelton family was willing to meet with the missionaries, and because Elder Schmutz responded to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, a family has received temple blessings. What an amazing story.
After the conference, we were asked to go to the High Council Room where some Relief Society sisters were serving the missionary couples a lovely luncheon. We discovered that Junicel Perez had spearheaded the project and had prepared most of the food herself. She had talked to several of the American sisters to find what their favorite recipes were and then cooked those recipes. Her younger sister told one of the missionary sisters that Junicel had spent all day Saturday cooking and it must be for the American couples because” Filipinos wouldn’t eat that kind of food”. She had made funeral potatoes, lasagna, tossed green salad, tacos, macaroni salad, rolls, sliced ham and cheese, plus several Filipino favorites including fresh mangoes and bananas, pork and a relish of some sort. I was so impressed that she went to so much work. Her actions were just one more indication of the Filipinos’ love for the missionaries. We tried to not eat too much because we had invited Elder and Sister Luke and Sister Byrd and Sister Kimber for Sunday dinner later that afternoon. There was so much food left over; I do hope the Filipinos did eat that kind of food. . .Stake President and Sister Lim, his counselors, President Sasing and President Mantilla and their wives and the high council and their wives were invited to eat after us so maybe there was no waste.
Sister Byrd and Sister KImber go home early in October, about three weeks before we leave. The Lukes go home the first part of November. We have had a close relationship with the ERC missionaries since we invited them to our Family Home Evening activities and have had them come for dinner a few times. Sister Byrd is returning to live near her daughter in Colorado, Sister Kimber to Pleasant Grove, Utah and the Lukes to the Phoenix, Arizona area. All come at least once a week to the temple. WE love them all.
Sister Byrd is a dynamic, somewhat unorthodox almost 70 year old, red head. Her generous heart matches her size. Many times she has helped beggars or people that she has sensed are in need. At one time in her life she was the top Tupperware salesperson in the US. She thought that most of the men she dated were boring and is not interested in remarrying. She served a proselyting mission in Scotland before she came here even though she had written on her mission application that she could not serve in a cold area and she could not do much walking—she did both willingly, serving with young companions. She loves my apple pies, and has accumulated quite a library of movies and books that she graciously loans to other missionaries. She always has a humorous story to tell and is great fun to be with.
Sister Kimber is a sweet, trim, attractive, naturally curly haired blond in her fifties. She has been divorced twice; her first husband was a womanizer. But even with bad luck with husbands, she has maintained a positive attitude and managed to raise a successful family (five of her own and eight of her second husband) on her own, all of whom are strong in the Church. Her youngest single son has just been accepted to the George Washington law school. She is very musical and has been teaching piano to Filipino youth in her Mabolo Ward. She has had a great impact on the youth she had helped to develop job skills at the ERC, as well as those she has loved and helped in her ward. She organized one of the best family home evening we had on star gazing, tying it in with scriptures "Worlds without number have I created." She was a family counselor before her mission and will likely go back to a counseling job afterwards too. She would love to find a righteous husband for the eternities.
The Lukes have ties to Midway; his grandfather was the originator of Luke’s Hotpots. His sister is Marilyn Urry. He has a beautiful singing voice and plays instruments. His business background has been a great asset to ERC. He loves his GPS and loves talking about coordinates of various landmarks. He has made many friends on his early morning walks. Beverly’s organizational skills have also helped tremendously. She is a great cook and is famous for her Hot Fudge Sauce. They just had a new grandbaby born to them. Her mother is 90 years old and they are going home to be close to her. They hope their free-spirited single son in New York will settle down and find a lovely LDS girl.
We all have our own stories. We have made many wonderful friends both American and Filipino.
There are so many changes coming. The Cuyongs are leaving for the Manila Temple to serve as President and Matron. They have asked for Brother Gale to serve as second counselor so they will also be leaving next week. That means President Mortimer needs to find someone to manage the Patron House. Gales have done a marvelous job. They have such loving natures. So many times when Sister Gale discovered that someone had only enough money to purchase one pair of garments, she bought three or four more pairs for that person out of her own money. Perhaps it was her many years of teaching high school that gave her a dignity and air of authority that made it possible for her to effectively control the actions of the many youth who came and stayed at the Patron House to do baptisms. No matter what time groups came in, even if it was the middle of the night, one of them would get up to help the groups check in, always being cheerful and positive. Sister Gale did not want to come to Cebu when she was called, but because she felt it was a call from the Lord, she came. She was so excited about going home to Bacolod to her daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, dogs and house, but now she will be gone for three more years. She has cried over that but still accepted the call to serve with her husband in the Manila Temple—which is even farther away from home. The sacrifice of being away from family and home is hard for many of us, and yet great blessings come through our service. Gales will fulfill this calling graciously and humbly; the people in the Manila Temple will love them as we do.
I am compiling a cookbooks of favorite recipes of the missionary sisters that we have sampled at our Family Home Evening potluck dinners. I have spent hours retyping recipes, and today Camille told me that I could have just transferred the recipes that had been emailed to me to Word. . .sometimes being so computer illiterate is a terrible time waster!
We love you and pray for you always!