Family Home Evening in Santiago

Elder Griffin and Elder Cuartel introduced us to an amazing family last weekend during the Santiago Stake Conference. They asked if we wanted to accompany them to Family Home Evening on Monday night at the family's home. We were excited to do so. This family consists of a father, mother and 3 or 4 married daughters and their families.

Their home was filled with grandchildren of all ages. They were well behaved and very interested in what was happening. The father conducted the Family Home Evening and taught a great lesson on the 10 Commandments and why God asks us to follow them. This was only his second time to conduct and teach and we were so proud of him. Next we played a silly game that I brought and ate some banana cake with cream cheese frosting that I made for the family. The father said they had never tasted anything like that and I could tell that everyone enjoyed it. It was one of those nights that we will always remember--times like these are what makes missionary work the greatest work on the earth.

                                                    Just look at this beautiful family!

                                        Tatay (father) is teaching us about the 10 Commandments

 Elder Griffin did such a great job in helping the father know how to conduct and teach Family Home Evening.

                     Everyone had fun with the Cops and Robbers silly game we brought to play.

A Fantastic Day

Last Saturday we headed to Tabuk to witness the baptisms of a wonderful family. The parents had been visiting lots of churches trying to find one that they thought was right for their family. Their daughter had gone to the LDS church with cousins in another town. She kept urging her parents to visit the LDS church in Tabuk. When the mother first stepped into our church she said all the hair on her arms stood up, she felt electrified. Soon after they sought out the missionaries to teach them more about the doctrine and last weekend the father, mother and daughter were baptized. There was such a wonderful feeling in that little chapel. They were all smiling broad smiles and we were so fortunate to be able to share this day with them.

 Elder Dela Cruz and Elder Benosa were able to teach and baptize this wonderful family.

 After the baptisms the family shared their precious testimonies with us.

    This is the darling girl who felt the spirit urging her to visit our church. I'm so grateful her parents listened to her.

 This was our first time to visit Tabuk. It's up above the vast valley and the drive is quite spectacular.

There are a few rice terraces before the town and I was enthralled by the darling bamboo and grass home at the edge of the terraces.


We left the baptism and headed back to Cauayan in order to witness the baptism of another wonderful family and a few single adults. The spirit was equally precious at this baptism. This family had been studying and visiting our church for many years and finally they were baptized.

This beautiful family with their two daughters were so excited to be baptized. They are a very special family!

General Conference was LATE but GREAT

We get conference a week late here in the Philippines and unfortunately the vast majority of members only watch the Sunday morning session. We wish they would catch the vision of it being a 2-day conference and they should attend Saturday both sessions, plus priesthood for the men and both sessions on Sundays. Our missionaries always attend all the sessions and on Sunday we fix the missionaries from Cauayan Zone a quick lunch during the hour break. We always enjoy hearing their reaction to the conference talks. This year there was a wonderful announcement that the age for missionary service has been lowered to 18 (from 19) for males and 19 (from 21) for females. Already the numbers of normal missionary applications has risen from 500-700 per week to 4,000. We've heard our church leaders prophesy that the work is about to burst forth and with all these new missionaries we believe it's going to happen. Our mission will soon grow from having 150 missionaries to having 250 missionaries! (Oh boy the Shaners, our housing coordinators, are going to be super busy finding new apartments!) We are so excited about these changes and believe that it will provide the added missionary force to truly share this glorious gospel with more people.

                                 Our Cabatuan Sisters: Sister Klein and Sister Saez.

 Conference was a time for missionaries to see their counterparts from other towns nearby. Here our San Mateo sisters (Sister Ramos and Cajigal) meet up with our Cabatuan sisters.

 President made his ham fried rice and we served it with a huge green salad along with ice cream and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Nothing fancy but  yummy!

We are anxious to receive our conference edition of the Liahona so that we can really study the talks. They were all so great!

Our Little Friend Turns 2!

We love our district presidents and their families. President Tamayo and his sweet wife have two darling children and recently we were invited to attend his daughter's 2nd birthday party. His mother-in-law, wife and mother cooked for hours and hours to make the delicious spread of food. I'm not sure what I liked more--the lumpia (egg rolls) were out of this world, but so was the leche flan. Everyone was stuffed to the brim! Birthday parties in the Philippines means great food!

                                                        Look at all that delicious food!

The little guest of honor was dressed in a darling satin dress. I think she had more fun carrying around her presents than opening them up. We made her a Gospel ABC book to look at during Sacrament Meeting on Sundays.

We loved being invited to such a great party!

Scouting in the Philippines

President and I try to walk every morning. Usually we start out between 5:30 am and 6:00. The sun has just risen and the city awakes. One recent morning we walked down our street and in the empty lot next to a private school were a lot of boy and girl scouts. They were having a sort of jamboree and from what we could tell they were all students from the school.

They invited us to join in their morning exercises. We opted to just walk around their camp and take pictures.

                                                         Encampment Welcome Banner

                                             Is that girls scout uniform cute or what!

 Their leaders were up on a portable "stage" calling out the next moves as they exercised to loud music.

 Their tents were made out of tarps and bamboo poles. The ground was bumpy and uneven, I'm not sure they were able to get a good night's sleep.

 The older boys were fixing breakfast while the others were exercising.

 They looked sharp in their uniforms, these two said they were too shy to be in the photo, but in the end they were good sports let me take the photo.

                             During their cool down period they did a lot of stretching exercises.

We have so many friends who are involved in scouting in the U.S. and thought they might enjoy seeing that scouting is alive and well here in the Philippines. In the U.S. our church is very active in scouting but here the church isn't affiliated with the scouts. 

Zone Conferences

Last week we held three zone conferences. We treasure those opportunities to do some training, and sharing of ideas with our missionaries. This time we split the mission into thirds.

Tuesday-Santiago

On Tuesday we headed to Santiago where we met with Bambang, Solano, Santiago South and Santiago North Zones.

 Elder Ilagan shared his musical talents as he accompanied our singing.

 President focused on our authority to preach the gospel and our power.

 During my segment we focused on the Restoration. The Assistants taught us how to help our investigators make and keep commitments.

 The Solano Zone sang a beautiful musical number.

 Later in the day the Bambang and Solano zones joined together to sing a beautiful hymn.

Missionaries role play and every few minutes they moved one new person to the right. We focused on quick opportunities we have to share about the restoration and Christ's atonement. The challenge was to be BOLD, FEARLESS yet humble.

 Elder and Sister Gottfredson led a session on working with the branch council.

 Here they did a mock council meeting. We appreciate their willingness to help us train--they did a fantastic job!

 After four wonderful hours of training we ate Nanay Maghiran's delicious chicken curry.

 After the sisters go through the line, the elders have their turn.

 We appreciate the senior couples who had the tables beautifully set for us.

 No one every goes hungry when Nanay is cooking!

 Lunch is a time to visit with old friends.

 The food was delicious!

 President enjoys visiting with missionaries during lunch.

 We love our sister missionaries!

 And we love our elders too!

After lunch we sang our mission tong to Nanay and present her with a plaque bearing our mission logo and a quote about sharing your talents. She certainly is one of the special treasures here in the Philippines Cauayan Mission!

Wednesday Zone Conference for Alicia, Burgos, Cauayan and Roxas Zones.

 Sisters listen intently as President reminds them of their mission calls.

 The training was an intense 4 hour session

 We still had lots of fun and laughs as we trained.

 Sister Joame and Sister Wilkins take the Assistants math test.

 This was a choir of elders from Cauayan Zone. It was absolutely gorgeous. How did so many great musicians end up in one zone?

 In Cauayan the Mills taught us ways to work with the branch leaders. They made their training fun and impactful. Thanks to the Mills--they did a fabulous job.

 It's time to celebrate our last quarter birthdays!

Some of our great missionaries from Roxas and Burgos zones.

Elder Aguiton, Elder Dagal and Elder Villania--friends from a former cycle.

Sister Dhikao's birthday was this week and her zone mates made her a beautiful birthday cake. It looked beautiful but it ended up being rice and pancake batter for the frosting. Good thing she has such a great sense of humor!

In Cauayan we had Sister Batara cook our lunch. It was delicious fried chicken and Mongolian Pork. We truly appreciate her sharing her talents with our mission! Everyone was well feed both spiritually and physically!

Thursday--Ilagan, Tuguegaro North and Tuguegarao South Zones

 Elder James, Sister Peckham and Elder Mousley sang a beautiful hymn to begin our conference.


Later in the day the two zones from Tuguegarao joined together and sang another beautiful hymn.

 Sister Peckham directed the group and did a great job!

 In Tuguegarao Elder and Sister Shaner taught about working with branch/ward leaders. Sister Shaner bore a most powerful testimony of the importance of a branch working together to fellowship a new member as she recalled her own conversion many years ago. We appreciate the Shaners--they did a superb job!

 Sister Larsen and Sister Manguil are working hard in Tuguegarao.

 Sister Llorito and Sister Bigay work hard in Alinguigan.

 Elder Lasay and Elder Penaranda wth a bunch of other elders looking over their shoulder.

No lights because of the brownout- we were so lucky it was a cool day!

Sisters serving in Pena Blanca, Sister Montejo and Sister Amis

Sister Peckham and Sister George serving in San Gabriel.

Sister Shaner and Sister Laker made sure everything was in order. We sure appreciate these beautiful senior sister missionaries!



Looks like these missionaries are raring to go and teach the people in our Northern region of the mission.

Elder Proctor and Elder Young.

 Elder Molino and Elder Velez with a bunch of other elders looking over their shoulder.

Happy Birthday to these missionaries whose birthdays fall in October, November and December!

Lunch was absolutely delicious thanks to Brother Pete and his crew. He totally spoiled all of us with Chicken Adobo, BBQ Pork,  mashed potatoes, rice. And guess what? There was a brown out the entire day! But that didn't prevent Pete from having everything cooked to perfection. I don't know how he pulled that off! We LOVE Brother Pete and MaLou along with their good friends who always are eager to help!

All in all we loved every day of zone conferences. The spirit was strong, the missionaries were prepared and came to learn. We loved spending time with each of our dedicated and talented missionaries!