Odds and Ends

Brother Dyard, who was baptized two weeks ago and ordained last week,  blessed the sacrament for his first time Sunday.  He was a little nervous but did it perfectly. Seeing him at the sacrament table for the first time felt almost like one of our children being there.  Each Sunday he greets Sister Sorensen with a kiss on her cheek, which is a sign of respect.

It is always interesting the people that you meet in the temple.  The first week of February Elder Sorensen met an American and just visited with him for a few minutes.  His name is Chris Williams and he served a mission in Tacloban 15 years ago.  Seeing all the devastation after the typhoon he wanted to do something for the people he had grown to love through his service so he and his friend, Matt Hartranft, came over on their own to see what they could do to help.  We invited them over for dinner and got to know them and what they were trying to do.

Chris is an entrepreneur who has set up a non-profit on the side to help people and Matt is working on his law degree.  They became friends at Ricks College as roommates.  Chris echoed what others who have seen the destruction in Tacloban have said, it looks like an atomic bomb was dropped there.  They picked one of the smaller islands that was hit hard and decided to focus on that area.  They were gathering information to see what they could do to help people generate income since over half of the people on the island lost their employment due to the storm.  While they were here there was a meeting of several world non-profits, including one from the U.N., who were trying to see what they could do.  Chris and Matt intended on just listening but after 15 minutes of the discussion going no where they ended up being in charge of the meeting.  Most of the different organization's proposals would take considerable time to get started and were questionable as to the benefits.  It was interesting listening to these two young men and the understanding they have of not only working with governments in this part of the world, (where most money given to them disappears before ever getting to the people who need it) but economics and the cause and effects of the different proposals that were made.  Some proposals would create jobs for some people but would take away jobs from others that still had them.  What Chris and Matt felt would work the best was to create a sea weed farm and tourist trade.  They would help these businesses get going but the businesses would be run by mostly the local people.  There would also be training in some technical skills for the young people so they could help run the businesses.  Right now the young people who have the potential for technical skills all leave because there is no future there for them.  Chris and Matt made some legal contacts while here to start setting up what would be needed to make their ideas work.  They have returned to the United States but I'm sure we will see them again in a few months and get an update.

This past week we went up to a restaurant, Lantaw, on a mountain overlooking Cebu for a farewell lunch for one of the Filipino temple missionary couples who are returning home.  It was a beautiful view and the native food was good and interesting.  Sister Sorensen ordered a bowl of garlic shrimp and when the shrimp came they still had shells, tails and heads attached.  She asked the Filipino waitress if they ate the heads and everything and she said yes, you eat everything.  We wanted to experience more of the native cuisine so we gave it a try.  After a spoonful (they were small shrimp) we did settle for at least taking the heads off.  The heads, legs and antenna were a little too crunchy for us.

Matt Hartranft, Elder and Sister Sorensen, Chris Williams

Cebu from the Restaurant.  You can't see the temple but it would be located on the very right of the screen just below the largest building.

A panorama view of Cebu.

Sweet Mission Experiences

This past Sunday was a great follow up to last week.  Brother Dyard, who was baptized a week ago, received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained to the office of Priest.  He is studying and is excited to learn more about the gospel each week.  It is such a blessing to get to know him.

Last Friday was Valentines Day so Sister Sorensen made some treats and gave to the staff of the Prestigio where we stay and they were excited.  When they told us "thank you" in English she told them "you're welcome" in Cebuano and they all started to clap because they try to help us each day with learning a few new words.  It was fun to see their reaction.

We are blessed with the different people that we are able to meet while serving in Cebu.  Last week there was a Temple Review and Elder Brent H. Nielson, the Area President, was in the temple.  Both of us were able to meet him and visit with him several times.  On Saturday there were several meetings at the Stake Center, located on the temple complex, and Sister Linda K. Burton, General Relief Society President, and Sister Carol F. McConkie, 1st Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, were here.  LuAnn was hoping to be able to meet sister Burton because sister Burton's husband Craig went to the same school as she did, Bingham High School, and was her brother Rick's age.  Craig's sister Becky was LuAnn's friend and she dated his brother Ross.  The meetings were scheduled during the time that we would be working in the temple so LuAnn didn't think she would be able to meet sister Burton but their plane was delayed arriving in Cebu so when we left the temple they were just leaving the stake center.  LuAnn was able to visit with Sister Burton for a few minutes and enjoyed talking about the connection they have through her husbands family.  Another sweet mission experience.

Elder Sorensen, Brother Dyard and Sister Sorensen after the ordination 

Elder Sorensen who baptized him, Brother Dyard, Bishop Fajardo who confirmed him and Brother Pantaleon (1st counselor in the bishopric) who ordained him.  (Bishop Fajardo is the Cebu City Temple Recorder)

Elder Clapier, Elder Sorensen, Brother Dyard, Brother Pantaleon, Elder Garcia, Bishop Fajardo

Elder Brent H. Nielson

Sister Linda K. Burton

Baptism - for the living

We are being so blessed with the experiences that we are having on our mission, even though we are not quite at the three month mark yet.  Before our mission we asked our father in heaven to bless us with experiences not only in the Temple but in other ways as well.  Just after we arrived we had the opportunity several times to help put together food packages for those in Tacloban and other areas that were devastated by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyon).  We were able to bring Christmas presents to the "My Bonita Girls Home", run by the Catholic Church, and also have been able to serve individuals we have met.  This week we want to share an experience we have been blessed with of sharing the gospel.

In December, when we had been in Cebu only one month, the full time missionaries, Elder Milla and Elder Clapier, asked us if we would sit in on the discussions with a young man.  We had only met Elder Milla briefly before and were thrilled with the opportunity to assist with teaching the gospel but wondered why he had chosen us.  The investigator did want to be taught in English and that may have been part of the reason for asking us.  Elder Milla has such a strong testimony and in the first discussion talked about King Lamoni's father and that he was willing to give up his kingdom to know the truth of the gospel that Aaron was teaching him.  Elder Milla then shared that when he joined the church his father was unhappy with him and when he decided to serve a mission his father told him that he was no longer a part of his family and did not even want him using his name.  Elder Milla then bore a strong testimony that he was willing to give up everything because he knew the gospel was true.  His family have since been taking the discussions, including his father, and his father told him he can use his name again.

The investigator we were blessed to get to know is Rudyard Peter Tabligan Reloj, he goes by Dyard pronounced Chard.  He had been attending church for three weeks before a member found out he was not a member and told the missionaries, that was the day Elder Milla invited us to help with the discussions.  Dyard had not only been attending church but had helped load the truck with food the Sunday we helped with that, see our earlier blog post.  He told us that his ex-girlfriend was a member and he wanted to know what it was about the church that made her the way she was so he located the closest L.D.S. church and started attending.  Interestingly, we understand that he broke up with this girlfriend over religion.  He was Roman Catholic and had grown up reading the bible but hadn't done much the last few years, he is 27.  Currently he is a team leader at a call center for Chase Financial.

We thought our part in the discussions would be to comment as asked by the missionaries, they were the ones doing the teaching, and bear testimony of the principles being taught.  After the first discussion Elder Milla told us that he had been inspired to ask us to help with the discussions.  During the second discussion, after teaching for awhile, he turned to me and said, "Elder Sorensen will you teach about the apostasy?", It caught me a little off guard but I was glad to have the opportunity.  Elder Milla was transfered, when he was made a Zone Leader, and Elder Garcia joined Elder Clapier in teaching.  I was asked to teach about the Book of Mormon and was thrilled, imagine me teaching the Book of Mormon.  We were able to help with five of the discussions which included: The Apostasy, The Book of Mormon, The Word of Widsom, and Tithing and Fast Offerings.  Sister Sorensen added such a sweet testimony in each of the discussions and we made sure we had plenty of tissues with us, I'm not sure why the spirit so often brings tears.  We missed some of the discussions because we were in the temple during that time and also when we went to Manila.  We thought we were going to miss Dyard's baptism because it was originally set for the time we were going to be in Manila but had to be adjusted because of some discussions needing to be rescheduled.

There was such a strong spirit in all of the discussions and Dyard asked very inquiring and sincere questions.  When he prayed he not only asked for help in his knowing the things he was being taught were true but he also prayed for the Elders and Elder and Sister Sorensen.  Before the discussions he would read the pamphlets the Elders had given him previously and came with questions.  In our last discussion with him he said, "I had a question but it was answered when I was reading The Book of Mormon".  We were all amazed each discussion with his understanding of gospel principles through personal experiences he has had during his life.  His baptism was set for Saturday Feb 8, 2014 and we were able to adjust our temple schedule to be there.  Elder Clapier called and told us that Dyard had met with President Schmutz (the mission president) and he was ready to be baptized and had asked if Elder Sorensen would baptize him.  What an unexpected blessing.  We were thrilled that I was able to perform this ordinance for him.  When we were called to serve in The Cebu City Philippines Temple we didn't anticipate being part of someone's conversion story, but we did pray to be blessed with experiences in and out of the temple and we know prayers are answered, many times in unexpected ways.

Brother Dyard and Elder Sorensen before the baptismal service.

Elder Clapier, Elder Garcia, Brother Dyard, Sister Sorensen, Elder Sorensen

In front of the temple after the baptism.  The mission theme is "Dressed in White Twice".  We look forward to being in white in the temple in one year with Brother Dyard.

To be baptized and then walk out of the stake center and see the temple visualizes the next step for a new convert.