Catching Up

Time to get caught up on what we have been doing the last few weeks.

The Temple Presidency has asked several of the temple missionary couples to go with them the past three Sundays to meet with the members and ordinances workers outside of the Cebu Stake where we normally attend Sunday Services.  Three weeks ago we went with President and Sister Pagaduan, and two other couples, to attend the Cebu Central Stake Conference.  President and Sister Pagaduan spoke as well as members of the stake and the stake president. We recognized a number of the members from seeing them at the temple.  One of the employees that works at the temple patron housing spoke and was also sustained as a new High Councilman for the stake.  It was nice to see some of the young missionaries and some of the senior missionaries that are serving there also.

The next week three couples went with President and Sister Pagaduan to attend the Bogo Branch.  It was a two hour ride to get there because it is located almost on the North end of the island.  It is in the Cebu East Mission. We were driving along the beautiful coast for part of the time and then went into the mountains.  This area was less populated and we passed numerous farms.  During typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) the eye of the storm passed over this area.  We were told that half of the homes were destroyed.  We saw trees that were blown over when the storm hit.  There were two branches of the church meeting at the same time in the church which is a very nice L.D.S. building.  It was testimony meeting that Sunday and President Pagaduan shared an experience they had with the birth of their first child just three days after he was baptized.  What a testimony of turning to prayer by a new convert when faced with a challenge bringing their first child into the world.  During the ride we learned more about the conversion story of the Pagaduans as well as how he was guided to work for the church in CES and serving as a stake president.  He has also served as a mission president.

Last Sunday we and one other couple went with President and Sister Siady, 1st counselor in the temple presidency and assistant to the matron, to the first stake conference for the Consolacion Stake.  This stake was created from a district only three months ago.  It was a wonderful conference.  President Siady spoke and they had four missionaries who will be leaving from their stake soon share their testimony.  One of them came to the temple to receive his endowment this past week and I was able to visit with him and officiated on the session he was on.  President and Sister Tanner spoke, the Cebu East Mission President and his wife, and the 1st counselor in the stake presidency, who is the engineer at the temple.  President San Gabriel, the stake president, was the concluding speaker and was a very dynamic speaker.  We would have enjoyed his talk even more if it hadn't been almost entirely in Cebuano.  We were able to talk to him before conference started, he speaks very good English, and learned that he is a church employee and is involved with a new program that helps members in third world countries to obtain the necessities of life and generate extra income.  We also were able to speak with President and Sister Tanner after the conference as well as many of the members there.  It was nice to mingle with these great saints.

The coast on the way to Bogo Branch.

Sugar Cane growing around coconut trees.

Sugar cane fields and coconut trees.

Members at the Bogo Branch and the sister missionaries.

The church building at Bogo.

A field of corn.

More sugar cane fields.

Trees blown down by Yolanda.

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.

Manila

The Cebu City Philippines Temple was closed for the two week maintenance from Jan 13 - Jan 27, 2014. During the first week of the temple closure we received permission to travel to Manila and visit some of the places in that part of the Philippines.  There were four temple missionary couples who went, Henthorns, Browns, Colemans and Sorensens and we were gone from Jan 13 - Jan 20, 2014.  We thought we had better take the opportunity while we are here to see this part of the world since neither LuAnn nor I have been out of the United States before.  It was a wonderful trip and being with the other missionary couples was really fun.  The trip was set up through a church member who has a company that provides transportation for missionaries and general authorities so we had a driver, Robert, that took us everywhere, showed us the important sites in the area, let us know what was appropriate for the culture and made sure we didn't pay to much for something (sometimes Filipinos try to give you the American discount which means raising the price when they see you are American).  We didn't have to worry about driving in the traffic or trying to figure out how to get somewhere, Robert took care of that for us and since he is a member of the church he knew what was appropriate for missionaries.  We stayed at a Holiday Inn for the first three days and spent the rest of the days in the patron housing by the Manila Temple which gave us the opportunity to visit with some of the members who had traveled to Manila to be in the temple.

Metro Manila is made up of 16 different cities that are connected together and is a very busy place.  You see the very modern with lots of construction going on and very old buildings and very poor areas mixed in with it.  Some places that we visited in and around Manila were:

The American Cemetery: this is where many are buried that died in the Philippines during WWII fighting for freedom, not just Americans.  There was a feeling of being on hollowed ground there and we felt a deep appreciation for those who gave their lives for freedom.

Fort Santiago: a very old fort originally built for protection against pirates and still has the stone walls around it.  It was also used as a prison and Dr. Jose Ruzal, who is the national hero for the Philippines, was imprisoned there prior to being marched a short distance away to be executed.  He helped the Philippines obtain their independence from Spain.

Taal Volcano: an active volcano (not at the moment though) that is located inside a lake formed inside a larger volcano that also has a lake inside it.  Very interesting.  We rode a boat to get to the volcano and then rode horses to the top of the volcano.  There was smoke coming up in places and you could smell sulfur and feel the heat.

Pagsanjan Falls: we rode in canoes paddled by Filipinos, and at times we were pulled and pushed through and over rocks, up the river through steep cliffs to a waterfall.  This area is maintained for it's primitive nature and was very beautiful.  We got on a bamboo raft and were pulled through the falls and were able to swim in the water behind the falls.

Corregador Island:  This island is close to Bataan Island, where the Bataan death march was during WWII, and was a strategic U.S. military base before and during the war.  The United States established a military base there in 1912 and had barracks, officers quarters, munition bunkers, large guns, etc.  It was such a strategic military point that the Japanese attacked Corregador only 10 hours after attacking Pearl Harbor. The United States later attacked the island to retake it from the Japanese. The island has not been rebuilt since the war so all of the buildings that were bombed are in the same condition as then.  The feeling there was very different and felt dark because of the death and destruction that had taken place.  It gave us a little insight into some of the history of WWII in the Philippines.                                                                                            

The Manila Philippines Temple:  This was our favorite place on our trip.  We were able to spend Friday and Saturday in the temple serving as proxies in ordinances.  Saturday Jan 18, 2014 we were able to participate in two endowment sessions, two sealing sessions and an initiatory session with the other temple missionaries.  This was a very special day for us because it was our 40th wedding anniversary and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than being in the temple.  The only thing that would have made the day better would have been to have all of our children with us.

The American Cemetery in Manila.  Over 30,000 crosses continue around in a complete circle.

Fort Santiago with some of the old walls.  The footprints on the ground trace where Dr. Jose Ruzal walked from his prison cell to where he was executed.

Sister Sorensen on our way to Taal Volcano.  The water behind her is the lake inside a large volcano and Taal is located on the island directly behind the tree on the left of the picture.  A dead volcano can be seen on the right.

On the horses headed to the volcano.  The horses were small but strong to get us up the mountain.  The hill between and behind us is the dead volcano shown in the previous picture.

This is Taal Volcano with the lake inside of it.  Just behind us there was smoke coming out of the volcano.

One of our boatman pulling us upstream toward Pagsanjan Falls.  There was also a boatman in the back of the canoe pushing through this area because it was narrow and shallow.

The Canoe in head of us being lifted and pushed over rocks.  We were next.

The narrow gorge headed to the falls.  Everything was so green.

Pagsanjan Falls,  The raft in the water is what we rode on to go through the falls.

One of the bombed out barracks on Corregador Island.  The yellow paint on the walls is the original paint.

A twelve inch gun.  The hole to the left is where a bomb hit.  The gun was riddled with holes.

Inside the Pacific War Memorial on Corregador.

The dock where General McArthur left Corregador for Australia.  The Island across the water is Bataan where the death march took place.

The Manila Temple across the street from the Philippines MTC.  The flags are at the entrance to the MTC.

The Cebu Temple Missionaries at the Manila Temple.  Elder and Sister Henthorn, Spokane, Washington.  Elder and Sister Coleman, Hawaii,  Elder and Sister Sorensen, Fayette, Utah.  Elder and Sister Brown, West Valley City, Utah.

The Manila Temple.

Transportation in Cebu

This week we thought we would show some of the transportation available in Cebu.  The temple has two vans that can be used by the missionaries and that is usually how we do our shopping.  We go with other missionaries because we don't have a drivers license yet.  The rules of the road are 1: don't hit any body and 2: if you get the nose of your vehicle to a spot before the next vehicle does you can cut in front of them.  That is pretty much all you need to know.  You can drive on the wrong side of the road as long as no one will hit you (we have seen two lanes have three lanes of traffic on them), you can stop in the outside lane to let people on or off, motorcycles go in and out of traffic if there is an opening large enough between or in front of vehicles and pedestrians just walk out into the traffic when they need to cross the street, (see the YouTube link below of us walking to the temple).  Amazingly we have only seen two accidents since we have been here and both of them involved motorcycles, probably because they cut in and out of traffic so much.  There is always lots of horns being honked but it is more to let other drivers know that you are there and don't want to be hit or you hit someone than another driver is mad at your driving, although that does happen occasionally also.

Besides the vans we have also used a taxi, rode a jeepney and of course walking which is how we get to the temple each day. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Click on the following link to go to YouTube and see us crossing the street and walking to the temple.  Notice how close the vehicles come to us as we are walking down the street.  Also, when we briefly show the men working on the power lines notice that they just have ladders leaning up against the power lines to work on them.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNzqBVq68D0

One of the many styles and colors of Jeepney.  They load and unload right by our apartment.

Another Jeepney with cargo on top, sometimes the whole top is covered.  I like the saying on the front.

There are many taxi's available to use.  The men on motorcycles in front of the taxi are waiting for paying passengers.

Look closely and you will notice a child is between the two adults.  We have seen up to 5 people on one motorcycle.

A tricycle.  Most have a motorcycle attached to the cart but you still see a regular bicycle used  sometimes.

A tricycle hauling passengers and plywood and other materials.

Bicycles are still used to transport families.  

Seeing the Philippines

The temple was closed for New Years so the senior missionaries took the opportunity to see what it is like outside of the city.  We spent two days at Danasan Eco Park, which is in the mountains and showed us some jungle area.  We participated in a zip line, horse back riding, ATV riding, hiking into three water falls and enjoying the beautiful scenery and cool mountain air.

For New Years eve we went onto the roof area of our apartment to watch the fire works.  We had heard that the Filipinos like to celebrate new years and they really do.  At midnight there were fireworks every direction that you looked.  Some personal fireworks but many commercial fireworks displays as well.  It was very loud and colorful and the air was filled with smoke.  On New Years day we went to a local beach and took a thirty minute boat ride to a fish sanctuary and did some snorkeling, a first for LuAnn and me.  As you can tell Senior Missionaries are able to participate in many more activities than the young missionaries and no we are not on an eighteen month vacation. 

Seeing new things was fun but we are glad to be back in the temple.  We hope all of you have a wonderful 2014.

The area for the zip line, eating and showers at Danasan Park.

Our cabin for the night.

Elder Henthorn reminded us that when you put even big boys and toys together things happen.

We needed to ride on this modified John Deere to get down to the falls.  We were definitely muddin on the ride.

We were definitely in the jungle.  Very beautiful though.

The missionaries on a bridge over the stream headed to the water falls.

Our guide helping Sister Sorensen over a slick spot.  There were areas he had to help all the missionaries to be safe.

The missionaries at the first of three falls.

There were people living in this area also.  Notice the three different styles of constructing a hut.

Sister and Elder Sorensen ready to try snorkeling.  The long shirts were to protect from Jellyfish.

Our transportation to the fish sanctuary.

One of the crew members by the spare boat.  Reminds me of a spare doughnut tire for a car.