Temple Tours

First Tour:

This will be a brief picture tour of entering the Cebu Temple complex.  The pictures will be the tour.

Second Tour:

We have mentioned several times how much we enjoyed our interaction with the staff at the Prestigio where our first apartment was.  Each day we would greet them in Cebuano and they would "try" to teach us new words. We took the opportunity to ask if they went to church, they were all Catholic, and told them a little about some of our beliefs and gave them the Articles of Faith cards (in Cebuano).  We also invited them to come and visit the temple where we are serving.

This past Tuesday as we were in the temple we received a note that the staff from the Prestigio had called and were coming to see us on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.  We were excited but a little unsure what to do.  We are scheduled to work on Wednesday afternoons so arrangements needed to be made to be able to go outside the temple to meet them.  We also were unsure about the best way to make their experience at the temple grounds an uplifting one.  We offered a prayer and were guided in how to proceed.  We contacted the mission office and made arrangements for missionaries to give the tour of the temple complex, they do this all of the time.  Since Wednesday is the p-day for the missionaries the only ones that would be available at 4:00 p.m. would be Elder Glines and Elder Peck, the assistants to the president.  We were truly blessed.

We didn't know who or how many of the staff were coming so we were excited to see who we would be with.  We left the temple and walked out to the guard station to the temple entrance and as soon as the staff saw us coming they jumped up and started waving.  There were three of the women staff that had come.  Of course Sister Sorensen received hugs from all of them, they all just love her.  They said there were other staff that wanted to come but were working.  They even brought us a gift of pineapple and bananas (they tell us we are the best quests they have had). As we entered the temple grounds they immediately mentioned how quiet it was and how clean and beautiful.  We met the Elders at patron housing and they immediately began conversing with them in Cebuano, which they did almost all of the time with them.   At one point one of the women just grinned at us because she knew we didn't understand what they were saying.  We laughed with them that they hadn't taught us enough Cebuano.

We started out with the Elders taking them to the stake center.  The Elders explained how it was used and how it was different than the temple. Two of the staff were constantly asking questions and the Elders were so good at answering them.  Elder Sorensen needed to return to the temple for an assignment so Sister Sorensen continued on with the staff and the Elders.  They next went to the temple entrance and had them read "Holiness to the Lord the House of the Lord" and told them that things inside were sacred and not secret.  They then went to the back side of the temple and talked about couples and families being sealed together and that families can be together forever and more.  They then returned to the front of the temple and went in the temple doors to the non-patron waiting area and just sat there without talking.  The Elders had told them they wouldn't talk to them inside the temple but they should see how they felt while they were there.  As they sat there two of them bowed their heads and one was wiping away tears.  After leaving the temple they went back to the mission office and each received pamphlets that go with the missionary discussions and copies of the Book of Mormon, English and Cebuano.  They also met President Schmutz, the Cebu Mission President.

What a wonderful experience.  Hopefully to be continued.

The entrance to the temple complex.  The guards meet everyone that walks in and log every vehicle that drives in.

One of the guards greeting a patron as she enters the complex.  Probably going to patron housing.

Some of the contracted grounds crew mowing the lawn.

As you enter the complex you walk past the South Side of the temple.  The baptismal font is just through the windows.

The Cebu City Stake Center next to the temple.

A view of  "The great and spacious building" over the top of the stake center.  This building is actually a casino.

Patron housing, missionary housing, distribution center and mission office.

Temple President's Home (on the left) and Mission President's home (behind the trees).  They are pretty much the same.

Cebu City Philippines Temple.

One of the guards, Arnold Pantaleon, opening the door for patrons.  He is a counselor in the Lahug Ward Bishopric.

Elder and Sister Sorensen with the Prestigio Staff at the temple.  Left to right, Karenena receptionist, Merriam, housekeeping, Elder Sorensen, Sister Sorensen, Jasmin security.

Patron Housing

We moved from the Prestigio into patron housing at the temple complex in March so thought we would show you where we are living now.  Patron housing is a three story complex.  The ground floor contains Distribution Services, the Mission Office, the Housing Office, the Family History Center, lobby and a cafeteria.  The second floor is patron rooms for those attending the temple.  Youth baptism groups that travel stay here for several days as the youth participate in baptisms two or three times a day.  Patrons are only here from Monday to Saturday.  There are bunk beds in each room to help maximize the number of patrons that can stay.  The third floor is Temple Missionary Housing and has apartments, a laundry and storage rooms.  You need a security card to allow the elevator to go to the third floor.

There are some definite advantages to being in patron housing.  Here are a few of them.

It is quieter since we are not right next to a main road with a jeepney stop.
The air is cleaner since we are not right next to a main road with all of the exhaust fumes.
We are closer to the temple.  It takes us one minute to walk to the temple now and since it is getting hotter this is a real advantage.
Being close the the stake center we are more aware of what is going on and can be more involved.
We are now close to the other temple missionaries so are able to have more interaction with them.
We only have to go down the hall to do our laundry instead of carrying it down the street several blocks.
We have more room and a place to store things, including access to an additional refrigerator and a freezer.
We have hot water in the sinks.
The internet is filtered.  Along with always being alert for a virus, malware, spyware, and other fun things, there were other internet problems that suddenly disappeared when we moved.

Things we miss from our first apartment at the Prestigio.

We could walk across the street and shop.  We can still walk there but it isn't as convenient.
There were two bathrooms, granted they were small but there were two of them.
The Staff.  This is by far the thing we miss the most.  We had so much fun practicing our Cebuano with them and greeting them each time we would come and go.  Last week LuAnn made some treats and we took them to the Prestigio staff.  They were truly excited to see us again and Sister Sorensen got a hug from each of the women who work there.  They were glad to see Elder Sorensen also.

It is good for us to be in the patron housing.  This is where we will call home for the rest of the time that we serve in the Philippines.

Patron Housing at the temple complex.  Our apartment is on the third floor on the back side of the building.

Patron Housing Office with some of the staff.

The lobby on the ground floor.

Entering our apartment.  Dinning area and living room.

Kitchen area.  Cabinet space a stove and two sinks.  The one sink has filtered water.

Our bedroom.  Not a king size bed but a nice queen.

The view out of our windows.  We are still in the Philippines.  The red Jolly Bee sign towards the top left corner is across the street from where we were staying before moving to patron housing.

Our neighbors drying their clothes.  Despite the conditions Filipinos keep themselves and their clothes clean.

The laundry room just down the hall.  We would carry our clothes here from our other apartment.

Some of the refrigerators and freezers.  We have this treadmill to work out on.

This is the view of the Cebu Stake Center and downtown Cebu looking out the window from the laundry room.

Service

We had the opportunity to help with some service projects recently.  Since we are not assigned a ward to attend on Sunday, we try to get to know more of the members by rotating between the four wards that meet in the Stake Center on the temple complex.  We usually attend multiple wards each week.  Recently the Basay Ward had a service project for one of their members and I, along with some of the other senior missionary brothers, was able to help.  The project was to put a septic tank in for Sister Patajo, a widow in the ward.  They were also going to put additional supports under her house because it swayed when there was a strong wind.  She has a larger home some distance from Cebu but has chosen to live in this home so that she can be close to the temple and serve there.  Her home is typical of many of the Filipino members.  One of the members helping on the project told us that his brother lives in a home about the same size as Sister Patajo's and has eight children.  They all sleep on the floor together.  He asked his sister-in-law how things were going and she told him that they were happy.  We are constantly reminded by seeing the living conditions here and that the people are still a happy people that it is not "things" that make us happy but family.

When told about the septic tank project I had the thought, "we are living on an Island formed by a volcano so I think I know how hard the ground will be trying to dig in it by hand".  I was not disappointed in my assessment of the working conditions.  We were glad to help but also glad that after a few hours we had some replacement help to continue the project.

The same evening as the septic tank project we were able to help unload and load thousands of shoes that are going to Tacloban to help the typhoon victims.  This project was initiated by Elder Wieland who is a senior missionary serving with his wife as family history consultants at the family history center on the Cebu temple complex.  He knows one of the men who started a non-profit organization called "Project Sole" which obtains and then distributes shoes around the world to people affected by disasters.  Brother Wieland made the contact and mentioned that there was the need in Tacloban if he wanted to consider helping.  That started things rolling and over eleven thousand pairs of shoes and twelve hundred items of clothing came to Cebu to be reloaded for shipment and distribution in Tacloban.

Zachary Stevens, who is a member and served a mission in Honduras, is over Project Sole and has taken shoes to Honduras and other areas in the world the last few years as well as Oklahoma and Colorado in 2013 because of tornadoes and flooding.  It was interesting talking to Zachary and hearing about some of his experiences in helping in other countries and specifically here in the Philippines.  He told us he was stuck in customs in Cebu with the shipment, a 40 x 10 cargo shipping container.  He was originally told that it would be Thursday, the shipment came in on Monday, before they would be able to get the paper work done to release it from the dock.  He has been around the world enough to know how things work so he passed some PESOS (gave them a bribe) and within two hours the shipment was released.  After arriving at the temple complex the boxes were unloaded from the cargo container, sorted by manufacturer and then reloaded on two trucks to be taken to Tacloban for distribution to those in need.

We appreciate the opportunities we have to serve in many ways.

Sister Patajo next to her kitchen in front of her house.  She cooked sweet potatoes for us.

The men are by the septic tank hole.  Some extra support to keep the house from swaying in the wind was needed.

Elder Sorensen using a bar to loosen the ground.

Sister Patajo had a bed which many Filipinos don't have.  A nice one room home.  

Sister Patajo and Elder Sorensen

The view was nice from her bedroom (house) window.  The tall building in the distance is Cebu City.

The cargo box on a truck with some of the boxes of shoes removed.

Zachary Stevens (left) and his photographer that photo journals their projects.

A sample of some of the shoes to be distributed.  Almost all of the shoes were new.

Rubber boots were also in the mix.

Sister Sorensen helping bag some of the loose shoes.

One of the two trucks that were loaded to take shoes to Tacloban.

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.