26 March 2023 Week #26: Meetings and Learning
Dear Family and Friends,
The Huffs and Haynes continue to light it up with projects. They are doing some amazing things. It is fun to see the variety. This kind of stuff is right down their alleys, and they are good at it. They have projects helping hospitals, EMS, Fire Stations and Fire Fighters, Clean Water projects, Literacy projects at schools and in Stakes, and the list goes on. It is impressive!
Last Monday night we had FHE with our mission president, President Augustin. It was a wonderful evening in their beautiful home. They hosted us for a wonderful meal, then a lesson, then games, then treats. We had a good time. It was a going away dinner for the Woods and a welcome for the Heaths. The Heaths are from Cottonwood. He is the new medical advisor for the mission replacing Elder Woods. Elder and Sister Woods have been here for 6 months. They are now going home for a month. Then they are coming back to Manila for two years where he will be over 11 missions.
Back to President Augustin. It is really kind of weird, he is directly over some of the senior missionaries, but the temple couples are under the Temple President, and we are under our boss, Jairus, and the Director of Temporal Affairs. The Welch’s, Wood’s, Dickinson’s, Sister Garner, and the Heath’s, are all under the Cebu Mission. The 3 couples that work in the temple weren’t there. One couple, the Bodily’s, are back here for a second time to serve in the Cebu Temple. Two-three weeks after coming back he had to go to the hospital for heart surgery. He has been in the hospital for three weeks now. He had a successful operation, but he has had a few problems, the latest being a collapsed lung last Sunday.
On Tuesday afternoon we headed for Manila. It took two hours to get from the airport to the Motel, 9 miles, incredible, a moving parking lot. We had dinner with the team at a Japanese restaurant, no I wasn’t the one picking the place. It was okay, but we really enjoyed our company. We stayed at the same motel as the Heslops and walked to dinner with them and spent time with them. It was fun to get to know them. They are serving in the north part of the Philippines. They came out in January. He grew up in New York and wrestled at Cornell University. He of course is a BIG wrestling fan. It was fun to get to know his conversion story. He graduated from high school in 1970. After college he joined the peace corps and served in different places including the Philippines. After that, while in his apartment back in New York and contemplating his next move he closed his eyes and pointed down to an atlas of the United States. His finger landed on Provo, Utah. So, in 1977 he moved to the Raintree Apartments in Provo with 3 returned missionaries and one with a mission call. They went to the first FHE with another apartment of girls. The retuned missionaries must have let the girls in on what they wanted to do. They asked if the girls had ever heard the missionary lessons. They said no. The guys asked if they would like to. Yes. So, they said they usually taught families. They asked Henry to be the dad and one of the girls to be the mom, and the rest the children. Two of the returned missionaries taught the lesson. Then they asked the girls if they would like to hear the rest of the lessons. Yes. So, they said they couldn’t remember all of the lessons so they would bring in the real missionaries next week. Well, as you can imagine. He eventually got baptized. Then he found a good LDS girl and they got married. Now they are serving here in the Philippines. Pretty cool story.
The couple we sat next to at the Japanese restaurant were Elder and Sister Leslie Slaugh. He is the lawyer that approves all of our projects or disapproves and helps us make corrections. They are from Utah but grew up in Rexburg and lived there for the first 20 years of their married lives. They were in Coach Tiny Grant’s ward. By the way, I just got word from my good friend, roommate, and teammate, Lonnie Bullard, that Coach Grant just passed away. Coach Grant was a great man. He was a great Coach. He served as a mission president in southern California, and then a few years later as the mission president of the MTC in Provo. He was sure good to me.
Wednesday was a busy day in the Manila office. We learned a lot and learned that we still have a lot to learn. We got back to Cebu at about 11:00 P.M. It was good to be back home and see the friendly faces and be greeted by the cheery hellos from the staff here. We appreciate them. A kind smile and a friendly hello can sure make a difference. We have been recipients of those for years. Thank you to all of you that greet us like that. It is appreciated.
Thursday was another office day. That evening we celebrated the Welch’s 50th wedding anniversary. Their children are not happy that they are gone at this time. They wanted to have a big celebration for them. We had a little celebration for them. They are great people.
Friday was meeting day with Manila and more to learn. Shiloam, the head of the translation team was in the office. He brought his wife and youngest daughter. It was fun to meet them. Jeff helped us out with entering a receipt in our expense report. He is a good man also. We enjoy the translation team in our office. The other one is Aaron. They are really busy right now gearing up for general conference.
On Saturday morning after our walk and scripture study I answered the phone to, “Hey cowboy, got your boots on and ready for some visitors?” I thought Mark Shae Mackey was here. It was fun to hear that voice. However, it wasn’t Mark. It was Elder Jim Whitmore. He and his wife Linda served here as Humanitarian Aid missionaries pre-pandemic. They helped evacuate all the missionaries when everything shut down. They are from Sandy at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. We spent the day with them and Elder Colipapa going to Argo and Sibonga to check up on the pig projects. They worked with Elder Colipapa to get the Argo project going. One family, the dad’s name is Dennis, has really taken off with this both temporally and spiritually. They have six children. Dennis is now helping the group in Sibonga that the Huskinsons got started along with Brother Colipapa. It was a full day with a lot of serious and a lot of laughter. It has been interesting this past month to see 4 different couples come back here to visit. This couple who served as Humanitarian Aid, a couple that were here as Family History Specialists, a couple that served in the Temple, and a couple that served in the mission office. They all loved their time here and have come back to visit these good people.
Elder Whitmore has a great sense of humor and is straight faced when he is kidding. He creates a lot of fun. But at the appropriate time he can get serious and asks some great questions. When he asked Dennis’s family to share some of the things they have learned from their pig project is became a pretty spiritual discussion. They talked about endurance and commitment when things aren’t going well. They shared some of their trials. But they acknowledged the many blessings they have received. When Typhoon Odette hit they sheltered inside their bamboo hut holding onto the walls. The walls they held onto stayed put, but the others were blown away. However, they have been able to build a new and better home. Don’t get me wrong here, it would be one of your sheds, but it has cinderblock walls now and a metal roof. They mentioned how they lost their chickens, and the children were really upset about losing their favorite chicken. About 10 days later she shows up with 6 little chickens following.
She had found shelter and hatched the babies. They have been able to now purchase an extension to his motorcycle to make it a tricycle and another motorcycle. They can now all go to school and church together, so they don’t have to make 3 trips. That gives them more family time and more pesos as he can transport more people than one as a tricycle driver as opposed to just a habel habel driver. Oh, the small things that are great blessings in these people’s lives. It is wonderful. My testimony was strengthened as the Spirit bore witness to me that they knew where their blessings had come from, and they were grateful to a loving Heavenly Father. Yes, the temporal blessings were big for them, but they recognized the strength their family has gained in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Marvelous!!
Today we celebrated Tillie’s birthday with the members of the family that could join at that time. It was fun. It is actually the 26th here and her birthday is the 25th. Clyda and I celebrated on both days. She would be 34 now. It is hard to imagine that it was that long ago. We are so grateful to have had this wonderful young lady born into our family. She and Clyde were special and just needed to come get bodies. Bigger things were planned for them. They will inherit the Celestial Kingdom. I hope to be able to do what I need to do to be with them someday.
We just got back from choir practice. We are part of the stake choir and will participate in stake conference in April. We will be singing 8 numbers between the Saturday and Sunday sessions. I love the practices because I feel the spirit there. I love the songs we are singing. I sat by Sam, (I don’t know his last name), but he is a very good singer. He has great range and great pitch. It was fun to sit by him and I hope I didn’t cause him too many problems. It was our first time to practice. They have had two other practices. The choir director is our dentist. Since we had appointments on Thursday, we found out the time for the practices. It was an hour and a half of spirit filled singing and testimony strengthening. The things taught in those songs are true and I love that.
We will pray for spring to come for you, and protection from the flooding that is inevitable.
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
Week #26 3/20-3/26
The Huffs and Haynes continue to light it up with projects. They are doing some amazing things. It is fun to see the variety. This kind of stuff is right down their alleys, and they are good at it. They have projects helping hospitals, EMS, Fire Stations and Fire Fighters, Clean Water projects, Literacy projects at schools and in Stakes, and the list goes on. It is impressive!
Last Monday night we had FHE with our mission president, President Augustin. It was a wonderful evening in their beautiful home. They hosted us for a wonderful meal, then a lesson, then games, then treats. We had a good time. It was a going away dinner for the Woods and a welcome for the Heaths. The Heaths are from Cottonwood. He is the new medical advisor for the mission replacing Elder Woods. Elder and Sister Woods have been here for 6 months. They are now going home for a month. Then they are coming back to Manila for two years where he will be over 11 missions.
Back to President Augustin. It is really kind of weird, he is directly over some of the senior missionaries, but the temple couples are under the Temple President, and we are under our boss, Jairus, and the Director of Temporal Affairs. The Welch’s, Wood’s, Dickinson’s, Sister Garner, and the Heath’s, are all under the Cebu Mission. The 3 couples that work in the temple weren’t there. One couple, the Bodily’s, are back here for a second time to serve in the Cebu Temple. Two-three weeks after coming back he had to go to the hospital for heart surgery. He has been in the hospital for three weeks now. He had a successful operation, but he has had a few problems, the latest being a collapsed lung last Sunday.
On Tuesday afternoon we headed for Manila. It took two hours to get from the airport to the Motel, 9 miles, incredible, a moving parking lot. We had dinner with the team at a Japanese restaurant, no I wasn’t the one picking the place. It was okay, but we really enjoyed our company. We stayed at the same motel as the Heslops and walked to dinner with them and spent time with them. It was fun to get to know them. They are serving in the north part of the Philippines. They came out in January. He grew up in New York and wrestled at Cornell University. He of course is a BIG wrestling fan. It was fun to get to know his conversion story. He graduated from high school in 1970. After college he joined the peace corps and served in different places including the Philippines. After that, while in his apartment back in New York and contemplating his next move he closed his eyes and pointed down to an atlas of the United States. His finger landed on Provo, Utah. So, in 1977 he moved to the Raintree Apartments in Provo with 3 returned missionaries and one with a mission call. They went to the first FHE with another apartment of girls. The retuned missionaries must have let the girls in on what they wanted to do. They asked if the girls had ever heard the missionary lessons. They said no. The guys asked if they would like to. Yes. So, they said they usually taught families. They asked Henry to be the dad and one of the girls to be the mom, and the rest the children. Two of the returned missionaries taught the lesson. Then they asked the girls if they would like to hear the rest of the lessons. Yes. So, they said they couldn’t remember all of the lessons so they would bring in the real missionaries next week. Well, as you can imagine. He eventually got baptized. Then he found a good LDS girl and they got married. Now they are serving here in the Philippines. Pretty cool story.
The couple we sat next to at the Japanese restaurant were Elder and Sister Leslie Slaugh. He is the lawyer that approves all of our projects or disapproves and helps us make corrections. They are from Utah but grew up in Rexburg and lived there for the first 20 years of their married lives. They were in Coach Tiny Grant’s ward. By the way, I just got word from my good friend, roommate, and teammate, Lonnie Bullard, that Coach Grant just passed away. Coach Grant was a great man. He was a great Coach. He served as a mission president in southern California, and then a few years later as the mission president of the MTC in Provo. He was sure good to me.
Wednesday was a busy day in the Manila office. We learned a lot and learned that we still have a lot to learn. We got back to Cebu at about 11:00 P.M. It was good to be back home and see the friendly faces and be greeted by the cheery hellos from the staff here. We appreciate them. A kind smile and a friendly hello can sure make a difference. We have been recipients of those for years. Thank you to all of you that greet us like that. It is appreciated.
Thursday was another office day. That evening we celebrated the Welch’s 50th wedding anniversary. Their children are not happy that they are gone at this time. They wanted to have a big celebration for them. We had a little celebration for them. They are great people.
Friday was meeting day with Manila and more to learn. Shiloam, the head of the translation team was in the office. He brought his wife and youngest daughter. It was fun to meet them. Jeff helped us out with entering a receipt in our expense report. He is a good man also. We enjoy the translation team in our office. The other one is Aaron. They are really busy right now gearing up for general conference.
On Saturday morning after our walk and scripture study I answered the phone to, “Hey cowboy, got your boots on and ready for some visitors?” I thought Mark Shae Mackey was here. It was fun to hear that voice. However, it wasn’t Mark. It was Elder Jim Whitmore. He and his wife Linda served here as Humanitarian Aid missionaries pre-pandemic. They helped evacuate all the missionaries when everything shut down. They are from Sandy at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. We spent the day with them and Elder Colipapa going to Argo and Sibonga to check up on the pig projects. They worked with Elder Colipapa to get the Argo project going. One family, the dad’s name is Dennis, has really taken off with this both temporally and spiritually. They have six children. Dennis is now helping the group in Sibonga that the Huskinsons got started along with Brother Colipapa. It was a full day with a lot of serious and a lot of laughter. It has been interesting this past month to see 4 different couples come back here to visit. This couple who served as Humanitarian Aid, a couple that were here as Family History Specialists, a couple that served in the Temple, and a couple that served in the mission office. They all loved their time here and have come back to visit these good people.
Elder Whitmore has a great sense of humor and is straight faced when he is kidding. He creates a lot of fun. But at the appropriate time he can get serious and asks some great questions. When he asked Dennis’s family to share some of the things they have learned from their pig project is became a pretty spiritual discussion. They talked about endurance and commitment when things aren’t going well. They shared some of their trials. But they acknowledged the many blessings they have received. When Typhoon Odette hit they sheltered inside their bamboo hut holding onto the walls. The walls they held onto stayed put, but the others were blown away. However, they have been able to build a new and better home. Don’t get me wrong here, it would be one of your sheds, but it has cinderblock walls now and a metal roof. They mentioned how they lost their chickens, and the children were really upset about losing their favorite chicken. About 10 days later she shows up with 6 little chickens following.
She had found shelter and hatched the babies. They have been able to now purchase an extension to his motorcycle to make it a tricycle and another motorcycle. They can now all go to school and church together, so they don’t have to make 3 trips. That gives them more family time and more pesos as he can transport more people than one as a tricycle driver as opposed to just a habel habel driver. Oh, the small things that are great blessings in these people’s lives. It is wonderful. My testimony was strengthened as the Spirit bore witness to me that they knew where their blessings had come from, and they were grateful to a loving Heavenly Father. Yes, the temporal blessings were big for them, but they recognized the strength their family has gained in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Marvelous!!
Today we celebrated Tillie’s birthday with the members of the family that could join at that time. It was fun. It is actually the 26th here and her birthday is the 25th. Clyda and I celebrated on both days. She would be 34 now. It is hard to imagine that it was that long ago. We are so grateful to have had this wonderful young lady born into our family. She and Clyde were special and just needed to come get bodies. Bigger things were planned for them. They will inherit the Celestial Kingdom. I hope to be able to do what I need to do to be with them someday.
We just got back from choir practice. We are part of the stake choir and will participate in stake conference in April. We will be singing 8 numbers between the Saturday and Sunday sessions. I love the practices because I feel the spirit there. I love the songs we are singing. I sat by Sam, (I don’t know his last name), but he is a very good singer. He has great range and great pitch. It was fun to sit by him and I hope I didn’t cause him too many problems. It was our first time to practice. They have had two other practices. The choir director is our dentist. Since we had appointments on Thursday, we found out the time for the practices. It was an hour and a half of spirit filled singing and testimony strengthening. The things taught in those songs are true and I love that.
We will pray for spring to come for you, and protection from the flooding that is inevitable.
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
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