31 December 2023 Week #66: We love God's Children
Dear Family and Friend,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!
We had a wonderful Chirstmas Day sleeping in and spending four hours in the evening at the Ayala Mall and the Light the World Giving Machines. In between those events we spent time visiting with family and watching a couple Christmas movies. If you have never seen these two movies, they are a must. #1-Christmas Jars. It is on BYUtv and it is an excellent movie. #2-Window Wonderland. It is a hallmark movie that we watched on YouTube. It is a typical hallmark movie where the two main characters that will fall in love are identified early in the movie. This is the only movie I have ever seen the lead actress in, and she does a great job. He never gets uptight about anything, but she does. Usually, they both experience that emotion. He is full of one-liners, so be ready for that. It will then throw you a couple curveballs that are not typical predictable hallmark movie outcomes. If you want a good holiday laugh, grab some popcorn and treats, sit down, and pull this movie up. If you don’t enjoy it let me know and I will give you your money back.
Speaking of Christmas movies, Scrooge is a great guy. Anyone that can change and become loving and generous has got to be a great guy. Hooray for Scrooge. He gives me hope.
We have spent several shifts at the Giving Machines this week. We have had some wonderful interactions with both members and non-members, mostly with members.
We have watched several Christmas movies. No one is in the area office in Manila and all of our meetings were canceled as they all take the holidays off. We went to the temple on Thursday. The room holds 50, there were two empty seats and exactly 24 women and 24 men. I don’t know that I have ever been in a session that had the exact same number of men and women. I visited with two young men afterwards in the dressing room. One, the escort, was going over and reviewing the five covenants we make with the other young man who was there for the first time. The escort was right on track. After he finished, I visited with them. I asked him where he went on his mission. He replied that he hadn’t been but has a mission call. His friend has his papers in and is waiting for his call. Here are two young men getting ready to go on missions. No parents around. They are converts and excited to go on missions. The one with his call can’t have been to the temple very many times yet he knew the covenants well. I wish I had gotten his name, but his call is to the Provo Utah Mission. So, for all of you living in the Provo Mission, if you meet a handsome light skinned Filipino in your area, be sure to feed him.
While at the Giving Machines I visited with another young man who served in three missions and had four mission presidents. He lives in Toledo on the weekends, but here in Cebu during the week. He works here. He was called to the Hong Kong Mission, but because of civil unrest at the time, he was sent to the Ogden Utah Mission. He spent eight months there serving in Brigham City, North Ogden around Weber High School, and in Syracuse. He had to learn English. He then went to Hong Kong and learned Cantonese. Then when the pandemic hit, he came back to the Philippines and finished in the Tacloban Mission and had to learn another language. He now knows four languages. Now, he has a very good job working for a Chinese company here in Cebu. He goes home to Toledo each weekend because he has a church calling there. Toledo just became a stake about a month ago. He seems like a really sharp young man.
While delivering relief kits last week we spent some time with President Baculio of the Mandaue Stake. On our drive back to the stake center from the delivery site he shared with us that his daughter serving in the Tokyo North Mission had been out 13 months and was coming home because they had discovered she had thyroid cancer. Last night at the giving machines three pretty girls and one beautiful girl came by. The beautiful girl stopped to talk to us. She initiated the conversation. Come to find out it is President Baculio’s daughter. She will get operated on this week. She hopes to get to return and finish her mission.
One of the pictures this week is of the Dapar family with Clyda at the giving machines. They are a strong family in the Lahug Ward. They moved here in 2016 to work with Brother Henry Patalinghug. Sister Russel Patalinghug is Sister Dapar’s niece and they were raised in the same household. Sister Dapar joined the church as a teenager and served a mission. Brother Dapar also joined as a teenager and served a mission. After she had been home for about five years, and he had been home about 2 years they met each other. They are from Cagayan de Oro on Mindanao. She is three years older than him. They are really short. They have two daughters that are returned missionaries. One finished her mission right as we started in October of 2022 and the other finished this past October 2023. The third daughter is preparing to go this summer. The son is 13 years old. They are a great family. They always visit with whoever the missionaries bring to church. They also feed the missionaries often. The mother and father both work for Henry, but he lets them take time to serve in the temple one shift a week. Henry’s wife, Russel, also serves one shift a week. There are many working people here that do that, serve one shift a week in the temple.
On Friday morning we had a meeting with the Bacayan Barangay Captain, Sister Natalie Bulota from Mabuhay Deseret, and the Bacayan Bishop and his first counselor. Bishop Balili, had set it up to see if we could help out in their Barangay. It went well.
Then back to Landers to get a few groceries. Our fridge was starting to look a little bare. Then we headed to the SM Seaside Mall to find out about Starlink Internet Satellite communication. We want to provide it for a remote school on Northeastern Samar. The SM Seaside Mall is close to Talisay.
We had contacted Sister Simmons in Talisay. She is the sister from Park City that was best friends with Vern Jay Brady’s daughter. They roomed together at BYU. Anyway, we took her and her companion out to a late lunch. She is a marvelous missionary. We are so impressed with her, here maturity, goodness, and testimony. While eating we were sharing missionary stories. I shared the following story.
I remembered reading an article about 3 years ago in the Ensign, Digital Only: Young Adults, titled “Heavenly Father Sometimes Makes Us Wait for Revelation-and That’s OK”, by Meg Yost. I had it linked to the scripture Mosiah 1:6 which I had bookmarked so I was able to pull it up on my phone. In the article Meg Yost was telling about when she was in the MTC, and she felt like she had a testimony, but she wanted to know for sure that the Book of Mormon was true. She prayed and after her prayer she opened her Book of Mormon and it fell to Mosiah 1:6 “O my sons, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes.”
I remember when I read that article the Holy Ghost bore witness to me again that the Book of Mormon is TRUE! When I shared this with Sister Simmons and her companion on Friday, I could feel the Holy Ghost again testify that it is true. Sister Simmons thanked me and then Sister Simmons shared with us that she had a similar experience. She said she always believed the Book of Mormon was true, but wanted to know for sure and the scripture she read when she had the Holy Ghost bear witness to her was Jacob 7:27, as Jacob bids farewell. She said the Spirit bore witness to her that these words were written for her so she would know and could go bare witness to the world. As Sister Simmons shared, I felt the Spirit with us, and it was another witness to me. These young missionaries are amazing!! I am so impressed! I love how they have the Spirit with them to testify of truth.
We are involved in the Greatest Work happening in the world today, the Gathering of Israel on both sides of the Veil. What a privilege. Whether we are full-time missionaries or faithfully filling a calling in the ward or branch and doing our ministering. It is wonderful!
Holy Habits
Righteous Routines
Lift Where You Stand
With love,
Dad and Mom
Week #66 12/25-12/31
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!
We had a wonderful Chirstmas Day sleeping in and spending four hours in the evening at the Ayala Mall and the Light the World Giving Machines. In between those events we spent time visiting with family and watching a couple Christmas movies. If you have never seen these two movies, they are a must. #1-Christmas Jars. It is on BYUtv and it is an excellent movie. #2-Window Wonderland. It is a hallmark movie that we watched on YouTube. It is a typical hallmark movie where the two main characters that will fall in love are identified early in the movie. This is the only movie I have ever seen the lead actress in, and she does a great job. He never gets uptight about anything, but she does. Usually, they both experience that emotion. He is full of one-liners, so be ready for that. It will then throw you a couple curveballs that are not typical predictable hallmark movie outcomes. If you want a good holiday laugh, grab some popcorn and treats, sit down, and pull this movie up. If you don’t enjoy it let me know and I will give you your money back.
Speaking of Christmas movies, Scrooge is a great guy. Anyone that can change and become loving and generous has got to be a great guy. Hooray for Scrooge. He gives me hope.
We have spent several shifts at the Giving Machines this week. We have had some wonderful interactions with both members and non-members, mostly with members.
We have watched several Christmas movies. No one is in the area office in Manila and all of our meetings were canceled as they all take the holidays off. We went to the temple on Thursday. The room holds 50, there were two empty seats and exactly 24 women and 24 men. I don’t know that I have ever been in a session that had the exact same number of men and women. I visited with two young men afterwards in the dressing room. One, the escort, was going over and reviewing the five covenants we make with the other young man who was there for the first time. The escort was right on track. After he finished, I visited with them. I asked him where he went on his mission. He replied that he hadn’t been but has a mission call. His friend has his papers in and is waiting for his call. Here are two young men getting ready to go on missions. No parents around. They are converts and excited to go on missions. The one with his call can’t have been to the temple very many times yet he knew the covenants well. I wish I had gotten his name, but his call is to the Provo Utah Mission. So, for all of you living in the Provo Mission, if you meet a handsome light skinned Filipino in your area, be sure to feed him.
While at the Giving Machines I visited with another young man who served in three missions and had four mission presidents. He lives in Toledo on the weekends, but here in Cebu during the week. He works here. He was called to the Hong Kong Mission, but because of civil unrest at the time, he was sent to the Ogden Utah Mission. He spent eight months there serving in Brigham City, North Ogden around Weber High School, and in Syracuse. He had to learn English. He then went to Hong Kong and learned Cantonese. Then when the pandemic hit, he came back to the Philippines and finished in the Tacloban Mission and had to learn another language. He now knows four languages. Now, he has a very good job working for a Chinese company here in Cebu. He goes home to Toledo each weekend because he has a church calling there. Toledo just became a stake about a month ago. He seems like a really sharp young man.
While delivering relief kits last week we spent some time with President Baculio of the Mandaue Stake. On our drive back to the stake center from the delivery site he shared with us that his daughter serving in the Tokyo North Mission had been out 13 months and was coming home because they had discovered she had thyroid cancer. Last night at the giving machines three pretty girls and one beautiful girl came by. The beautiful girl stopped to talk to us. She initiated the conversation. Come to find out it is President Baculio’s daughter. She will get operated on this week. She hopes to get to return and finish her mission.
One of the pictures this week is of the Dapar family with Clyda at the giving machines. They are a strong family in the Lahug Ward. They moved here in 2016 to work with Brother Henry Patalinghug. Sister Russel Patalinghug is Sister Dapar’s niece and they were raised in the same household. Sister Dapar joined the church as a teenager and served a mission. Brother Dapar also joined as a teenager and served a mission. After she had been home for about five years, and he had been home about 2 years they met each other. They are from Cagayan de Oro on Mindanao. She is three years older than him. They are really short. They have two daughters that are returned missionaries. One finished her mission right as we started in October of 2022 and the other finished this past October 2023. The third daughter is preparing to go this summer. The son is 13 years old. They are a great family. They always visit with whoever the missionaries bring to church. They also feed the missionaries often. The mother and father both work for Henry, but he lets them take time to serve in the temple one shift a week. Henry’s wife, Russel, also serves one shift a week. There are many working people here that do that, serve one shift a week in the temple.
On Friday morning we had a meeting with the Bacayan Barangay Captain, Sister Natalie Bulota from Mabuhay Deseret, and the Bacayan Bishop and his first counselor. Bishop Balili, had set it up to see if we could help out in their Barangay. It went well.
Then back to Landers to get a few groceries. Our fridge was starting to look a little bare. Then we headed to the SM Seaside Mall to find out about Starlink Internet Satellite communication. We want to provide it for a remote school on Northeastern Samar. The SM Seaside Mall is close to Talisay.
We had contacted Sister Simmons in Talisay. She is the sister from Park City that was best friends with Vern Jay Brady’s daughter. They roomed together at BYU. Anyway, we took her and her companion out to a late lunch. She is a marvelous missionary. We are so impressed with her, here maturity, goodness, and testimony. While eating we were sharing missionary stories. I shared the following story.
I remembered reading an article about 3 years ago in the Ensign, Digital Only: Young Adults, titled “Heavenly Father Sometimes Makes Us Wait for Revelation-and That’s OK”, by Meg Yost. I had it linked to the scripture Mosiah 1:6 which I had bookmarked so I was able to pull it up on my phone. In the article Meg Yost was telling about when she was in the MTC, and she felt like she had a testimony, but she wanted to know for sure that the Book of Mormon was true. She prayed and after her prayer she opened her Book of Mormon and it fell to Mosiah 1:6 “O my sons, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes.”
I remember when I read that article the Holy Ghost bore witness to me again that the Book of Mormon is TRUE! When I shared this with Sister Simmons and her companion on Friday, I could feel the Holy Ghost again testify that it is true. Sister Simmons thanked me and then Sister Simmons shared with us that she had a similar experience. She said she always believed the Book of Mormon was true, but wanted to know for sure and the scripture she read when she had the Holy Ghost bear witness to her was Jacob 7:27, as Jacob bids farewell. She said the Spirit bore witness to her that these words were written for her so she would know and could go bare witness to the world. As Sister Simmons shared, I felt the Spirit with us, and it was another witness to me. These young missionaries are amazing!! I am so impressed! I love how they have the Spirit with them to testify of truth.
We are involved in the Greatest Work happening in the world today, the Gathering of Israel on both sides of the Veil. What a privilege. Whether we are full-time missionaries or faithfully filling a calling in the ward or branch and doing our ministering. It is wonderful!
Holy Habits
Righteous Routines
Lift Where You Stand
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
Briant and Clyda
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