Slippers! Slippers?!? Slippers!!!

Slippers! slippers?!? slippers!!!  you say!

Why a blog about slippers anyway?

Is it Cinderella's glass slippers?

or Dorothy's Ruby Reds?

Nope...Crazy Gift Slippers

and Service Slippers instead!

Our mission had it's Christmas party on Cebu.  All of the missionaries from Bohol and the Camotes ferried over for the celebration.  We started our day with a Mission Zone Conference and received training from Pres. and Sis. Tanner, the APs and Elder Robertson, our finance manager.  That was followed with a delicious lunch and root beer floats.

Our Christmas celebration started with the whole mission singing "The 12 days of Christmas".  Each zone, the Tanners, the APs and the Senior couples were assigned a day.  Not only did we have to sing our verse, we had to come up with an action to match it and if it wasn't enthusiastic enough we would have to do it over.  We had day number 5 - "five golden rings".  Well, there were 8 of us so 5 formed circles with their hands  for rings and danced in a circle around the 3 in the center that jumped up and down yelling "Bling! Bling!"  We were laughing more than we were singing.  Yes, we looked quite ridiculous but we never had a "do over".  No one could fault us for not having enough enthusiasm.  I love my fellow Seniors! 

Then we played the CRAZY GIFT SLIPPER Game.

Okay, Once upon a time, in a land far away, a new mission was created for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was called the Cebu East Mission and it came to be in the month of July in the year 2013. Bro. and Sis. Tanner were serving a mission in Croatia when he was called to be the mission president for this new mission.  They LEFT Croatia and went RIGHT home to prepare for their new calling.  They LEFT their family, they LEFT their friends, they LEFT their animals and LEFT their home in Brigham City to journey to this far away land called the Philippines. But even though they LEFT everything behind they knew it was the RIGHT thing to do and they always wanted to choose the RIGHT. Well, RIGHT after they got to Cebu they met the Robertsons who would serve as their office couple.  They knew RIGHT away that they were the RIGHT couple for the job...."etcetera, etcetera" (Yul Brynner - The King and I)

Everyone brought a decorated pair of SLIPPERS and then passed 'em back and forth as the story was read.  Now, imagine 198, 18 to 26 yr. old missionaries, in 2 large circles, being quiet enough to hear the story and follow the directions. Got that picture in your mind?  Good, that's about as close as you'll get to that scenario..a picture in your mind. 

Me -"What did she say?" 

Elder Caycayon -"Oh! That right!" 

Me -"Are we on right or left now?"

Elder Caycayon -"Who cares just pass it already!" 

Did I say 198, 18 to 26 yr. olds?  Let me restate that. 18 to "senior citizen" year olds.

It was loud, it was chaotic, and soooo much fun!  I ended up with slippers that were too big and that had someone's face plastered on it.  I gifted "the face" with my slippers.  Elder Caycayon ended up with slippers that were too small for him and he gifted me.  Sweet!

 After the games each Zone did a Christmas musical presentation.  

Bogo Zone - "The Nativity Song" and  "Silent Night" was my favorite.

Our anak nga baje (daughters)

Our beautiful Polynesian missionaries from Samoa, New Zealand and Hawaii

The Originals - First Batch of missionaries of the newly created Cebu East Mission 2013

We are Originals too! First Batch Senior Couple Missionaries 

Cebu East Mission 

We ended our Christmas celebration on a spiritual high note as we watched the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional.  It was the perfect way to end our celebration.

SERVICE SLIPPERS

"Grandma, what dirty slippers you have!"

"The better to serve with, my dear."

October 2013

December 2014

With a wheelbarrow, an old wooden float, 2 trowels, some buckets, 4 shovels and the help of two elders and two senior couples.....Day 1

Day 2- Two Sisters came to help.

Making a well for the water to be added to our 3-2-1 mix

Elder Halladay and Elder Caycayon finishing up a section on day 2

Day 3-Two more elders came to help.

Putting in the front step

With a wheelbarrow, an old wooden float, 2 trowels, some buckets, 4 shovels and the help of 6 missionaries and 2 senior couples

We are finished!!!

How wonderful it was to be done and to know that the Saballa family would have a roof over their head and a floor under their feet after living in a tent for over a year.  

The party was fun and we enjoyed being with all of the missionaries but the joy we felt when we finished was a greater joy than parties and games could ever provide.  It was the joy that is felt when we help one another. It was our Christmas gift to the Savior. 

My dirty service slippers was the best Christmas gift ever.  I'll take those anytime over Cinderella's glass slippers, Dorothy's Ruby Reds and even Crazy Gift Slippers.

Thanksgivings

Last year we almost didn't have Thanksgiving and this year we had THREE Thanksgiving celebrations!

On Monday, 17 of Nov 2014, three zones gathered @the Tagbilaran District Center for the Cebu East Mission Celebration on Bohol.  First we had a Thanksgiving devotional.  Each Zone provided a choir and two speakers. 

Valencia Zone Choir ""I'm Trying to be Like Jesus"

All of the speakers spoke on gratitude except one. 

His talk was on ingratitude and he shared a recent experience that taught him a powerful, personal lesson.

He and his companion had had a particularly bad Sunday.  First, an investigator that had promised for several Sundays that he would come to church but never came, promised again that he would, for sure, come this Sunday.  They waited for him but he never showed...again. Then another investigator that had committed to baptism on a certain date cancelled his baptism.  On the way home they saw a less active tatay (father) that they had been working with on a word of wisdom problem.  He was trying to carry a load of firewood up a hill and was having a very difficult time.  The elders could tell that the tatay would never  make it up that hill in the condition he was in.He had backslided on his commitment to keep the Word of Wisdom. He called out and asked for their help. It was the "last straw" and the biggest disappointment for the day.  This young elder said, "I loved that Tatay.  We had worked so hard with him and he was making great progress and then to see him like that."  He told his companion, "I will not help him.  I don't want to help him. Let him struggle"  and was turning away when his companion whispered in his ear, "We should help him."  

Grudgingly he went back to help and as he picked up that heavy load of  wood and put it on his back and labored and struggled to climb that hill the Spirit brought to his remembrance the Savior carrying the cross to Golgotha. It helped him to realized how ungrateful he was for the Savior's Atonement. He was reminded that  in spite of all of our "backsliding" the Savior still carried that cross for us, and we should do the same for others. Gratitude flooded his soul as he served - gratitude for the Savior's love, gratitude for a companion that listened to the Spirit, gratitude for the lesson learned and gratitude for the love he still felt for that backsliding tatay.  His counsel - when you are feeling ungrateful, serve, and gratitude will come flooding back into your heart.  

Our beautiful sister missionaries enjoying their Thanksgiving treat - homemade apple crisp and vanilla ice cream.

Blue Beast & Big Blue - our twin trucks
(Ours is the Beast because its always dirtier than theirs.  LOL)

Elder and Sis. Halladay our newest Senior Missionary couple.  We love them!
She has an identical twin and loves the idea that we have identical twin trucks!

Our next Thanksgiving celebration was held on 24 Nov 2014 @the Tagbilaran District Center but it was just for Tagbilaran Zone. It was going to be turkey and all the fixins' until we realized how mahal (expensive) turkeys are in Bohol. So we settled for chicken and REAL mashed potatoes, rice, mixed veggies and watermelon provided by Sis. Loy, our caterer. For dessert I made pumpkin crunch and she made a flan cake.  Lami!!

The gwapo elders of Tagbilaran Zone always ready for the camera, if they're not nose down in the food.

Full and content

And our last Thanksgiving Celebration was on Thanksgiving Day,  27 Nov 2014 @our apartment.

We had a long day of apartment checks and baptismal interviews in the Valencia Zone on the other side of the island and made it home just in time to pop some homemade rolls in the oven, whip up some mashed potatoes and fry up some bacon and green beans and warm up our "small turkey" (code for roast chicken) before the sisters came over for our Thanksgiving feast. We even had pumpkin pie this year! w/ whipped cream! 

We all shared our gratitude for the blessings in our lives and especially to be here in this special place, together, sharing our testimonies of the restored gospel of the Savior.  Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year because it brings to mind what we have been blessed with.  But Sis. Palmieri reminded us that we should "live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon (us)." Alma 34:38

As I reflect on my blessings, I am grateful for the small and simple things, the routine things.  Getting up in the morning, seeing the  rise and fall of my husband's chest as he breathes deeply in his sleep, or hearing the strong beat of his heart as he pulls me in for a hug.  Kneeling in morning prayer to thank my Father for another day. Being able to move my body when I exercise, being able to stretch and bend and jump and rest.  Being able to breathe. You don't know how wonderful it is until you have struggled to breathe. Drinking a glass of water.  How wonderful it is to have a clean glass of water! Small and simple things, routine, everyday things and there are a many more I could name.  I hope I will remember, especially during bad days, to look for these small and simple things, and be thankful.

Seasons, Times and Firsts

Wish I could take credit for this picture but forgot my camera that day.
But it happened just like this.  It was just WOW!!

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." Ecclesiastes 3:1


Friday, 13 Sep 2013- It was right at the beginning of our "season" of serving as full time missionaries and it was a day of "firsts." The first time we had ever gone out with Pres. and Sis. Brios to visit members of their branch, the first time we drove through the bukid or what we would call back home "the sticks", the first time we saw someone climb a 30 ft. coconut tree with only bare hands and feet to get some fresh coconut for the traditional Buko juice drink they served us and the first time we met Jennifer.  We were there to visit her mother, Sabina, to invite her back to church. She and her husband were baptized a few years ago but had become less active. Jennifer was a new mom, her son about 2 months old then and she was taking the missionary discussions. It was not the "season" for Jennifer to accept the gospel @that time but more than a year later...

...on Saturday, 15 Nov 2014, Jennifer was baptized. Elder Caycayon presided and I was asked to speak on "Baptism".  I told her about all the "firsts" we experienced the day we met her and told her that today is a day of "firsts" for her too. Today she would be receiving her "first" saving ordinance-baptism- and it would permit her to enter Heavenly Father's kingdom on earth and would start her down the path to the Celestial Kingdom or eternal life with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Some members from Cortes Branch, Tagbilaran ZLs, Jennifer and her  missionaries and family, and us.

Sabina and grandson, Bro. Amarille, Pres. Brios, Elder Wilcox  (Hawaiian boy from Hilo), Jennifer,
Elder Magpali, Sis. Moquiala

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that
bringeth good tidings..." Isaiah 52:7

Elder Magpali (I tease him about his part Hawaiian name) baptized Jennifer

Another first...the first time we witnessed a baptism in the river.  "Behold, here are the waters of Makapiko. yea, and they were baptized in the waters of Makapiko, and were filled with the grace of God."

We had to hike down to the spot but it was well worth it.

We were surrounded by the beauty of  God's creations- a gentle flowing river, bordered with lush ferns and majestic trees. It was a perfect place for this sacred ordinance to be performed.
It reminded me of other sacred places:
the river Jordan
the waters of Mormon
  the Sacred Grove

Elder Caycayon presided

  

We were there to witness the baptism of a family-a mom, her daughter and two cousins. What was extra special about this baptism was our connection to its beginnings over a year ago.  Renalyn  was baptized in September 2013 in Tagbilaran.  She was the "first" in her family to accept the gospel. Her

baptism was the "first" we attended on Bohol.

Renalyn's mom, baby brother, little sister, Renalyn's son, two cousins and Renalyn

 She worked in Tagbilaran as house help for a member of the church. (In the Philippines those who are financially well off will hire someone to help with the cooking, cleaning and child care. These house helpers are paid room and board and provided an education) That member shared the gospel with her.  After her baptism she tried to share the gospel with her mother and family but they would not accept it.  But she kept her baptismal covenants "to stand as (a witness) of God at all times and in all things, and in all places..." (Mosiah 18:9) and continued to share the gospel with them.  Her "first" covenant year was her time "to sow" and today was her time to "reap" the fruits of her labor.  

It was a joyful day. Testimonies were born, tears flowed, the Spirit testified that what had transpired was pleasing unto the Father.   

Elders Tolman, Bayot and Francom.  Wet and happy!

The Panglao group started with 6 pioneers-Kenmart, Gilbert, Alex, Rodita, Annie and Cynthia.  Then the Bonite family came.  Then the Arcamos.

                                                     

The Arcamo family

We visited, we invited as the Spirit prompted, we shared gospel messages and after a few months this patriarch brought his family back to church.  His two sons were Panglao's "first" baptisms and he received the Aaronic priesthood. How grateful we are for this wonderful family!

Panglao Pioneers-Gilbert, in front next to boys, Alex, next to me, Rodita, next to him and Annie, in blue.

Following the boys was the Macabani family.  Our little group is growing!

Our "season" is almost done.  Our "firsts" will soon turn into "lasts." Emily Freeman said, "The Lord is everywhere.  His mercies and His miracles surround us.  Turn aside to see the great sight."

When I reflect on all of these "firsts" I can see that the Lord truly is everywhere in our life. We don't see the end from the beginning as He does, not at the start anyway. But if we go forward in faith soon the miracles are made manifest to us through His tender mercies and we get a glimpse into how our little life thread has been woven into the lives of others.  It is a great sight to behold.  I'm grateful that I have been allowed to see it.