Mission Tour by President Teh

Elder Teh a member of the first Quorum of the Seventy and a member of the Area Presidency came to Palawan for the annual mission tour. The missionaries were so excited, as were we to be with him. One thing that he stressed was the need to learn by and teach by the Spirit. All of us were making a lot of notes as he talked. Then he told us that if the only thing that you learn here today is what you hear and the notes that you take, for the most part the time will be waisted. He stressed that the things that each of us learn of things that have not been spoken will be the things of real worth. At the end of the session he asked each of the 24 missionaries to stand one at a time and teach us about the things that they had learned that they had not heard spoken. Each and every missionary had some wonderful experiences to share. Mom (Sister Golding ) and I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Elder Teh, and the go to dinner with him Sister Teh, and President & Sister Howard that evening. What a wonderful experience, he is so kind and humble yet so powerful.

Rizal open to missionary work

We received an OK from the Area Presidency to open a new area to missionary work. It is called Rizal, and is about a 5 hour drive from Puerto Princesa, the last 3 hours being very very bumpy. Each time we drive there we need to go in and have the sliding doors on the van taken off and re-hung as we can't open them. When you drive into town, you wonder where the town is, there is approximately 30,000 people in the area, but this spread out over a very large area. They have electricity in the area, but it is only available from 5:00pm to midnight. There is no running water, each group of homes has a well with a hand pump. We rented the only cement house that we could find for the missionaries to live in. Most all the homes are small bamboo huts with dirt floors. We found a building that we can rent to hold meetings in, but we need to wait for approval of the Area Presidency to organize a Branch. For now a member of the Quezon Branch Presidency need to make the 2 hour drive each way every Sunday on his motor bike to preside at Sacrament Meeting. The two missionaries are very excited to be there, and are doing a great job. They are holding meetings outside one of the members home. They put up some long 2X6 boards as benches and a small table for the Sacrament. This past Sunday they had 40 people at Sacrament meeting, 15 of them were investigators. We only have 2 Elders that live in the area, but there are a few Adult Aaronic Priesthood holders and the District President along with the missionaries will be working with them to prepare them for advancement. We hope that it will not be long before we can organize a Branch there.

Missionary appartments

We have been very busy with moves here in Puerto Princesa. We moved into our new home on Saturday, the next Wednesday we moved the four Elders serving in Puerto into a new apartment, then one week later, on transfer day we moved the four Sisters into new apartments. All of the moves were into much bigger and nicer apartments, and at the same total cost.

As we are a little behind on our blog we will also include the new apartment for the Elders in Puerto Branch 2. We now have four Elders serving in Branch 2, we moved the two Elders from the Zone Leaders apartment and the two new Elders into a very nice apartment in Branch 2. Mom ( Sister Golding) would like to trade them, it is very nice, overlooks the ocean, as well as the squatters area, and Bay Walk. The four of them love it. That leaves just the two Zone Leaders in a nice big apartment in Puerto Branch 1. The plan is now to get two Teaching Assistants that would work Branch 1 three days each week and train the other Elders and Sisters on the Island four days each week. This is still in the planning stages and maybe a little optimistic, but we would love that to happen.

Move to new Home

This is our new home! For the first year we lived in a little 400sq' home, in a very nice area, and Mom (Sister Golding) even got used to the tight quarters but just couldn't quite get used to the termites and the other creepy crawlers that shared the small home with us. We now live in the same area, and the home is almost twice as big, and Mom has it fixed up nice. I think if we had started out here, it would have been pretty easy to talk her into staying another six months.

Burirro Elementary

We were introduced to this little Tribal elementary school down on the South end of Palawan. The families are very poor, most of the children did not have any school supplies, no money to purchase paper or pencils or other school material. Most of the children had never seen a white person before. With the help of Jack & Deanne and their families we were able to give them note pads, pencils, pencil sharpeners, pens, crayons, erasers,
and writing tablets. We gave each student a bag with what the teachers said would last them for three months, then we left additional supplies at the school that would last them through the next school year.

Seminary Graduation

The Seminaries and Institute of Religion of both the Puerto Princesa and the Narra Districts jointly celebrated the achievements of the students here at the Puerto Chapel. What a wonderful experience this was, this was our second opportunity to be a part of this special day. These students are so special and well prepared, it was impossible to hold back the tears from the time they all marched in to the closing hymn and benediction. We now have 35 young missionaries serving from Palawan, all of them coming from this wonderful program. For years the members here have been taught to be self reliant in all things, including sending out as many missionaries from the island as they have missionaries serving here. We have increased the missionaries serving here from 20 to 24, and the missionaries serving from here is now 35, with 27 of them leaving in the last 15 months, and several more in the process of turning in their papers. When we see these young people preparing themselves for the future with so much hope and enthusiasm it brings so much joy and excitement into our lives. We love them!

Little girl with a Club Foot and webbed fingers & toes

One of the special opportunities that we have had here is to help this little girl. She is six years old and her name is Camille and her mothers name is Amilia. Camille was born with a Club Foot and her fingers and toes are webbed together. The Mabuhay -Deseret Foundation helps young people that are born with Club Feet, Cleft-Lips/Palate, cross-eyed, or have Burn Contractures. They do not need to be members of the church, Camille & her family are not, we met them on the road to Brooks Point a few months ago. We were able to get her a room in Puerto, and spend the evening with them. She had never had a hamburger before, and had never watched TV before, she had a great time. We were able to purchase a ticket for her and her mother to take the Super ferry to Manila, and some emergency money. Once they were in Manila the Mabuhay-Deseret Foundation gives both of them free room & board for the six months to a year, while Camille is being tested and treated. All of the treatment is free to them, the hospital and Doctors all donate their time and the facility. Meals are all included for the patient and one caregiver (Camille's Mother) We are so grateful to be able to have these experiences, and they are both so happy. They do not speak english, so we introduced them to a family here that helps us communicate back and forth with them. Someone from the foundation helped them send us a text in English last night wishing us a Merry Christmas and expressed their appreciation. She had already sent us messages through our friends, but she wanted to send something to us personally. They are so special, we love them.