Staying Busy!!

This has been a busy week! We traveled from Lucban in the north to Mariduque in the south. We have worked with missionaries in Lucban, Mauban, Lopez, and on Mariduque. In the process we have made it possible for three couples to be married soon and out of these there will be four convert baptisms. Please understand, we didn't do the finding or the teaching, we have been able to solve problems that have persisted for many years in some cases. One lady told us she has been praying for her and the father of her children to be married so they could be baptized for three years. We told her we are the answer to her prayers. We have found a way to help these people overcome the obstacles the Philippine Government puts in their way to becoming a legitimate family. In 1st Timothy, the 4th chapter and the 3rd verse Paul is explaining some of the pitfalls the saints will have to endure in the last days. Among these is "Forbidding to marry". The process of finding someone to perform the marriage and the process of obtaining a license to be married is almost impossible for most people to do. They first must obtain a Certificate of None Marriage. This may sound funny, but what they are doing is proving the husband and/or wife to be have not been married before. The NSO office won't allow us to file for a couple, but will allow us to pick up the CONM once it is completed if we have several documents with us. This may not sound like much, but most of these families can't afford to get to Lucena (the provintial captial) let alone return in 2 weeks to pick up the CONM. We have found a way to solve the problem for most people. In the case of the three families in Lopez it cost us about 300 pesos per couple and some time at the National Statics Office, but we have been able to do it for three couples now, and we have two others in the process. It takes almost all day just to file, and then another day to pick up the CONM. We are able to pick up the CONM in about an hour.

Since our last report we worked with the missionaries in Mauban. We like going up there, but it is difficult on a good day, and it rained most of the way there making it more difficult than normal. We visited with several inactive members and some investigators to get them to attend church. For the most part we were received well and most made commitments to attend. Elder Gwynn is fun to work with and cuts us no slack whatever. The rain that morning made climbing up the stair ways slippery and difficult for even me, but Diane took it all in stride and never complained once. There are times when I think Elder Gwynn is seeing how far he can take us before we complain or quite, but the reality is he just works hard all of the time. We trudged through the slippery steps and through the mud to meet people and get commitments from them. There are a few pictures from Mauban attached.

We went to Lucban to a missionary district meeting and to see the festival going on there now. We had been invited several weeks ago by a part member family, so we mixed business with pleasure and went to see for ourselves. We were invited to a luchan while we were there by a lady who runs a bakery and catering business. It turns out she had heard of Diane and her decorating skills and wants to meet with her to get some "professsional advice". Attached are some pictures of this festival. The father (tatay) in this family has seen many sets of missionaries come and go without ever attending chruch. I told him he could come of his own accord I would tie a rope to him and a carabow and drag him to church. He finally agreed to come. He has been offended by the local bishop and we are trying hard to get this family over the bitter feelings and return to activity. While in Lopez later in the week we got the Stake President there to agree to perform the marriage of this man's daughter. President Azaras agreed to travel there (no small distance) and perform the marriage. I think I will still be a guest speaker at the ceremony. This should go a long way to dispel the reasons they have for being angry with the bishop. They know we love them and will almost anything to help them. We have a agreement that one year after the marriage they go with us to the temple in Manila.

We went to Lopez to work with Elders Brown and Lerio. Elder Brown is much like Elder Gwynn but much softer spoken. He has been begging us to come down and work with him and visit some families he has been working with. These are the ones we have helped to get their marriage licence so they can be married before baptism. Attached are some pictures taken while we trudged through the hills and rice fields to these out of the way places. Never did Diane complain or slow us down. Her knee hurts, but she is determined not to let it slow us down or interfere with loving these people. She is truly remarkable! As you might expect the missionaries love her.

We just returned from Mariduque. While there I hold a leadership training session much like the ones you have when you go to Stake Conference. We started last month with the basic organization of the Church, and simply went into more detail this month. President Mortimer has given us the assignment to strengthen the leadership on Mariduque. We think we have finally found the real reason they are not functioning as they should. After we meet with President Mortimer we will probably change our tactics some and focus more on just a few individuals. Going to Mariduque is an arduous task. We have to travel there by boat, and it takes an hour to load, three hours of travel, and then at least an hour to unload and get to a hotel. We normally have dinner about 9:00 PM. Coming this time was a nightmare! It has been so hot here it is unbelievable. Some of the older people tell us they don't ever remember it being so hot and humid. We couldn't find room to set outside so we had to sit inside the cabin without any air conditioning. To top it all off we were all fasting to improve the missionary work in the San Pablo Mission.