Ready and Willing! Batch #14

We are grateful for these fresh from the MTC missionaries.  They are excited to serve and were a joy to have in the Mission Home.  There is a sense of goodness about this Batch.  Welcome to the Philippines Angeles Mission.  We are delighted to have you here.

COMPANIONS

"Testimonies Were Strengthened"

Three words for this Batch are, "Testimonies Were Strengthened."

It was difficult to say goodbye to this batch of 9 loved missionaries. Throughout the past months, I've watched them teach, share and live as Angeles Missionaries. At a recent baptism I heard one of them share a powerful testimony in Tagalog. Hearts were touched, especially mine. Although I didn't understand all of the words, the Spirit told me what he spoke was truth. They are ready to re-enter the world armed with testimonies to assist them through their next journey. Farewell, our dear missionaries. Until we meet again.

Farewell to our 14th Batch.

 Beautiful Sisters!

 Farewell dear Elders!

                  Parent Pickups - The Aguspina's                         The Gementiza's

POWER SCRUB!

Since our mission has had but one senior couple for the past few months, there has been no one to really go in and inspect our missionary housing.  Something needed to be done to encourage better housekeeping and cleanliness.  The Spirit will not dwell in an unclean vessel and a house is a really big vessel!  A plan was created to have a bi-annual massive mission-wide Power Scrub.  Every Monday before General Conference in April and October, our missionaries will perform a Power Scrub.  Since April is a couple of months away, we are getting a beginners head start.

 Some of the areas that were chosen for the Power Scrub were:

·Remove and wash all curtains & sofa cushion covers and bed mattress cover.

·Move all furniture from current area; sweep and scrub, including walls, baseboards, & floors.

·Clean all closets & shelves; discard all unneeded and unused items.

·Beds—remove mattress and wash bed frames.  Air the mattress outside (if no rain) while cover is being washed.

·CR—scrub all surfaces using all-purpose cleaner & a brush; walls, floors, sink; for toilet use toilet bowl brush for that only. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

·Kitchen—clean out all cupboards, ref, & stove; discard any outdated foods.                                   *Area outside House - remove trash, organize, sweep and scrub. 

I thought I would share some of the notes that have been shared by the missionaries to both President Clark in his weekly letters and me.  I think it was a success! 

Sister Clark, We really had a great time cleaning our apartment. It was a very dusty and dirty before but right now we can feel the spirit more because of deep cleaning. We are so happy too for this activity. Our apartment now looks like a five star hotel (just kidding) we love you sister Clark and have a great day and month as well. 

we did our powerscrub earlier this morning. it was... interesting. the house is very clean. but i might have night mares for a little while after seeing what i have been sleeping on for 2 months now. but it is all clean now.

Power scrub was amazing – we took more time than expected but all is worth it, feels a lot more clean. Just like repentance it’s a hard work but all is worth it at the end. We actually did more screaming and ewws than actual cleaning because we had a lot of dirt and little friends, rats and spiders haha. It has been a great experience but maybe consider having it 4 times a year would be nice.

What a nice privilege to do the power scrub this morning. We are more comfortable and we also feel the presence of the spirit inside our house. We enjoyed celestial scrubbing as kabahay as Sister Clark said, thank you for instructing and inspiring us to clean our living quarters.

(And please let Sister Clark know that washing the bed covers was one of the most disgusting sights in my life... I'm going to be sleeping on the floor from now on.)

Wow so clean in our apartment.  Its very hard to clean all the surroundings but it was good for us to clean it up so the spirit will dwell it our apartment, the things that we do to make it faster we divide it so I'm the one cleaning the C.R its almost 2 hours cleaning it.but still enjoyable and cleaning the leaving room, and also my other kabahays,,i like it because their is an unity doing the clean up. Thank you for helping us, even its hard but its awesome doing something that i didn't do it in my home, i realize how my mom doing it without my help.its very hard to clean specially if only one, now i know the feelings of my mom, now i learned a lot from both of you and you teach me a lot, to become a good missionary, its not only teaching but it also cleaning,hahaha,

A WELCOME, GRATEFUL SITE!

Elder and Sister Pugh are here!  President Clark and I pondered deeply about our problem of shrinking numbers senior couples.  We looked over the list of people we knew and prayed about who might be able to join our mission.  Elder and Sister Pugh were one of the first couples to come into our minds.  They are a devoted and wonderful couple from Joliet Illinois Stake.  After receiving our email (while they were vacationing in Wales), they decided to prayerfully considering our invitation.  Before we knew it, they had a plan.  They both retired early to set their sights to serve the Lord full-time in the Philippines.  A few months  (and much work) later, their plane arrived in Manila.  After the joys of immigration and fingerprinting plus a session in the Manila temple, they made their way to our Mission Home.  We are delighted they are here, fit, enthused and ready to make a big difference for our missionaries and members.

Elder and Sister Pugh

 You can see how happy the President is to have our newest senior couple!

 The Whiting's power scrubbed for many hours to prepare a spotless and humble abode for the Pugh's to call home for 18 months.  I know they found it to be a welcome site after their prior 24 hours of travel.  

The cute and loyal young sisters are the next door neighbors to the Pugh's.  They will be the Pugh's lifeline for the next few days while they learn a new culture and their new surroundings.  The Sisters love them already.  

A Magical Week

Almost two years ago before we came to the Philippines, our oldest grandson, Isaac, was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a beautiful and sacred day as his father baptized him and later confirmed him a member of the Church. 

Isaac’s younger sister, Sadie was 6 ½ years old at the time and was so happy for her older brother. She couldn’t wait until it was her turn to be baptized.  But Sadie soon realized that President Clark and I would not be  there to see her baptized because we would be in the Philippines. Our family recognized that Sadie’s baptism would be one of the most important things she would do in her life.  We all wanted to part of this special event.

 

Working together we figured out a way that President Clark and I would be able to share Sadie’s baptism with her.  One week ago today, Sadie was baptized in a beautiful river in Gabaldon, here in the Philippines.  She was surrounded by her parents, brother and sisters, aunts and uncles and President Clark and I.  What a glorious and magical day it was. 

A scripture in the D&C explains how we each felt watching Sadie’s baptism and confirmation.  “Lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made.” D&C 25:13    

Walking to the natural baptismal font in a place called Eco Park.  It is in the city of Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. 

Sadie and her dad before changing into baptismal attire.

 The little children thought the rock tossing added much to this momentous occasion.

 Ready for a beautiful and life changing event to take place.

 Sadie and her family!

 Uncles Preston and Brian prepare to be the witnesses.

                                                                         

We are two very grateful parents/grandparents to have the family that we do.