A Year in Reflection

This coming week Donna and I will reach our one year mark in the field.  This anniversary of sorts has caused me to reflect and remember.  Time has gone fast and the experiences have been life changing.  As I reflect, I present 10 memories and reflections about the past year in no particular order of importance as follows:

1.  I still love the Filipino people.  I fell in love with these kind, gentle, happy people almost 39 years ago when I first served here as a young missionary.  It is called the land of smiles and hospitality.  To newly arriving foreign missionaries I invite them to nod (here you nod raising your head not lowering  it) and smile at the first 10 strangers they pass on the street.  They report that 8 to 10 smile broadly and nod back.  I then ask them how many would smile at a stranger and nod back at home?  Not many.

traveling salesman (there is a motorcycle under there)

2.  Young missionaries.  The absolute best part of being here is the young missionaries I get to serve with.  They never cease to amaze me.  They are fun, hard working, kind and dedicated.  Their lives are full of goodness, enthusiasm and pure joy.  I will never forget my first meeting with them almost one year ago.  It was in the Ilagan Chapel.  They were anxious and nervous to meet their new Mission President and Companion but not as nervous as we were.  When I approached the door of the Chapel I was hit (actually almost knocked over) with a wave of love.  The experience was real and powerful. I believe that God wanted me to know how much he loved these young missionaries.  This feeling has never left me.  Each transfer it gets harder and harder to say goodbye to my missionaries who return home.

I remember about 8 months ago being in the Aquino home in Tuguegarao.  Brother Aquino kindly invited us and two of my fine Elders to share with his family a special meal they had prepared.  The meal was wonderful.  It included a bowl of grasshoppers taken from the corn fields.  Brother Aquino knew I was likely too big of a coward to try them (he was right!) but kindly offered them to me.  I smiled and politely declined but added:  “but Elder Lopez will love to try some”.  The look of complete hatred for me on Elder Lopez’s face at that moment I will never forget.  He was a champ and tried them.  He said they were actually pretty good.

3.  Wrinkled Angels.  Donna and I have been so privileged to serve with 6 senior couples over the past year.  Each couple has impressed me so much.  They leave family, friends and comfortable retirements to travel half way around the world and serve.  Their value and help cannot be overstated.  Most importantly, however, they love our young missionaries so much.  Young missionaries need a few father and mother figures here in the mission.  Some Elders and Sisters come from broken homes and see in these marvellous couples for the first time what a loving marriage looks like.  Their steady lives are such a blessing to these young missionaries.

departing missionaries

4.  Quarantine is hard.  Let’s state the obvious: quarantine is hard.  We are now over 100 days in quarantine.  We can acknowledge the great blessings that have come from this experience, which for missionaries includes more time to dig deeply into their scriptures.  It gives more time to ponder and to change and to grow.  I do believe that this experience will have a lasting benefit for my young missionaries and me.  But it is still hard.  This morning I received one of those calls you never want to get.  A Bishop phoned to tell me that the mother of one of my fine missionaries had died in the night.  She was only 50.  I got in my van so I could give my dear Elder this sad news in person. His apartment was just over two hours away in Enrile.  On the outskirts of Enrile we were stopped at a checkpoint.  Notwithstanding we had a travel pass and a doctors certificate of health we were, after a 30 minute interview, denied entry into the City.  The Doctor explained that there were new cases of Covid -19 in the area, so they were denying all non-essential travel into the City.  The Doctor would only speak to us over the phone as he denied us entry as we sat beside the uniformed soldier (with sidearm) enforcing the checkpoint.  I admit that I did not in that moment in my heart wish the best for this likely overworked Doctor.  I was forced to deliver this crushing news over a video call while parked on the side of the road.  I just wanted to give him a hug.........it is hard.

One Elder described that my interview felt like this!

5.  I am so proud of my children and their spouses.  When one receives a call like this it affects deeply not only the parents but also the children (and the grandchildren).  Birthdays, baptisms and other special events are missed.  There are lonely times for them as we are not around to help and give advice (sometimes wanted and sometimes not).  One of my young missionaries who lost a mother not long ago said the hardest part is knowing mother is not nearby.  Without our presence and support, our children have faced some sad challenges which I expect are common to most families, but still hard.  The part that to me is so impressive is how they have drawn closer to each other.  It appears that they are relying more on their spouse (and they have great spouses) and their siblings.  I

could not be more proud.

6.  The Evacuation of Foreign Missionaries ( See post of March 22, 2020)  To the day I die I will never forget climbing on a chair in the courtyard of the mission home so I could see about 75 of my foreign missionaries and speak to them for a few minutes before we loaded them on buses bound for Manila and home.  We evacuated 99 foreign missionaries but about 25 of them we could not even get to the mission home to say goodbye.  The busses needed to go so I only had a few moments to try to express to them my love for them and pride in them.  I also wanted to try to assure them that they would be ok.  With tears running down my cheeks I spoke of these days never to be forgotten.  As the busses left down the street, a piece of my heart went with them.

7.  Donna is amazing.  When I was dating Donna, my brother Lockey said plainly: you don’t deserve this great girl.  I have always freely acknowledged that.  It has been amazing to me to watch her operate here in Cauayan.  She is a remarkable mixture of kindness, fun and determination.  The missionaries love her dearly (as do I) but also know not to try to get away with too much nonsense (as do I).  I cannot imagine going through this wonderful yet challenging experience without her.

8.  The flood and the Emergency Evacuation (see post of December 10, 2019).  It was high adventure.  Driving through the night with not much of a plan but a lot of hope and a clear objective:  getting my missionaries out of harm's way.  It was scary at times (especially for Elder Bodily, my Assistant, as he drove a pick up truck with 8 beautiful Sister missionaries packed into it) but mostly it was just a great adventure and a wonderful memory.

9.  The work continues uninterrupted.  Joseph Smith taught that no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing.  This pandemic has slowed the work briefly but it has carried on and will continue unabated.  We now mostly teach over smartphones but we continue to teach.  We continue to baptize converts and continue to get the work done.  This past Tuesday at 12:20 AM I submitted the paperwork to make the Cauayan District a Stake.  I needed to get it submitted for the Area Presidency to review later that day.  When I was a young missionary here in 1981, I believe  there were only 4 or 5 little Branches of the Church here in the Cagayan Valley which met in little rented buildings.  Now there are 6 Stakes (hopefully 7 soon), 5 Districts and many beautiful buildings.  I expect that other Stakes will be created before I go home.  The work goes on.

10.  People need God.  More than ever I think people need God and perhaps one good thing that will come out of this pandemic is that people will return to the simple beautiful things of life: faith and family.  In these two things we find our greatest happiness and joy.  All other things are at best a cheap substitute.  I was quite offended today as the Enrile Doctor on the phone suggested that the work that I do is not essential.  In his eyes in some strange way, my work seems less essential than the work of one who facilitates people fuelling up their cars.  My work is not only essential; it is of greatest worth.  People need God.  I need God.  I have seen lives changed for the better.  I have seen marriages healed.  I have seen people find peace and joy.

It is hard to believe that a year has passed since we arrived here.  It has been a great year.  These are truly days never to be forgotten.