Craigs in Cauayan

 The Church in the Philippines is only 60 years old.  Because of this and the rapid growth of the Church here, many of our missionaries are the only member of the Church in their family or only part of the family are members of the Church.  This is hard on our young missionaries.  They teach the joy of the Gospel to others while wishing the same joy for their own family.  Their hearts ache, hoping that one day their families will understand their faith and join them in it because it is so important to them.  This is their dream.   Such was the case of Elder Alvin Cruz from Cauayan City.  When he was 18, his mother's cousin invited their family to meet with the missionaries.  Only Alvin accepted the invitation.  At first he liked playing basketball with the members of the Church, but over time the fire of faith grew within his heart.  He was baptised into the Church in August 2018.  His parents were kind and supportive but ...

Thursday was a strange kind of day.  The compound was  silent.   We were alone.   Thursday morning, we took the Warrens to the airport to travel home.  They have been here with us for most of our mission, since October of 2019.  When we first arrived in the mission, there were 3 Senior Couples. Then we had 4, and then 5.  But in March of last year, things changed overnight.  3 couples went home in the same week because of the evacuation.  At first we thought they would all go, but the Warrens and the Becks were given the option to stay, and we were so grateful they chose to continue to serve.   We had each other to rely on through the long days of lockdown, as we all lived in the same compound.  We had sacrament meeting and lunch at the mission home every Sunday.  At first there was nowhere to go, but eventually, as restrictions were eased, it seemed we were going somewhere every day, helping the missionaries....