The Love of God

A whole mission photo! We are so grateful for the unique circumstances that allowed us to gather for the taking of this classic whole mission picture. Elder Renlund, of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, and Sister Renlund visited our mission last week and they invited all of our missionaries to join them in person for a special two-hour devotional. It was a wonderful experience for all of us to hear their inspired words and to also be given this opportunity to take a mission picture with them. 

I had a tender and inspiring experience when I met the Renlunds that afternoon. As they arrived at the Olongapo stake center, President Colton and I greeted them in the hallway as they walked in. I put out my hand for the usual handshake, following their lead as they shook hands with a few people before me. Instead of a handshake, I was warmly greeted with a hug by both Elder and Sister Renlund. 

The backstory ... in my annual mammogram a few weeks ago, a small abnormality had been discovered and it required a return trip to the US for further examination. Gratefully, it turned out that all is well. Elder Renlund approves all home visits for mission leaders and I had just returned back to the Philippines the day before our devotional. Elder and Sister Renlund were aware of my personal circumstances and they expressed relief and gratitude that I had returned safely back to the mission with good news. I was touched by their awareness and kindness and I learned a tender lesson about personal ministry in this sweet experience with them.

As part of our devotional with the Renlunds, our missionary choir performed a beautiful version of "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go," which includes these words, so beautifully appropriate for fulltime missionaries ... 

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, 

Over mountain or plain or sea; 

I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;

I'll be what you want me to be.

During my two week trip to the US, I loaded up on doctor visits ... dermatologist, cardiologist, dentist, and breast care specialist. Dang, I must be a senior missionary and not a young missionary. In between all of these doctor appointments and a visit, of course, to see my longtime hairdresser, I was able to spend a weekend in Seattle visiting our kids and grandkids, sans Kevin.

Our four little grandsons are full of energy and spunk and I adore them. 

We celebrated Sterling's 5th birthday.

And we attended one of Sterling's tee ball games ... 

... where the caterpillar in the grass was more interesting to the grandsons than the game. 

I sure love these little boys ...

Meanwhile back in the Philippines Olongapo Mission, we've had an eventful past few months. In May, Steve and I attended our semi-annual Mission Leader Seminar, held at the Shangri-La hotel in Cebu. We gathered with the other mission leaders from the Philippines for four days of instruction, inspiration and camaraderie. 

One of the highlights of this trip was spending time with several of our returned missionaries who live in Cebu.

During the month of April, we attended the wedding of one of our former missionaries at the Manila temple. Several other former missionaries also attended. Knowing that we'll have limited opportunities to see our returned missionaries post-mission, we cherish any opportunity we have to spend time with them.

And we always feel a little flattered when the missionaries who served here in their home mission include us in their post-mission gatherings, this time to say hi to Elder Santiago, who had come back to visit.

We recently visited Mt. Samat in Bataan, a WWII landmark commemorating the last stand of Filipino and American forces against the Japanese during the Battle of Bataan in 1942, just before the surrender of Bataan and the beginning of the Bataan Death March. Mt. Samat has been closed for some time due to Covid and it recently reopened. The memorial is a huge cross on top of the mountain called Mt. Samat and it can be seen all across the Bataan peninsula. At the memorial, we could see the West Philippine Sea on one side of the peninsula and Manila Bay on the other. 

During the week of Easter, we observed a unique and interesting religious event here in the Philippines ... the Easter processional. On the morning of Good Friday, we were starting our drive to a zone conference and just as we were pulling onto the main road outside of our mission home, an Easter processional was passing by. Devout religious people the world over show their devotion in unique and interesting ways and this was no exception. Some men were carrying heavy crosses ... 

... and some men were self-flagellating their backs, using bamboo whips. Look closely at the exposed backs, especially the back of the man in the very front, and you'll see evidence that they take this very seriously. 

During our drive home that evening, we passed another Easter processional, this time a lengthy one with numerous floats commemorating the passion of Jesus, or better known to us as Latter-day Saints, the last week of the life of Jesus. 

Now in regular mission news ... since my last post, we've welcomed several sets of new missionaries and we now have 87 missionaries in our mission, the most we've had since we arrived.

Over the past two years, Covid has significantly impacted the number of missionaries we have in our mission. Prior to Covid and prior to our arrival, our mission had 180 missionaries, Filipino and foreign. When Covid hit in March 2020 and the foreign missionaries were evacuated en masse and sent back to their home countries, our mission dropped overnight to 90 missionaries, all Filipino. When we arrived in August 2020, our mission had 71 missionaries, all Filipino. Since we've been here, our lowest number of missionaries has been 53. Most of the time we've hovered in the 60's. After our transfer last week, we are now up to 87 missionaries, 80 Filipino and 7 North American. And last week we welcomed back our first North American sister missionary. Over the next few months, we'll expand to over 100 missionaries. It has been inspiring for us to witness the courage and dedication and success of our very small band of missionaries as they've continued to carry on missionary work in very challenging times. These young people are truly remarkable.

Also since my last post we've said goodbye to missionaries, including our remarkable senior missionaries, Elder and Sister Scott, who have served with us since we started in August 2020. The Scotts served remotely from Brigham City, UT until December 2021, when they finally were able to get visas and enter the Philippines. It will likely take more than 10 people to replace them and I'm not exaggerating. We have to piecemeal out all they did and we're still working to fill all of their roles. They are wonderful and we miss them so very much. 

Elder and Sister Borboran, our first locally called senior service missionaries, will take over apartment inspections in our southern zone, one of the many jobs of Elder and Sister Scott.

Zone conferences continue to be in person.

And stake conferences are now back to being in person. Here we are at stake conference with our missionaries in the Santa Cruz stake. 

 My beach walks continue to be spectacular ...

... as is this Krispy Kreme store that we discovered on our way to Manila one day.

The flora is still magnificent, including these orchids on the temple grounds in Manila ...

... and these orchids my children gave me for Mothers' Day, with help from a local purchasing agent called Dad.

I'll close with this ... A dear friend of mine recently sent me a link to the artwork featured in the Church's 12th International Art Competition, with the theme "All Are Alike Unto God." We spend so much time in Zoom meetings with our missionaries that this painting called "God's Zoom" caught my attention and won my heart. It was painted by a longtime friend of the Colton family, Anne Bradham. Thank you, Anne.

The other painting that won my heart is this one, called "The Love of God" by Sabrina Squires, whose acquantaince I'd love to make one day. This painting captures for me my very favorite missionary lesson from Preach My Gospel, which teaches this: "God is our Heavenly Father. We are His children. ... He loves us." It's that simple.