A series of events lined up that allowed us to take a break from our day-to-day activities and get away for a few days. We decided to go to the island of Palawan. First, since it was the traditional Christmas and New Year’s Holidays, things in the Philippines get very slow. Christmas is by far the biggest holiday in the Philippines. As I mentioned, the Christmas holiday starts in September and decoration don’t come down until the end of January. Secondly, a remodeling of several offices including ours was in progress that started shortly before the Christmas/New Years break with

It is Christmas Day in the Philippines. At times like this our thoughts turn to our friends and family. This is the first time in over fifty years we have not been with part of all of our family. At times like this, you have time to reflect and reflect we did. Hallelujah A missionary companion that I served with in South Africa over fifty years ago on my first mission sent me the video link below of a Christmas Program performed by their ward congregation. I found this video inspiring and thought you might too. If you have a

The Filipinos love to celebrate just about everything – especially Christmas – the seasonal celebration for Christmas starts on September 1st and runs through the “BER” months of SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, and DecemBER. Christmas is similar in many ways to the way its celebrated in the US that includes parties, get togethers, and of course gift giving. Many different traditions in the Philippines come from around the world and are combined into the Filipino Christmas holiday mix ranging from traditions like decorating trees with lights and ornaments, faith-oriented traditions like Midnight Mass, Christmas songs about sleigh bells, a winter wonderland,

Seeing the Future Today In the last few months, we have seen the future of the Church in the Philippines and it is in the faces and eyes in the youth we have seen attending conferences for the young people sponsored by the stakes throughout Luzon. During December, we have or will be hosting six Young Single Adult (YSA) or Stake Youth Conferences (SYC) at the Church History Center on the Strength of Youth Campus in Tanay – which is about a two hour drive one way . As with all distances in the Philippines it isn’t about how far

Recently, we had the opportunity to record an oral history of a faithful and somewhat remarkable Filipino saint – Sister Conchita dela Cruz Davis. As I’ve mentioned several times, listening to stories of these Filipino saints’ stories who have been faithful in the face of considerable opposition, financial hardships, and in some instances being shunned by their families is a humbling experience as compared to my challenges. Here’s a big picture overview of her story. Sister Conchita Davis was the tenth of thirteen children and lived in a rural area north of Manila. Her family were faithful Catholics, had family

When we are not in the field and are working in the Area Office working, we often have lunch in the cafeteria. There are approximately 120 people that work in the Area Office, including the teachers at Mission Training Center (missionaries have their own cafeteria), maintenance and grounds staff, and all administrative, finance, and HR personnel, and the Area Presidency all work in the Area Offices. The cafeteria is staffed by three people, two full-time young ladies and one young man, who works part time.  Lunch is served from 10 am to 1:30 pm five days a week. The menu

The My Plan Conference Transitions from Version 1.0 to Version 2.0 In the past, I’ve shared various things about the My Plan Conference including that in my opinion it’s a phenomenal concept that will have lifelong benefits for the Filipino missionaries that attend.  To review, the My Plan program is a three-day immersive experience where Filipino missionaries that have completed their term of service go to a central facility, currently held at the Church owned and managed For the Strength of Youth campus in Tanay, Rizal, Philippines which is a 500-attendee  university like campus compete with dorms, classrooms, assembly hall, and

We continue interviewing and recording oral histories of mission leaders some of which have been recently released and some that have been released for a while as well as some Filipino saint pioneers. I’m used to using the term Mission President when referring to a leader of a mission. These leaders are no longer referred to as Mission Presidents but as Mission Leaders. The Mission Leader term is more reflective of the partnership of the leaders of a mission which rightly includes both husband and wife. As most of you know, the wife of a mission president is just as

A few weeks ago, we took a four-day trip to the provinces (Filipinos refer to the rural areas of their country as the providences) northwest of Quezon City. On this trip, we spent a day and a half in the cities of Tarlac and Angeles (both in the Pampanga providence) in meetings. After these meetings, we drove to Balanga and Hermosa (both in the Bataan providence) ). There we had the privilege to interview two couples and a widowed sister that were among some of the first Filipinos saints to join the Church in the Bataan providence. One of these

Some of our friends may recall that I served as a scoutmaster to Troop 349 sponsored by the Orinda California Ward of the Church. Initially I was less than enthusiastic about being asked to be the scoutmaster. I even told the existing scoutmaster at a barbecue shortly before I was asked to be the scoutmaster there was one calling in the Church that I would never accept. This calling was scoutmaster. Two weeks later, Bishop Jex called me to be the scoutmaster. I flatly told him “Absolutely not.” He told me to think and pray about it. A week later

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Augusto Lim one of the early Filipino pioneer saints. During the interview Augusto shared some of his family’s story including how one set of his great grandparents were Chinese immigrants to the Philippines in the 1800s. Even though they were initially laborers; they worked hard and eventually became merchants importing goods from China to sell to the Chinese living in the Manila area. Because his grandparents were Chinese, they were discriminated against. Seems like discrimination is a part of every era regardless of where you are in the world. There always seems to

The term used in seeking and acquiring relevant historical information about the Filipino saints, events, and items that may be related to church history in the Philippines requires us to be detectives, research, find, as well to talk and interview pioneer Filipino saints. After interviewing Filipino saints, many share their journals, pictures, and other memorabilia with us. Some of these items that are donated turn out only to be nice family mementos but occasionally we find real gems of historical significance.   For example, a full-time Filipino senior missionary serving in the Olongapo Mission home as a secretary to the mission

Once in a great while, a group senior missionary activity is organized. A few weekends ago, an excursion was organized to Rizal Park in Old Manila. A bit of background – Jose Riza was a Filipino reformer in the 1890s and is admired by Filipinos for his nationalistic writings and activities. He was executed for treason on December 30, 1896 by the Spanish colonial government. His writings helped inspire the Philippine Revolution against colonial rule. December 30th is celebrated as Rizal Day which is similar to our President’s Day.  An Adventure Begins Just before embarking on our first Jeepney ride. Jeepneys

Many of you may be aware that it was basically my idea to consider serving a mission. My dear wife initially was less than enthusiastic and wasn’t jumping up and down with excitement about traveling halfway around the world to a hot, humid semi-third world country and leaving her kids and grandchildren behind. However, as she has done many times during our marriage, when an opportunity to serve the Lord comes her way, she has always put the Lord first.  After we were called to the Philippines, one of the saving graces of our mission call is that my wife

For the short time we have been in the Philippines, one thing that amazes me is the devotion and faith of the LDS Filipino youth. To gain a better understanding of the basis of their faith, I’ll share some of the things we’ve learned about the Filipino youth since our arrival. In the US, and throughout the world, the Church focuses on our youth because they are the rising generation and face monumental challenges in the future as they seek to find their way in the world. In the Philippines, there’s an enormous amount of effort put into ensuring that