Last month we were officially released as full-time missionaries. It took several weeks after we had been notified by the Missionary Department that we would not be able to return to the Philippines for the release to go through. Eileen has been serving part-time in Senior Missionary Services (SMS) doing medical screening of senior missionary candidates. SMS wanted her to continue in that role and waited until she had been officially called as a Church Service Missionary to release us. I have been looking for a volunteer role that would occupy me two to four days a week and just this week found a position in the Welfare Department’s Strategy and Innovation Services Division as a strategy consultant. This is the same division as our former bishop, Jon VanWagoner, works in. I want to leave one day a week open to be an ordinance worker again once the temple opens back up.
On Sunday, September 13th, we will be speaking in the three sessions on our ward’s sacrament meeting. Attached below are copies of our talks.
The last five months since we returned from the Philippines have been challenging, primarily due to the pandemic and our inability to meet in-person with our family, neighbors, or Church Service Missionary associates in SMS. We are home in our house but not home with those around us. It will be very interesting to look back on this time after the pandemic is over. A few important events have taken place in the last two months.
First, we met our youngest son Jon again. He left over a decade ago and despite my efforts to contact him, we had not heard from him until our older son, Vijay, ran into him working at FedEx. Since then I have met with him twice and it has helped me feel better about the difficult years he spent in our home. For the first time I have felt that perhaps our experience in parenting Jon wasn’t a complete failure. I don’t know where the relationship will go, if anywhere, in the future, but I do consider our meeting a gift from God due to the peace it has brought me.
Going out together bike riding has been one of the few things that we have been able to do while safely getting out of the house. Seven weeks ago we bought Eileen a new and relatively expensive bike. On her first ride, just after we had gotten off the Legacy Parkway trail, Eileen was telling me how much she loved her new bike when the pedal suddenly came off. That caused Eileen to lose control of the bike. In the resulting crash, the ligament in Eileen's left thumb was severed, she hurt her left foot and right shoulder, and suffered “road burn” abrasions all along the right side of her body. She now has a cast on the left hand following an operation to reattach the ligament and going to physical therapy for her shoulder. Her left foot is in a “boot.” I don’t think she will be riding again this season. Interestingly enough, I was in a bike accident three weeks after that. A van decided to turn right at a red light and somehow didn’t notice that I was on my bike in in the crosswalk in front of him. Fortunately, other than two skinned up knees and a bruise on my left hip where the van hit me, I was unhurt.
EILEEN'S SACRAMENT MEETING TALK
We were asked to spend a few minutes talking about our experiences from serving in the Philippines Antipolo Mission. Our call was to serve for 18 months, however we returned home after 9 months due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
My role was to serve as the mission nurse, while Russell worked with missionary housing. Russell played a vital role in assisting me with the sick missionaries, both in offering input regarding their care and also as the driver when I needed to get a missionary to the doctor or hospital. Even though we have served 4 full-time missions together as a couple, this was the first mission where we have worked with the young missionaries. It was very rewarding to me to be able to get to know them as individuals, hear about their success stories and concerns, and help them through their health challenges while still trying to serve.
The Antipolo mission was newly formed on our first full day in the Philippines. I didn’t have anyone to train me or give me recommendations regarding hospitals or doctors. Each day as I said my prayers, I would ask Heavenly Father to please guide and direct me so that I would have the wisdom and inspiration to know how to deal with each specific health need. Sometimes it was just learning by trial and error, but I felt like many times I was prompted to know when a missionary needed immediate medical care and with Russell’s assistance I was able to get the elder or sister to the hospital.
We had been in the Philippines just a few weeks when I was called by a zone leader stating that two of the missionaries in his zone were ill. Russell and I went to visit these missionaries. As I walked into their apartment I knew that they were both really sick. Elder Bio was burning up with a fever and had sweat pouring down his face. He was so lethargic he could barely speak. His companion Elder Evans was laying on the floor moaning with pain. It was like something out of a bad movie. Before taking them to the hospital I asked if Russell would give them a blessing. The spirit in that small apartment was very powerful as a worthy priesthood holder called on the powers of heaven to help these two missionaries. I silently prayed for inspiration to know which hospital to take them. I was prompted to take them to a hospital which was quite close to our apartment. While most of us here would consider that hospital woefully inadequate, it was fairly good by Filipino standards. This was the first of my many visits to that specific hospital with missionaries having Dengue Fever. I learned far more than I ever thought possible about Dengue and the effects it had on individuals who caught it. Elder Evans spent 10 days in the hospital recovering. Fortunately, Elder Bio recovered more quickly. I was so grateful for the blessings they both received and their being able to fully return to the work.
As a mission nurse I could never really plan out my day because I didn’t know what kind of challenges might come up. Some of my nursing calls were quite serious, others were humorous. We had one missionary from the U.S. who was 6’4”. He called me one day saying he had split open his head while walking into a local shop. He didn’t duck far enough and he cut his head on the door jam. From the picture he sent I thought he might need stitches. He wondered if he could super glue his head together. It ended up being quite funny. His companion had convinced him that if you could superglue broken household goods in America, surely you could superglue a lacerated head in the Philippines.
I think that sometimes there is a perception in the church that if you have a missionary from your family serving, that life will be free from trials and adversity. From my experience I can assure you that this perception is not accurate. However, Elder Robert D. Hales said, “As we serve in the mission field, our children and grandchildren will be blessed in ways that would not have been possible had we stayed home.” I can testify to the truth of Elder Hales statement and would like to relate two experiences of how I believe our family was blessed through their adversities while we were gone.
My parents have suffered with health challenges for several years, my father with physical challenges, and my mother with memory loss. When I said goodbye to them prior to leaving for the Philippines it was very emotional for me as I knew it would be the last time I would see them in this life. Dad was 95 years old when we left, his pacemaker battery was running out in a few months and my father refused to have it replaced. He kept assuring me that he and Mom would pass on together. I would question him and say, but Dad what if it doesn’t happen that way? His response always was, “It will, I have talked with the Lord.” He had much more faith than I on this matter. Dad died within days following a fall and breaking his hip just 7 weeks after we left for the mission field. Although he had assumed for many years he would die of his cardiac issues, it was the fall that took him quickly. The concern for our family then became how could we help Mom? Out of necessity she was moved into a memory unit. One week to the day after Dad passed on, Mom also passed on. Although I was very sad to have both parents leave this life, I knew that God had granted Dad his fervent desire that they could pass on together. This was a wonderful blessing, not just for them but for all of our family.
Another tender mercy for our family occurred when we had been out in the mission field just 5 months. My daughter Jessica mentioned to me one day that her back was really bothering her. I suggested that she needed an MRI. Her family had recently moved to Oregon and she was having a challenge even getting in to see a primary care doctor. The following Sunday, Russell and I fasted that Jessica might be able to be led to the appropriate medical care. Sunday evening a friend of hers who was aware of her symptoms brought dinner over to Jessica and her family. While there, this woman said that her husband was a neurologist, and after checking with him arranged for Jessica to be seen by him at the end of his schedule the next day. Following that appointment Jessica had several MRIs which showed a tumor wrapped around her spinal cord. This neurologist was able to get Jessica in for surgery to remove the tumor shortly thereafter. It was quite remarkable that within 2 weeks of our fasting Jessica was diagnosed and having surgery. Through some very miraculous events, we were able to get permission to go be with her during her surgery. We are confident that the Lord was in the details of not only putting them in a location where she could get the appropriate care very quickly, but also guiding me and others to encourage her to seek and find the appropriate medical care she needed.
Celebrating holidays in the mission field is always a bit different. It seems kind of strange to celebrate Christmas without being around family, without Christmas decorations, or even Christmas music being sung at church. While the Filipinos love Christmas (they celebrate it during all of the “ber” months: September, October, November and December), it seemed like life sort of went on as normal there on Christmas Day. The malls and stores were all open. Traffic was only slightly lighter than usual. The temperature on Christmas reached the low 90’s - very different than in Utah with it’s snow. The pool at our apartment building was crowded with families enjoying the sun. To me, it really didn’t seem much different than any other day of the year.
In the midst of my trying to sort out my feelings, our daughter Heather sent this quote to us by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone. “Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s will never be the same again once you have celebrated them while serving a mission. Imagine a small Christmas tree with a few decorations, Christmas carols, a humble apartment, never more in love with your wife—a Christmas spirit that makes that little apartment seem as a sacred temple. You pack your white baptismal clothing and walk, hand in hand, to the chapel, where a little family waits patiently to enter God’s kingdom through the waters of baptism. You see the star of wonder, not hanging over Bethlehem, but in the eyes of the humble, sweet converts. You look at your wife, she looks at you; nothing need or can be said, both of you overcome with joy. The twelve or eighteen months will seem as a small moment, but the memories will last through the eternities.”
This quote was very touching to me, and made me think beyond the “normal” events of Christmas, and directed my thoughts to the joy we have felt the last few months in observing the conversion process of our newly found friends, Lance and Grace. We invited Lance, Grace and their family along with a single sister missionary over for dinner on Christmas Eve. We had barely sat down at our tiny table when Lance announced he had decided to get baptized on January 11th. I was overjoyed. He then said he was looking forward to going to the temple. When Shannon, their 13 year old daughter asked her mother what going to the temple meant, Grace told Shannon, “It means you will be my daughter forever!” At that moment I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the birth of our Savior than to have a small part in bringing souls to Him. I could more fully understand the scripture from Doctrine and Covenants 18:15-16. “And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father.”
In all of our years in trying to share the gospel with others, we have never had an experience like that which we have had with this family. It has seemed like something you would read about in an Ensign article. Things like this don’t happen to us, yet it has; and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. My experience with Lance and Grace has been the highlight of my years serving on missions, a memory and relationship I never want to let go of.
Lakeview Ward – Sept. 13, 2020 Russell's Philippines Mission Experiences
When Alma was instructing his son, Helaman, about the importance of keeping the records of their people, he said, “Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.” (Alma 37:6-7) Today I would like to tell you about a few “small and simple” things that occurred during our time in the Philippines.
As Eileen mentioned, my primary role was dealing with missionary housing. The quality of missionary housing (for both young and senior missionaries), while viewed by the local members as ranging from adequate to good, left a great deal of room for improvement. As one new mission president’s wife in a neighboring mission (whose son had previously served in the Philippines) commented, “If I had known my son was living in these conditions, I would have brought him home.” Over the nine months we were able to serve in the Antipolo Mission, we acquired new, or turned over approximately 40 percent of our apartments. Most of the time, finding adequate housing was quite a challenge and time consuming. But on a number of occasions, seemingly small things would happen that facilitated us getting the apartments that we needed. I bear you my witness that the Lord is involved in the details of our lives. The challenge is, are we in tune enough to recognize them?
One of the things President Alder stressed most with the young missionaries was issuing “Invitations to Act” (ITAs). As in most missions, records were kept to note the number of baptisms, investigators attending church, lessons taught, Book of Mormons placed, etc. But it seemed to me that his focus was getting the missionaries to invite others to do something, be it hear about the gospel, come to church or be baptized. His point was that with missionary work, not much happens if you don’t first open your mouth and invite someone to do something.
Shortly after we arrived, the first series of zone conferences were held in which President Alder presided. The meetings started with President and Sister Alder greeting each missionary, shaking their hands, President hugging the elders and Sister Alder hugging the sisters. President Alder started and ended the meeting telling the missionaries how much he loved them. After a few brief introductory remarks, President Alder asked by the raise of hands, how many of the missionaries used their morning commute to invite someone to attend or learn about the Church. When only one sister raised her hand, he expressed his disappointment. He then challenged every missionary to have at least one invitation offered by that evening and asked the missionaries to text him and let him know what happened. By the end of the evening 172 invitations had been extended by 44 missionaries.
Between President Alder’s challenge delivered at the first series of zone conferences and then with the mission leadership setting a goal of 15 ITAs per day for each young missionary, it did create a culture in the mission of talking about some aspect of the gospel to everyone around you.
Occasionally I would take the missionaries with me when I was buying things for their apartments or getting something to eat. It was fun and inspiring to watch as they would talk to anyone and everyone around us. I had to be careful not to rush things in my effort to be efficient in accomplishing my housing duties, as the young missionaries were usually busy making contacts. I think the most impressive example of this was Elder Ivins. When he was sick and had passed out several times from Dengue Fever, Eileen asked if I would drive to the far side of our mission to pick up Elder Ivins and his companion and then meet her at a hospital on the other side of our mission. I knew Elder Ivins was really sick because he wasn’t talking much on our long drive. But once in the hospital Emergency Room, waiting his turn to see a doctor, we observed Elder Ivins sharing a pamphlet with a fellow patient waiting beside him.
This example of speaking to everyone you meet about the church began to affect even Eileen and I to some extent. While we spoke to several people who lived around us, and the head cook at our favorite restaurant, seldom did any express genuine interest to learn more about the Church. However, one couple did.
We met Lance and Grace Cendana while riding up the elevator in our apartment building. It was early afternoon and we had decided to drop by our apartment after doing apartment inspections before going back to the office. Lance and Grace were just returning from a doctor appointment. What some would describe as just a coincidence that we were both home in the middle of the day, I know now was not. In the brief couple of minutes we had with them Eileen started talking to Grace. Then to my surprise Eileen told them we were with the Church and asked if they had heard of it. When Lance said yes, and that his aunt was a member living in the U.S., I asked if he would like to learn more about the Church. I think both Eileen and I were in shock when he said he would. That brief encounter set in motion a series of events which would change their lives and ours over the next few months.
Lance, Grace and their two daughters lived two floors below us in a small one bedroom apartment. Like many Filipinos, Lance worked nights in a call center. Grace had recently quit her job so that she could stay at home and be a full-time mother to their two girls. From what Grace told us, she was a bit rebellious during her teenage years and had a challenged relationship with her very religious, now deceased mother. She actually reminded me in some ways of my youngest daughter. The first time we visited Grace in her apartment, she expressed to Eileen and me, her desire to have a closer relationship with God.
Lance and Grace first met the sister missionaries in our home over dinner. That night they were introduced to Joseph Smith and the restoration. They were also given a Book of Mormon and invited to read from it prior to our next meeting. At our next meeting, when the sister missionary asked Grace if she had been able to read in the Book of Mormon, I began to realize what a special event I was witnessing. Grace proceeded to give us a book review of 1st and 2nd Nephi. Her account of the lessons and doctrine Nephi gives his readers let me know that Grace was not just being taught by the sister missionaries, Eileen or me; Grace was being taught by the Spirit and I was privileged to be able to witness it.
While as missionaries we love to teach families, we must never forget that true conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is an individual matter. Testimonies are achieved and the saving ordinances entered into on a one-by-one basis. Lance was progressing at rate consistent with most serious investigators. However, his wife was doing so on an accelerated basis. The family started attending church during November and in December Grace was baptized. A month later Lance was baptized.
This was my fifth time serving as a full-time missionary, but it had been over 40 years since I had baptized someone I helped find, teach and fellowship. It was a humbling and truly awesome experience. Watching Grace give her first talk in sacrament meeting and then a few weeks later give the prayer at stake conference was like my being a proud parent all over again. Even better was listening to the two of them tell me after stake conference how inspiring they thought the remarks of Elder Taniela B. Wakolo (from the Area Presidency) were.
Due to the pandemic, church meetings were discontinued in mid-March. And two weeks later we were on a plane heading home. While I felt bad about leaving President and Sister Alder half-way though our mission, it was leaving Lance and Grace that hurt the most. On the morning we were to leave, Lance and Grace came up to our apartment to say our final good-byes. As we stood there together, not able to hug or even shake hands, we were able to cry together, and we did.
You worry about your converts, praying that they will remain faithful to their covenants and active in the church. Knowing that there are no weekly church meetings and that the Metro Manila area, which includes parts of our mission, have been under strict lockdown much of the time has only increased my concerns. Fortunately, Lance and Grace have been blessed to have a good bishop and other missionaries who have stepped in to help support them in our absence. Since returning home, I have emailed Lance periodically. Words cannot fully express the joy I felt as I have heard about Lance blessing the sacrament and getting his first “ministering” assignment. I look forward to the day when Lance will baptize his daughters, and then once the temple is open again, for them to be sealed as a family together.
As Alma said, “by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass.” I have often wondered how different things might have been had I not asked that simple question and if Lance had not said “yes” when we were in the elevator that day. That brief encounter changed Lance’s life, the life of his family, and my life. I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission in the Philippines and for President Alder’s challenge to the missionaries of the Antipolo Mission to invite others to act.
