Elder and Sister Whiting in the Philippines: Pisapungan Reprise

It's still brutally hot, with no relief in sight. President Clark has cautioned our missionaries to be wise in working in the heat so as to not endanger their health. The young missionaries continue to be our heroes.

It was a routine week of office duties and errands to run. We are preparing for a mission tour by Elder and Sister Allen D. Haynie of the Seventy on May 3-5. We are anxious and excited for this opportunity. Elder Haynie will do training, preside over zone conferences, and interview missionaries and new members.

Yesterday we again made our way to Pisapungan--we finally know how to properly spell it--to witness no less than EIGHT baptisms; seven convert baptisms and one child of record from a newly reactivated family. We again parked at the end of the pavement and walked in. This time we were ahead of the branch members, so Sister Whiting didn't have any "help" down the path. It worked out much better. The last time she hiked in, she knew that wearing dress shoes would be a disaster, so she wore flip flops instead, and that turned out to be as bad of a choice. She had let her pride not allow her to wear the hiking shoes she had brought on the mission with her dress. Yesterday, she swallowed her pride and forgot about looking fashionable and wore the shoes. What a difference a good pair of shoes makes! And no one cared!

The baptisms were amazing. To give opportunity to as many as he could, the branch president arranged for six baptizers; which included the full time missionaries and the brother that Elder Whiting baptized last month. It was so great to see him perform two baptisms. We were very proud of him. There are many more being taught in this little community and many future baptisms scheduled. They are literally flocking to the church.

After the baptism, we started hiking back to our car, and had gotten only part way when a member caught up to us on his trike and insisted on giving us a ride out to the car. Sister Whiting got in the sidecar, and Elder Whiting sat on the back of the motorbike. It was all he could do to hang on and the ride in the sidecar was bone jarring as he bounced over rocks and ruts in the road. But we appreciated it because it saved us a half hour of walking in the heat. They really will do just about anything for the couple missionaries, and they were amazed that we hiked in all by ourselves "at our age". Haha!

Last night, we treated the Office Elders and Assistants to tacos at our house. One of the American elder's family had sent him taco seasoning and we volunteer to fix tacos for him. Between the local grocery store and the wonderful S&R, we were able to get most of the ingredients, right down to the taco shells, so it was pretty authentic. It was the two Filipino Elders first taste of tacos, and they are fans! We had made a lot, and when dinner was over, they had eaten almost all of it. It was awesome! We found Dr. Pepper at S&R and they were thrilled to have some. It was a great evening, and at the end they left us with a wonderful message. Elder Branzuela goes home to Davao City in Mindanao in a couple of weeks, so we are glad he got to experience tacos!

We leave you today with thoughts from Elder Neil L. Anderson's talk from October 2015 Conference Priesthood Session, "Faith is Not by Chance but by Choice", and encourage you all to reread it and ponder its powerful message: "Faith is a principle of power, important not only in this life but also in our progression beyond the veil. By the grace of Christ, we will one day be saved through faith on His name. The future of your faith is not by chance but by choice. ... How we live our lives increases or diminishes our faith ... be relentless in protecting your faith ... Faith never demands an answer to every question but seeks the assurance and courage to move forward, sometimes acknowledging, 'I don't know everything, but I do know enough to continue on the path of discipleship.'"

Mahal Kita
Elder and Sister Whiting