EVEY
I am so excited and humbled at the same time, to know that the Lord has called us to serve in the Cabanatuan Mission in the Philippines. We have talked about serving a mission since we were married 47 years ago. In my patriarchal blessing, that I received when I was 16 years old it says I will be a missionary companion unto my husband
I love the Lord and want to serve him and the people of the Philippines.
We were nearly ready – just a chest X-ray away – in March 2020, when Lockdown was put in place. Then in November 2021, just as President Cope was about to submit our papers something arose in the family and we jointly decided to postpone our mission to deal with the situation.
In March I was listening to Elder Holland’s talk from October 2021 General Conference the Spirit and his words hit me with such force.
“To those who requested permission to bury a deceased parent or to at least say goodbye to other family members, Jesus’s reply was demanding and unequivocal. “Leave that to others,” He said. “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” When difficult things are asked of us, even things contrary to the longings of our heart, remember that the loyalty we pledge to the cause of Christ is to be the supreme devotion of our lives.”
I felt the Spirit so strongly confirming to me that we must go. The cause of Christ is my supreme devotion, I want to serve him and obey the promptings of the Spirit.
I know our family will be blessed while we are gone.
TONY
As a young 20-year-old serving in the British Army, my life was totally changed by a “chance” meeting with the elders in Germany. The Lord blessed my life right from the start and I quickly found my eternal companion and we then raised our family. It has been our plan and dream to serve in our later years.
I wanted to experience a call to serve where the Lord wanted us to go and what he wanted us to do. This is exactly how our sons and daughter experienced. This has now happened for me and I am overwhelmed, but wonderfully happy to accept a call to serve exactly where the Lord knows we are needed and to where inspired brethren have assigned us.
Due to COVID and other reasons, we seemed destined not to serve as submitting our papers was thwarted by various things over the past few years. However, we trust the Lord to take care of all our other worries and concerns. We recognise the Lord’s hand in our lives over the years and continue to trust in His promises.
Over the years I have met saints from the Philippines and know them to be humble and faithful. They are also excited for our call as some have relatives in the area in which we will be serving. We also have other member friends who have served in the Philippines and we draw on their experience and testimony as we continue to prepare.
I look forward to serving with and learning from the wonderfully faithful saints in the Philippines. I know that my future mission experiences will only serve to strengthen my testimony of Our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, His sacrifice and atonement, of His restored church, its leaders and my faithful brothers and sisters.