Lingayan Capitol & WWII and Baptisms - To every thing there is a Season

Dear Family and Friends,

In the Bible, Ecclesiastes chapter 3 it states:

  1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

  Time is going short for our Mission President Monahan and his wife to be returning to their home July 1st, after their 3 year Mission service.

 

  We had a President and Sr. Couples outing to  Lingayan, the Capital of our province of Pangasinan.  Our Mission is within the borders of Pangasinan.  We had visited the capitol area  before, so some of our pics are of with them today and another day we went by ourselves, so some pics have us wearing different clothes.

There was a World War II Memorial there.  President Monahan's Father was in the Philippines during the War, and so President Monahan wanted to serve in the Military there also.  He and Sister Monahan met here in the Philippines, married, and returned home to  USA where they were sealed in the Temple.

   Elder Roberts served in Vietnam in 1970-71. It was humbling for him as the Philippines is right across this same South China Sea.
 

   
     A time of war, and a time of peace.

  Elder Shamrell views the plane.

  
Elder Roberts tried the propeller.

The WWII Tank was impressive.
 

 There was a display pictorial Museum.

  
We do Missionary work in San Fabian,

   
and Mangaldan,

 
 In WWII, the Americans came to liberate the Philippines
 
This is a painting...

How sad War is - with pain and casualties. 
A time to mourn

   a time to build up 

   We entered the beautiful Lingayan Capitol Building.





   We gave an Articles of Faith card to a Guard in the Capitol Bldg.  We asked if he would like to hear a short message about our Church from our young Missionaries.  He agreed.  
   We found he was the brother of the man who had driven us from Manila to our Urdaneta Mission on the 2nd day of our Mission last year.  We felt honored to tour the beautiful rooms.  11

   This is the Governor's office.

Elder Roberts was a former Mayor of our hometown Wales, Utah, USA.  He tried out the Vice Governors chair.


 Here is one of our last Pictures of us all together... us-Elder and Sister Roberts, Elder and Sister Shamrell, and President and Sister Monahan.  
    Elder and Sister Shamrell go home June 15. President and Sister Monahan will be going home July 1st.

The Beautiful Philippines Flag.

   On Mondays, our P-day we Skype with our 14 children, clean our 2-story, 3 bedroom apt, and go shopping for the week.   
  As Missionaries, we have "rules" to do Missionary work on Tues.-Sat.  Only on Mondays, can we "tour" the Mission area.

 We decided one Monday to go up the left peninsula coast to Bolinao.  (We live in Calasiao - not shown here, but it is close to Dagupan)

We live in Luzon, in the area below Baguio.

 

  Each town has its own flavor.

Labrador

Sual downtown ..



We drove past the Alaminos Town Hall.

  The Bani Town Hall and watermelon intersection...

 
 
Elder Roberts was a bit concerned about this sign..............   Weak Bridge ? !

    As we entered Bolinao area, It started to rain.  We had hopes it would work out ok today.

   And upon arriving, we saw the Bolinao Town Hall.

 
 Interesting boats
 

 It was low tide with unusual rocks

   A time to cast away stones, and a time
   to gather stones together;

Very   LARGE    Rocks  !

A pretty Bolinao town

With   kind of   resorts.  

 We turned the corner and up the hill, a Beautiful little Lighthouse was in view.  It was built in 1905.



Some very happy experiences,,,
      a time to laugh,   a time to embrace

 

    and some very solemn experiences,,

A time to weep, and a time to mourn, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to keep silence

   Elder Roberts remembered  quietly his 1970-71 Vietnam War service across this same South China Sea, leaving his young wife, Anita and their 2 month old Annalyn.
  In 2009, Elder Roberts wife Anita died of Cancer.



And a time to heal... 
 We -Elder and Sister Roberts were married in 2011 the in the Salt Lake Temple.

   Now from March 2014 - September 2015, we have been called by a Prophet of the Lord here in the Philippines to:
     Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.

With some of our experiences, we have been able to see the fruit of our labors.  We had visited Delia, a faithful member, several times at home and Church.

  
A time to speak

One time we visited Delia's Mother.  A young girl Aileen - that we seemed to recognize - was living at this her Grama's home.  We visited and asked how old she was and about her baptism.  
   Aileen said she had not been baptized, which surprised us because she attends Church with her Grama and her Aunt Delia.
   We asked why, they said they didn't think she could be, her Mother was abroad, and Father was inactive.
  
  We made a referral to the Missionary Elders to give her the Missionary Lessons.
     Her Mother and Father gave permission, noting his Mother was her Guardian.



We were thrilled on the day Aileen was baptized.

and a time to laugh 



On the same day, a boy was baptized also.  We had visited his Father before and had invited the family to come back to Church.

 We are grateful for these experiences on our Mission and in our life.  We thank  thee our Heavenly Father for them

Love,
Elder and Sister Roberts