General Authorities Visit Baguio

Saturday February 22, 2014, the Baguio Stake had the opportunity to be visited by three leaders of the church. Sister Linda K. Burton, President of the General Relief Society, Sister Carl F. McKonkie, First Counselor of the General Young Women's Organization, and Elder Brent H. Nielson, Philippines Area President came to Baguio for a special devotional this month. For their visit, Sister Burton and Sister McKonkie performed a special leadership training for all of those sisters in the ward Relief Societies, as well as the Young Women's organizations here in the Baguio Stake.
Afterwards, there was held a special devotional for all the women of the stake. This was a special time for these women to be uplifted and reminded of their divine role as daughters of our Heavenly Father. Elder Nielson reminded the women of their special nature as daughters, and how it is our duty to rescue the wandering sheep to bring them back in Christ's fold.
Sister McKonkie taught that after our baptism, the road is not finished. We must continually endure to the end and always be coming unto Christ (Mornoi 10:32). As baptized members of this true church, we must continually be repenting and renwing our covenants through worthily partaking of the sacrament each week. Sister McKonkie taught us the proper "High 5" or five ways that we can come unto Christ. Firstly, pray everyday, morning and night. Second, to read the scriptures everyday for at least five minutes. Third, attend sacrament meeting every week and partake of the sacrament worhtily in order to renew our baptismal covenants. Fourth, serve one another. This is the principle of perfection, and each time we have an opportunity to serve, we have an opportunity to stand in place of the Savior and serve Him. Fifth, always to be worhty to have a temple recommend, and to attend the temple as much as possible. By doing the "High 5", we can come unto Christ and be perfected in Him.
Sister Burton then shared with the women a way that we can remember these promises that we made with Sister McKonkie to always do the "High 5". She taught  them this little song, "Before you make a promise, consider well it's importance, then when made, engrave it upon your heart". This song is true, each time that we make a promise with the Lord, we must do all in our power to keep that promise. Sister Burton reminded the women of thier need to raise a righteous posterity in these trialous times that we live in. She gave us the example of the stripling warriors in the scriptures who learned from the example of their mothers. Gospel teachings start in the home, so it is the duty of women and mothers to raise their children in righteousness and teach them to always follow the ways of the Lord.
The Baguio Stake was truly blessed with the presence of these General Authorities to remind them of their divine design and help them to continually endure on the path of righteousness.

Baguio Zone Interview

Each zone gets an opportunity to be interviewd by President Balledos a few times each year. This month was the start of mission interviews, for the new Baguio Mission. For the year of 2014, our first and primary emphasis has been on obedience. We know that through exact obedience, miracles are wrought. So with this in mind, President Balledos' primary emphasis during the zone training and interview was about obedience. All of the missionaries had to take a special quiz designed by President about obedience in order to earn our lunch for the day. President loves fill in the blanks, and this was the set up of the quiz. It was a bit harder than the missionaries had anticipated, but becaue President Balledos is so kind, he still allowed all of us to have our lunch, even for those missionaries who didn't quite meet the mark on the quiz.
Throughout the morning, the missionaries were given workshops by the zone leaders, the sister training leaders, and the assistants to the President. While the workshops were going on, missionaries were called to have their interview with President Balledos, reporting about how they would try and help their areas and what they needed to improve in order to hasten the work of salvation. This zone training got the missionaries re-animated and inspired to go out and work hard to bring blessings to thier respective areas and help to find those ready and prepared for the gospel in their lives!

Happy Birthday to Elder Comer, Elder Fulavai, Elder Gang, Elder Partsch, and Sister Bagasina!