Tri-Zone Conference: Agoo, Baguio, La Trinidad

This past Wednesday, June 18 the zones of Agoo, Baguio, and La Trinidad combined at the Legarda Chapel in Baguio City for the fourth conference of the year. This was a special time for the zones to come together and receive training from our mission president, President Balledos and his wife, as well as from Elder and Sister Brown and other missionary leaders. The focus of this conference was to help the missionaries increase their faith for stronger commitments, an increase in diligence, and to overcome the challenges that missionaries face daily. Faith is the first principle of the gospel because it is the cornerstone of what all else must build off of. Without faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord's work cannot press forward. As the missionaries received these special training's, they left with a greater desire to press forward with steadfast faith in Christ. This is His work, and we have been called to proclaim His gospel. With faith, we can accomplish what ever task is put before us, and have the hope to endure through our daily trials. As the Baguio mission, we encourage all who read this blog to increase their faith in Christ, to be more committed to His gospel, and live it in our lives through our actions daily.

Baguio Zone

La Trinidad Zone

Agoo Zone

March 13, 2014: Mission Conference with Elder Ardern

This past Wednesday and Thursday, the Baguio mission was blessed to have the opportunity to hear from our Philippines Area Presidency member Elder Ian S. Ardern and his wife Sister Ardern. During this conference, four zones of the Baguio mission gathered to the Legarda chapel to listen and receive encouragement for the work in our prospective areas. Both Elder and Sister Ardern gave great encouragement for our work. Reminding us that this time on our missions will stay with us for the rest of our lives. We must try our hardest to lose ourselves in the work of salvation, to bring souls unto Christ and proclaim His gospel. Elder Ardern reminded us that once we go home, we will look back and think about our missions for the rest of our life, we don't want to look back with regret, but rather with joy and love, knowing that we worthily served the Lord. Each missionary has a turning point in their mission where they decide to work their hardest and give up their will to the Lord's will. The point of this conference was to be our turning point, to help up to recognize Satan's place of entry in our lives, and to choose now to be exactly obedient and and be the best missionary that we can be. They also gave us some very exciting news about a new goal for the Baguio mission. This month of May 2014, the Baguio mission will have 100 baptisms. This was an inspired goal for us missionaries to put our faith to the test and meet the standards that the Lord has put in place for us. This is the time for the Lord's work to be hastened, and by the end of May 2014, the Baguio mission will show forth its determination, and meet the Lord's standards for us.

Agoo Zone

Bauang Zone

Baguio Zone

La Trinidad Zone

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!

Transfers- January 2014

A new batch of missionaries have arrived! 19 new elders and 10 new sisters have come to the Philippines Baguio Mission! There were lots of fun activities planned to help these new missionaries enjoy their first few days here in San Fernando. Thursday morning, President Balledos took time to meet with each new missionary. In the meantime, the others got to enjoy some fun proselyting activities. They were introduced to 'Preaching by the way', where we take advantage of every opportunity to talk to everyone! They practiced at the chapel and then put it into reality. Each missionary had 2 mormon.org cards they were to give away in the San Fernando Plaza. They were nervous, but excited! They were told to go and preach! What is really emphasized here in the Baguio Mission is the importance of Talking To Everyone! So that is just what the missionaries did! Anyone that they saw, they went up to and started sharing the gospel. They handed out pamphlets, pass-along cards, got return appointments, contact information and started planting seeds.

Here are some of the new missionaries preaching by the way to the 'old' missionaries.

 Elders in the plaza planting some seeds!

 The activities continued and the new missionaries were sent on a mini scavenger hunt. They had to navigate themselves around the San Fernando area. They rode a jeepney from the plaza to one of the nearby malls where they were to buy ingredients for a Filipino favorite, chicken adobo!

Back at the chapel they enjoyed a nice lunch.

 The missionaries then traveled to the mission home where they got to do some laundry! In case they can't find a washing machine in their areas, they are now prepared to wash their own clothes by hand.

Now was the time when they put their cooking skills to the test! There was no complete recipe for them to follow, so the missionaries had to work together to add just the right amount of ingredients to their chicken adobo.

While waiting for the taste testers to judge, as tradition, the new missionaries got to go to the beach and walk on the sand. 1 rule: Have fun. Just don't get wet!

Afterwards, everyone came inside to have their new missionary orientation. Some of the missionaries got to bear their testimony, others participated in role plays. The skills they learned in the MTC really showed. The assistants to the president went over the key indicators and other part of mission life that each missionary would be focusing on. All was concluded with an enthusiastically sung Baguio Mission song!

Everyone then spent the evening outside enjoying a delicious dinner. Some experienced pancit and lumpia for the first time. And as sometimes custom here in the Philippines, no utensils were used. All of the missionaries really enjoyed their first few days here in Baguio Mission. President and Sister Balledos had wonderful activities planned to help them adjust and enjoy the experience of living here in the Philippines.

January 17, 2014 was transfer day! The new missionaries anxiously waited to meet their new companions. To start the day, the missionaries who would be training these new missionaries had their 'train the trainers' meeting. They were inspired by workshops given by President and the assistants. This helped them learn more about their role and responsibility of being a trainer. They learned about the resources given to them like the 12 weeks program and the Adjusting to Missionary Life booklet. The trainers and trainees all met up in the chapel later to be paired with their inspired companionships. Many new areas are opening up due to all of the new missionaries, which allows the work of the Lord to be hastened even more in these new areas.