During the last month of President and Sister Peterson's mission, they had 14 missionaries depart and 16 missionaries arrive (pictures below). Their plane was delayed, so they grabbed some McDonald's meals with chicken and rice (special to the Philippines/Asia), which the missionaries absolutely loved! It was late so they chatted for a minute, but then sent them to bed.
My mom said,
"We met with them the next day and had "Meet the President" (an introduction and slideshow). Then we had some of them tell us their stories. There are quite a few who come from situations where they are the only members in their families. The Lord is preparing these young men and young women. One of the missionaries said, "I'm the only member in my family, my dad passed away and my mom is working abroad to send money home. I've been alone for a long time. But I don't want to be dramatic about that." These are the stories of some of the people who are beginning this mission experience. Despite their backgrounds, we feel really confident about our new missionaries and all of our trainers. Our trainers are some of the missionaries that first entered the mission when we came to Laoag. We are really excited about them! We've learned how to train our trainers even better and are always tweaking things. We feel excited about this new phase. After the outgoing missionaries leave, I send emails to all their families with pictures. Some parents don't even have an email address! So there are a few things we have to work around."
Conference is broadcast a week later in the Philippines. My parents loved listening to all of the talks, and especially loved a few of the talks that, in my mom's words, "got in our face a little bit, and told us that there is no excuse!" She went on to explain that there are ordinances you have to receive in order to be with your family forever. She said, "We challenge our missionaries to be bold, and with love - get the point across."
They left to Cebu for their 2nd Mission President Seminar on April 22, they arrived at the airport at noon and were still there at 5:00 due to delays! They were served some McDonald's as compensation 😆. They are always amazed at how patient the Filipinos are, the airport was hot and there was a long line for food and the delay was ridiculous, but they were still happy. If it happened in the US, people would be "fit to be tied!".
There were 2 separate earthquakes in the Philippines while they were at the Seminar, but luckily they were no where near my parents' mission. It was crazy timing for the missions that the earthquakes did effect - none of the presidents were in their missions!
During the Mission Presidents Seminar, Elder Nielson came who is the executive director of the missionary department. One of the repeating themes was repentance. My parents said, "You can't talk about baptism without repentance! It is all connected!"
My mom said,
"It is always interesting to see how different mission presidents function - some of them are very strict and others are on the other side of the spectrum. Sometimes missionaries will try to shame other missionaries who are trying their best to be obedient by saying they are "aspiring", or trying to be a "prophet", etc. Some mission presidents send the missionaries who say such things home right away! Others say they never send anyone home. 9 of the mission presidents are leaving after the conference, and next time we meet we will have 9 new mission presidents! I will definitely reach out to them and try to comfort them!"
About the Mission Presidents Seminar, my dad said,
"This resort reminds us of being in a resort in Hawaii. You come to appreciate things like this more the longer you've been in this country. Just to have clean things and nice things is a special treat for us. It is great to be able to relax a little bit and have these seminars. Some of what we do here is talk about best ideas and how to do things better. It's been good for us. It's been almost 10 months now since we entered the mission, so the newness has worn off and now we're putting our stakes in for the long haul. This is good and refreshing. We sat by the head of the missionary department, Elder Nielson, and picked his brain." It appears that they might do smart phones here in the Philippines. in the next month or two. They will test market it in Quezon city and in Cebu and iron out the problems. Cell coverage is really weak in our mission. We are not sure how it's going to work, but we will proceed forward with what they tell us to do. We will try it! We are getting great ideas about goal setting and increasing the number of baptisms - it has been down a little bit in the Philippines and retention is still a concern. It's not a high retention area. There has been some talk about Africa and the success they are having, but I'd rather be second, because then you try harder! Now we are going to see what we can do in Laoag with retention and conversion. Then we can focus on making stakes and hopefully getting some temples up.
We were going to go to Texas Roadhouse in Manila (simple pleasures), but our plane was 6 hours late, so we missed all that! Haha! It's just part of the deal. You have to just laugh, smile, and go on! Every 6 months when they have these seminars, you get to escape your boundaries a little bit and explore, so we were a little disappointed we didn't get to explore that, but it was nothing that was too concerning. We are here for a reason, we know what it is and we just stay focused. This has been a good trip for us. It's good to take some time to get away with just your spouse, which is good advice for all of you! Take the time to be together, just the two of you.
We enjoyed hearing the testimonies of the 9 mission presidents and their wives who left. It was nice to get a perspective of where we might be one day. They are all so nice. They tell us things like "Hang in there, the Lord will strengthen your back but first he has to shape your back during the first year!", "It doesn't get easier, but your ability to handle it gets better so in a way, it does get easier!". We appreciate all that. The wife of one of the presidents going home is sister Bangal, who Elder Rosy and I baptized in 1981. She got up and bore the sweetest testimony. She ended up talking about me and how she was so thankful that I came to her house. It was really cool. It was humbling to have her pay tribute to the missionaries that came, especially since one of them just happened to be me. It's all about the little things you do. The little girl we baptized so long ago... I had no idea that I would be in a room many years later and she is thanking me in front of the area presidency. The spiritual part of the mission is something we don't share as easily because we are catching up on all the physical stuff, but it is a spiritual high. The revelation comes. The mission is really hard, but the Lord blesses us so much. The spiritual part is so much fun. It is so joyful to serve Him and have Him help you so much. It is so special, awesome, and unique."
They headed to Paoay the next day and Sister Peterson spoke at the Stake Relief Society Anniversary Event. Their next step was to view all their notes from the seminar and make a plan.
My mom said,
"When we got to the airport the next day, we had the assistants, Elder Clark and Elder Ballan, pick us up, and they were holding up the sign that we usually display for our incoming missionaries! It made us smile and was very cute. They said "We are SO glad you're back, we missed you so much!" It felt somewhat like coming home to our kids, haha! They will have to do since we can't come home to our actual children for a while. We definitely felt a need to come back and be with our missionaries after the break. It is a good feeling to be missed. We could feel the sincerity of how much they missed us!"
After that they were on to more interviews and zone conferences! They are thankful for the ammunition that the Mission Presidents Seminar provided.
My mom said,
"We are excited to give that to all of our missionaries. It's just fun. The best part is just to love each one of them, because it's not only about having them be great missionaries, but preparing them to be great people after they leave the mission. If you save a missionary here, then you've saved him for life. We love each and every one of them, and want them all to be successful!"
"We've found that some of our missionaries are trying to force the work. And we know that sharing the gospel should be a more natural, normal way of just helping and loving people. When they meet someone on the street and talk to them, oftentimes they want to quickly get an appointment, get a commitment, talk about the gospel and hand them a book of mormon. They are anxious to do this, and rightly so! However, in that process they are forgetting to get to know that person and just love that person, therefore earning the right to share our message. There are a couple of ways that we are trying this. We got these ideas from the mission presidents seminar. One is called "Happy Hour", which is obviously not going to a bar and drinking 😁, but going to a busy place in their area during the time of day that it's the busiest. They will go there for 1 hour and all they do is just get to know people. Just like sesame street, find out "Who are the people in your neighborhood?" and get to know them! We get so caught up in baptisms that the people sometimes become numbers and not people who need to be loved and served. During this hour they don't mention the church. They will have their name tags on so people know who they are, but they will go around and talk to people and ask them about themselves and look for opportunities to serve. They will never bring up the church unless that person asks them about it. We just talked to our assistants on the phone who said they tried it last night. They were so excited, because they could really feel so much love for the people, and they were so receptive! Without even trying to get appointments, they got referrals and appointments. We know this is the Savior's way of helping people to come unto him, by first loving them. It's not like our missionaries weren't loving the people before, but they were so anxious to count them and reach their goals that they forgot this important step. When we first love people, the rest will come along!"
Overall, President and Sister Peterson are loving the work, the missionaries, and the people of the Laoag mission. Sometimes we (their children) miss them a little extra (especially around Mother's Day, Father's Day, and all holidays, etc.), but we know that this is a holy and happy sacrifice for all of us. We appreciate so much all the love, support, and prayers in their behalf!
10 months down, 26 more to go! 😅
- Sadie
The pictures and captions below are from Sister Peterson 💕:
Training all the trainers for the new batch.
April outgoing missionaries.
April Incoming. All Filipinos except for one Sister from Australia. So excited about these Missionaries!
Orienting the new missionaries!
Every 6 weeks we get a pizza fix when we feed the trainers and trainees lunch. Shakeys is legitimate here in the PI!
The new missionaries meet their trainers!
Mission Leadership Seminar in Cebu. Our accommodations were Sobrang Maganda!
Visiting with President and Sister Clark - the new Manila MTC President.
The Seminar meeting room - where we are taught and inspired!
Sisters breakout session. Sister Nielson spoke. Her husband is the Executive Director of the Missionary Department and he previously served as the Area President over the Philippines.
A game before the meeting began.
All the mission presidents wives, the Area Presidency wives and Sister Nielson.
Elder Nielson is the Executive Director over the Missionary Department. He is from Burley Idaho and used to serve as the Area Authority over Idaho as well as the Area President over the Philippines.
We only get to go to the Temple 2 times a year. Of course, this is 2 times more than our missionaries get to go during their missions. The closest Temple is a 10 hour drive and out of our mission boundaries. Thank goodness for the Seminar that gives us a chance to go. Oh how we miss having a Temple close by!
On our way back from the Mission President’s Seminar in Cebu, we had enough time during our layover in Manila to go see the MTC there, visit the MTC Dentist and see the Manila Temple.
Another Tender Mercy - This is Elder Tanedo. He is one tough missionary and fought his way to being obedient and an excellent missionary despite many things that were stacked against him; no support from his family who constantly laden him with their problems throughout his mission, and also peer pressure from other Filipino missionaries who gave him a hard time when he tried to do what was right. After he returned home from his mission he was really struggling - he came to the Temple to find some peace and it just so happened to be the exact time Dad and I were walking around the Temple grounds - a matter a few minutes. We embraced him and tears came to us all. He said he really needed to see us that day...
During our layover in Manila we went to the Mall of Asia (It is the largest mall in all of Asia). And, look what we found! Our favorite treat! We thought we would not have one of these for 3 years! Now if only we could get some of that Apple Bread Pudding from Epi’s. There is a reason for that third one... they did not have our favorite flavors of Reeses and Heath, so we had to try some different ones and wanted to make sure we got one we liked ;)
This is the view from the Claveria Elder’s new apartment! Almost made Dad and I want to move in! They have been living with rats and when they were able to get the landlord to reduce the rent from 20,000 pesos a month to 10, 000 ($200) it was a done deal!
We just happened to be doing interviews in Sanchez Mira on the exact day of Sister Gardner’s birthday and so we were invited to the birthday dinner 🥳
