Church Today

We finally attended our own ward today, the Talamban Ward. The building was nice and clean and the Sacrament hall was fully air conditioned (Air Con). I did think it was ironic that the Elders stayed in the Air Con room the full three hours while the rest of the members took on the heat of the day in non-Air Con rooms. The Bishop did announce that the rest of the building will have Air Con installed and working for next week, so that will be nice.

The Talamban Ward has the most number of "Foreigner Families", four, on the Island according to James Fantone who is in the Stake Presidency of a different stake. We have only met two of the other three - we being the fourth. There is Greg Wood who is from Nebraska with his Filipino wife. More on Greg in a moment. And then there is Bro. Mathews whose from Austrailia who is married to a Filipino that is actually Cynthia Fantone's sister. From what I can tell, we are the only full foreigner family.

The Talamban Ward is full of leaders. From what I gathered the Stake President and his 2nd Counselor are in the ward, several high council members, and a few stake leaders are all in our ward. The ward does have its challenges. Below are the numbers that were talked about in Elders Quorum:

283 Families
26 Home Teaching Visits Made in March (Less than 10%)
458 Members
140 Average Attendence
32 Melchisedec Holders
24 Melchisedec Holders Attending
22 C0nverts in 2007
11 Converts Attending

Looks like there is some work to do!

The Stake President came up to me after the Sacrament meeting and asked if we are willing to serve with the Cebuano people. We enthusiastically said, "Yes!" We are excited to serve these people and help in God's work in this part of the world. We requested our records so I expect that we will have callings soon. Jill taught Primary today because the teacher didn't show up and was asked to teach next week too.

Greg Wood bore his testimony today. Greg stands out more than any American that we have seen here. Greg is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 380 pounds (or more). He is a big guy. Greg is actually a convert of only 3 months and he just was ordained an Elder last week at Stake Conference. Greg shared his conversion story in his testimony. Growing up in Nebraska he had an LDS friend that invited him to some church meetings and activities. This exposure to the church impressed him. As an adult, he and his wife lived in Thailand for over six years. He remembered his experience as a boy and searched for more information about the church on the Internet. Greg found the LDS.org site and requested some information. The Church did not have missionaries in Thailand where he was, so Greg requested a Book of Mormon and the Restoration DVD. He read the book and fell in love with the message. He knew after reading it that there was truth to be found in this religion. When he and his wife moved to Cebu he sought out the church and began studying with the missionaries and now he is an Elder of the church. What a powerful testimony that he gave. I love the feeling of seeing someone touched by the gospel and so enthusiastic about finding truth.

Greg and his family are coming over tomorrow for Family Home Evening. I hope that we can be good friends and that we can help him prepare to go to the temple in one year.