My New Calling

I was given a calling to serve in the Ward just a few weeks ago. I am now the 1st Counselor in the Young Men Presidency. I was a bit shell shocked at first, not because I don't know much about the YM organization - I have spent over 4 years serving in that organization - but because many of the young men don't speak a word of English. I think it will be a great calling and I couldn't have asked for a better group of boys.

My first Sunday meeting with the boys was combined in the Bishops office. About 12 boys ranging from 12 - 18, me, the YM President, and the Bishop sat in a room that was about 10 ft by 8 ft in size. It was a tight fit. I was expecting the Bishop to be giving the lesson because the YM organization had not functioned for more than three months. I was in for a suprise when the Bishop turned to his 1st assistant and the young man conducted the quorum meeting. The young man then turned the time over to a deacon of 13 to give the lesson. John Balledos gave the lesson out of the manual. I was floored. I knew that this is how things are suppose to work in the YM, but in all my years as Young Men's President and as Counselor I never saw it function like this.

John did an amazing job with the lesson including asking questions - or course no one answered, they are still boys just like in the US - he read the stories out of the manual and finished with his testimony. He also spoke about 90% English for my benefit and for another member of the quorum that is from Austrailia. It was amazing. I did find out a few days later that John is the son of the Stake President, but that didn't weaken my impression of this young man and the organization.

The Bishop is very close to the boys and keeps them on their toes. In order to pass the sacrament you must wear a long-sleeve white shirt, tie, and have your hair cut like a missionary. This is the standard and expectation. The amazing part is that the boys seem to thrive on the structure and requirements.

I was happy to learn that there is no scouting program in the Church here in Cebu. That sounds bad to say, but I believe it is easier to focus on the Duty to God and role of the young man as a holder of the priesthood instead of fretting on whether he tied the knot or weaved the basket correctly. We only have two activities a month, which is also nice.

Our first activity was a duty to God sporting activity that involved swimming. Guess who has a swimming pool?! We spent 2 hours with 10 of the boys learning how to float on their backs for at least 2 minutes, how to rescue someone drowning with a rope, stick, and swimming in after them. They also had to swim laps in the end. The boys did great. There were even three boys that couldn't swim that learned very fast and participated in all the activites.

We then had the young women show up and we swam and ate lunch. After lunch we played volleyball with water ballons and towels and also shot water balloons with our water-balloon launcher that we brought from home. It was fun to see the kids have so much fun. Many of the kids had never seen water balloons before and most had never seen a water-balloon launcher. They don't sell water balloons here - unfortunately we used all that we brought. Most everyone got in the pool. There were a few of the girls that hovered in the house the entire time. They said that the reason that they didn't want to get in the pool was that they, "didn't want to get brown." Isn't it funny how in the US everyone wants to be tan and brown and here in Cebu everyone wants to be white. Crazy!

Here are some pictures of our fun! The Bishop Suan is the one standing next to me.