We have eight Branches forming a District in our Mission. We have been talking to the other senior couples (two couple) and decided that we should start attending branches. We line in Molino, Bacoor, Cavite, Philippines. Molino has two big strong wards. We have loved being with these wonderful people in these wards, but they do not really need us. We asked President Tye if we could attend these branches. He was very receptive.
So this Sunday, we left early to find the Indand Branches building, not actually knowing how to get there and how the traffic would be. We had an easy trip and arrived at the building early.
This is the building. It is a house that has been converted into a church house. We parked on the lawn. Our greeter is this little woman. I do not remember her name, mainly because I could not understand what she said when she told it to me. It turns out she is not a member of the Branch, but is a visitor who attends often. Soon, President Mendoza came out to meet us. He speaks good English and has a wonderful countanence about him. We have been told a story about one of his councelors. This man was a driver and had lost his job. President Mendoza told him to go to the temple seeking help. At the temple he was aproached and asked if he was the driver who lost his job. It turned out that this person was looking for a driver. He got a job closer to home with more pay. This is what the Lord can do for us.
We have felt some of His helping hand in our activities as well. When I was being trained, my training Elder showed me how to set up the transportation for the departing missionaries. We filled out the proper requests and emailed them. Several nights later I woke up in the middle of the night stressing about this transport. I could not sleep the rest of the night. I was deeply troubled because I realized that we had not received an answer to our email. The next morning, we made some phone calls and soon found out we had emailed this request to the wrong number. We had it fixed quickly, which proved to be just in the nick of time. The results of the mistake would have been awful for the missionaries and for me. I know who's hand was in this, and I am greatful. We, meaning Sister Petersen and I, have had this sort of thing happen two more times since then. We are to the point that we know if we are troubled about something, we need to check it out quick. I do not think the Lord will let us do something that will be harmful if we will give heed to these feelings.
Back to Indang. There is no air conditioning in the building. The windows are open and the had a series of rotating fans on the ceiling and walls. This system proved to work very well. I loved it. I loved the movement of the air, and being able to look out the window into the forest. Most of the meeting was in Tagalog, so I did not understand much, but the Spirit was very strong. It was wonderful to set ther and try to follow along, and be wrapped in the Spirit. We understood each other well enought.
This is one of the ceiling fans...
And this is a parting shot of the building with many of the branch members....
I can not wait to return.
