Graduation, Mission and Marriage

Paniqui, Tarlac

Philippines

4 April 2010

What a special week this has been. We were invited to two 6^th grade graduation ceremonies – one in Gerona for Kimberly and in one in Cuyapo for Angelique. There is no “middle school” in the Philippines so after the 6^th grade they go directly to High School graduating from there at age 16. Then, if they are lucky and have the funds, they can go to college. Education is very important to Filipinos. Both girls were graduating with “high” honors.

The graduation in Cuyapo was the most interesting – besides 6^th graders they included the kindergarten classes so in total they graduated about 100 students. They gave diplomas, speeches, awards, more speeches and recognition for almost everything you can think of. The hot afternoon sun caused the audience to seek shad wherever they could as the sun moved across the sky. We arrived as it was ready to start and had to leave two hours later for another appointment and they were still giving out awards.

Friday night was a special occasion for us, we were invited to witness the “setting apart” of 5 wonderful young missionaries from the Paniqui District. We spend our Sundays in the branches of these young men and love their dedication and spirit. The next day they entered the Manila MTC for a few weeks of training before going to their missions – two to Manila and three to Naga, Philippines. What great young men they are with strong testimonies of the gospel and a desire to humbly serve the Lord.

On Saturday we were invited to our first “Filipino” wedding. The ceremony itself only lasted about three minutes but the rest of the program lasted two hours. Plus the wedding was an hour late getting started. This is considered normal for most Filipino activities. We love the young couple getting married, Christian and Jennalyn, and wish them every happiness in their new life together.

We were invited as honored guests to attend the wedding reception at the home of the bride. The bride and groom rode with us to her home in our car – the only car in the procession of tricycles and jeepneys. When we arrived they had a crowd of maybe 150 people all seated under canopy tents in their garden area. We were seated at the head table and treated very special – Jennalyn has been a special friend of MBs since we arrived here in the Philippines and it was demonstrated at the reception. The young couple are so in love and we are happy for them.

Elder NB & Sister MB

March Moments

TarlacCity, Tarlac

Philippines

21 March 2010

March has been a busy and productive month. The high-light for us was the marriage of our daughter Holly and Tom Clark in the Salt Lake Temple. We could not be there physically but we were there in spirit and felt happy all day. It helped that we received cell phone photos soon after the ceremony. We are so proud and happy for them as they start their life together.

This month our assignment has been to train all the SEC’s (Stake Employment Committee) in the Angeles Mission – six stakes and seven districts. Working directly with ERS Angeles Volunteer Center managers, we completed the training and also advised them on ways to improve their reporting. We are also charged with helping the committees register on ldsjobs.org. This has been a challenge because of the lack of availability of personal computers. We have enjoyed visiting stakes and districts and will return periodically to see how they are doing and what we can do to help them.

Like most “Senior” couples, we have the responsibility to inspect the apartments of the young Elders and Sisters in both Paniqui and Tarlac Zones – fourteen apartments. The Sister’s apartments are always very clean and tidy. The Elders need a little more encouragement but generally they do well. One Sister complained because the termites were eating her bed frame. One Elder said that they have “ghosts” that live upstairs. (Of course he was smiling as he told us this).

Our mission wanted to re-open an area (about an hour’s drive from our house) that had been closed for three years and asked NB to find and prepare a house for missionaries. We found a house then contracting with a local brother to make repairs and paint the inside. We were happy when all work was completed and the local branch finished the final cleaning. The house was occupied by two elders during this last transfer and they are happy to be in such a nice house.

This week we are helping at the new ERC in Dagupan – we have been re-assigned to this office from Makati. They are planning the launch and grand opening in mid April and we will be hand-delivering personal invitations to local community and government officials. The ERC managers and volunteer staff are so excited to have this office open and we are also excited to be part of this new office!

Elder NB & Sister MB

Career Workshop

Tarlac City

Tarlac, Philippines

28 February 2010

We are enjoying our assignment as Employment Specialists. Sometimes we wonder about the sweet and fun people we teach, we don’t often get to hear the end of the story – if they were successful or not.

Last Feb. 2009, we were asked by our Employment Resource Center (ERC) office to help teach the Career Workshop to about 1,000 graduating seniors from the Angeles University Foundation. It took us and another team about 4 weeks. AUF is basically a Catholic university with classes beginning with prayer at the start of each day. We were not sure how the students would feel about “Elder and Sister Costley”. We tried to make the workshop fun and tailored to the needs of someone graduating in a week! Among other things, the workshop prepares them for job interviews with confidence building exercises and mock interviews. One thing that we left in our presentation was all the quotes from our prophets with scriptures to match that we normally use when we are teaching members. It was so wonderful to watch their faces when Elder Costley read this quote from President Hinckley, “The Lord would want you to be successful, He would. You are his sons and daughters. He has the same kind of love and ambition for you that your earthly parents have. They want you to do well and you can do it.” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 1997, p.614). Their faces would just light up, it was a great sight. We encouraged them to involve the Lord every step of the way in the job seeking process.

As you can well imagine, we had a lot of fun working with these well educated students – nurses, medical technicians, media students, computer technicians, teachers, etc. We enjoyed talking with them after class and wished them all good luck.

Last week we were in a mall in Angeles and a young lady said “Sister Costley, do you remember me last year from AUF?” She was so cute and she went on to say that she got a job teaching English to Korean students. She thanked us so sweetly and we were so happy for her. It just made our whole day.

On Sat. Feb. 6th, we gave the Career Workshop to a group of young adults here in the Tarlac Stake. Then last week we received notification that one of the young men attending the workshop was starting a job in Manila the following day. We were so happy for him. These young adults are so sharp, we just love them and we feel blessed to be here. Once in a while we like to hear the “end of the story”.

Elder NB & Sister MB

Taught by Children

Tarlac City,

Tarlac,

Philippines

15 February 2010

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful Stake Conference in Tarlac. It was a very spiritual and uplifting meeting although it was 3 hours long – sitting on hard wooden benches even made it seem longer. One of the speakers told about a special boy named Jake, who was intent on honestly practicing the principle of tithing that he had just been taught in Primary. Jake’s mother gave him 10 pesos each day as he left for school for his expenses. He lived too far from school to come home for lunch so the money was to be used to buy lunch and he also needed to save 1 peso to pay for a boat ride to bring him across the river at the end of the day. Jake decided to pay his tithing from the 10 pesos he received each day (10 pesos is about $0.20 cents in the U.S.). When Jake would get home from school, he would proudly give his mother the 1 peso he had saved and she would hold it until he could pay his tithing to the Bishop on Sunday.

One day at school, Jake realized that someone had stolen his 10 peso coin. He was so sad, he hadn’t missed one day of giving his tithing to his mom. He felt in his pocket and discovered he still had 1 peso that he had not spent the previous day. After school, Jake was very late getting home. His mother was starting to worry when Jake arrived, hot and tired. He told his mom about the stolen coin but instead of taking the boat across the river with his only remaining peso, he had decided to walk the long way home so that he could still pay his tithing! Did we mention – Jake is 6 years old.

Our children can teach us many things by example if we will but watch and listen to them after we teach them correct principles.

Another uplifting story was about a young man who is now eleven. Two years ago his area was closed to missionary work due to a shortage of missionaries. The elders were removed but the small branch continued under the direction of the branch president. A month ago the mission was able to reopen the town and sent two elders back to teach the people. The first Sunday the missionaries attended the branch this young man eagerly approached them and asked if he could be baptized. He told them he had been attending church since the elders left and had not missed one Sunday in two years. The missionaries were so excited about him and asked him if they could meet his parents – now the whole family is being taught the gospel.

Elder Lesa pictured above with Pres. Puzey is one of the missionaries working with the family.

Elder NB & Sister MB

New ERC in Dagupan

Dagupan,

Pangasinan,

Philippines

31 January 2010

We started the week at the mission home teaching the Career Workshop to the Angeles departing missionaries. We enjoy the opportunity to visit with them as they are leaving the mission and a chance to talk to them about continuing their education and entering the workforce again. We love their enthusiasm and their strong testimonies of the gospel.

On Wednesday we drove two hours north to Dagupan where the church is building a new ERC, (Employment Resource Center). We met with the new manager and assistant manager (our new bosses) and their staff of about 20 volunteers who are so excited to get the center up and running. We have been shifted from the Makati (Metro Manila) ERC because we live in the northern part of Luzon. An ERC plays a vital role in helping the members find employment. We appreciate our callings as Welfare Missionaries and enjoy working with these centers and the wonderful and dedicated members that volunteer their time to serve the Lord.

On Saturday morning early, Elder NB attended a Coordinating Council Meeting (CCM) at the Tarlac Stake Center. Elder Augustine, an Area Seventy, conducted the meeting for stake and district presidents from twelve units. He asked Elder NB to speak about the new ERC and the services provided for the members benefit and invited the presidents to use any or all of the services.

Later in the afternoon we attended the Saturday sessions of the Angeles Philippines Stake Conference. Angeles is an hour south of Tarlac. In the priesthood session, Elder NB was asked to talk about the new ERC office with its services. The group in attendance was the stake and ward leadership who can schedule the training for large or small groups in their units.

Sister MB was able to attend the Stake Relief Society training session. She loved it! The sisters were so friendly and they were enjoying each other so much. They were learning great leadership skills but they were having so much fun doing it. It was great to visit with them and just enjoy being Relief Society sisters together, no matter where you are in the world!

Elder NB & Sister MB

Costley Girls Visit

Mount Pinatubo,

Zambales Mountains,

Luzon

19 January 2010

We had three of our four children (Camille, Melissa and Holly) visit us here in the Philippines for ten days and it was a very special time. We were able to introduce them to two branches of the church and some of the very unique sights of nature in Luzon. They also saw the very busy city of Manila (we attended the Manila Temple) and saw much of the country provinces of the north.

Our ecclesiastical assignment is in the Paniqui District so during the two Sundays of their visit we went to the largest branch in Gerona and the smallest in Cuyapo. Both turned out to be very uplifting for our girls and they were very impressed by the love offered them by everyone in attendance. The Gerona choir sang two musical numbers during the sacrament program that touched the hearts of us all. The teaching of the basic gospel and the personal testimonies during the block by the members in Cuyapo was very uplifting. The girls were asked to bear their testimonies both Sundays. Holly also taught a “Sharing Time” in the Gerona Primary, the children loved it and Holly was amazed at their great “English” skills.

During the week we took a trip into the mountains of Ifugao to Banaue to see the 4,000 year old rice terraces – one of the wonders of the world. We traveled in a Jeepney riding along a one lane rough mountain road so we could see a spectacular view of the rice terraces and visit the small native community of Bangaan. We walked down many steps to the village to see the native culture and how they prepare and plant the rice.

Another day we took an open jeep ride into the Zambales Mountains to the now quiet volcano of Mount Pinatubo. The jeep ride was over an hour long as we crossed the river many times before climbing into the mountain and parking the jeeps so we could begin our hike to that beautiful crystal clear lake in the crater at the top. We had lunch and spent time by the lake and visited with our local guide (a member of the church) to hear stories of what it was like to live near the mountain when the volcano erupted in 1991.

We had a great visit and enjoyed introducing our children to the Filipino culture and the loving people of this humble country. It was short but helped us renew our commitment to the work we have been called to do here in Northern Luzon.

Elder NB & Sister MB

2010 - Its a New Year

Rosales, Pangansinan
Philippines

3 January 2010

Today, Jan.3, 2010 was a great Fast Sunday. After attending our “Paniqui” District meetings we came home for a quick dinner and then drove about 2 hours to the City of Rosales in Pangasinan to present our “Prosperity” Fireside (subject: temporally taking care of yourself by saving for the future). Rosales was one of the cities devastated in the last typhoon because a dike broke and most of the entire city was flooded. As we have stated previously, Filipinos are very resilient and nothing gets them down for very long.

After we presented our information, the Rosales Bishop got up to close the meeting and told of his boyhood, losing his father at the age of 6 and his self reliance. At this young age, before he became a member of the church, he knew he had to take care of himself because no one else was available to help him. He and his friends would have contests to see who could sell the most breakfast bakery goods each day. He would get up at 4:30 a.m. collect his baked items and sell them on the street until 7 a.m. then he would go to school for the day. By buying and selling he was able to put himself through elementary, high school and college. He is still in the buying and selling business with his wife and they are able to support their family and be self reliant. He was the Stake President and now the Bishop of his ward. He has not forgotten the Lord since his baptism at age eleven and not in all his success.

One of our beloved Tarlac Sister Missionaries had told us the story of her youth when her father left their family of 6 children. All of the children (and mother) had to find some form of employment to provide for their daily needs. She, being the only girl in the family, learned to make a fried banana kind of dessert to sell every morning before she went to school. Last New Year’s eve she taught Sister MB how to make the dessert and shared this story. The little youngest brother (about 6) tried to fish daily so the family would have something to eat. Not knowing how to fish or how to assemble the little bamboo fishing trap he needed, the Barangay men laughed and made fun of his humble trap. Because his trap would usually fall apart, he kept trying and trying and after awhile mastered a technique and proudly provided fish for their family. Eventually he got so good that he began to sell his traps! Sister Igcas didn’t go on her mission until she was 28 because she worked so she could support her brothers on their missions. Her story is typical of many Filipinos, don’t give up! Don’t stop trying! (In above photo Sis. Igcas is in orange on the far left).

There are two wards that meet in the Rosales Chapel every Sunday with a set of missionaries in each ward. As we arrived we visited with one set of young missionaries, a Filipino and Elder Hales from Utah, he has only been in the Philippines 20 days! After our meeting, we met another set of missionaries, a Filipino and Elder Hales from California! (they are not related). It was so cute because each Filipino Elder was about 4’9” and about 90 lbs. and each Elder Hale was at least 6’. Quite a contrast but great companions!

Elder NB & Sister MB