Cutler Mission to Dumaguete

It's hard to believe, at least for us, that our 18-month mission is drawing to a close. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Philippines, even though there were challenges of all types and descriptions.  We will miss the young missionaries the most. Of course, we will miss the senior missionaries and our mission leaders, but the young men and young women we've served with are truly exceptional. My hat is off to each one of them for deciding to serve the Lord and dedicate their time and talents to helping people come to love the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will miss the Filipino people, too. They are some of the kindest, warmest, and most humble people in the world, and they treat Sister Cutler and I like royalty. We didn't get to know many Filipinos on a personal level due to our assignment managing young missionary apartments and supporting the mission office, but those we got to know well will be friends forever. We especially loved reconnecting with church members t...

Hello! It's been a while since I posted anything, but that's mostly because there is nothing dramatically new going on. (Which is actually a good thing!) The mission runs on six-week transfer cycles, which create a scheduling pattern like this: Transfer week is the first week of the transfer cycle. This is the week when missionaries move in, out, and within the mission. On the Monday of transfer week, we host a nice dinner and Family Home Evening for missionaries who have completed their mission. On Tuesday, departing missionaries fly home. On Thursday, new missionaries arrive. On Friday, current missionaries who are being transferred relocate to their new assignments. The second week of the transfer cycle is usually fairly quiet. (Although sometimes MLC is held this week. See below.) The third week is when Mission Leadership Conference is held. This is for all young mission leaders (about 25 or 30 in total), along with President and Sister Reyes. MLC occurs monthly, so it does...

The video below contains an address delivered by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to new Mission Presidents. It is accompanied by scenes depicting the Savior's final hours on earth. We show it to new missionaries when they arrive in Dumaguete and I want to share it with you. My dear family and friends, I know God lives. Jesus is the Christ, and He brought salvation to the world. I know this to be true.

Today's post is pretty short, but it provides more detail about our primary focus, which is providing safe and secure housing for the young missionaries. We currently have 140 young missionaries living in 53 homes or apartments. We try to visit each apartment (I'll use the term apartment for the rest of this post, even though most missionaries live in standalone houses) once every six weeks, and we've mostly been successful with that cadence. As you've seen from previous posts, we fill the truck each morning with the supplies needed for each stop, although sometimes we leave more things than we planned to at an apartment in the morning, which shortchanges an apartment in the afternoon. We shop again at night (or early the next morning) to replenish our supplies and do it all over again the next day. Here are two collages showing a nice apartment in Bayawan, which is home to four sister missionaries. This apartment is on the nicer end of a wide spectrum. Notice the couch...

Today is a pretty cool anniversary for me. It was 50 years ago today that I entered the Salt Lake Mission Home as a nineteen-year-old missionary bound for the Philippines. Now I'm serving here again, this time with my eternal companion, and life couldn't be any better or any sweeter. Here is a picture of our anniversary celebration lunch, with Sisters Abellaneda and Su'a, at one of the very good Chinese fast-food restaurants here in Dumaguete. Yesterday was a pretty good day, too, as Sister Cutler and I finished our first round of apartment inspections. We visited fifty-five apartments in just over six weeks, with each visit comprising an inspection, an inventory, the delivery of furniture and supplies, making repairs where needed (and within our capabilities), and a few minutes to visit with the missionaries. It's a ten-hour drive from one end of the mission to the other, so we visit apartments by geographic zone, staying three to five days at local hotels while we cov...

I'm going to add a few photos from a recent trip to San Carlos, which is about four hours north of Dumaguete, into the narrative of this blog post. The pictures won't always match the narrative, but since we drove into the mountains to see the Kanlaon volcano on the way home, I thought you might find the pictures interesting. Now, on to the recent changes! In November, a new senior missionary couple arrived from Bataan (a city on the northern island of Luzon) and the office assignments were shuffled around. Sister Cutler and I are now responsible for missionary housing, and I retain responsibility for technology and travel. It's an exciting change because it means we will be in charge of all fifty-four missionary apartments, making sure they are safe, comfortable, clean, adequately equipped, and located within the assigned teaching areas. We will also open new apartments as the mission grows, and close old apartments that no longer meet our needs. Most apartments house two ...

I will start with a photo of the new counselor in the Philippines Area Presidency, Michael B. Strong. He and Brett Nattress (my nephew) were assigned adjoining offices in the Salt Lake City church headquarters building last summer when Elder Strong was first called as a General Authority. Like Brett, who was assigned to the South Pacific when he was called as a General Authority, Elder Strong's first assignment was to a remote part of the world. This photo is a selfie of Elder and Sister Beard, along with Sister Cutler and I, standing on the beach in Sipalay at sunset. (It's blurry because the exposure was about three seconds long.) Sipalay is a remote area in the southwest corner of the island of Negros and the Beards have been there for about three months now. Their calling is as Member and Leader Support missionaries and they work with newly-baptized members and new church leaders to provide support, counsel, and leadership experience. Elder Beard was also called as the firs...