Pioneers from 1976

We just finished our first two weeks in Dumaguete, and the new mission is off to a great start, albeit with the typical teething issues experienced whenever a new and somewhat complex organization is created. For example, it took a few days to gain full access to all required church applications, some office roles and user permissions needed updating, our budget and purchasing systems aren't fully configured yet, and we are behind on processing travel requests that were pending from before the mission was created. (Remember, the Dumaguete mission was created by the division of two existing missions, both of which were fully up and running for many years, so we needed to act fast to maintain momentum.) There are workarounds for each of these issues, of course, and we're making great progress.

I'm going to use the remaining portion of this blog post to share a conversion story from one of the families we taught when I was a young missionary. You may remember from the most recent blog post titled "New Beginnings" that Judith Delos Santos, who was only four years old when her family joined the church in 1976, visited the Cebu Temple while Sister Cutler and I were still in Cebu, and we were able to visit with her and her family. Well, last Saturday fourteen of those early converts from the western side of Negros island travelled to Dumaguete to visit Sister Cutler and me. Nine of them represent two families that my companion and I taught and baptized, while the other five were taught and baptized by other missionaries serving in the area at the time.

Judith (fourth from left above, standing next to her husband), along with her older sister Joy (white shirt and light hair scarf, with her daughter, Jing, in the white shirt with outer space graphics), were two of eleven children in the Delos Santos family. If you look at the "New Beginnings" post, you'll see Joy holding my hand in one of the pictures. (By the way, you do know that if you click on a picture in a blog post it will display full size, right?)

The conversion story I'm going to share today was written by Dymphna Gelvezon. Her family's story will be included in a book of similar conversion stories to be placed in the cornerstone of the Bacolod Temple (under construction about an hour north of where they lived then and still live now), and I share it with Dymphna's permission. Here is a picture of the Gelvezon family when they visited us in Dumaguete. Their mother has passed away, but with me are Dymphna, Daisy, Gerlie, Mario's daughter Marey Elaesha, and Mario.

The pictures of the Gelvezon family below are from 1976.

What Amazing Blessings We Received
Our Family’s Conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
by Dymphna Gelvezon

In late July 1976, my nine-year old sister Daisy came home from school accompanied by two young foreigners wearing black pants and white polo shirts with name tags. They introduced themselves as Elder Cutler, an American, and Elder Fuller, of Tahiti. They were missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as "Mormons" because of The Book of Mormon they always carried. They said we could call them Elder and explained that they had an important message to share with us, and blessings for every home, including ours. Out of curiosity of the importance of that message we accommodated them and let them come inside our home. As they spoke to us, we became comfortable with each other. The Elders built a relationship of trust, sharing a little background of their church. They did not stay long in the house but made an appointment to come back the following day.

The next day, they came and brought with them a male member of the church named Gerondio. The first discussion was about Joseph Smith. It was the first time we heard the name, and, on our part, we found it hard to believe he was a prophet of God. Because of our reactions, they taught us the proper order of prayer and challenged our family to pray and ask God if Joseph Smith was really a prophet of God. Copies of the Book of Mormon were given to us with assigned chapters to read. We did as instructed, and a warm feeling within me confirmed that the things they shared were true!

My Mom kept reading the Book of Mormon and complained that the writings were all about the wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites. She had many questions regarding the contents of the book. But through the patience and perseverance of the Elders and through the guidance and the presence of the Holy Ghost, step by step she gained her testimony and understanding of the truth. As discussions of the Plan of Salvation were presented and progressed, questions such as "where we came from, the purpose why we are here on earth, and where we go after this mortal life ends,” were answered. 

We were amazed about how glorious it would be having a forever family when sealed in the temple. We were amazed that we could be sealed to our father Domingo Gelvezon who died on December 29, 1970, at the age of 42, though he was not physically with us, and also to our grandparents and great-grandparents through proxies. We were excited with the new knowledge we learned about temple ordinances. We asked the missionaries how to gain access to the temple since there was no temple in the Philippines. They told us to have faith and continue to pray that someday temples would be built in this country. 

We were Spiritually delighted that when we were challenged for baptism we did not hesitate to say YES! The missionaries instructed us to fast on the day of our baptisms, which was the morning of October 16, 1976. My Mom, Adelina Gelvezon, age 50; I, Dymphna 22 years old, Gerlie 16, Mario 12, and Daisy 9, the youngest of the siblings, were baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Bago Meeting House by Elder Keith Cutler of Pocatello, Idaho. Elder Mark Evans from California, U.S.A. confirmed us. Right after our baptisms and laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, each of us felt as if we were new persons, knowing we were forgiven of our sins. We felt the strong Spirit as the members and leaders welcomed us. 

We stayed active in the Church, accepted callings, and later we were called and served in the mission fields. I served in the Philippines Davao Mission; Gerlie served in the Philippines Baguio Mission; Mario served in the Philippines Manila Mission; and Daisy served in the Philippines Baguio Mission.

As members of the true Church, we experienced persecutions from people surrounding us, but we go on humbly, nobly while serving in the Lord's Church. We did not get rich, but we were blessed for our needs. We are confident as long as we obey the Lord's commandments, we will be blessed both temporally and spiritually in this life.

The long-awaited Philippines Manila Temple was erected and dedicated in 1984, which I was privileged to have witnessed. The promised blessing that someday a Temple would be built in this country was finally realized. Our goal to be sealed as a Family was fulfilled on May 8, 1985, at the Philippines Manila Temple. 

What amazing blessings!