Elder Hunsaker is Back in the USA

Here are some video's and pictures of the night Elder Brodie Hunsaker returned home and a couple video's.  We are so grateful for his safe return and all of his service over the last 20 months.

https://youtu.be/Xap1VbmEe-4

Tapos na ang aking Mission ko

Well as many of you might know by now, all the foreign missionaries in the Philippines have been sent home along with many other missionaries across the globe. Though the Coronavirus pandemic has been greatly affecting the Lord's servants and has even caused my own mission to be cut unexpectedly short, I know that He is completely aware of everything that is happening and I am very grateful for my time as a missionary. He has a plan for each and every one of us. I have come to more fully understand His plan as I have served in the Philippines for almost two years. I have also developed a greater love for all of the Lord's children, especially those that I have met in the Philippines.  I have experienced many things that I will never forget. Some times were hard, and some times were easier but through it all, I could feel the Lord's hand leading me along the way. He is also always there for us if we but seek his guidance. He loves us with a love beyond our current understanding and wants the best for us. This is the reason that through his mercy he restored his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, here to earth. It's not a way for Him to exercise dominion over us, but rather a way to help us receive His gospel and the essential ordinances in order to become as He is and to experience everlasting joy. We are "free to choose" (2 Nephi 2:27). It is really that simple. We are free to choose our savior Jesus Christ and to follow Him and we are also free to choose the path of the adversary and feel the accompanying sorrow. And as we strive to follow Him we will also be completely supported by Him in our righteous desires. Contrary to popular belief, there are many things that are simply impossible. There are many things that we cannot achieve except through the power of Jesus Christ, His atonement, and the sanctification of the Holy Ghost. That is the good message. Christ is the answer. He is risen. Through Christ only can we have access to our loving Heavenly Father. Only through Him and by Him can we find joy in this difficult journey called life. It very simple. Our goal is to find faith in Christ. If we have that true faith in Him, we will always have a desire to change and do better. Repentance is real. And eventually, step-by-step, we will accomplish what we came here to accomplish on earth. The Church of Jesus Christ is true and contains the essential ordinances of the gospel. Joseph Smith was a true prophet. President Russell M. Nelson along with the Apostles are prophets, seers, and revelators and are here to help us know God's will for us. The ancient scriptures are also the word of God and testify of Jesus the Christ our savior and we NEED to use them in order to grow spiritually. Most importantly God loves us no matter where we currently are spiritually. The importance comes in always moving forward. I know all these things are true and I know that there is no better way that I could have come to know all these things except through preaching them for 20 months as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Philippines Laoag Mission. And my invitation/promise for everyone is the same as Amaleki's in the Book of Omni -

26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.

https://youtu.be/Xap1VbmEe-4

Getting foreign missionaries to Manila

Hello again wonderful parents! 

We said goodbye to your beautiful children. How we love them! We have shed so many tears during this hurried and abrupt farewell. We realize that this is our final goodbye to many of these beloved missionaries. Missionaries who built the righteous and hard working culture that the Philippines Laoag Mission is now known for. We are excited they are going to see you now. We hope that we will see many of these great missionaries back again...

All the foreign missionaries from the Laoag Mission are now approaching Manila and it looks like the curfew will not stop them. The first group should arrive around midnight and the second group around 2 a.m..They will spend the night in the MTC so they will get some rest and good food before they head out. Our Americans and Canadians will be on a charter flight to the U.S. tomorrow our time, but I don't know what they will do from there. I'm sure the missionary travel department will have it all figured out and hopefully they will inform you of the itinerary...Our other foreign missions are receiving their flights one by one and will fly out tomorrow as well. 

This has been a tiring two days for all of us. Just trying to travel through this country during a crisis like this is so very difficult. Your sons and daughters have had great attitudes and have shown such remarkable Christlike attributes. You are going to welcome home some incredible Saints. 

May the Lord bless you now and always. We love you through your amazing children!

President (and Sister) Peterson


Coming Home Information

Dear President,

We are underway in our efforts to return your foreign missionaries to their home countries.  The planned departure of missionaries has been announced by the Church. Will you please communicate with the parents of these missionaries to inform them of what is being done. 

We would like to have a degree of uniformity in the way we describe what is happening in the Philippines.  We thought it may be helpful to have a suggested letter for your consideration and use.

Elder Schmutz

Elder Wakolo

Elder Bangerter

Dear Brother and Sister Hunsaker,

We have been following the situation related to the spread of COVID-19 in the Philippines very carefully.  We have been monitoring the governmental actions being taken to fight the spread of the virus. We want to assure you that the First Presidency and the Twelve have the welfare of missionaries uppermost in their thoughts and prayers.  We have received ongoing guidance from the Missionary Department and the Philippines Area Presidency.

Sister Peterson and I want you to know that your missionary is safe and protected.  We love your missionary and are grateful to have the opportunity to preside over this mission.

Last evening, the President of the Philippines issued a presidential proclamation raising the level of alert throughout the Philippines and implementing a heightened level of community quarantine.  This was done to limit social interaction and slow the spread of COVID-19.  This “enhanced quarantine” will have the effect of prohibiting public transportation, limiting movement from place to place, and requiring people to remain in their homes, except to shop for food, medicine and necessary essentials.  All community, social, work-related, and religious gatherings have been suspended.  It has quickly become much more difficult for our missionaries to proselyte or even work with their investigators, as most missionaries are now restricted to their apartments.

The presidential proclamation encourages foreigners living in the Philippines to return to their home countries.  It provides a 72 hour window for foreigners to travel freely to the international airports in the country and board a departing flight for their home country. At the end of that period, we are told that all outbound flights will be suspended until the situation stabilizes.

The Church has made a decision to return all foreign missionaries to their homes. We expect shortly to receive a flight itinerary for your missionary’s travel.  As we receive more information we will provide it to you.  As you might imagine, we are working against a closing window of time to move a great number of missionaries.  It is possible that some will not be able to secure flights within the window of opportunity.  If your missionary is not able to fly home, they will be returned to the mission field.  In that case, please be assured that your missionary will be safe but may be limited to the apartment for some time, where there will be adequate food and water.

We want to assure you that all missionaries are safe.  There has not been a single incident of a full-time missionary catching the COVID-19 virus.  The Church is not reacting to fears about the virus as much as it is responding to the increasing limitations on the missionaries’ ability to proselyte and to the limited time the Philippines government has allowed for foreign citizens to leave the Philippines. 

When your missionary returns home, he or she will almost certainly be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.  Thereafter, we are told that the Missionary Department will communicate with you relative to the possibility of returning to complete your missionary’s mission in the Philippines or being reassigned, depending in large part on the time remaining in the missionary call.

Because of the speed of recent events, your missionary may not have been able to make contact with you. But we will encourage them to contact you as soon as they are able to.

We will keep you informed as we learn more details about flight arrangements and travel home.

With love and appreciation,

President and Sister Peterson

Philippines Lock-down

This week started out pretty normal. Nothing really weird was going on except for the fact that it became forbidden for us to shake hands with anyone because of the effect of the coronavirus. It was kind of awkward not shaking hands with our investigators that knew that we always shake hands with them and it was even more weird when we had our missionary zone conference and we weren't allowed to shake anyone's hands at all, but other than that the first part of this week was pretty normal.

On  Wednesday we had our Zone Conference/Mission Tour where Elder Steven R. Bangerter of the Area Presidency and Quorum of the Seventy came and shared to all the missionaries. It was a super awesome mission tour and easily the most enjoyable of the three different times that a general authority has came to our mission. The spirit was super strong and constantly present during the conference and he was funny and shared lots of awesome experiences. He also had tons of different interesting things to say regarding the topics of stewardship, seership, revelation, creating real relationships, and a lot more. He also was very glad to explain to us that our mission, the Philippines Laoag Mission, is the top performing mission in the nation which is also interesting since the Philippines is also one of the top baptizing countries in the world. After the zone conference we weren't allowed to shake his hand though so one-by-one by just met him and told him our name and where we're from. That was all but that's okay though since the entire conference completely made up for it.

Our entire Thursday was also pretty normal but Friday is where things became a little weirder. In the morning as we were completing daily planning we received a text from the AP's telling us to purchase 6000 pesos worth of non-perishable food items. We dropped everything and bought lots of water, canned goods, noodles, and 60lbs of rice. After getting groceries for a couple hours we then just continued to our normal work. While we were working we also learned that the government of the Philippines banned all travel in and out of the country. We can't even if we want to. Even though lots of weird stuff happened we just continued work like normal.

At this point in time, we've also received lots of new rules and updates concerning our work and the virus. Because no sacrament meeting is being held and our investigators can't attend church we have been instructed to just teach them a 'Come Follow Me' lesson in their homes on Sundays. In our mission, investigators (I'm using this term freely now since Elder Bangerter said the Elder M. Russell Ballard says it's a great term to use) need to attend church four times before they can be baptized but since that's not possible with the current circumstances the whole 'Come Follow Me' devotional in their homes is acceptable as well and counts as one time attendance to church. As for us missionaries, we were given permission just to hold a miniature sacrament meeting with the other missionaries in our district. We also have restrictions in our daily work which means we can't be within one meter distance of our investigators, we need to use hand sanitizer frequently, and can't teach anyone who has any type of illness. Other than that though, the work still goes on! 

Isaiah 41:13 -

 For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

This is a scripture that the AP's sent to the entire mission since people were unnecessarily scared of the Coronavirus from all the fake news they were receiving from locals. It's a great scripture about how the Lord is always there for us. I also just thought it was funny that it was necessary that they had to try and comfort all the missionaries through this verse since they're scared.

Pictures -

I forgot to bring my camera so I can't upload the pictures I took this week so that you can all see that we're perfectly fine.

OH NO CORONA VIRUS.

So I'm supposed to actually call you guys right now but the internet
is down at the only decent computer shop near by and the computer shop
we're at right now has a weird 2010 version of Google Chrome so it
isn't capable of video calling. Anyways, I'm just supposed to tell you
that we're okay and that nothing bad has happened. Church has been
cancelled and they also said that the branch will try and give
sacrament at the houses of members at least once a month (which
implies that it might be a while before it's administered at church
again). We're supposed to just keep working normally though. I'm not
sure how that's supposed to work though since people aren't allowed to
be baptized unless they attend church four times.. and that can't
really happen unless church is being held. We also were told to buy
lots of groceries yesterday. It was more than 5000 pesos worth of
food. We used all our emergency funds. We were also told to by lots of
hand-sanitizer/rubbing alcohol but none is available in basically our
entire mission. Everyone already bought all of it. Also it's
interesting that the government here has banned flight in and out of
the country for at least a month. It's all pretty funny though because
everything was just perfectly fine and normal (except that earlier
this week they banned handshakes/physical contact with anyone,
including other missionaries) until yesterday when they cancelled our
district conference and then everyone started freaking out, and then
the government banned flights. We feel pretty safe and fine though.
Nothing else really seemed to happen. I'll probably be stuck in the
Philippines for the rest of my life though. Haha. Just kidding.
Anyways, I'll call you on Monday and give you a real update on a video
call.

Things and Stuff

This week three people attended church which is awesome. Tatay Agullana, our friend that attended church last week, attended again and this week he also brought his wife, and her friend. He seems very interested and is progressing very well. We also extended a baptismal goal date for March 28 for him and he accepted it immediately. He's also been reading the Book of Mormon even though his reading glasses are broken and he said it makes his eyes tired. He also seems to be understanding what he reads and wants to read and learn more. He also has lots of sincere questions and wants to change. This week was also pretty cool because he told us all about his past experiences in his life and his desire to receive forgiveness.

Also during this week we've been doing more finding and teaching others as well. While doing so we met the 10 year old brother of a member. His name is N.G. and he surprisingly, despite his age, had lots of sincere questions about life and where we go when we die. He also told us about how he read in his sister's Book of Mormon and told us what he learned from his reading and wanted to check with us to see if he understood what he read correctly. Another thing he expressed was his concern of all the people doing bad things at school and their disobedience and how he wants to be mabait (nice/well mannered) like Jesus. The best thing about all of this though is that he went out of his way to tell us all these things. We didn't even ask him questions or anything. He also was sad to say that he hasn't been baptized but he wants too. Though we don't normally focus on children he is someone we'll definitely consider returning too especially since he has support in his family from his older sister. We will also try and teach his parents as well for sure.

1 Samuel 12:

22 For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.

24 Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.

The verses in this chapter were given by Samuel to Israel because of their ingratitude towards God and their desire to have a king over them 'when the Lord... God was [already their] king (verse 12).  We simply learn that we are the Lord's people and he will not forsake us because he's pleased to call us His if we but only serve him in truth and with all our heart and remember all the ways he's blessed us.

Other verses throughout the week: 2 Ne. 32:9 and D&C 88:15, 1 John 4 7,8,18-21 and Romans 13:10, Jacob 1:8 and Matt. 16:25-26, Jacob 2:19 and Mark 10:24, 1 Sam. 15:22-23, 1 Sam. 16:7. Jacob 3:9, 1 Sam. 17: 26,37,45, Jacob 4:10.