Prioritized Daily Task
9:30 AM Debbie has a physical therapy appointment
Debbie was up early, showered and got ready. I slept in until after 8 AM. We had prayer, read about the restoration and ate breakfast before she left for her physical therapy appointment. We spent the day at home working on projects, Debbie organizing and sorting the food storage and me studying Hebrew. We talked to Beth and Matthew today. Debbie talked to Karlene, Jodi and Laura. Cache has most of the return home flights for most of the missionaries. He has the number left, about 26; these are Tongan and Filipino Missionaries remaining to get out of Ghana. There are many stories about the challenges the church is having getting missionaries in some parts of the world back home safe. I have included just one below. Debbie and I watched TV for about an hour or two and then read scriptures and had prayer before going to bed about midnight.
A friend of Debbie's sent this: Miracles for our Missionary Sister Fee - safely returned
On Tuesday morning I started to receive texts from friends asking about Hannah and how she was doing. They mentioned that all missionaries from the Philippines were being sent home. This was the first I had heard of this. Somehow I did not receive the email sent the day before to families of missionaries. I called the church mission office, and this was confirmed. I was unable to reach Hannah and was worried about her emotionally. On Tuesday night she finally called and said that the missionaries were in San Carlos about a three-hour drive from her mission home in Bacolod. She said the missionaries were trying to get passage off the island to Cebu. From Cebu they were to fly to Manila where the church was going to charter 5 flights to bring the missionaries home to SLC. She said that they had already been in San Carlos since the night before and that they were not being allowed passage. At this point the president of the Philippines had stated that within 72 hours no flights would be able to leave the Philippines, so they were worried they were running out of time. She asked us to pray that the government officials would change their minds and allow passage for them. She said that church leaders were going to meet with government leaders again to try to get passage. We started praying immediately that their hearts would be softened.
On Thursday I received another phone call again from Hannah. It was very hard to hear her as the service was so bad. She said that they were still stuck in Bacolod, the island where she is serving. The government had refused to let them leave by boat. They had traveled three hours to San Carlos but had to now go back to where they originally started from. Later I found out that they had gotten up at 4 a.m. to get on the boats to Cebu out of San Carlos. After waiting for 10 hours at the hotel they were asked to leave by the hotel because they were too large of a group. They then went to the bus station still waiting hoping for things to work out. After being at the bus station for several hours they were told they needed to disperse into small groups (I think 10 or fewer) so their mission president put them on a bus and had them close all the curtains. He told them to be quiet as the police were “looking for them” to disperse them. I can’t imagine the concern the mission president must have felt. He was responsible to keep this group together to get them out of the country.
Eventually, they gave up on the boat option and drove on the bus back to the mission home in Bacolod. It was a three-hour drive on bad roads and many missionaries got sick. It was night at this point and between the trips down to San Carlos and all the waiting they had been on buses for many hours. On the way they were stopped at check points. At one check point they were told they could not pass through to Bacolod. So, they decided to hide the bus in a sugar cane field with all of the missionaries on it for the night. They were hiding from the press and from the police. They were concerned that if they were found they would be forced to disperse into smaller groups.
The next day they managed to get back to Bacolod and were put in hiding in an LDS chapel. They have blacked out all of the windows and have told the missionaries to be quiet. Another sister said, “We are fugitives running from the police.” Now, that’s not something you expect on your mission.
The airport in Bacolod was completely shut down which is why they didn't leave by airplane in the first place. However, the church chartered a plane from Bacolod to Manila and after prayers and fasting the government agreed open the airport to allow this one plane to leave. The day before, not knowing if the government would agree to this, we spent the day fasting and praying that they would be able to fly out. Many joined us in fasting and prayers which was so kind. I realized that this was really their last chance to get out of the country. Hannah had asked us to “please continue to pray because things are tenuous and changing every minute and they are worried the government will change its mind tomorrow,” when she called on Thursday night her time.
Because the missionaries could not stay in any hotels they had over 100 missionaries staying together in one church. They had enough food and water but were sleeping on the ground. Some had found some insulation that they were hoping to use as padding. At this point they've been trying to get out since last Tuesday (Monday our time) so you can imagine they're exhausted and just want to get home.
I was awake most of Friday night praying that the missionaries would be allowed to fly out of Bacolod. I slept with my phone next to me in bed waiting for any word. At 6:30 a.m. I received a phone call from a dear friend who told me they had been able to leave. I have never been more grateful for a phone call! I then called other friends who were waiting for the news, hoping the missionaries hadn’t been caught and that they were able to get out.
They flew from Bacolod around 2 p.m. Saturday and had a short flight to Manila. Once they arrived in Manila they were put in hotels until they were able to fly out of Manila on Sunday. We were grateful to get Hannah home this evening. She is happy and anxious to do whatever the Lord has in mind for her next. She cried as she read an email from her incredible mission president.
During this ordeal, a dear friend sent this to me:
“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” (Joseph Smith)
I add my testimony to that of Joseph Smith. God’s work continues. How blessed we are to be part of it.
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Deborah Kae McAlpin
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