Reunion with the Barrizo family-- after 48 years!

Greeting Sister Epifania Barrizo after 48 years

Back:Russel, Harold, Ron and M-R,;
Front: Wilma, Mama Epifania, Carol, Joy (missing Jean and Roger)

L to R: Wilma, Mama E., Carol, Joy (JetJet), Chad, Russell

We really enjoyed the Baumgartner children.  Here is Logan, who loved to draw. 

From Ron: We recently had a wonderful experience of having a family come to visit us here at the temple.  I had taught the Barrizo family in the City of Davao 48 years ago.  Back in 1970, the parents and older children were baptized five days after I was transferred from Davao to Manila.  18 of our contacts were baptized that Saturday, so I was disappointed to be transferred.  The last thing I did before leaving Davao was to visit the Barrizo family at their home.  A poor-quality photo of Sister Barrizo and a few of the kids in their house, which I took that day, helped me remember them over the years.  Sister Barrizo still has the same bright smile these many years later.  

So how did we get connected? When members from Davao came to the temple last February, we told them about the various families I had taught in Davao.  These folks took word back to the Barrizos that Mary-Rose and I were serving here at the temple in Cebu.  Jacinta, who lives in new York, had also corresponded with us by email -- she received our email address from a Brother Gray who was writing a history of the early "pioneers" of the church in the southern part of the Philippines.  We happened to sit by Brother and Sister Gray at a 50-year anniversary reunion of the Philippines Mission in Utah last October.  So the Barrizo family made it a point to find us here in Cebu as part of their reunion travels.  They came to the Patron House on Thursday evening.  I had tears rolling down my face as I gave them hugs.  They came up to our apartment and we enjoyed visiting for a couple hours, but they had to catch a boat to another island, Bohol a tourist spot, at 5 in the morning so we could not keep talking all night.  On Saturday, a number of the family attended a session at the temple in the morning, the shift that I coordinate.  It was good to see many of them at the temple.  In keeping with Grandma Jane's example, we fed the family in our apartment, 14 people in total.  It was heart-touching to again hug the mother (grandmother).  My eyes filled with tears, but it was a wonderful experience.  They may come again before we leave next year – it costs money to come.  One lives in England and a couple in the USA, as well as those from Davao.  Seven of the ten siblings were here.  It was so good to see them all!

Dinner with everyone on August 12th.  Russell is taking the picture.