Babay and Dalayegon sa Diyos, Elder Jones

Stetson Jones, son of Teak Jones and Corwin and Diana Smith and a recent graduate of Dixie High School, opened a letter from President Thomas S. Monson in April calling him to fulltime service in the Philippines Cebu Mission.  He entered the MTC on July 30 for final preparations including six weeks of language study.  He is very excited to be called to this part of the Lord's vineyard and looks forward to learning Cebuano, the language spoken by 93% of more than 20 million Filipinos who live in and around Cebu City.

During the Spanish-American War in 1898, two members serving in the U. S. artillery battery, and who had been set apart as missionaries by the Church before they left the United States, preached while stationed in the Philippines. Missionary work ceased in this part of the South Pacific at the beginning of World War II.  It was two decades later missionary work resumed again.

In April 1961, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley traveled to the islands, met with a small group of American residents, servicemen and Filipino members and officially opened the islands for missionary work. By 1967, the work had progressed to the point where the Philippine Mission was organized.

In 1969, the Church had spread to eight major islands and had the highest number of baptisms of any area in the Church. The Manila Missionary Training Center was established in 1983. In 1990-91, Church relief efforts helped with the damage caused by major earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruptions, and governmental conflicts. Membership in 1984 was 76,000 but by 1990 had grown to 237,000 members.

Currently, membership numbers 688,117 in 1148 wards and branches.  There are 21 missions in the Philippines, including Cebu located about midway in the more than 900 inhabited islands.  To accommodate the spiritual needs of Filipino members, there are two temples – one in Manila, dedicated in 1984 and a second dedicated in 2010 in Cebu City, the oldest city in the Philippines.  A third temple was announced in 2010 to be constructed in Urdaneta, about 100 miles north of Manila.