Former missionaries return to Cebu
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CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES
Hiram Alba wore a big smile as Philippine Airlines Flight 823 touched down in Cebu City, bringing him back to where he served part of his mission to the Philippines from 1977-79.
The dedication of the Cebu City Philippines Temple on June 13 was the main reason he returned, but an equally important draw was the possibility of meeting up with members he taught or met while serving here and on Ilo Ilo as a missionary from 1977 to 1979.
Among the thousands of people attending the last day of the temple's open house were some of those members. Neither he nor they ever imagined that there would be a temple on Cebu Island during their lifetimes.
Brother Alba, who lives in Centerville, Utah, met up with several members of the Abanggan family who were active members of the Church, the parents having been baptized in 1969. Mauricio Abanggan was the first branch president in Cebu.
A daughter, Tess A. Ellingsen, who has moved to the United States but returned for the temple's dedication, went on a tour of the temple during the open house.
"It was at night the first time I saw the temple," she said. "I just stood and looked up and said, 'Heavenly Father, thank you so much.' Having a temple here was a major piece of Mom's and Dad's dream."
Marvin Bagley, who served as one of Brother Alba's missionary companions in Cebu, had a reunion with Isaac C. and Carmencita Z. Pono. He taught them as a missionary when they were baptized in 1979. They and their six children arranged to meet Brother Bagley on the last day of the temple's open house.
Brother Pono said that he had investigated the Church for two years before he met Elders Bagley and Ramon Baraquel.
"It is overwhelming," Brother Bagley said of seeing the family. "We went on a tour of the temple together and all of us were in the Celestial Room. It was a real tearjerker. All of Brother and Sister Pono's sons have served missions and the daughters have married returned missionaries. All who are married were married in the temple. I cannot express in words what my feelings are today. There is nothing like it."
