ELDER PAZ

My brother (third child) received his mission call on Valentines Day this year. He is called to serve in the Philippines Urdaneta Mission and will be the first full time missionary in the family since both of my parents are converts and I had a different kind of mission. ha. My sister's (2nd) papers are also on the process and hopefully she will be leaving soon this year as well after she finishes her chem. engr. board exams next month.

My father's side of the family (Paz) hail from the province of Pangasinan which is part of the Urdaneta mission. In fact, when we were younger, we would go the Alaminos, Pangasinan during summer to be with my father's uncle who raised him like his own son. When Elder Paz was little, they actually teased him that he looked like Lolo Istong! I can still remember riding on the back of the carabao as we head to the farm when we were little. Everybody on that side of the family are yet to be members of the church and I think that is one of the reasons why my brother was called in that specific mission. Who knows?! He might meet relatives that we haven't met yet.

3 young men from their ward leaving at the same time for their missions

The bro with the parents

Too bad I already left before the day of his endowment but when I asked him how it was, he said he just absorbed all the blessings that was pronounced to him. I still remember the first time that I went in the temple a day before our wedding in the Laie Hawaii Temple. I was so surprised, because I didn't know what to expect at all, and grateful at the same time for all the blessings the Lord is so ready to give us his children. There are so many things that can't be said here, but all I remember is the peaceful feeling I felt inside the temple and the happiness it brought me when I was inside. My brother said the same thing. He said he wanted to keep feeling that way so he wanted to always be in the temple.

When I left for Hawaii in 2008, Elder Paz was only turning 11 years old and when Emil and I came back this year, it is time for him to go on his mission! Time does fly by so fast! We had a chance to listen to him teach during our family home evening one night and honestly, I was waiting for him to joke around, be shy, or something like that (I know it's bad), but he didn't do any of those things. Instead, he was serious, mature, and I really felt the spirit as he was teaching the lesson. I even thought he would cut the lesson short because he will be shy because Emil and mom (Emil's mom, we call my mom, mama) were there but he took his time to deliver the lesson, ask questions among the family and expound the doctrine he was teaching. I felt so proud of him. I couldn't believe how grown up my brother was and how he has matured in the gospel. It made me more grateful because I know that it is because of the gospel that he has grown up to be a great kid. (Let's be honest here, he will always be a kid bro to me ;)

Elder Paz at the Philippines MTC, April 22, 2016.

I am so excited for all the things that he is about to experience. I know that serving a full time mission will be such a blessing not only to him and our family but to the people that he will encounter for two years and their posterity. I have seen the blessings that missionary work bring to people, but that's for another post.