Editor’s note: This is the third in a three-part series on the “Living Record: A Church News Documentary Series” on BYUtv called “People of Faith.” Part 1 features pioneers from Brazil, and Part 2 tells the stories of pioneers from Hawaii. Part 3 highlights pioneers from the Philippines.
In a medical clinic in Parañaque, Philippines, Alexander Castillo carefully removes a benign follicular tumor from a woman’s face. The woman tells Castillo she has been living with this tumor for 20 years.
Tears stream down her face when she looks in a mirror and sees bandages where the tumor once was. “Thank you, Doc,” she says with an excited squeal.
Castillo is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a dermatologist who specializes in laser surgery for skin cancer. He performed the surgery for this woman for free.
“The Philippines is a third-world country. Probably half of our population just live [on a] day-to-day basis,” said Castillo, a native Filipino who lives in Muntinlupa. “That’s why, when I see people who cannot afford [surgery] and yet they have skin cancer, I operate it for free. … That’s a way of giving back what the Lord has given me all these years in my life.”
Not only does he perform surgeries for free, he makes himself available anytime someone needs him. “I never follow office hours,” he said. “My hours [are] 24 hours a day. If you needed help, anytime, wake me up.”
Castillo is one of three Latter-day Saints of the Philippines featured in the Church News “People of Faith” documentary series available on BYUtv. Lilian Villamor and Lani Misalucha also share key moments in their faith journeys and everyday life as members of the Church in the Philippines.
Alexander Castillo: A dermatologist who has learned to ‘counsel with the Lord’
Castillo was baptized a member of the Church as a youth with his family in 1975. “I grew in the Church knowing my priorities,” he said. “Helping people is the number one.”
When he was 17 years old, he received his patriarchal blessing, which became influential in his decision to stay in the Philippines for work. “The patriarch told me that ‘I foresee the time that your leadership and your talent will be needed by your fellow Filipinos.’ So I think I need to stay,” Castillo recalled.
As Castillo reflects on turning points in his life, he quotes his favorite scripture: “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good” (Alma 37:37).
“I believe in Alma 37:37,” Castillo said. “Counseling with the Lord is the most important thing to do in this life, to navigate the challenges that you will encounter. It will help you until the last day of your life.”
At age 19, this principle — counseling with the Lord — helped Castillo decide to finish his pre-medicine degree before leaving for his full-time mission. “I finished my college at the age of 20 and went on a mission,” he said. He served in the Philippines Davao Mission in the early 1980s.
After returning home, Castillo faced another critical decision: “Should I be a doctor, or should I be a pilot?” His father was an Air Force pilot, so he considered changing course to pursue aviation.
This time, inspiration came through the words of then-Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who was assigned to speak at Castillo’s stake conference. Castillo had an opportunity to speak with him.
“When I told him that I’ll be taking up medicine, he said, ‘Yes, just go and pursue your dreams, and the Lord will help you for that.’ That gave me an extended battery life to sustain the hardship of medical school,” Castillo said.
Castillo’s work in the medical field provided him many transformative experiences in which he saw the blessings of service.
As part of the government health program Doctor to the Barrio, Castillo traveled to the rural Philippines in 1997. The government made a census to locate municipalities that didn’t have doctors, Castillo explained. “The project was to fill that need with volunteer doctors.”
One of his assignments was to a remote area that had reported six deaths from cholera.
Castillo recounted the difficult journey to get there: “We were crossing a long bridge. It was raining. We were soaked. I was fuming mad because my legs [were] hurting already. But the Spirit tells me, ‘Proceed.’”
When he arrived, a group of about 20 people were lying on the ground. He immediately noticed their sunken eyes. “Had I not proceeded, all of them [would have] died,” Castillo said. “I bowed my head, and I asked forgiveness to the Lord for murmuring.”
“I am grateful if the Lord will give me a chance to continue to serve Him in this way,” he added, with emotion in his voice. “Until my last breath, I will serve the Lord.”
Lilian Villamor: A researcher who sees faith and science work together
Donning tall rubber boots and with a large pitchfork in hand, Lilian Villamor helps a farmer feed buffaloes at the National Water Buffalo Gene Pool in Nueva Ecija, Philippines. She asks the farmer about the buffaloes’ daily milk production.
“I enjoy talking to our farmers because I’m able to push myself to learn more,” Villamor said. “Without them taking care of the animals, we don’t have any specimens to study with.”
The National Water Buffalo Gene Pool is managed by the Department of Agriculture Philippine Carabao Center, where Villamor is a senior science research specialist and head of the National Livestock Cryobank.
“Nueva Ecija is the special science city of the Philippines,” Villamor said. “As a science researcher, I love what I do because I’m doing it not only for myself but for others.”
Villamor’s research helps foster innovations to create a profitable and sustainable livestock industry. “At the Philippine Carabao Center, our mandate is to conserve, propagate and promote the carabao’s milk, meat, hide and the draft power to help improve the lives of Filipino farmers,” she explained.
The Philippine carabao have good traits and milk quality, she said. “There is an effort for us to back up the genetics while they’re still healthy and have those good traits.” Genetic samples are maintained in the cryobank at the Philippine Carabao Center, and farmers use samples for artificial insemination.
As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Villamor said her faith complements what she has learned from science.
“Science is wonderful, but there is also limitation,” she said. “I need to tap the most knowledgeable and the most powerful God and Jesus Christ, because they were the ones who created everything.”
Villamor grew up in a faithful Latter-day Saint family in Cabanatuan City, where Nueva Ecija’s first stake was organized.
“Education is a big thing in our family,” she said. “My dad, he keeps reminding us that if there’s any inheritance you can have, that is education.”
Villamor holds a Ph.D. in agricultural science. As a wife and mother of three children, Villamor has learned to receive and act on personal revelation to guide her in motherhood and her profession.
“I rely on the inspiration of the Lord to say, ‘OK, this is the right path He wants you to take,’ but I’m still striving to have a life balance,” she said.
“My priority is to take care of my kids, and then secondary is education. But with my situation, it happens one at a time.”
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University–Hawaii, Villamor started pursuing a master’s degree in marine science and biotechnology.
“My pursuit of a master’s degree was really a struggle,” she recalled. “I asked myself, ‘What do I really want to do? Do I really need to finish my master’s degree or focus on the kids?’”
She found a statement in her journal that inspired her to move forward and complete her master’s degree. “I came to a page that says I would strive to excel in my secular and spiritual learning so that I can be an intelligent and noble mom to my kids. I hold on to that statement,” she said.
Villamor listed two things that help her balance family and work responsibilities. “Number one is because of the gospel, and number two is because of my supportive husband. … We made it because it’s not only me doing it.”
“I know that God is guiding me,” she added. “I like that process of capturing the Lord’s guidance, combining faith and science together. … Faith and science, there’s no doubt that they work together.”
Lani Misalucha: A singer who found courage to keep performing
Backstage at a television studio in Manila, Philippines, Lani Misalucha gets ready for the popular Philippine reality show “The Clash.” She is one of the judges of the singing competition. When she is introduced to the audience, the crowd goes wild.
“I can see those beautiful smiles across the audience,” said Misalucha, a Latter-day Saint and Filipino singer. “That’s what I love about what I do, is making a lot of people happy. … I’ve been wanting to retire, but music, it manages to keep following me.”
Misalucha is known for her wide vocal range and was named “Asia’s Nightingale” for her ability to sing across genres, including pop, rock, jazz, soul, R&B and opera.
In her youth, Misalucha knew she wanted to be a singer. Her parents, however, felt that music was not “a decent profession,” she said. So in high school, she started studying business management.
“But at the same time, I was already joining a band. Right after my last subject, I would rush to my gig in one of the hotels in Manila,” she remembered with a laugh.
“When I told my parents about me being in a band — the thing that I was hiding from them — my parents said ‘no.’ But the music preached out to me and told me that ‘I think you need to be a singer.’”
Music is also how Misalucha was introduced to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the members of her high school glee club invited her to join a Church choir.
“And that’s where I met Noli,” she said of her husband. They are the parents of two children.
Noli Misalucha was the first to be baptized and slowly introduced gospel principles to her. “The missionaries gave me the Book of Mormon, and they asked me to pray and ponder about it. And that’s what exactly I did,” Lani Misalucha said.
She described what it felt like to find truth: “You feel like a tree, longing for some water, and finally you were drenched with rainfall.” She decided to be baptized as well.
Several years later, Lani and Noli Misalucha battled health challenges that tested their faith and forced Misalucha to adapt her singing technique.
At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020, Noli Misalucha had a heart attack and a triple-bypass surgery. A month later, they both contracted bacterial meningitis, a life-threatening infection causing inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
“It was so difficult,” Lani Misalucha recalled. “That particular bacteria, its damage is hearing loss. For me, who is a singer, losing my hearing is devastating. … I was singing out of tune.”
She also experienced extreme dizziness. She remembers being backstage for a show, standing in the corner and trying her best not to cry. “I don’t want to sing anymore,” she decided in that moment.
Then a thought came to her mind: “This is not the time for you to stop singing.”
She turned to God in prayer. “I said, ‘Heavenly Father, I’m praying that You would give me enough strength for me to learn how to reteach myself how to sing in this current condition.’”
Lani Misalucha still has not totally recovered from her condition, but she has learned to live with it. “Here I am — and still singing,” she said.
Through this experience, she has learned to trust in the Lord and embrace her talent. “I believe that Heavenly Father loves me,” Lani Misalucha said. “He gave me enough strength to live again. … And here I am, still a member of the Church.”
The Church in the Philippines
In 1898, two Latter-day Saints serving in the U.S. military, George Seaman and Willard Call, were set apart as missionaries before their deployment to the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.
Almost five decades later, Latter-day Saints returned to the Philippines for military service during World War II. Maxine Grimm, a Red Cross worker, introduced Ancieta Pabilona Fajardo to the gospel. Fajardo was baptized in 1945, becoming the first Filipino to be baptized in the Philippines.
In 1961, the Church received official recognition by the government of the Philippines. Later that year, the first missionaries called to the Philippines as part of the Southern Far East Mission began teaching.
Today, the Philippines is home to four dedicated temples — with another 10 in various stages of construction or planning and design — and nearly 900,000 Latter-day Saints in around 1,325 congregations. The Philippines has the fourth-largest population of Latter-day Saints in the world.
