Pasay Stake Relief Society Anniversary Celebration

We live in the Pasay Stake of the church here in Manila.  On May 10th they had a Relief Society (the church's women's organization) roadshow presentation with each Ward in the Stake participating.  It was a wonderful event.  They had special lighting and sound set up in the cultural hall of the Stake Center.  We arrived at 4:30 pm for the 5:00 start time.  But, as usual here in the Philippines, things didn't get started on time.  The people here are very laid back and don't worry about punctuality.  So, the event finally started around 6:30 pm.  There was standing room only in the building.



Women from 1900 - 1910
(Pasay 2nd Ward)

Each Ward presented a different Era of time and depicted the life of previous General Presidents of the Relief Society.  Notice the long dresses in this Era of the early 1900's and the women's suffrage movement.  I liked the picture frames they used as part of their roadshow.

 



Louis Armstrong singing "It's a Wonderful World"

 

From the 1920's to 1930's
Frank Sinatra singing "The Way You Look Tonight"
(Pasay 1st Ward)

I think this group had their time periods mixed up because I think Frank Sinatra sang mostly during the 40's and 50's.  I guess they just like the song and their Bishop makes a very handsome Frank.





Women from the 1940's and 50's
"Let's dance."







Dancing to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"
(Pasay 3rd Ward)

 

Here are the 60's and 70's
(Pasay 4th Ward)







                                                     

                                                     The 80's and 90's
                                                                 (Manila 2nd Ward)

 

The year 2000 to the present
(Manila 1st Ward, the one we attend)

There was a lot of singing and dancing going on.  Each group had a 15 minute presentation.  There were some who presented a dramatization from the life of the Relief Society president from their Era.  They worked on this for 3 months, practicing and making costumes.  It was a big undertaking and very entertaining.

 

 

At the end

At the end the whole group came together and sang "As Sisters in Zion."

Aliwan Fiesta Parade

 

In the late afternoon on April 26th we walked over to Roxas Boulevard (about three blocks from our apartment and along the bay) to watch a parade for the Aliwan Fiesta. The parade was supposed to start at 4:00, but didn't really get going until 5:00 pm. That is so typical for the Philippines. We went to Jollibee's and bought a coke float to cool us down in the 95 degree heat. While we were waiting for the parade to start we sat down and an older Filipino gentleman came over and started talking to us. We must have conversed with him for a half and hour. We talked a lot about the conditions in the Philippines. All Filipinos think their government is corrupt and should do more to help the people. We were able to get the gentleman's name and phone number as a referral for the missionaries.  He was interested in doing genealogy work at one of the Family History Centers.

 

 



 We were not sure what to expect from the parade, but we were pleasantly surprised to see people dancing and wearing very colorful costumes.  There was going to be a performance at the end of the parade where the different groups would compete for a grand prize.

 

 

There were lots of drums and other percussion instruments being played during the parade.  There were also marching bands.

 

 

The Tuna Festival Float
(Looked like a big tuna fish.)



The Rice Festival Float

 

There were several floats in the parade.  Each float and dance group represented a festival that is held in provinces in the Philippines.  The Rice Festival Float even had running water to show how they flood the rice fields.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 



Above are two more of the dance groups in their colorful and elaborate costumes.

 

We left to walk home from the parade about 6:00 pm.  It was almost time for the sun to set and we had been out in the heat for several hours.  The participants in the parade were suffering from the heat.  One group had a large flatbed truck for their participants to climb up on when they became too hot and tired to go on.  Looked like a good plan to us. 

40 Years and beyond . . . .

We celebrated our 40th Anniversary on April 19th by going out to dinner at The Spiral Restaurant in the Hotel Sofitel on Manila Bay.  We were able to witness another beautiful sunset on the bay.

Someone graciously asked if we would like them to take our picture.  So here we are.

The Spiral Restaurant in the Hotel Sofitel is supposed to be pretty nice and is not far from our apartment. We had a little trouble finding a restaurant that was open because of the Easter holidays. Almost all of them were closed on Thursday and Friday and some were still closed on Saturday.

Anna and the Easter Bunny

We had not planned to celebrate our 40th anniversary in the Philippines but here we are. This week we will also pass the half way point on our Mission. In some ways it has gone by fast and in some ways very slowly.  It has not been what we expected but I guess that it never is. We have had some great spiritual experiences and we have had some struggles. We love the Filipino people and being with the young Missionaries.

We told the restaurant that it was our 40th anniversary when we made the reservation, but we weren't expecting this nice memento.  In fact, we had asked for the bill and kept waiting and waiting for them to bring it.  Then they surprised us with this chocolate mousse dessert with the words "Happy 40th Anniversary" written in chocolate syrup.  So nice!