The Rain Has Stopped

The rain stopped or at least let up some. There was only a little water in the streets when we drove over to the MPIR this morning. The streets are actually pretty deserted as most of the street vendors are not back up and running yet. The schools were also still closed so the drive was pretty easy for Manila. On the way home we saw sunshine for the first time in over 5 days but it is still fairly cloudy and overcast. We have not seen any real clear days yet. We may never see any. We have been in this apartment for 2 1/2 weeks and have only seen the sunset once. We are learning to be happy if it only rains a little and no one gets flooded. Maybe this is why they refer to this time of year as the rainy season.

The sun is actually shining on Manila Bay.

 

We had a student show up at our office on Friday afternoon. We had been communicating with him because he was waiting for the loan money for his tuition to be sent. We called Sister Tenney at the Area Office and asked her about his loan. She found that all of his information was submitted and will now work on getting his check sent out. It was nice to meet with a student and get to know him and finally see the PEF program working for someone.

 

This is a fruit, that tastes somewhat like a plum.  It is called

rambutan.  You just peel off the fuzzy skin and eat the fruit. 

 

We went to our first baptism in the Philippines today, Saturday, August 24th. Sister Michelle Tanael was baptized, the fiancé of Brother Niu, the couple we met at Pasay Stake Conference last weekend. Three other people were also baptized, a mother and her young son, and another young man. The baptism was held at the San Marcelino building where Manila 1st and 2nd Wards meet. We have been assigned to attend Manila 1st Ward and were able to meet people from both wards at the baptism.  The baptism was supposed to start at 11:00, but didn't really start until about 11:40. Dale volunteered me to lead the music when the missionaries were looking for someone to do it. The baptism was great and there was a pretty large crowd. Sister Tanael's family and friends came. We talked to one of her friends and found out she was not a member of the church. We asked if she would like the missionaries to come and see her and her family. She said, yes, and told us to get her information from Brother Niu. We talked to Brother Niu and he said he will get the information for us tomorrow.

After the baptism there was a dinner in the cultural hall. We were served some traditional food which included our first opportunity to have sticky rice. It was very sticky. Dale didn't really like it, but I thought it was pretty good. It was nice to sit down and converse with the local members. We sat down next to Sister Estrada who was baptized today. She has two young daughters that were laughing during the baptismal service when they saw their mother and brother get baptized. They thought it was funny to see them go under the water. One of the girls came over and asked me a question in Tagalog. I asked her mother what her daughter said. She wanted to know my name, so then I told her and asked her name. I didn't understand what she said, but we had fun talking with them.

 

This is the courtyard in the middle of the San Marcelino Building. 

A lot of the church buildings here have courtyards.