The Extremes

We went to the Mission Home for the first time on September 12th. It was in a beautiful neighborhood. We had never seen anything like it in Manila. Wide streets, no jeepneys, tricycles, bicycles or even beggars. Trees lined the streets and you would have thought that you were in a nice subdivision in Florida. A gated community with walls and armed guards. The Mission Home was very nice! The dinner was great. Steak and baked potatoes. The first time I had steak or potatoes since we arrived here. I think that I would feel a little differently about Manila if I lived in a place like this.

 

The Mission Home

 

Here is the famous and ultra big Mall of Asia:



 

The Mall of Asia

Big Ferris Wheel at Mall of Asia

We drove through a market in an exceptionally poor area, exceptionally poor even for Manila, right on the edge of their largest and most famous slum called the Tondo area. Not quite like we planned but it was interesting. Raw, rotten, stinking meat on tables for sale. Naked children running through the street and lots and lots of people. Anna tried rolling down the window to take a few pictures but the smell was so bad that she gave up. After about 30 minutes we finally reached the other side of the market. We were lucky that it was mid afternoon or we might not have been able to get through as quickly.

When we came out the other side the road we wanted was elevated and we did not know how to get on it. All of the traffic was turning right even though we wanted to go left. This is not too unusual here because often they make you go the wrong direction only to have you take a U-turn later. We are always having to make a U-turn to go somewhere. I started to go right but then Anna saw an opening to the left and thought we could make it through and take a short cut. It worked very well except for one thing it was illegal and there were policemen directing traffic right there. They signaled me to pull over and I did. I was wondering what was going to happen as they walked over to the car. They asked me for my Drivers License and I told them that we were having a hard time and that we had been lost. They didn't seem to care until one looked down and saw my badge. He said, "Are you Missionaries?" and I said, 'Yes, we are." He started to give my license back and said, "Then you can go." The other one asked where we were going and then gave us directions, I gave him a P100 tip which was only about 50 cents. He was pleased. He then stopped the traffic so we could go. Sometimes it is very good to be a Missionary. .



The Tondo Area

In the Philippines we cannot drink the water that comes out of the faucet.  We get water delivered to us in big blue containers and we also have a water filter on our faucet in the kitchen. See below:

Our water sources.

(The tea kettle is for hot water.)

 



Sign in the Institute rest room.

 







We drove down to Cavite on the Cavitex Expressway.  We had to pay tolls, but it was worth it.  The road was a good one.  I was confused about what road we were on after exiting the expressway and we didn't turn the right direction in Cavite to be able to find the Stake center.  We ended up driving all the way to Dasmarinas, which wasn't part of the plan today.  We had wanted to go to Naic, further south along the coast.  Oops!  Well this wasn't our first time to get lost in this country and it will probably not be our last.  We stopped at two different malls trying to get a map of Cavite, but they didn't have any.  We managed to find our way up to Imus and drove around until we were able to find the Bacoor Stake Center.  It was a very nice building on a fairly large piece of property for here.  After that we drove back up the Cavitex to Paranaque.  It wasn't easy, but we did locate the Paranaque Stake Center.  Brother Mascardo, the institute director for four of the stakes in the Manila Mission, was having a meeting there.  We were able to get information about the Bishops of the wards in Paranaque Stake.  That will be very helpful for planning our visits there.  Brother Mascardo told us what we did wrong in trying to locate the Cavite building.  We also got a suggestion on how to get to the Paranaque building a little easier next time.  I think it is good for us to do some exploring to find these places before we need to go there.

Houses along the water in Cavite area.

 

 

Sunday we went to the Pina Ward in the Manila Stake for Sacrament Meeting and to meet with some of the PEF participants.  The Sacrament Meeting was the Primary Program.  It was great.  The children sang and talked in English.  It was interesting to hear them with their accents.  They did a good job.  The Filipinos typically do not watch their children very closely during the meetings and often there are small children walking through the aisles and all around the chapel.  They are normally not very noisy but it is a little different.  All of the Primary Children were seated on the stand at the start of the meetings with no adults except the sister playing the Piano.  They gradually got more antsy as the program went on until many of them were moving about and making noise.  The Bishopric counselor and the Bishop tried to restore some order several times but had limited success.  In spite of this the program was great and you could tell that they had been practicing and working on it for some time.  Just imagine if our children back home had to do the program in Tagalog with no Teachers or Leaders on the stand with them.   After the meeting I told the Bishop that I had really enjoyed the program and was impressed that the children knew their parts and did them in English.  He was so glad he said that he had been praying on the stand that we would feel the spirit and enjoy the meeting.  He wanted to know how I liked their singing.  I told him it was great.  They love to sing here.  He thanked us for coming.  They always want to be sure that we are happy.  They are wonderful people.

Here's the Institute Building. 

Our Office is on the second floor.