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!

Alfredo and His Bread Store

We have a Facebook account that we use to help communicate with many of the Perpetual Education Fund participants here in the Philippines.  We help answer questions or send reminders to the participants.  Sometimes we get responses from participants who are so thankful for the opportunity to further their education.  We received a nice message from one of our participants, Alfredo, back in November.

 Alfredo making his bread

He said:

"I received my National Certificate II on Bread and Pastry Production on September 13, 2013.  I am very grateful for the PEF program for giving me a chance to pursue a short course that helped me develop and enhance my skills.  I am now planning to open our bakery.  For the meantime I use my small living room as my working area and our front porch as our store.  That gives me a daily income.  Being unemployed for many years didn't stop me from being active in the church because I know the blessings will come for being obedient.  Being self-reliant gives me confidence to serve better.  I plan to construct our better looking bakery in our front yard in the near future.  I am looking forward to meeting you soon."

Bread fresh from the oven

 

 

When we received this nice response from Alfredo, we forwarded it on to the PEF Headquarters in Salt Lake City.  Just recently the we were asked to see if we could get a picture of Alfredo to go with the story that will be included in the PEF Monthly Newsletter.  We contacted Alfredo and he sent the pictures you are viewing in the blog.  This was his response to us:

 

 

"Hi, Sister.  These are pictures of my bakery and working place.  Thanks to PEF for my education.  I hope this will serve as an inspiration to all.  I would like to study again to learn to become a pastry chef."

 

Here he is in his store





 



We met Alfredo this month.  He wants to take another course so he can improve his skills.  It is very gratifying to see the Perpetual Education Fund help this good brother.  There are many stories like Alfredo's because of  the Perpetual Education Fund.  It's great to see it work.

 



A Job Supermarket and a visit to the U.S. Embassy

Dale talking to Sister Whittaker and a volunteer.

We left home around 8:00 this morning, Saturday, April 5th and drove to the Aurora church building in Quezon City to go to a Job Supermarket presented by the Self Reliance Center in that building. A Job Supermarket is an opportunity to bring together job seekers and employment agencies. We wanted to get an idea of how it was organized so we could prepare to do one in Makati later this year. There were about 20 booths set up with manpower agencies and other job search businesses.

People applying for jobs at the Supermarket.

We walked around and talked to the different agencies and asked them if they would be interested in doing a job fair in Makati. Most of them said they would like to. So now we have some more businesses to invite to our job fair.  There was someone there from McDonalds who told us that they have a goal of having 1000 stores in the Philippines and they were always hiring. Their office is in Makati.  We took pictures of the room set up and then went downstairs to find out what they were doing in the Self Reliance Center. There were people there taking pictures of job applicants and making copies to put on resumes. There were some volunteers working with applicants on their resumes as well.  It was nice to see all of this before we get ready to do one.

 

 

Pasay North Zone on April 7, 2014

 

On Monday afternoon, April 7th, we went with our Zone to tour the American Embassy. We had arranged the tour with Brother Bremner who is one of the Church members that work in the Embassy. All of the missionaries were excited about going. This is probably more of a reflection on how little there is to do on p-day here other than wash clothes. The tour was nice. Brother Bremner did a good job with it and the building was historic and fairly ornate with quite a few picture of the WW II era. On the way to the Embassy we walked along the boardwalk and the missionaries were all impressed by the view of Manila Bay and how nice it was. They took quite a few pictures. I think that there were about 16 missionaries. One pair had to go for a medical check up and could not go.

 

Elder Jenson at Manila Bay with the U.S. Embassy behind him.

 

On the way we noticed that while all of the young men were busy talking to each other the Sister Missionary Trainers (the two tall sisters in the picture above) were talking to people they met about the Church. They talked to someone with a Wendy's shirt on and gave him a pamphlet and then later talked to someone in McDonalds. Talking to people about the Church is what missionaries are supposed to do. It was a great example for the whole group.  Dale brought this up the next day during the Zone Meeting.

 

Anna on the elevated crosswalk near the embassy.

 

We walked down to the Embassy and gave them our IDs so we could be processed in and be given visitor passes. Brother Bremner met us outside and talked with us before we went in. We each had to go through the metal detector and be gently searched. After going through security we were taken through a door and went out into a different world. There was a very nice garden area with some beautiful shade trees. Brother Bremner told us a little of the history of the embassy. It had originally been the home for the American governor who served here. It was later made into the embassy. Parts of it were destroyed during WW II, but because Manila was declared an open city by the Americans and the Japanese some of the building survived the war. The Japanese actually used the embassy during the war. It has a beautiful ballroom and there are pictures on the walls of the authorities who have served there.  Brother Bremner told us about how the flagpole is still standing and in use even though it was struck by bullets during the war. When the embassy was being evacuated as the Japanese came into Manila, the Americans took the flag down and burned it so the Japanese could not desecrate it. After the war there was a military tribunal held in the ballroom for the commander of the Japanese forces in the Philippines.  He was found guilty.  Now there are three buildings in the embassy compound where 1200 people work, 500 of them are Americans.

We always love being with the young missionaries.  They are great!

Training up north in Olongapo

 Beach along Subic Bay

 

We drove up to Olongapo on Friday, March 14th. It took us just over three hours to get there. We had a very good road for most of the way. It was nice to drive through some open country and it was nice to drive on a 4 lane road for most of the way. There are not a lot of 4 lane roads in the Philippines. The Olongapo-Subic area is where the U.S. navy base was once located and the area looks more modern than most of the country. There are nicer homes there and fewer slum areas than we see anywhere else. We stayed in a fairly nice hotel just off of the highway in Subic Bay. We got there a little after noon because we wanted to look around some. We drove along the shore and got out and took some pictures. It is a pretty nice area although it is on a large bay so you do not see any waves coming into shore.

 

The beach close to our hotel

 

We found the nicest hotel listed on the internet and decided to go there to see it and have lunch. It was called the Lighthouse Inn. We decided to walk around the property first and look at the beach area. We walked out to their dock before a security guard came out and told us we would have to leave and that we could only enter through the main doors. He said that it was private property and that the hotel only wanted guests in there and they wanted to keep others out. He showed us the neighboring beach area that wasn't so nice and explained something about not wanting the people from over there to get on the nice property. This is the Philippines and there is a very big difference between those who have and the rest. We went into the hotel and it was very nice even by American standards. We sat down for lunch and the people next to us started asking us questions. It turned out that they worked for the Hotel. One was in the Marketing Department and one was the manager of the restaurant. We told them where we were from and what we were doing there. They were very nice and talked to us for quite a while. They were interested in the PEF program and shared some opinions about the Filipinos and what they needed. They suggested something for lunch and we ordered. The manager came back and talked to us some more during lunch and then when we asked for the check we found that he had given us a 10% discount.

 

Carabao pulling a cart

 

We left at about 6:30 am to drive up to Iba. We were not sure exactly how long it would take and we needed to be there for a 9:00 am meeting. The weather was very nice and we could see very well during the morning hours. We saw mountains, rivers, the ocean and lots of Mango trees on our way. The traffic was light so Dale was actually able to look around some. We saw a lot of carabao along the road and several of them pulling carts down the road. We finally got a picture of a carabao pulling one of the carts. We also saw mango trees everywhere and signs advertising a mango festival that had just been held. When we got to the Iba chapel a sister told us that they have the best sweetest mangos in the Philippines there.
 

Green mangos



We had a little trouble finding the chapel in Iba, but when we did the gate was still locked although we only had to wait for a few minutes to get in. We had plenty of time as we had arrived about 45 minutes early. The District President was there and helped us set up for our meeting. We received a text from Sister Abanggan who was in charge of the training telling us that she would be late and to start without her. We were not sure exactly what to do, so we pulled up a small presentation on Self Reliance Services and started with that. The plan had been that she would take the first 30 minutes and then we would divide into two groups and we would train one group on how to teach the Planning For Success Workshop and Sister Abanggan would train the Self Reliance Committee. When she arrived Dale asked her if she wanted some time and she told him to just go ahead and keep everyone together for our Training. Things never go as planned here but we were not too worried. We presented all of our training and they seemed very interested. We had about 30-40 members there and they have a lot of young single adults and others who could benefit from this. We finished and starting wrapping up. The District President had left a little early and went to the nearby Jollibees to purchase lunch for everyone, including us. We were surprised and pleased by this because we did not have much time to spare before we needed to leave to make the next meeting in Olongapo.

Chapel in Iba
 

 On our way back to Olongapo we saw rice being dried right on the side of the highway.  We have seen this happening in many places.  It must be the best place they have to dry it.
 

 

We stopped at the Olongapo Mission Office and visited with the office couple for a few minutes on our way back to Olongapo.  The office, Mission Home, and church building were all together in one fenced in area.

 

Olongapo Mission Office

Olongapo Mission Home

We drove back down to Olongapo, arriving at the chapel around 1:15. The training was to start at 2:00. We met with the ERC service missionaries and they helped us set up for the meeting. They already had the chairs and a table set up in the cultural hall. We met the district president who was just recently called. He was very helpful and explained how he was hoping to reactivate people using the new PEF loan program. He was very positive and excited about everything. We did the training for about 50 people there. Some of them were young people who wanted to know more about the PEF loan program. We handed out materials to those who would be teaching the Planning for Success workshop and also gave materials to the Branch Presidents as well. The district president helped with answering questions in Tagalog at the end of the training. The people here are very excited about the new program and we think we will see many more applicants from this area.

 



Dale training





Anna training

 

The drive back to Manila wasn't bad and we got back to our apartment at about 7:30 pm. We had stopped for 20 minutes at a Service Center so the total drive was only about 2 1/2 hours but we were glad to be back.

 



A statue in a roundabout in Olongapo

 

 

 



Training in the Paradise of the Manila Mission - The Island of Palawan

We arrived in Palawan with Jomel and Franco after about an hour flight on Friday, Feb. 28th.  We took a van to our hotel and got an early check-in.  We saw tourists everywhere. We saw more Americans and Europeans here than we ever see in Manila. It looked like we were the only people who weren't tourists on the plane. There was a tourist kiosk in the outdoor hotel lobby which was run by a company owned by President Mosquera who is the District President for the Puerto Princesa District. We met several members of the Church who work for his agency. We were offered a discount on a tour but we did not have time to really go anywhere outside of the city. We were of course invited to come back for another visit. Palawan was very nice with clear air, blue water and mountains. We know they also have nice beaches but we did not see any. It was nice to breathe clear air for a while and to be able to see the mountains without looking through smog.

 

Anna at the Baywalk in Puerto Princesa 



 

We had a training session planned for 5:30 pm in the District Center. I had been worried because I had a hard time getting any response back from President Mosquera so I wasn't really sure if anyone was coming. When we arrived there were only a few people there which was not surprising, this is the Philippines after all. Pres Mosquera told me that we would probably start around 6:30 pm to give people time to arrive. He sent out a bunch of text messages and people started coming. We ended up with almost 40 people which is more than we usually get from a Stake. The training went well and everyone seemed happy about it.

Dale, Jomel, Franco, & Pres. Angoy at Baker's Hill

 

We left Saturday morning around 7:30 am for the long trip to Narra. Like most trips here it is not the distance but the time that counts. The road is famous for being a very bad road but has been improved a lot in recent years and there are only a few bad places today. Most of the road is now paved with only short distances of dirt and rock. The road is windy as it runs near the coast and very bumpy but passable.   There was not much traffic and we saw a lot of carabao. In some place people were riding on the carabao and in other places they were pulling carts loaded with goods just like we see in the souvenir stores. It was a very pretty drive through the jungle along the ocean in many places. We drove through a canopy of trees where the branches touched above our heads and past a crocodile park. It took about 2 hours to get to Narra.

 

 

Here is how most people travel on the island.

 

When we arrived at Narra we starting setting up for the training in one room, but the District President, President Betita, decided that we should have everyone who was at the building attend our training. So we waited for another meeting to finish and then had everyone attend the meeting in the chapel. Again, Jomel and Franco did the presentation. Dale and I got up and bore our testimonies about PEF/Self Reliance.  There were about 45 people in attendance. The meeting took from 10:30 until 1:30. We were impressed with the spirit of the humble people attending the meeting. Many of them had come from far away to be here. Some told us that they had to leave their homes at 5:30 am to attend the training and that it would take nearly 4 hours to get back home. We were impressed with their dedication. 

We got back from Narra about 10 minutes before our ride was coming to get us for a fireside in Puerto Princesa.  Elder and Sister Newson gave us a ride to the fireside.  At the fireside we had a group of about 40 people again. Dale and I did our presentation and answered questions about the PEF loan.

Puerto Princesa Bay

 

On Sunday we had another busy day.  We attended church at Santa Monica Branch and met with several PEF participants there.  We then did another PEF presentation for the whole branch during the last hour of church.  We hadn't planned to have such a large group, but the Branch President wanted to have everyone hear our message.  There were about 100 people there.

On Monday,we then walked through town looking like tourists when a man with a tricycle approached us and told us about the WW II museum and offered to take us there and give us a ride anywhere we wanted to go that day. When we asked how much it would cost and he said that we could just pay whatever we thought it was worth. We decided to get in and he took us to the museum which was further than we had guessed, so we were glad to be riding.  The driver waited for us and then took us to a souvenir store where we bought a few things including some pearls for Anna. They had all kinds of pearls there in all different colors. The Philippines and especially Palawan is famous for having pearls.

Anna at Kalui Restaurant (The Tiki  Room)



We then had the driver take us to a place for lunch. We had been talking to him about the Church.   He knew someone who was a member and knew where the church was located. While we ate lunch he went home and took his daughter to school. He said he was concerned about her and wanted her to be safe. I thought, he should be a member of the Church. Lunch was very good, probably the best food that we have had in the Philippines. The restaurant was built of bamboo with a thatched roof and reminded us of the Tiki Room in Disney world. After lunch we had him take us to the mall next door to the hotel and leave us there. He gave us his card and invited us back and invited us to meet his family the next time we are in Puerto Princesa. We talked to him some more about the church and told him that we would pay him 500 pesos for the rides but we wanted him to meet with the missionaries. He agreed and said he would be happy to meet with the missionaries. We told him he had to meet with them at least once and than after that it was up to him. (We are missionaries, after all)