Where ever Marcia goes, it only takes a few minutes before she has engaged everyone she meets in a conversation quickly learning about their family, kids, and their life’s journey. Even though she only met the Filipino in the picture below a few hours before this picture was taken, they are already bosom buddies.
Marcia with Filipino saints at the Navotas Ward . Our friends the Call’s, a senior couple from Charleston, South Carolina, are standing to the left of Marcia in the background.
Marcia with a Filipino sister member and Sister Call (a senior missionary). You will note that Marcia is wearing her grandchildren’s birthstone necklace . Marcia always proudly points out this necklace to everyone she meets letting them know that she had sixteen wonderful grandchildren.
Filipino Pioneer Oral Histories
Recently, we have been to different wards interviewing early Filipino pioneer saints. The mother and son below are one of the first families to join the Church in the Novatos area (near Manila) in the 1970s.
Filipino Pioneers, the De Leon’s, after our oral history interview in the Navotas Ward Chapel.
Marcia with temple missionary sisters at the Pasig Philippines 2nd Ward
Staying Physically Fit in the Philippines
One of my daily routines before our mission were long early morning walks. The other night I couldn’t sleep probably because I decided to go to bed early causing me to wake up early. Instead of trying to go back to sleep, I decided to take go on my early morning leaving for my walk a little before 4:30 am.
My normal walking route is to go to the Circulo Verde condominium complex which is a little more than a mile from our apartment. Circulo Verde has become the preferred destination for most senior couples that walk. One benefit of walking in the early mornings is that the temperature is much cooler. Unfortunately, the humidity doesn’t change much regardless of what time of day it is. Normally, when I return to our apartment after my hour walk, I’m literally drenched and soaked with sweat. I look and feel like I’ve just been in a sauna.
The reason I like to walk in this area is because it has a large soccer field to walk around as well as a circular parking lot that loops around the building. The area where we live consists of a mall, industrial buildings, and a several residential barangays that is not conducive for walking. A barangay is the smallest political unit in the Philippines and is similar to a subdivision or small town in the US. Most barangays in the Philippines are very congested, overpopulated, have narrow streets with motorcycles and small cars driving up and down their streets, not to mention that they are normally packed with tons of people. There are also small shops selling food as well as providing other services. I have several stores where I purchase lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, apples, and oranges. I purchase bread from a local bakery called Pan de Manila. This bread is multiple times better than in the US because it is so fresh – often sold just a few minutes after coming out of the oven.
On my walk back to our apartment today, I bumped into the Mecham’s, a senior couple that has also served for three years as mission leaders in Guam several years ago. He is a retired attorney. Their current mission assignment here in the Philippines is being responsible for the implementation of a human right curriculum into the school system throughout the Philippines. The Church is implementing this human rights program developed by the United Nations and is underwriting the cost of the implementation, training, and the roll out of this program throughout the Philippines into the country’s elementary school system.
One of the basic human rights included in our country’s constitution, and in the United Nations program, is the basic human right of freedom of religion. The Church is very active in promoting, protecting, and supporting freedom of religion in the US and other countries throughout the world. The Philippines is just one of the dozens of countries that the Church is actively promoting and supporting this basic right of freedom of religion. With the Church’s support – both financially and with people on the ground (like the Mecham’s) to help implement this program, numerous countries around the world are incorporating the freedom of religion to be taught in their educational systems.
As I’ve referenced before, there are over thirty senior couples currently serving with more scheduled to come later this year. Given the needs in the Philippines which range from member leader support, humanitarian, legal, education, medical, dental, and mental health, self-reliance, administrative, financial analysis, information technology, and the list goes on and on. If another two hundred senior couples were called, this would begin to make a dent in the needs in the Philippines. We are proud to be here in the Philippines serving in our little niche of responsibility.
An Eye to the Future of the Youth and Families
Prior to serving here in the Philippines, I had little understanding of the vastness, sophistication, and complexity of the global extent and reach of Church’s missionary program. It’s a privilege to be a part of it. One of the assignments senior couples have is to work with young proselyting missionaries in the Philippines Mission Training Center (MTC) in Quezon City providing different types of support services. There are nearly four hundred missionaries in the MTC at any one time. These missionaries come from over thirty-five countries throughout out the world. Filipino missionaries in turn serve in countries all over the world. The “Call to Labor” bulletin board below is representative of young men and women serving missions from one stake in the Philippines.
Filipino Missionaries Serve Worldwide . The above bulletin board is a list of youth called to served from this stake. Note the different flags of the countries where these missionaries are called to serve.
The bulletin board above lists recent Temple Marriages for Time and All Eternity in the Aurora Philippines Stake
Leadership Opportunities Come Early for Filipinos
This young man was called to be the Bishop of the Navotas Ward a few weeks ago. He is twenty-seven years old.
Caught in a Typhoon-like Downpour
Metro Manila, which includes Eastwood City where we live, was impacted by a major typhoon during the last week. Thinking that the worst had passed, I ventured out for my early morning walk. Here is link that gives a bit of insight into the scope of this typhoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d5Uagi-RD4&t=11s
During an early morning walk, I was caught in a torrential downpour. I took cover at a local Union Gas Station. The motorcyclist below also took refuge from the rain as well.
One of the things, we have come to love and appreciate about Filipino people and their culture is their unselfishness and consideration. The gas station attendants at this station – and yes, there ARE gasoline attendants in the Philippines that will wash your windshield, check your car’s tire pressure, fill your car’s windshield wiper reservoir, and check your car’s oil level – in fact, there are NO self-serve gas stations in the Philippines.
In the first picture above, I was sitting on the side of the gas pumps not facing the gas station attendants. A few seconds after I sat down, one of the gas station attendants tapped me on the shoulder and said that I should sit on the other side of the pumps to be better protected from the wind gusts that were blowing the rain on me.
As I thanked them and was moving to sit on the other side of the gas pumps, the gas station attendant offered me a dry piece of cloth to sit on so my rear end wouldn’t get wet. Keep in mind that this attendant had never met me and had no reason to offer any assistance, other than his cultural proclivity to be friendly and helpful. Would this type of thing happen in the US?
Filipinos are the friendliest and most welcoming people on the planet.
What I continue to learn about the Philippines….
In the Philippines there are no trash containers that are pushed to the curb every week for a scheduled trash pickup. In the US, we have a specific day for trash pickup with a truck that has a trash container with an enabled fork lift like mechanism use to empty the trash. In the Philippines, trash is put on the curb in boxes or plastic bags and placed in a pile for pick up – see below. Garbage trucks come by every day to pick up the trash.
Above is a garbage truck picking up trash. In some areas, the trash pick up is on a less frequent basis.
Thought of the Day:
There is no chance, no destiny, no fate that can be circumvented, hindered, or controlled that cannot be overcome by the firm resolve of a determined soul.
Scripture of the Day:
Alma 40:23 “The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.”