Well, we have been here in the Philippines for four weeks, and it has been quite an adventure! We are very happy here and continue to learn and adjust to our new life. We still are not loving the food here, but luckily for us, there is plenty of American food in the grocery stores.
We go to four different stores. One is for convenience since it is just down the street from us, and we can walk there. Two are membership stores similar to Costco—one has good chicken, and the other has good beef and pork. The last one we like to go to is in the mall and is great for picking up a few things we might need. This store takes up one floor of what feels like a department store, so we can get other items there as well.
This week, we flew to Manila to get fingerprinted for our religious passports. We are here on a travel visa, but it will expire sometime in March, so hopefully, we will have our permanent visas before then. The trip to Manila is about a 1.5-hour flight. The Church sent a driver to pick us up at the airport and take us to the office of the area authority, where we met with immigration officers who took our fingerprints.
The area office is on the same grounds as the MTC and mission offices. Across the street is the Manila Temple, and we were able to walk through a tunnel that goes under the street to the temple. We walked around the grounds for about 20 minutes—it’s very beautiful there. We thought about Bethany being here 14 years ago as she was heading home from her mission. We had no idea at the time that we would stand in the same spot as missionaries as well.
Afterward, we were taken back to the airport to fly back to Cebu. We had to wait about four hours for our flight, which wasn’t much fun, but we survived.
We love our service in the temple and are getting to know more people and their names every day. We love the people here and are learning so much from them. Last week, there were three weddings, and in one session alone, there were five own endowments. One day, I was the waiting room attendant when I was asked to switch to the youth waiting room, where we assisted with two sweet children who were being sealed to their parents. Their older brother had just received his endowment before the sealing. It was so wonderful to see the joy on that family’s face as they made that sacred covenant with the Lord and received those beautiful promised blessings.
After the sealing, the temple provides special shoes so families can step outside and take a family picture dressed in white.
Yesterday, we went to a beach “resort” with the temple presidency, full-time temple employees, temple volunteers, and the temple missionaries. It was a fun outing! The Filipino people sure know how to throw a party. We played games, did Zumba, swam (either in the beach or the pool), and, of course, no Filipino party is complete without karaoke! There was a ton of food—I’m not sure how they stay so tiny when they eat so much. While the resort itself wasn’t the greatest, the beach and surrounding area were beautiful. We had a great time with lots of fun and laughter.
They have sleeveless garments here, and we both got a pair. I haven’t tried mine yet, but I will soon. In addition to the garments, women can get a full or half slip. It seemed strange to me at first, but after living in this humid climate, it makes sense. The cost of my garments was $0.55 for the top and $0.67 for the bottom. You just can’t beat the price!
On Saturday, the temple will close for two weeks. We are flying to Manila to tour some of the WWII memorials around the city and on the island of Bataan. I’m really looking forward to this and learning more about the history of the Philippines. I’m sure it will be heartbreaking in many ways, but also educational. There will be nine of us on this trip, so it should be a lot of fun as well.
We miss all of you so much and hope you are doing well. Write if you have time—it’s fun to hear about what’s happening at home. We love you and always keep you in our prayers.
