June - The Coming of Rain

Laurie and I were wondering what the rainy season would look like at the beginning. From what I can see, it is different depending on where you live, pretty much just like anything else weather-related in the world.

June's rain has not been what I expected. It is not "all day" like the Pacific Northwest where we live. It comes fast, rains hard, and then shuts down - pretty quickly. At least this is what happened this June. Who knows what July will bring, but it is kind of nice to have it not be gray and rainy all day. Of course, the temperature is just about 1-2 degrees (Celsius) cooler than May so it has still been in the low 90's in Fahrenheit, and yes, the humidity has gone up this past month to average in the 80+% range, but who cares? I guess I do, my glasses fog up when I come out of an air conditioned building into the outside world....

It was Father's Day this past month. I thought I would include a picture they took of most of the Fathers in the Cubao Ward, which is where we have been going to Church each week, to date. (That looks to be changing starting the month of July...). The Cubao Ward has been very kind to us. We will miss going here.

Cubao Ward - Father's Day - June 16, 2024

Transportation - I am not sure if I have expressed this in the past, but most of the population of the Philippines do not have a car. In fact, the country depends heavily on a few different types of transportation to get where you want to go, if it is too far from your living quarters to walk. 

Much of the day to day transportation includes some form of paying someone else to get you to your destination. Walking from one destination of transportation to the next method is not unordinary.

Let me share with you some pictures of some of the main ways members travel to and from the temple. The temple is so far from a normal transportation route, it is not easy to get to.

Jeepney - Jeepney's are one of the least expensive methods of travel. For the most part, from what I have gathered in talking with our Filipino friends, a jeepney pretty much keeps to a designated route. It normally goes from one main "people centric" area to another. This would include malls, bus depots, train stations. They stop along the way at different spots, just like a local city/county bus might in the US. The Jeepney drivers are normally very proud of their vehicle. At this point, I have been told that a Jeepney ride in this area of Manila is 13 pesos per 4 kilometers. Each kilometer past that is one extra peso per kilometer. For some perspective, 13 pesos is about $0.22 cents and 4 kilometers is about 2.5 miles. For the purposes of keeping this section shorter, I will not get into the average monthly take home pay for a Filipino, but it is by a wide margin much less than you might think. A US hourly minimum wage worker salary would feed quite a few families here.

The Jeepney is not air conditioned. You sit on benches along the sides of the jeepney facing each other. I took pictures of these two jeepneys while driving in a van through a town called Olongapo.

Tricycles - This is another form of typical transportation to get from one place to another. It is just a little more expensive than a Jeepney, so most people, if tight on money, will take a tricycle. Most tricycles have a cover on them for the rain and the sun.

Tricycles carry both people and other various types of cargo. Each tricycle is made up of it's own materials based on what the driver wants to do for business. Again, here are a few tricycles I took pictures of while driving through Olongapo. I am just noticing that the only pictures I took are mainly of those tricycles designed to mainly move stuff, not people. Nonetheless, you will see a person or two on it.

Motorcycles - There are sooooo many motorcycles on the road in Manila. I don't think there are as many out in the provinces like I just showed you from Olongapo, but in Manila, it gets you to and from so much faster than a car, It is a lot cheaper also. There are a few disadvantages such as when it rains, who the driver is, how far you are going, etc.

There are companies that provide uber-like (taxi-like) services to individual riders. Some of the options are Angkas, Joyride, and Move It. You hire a driver and he picks you up in his little motorcycle and provides you with a helmet (which I am sure is always specifically cleaned between fares) and you get on and go to your destination.

Here are a couple of pictures of how motorcycles gravitate to the front of a stop light. If you were to stop at the stop light line, there could easily be 10-20 motorcycles that make it up in front of you prior to the light changing green.

Here is a picture of a young lady getting off her hired motorcycle right across from the temple. She came with her boyfriend (who hired a separate motorcycle driver) to come have dinner with us last Sunday. I just had to take her picture because it was just how it works here. It started raining just after she came in the temple grounds and I had my umbrella so all was well. She would have been soaked in that dress on that motorcycle had it started to rain. I believe the driver's carry some plastic sheets to act as rain gear for their riders and for themselves.

Ericka getting off her Joyride-hired motorcycle

Helping Your Neighbor - Laurie and I know Brother and Sister Villanueva who work at the temple. He is a newer sealer there. The two of them have worked at the temple for a while. They are a source of transportation for many who live in their branch. Let me make sure I convey this correctly; without the Villanueva's these people from this branch out in the province would not be able to afford to come and serve in the temple and would rarely be able to make it to the temple at all.

The image below is of what is called a Hyundai "H100". They work on Friday afternoons. They are able to fit 18 total people in this little truck/van. I didn't get much of a comparison shot, but hopefully you can see the length of some of the other sedan vehicles next to it. If you really want to put it into perspective, go back up to that picture of Father's Day. There are 15 people in the Father's Day photograph.

There are so many with cars that share their space with other members. Many go out of the way to help their neighbors come to the temple. I am amazed and full of gratitude to know such dedicated and valiant members of the Church here that we serve alongside in the temple.

All of the methods above are used daily by members coming to the temple as patrons, or who come to serve. Often, multiple methods of transportation are combined. I know of one couple in their mid 80's who take a couple of different jeepney rides, along with a short taxi ride, and then walk the last 200 meters to their home. They do this twice a week and have done so for many, many years. What devoted people.

By the way, I am currently not able to drive since my 90 days use US Driver's license usage stopped on June 22. I now have to wait until I get my passport stamped with my new approved Visa (approved as of June 4 - it just takes many weeks to get it stamped and back). Then, the Church will set up a time to take us to the Philippine Driver's License location to get our Driver's License. Then, I can drive again.

Camayan Beach

We went to a place called Camayan Beach which is on Subic Bay. There were five missionary couples that went. Three couples were temple missionaries (Randall's, Ames, and Schofield's) and two couples were from the Quezon City Mission (McAnally's and Robertson's). It was a fun time but it was a 2.5 hour drive there and a 3+ hour drive back. I did love looking out at the countryside though.

There wasn't much of a beach there but it was sure a nice change of pace than being in downtown Manila. The bottom two pictures are all I am going to include. I rarely wear a hat and you can see why. It is hard to cover the north side of the moon.

We had to drive through Bataan to get to Subic Bay. Both of these locations are very historical in nature to the Filipinos, and to the US.

Our good friends, the Ames and the Randall's at Camayan Beach.

Referring to actual monkey's, not to us....

Two more small segments and then I am done!

Amazon Works- We tried it and it worked. Not that we really wanted to keep using Amazon, but there were a couple of things Laurie really wanted to have from a cosmetic point of view that she could not find here in the Philippines. So, we thought, let's see if the horror stories people tell us about Amazon packages not making it here, or costing an arm and a leg are true. (Well, it worked this time anyway :))

We bought a couple of pieces of cosmetics and Laurie got a little money for Mother's Day and she wanted to buy a dress that she liked. The total cost for the cosmetics and dress were just over the $49.00 amount we needed to buy in order to have it shipped to the Philippines for a "reasonable" shipping charge. The total shipping charges on both items, coming in separate packages was a little over $7.00. I just can't stop giving context, because that is what I would want to know.....)

Both items arrived yesterday. We got a call from the Guard House and I just happened to be here so I went right up. The "Ninja Van" driver (that was the carrier Amazon used to take care of getting it to us in the Philippines) came up and handed me the two packages and snapped a picture of me. I said a hearty "thank you" and then proceeded to take a picture of him on his motorcycle. This is a typical way to get packages here in this country. See this picture below- I just love it!. Our two packages were in the pink pouch sitting in front of him.

State of Washington well represented in Manila

We went to a different Church  this morning. (Same denomination.... different location :)). On the drive home we ran into this intersection. I just could not get the right vantage point to take a real good picture of both street names, but you get the point.... (They may be thinking Vancouver, BC, but we don't hold it against them.)

Let's meet at the corner of Seattle and Vancouver!

Wrapping up June

Laurie and I have had quite a time in the temple this past month. The experiences I have had here will be with me forever. I keep a "fairly good" journal of the most special experiences I have. Sometimes, when things get a little hard for us, we need some extra help. We are so grateful for family and friends. It is so very important that Laurie and I remember the purpose for which we decided to come on a mission, because we love our Savior and He has done so much for us. It is really pretty much that simple.

John 14:12 & 15 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; ...If ye love me, keep my commandments."

We wish you all a wonderful July.