July - Rain Intensification

I am a little late getting this out. I will also probably make it a little shorter.

I was looking back through my journal for some content and context, along with some pictures. It was a busy month, with some interesting adjustments.

Let me start out with a couple of pictures I took one mid-July morning when I was walking over to the temple. It was a beautiful sunrise with color amongst the clouds, including a rainbow.

From the vantage point I took of the rainbow, you can see our two temple vans we get to check out and drive. An additional bonus is being able to see part of the MTC (Philippines Mission Training Center) across the street from us. It is the low-level building in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture. There is more to the MTC, and the building, but you only get to see this part of it.

From the deck out back of our apartment mid-July 2024

Mid-July morning after a good rain.

One of our temple missionary couple Elder's is quite a walker. He served a mission as a young man in the Philippines many years ago. On one of his walks he bought some Rambutan for us to try. The fruit is very sweet, and very skimpy. The picture below shows us figuring out how to get at the fruit (you peel back the skin like an orange - kind of) and then there is a pretty big pit in the middle of that white flesh oblongy thing that kind of looks like a jellied egg. I viewed Rambutan the same way as I view crab; unless you serve it to me "ready to eat", I would rather spend my time (and money) on something I don't have to get too messy , and/or,  work too hard for my dinner. :)

Randall's and Rambutan

Just because I want to, I am including a picture of the jeepney in the temple parking lot I saw in July. The appropriate artwork for the destination was spot on. I have not taken the time to look closer at all of the art to see if it is "temple appropriate" so if you so see something, just let it go :).

Child of God

I took a picture of this other jeepney just a few seconds later in the same temple parking lot. I am hoping Jimmy Hendrix' work has been done with a few of the other famous people depicted here. I love the contrast. These Filipino people are so committed to coming to the temple with all their hope, faith, and love, and they do it with such color.

Jimmy Hendrix

Typhoon Carina side effects - a monsoon in Manila.

The Philippines were not in the direct path of Typhoon Carina, but we did get the associated monsoon rains that it carried far and wide. We were amazed at how quickly the effects of the additional rain overwhelmed parts of Manila. Many rivers overflowed and low-lying areas were hit pretty hard.

The Manila Philippines Temple is located at the top of a hill so this area was not susceptible to flooding, but there was still a lot of water that came down here. One morning when I went down to the gazebo to exercise, I took a picture of the water coming down the pathway surrounding the backside of the apartment area. There was a lot of water.

The temple stayed open each day during the monsoon, but we closed one day around noon, which meant we stayed until about 4:00 to finish up. People could not make it to the temple because the main arterial roads providing access to the temple were flooded.

The next couple of days as the water was letting up, there were many of the saints in the temple who had water in their homes from ankle high to chest high. Home insurance is not really a thing here so most of them just lost whatever was damaged and will some how have to figure it out. Again, they come to the temple, come hell or high water. Such a faithful people.

Vacation?

Most temples of our Church are normally shut down twice a year for approximately two weeks for a good cleaning and for whatever else needs to be done. This July, the Manila temple is closed for three weeks. Temple missionaries called to serve in temple normally don't serve in the temple and they try to find something else to do. To date, it looks like most of "us" take a break and do a little vacationing along with doing some maintenance on ourselves.

Laurie and I went with another couple for 3 nights to a place called Noa Noa. It is a little island just off the Island of Palawan. (it is even in our temple district) The other couple, the Ames, had planned on doing this because another couple they served with here had gone there twice while the temple was closed.

This week, we have stayed pretty much in the apartment and have been catching up on a few work-related issues back home, along with doing a few local Manila things we have not been able to do since we have been here.

I must say, it is a bit strange. We are not used to planning on taking some time during this break to "vacation", but we did it, and it was certainly wonderful. If we had not been serving here, and if we didn't know the Ames, I doubt we would have ever done anything like this.

Next week we will be visiting Corregidor one day and going to the Urdaneta Temple  another. We look forward to those blessings also.

Here are a few pictures from our Noa Noa trip.

They put a sticker on you at the airport for your specific flight so you don't get lost. I felt like I was in kindergarten. Funny, no one else had stickers on them when I looked around. I must be special.(you can see the "Columbia" sportswear logo peeking through the two badges reminding me of the good ol' NW.)

This was the first night's sunset while we were there. The tree to the left we called the "Tree of Life". It was a thing of beauty. And yes, we sat under that tree. The next picture I took while I was sitting in that big round couch thing on the bottom left side of the tree above.

Laurie and I snorkeled a few times while there. You can see the color of the water in the foreground.

I guess you need to see that the two of us are still together. The picture below was taken from our room. My selfie skills still are a bit shaky, but you get the idea.

Laurie and I wanted to make sure we didn't get too burned so we were given an umbrella to go from the airport door (only one gate) to the plane. What a blast!

Laurie got a pretty bad burn on the backs of her legs from snorkeling. They provided sun screen lotion that was supposed to not be so corrosive to the coral. We thought we put it on pretty liberally. I must have done so more liberally than Laurie. She has been hurting ever since.

Time to wrap it up. Vacation is over. Back to work (service...).

We have had some time to consider where we are in life with a change in our daily efforts.  Laurie and I agree that we are where we are supposed to be, despite all the other great and wonderful things we could be doing. We are missing quite a bit of family events back home and we love our family dearly. Thus, following the path of our Savior Jesus Christ and where he would have us serve Him right now will always be the best thing for our family, and our friends. We love you all!

2 Nephi 31:10-12, 15-16 

"10 And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?

11 And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.

12 And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do."

"15 And I heard a voice from the Father, saying: Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.

16 And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved."