After our wonderful time in the cool, fresh mountains, we headed back to the big city and the reality of our mission. We hit the ground running again, especially on Tuesday, our Manila day. We started the day at 7:00, when we picked up the the sister service missionaries for our day of adventure (that’s what they called it). We started off by going to the Tondo Medical Center for our turnover of donations there. It was interesting that this hospital didn’t really seem familiar with conducting turnovers. They didn’t have a program, no national anthem, no prayer, no fanfare, which suited me just fine! We sat around a big table in their board room and we introduced ourselves. Then the Stake Counselor, President Santamaria, said a few words, we said a little something (very little) and the doctor gave a few words of gratitude. We went upstairs to see the equipment, but it still has to be installed. The incubators need to be installed by the company, since they are a bit complicated. At least all the stuff was there!! The cool part of this project is how many CHURCH MEMBERS came! We had around 15 members from the two Tondo wards. For many of them, this was probably their first turnover to attend, and they seemed to really appreciate the opportunity. We had a good chat with them about Tondo, about members who live in the areas where we have done previous projects, etc.

After the hospital turnover (which took longer than we expected), we headed off to the Manila School Division office, where we met with the head of English instruction, Tech/Vocational and ALS (Alternative Learning System). We had good visits with all of them and told them the process that needs to occur as they turn in their proposals to us. Our heads were swimming with all of their needs!!! When we finished this meeting, we went to the small, urban Forest Park for a few minutes. This is adjacent to the Division’s parking lot and seemed so enticing, I just had to go check it out. It was so well planned and is truly a lovely place of respite in the midst of the urban madness. The Sister Missionaries had a good time taking photos and posing. As one sister said in regards to the picture taking, “yes she is the model and I am her photographer”.

After this we dashed off to the Ailian Warehouse ( one of our vendors) so we could check up on all the hundreds of boxes of stuff for the three literacy projects coming up. We needed to see how much space we will need in one of the Stake Centers where it will need to be delivered. It will take up pretty much their whole building! Yikes!! We were all starving by this point, but no time to really take our lunch. We managed to go through a drive-thru for KFC that was close to the warehouse, quickly eat, then move on to our final location for the day. We had to go to the Department of Social Welfare’s version of Welfare Square. Kenneth wanted us all to see their operation there and see how they are packing rice and other goods for family packs which are distributed during emergencies. It’s quite the operation, for sure! They have machines that pack the rice in plastic which is only good for about 28 days, then they have sealers that pack the rice that allows it to stay good for a year. They have an ongoing team of volunteers who man the machines and pack the boxes. Quite impressive. The church is thinking of donating a very machine that will pack the rice so they don’t have to lease the machine. We will see what Salt Lake thinks.

So that was the end of our day! The sisters were so grateful to have the chance to get out of the office and experience new things. When I asked the Sisters which of the activities they most enjoyed that day one sister said, surprisingly, “the meeting with the school division!” She felt like she really learned a lot in that meeting. It was fun to have them as our companions.

BGC– now fast forward to the end of the week! On Friday, we had our normal senior couples dinner night out. We get a schedule at the beginning of the week that lets us know who will be in which dinner group for the week. We were in charge of our group this week, so we chose a Korean place that is a revolving restaurant with great views. There were just three couples in our group this time, so we really had a chance to get to talk (and hear each other) and some great food. It felt like an actual restaurant and was most enjoyable. On Saturday, we had to go into Makati to help clean our church, so Lennie suggested we go into Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and walk around and really discover it. This has been on my bucket list for many months now. We have driven through it but haven’t really explored all of the different areas , parks, and restaurants there. We found some nice places to walk (especially the path adjacent to the golf course) and great places to eat. We settled on an Italian restaurant that was very yummy. It was good walking weather, as well, because it was cloudy and at times there was a breeze. Once in awhile, it feels good to be in a nice, clean area where it seems like life is good here in the Philippines. I realize this isn’t normal life for most of the Filipinos, but it is nice to escape poverty for a bit. I hope the wealth can spread and eventually there won’t be such a disparity between those who have and those who don’t.