I was going to title this PEARLS and Miracles, but then I thought maybe, just maybe, miracles was too bold a word to use. Even though what happened seemed truly like a miracle to us. So maybe tender mercy fits better. And Karma definitely fits. I will let you be the judge. Maybe I will start with that story. We started our morning by getting up early and heading into Manila (Tondo, to be exact) to visit another wonderful foundation (story to follow). When we were finished, we decided to brave this crowded, crazy area called Divisorio, which features an open market full of all kinds of stalls and little shops that sell things for cheap. I was told this would be a good place to get flashcards for the literacy programs, so we decided to give it a try. When you see the pictures, you might have an idea of why we hesitated going here and why I have put it off for so long. It was crazy busy on Saturday, but who knows! It might be like that every day.

Well, we couldn’t find a place to park since the parking lot was full, so we headed over to Chinatown, which is another area we wanted to discover. We did find parking at a nice mall there and headed off to find some lunch. We didn’t really know where we were going, so I convinced Elder Huff to take a tricycle to the restaurant we had read about online. The tricycle only had to take us about two blocks and the driver was asking for 100 pesos! That just made you know who really mad, and he would only pay him 30 pesos. He hates feeling like he is getting ripped off. We had our lunch and walked back toward divisorio. We found my flash cards and some other things I have been needing for Mabuhay House, etc. then went back to the car. When we got to the car, he realized the car keys were nowhere to be found!!! Yikes! Now what? We just walked all through the busiest part of Manila and there was probably no chance we would ever be reunited with our keys. All kinds of unpleasant scenarios played out in our minds. He decided to go back to the restaurant and see if he might have left the key there. I stayed inside the mall and sat on a bench, praying fervently and talking to a woman who is Filipino but lives in Canada for half of the year.

A while later, Lennie returned with key in hand!!! He then told the miraculous story of how he felt impressed to find the tricycle driver and ask him if he might have the key. He talked to some traffic enforcers and asked if anyone had turned a car key in. No, no luck. Then he told them about taking a ride in the tricycle. The traffic enforcers must have seen us get in the tricycle earlier because they were pretty sure the driver was just across the street. They flagged him down, he came across the street and sure enough he had the car key! Lennie was so grateful he paid the guy 500 pesos! I told him it was Karma for not paying the guy enough in the first place! The traffic guys were so amazed at the “good deed” that was done and the happiness everyone enjoyed. Is our Father in Heaven aware of our needs? Yes, indeed!

PROJECT PEARLS- back to the other story. We are wanting to help the people of the slums of Tondo in a more meaningful way, which led us to this other foundation that is just as wonderful as the other two we have worked with there. We are planning to develop a project with them, so we went down to witness their feeding program and their activity with kids. They do this every Saturday morning. When we arrived, the people were lined up, plastic containers in hand. They fed over 500 people that day. They try to provide a good meal on Thursdays thru Sundays. They also have a medical clinic there and a wonderful woman doctor from Germany was there to look at some children. Her husband works for Asia Development Bank, so of course, Elder Huff wants to have some further conversations with him. He is hoping to get a glimpse of just what the true issues are here and how to make a bigger impact in our work. We had a wonderful time there. We also witnessed first hand one of their biggest problems: flooding when it rains! It rained really hard and we were soon in a small lake. We would love to find the right people to help them solve that problem. While we were feeding the children it was so heart-warming to see their genuine smiles of gratitude. I was also amazed at the number of volunteers they had there that day. I think they get students from local universities who want or need to do some community service. Others have a tradition of going to a place like this, or an orphanage to celebrate their birthdays. Isn’t that a great tradition?

After our triumphal finding of the keys, we decided we needed some celebration and some green space. We have never been to Rizal Park since coming here, and it was quite close so we went to see the dancing fountain. It was lovely! And the breeze we so nice. Well, I guess it was more than a breeze. It was blowing in a torrential downpour, which we got caught in. We were soaked! We went to a lovely hotel afterward to catch a bite to eat, and the host offered us a pile of napkins to dry up a bit. We went to the top floor where the dining was casual and no a.c. so it was perfect! A good ending to a crazy, yet ultimately fulfilling day.