Today was Sunday and we were off to church. Riley was so excited that he was going back to the ward where he was serving. We would meet one of his mission companions too that he had served with for a while in this area. We took taxis there, since I wasn't sure where we were going afterwards and parking is a big issue here. The ward was huge! They have a whole stake, which is about 5 wards here in Baguio. We haven't been anywhere that has had such a big ward. There are almost 700,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Philippines. The ward was like I was in Park City. It was nice big building and Sam would normally ask if they needed help passing the sacrament but not here- the pew was packed with young men. It was a great meeting and the speakers spoke mostly in English for our benefit, since most people speak English here.
All schools in this area and I am assuming most urban areas of the Philliipines are taught in English and it is their official second language. It is funny really since for 333 years Philippines was run by the Spanish. Then at the turn of the century after the Spanish American War America took over running the Philippines and it was a Commonwealth. The city of Baguio and the big road to get up to it was actually built by Americans and an interesting fact is that the Japanese Armed forces actually officially surrendered to America here in Baguio at the end of WWII. All the street names are named after Americans.
The rest of church was really good although I couldn't understand most of what they were saying in Relief Society, our woman's organization meeting, since they were speaking the universal Filipino language of Tagalog. Although, Tagalog has several Spanish words and they throw in many English words too, so I could pick up some of the lesson. Following we were invited to lunch at a local restaurant where one of the members works.The couple, Arnold and Popi, were sharp and cute and this place "Martha's Garden" is like their second home. The food was good and the restaurant was inside a family garden and the salad was picked right from their own garden. They had a little girl Patricia who showed Sam and I around the gardens and where the pigs, rabbits and ducks and chickens were kept. Sam fed the rabbits and played a version of Mancala with the young girl after lunch. We walked around and the restaurant had a great view of the city stacked up and down the hills surrounding us.
Sunday there was a lot going on with the festivities surrounding the Flower Festival that is happening this time of year. We took a taxi to Burnham Park and when we arrived it was raining heavily. I ran and purchased 4 umbrellas for our group- thank heavens someone was selling near the park. Riley and Allie and his mission companion and his girlfriend left us there and went to visit some of their investigators whom they served when they were missionaries. Amber, Klane, Sam and I walked around the park. They had all kinds of little shops and food stands set up and we walked the stalls and purchased some fresh papaya and of course a Banana and Nutella Crepe- when you see one, get one has become Sam's motto. I also purchased a little gift for Nate- belated Valentines gift of a real frog wallet, complete with his front legs attached. How could I pass that one up?! The park was filled with flower gardens and a pond with paddle boats in the shape of Tigers and Swans. They also had a big indoor roller rink, really a roller track. I now know where all the American roller-skates from the 1970s ended up. There was a big track actually that went around a bunch of amusement rides. It really looked fun and we will go back tomorrow when it isn't raining so hard.
We made it back and snuggled into our room and got caught up on blogs.
Mother's Garden Restaurant where we had lunch today
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