Philippines // 02

When we got back to our hotel that first night at the Nautilus, we used the complimentary wifi to look up when church was. We could not believe our luck when there ended up being a chapel about a mile up the road. It was a great reminder that our faith is worldwide. We really enjoy that fact-that no matter where we go, the gospel and practices are all the same.

Church was at 9 am, so after our complimentary breakfast (Steven had a Filipino breakfast of Tacino!) we headed out around 8:30, wearing jeans and t-shirts because we only packed for the beach and not for church...oops. We did slightly underestimate the distance and ended up grabbing a tricycle for the last little bit of the walk, which wasn't an issue, the ride cost us 20 Php (about $0.50). The second we walked up to the building we were treated like superstars. It was slightly awkward and not really my favorite. But I felt LOVED. They may not have much, they weren't dressed much better than we were, and they were all wearing shoes that looked about 20 years old, but they loved us. People were coming to the pew we were sitting in well into the start of the services, so that they could welcome us. Even after the partaking of the Sacrament we had people coming up to us so excited that their attempted whispers were clearly audible to the rest of the congregation. When we were leaving we asked if there was any drinking water available, assuming that the church had set up a water purifier for a drinking fountain or something, but we were surprised when they reached into the water storage closet and grabbed us a two liter bottle of clean water. We were honored and again could not believe the love that these people had for us. They insisted we come back again this time next year, I told them that I couldn't make any promises. 

Two other things to note about church in the Philippines: a) Christmas season starts in September! Oh Come All Ye Faithful and "Merry Christmas" were plentiful! b) The Filipinos use this odd mix of English and Tagalog in their meetings, since everyone is bilingual there. So some testimonies were English English Tagalog English English English Tagalog and others were Tagalog Tagalog Tagalog English Tagalog Tagalog. It was pretty funny, but the most consistent English words used were "Brother and Sister" and "Merry Christmas".

We took our time walking back to our hotel and really investigated our surroundings. We were on the street with the largest tourism landmarks in Alaminos, so you would think that it should be well maintained and good looking. We found it to be anything but. We really enjoyed the cows on leashes in front yards, the goats and chickens wandering everywhere, and the children. Their smiles could light up the earth if the sun ever went out. They were so happy to see us, even though they had no idea who we are. We turned our walk into a photo walk, taking pictures of anything that caught our interest. So this is one small view of the Philippines, according to the Struthers.

{This is the part where I warn you about the massive photo dump that's about to happen...}