We woke up early - again. (We haven’t slept late yet - and we deserve to do that at least once.) We did the best we could to pack up before getting downstairs to meet Edward for our temple trip. He was ready for us. Edward took us to the Church administration building across from the temple where Brad got his plane ticket, passport, and other good stuff. I wore the barong Jojo got for me, and Brad wore one, too. We took some pictures outside the temple, then went inside. It was nice to meet the temple president, President Nelson from Orem, Utah, and some other temple missionaries from the Salt Lake City area. They recognized Brad as a departing missionary right away (hard to miss, I suppose). When we checked out clothes for the temple, I was expecting to get a white shirt and tie. Not so. Instead, I was issued a white barong. That was really cool. All the men wore them. Edward went through our session with us. The endowment room was really small, but it was a cozy group. It was fun being there with Maralea and Brad during Brad’s first return to the temple since leaving the Mission Training Center. It was just the perfect culmination of a week that couldn’t have been scripted any better. The session was wonderful. I just felt so at peace with life as we sat together - the three of us - in the Celestial Room. How the Lord has blessed our family through Brad’s missionary service!
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| Brad and I sport the Barongs we received from Jojo at the Manila Temple in Quezon City |
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| All for one and one for all! The Manila Temple is beautiful |
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| Mommy and her missionary son - united again at last |
Edward’s wife made a special trip from Angeles City to accompany him on the way home. She was waiting for us in the visitors center as we exited the temple, and welcomed us with gifts - that included personalized slippers and cans of
“Royal” soda. That was cool. As Edward drove us from the temple, I got nosey about how he and his wife met, and events that led to their marriage. I always have so much fun hearing of great moments like that. Edward was teaching his wife as a missionary in the Naga Mission and returned to his mission monthly to help the missionaries. Their courtship started long after his mission, as she moved to Angeles and joined the Church. She teaches primary, is a teacher also in Relief Society, and serves as a ward missionary. (They keep the members busy here.) We very much appreciated Edward’s companionship during our visit here. He really made it wonderful for us. Thank goodness we had him to drive us around because, seriously, I am 100 percent certain I would have wrecked numerous times and perhaps maimed or killed no small number of pedestrians. After a couple aggressive maneuvers on our way to the airport, I told Edward:
“You know, if you did that in Las Vegas you’d get shot!” Everyone around her just kind of expects it, though. The roads in the Philippines are, based on my experience, survival of the fittest. There are no rules. Well, there are rules, but nobody seems to follow them. Everyone has the right of way. There were no traffic signals in Manila that we encountered - each intersection presenting like an episode of
“Fear Factor.” Interestingly, however, after a week of this, we were relatively unphased by all the near misses. (Yes Edward, you were THAT good!)
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