May 30, 2010
Dearest Family,
Music has nostalgic powers. The Tabernacle Choir CD “Consider the Lilies” is playing “Consider the sweet tender children who have suffered on this earth…” After Church today little beggar children came right up to the doors, mingling with the primary children, except they had their hands outstretched for money—and they were dirty and ragged instead of being spotlessly clean. WE have been cautioned not to give any money to people on the streets or at Church. But it breaks my heart not to do for them. Yesterday when the cab we were riding in was stopped at a stop light, a little girl came to one window and a little boy to the other, in the middle of heavy traffic, knocking on the window and begging for money. We had to turn our heads the other way. It is so hard to turn away from those in need. In one of our tour groups yesterday we met a man from the Los Angeles area who had come to the Philippines to start a foundation that would help the youth here to get a college education. He was not a member of the Church but has good friends who are and is impressed with what the Church does to help out. He told me, “I am not a rich man, but if I can help even three or four get a good education, three or four families will be affected for good>” WE do not have a monopoly on goodness. He seemed to realize as we know there is a difference between a handout and helping people to become self-reliant, as the Church does. I would have enjoyed talking to him afterwards to hear his impressions of the temple tour. He knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to tour inside the temple as a non-member.
We have had thousands come to the open house in the past week. Yesterday there were 3,250 who went on tours. These tours are different from the ones I remember at Draper or Oquer Mountain Temples. The people are invited into the Chapel at the Church until one of the classrooms where the video (parts of the DVD “Between Heaven and Earth” plus an added section on the Church in the Philippines and the Cebu Temple) is ready for a new group. They are given a beautiful brochure which shows pictures of the rooms in the Cebu Temple (we will send you some) and tells about the purpose of the temple. WE have five rooms showing the video which lasts 12 minutes. Often we have the group for 5 to 10 minutes before we can start the video—so the groups don’t get bottle=necked; this is when we can talk to the people individually or as a group casually—and is when I often talk about my family and how we have been called as temple missionaries to serve in the Temple with the Filipino people. The video is in English or Cebuano with subtitles; we usually play it in English since there are a few people who do not speak Cebuano, but the Filipinos like the subtitles because they can read and understand when they maybe don’t understand all that is being said in English. One beautiful young woman said to me, “ I came a few days ago and would like to go again. Is it alright? I felt something wonderful and want to feel that again before I have to fly back to work.” She was a young business executive from a neighboring island. It turned out that she was also a friend to the daughter of the First Counselor in the Temple Presidency and has been impressed by the Church for some time. There were 160+ requests for the missionaries from yesterday’s visitors. One tour guide said one person came up to him right after the tour and said he wanted to be baptized, and was told he would need to be taught the principles of the Gospel first, and he asked for the missionaries right away!
AS the group leaves our room, the tour guides, a husband and wife—usually a bishop, a bishop’s counselor or a member of a Stake Presidency or High Council and their spouses—lead them outside where they are given white umbrellas to shade them from the hot sun as they walk to the temple where they leave the umbrellas until they come out. Assigned youth put booties on their feet before they enter the temple. There is no plastic protecting the carpet! The guides give a talking tour nearly always in Cebuano since that is what the people understand best. (I do not remember a time when we have had a guide who explained the different rooms; there have been signs telling what the rooms were.) After they finish the tour of the temple they return to the Church for refreshments and have the opportunity to ask questions of the missionaries in the cultural hall and fill out comment cards.
WE have had some interesting experiences with the taxi drivers. WE have lovely, printed invitations to the open house that I always give to the taxi drivers, explaining that it costs nothing, that he can bring his whole family, his friends and neighbors, and that it will be closed to the public after next week. It would be good to know just how many of them come back. They are definitely impressed with the beauty and expanse of the buildings and grounds. One driver asked, “Who is the owner? He must be very rich” I told him it was God’s house, that it was not owned by one man here on the earth,that it was a house of worship for members of the Church. Sometimes it is hard to communicate when the drivers speak very little English. Usually they are not very educated—but they are good drivers! Another driver last night asked us if we were Mormons. When we said yes he said “Very good Church. Don’t wear mini-skirts. I a Catholic, but I quit going Church because women wear mini-skirts. Not a good thing. Mormon women good.” I thought what a unique observation. Generally we are a modest dressing people, but I didn’t realize that someone who was not a member of the Church would judge the Church by the way we dress…WE have been very impressed by the way most of the women dress here; the only thing that is bare is their feet. They have the fanciest flip flops I have ever seen, but they all wear them. The way Americans dress on the whole is much more revealing and casual==even sloppy!President Mortimer is setting us apart as temple ordinance workers at his home in half an hour and we have another meeting with all the people on our floor at 7pm so I’d better get ready. WE love you and pray for you always. Love, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Mary and Larry
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