Manila

The Cebu City Philippines Temple was closed for the two week maintenance from Jan 13 - Jan 27, 2014. During the first week of the temple closure we received permission to travel to Manila and visit some of the places in that part of the Philippines.  There were four temple missionary couples who went, Henthorns, Browns, Colemans and Sorensens and we were gone from Jan 13 - Jan 20, 2014.  We thought we had better take the opportunity while we are here to see this part of the world since neither LuAnn nor I have been out of the United States before.  It was a wonderful trip and being with the other missionary couples was really fun.  The trip was set up through a church member who has a company that provides transportation for missionaries and general authorities so we had a driver, Robert, that took us everywhere, showed us the important sites in the area, let us know what was appropriate for the culture and made sure we didn't pay to much for something (sometimes Filipinos try to give you the American discount which means raising the price when they see you are American).  We didn't have to worry about driving in the traffic or trying to figure out how to get somewhere, Robert took care of that for us and since he is a member of the church he knew what was appropriate for missionaries.  We stayed at a Holiday Inn for the first three days and spent the rest of the days in the patron housing by the Manila Temple which gave us the opportunity to visit with some of the members who had traveled to Manila to be in the temple.

Metro Manila is made up of 16 different cities that are connected together and is a very busy place.  You see the very modern with lots of construction going on and very old buildings and very poor areas mixed in with it.  Some places that we visited in and around Manila were:

The American Cemetery: this is where many are buried that died in the Philippines during WWII fighting for freedom, not just Americans.  There was a feeling of being on hollowed ground there and we felt a deep appreciation for those who gave their lives for freedom.

Fort Santiago: a very old fort originally built for protection against pirates and still has the stone walls around it.  It was also used as a prison and Dr. Jose Ruzal, who is the national hero for the Philippines, was imprisoned there prior to being marched a short distance away to be executed.  He helped the Philippines obtain their independence from Spain.

Taal Volcano: an active volcano (not at the moment though) that is located inside a lake formed inside a larger volcano that also has a lake inside it.  Very interesting.  We rode a boat to get to the volcano and then rode horses to the top of the volcano.  There was smoke coming up in places and you could smell sulfur and feel the heat.

Pagsanjan Falls: we rode in canoes paddled by Filipinos, and at times we were pulled and pushed through and over rocks, up the river through steep cliffs to a waterfall.  This area is maintained for it's primitive nature and was very beautiful.  We got on a bamboo raft and were pulled through the falls and were able to swim in the water behind the falls.

Corregador Island:  This island is close to Bataan Island, where the Bataan death march was during WWII, and was a strategic U.S. military base before and during the war.  The United States established a military base there in 1912 and had barracks, officers quarters, munition bunkers, large guns, etc.  It was such a strategic military point that the Japanese attacked Corregador only 10 hours after attacking Pearl Harbor. The United States later attacked the island to retake it from the Japanese. The island has not been rebuilt since the war so all of the buildings that were bombed are in the same condition as then.  The feeling there was very different and felt dark because of the death and destruction that had taken place.  It gave us a little insight into some of the history of WWII in the Philippines.                                                                                            

The Manila Philippines Temple:  This was our favorite place on our trip.  We were able to spend Friday and Saturday in the temple serving as proxies in ordinances.  Saturday Jan 18, 2014 we were able to participate in two endowment sessions, two sealing sessions and an initiatory session with the other temple missionaries.  This was a very special day for us because it was our 40th wedding anniversary and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than being in the temple.  The only thing that would have made the day better would have been to have all of our children with us.

The American Cemetery in Manila.  Over 30,000 crosses continue around in a complete circle.

Fort Santiago with some of the old walls.  The footprints on the ground trace where Dr. Jose Ruzal walked from his prison cell to where he was executed.

Sister Sorensen on our way to Taal Volcano.  The water behind her is the lake inside a large volcano and Taal is located on the island directly behind the tree on the left of the picture.  A dead volcano can be seen on the right.

On the horses headed to the volcano.  The horses were small but strong to get us up the mountain.  The hill between and behind us is the dead volcano shown in the previous picture.

This is Taal Volcano with the lake inside of it.  Just behind us there was smoke coming out of the volcano.

One of our boatman pulling us upstream toward Pagsanjan Falls.  There was also a boatman in the back of the canoe pushing through this area because it was narrow and shallow.

The Canoe in head of us being lifted and pushed over rocks.  We were next.

The narrow gorge headed to the falls.  Everything was so green.

Pagsanjan Falls,  The raft in the water is what we rode on to go through the falls.

One of the bombed out barracks on Corregador Island.  The yellow paint on the walls is the original paint.

A twelve inch gun.  The hole to the left is where a bomb hit.  The gun was riddled with holes.

Inside the Pacific War Memorial on Corregador.

The dock where General McArthur left Corregador for Australia.  The Island across the water is Bataan where the death march took place.

The Manila Temple across the street from the Philippines MTC.  The flags are at the entrance to the MTC.

The Cebu Temple Missionaries at the Manila Temple.  Elder and Sister Henthorn, Spokane, Washington.  Elder and Sister Coleman, Hawaii,  Elder and Sister Sorensen, Fayette, Utah.  Elder and Sister Brown, West Valley City, Utah.

The Manila Temple.