On Tuesday, Dec. 10th, we were honored to take a group of Malaysian saints to the Manila Philippines temple.  We had to get up at 12:30 AM and leave at 1:30 in the morning.  We picked everyone up in Masai around 2 AM and did all the airport and immigration stuff.  Our flight left Changi Airport at 6:20 AM and we arrived at the Ninoy Aquino Airport in Manila at 10 AM.
In the Changi (Singapore) Airport, they had a fun display of SpongeBob Square Pants, so the 3 kids we had with us needed some pictures.  This is Lenord Ladie anak Jimmy.

 The Manila Temple was just beautiful inside and out.  I am standing across the street, at the MTC, taking this picture.  It rained almost everyday, but not for very long.  The temple sits up on a hill, with the city of Manila behind.  It was so amazing to finally be here at the temple and be privileged to go inside.  Linda and I have not been in a temple since we left, 9 months ago.  Just before our mission, we worked in the temple on a weekly basis and loved it.  We sure have missed it.

 Here is my beautiful sweetheart, standing in front of the large nativity scene they had next to the temple.  At night, all the palm trees and many of the bushes are lit up in white, red and green lights.  Linda is so funny about having her picture taken.  She just hates it.  I always have to snap it when she is off guard and not really looking.  Others can convince her to take a picture, but not me.

 And here is a very handsome young man standing off to the side of the temple.  You notice that there are very few, if any cars in the parking lot.  Most people take buses, taxis and shuttles to the temple.  We didn't see very many cars at all.  To the left of the picture is an entrance to an underground walkway that goes beneath the street and comes out on the MTC side, where there is temple patron housing.  Along side of the temple patron housing is a small kitchen area where they serve breakfast and lunch everyday.  It cost 525 PHP (pesos) a day or about $10.

 I tried taking this picture through the taxi window, so it is a bit blurry.  This is a very common scene in Manila, of people just sleeping and living right on the side of the streets and sidewalks.  This older lady is just sleeping on her mat, under a tree.  We saw mothers laying next to their babies, sleeping in the hot afternoon sun.  The housing was rows and rows and miles and miles of slum and roofless shacks.  Very sad conditions for many miles as we drove from the airport to the temple.

 Here is a picture I took at night.  All the temples are so beautifully lit up at night and it was a spectacular sight when you come around the corner and see the temple right in front of you.
We had just finished doing all the initial work for those we brought with us during the day and this night, we had Lenord Ladie and his brother Lenord Kasi, do baptisms for the dead.  At this temple, you have to bring your own priesthood brethren to do the baptisms, the confirmations, the recording of everything and two witnesses.
We had just enough of us to accomplish this.

 Hong Min Tan, my 1st Counselor in the District Presidency, met us in Manila and stayed with us for 3 of the days.  He was a great help.  He laid down on the ground, in his white clothing, and wanted to take this picture of us looking up at Moroni above us.  It turned out very nicely.  I was the only person, in the temple, that wore a white tie.  Everyone else rents Filipino clothing, which consists of white trousers and a special white shirt with fancy embroidered borders down the front of the longer shirt which came down past your waist over your pants.  They looks really neat, so I rented a pair for the next day, trying to blend in and look like I'm from the Philippines. 

 This is our wonderful group of Malaysians.  Brother Hong Min Tan on the left (obviously not Malaysian, but lives in Malaysia), then Sister Julia, my sweetheart, Sister Minang and her husband, Brother Jimmy, with me in the background and on the far right, Pres. Joe, the 2nd Counselor in the Masai Branch Presidency.
They all look so angelic in their white clothes.  The temple allows us to take a picture outside if we take off the white slippers and change into our street shoes.

 Here, you can get an idea of the size of the Malay saints.  At least my wife would fit into the scene.  Pres. Joe is a bit taller, but this is the average size of most of the people here in Malaysia and Singapore.  No wonder people look at me and usually laugh.  I thought all this time it was my face they were laughing at, but maybe it is my height.  No, it's probably both.
I think my sweetheart is getting shorter by the year.

 Isn't this an amazing picture.  I took about 92 pictures and loved to just keep snapping shots of the temple.  On the left side is the temple annex.  We had to go into the annex each day and pay for the temple clothing you would need for the day.  The temple clothing were so cheap, costing about 30 pesos for the entire set, which comes to less than $1.  We were suppose to place our temple clothing into special drawers and keep them to reuse each day.  I didn't get that memo, so I had to rent my clothing a few times.

 In this amazing snapshot, you can't really see it very well, but off to the right of the temple, in the middle of the picture, there is a small rainbow just below that long cloud.  It was really a beautiful sight.  I took this one as we left the temple on Thursday afternoon, just finishing up the sealings.  We had accomplished all the 4 adults own temple work, then went back to do the work for their ancestors who were dead.  We did all the baptisms and confirmations, all the initiatory work, endowed 8 ancestors and sealed 4 couples together for time and for all eternity.
All in just 2 days time within these sacred walls.

 As we crossed over a walkway, going over the congested streets, a little girl followed me, begging for something to eat.  It was difficult to walk by her as dozens of people were also begging.  We crossed the bridge, passing people who were laying on the ground, with no home of their own and no bed to sleep in.  For a short time, it was quite scary as it was just the two of us, standing out in the crowd dressed in shirt and tie and Linda in her dress, trying to find our hotel.  We eventually made it to our hotel and got some sleep.

 This picture is the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, with all their Christmas decorations hanging from the ceiling.  This airport is one large open room, with all the different airline counters around the edges.  After just 3 days in Manila, we were sad to leave the temple experience, but also excited to get back on a plane and head back to Singapore and then to cross over into Malaysia.

This picture is our group getting ready to pay the Philippine Airport Tax.  It cost each person, adult and child, 550 PHP(pesos) to leave the airport.  It sounds like a lot, but it really comes to $12.50 each.  We had given each of our families separate envelopes, with the needed funds in each envelope to cover all their expenses.  Everything worked out wonderfully and we even had some money left over to turn back to the church in Hong Kong.  We were so blessed to have this opportunity to go to the Manila Temple with these good people.

 Our final picture is our sweet group of people from the Masai Branch who we took to the Manila Temple.  Sister Julia anak Dempi, Lenord Kasi anak Jimmy, Lenord Ladie anak Jimmy, Sister Minang anak Jellingai, little Petreus anak Jimmy, Brother Jimmy anak Semain and Brother Joe anak Mungan.   They are all holding up blue cards (deceased male names of their ancestors), pink cards, (deceased female names of their ancestors), and yellow cards, (deceased couples names of their ancestors to be sealed together).
We now will start on our next temple trip in September of 2014.  Can't wait!