A Trip to the Manila Philippines LDS Temple

Report of Our Trip to the Manila Philippines Temple

Thursday to Saturday, October 16-18, 2014

Alisa, Laura, and Nathan

Thursday morning we headed to the airport for our trip to Manila, Philippines with our Bangkok ward to the temple there in Manila.  There were about 10 of us on the same flight to Manila.  Check-in lines were long and even though we’d gotten to the airport 2 ½ hours early, we barely made it to the gate before boarding.  Since it was lunchtime by the time we were through security and I’m used to U.S. Delta flights where anything under 4 hours means you just get peanuts and water, we grabbed burgers at Burger King (me and Nate), and a pretzel at Auntie Anne’s (Laura).  When we got to the gate we had 5 minutes to eat and then they started loading the plane.  We inhaled the food, and hurried on the plane.  It was one of the most cramped airplanes I’ve ever flown on, but at least Nathan and Laura and I were our own row.  That suited the kids just fine.  To our surprise they served a full lunch service after about half an hour in the air.  So while Philippine Airlines had a more cramped plane, their service was better.  The kids were too full to eat anything, but they did agree to the ice cream cup that came around after lunch.  It was a smooth, uneventful flight and we landed right on time in Manila at 6 p.m. local time.  It was already dark by the time we got out of the airport where we were met by two members of our ward who had come earlier in the week.  They had arranged for a chartered bus and for Jollibee hamburgers and drinks for everyone to eat on the bus.  It was so nice to see friendly faces and to be shepherded around and not have to worry about transportation after all the airport hassle and traveling.  (Even when travel goes well it’s just exhausting.) It took us a slow hour stuck in traffic to get to the temple housing.  By the time we finally checked in it was about 8:30.  Our family got assigned to their own room which we were very grateful for.  Our room had 4 bunkbeds in it, so with just 3 people we had plenty of room to spread out.  We got a fitted sheet and a pillowcase for each person, but no top sheet or blanket. It was too hot to not have the air conditioning on, so we all used our towels to help us stay warm and slept in our pants and sweaters and socks.  I’m sure we were a funny sight. 

            We met the rest of the ward for breakfast the next morning at 7:30 in the little cafeteria of the temple housing.  It was rice and meat for breakfast.  Then the kids went back to the room because they were scheduled to do their first session of baptisms at 1 p.m.  I headed over to the temple across the street from the housing at 8:15 to get my family names that my mom had prepared for me all submitted to the temple and turned into pink and blue cards.  The bishop found out that there was a baptismal session at 8 a.m. that our four youth could join if they hurried, so I offered to run back and get the kids.  I ran back across the street (which actually means taking the underground tunnel across the street) and knocked on my kids’ door and the other family’s door with the other 2 youth. I told kids to hurry and get dressed in Sunday clothing so they could do a baptismal session right then.  In 5 minutes they were ready and we headed back to the temple.  The bishop went with them to do baptisms, so I left the kids with the bishop and hustled to go rent my temple clothes and get dressed.  Turns out you rent your clothes in a little building right next door to the temple called The Annex.  But you don’t actually get your clothes there, you just pay there and bring your receipt back to the temple.  I got in the Annex and there was a long line waiting to rent clothes.  I despaired of making the 9 a.m. session at this point.  But just then, the bishop’s wife came out of the payment office and she had paid for temple clothing rental for all the adults on the trip.  So she handed me a receipt and I hustled back to the temple and picked up my clothes.  I hurried into the locker room and changed and ended up being the last person in the session.  Once I finally stopped sweating and settled down from all the running around I was able to enjoy the session. 

            When I got done I headed back to housing and found Laura and Nathan all done.  They were still in their Sunday clothes because I’d told them I wanted to take pictures at the temple.  So we went out and took pictures and then headed over to the distribution center back on the housing side of the street.  It was so nice to have access to church materials.  We enjoyed wandering around the small distribution center and ended up getting a few things and headed back to our room.  By this time it was noon and lunchtime, so we went down to the cafeteria and our lunch was waiting for us.

            For fun, the bishop organized a trip to a mall for the youth after lunch.  I agreed to take them since 2 of the youth were mine. Laura stayed back at the housing with a stomach ache, so I had Nathan and 2 other teenagers with me.  The bishop had sent along with me $5 for each of the kids to spend.  They ended up getting snacks at a grocery store in the mall and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Thanks Bishop Berry!! (Especially for the doughnuts…)

Once we got back, we relaxed a little before dinner and then got dressed in Sunday clothes again and went to dinner.  Laura wasn’t up to eating anything for dinner, but the rest of us had a good meal.  I ran over to a little grocery store next door right after dinner to get some fresh fruit for Laura—the only thing she felt like eating.  Then we all went back to the temple as a ward.  The youth went and did a baptismal session again and all the adults went to an endowment session together.  That was really neat.  It’s so cool to look around the room and see friendly ward family faces.  After the session we went back to the housing and just relaxed in our room.  The kids and I played computer games and read till bedtime. We slept much better on Friday night. 

            Saturday morning I got up at 6:15 a.m. and got cleaned up and dressed and then headed over to the temple to try and catch a 7 a.m. session.  When I got into the temple at 6:40 a.m. there was already a long line waiting to check in at the desk.  I didn’t make it in to the 7 a.m. session, but was able to get a spot in the 7:30 session.  I got changed and then waited in the endowment room for 40 minutes till the session started. It was really neat to do 3 sessions so close together.  I’ve never done that before.  It was just great to spend so much time in the temple.  And I’m so glad I was able to bring a few family names with me too.  Thanks Mom for getting those ready for me!!  I got out of the session, got all my finished name cards picked up, and hustled back to the temple housing.  My kiddoes had just gotten up.  They hadn’t packed or eaten breakfast or brushed teeth.  So we hurriedly packed up, pulled our sheets from the beds and got our luggage downstairs.  Nathan and I made one last quick run to the distribution center for a Primary songbook.  The center was JAMMED!  We had to wait in another long line to check out.  We got back to the bus just as they were breaking up from taking a picture.  We hopped on the bus and got on the road back to the airport.

            The lines at the Manila airport were so short and easy.  The only hold up we experienced was forgetting about the exit fee…which they call an airport fee.  They don’t charge you when you arrive at the airport, but they charge it when you’re leaving.  Thankfully I was able to put it on my credit card because I didn’t have enough Philippine pesos left to pay it for 3 people.  Our plane was delayed leaving Manila by about an hour, but the rest of the flight was smooth and uneventful.  We landed in Bangkok just after 5 p.m. and then a small group of us rode the airport train back into the city.  It was a 15 minute walk from there to home lugging our suitcases behind us.  When we got home Allen and the girls were in the pool.  We were hot and sweaty from our walk home so we got in our suits too and took a half hour float around the pool while we reported on our trip.

            I have never had the opportunity to take a trip dedicated solely to temple work before.  It was a wonderful experience.  It was all about serving in the temple and nothing else.  I liked that.  I was so impressed with how full the temple in Manila was…for every session.  I’ve taken my Detroit temple that is only an hour away too much for granted.  And I’m so glad that Nathan and Laura got to come and serve as well.  It was a great experience.

 

A view of the temple from across the street where the distribution center is.

On the Manila temple grounds.

Mom and Daughter shot

And Mom and Son shot

We're Baaaaaaaack!!! Part Two

And now for the Emma and Nathan Portion of our October/November Blog...

EMMA

 November 5

 Dear everyone,

On Friday, October 3^rd,  we went to Wat Saket, and climbed 300 steps to the top of the Golden Mount.  It was okay.  It wasn’t really a great view from the top. Just a lot of buildings and cars.  However, for a little ways up they had like a forest garden thing going along the side of the stairs.  I thought that was cool because there were a bunch of hidden statues that you could look for.  Also on the way up there were areas with bells in rows that you could ding with a coin, or clang their clapper.  There was a huge gong that had a big log suspended in front of it that you could use to bang the gong.  It was so loud it made really loud vibrations. At the top you could go inside a building and there was a bunch of statues of Buddhas.  There was one side of the building that had Buddha statues for each day of the week and each statue had different hand positions.  The Sunday statue was the Reclining Buddha position.  There was a water dispenser that had really cold water that was really awesome.  There was also a green Buddha statue that was like the Emerald Buddha.  There were a bunch of shrines in the temple.  You could take some really steep steps up to the roof where the golden chedi was.  It was really bright and hot up there.  We had to take off our shoes to go in the temple and we went up there in socks and it burned our feet!  They had music playing up there.  There was another big gong up there, but it wasn’t as big as the other one.  It had a big mallet that you hit it with.  It was SO heavy.  I like mallets!  On the way down, I put my hair in my hat because it was so hot.  Anyway, on the way down, we saw this monk, and he asked me where I was from, so I said, “America.”  Then he said, “Oh, all the way from America.  What’s your name?”  I said, “Emma.”  Then he asked, “Are you a man or a woman?”  I said, “I’m a woman.”  Then he said, “You look like a man.”  So I pulled my hair out and waved it so he could see my long pony tail.  He was just like, “Ooooohhh, okay.”  Thanks dude.  Then I left.

On October 11^th , I went to a cat themed party. It was for this girl that goes to my church. Her name is Lucy. The party started at a restaurant called the Purr Cat Café. When we went in the actual building, we had to put on these weird slipper things. Then, we had to wash our hands. After that, we went into the actual eating area. THERE WERE SO MANY CATS!!!!!! Well, not SOO many, just a lot. They were mostly the big, fluffy cats with the squished up faces. They are SO adorable! It kind of freaked me out a couple of times when the cats would crawl behind me, and jump up on chairs. There was this really cool cat walkway that was hanging from the ceiling. There was also a little stairway that led up to it, so that the cats could actually climb on it and walk around. However, it was only wide enough for single file. One time, there was a cat just laying in the walkway, and another cat wanted to get by. So every time it tried to walk past on the railing, the lazy cat would paw at it. Also, the cats kept digging through our party bags. So Lucy’s mom finally emptied one, and a fat gray cat hopped in. I think it fell asleep too. One time, a cat was sitting on one of our chairs, so a worker had to come get it off. However, it just hopped back on. This happened around 4 times, and then the cat sat on our table, so the worker just gave up. The cat would let us pet it a lot. It was SO soft! The restaurant mainly sold dessert and breakfast, so we all got dessert. I got what they called a Purr Cat Brownie. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS! It was 2 brownies with an ice cream of your choice. Lucy’s mom also brought long pieces of string that we could dangle in front of the cats’ faces for them to play with. They went WILD for them. It was really funny to watch them jump and hop for a piece of string.  After that, we did a book exchange, and then went to Lucy’s apartment.  I brought Three Times Lucky, and took home Anne of Green Gables.  At Lucy’s we played a game kind of like mafia, and then watched the newer Parent Trap movie. It was REALLY FUN! I also want a cat now.

Ringing the giant gong on the way up the Golden Mount to Wat Saket

One of the shrines in the gardens on the way up the Golden Mount.

View half way up the stairs to the top of the Golden Mount.

Golden Chedi on the top of Wat Saket

Buddhist Shrine in the center of Wat Saket

NATHAN

On October 23,  Dad and I left for the airport to go to Singapore. We boarded late because the crew was late. We flew Tiger Air.  There were rows of three and it was hard to play my computer because it was cramped. When we got to Singapore we took a bus to our hotel. The hotel was pretty nice. It was called the Rendezvous Hotel.  Dad went to dinner with some colleagues while I waited in the hotel room. I worked on some school work and read a book while he was out. I also fell asleep and forgot to order room service, so after Dad got back we went and wandered around the street near our hotel. Eventually we ended up stopping at McDonalds for my dinner and then getting Slurpees at 7-11. They don’t have Slurpees at the 7-11’s here in Thailand. They already had Christmas decorations up in the street.

The next morning we went to Gardens by the Bay. It was a huge garden complex. We got tickets for their two domes and their Skyway. The first dome was the Cloud Forest Dome. It basically was a huge dome with a huge man-made mountain with a waterfall and plants everywhere. When we walked in, it was amazing. It was air-conditioned, misting, and the water fall was spraying everywhere and it felt awesome after being in the dry heat. We then took an elevator up to the top and then walked down. The whole mountain was covered in plants. Inside the mountain they had exhibits about cloud forests and caves. They also had walkways that went around the mountain/hill. It was super cool. Also inside the mountain they had a clock doing a countdown to Christmas. After the cloud forest we went to the flower dome. It was basically a huge dome filled with all kinds of plants and flowers. They had some sculptures of animals made out of plants that were really cool. They also had a cool desert area where they had a ton of cacti and these really fat trees that hold a ton of water. It wasn’t as cool as the cloud forest, but I still liked it. We then went to the Supertree Grove. The Supertrees were basically huge metal redwood trees. They absorb energy from the sun and use it to power stuff in the Gardens. The supertrees were covered in plants. We went on the skyway which was an elevated walkway between the two tallest super trees. It was super high off the ground and it was really cool to be able to see the whole garden from the walkway. After the walkway we walked to a restaurant called Satay by the Bay where we got some satay which is basically just a shiskebab. It was really good. Then we took the MRT back to the hotel and Dad went to his talk. I worked on school and did my seminary class. Then when Dad got back we met one of Dad’s friends and we went to the Singapore Flyer which is the biggest ferris wheel in the world. It was awesome. Since we went at night the ferris wheel was lit up. They don’t stop the flyer so you have to get on while it’s moving. We could see the whole Singapore skyline from our car. It has changed since we were there last because they have reclaimed a ton of land. The Merlion Statue is actually inland now. Anyway the whole trip around the ferris wheel took about half an hour. It was really cool. After that we went to Chinatown. I really liked Chinatown and wished that we had spent more time there. We ate at an Indian place in Chinatown. It was okay. After that we stopped at a small Chinese Garden and then headed back to our hotel.

Then the next morning we checked out and had the front desk hold our suitcases. Then we went to see the Merlion. When we got there it was super hot and super bright. I forgot my sunglasses so I’m squinting in all the photos. The Merlion was also super crowded. It was crazy, but still really cool. It’s exactly how I remembered it. Then we walked down to the Helix Bridge which is a cool bridge made of interlocking helixes. We also passed the Durian (a concert hall with an interesting roof that looks like half a giant durian fruit) on the way to the bridge. We then crossed the bridge to the Art Science Museum.  The Art Science Museum was like a ghost town. There was hardly anybody there and they only had one exhibit open and then another exhibit about inventions and the museum. The first exhibit was a Chinese photography exhibit. There was a really cool moving picture collage of a whole bunch of buildings that made up a mountain. The picture moved and it looked like the pictures from the newspapers in the Harry Potter movies. Then we got into some of the weird pictures that I have no idea how they got into the museum. For example, there was one where it was two guys with their eyes closed and bubbles in the background. It was weird. There were also other photos that I could’ve taken with my camera.  (They didn’t look professional or like art at all.) It was strange. After that we went through a mall to get to the MRT. The mall had an indoor river and a gondola ride. We didn’t ride it though. Then went got our suitcases and headed to the airport. The airport had a movie theater and a video game area.  We flew Tiger Air again and it was cramped again and they didn’t feed us or give us water again. We got back 15 minutes early and took the Airport Skytrain Line to Makassan station which isn’t too far from our house. The train was super crowded and we almost couldn’t get out. We then walked 15 minutes to our apartment. The rest of the day we hung out and showed everyone our pictures. It was super fun!

In the Cloud Forest Dome in Singapore

Inside the Cloud Forest Dome with a view to the Singapore Flyer ferris wheel across the bay.

On the sky walk between the Supertrees with the Cloud Forest Dome and the Flower Dome in the background.

Having dinner in Chinatown with Dad

In front of the famous Singapore Merlion statue.  It was super bright and hot and crowded.

The Double Helix Bridge on the way to the art museum in Singapore.

We're Baaaaaaack! Part One

November 12, 2014

            So it’s been a while since we’ve added anything to our blog.  I hadn’t anticipated the amount of work and time it takes to get 4 kids to write something up and pick pictures and then get it all posted.  With our unreliable internet speed sometimes the posting of the blog was the worst part…so, we’re aiming for a once a month report.  Approximately.  If we have something really interesting to report, it might be less than a month.  Who knows!  How ever we do it in the future, this blog post is long enough, I'm splitting it in two.  So this is Part One of our October Adventures, and Part Two will posted as quickly as the internet will allow.  Cross your fingers!

            Life at the Hicken International Academy is busy:  school, school, school.  We knock it out of the park some days at school and others, well, feel like sacrifice bunts that keep us in the game, but get us out for the inning.  I keep having requests for a school holiday.  And sometimes I would dearly love to declare Winter Break has started early.  And then I hear the voice of Rex from Toy Story in my head, “Great!  Now I have guilt!”  So, no holidays.  Yet. 

I am looking forward to a Thanksgiving Break though.  And yes!  No guilt over that one!  We just started looking at frozen turkeys in the grocery stores this week in anticipation.  We’re trying not to choke on the $40-50 price tags we’re seeing.  Yikes!  It’s going to be interesting to see what we can put together of our traditional Thanksgiving Dinner.  One of the biggest problems is just having enough pots and pans to bake and serve everything in.  I’ll have to figure out what order to cook everything in so I can wash and reuse the pans without food getting too cold. It will be like a giant food puzzle. 

So what have we been doing since we posted last?  Our October went by so fast it’s hard to remember everything we did.  Some of us (Mom, Laura, and Nathan) took a trip to Manila, Philippines to attend the Manila Temple.  A couple of us (Dad and Nathan) took a trip to Singapore for a conference.  There were birthday parties and Halloween parties.  There was one field trip in there to Wat Saket and a museum.  Homeschool co-op for Emma and Rachel, choir practice for Allen and Alisa, piano lessons for all the kids, and trying to have clean clothes, food on the table, and Sunday School lessons ready on Sunday took up all the rest of the available time.  It’s amazing how little time is left at the end of the day by the time I’ve helped 3 girls through lessons, made and cleaned up from dinner, and then made school assignments for the next day.  I look at that and it doesn’t sound like we do hardly anything all day, but that’s a pretty accurate description of every day at the Hicken International Academy.  (Okay, there’s also checking Facebook at all different times of the day because of the awesome time difference.  So not missing the below freezing temperatures in the Midwest right now, by the way!)  Anyhoo… without further adieu, let’s hear what the kids thought was Flippin’ Awesome about the last month.

Family Field Trip to Wat Saket on the Golden Mount.  Here we are ready to start our hike.

And we're on our way up...

A Photo Op on the way up.

Just before heading into the museum of the king who reigned in the 1930s during the switch from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.  We went here right after our visit to the Golden Mount.

RACHEL

For Halloween this year I was an Earth Fairy.  I wore my white Sunday dress that has pink and green ribbon flowers on it.   We went shopping for stuff for my Halloween costume  We bought a really expensive-looking necklace [Editor’s note:  It was only $5] that had lots of green and light green gems on it that looked like fake leaves.  We also got a wand and fairy wings.  And we found a tiara so I could be a fairy princess.  The day Dad and Nathan came home from Singapore, Emma and I went to the church Halloween party. They had a not-at-all haunted house. It was not scary at all. They had a mini blow up ghost that was smiling and happy.  There were the Young Men hiding under the chairs going, “Oooooooooooooo!”  I was laughing the whole way.  At the Halloween party there were multiple games.  One of them was Bowling which was easy to get a Strike on.  Another one was the Mummy Wrap came where you competed against two other people to wrap someone in toilet paper first.  Me and Emma lost.  There was another game where you had to take chopsticks and take as many pieces of candy out of a bowl as you can.  I was actually pretty good at it.  But I had the beginner chopsticks, so I guess that was kind of cheaty.  I got 4 pieces of candy out in 30 seconds.  There was a cookie decorating area where you could decorate a cookie any way you wanted.  I think there were some kids who just decorated it with everything without thinking about how it would taste.  I didn’t want to do that.  I just frosted my cookie and ate it. They also ha d a bean bag toss.  After we did the activities they did trick-or-treating.  Everyone would line up and you go to the doors and knock and the Young Men would just throw the candy at you.  It was pretty annoying because then you had to pick up the candy.  After the party it had rained and was still raining a bit when we were walking home.  Me and Emma’s feet hurt and so Mom let us take off our shoes and walk home barefoot.  It was nice. 

On Saturday, November 1^st,  Emma and I went to a Clue themed birthday party for a girl named Amy from our Homeschool Co-Op group.  She loves crafts so Emma and I got her a mosaic tile project with tiles all the colors of the rainbow and a box to decorate them with. She loved it.  The crime was that someone stole a piece of cake.  We went swimming at the party to find clues in the pool.  They had plastic eggs in the pool with clues inside.  We made bracelets at the party too after finding out that Miss Scarlet  was NOT guilty.  We ate pizza for dinner and then there were clues on the bottom of the plates.  We solved the mystery and the dad did it and for his consequence we smeared whipped cream on his face and then the dad said, “Who wants a hug?” I thought that he wasn’t serious, so I said, “Me!” But he WAS serious and he smeared whipped cream in my hair ON PURPOSE and I had to wash it out and have help too. I thought the party was fun.  It reminded me of my Clue birthday party I had when I turned 8.   

Ringing Bells on the way up to Wat Saket on the Golden Mount

The Results of our Sewing Craze:  Rachel's wallets are the Dark Pink one, and both Green ones.

Our Soi flooding during a Bangkok Downpour.

Earth Fairy Rachel

Gypsy Emma

LAURA

November 5, 2014

Wednesday

Hello people! Well this week was Halloween. It's not that big of a deal here. Sure you have the candy sales in stores but other than that, nothing. There was trick-or-treating in our apartment building but none of us really fancy the idea of walking around and knocking on strangers' doors. And we didn't want to just walk around the streets of Thailand. So, we went to Terminal 21 for dinner and got candy and ice cream at the store in the basement. Mom spotted one of her Relief Society BFFs so we got to stand and wait for her while she chatted. Once we got home, we watched Star Wars Return of the Jedi. It was a pretty gratifying Halloween.  The day after Halloween Nathan and I went to a youth Tri-Ward dance at our church building.  Even though it was three wards, it was not much bigger than just our Chelsea ward.  I dressed as a Pirate.  Nathan won one of the two Male Best Costume Awards even though he didn’t want to wear one.  He was Clark Kent changing into Superman.  We got there late because we didn’t remember what time it started.  By the time we got there it was pizza time, which is the whole reason I went.  So I was really glad I got there in time for pizza.  After the dinner they started the dancing.  There were no slow dances.  They only did fast dances, but no one was dancing.  The boys were popping the balloons and the girls were standing around talking.  We did that for half an hour and then it was over.  Before we went home Nathan and I stayed and helped clean up and set up for church the next day while other people  “helped” by popping balloons.  I got a Snickers bar, so Happy Halloween to me.   

The week before, was Dad's birthday. I asked what cake he wanted and he said that he wanted an ice cream cake. Uh oh. I've never made an ice cream cake before. But I figured it out anyway.  A lady in our ward had made an ice cream cake for dinner when came over once and she told us how she made it.  So I made a chocolate cake from scratch in two square cake pans.  The only problem I had was once the cakes was ready to be taken out of the pans to be frosted, one pan came out fine and the other crumbled into a gazillion pieces. Once mom saw what happened, she used her superpowers to mold the broken square of cake back into a regular cake shape and it turned out great.  I used two kinds of ice cream in the middle of the cake layers:  chocolate and a vanilla chocolate chip ice cream.  When it was ready, I frosted it with whipping cream and then topped it with chocolate curls.  It looked really pretty and tasted just as good.  And now as I’m writing this, I’m very much craving ice cream cake.  It doesn’t help that I’m hungry and it’s dinner time. That's all for now. BYE!!

Homemade Eclairs made by Laura

 

Homemade Chocolate Birthday Cake for Mom's birthday, made by Laura

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting for Dad's birthday, made by Laura

A close up of the awesome chocolate curls on Dad's cake.

Pirate Laura ready for the Youth Halloween Party...she even had a treasure chest full of gold coins.

Nathan's winning Clark Kent turning into Superman costume for the Youth Halloween Party.