July 7 - Metro Manila

Dear Family and Friends,
Magandong hapon (good afternoon)!

Our week was pretty quiet with more learning about our responsibilities so there isn't much to write about that. Instead I'll write a little about our weekend.

The ward we meet in on Sundays, the Makati ward, is the first chapel (Buenedia - part of metro Manila ) built in the Philippines. We were talking to a man who remembers that the first time he went there, the building was surrounded by green. Picture #1 was taken yesterday - The church is the low building in the front. This is what the neighborhood looks like now.

Saturday evening we took a drive into Manila City (Metro Manila is a combination of several cities that have grown together) with the couple who is here on a Humanitarian mission. They wanted to show us the original Manila that was a walled city built in the 1500's. They were going to take us on a walking tour but that didn't work out because it was raining - it is the rainy season after all. Instead they took us for a drive to see one of the projects they are working on: the Purple Center (Picture #2). It is a school started by a non-profit organization to help the people and children of Happyland (I'll explain that later). A shipping businessman donated 78 - 40 foot shipping containers and the time of an architect to build their school. To look at it, I would never guess that it was constructed out of shipping containers. You can learn more about what Purple Centers do at their website purplecenters.org. They do more to help the people of Happyland than just the school.

Happyland is a community that was started about 18 years ago by residents of Smoky Mountain. Smoky Mountain was a garbage dump and is really a mountain of garbage (vegetation has grown so it looks pretty good on the surface). After a particularly heavy rainy season, the government made the people move off the dump because they were afraid of mudslides. They gave them a group of 34 buildings that had been government low-income housing to live in "temporarily". The catch was that there had been a huge fire in the housing complex and all that was left of the buildings was burnt out concrete floors, ceilings, some walls, and support posts.18 years later, the people still live there. There are about 25,000 people living there now.I honestly can't bring myself to include anymore pictures of Happyland, I feel like I am intruding on their private lives.

I am so grateful for those who have the knowledge and ability to help these people. I am also humbled by all we have and take for granted. As I think about these people and about the good people who help them who are not part of our church, a scripture comes to mind: "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." ( Mosiah 2:17) Helping so many people will only happen by helping a few at a time or one. May we always be looking for the one we can help today.

Love,
The Tuckers

Picture #2 - Purple Center
Picture #3 - Children of Happyland (The couple in the pictures is the Strouds, the couple who are here on a Humanitarian mission
Picture#4 - Happyland welcome sign