Philippines, Day 11: Bible Faith Baptist Church and Bataan3 min read

At 3:30am on Sunday (2:30pm Saturday, CST), we woke up and got ready for church. We were going to go all the way around Manila Bay to the Baptist church that Edgar Palotes pastors. On the way down I slept in the back seat, which was just about the right length for me.

We ate breakfast with Pastor Palotes at Chow King, and then we headed on over to the church. It’s called Bible Faith Baptist Church and I think it’s four years old now. I played my piano for them and Dad preached the sermon. It was exciting to be with them that morning. Of course, it would have been nice if I could have understood everything they said, and I wouldn’t have minded if it was a little cooler, but I still enjoyed it.

Their church reminded me of the one we visited in Chehalis, Washington, earlier this year. They all seemed so excited to learn. They also support quite a few other pastors around the world although their own church is still small.

One of their outreach ministries is to the deaf and mute. During the service, some of the deaf people sang a song for a special number. Afterwards, a few of the deaf had Dad sign their Bibles on the inside. In one of the families, both of the parents are deaf, but they have a son who is not. He translates the service for them through sign language. After the service, some of the church members and the Palotes family made a meal for the deaf.

For lunch we went out to eat with Pastor Palotes and his wife. We went to Max’s Restaurant, one of Dad’s favorite fried chicken restaurants.

They then took us to the WWII memorial in Bataan. On the way we got to see people planting rice, rice drying on the side of the road, people taking baths by pouring water over themselves, and bamboo drying on the side of the road. When we got to a certain mountain in Bataan, we drove up it and found the memorial. We went to a small museum there and learned about what happened at Bataan during WWII.

We then proceeded to a giant cross on the top of a mountain. President Marcos had it erected in memory of the Filipinos and Americans who had bravely defended and even died in Bataan. Marcos himself had survived the conflict that took place there. The Japanese had won the battle there, but it only strengthened the Filipinos.

Bataan is also the location of the beginning of the “Death March”. Through everything, though, the Filipinos still supported the US, and it paid off. Never before had any people been as loyal to a Western country as the Filipinos were to the Americans during the war.

By the time we got done, it was time to go back to the church so that the Palotes’s could get ready for church and so that we could head back home. We had a small snack of pancit, talked a little longer, and then time forced us to say our farewells.

The first street we turned onto was paved but it proved to be very bumpy. In fact, in my opinion, it was almost as bad as the mountain roads.

Along the road, each kilometer marker was painted white and decorated in memory of the those who were forced to make the “Death March”. There were also some statues in one area symbolizing those same prisoners of war. I’m so glad we won that war.

Meals:
Breakfast- Canton pancit, Sarsi

Lunch- Rice, eggrolls, fried chicken, shrimp soup, eggroll bowl, bottomless lemonade, mango shake

Snack- Sprite, pancit

Supper- Rice, pancit, little fishes, sweet and sour fish, eggplant, sweet pork, ube and jackfruit ice cream

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