The Old Familiar Places

View from Greenbelt, Makati City in Metro Manila


The LORD is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble,
and He knows those who trust in Him.
Nahum 1:7

Ernie and I arrived in Manila from Chiang Mai ten days ago. My husband went home to our city early last week, but I purposely stayed behind.

The past ten days have been very good and helpful for me.

In moving from one level of my life to the next, I am discovering that an "in-between" time is often necessary. One author describes this place as a "nowhere between two somewheres." It affords me time to slow down and to process the recent events, allowing them to sink in.

This period has become some kind of a transition point for me, and I am just so thankful to God for granting me these days of opportunity - to land, to arrive, and to be truly present for what's in store.

There wasn't any urgent matter to attend to, except to spend time with my daughter, re-connect with my Manila friends, give our Manila home and gardens my personal touch, and re-visit the old familiar places of this city where I grew up.



Day 2: The first thing Ernie and I did the day after we arrived was to get on the MRT (the light railway train that runs from the north to the south part of Metro Manila) to reach Glorietta Mall in Makati City. We had looked forward to enjoying the first Burger King hamburger we have eaten since last year.

Waiting for the MRT

Snapshot of Ortigas Center taken from the train

Enjoying Burger King

Day 3: Ernie was leaving for Bacolod City in the afternoon, so we had an early lunch today. Again, mostly a relaxing day at home.

Day 4: Today, October 1, was an official holiday to mark the end of the Muslim month of fasting, the Ramadan. Obedient One and I enjoyed having one whole free day at home.

The lanai sitting room at home

Day 5: I took the MRT again to go to Makati where my friend Gigi and I were having lunch together at California Pizza Kitchen (CPK). We had a delightful time just updating each other about the latest in our lives. Gigi had just spent a whole month at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. I enjoyed listening as she shared with me the deep changes that the Lord was allowing her to go through. Before we parted, she gave me a lot of teaching and worhsip CDs and DVDs by John Bevere, Mike Bickle, Terry Macalmon, and books by Derek Prince, Bob SOrge, and Loren Sandford. I know I will enjoy her gifts of grace for many days to come.

Portion of Makati City, shot taken from where Gigi and I sat

Day 6: This morning I went with Obedient One to Bonifacio Global City. One of the things I really love to do is to have an early breakfast at McDonalds, then spend the rest of the morning sipping coffee while listening to a teaching or worship CD, reading a few pages from a book, doing some Bible reading, and writing down my thoughts in a journal. I was able to do all that, savoring every minute of it. After lunch, I took a Fort Bus to the Glorietta Mall to meet my friend Tina for a cup of our favorite coffee at the Figaro coffee shop.

On our way to global city

Obedient One, having breakfast with me at McDo

Enjoying my time with Jesus

Lovely Global City: a city in the making

Day 7: Today our gardener came to cut the grass and prune the overgrown branches on the trees in our garden. For the past days, our housekeeper and I had been doing a lot of yardwork, removing weeds, tilling the soil, and removing dead leaves from the plants. Just after a whole day's work, there was a heavy downpour, something which we all welcomed. We were amazed at the result of our days of hard work: a garden that seemed to be aglow with life and song!

The morning after the heavy downpour: not a cloud in the sky!

Day 8: It's Sunday today. Obedient and I had breakfast early to make in on time for the 9:00 a.m. worship service at the Victory Christian Fellowship. The stage was beautifully decorated with Filipino motifs - a sorbetero (a native ice cream vendor with his ice cream cart), a farmer on a carabao (a Philippine buffalo), multicolored paper flaglets reminiscent of a town fiesta, and a jeepney (a local version of the mini-bus). They were beginning a three part series entitled, "Original Pilipino Mindsets." The first mindset that the pastor preached on was the Filipino "Crab Mentality," and many apt illustrations from the life of Jacob were given.


After church, I went around the campus to take a few pictures. This is the university from where I graduated in 1975. This year, the University of the Philippines had its centennial celebration.

The Oblation, symbol of academic freedom in our country

University Avenue, main entrance to the Diliman campus.

Plaridel Hall, the College of Mass Communication - my college

The Carillon

Acacia tree-lined campus streets, just as I remembered it

Obedient and I then took a train to the Ayala station where my friend Pris and I were meeting for lunch at Mom and Tina's, a lovely restaurant in the Greenbelt area.

My friend Pris

Day 9: Today, I had lunch with Alberto and Gina at the Tempura Japanese Restaurant on United Nations Avenue. It was a glad reunion with my dear friends. It's been a year since I last saw them. I would have wanted to take a snapshot of my friends, but completely forgot about it. From the UN avenue, I took a train again to Glorietta, this time to have coffee with my friend Charo who was celebrating her birthday.

The birthday girl

Yummy capuccino

Day 10: Today I had lunch with Elvie, a high school batchmate and very close friend. We went to Mom and Tina's again, at Greenbelt, since this is just a few meters away from where she works.

Portion of Makati City Business District

Manila is where my roots are. And even if my husband and I have lived in another city for nearly 30 years, I have realized that a part of me will always be at home here in Manila.

I first realized this when our daughter, Obedient, decided to work here in 2006. She had graduated from university a year earlier, but Ernie and I felt that at 20, she was a bit too young to be on her own in such a huge metropolis.

Obedient moved to Manila in March 2006. Since then, I have made it a point to visit her every month. Initially she needed help to get adjusted to this place, I showed her how to get around and other basic things she needed to know about being on her own. We visited several churches before we finally found the one that we both knew would help her grow and mature in her relationship with the Lord.

I left Manila and moved to Bacolod City in 1979, a year after Ernie and I got married.

Since then, I would visit my parents once or twice a year when they were still alive, but since 1994, when my father died, I had seldom gone back.

It was only in 2006 that I re-discovered Manila and realized that a part of me, after all the years that I have been away, really still belongs here.

Manila today is not the Manila I used to know. Nevertheless, it was easy to adjust to, and enjoy, the changes that modernity and technology have brought about.



In just one more day, I will be leaving for home. How thankful I am for these days of transition! They have helped me regain my bearings, re-focus, and have enough breathing space as I move on to the next chapter of my life.

Reconnecting with dear friends that I haven't seen for many months has also given me a beautiful sense of homecoming.

In an earlier post, I wrote about ambivalent feelings of being home, and yet feeling as if I haven't fully arrived - feelings of being poured out from one vessel to another.

As I leave tomorrow, I know it will seem like being poured off yet one more time.

But these past days, my Father has spoken precious words of encouragement and affirmation to me... and I can look forward to what God has written in the succeeding pages of my life story.