Celebrating Family Week with the ‘Mormons’

In the Philippines, the fourth week of September every year is National Family Week. By Executive Order from the President’s office since 1995 the country focuses on the family and keeping this basic unit of our lives important.

Naturally, this is something the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the ‘Mormons’) are excited about. The family is an integral part of our beliefs. Somehow the big event ended up at the Mall of Asia, one of the largest malls in the Philippines, and that happens to be in our area. So we all pitched in and planned a week of activities to celebrate FAMILY!

The first activity was a FUN WALK. Saturday morning, when we all wished we were sleeping in, we gathered at the Mall of Asia at 0700 in matching white t-shirts displaying a family and the words “Families Can Be Together Forever.”

We had people of all ages, from the grandmas and grandpas to the youngest babies that had to be held. It was great to be with all of them. In the afternoon we had a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Family History exhibit that will be at MOA for the next week.

A representative of the Pasay City government came and he too mentioned how important families are to society. The choir sang one of my favorite songs: Consider the Lilies. It was a simple event, but it symbolized so much.