Lily, Lydia and Mary went to Cebu with Clark, Swathi, Soren and Meera today. They took a tour of the city and had a really nice time. Lily said the tour guide was not super knowledgeable and she didn’t find Cebu to be as interesting as some of the other places she went to, except at the end, Lily was blown away by the church. It was a very old a beautiful church that had a lot of tradition going back to Magellan. If I understood Lily correctly, the church was associated with a Christian revival that happened in the Philippines when a relic (I think a cross) that Magellan gave to the Philippine Queen was found in a well. The Queen had rejected the gift and threw it out, but when it was later found in a well, it was interpreted as a sign of Christianity and that started the revival. Here are picture from their day in Cebu:
Here are pictures and videos of the church Lily was so fascinated by. The placard on the church gives details about the story of Magellan’s cross:
They also drove by the Philippine LDS temple in Cebu:
Back at the homefront, I had my first full-on day at work. I spent most of the day having one on ones meeting with my new reps in Provo. I really enjoyed meeting everyone. I also felt super fortunate, because the Jazz suite happened to be available tonight, and I arranged to take all of my Provo-based employees to the game as a team-building experience. It was such a great way to bond together, and the game was absolutely incredible. In the last 31 seconds, there were 4 back to back three pointers that sent the game into overtime. I was worried the game wouldn’t be good because the Pistons are the worst team in the league and only recently snapped a 28 game losing streak, but they came to play and it was the best game I ever saw live. The Jazz ended up winning and breaking a record for most points scored in a game at home, and they tied an all-time franchise record for points scored in a game and they also broke a franchise record for total points recorded in a game (across both teams). The energy in the building was great! (see the video below). What a game to be at, and what a way to bond as a team! Also, my dad and Suzanne watched the kids, which, once again, was so incredibly helpful.