ABSTRACT
If in 2015 you boarded a bus in Manila, Philippines, and rode for six hours to the north, you would arrive at the town of Binalonan. On the corner where the state highway intersects with a main town thoroughfare, you would see a stately concrete and brick building, topped by a steeple without a cross. The grounds surrounding this chapel are immaculately groomed; they also feature the nicest basketball court in the city, better than the one sponsored by the local government. This is an LDS chapel, as you might guess from the fact that it looks much like LDS chapels you’ve seen in the United States. With 700,000 LDS members in the Philippines, almost every town on Luzon, the Philippines’ largest island, has an LDS chapel identical to the Binalonan chapel. In addition, the LDS are preparing to build their third temple in the Philippines – in Urdaneta, a town just a few miles away from Binalonan.
