Americans, where? What can be said about a person based on the
country in which they were born? Here in Baguio, Philippines, it says a
lot.
Pangabenga festival; one of the largest celebrations in the country.
Saturday and Sunday were parades. The streets were closed to vehicles
and over a million people packed into a city built for 30,000. Sitting
on the sidewalk Saturday with the people was a fun adventure, but
seemed nothing compared to Sunday.
Sunday morning, 6am, my team and our two Filipino
contacts/guides/friends brought us to the roped off streets. They
wanted to take us to the other side, so with the permission of the
police we crossed. Stopping in the median to make sure everyone caught
up I was approached by a photographer. He asked me where I was from and
if he could take my picture. After taking a picture he saw there were
more of us and asked to take a group shot. He took a few shots of us
then handed his camera to a friend and came and got in the picture with
us. By now there are 7 or more cameras on us taking our pictures. What?
Who are we? Keep in mind the thousands lining the street who are of
course witnessing all of this. Instead of crossing back onto the
sidewalk Danny (our guide) got permission for us to walk down the
street.
So here we are, 6 American women on The World Race walking down the
roped off streets with thousands of people waving to us, asking where
we’re from, wanting to shake our hands, etc. crazy. When we got to
where we were getting off the street an Air Force man came and offered
for us to sit in front of everyone on the street for a front row
view…what? Our contact apparently had better plans we didn’t know
about. Turns out they had friends saving us seats at the end of the
parade in the hugs arena where all the floats finished their journey.
Ok, saved seats, cool, but wait…in the VIP tent? Yup, that’s
right. The tent reserved for the parade officials and the local and
country government officials is where we had seats waiting for us. Our
heads spun as we had counselmen/women wanting to meet us and many other
city officials. Let’s not forget the Mayor. He made sure to come meet
the “American Missionaries” and get his pictures with them. I’m not
even sure who alls hands I shook and got pictures with. Who else was
there?…oh just the Secretary of Defense who just also happens to be
running for President. He came over to meet us but the press swept him
away. After a few minutes he came back and said, “sorry we got cut
off.” He actually came back, that wouldn’t happen in the U.S.
We left the parade and because the M.C. had also been announcing
multiple times all the VIPs in the tent, had been speaking of us as
well. While we walked back into the crowds we had people coming up to
get a picture with us, shake our hands, and ask if we had FB. Is this
normal for World Racers?
From the parade we went to lunch, but where does one go for lunch?
How about to the luncheon the Senator is having at a local hotel…oh,
and did I mention she is running for Vice President?
was watching our contact. As we introduced ourselves under her
ministries name she was able to gain many new contacts in high places
in government. Even the Sec. of Def. gave her his contact information.
To see her literally shaking with joy at what the Lord accomplished in
those few hours for Crossover Ministries was so wonderful. It’s amazing
how the Lord uses situations. There we were in jeans and t-shirts,
meeting these people so that the ministry being done can prosper. Just
another awesome example how God is in everything.
