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.
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?
What a whirlwind day for my team. My favorite part of the entire day 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.
