The Philippines
Another month and another country……..it has been wonderful. We left Australia on the 21st of February to have a week of debrief. Debrief is a time of restoration, growth, comfort, friends, worship, and teaching. It is a time for us, the entire squad(all teams), to come together and be poured back into. We spent a week in Manila and then on Friday 26th we, team Radiance, took a 5 hour bus ride to a city called Baguio to discover our ministry for the Philippines.
We arrived at 2:30 A.M. Saturday morning and stayed in a place for the night and were then picked up by our lovely lovely ministry contact, Marita, at 6 A.M. to go to the Panagbenga (Flower Festival). It is quite the event every year. It is essentially a parade, from what I understand it is very similar to the Rose Bowl. It is a two day event and the whole city, which was built for 30,000 but has 300,000, attends. You can only imagine what the streets were like. It was quite funny watching us 6 American females learn to be aggressive when going to street traffic. I couldn’t quite grasp that it was alright to push and make your way through but I think by the end of Sunday I began catching on.
Our ministry contact is wonderful and she has a guy who also works in her ministry named Danny and he has been our fearless guide through the streets in which he knows so well. We spent Saturday at the festival and it was great and getting to know Marita and Danny was so nice, both of which are full of joy and hospitality. All day making sure we felt safe, comfortable, hydrated, rested, etc…
We are staying on the campus of a small Baptist Theological Seminary. It is great. We get water everyday which is a blessing considering the fact that most people get water every other day. The campus provides filtered water which is awesome. And we have beds which is a blessing when there is always the possibility you might be on the floor or in your tent.
We had the evening off to get settled in to our home for the time being ( we may move), catch up on our sleep, and then left the house at 6 A.M. again for the second day of the festival.
We spent the morning working towards getting to our seats in which we were unsure of. We had been invited to sit under the VIP tent but we weren’t really sure what that meant.
Well, that meant that we were going to be recognized over the mic, introduced to the mayor, governor, other officials, one of the candidates running for president and other individuals such as friends, family, etc… My favorite was the mayor, he had jeans on with a nice shirt running around taking pictures. We took a lot of pictures with them and then were invited to a lunch at a hotel for Loren Legarda, she is running for office, Vice President I do believe.
It was quite the ironic, surprising day. The festival was great, the floats were very intriguing and amazing. The individual designers for each float put a lot of work into each and was such a blessing to be so close to see all of them. And to be able to watch all of the performances. All of the dignitaries that we met with were so nice and enjoyable. It was incredible to be amongst people who wanted to mention [ us – who have done nothing – ] and honor us. Amazing.
Our ministry this month has to do with Marita and an organization she runs that helps women get out of prostitution and into a better life. She introduces them to God and helps them begin seeing the possibility of a new life and works hard to get them a job. Yesterday was so great for Marita considering all of the contacts and connections she made. She is amazing and I was so excited that she made all of those connections.
Our ministry could be inside the office or outreach. We start off today by having an orientation and her giving us different types of applications just seeing how she can use us best.
I need your prayer : I need you to pray that this month will be a productive month. My team and I really desire to help Marita in the best way and so pray that God will bless our hands and feet and Marita’s organization. Pray that my team and I will unite powerfully. We will work strongly and powerfully together.
Friends and family, thank you for supporting me in everyday. Thank you for following me around the world.
Love you, Lynds
