Philippines Part 4 – Hospitality
The hospitality shown us during our two weeks there rivals the hospitality of any nation I’ve been too. Food was always abundant, travel was always interesting, and smiles were showered on us from all directions.
We visited the Larena brothers’ churches in Manila. We visited Rick Martin’s in Ilo Ilo. We visited Sam Heidenreich’s in the jungle. We visited Charlie Vest’s on Cebu.
I guess the backdrop to our trip was our navy seal escort. A couple of the Philippino navy seals that had been a part of the rescue attempt of the kidnapped Burnham missionary couple, were our personal escorts during our trip.
They had a couple of nice Jeep SUVs that worked as our personal taxi service. The first time I hopped in to one of the Jeeps, I had to move the handguns out of the way in order to sit down.
The first time we bogged down in the Manila traffic, the SUVs kicked on their sirens and the sea of cars parted before us.
The took us to a restaurant on top of the roof of one of the tallest building in Manila. The food was amazing. The view was phenomenal.
Probably the highlight for me with these guys was when they took us to Baguio City. Baguio City is like our West Point where officers are trained. It is a beautiful city nestled in the mountains. There we ate whole chicks roasted on a stick – they were delicious.
I think it was on Friday when they took us to the base. We drove to the outdoor shooting range. Our escorts pulled out some M16s and we shot to our heart’s content.
They gave us a short tour of the actual facility. One of our escorts would walk up to a passing cadet who would stand at attention knowing with whom he was talking.
Our escort would say, “Sunday we are having church up in the village. It starts at 10:00. You are going to come.”
“Yes, Sir,” was the reply with a salute.
Sunday we drove up to the most beautiful church location I have ever seen. Overlooking Baguio and the airstrip up in the mountains was a roof-covered church. No walls. No need. A baptistery out back. We got there early with the other 4 or 5 preachers. Who would get to preach?
I was the youngest at 23 years old and didn’t feel I should speak up so I didn’t. I secretly hoped I could preach and was thrilled when they said, “Let’s let the young guy preach.” Fun!
That morning about 100 people or so met in that open tent-type building. Many visitors, some of them cadets whom we had met a couple of days earlier. Seventeen people trusted Christ. We baptized four after the service in the water tank outside. It was missionary heaven.
The church had no pastor and several of the people said, “Please stay here! We need a pastor!”
Now, that’s a life I could get used to. Salvations, baptisms, appreciation, beauty, M16s.
Now that’s hospitality…
