THE PHILIPPINES, THE FIRST LEG OF OUR MISSIONS TRIP
Leona being welcomed to The Philippines
Having spent a night in a hotel at the Narita airport near Tokyo, we left early the next morning for Manila, in The Philippines. We were there for about six days, visiting churches from an area in which many squatters lived to the big new Pasay City Alliance Church. We also sat in on a session at The Alliance Biblical Seminary. We had a tour of Faith Academy, the missionary kids school. One evening was spent with C&MA missionaries serving in The Philippines. We all enjoyed a lovely dinner, that evening, in a very fancy hotel dining room. It was a most enjoyable evening and we knew three or four of these missionaries from previous connections. Though I had never met her before, one missionary lady was from my home church in Chatham, Ontario. In fact her dad built the eating area and library on to my folks place.
C&MA Missionaries in The Philippines
Thinking back to our first night in Manila, I heard Leona let out a yell
when she was in the bathroom. When I looked to see what this outburst was about, I saw a cockroach and also water all
over the bathroom floor. When Leona had turned on the faucet, the water pressure blew the trap off, under the wash basin. This was not the hotel that Pastor W. H. Brooks, who handled the travel bookings, had wanted, but it was what he had to settle for. Looking out of our Manila hotel window we could see
squatters, about 300 feet away, making their home in part of an old abandoned building. We were being introduced to the mission field, rather quickly.
The squatters dwelling as seen from our hotel window
I need to share this little experience. It was hot in The Philippines, during the entire time that we were there. The temperature was about 35 Celsius (95F) nearly every day and this was in mid February. I believe it was after our dinner with the missionaries, that Leona and I walked back to our hotel with Gordon Fowler, who was the Canadian Pacific District Superintendent and the tour leader for our missions trip. We looked for a soda pop dispenser in our hotel, but there were none. So we ventured into the bar, which the hotel staff told us was the only place that you could buy a soda pop. The bar was divided down the middle by a row of plants, which were about three feet high. On our side of the bar, there was only one couple. On the other side of this row of plants was a gathering or a party celebration of some sort.
We each ordered a coca cola. The waiter arrived with a tray in hand and three bottles of coke and three mugs filled with ice. There was a strange noise coming from the side where this party was in progress. It sounded to me like it might be their sound system. Anyway, Gordon asked our waiter, "What's that noise?" The waiter looked at us and with the tray still in his hands, he turned and headed back to, presumably, the kitchen. When he returned he had the three bottles of coke. I'm not sure whether he still had the mugs or just the bottles, whatever, there was no longer any ice.
We looked at each other, wondering what that was all about. Suddenly it dawned on us. Gordon inquired re the "noise". The waiter was probably used to the fact that tourists, like us, were not drinking their water, unless it was bottled water, and possibly thought that Gordon had said "no ice." Their ice was probably not made with bottled water. So the waiter had taken the ice back and just brought us our coke. We had a good laugh and enjoyed the misunderstanding, figuring that we were spared whatever stomach problems we might have encountered, had we used the ice.
A member of the Kamloops church had encouraged us to purchase a bottle of apple cider vinegar, before we headed off on our trip. We made that purchase and carried it in the camera bag, everywhere we went. I would often put a shot of it in whatever beverage we were served. In most cases we drank soda pop, as often as we could.
My only disappointment. in our time at Manila, was that on the brochure, which we received before leaving British Columbia, it stated that one day we would have a tour of FEBC (Far East Broadcasting Corporation) radio facilities. I had read about FEBC in either the Youth For Christ Magazine or the Christian Life Magazine back in the late 1940's when FEBC first went on the air, broadcasting Christian messages and music by shortwave to China, Japan, etc. Having worked in radio and had two radio ministries, I was looking forward to this tour of FEBC radio. Well, that tour was cancelled and we never did see FEBC.
Our days in The Philippines were soon ended and we were off to our next stop.
Our days in The Philippines were soon ended and we were off to our next stop.
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