Philippines Adventure, Pt. 10 and 11
It has been a long time since I last posted, but I have been keeping tabs on all that I wanted to write for all of you. Whenever I thought of something, I would quick write it down or put it into a Word document, so I would not lose any of the things that came to my mind. My Aunt Lynn once told me that I should keep a little notebook with me at all times, so when something “genius” comes to me, I can flesh it out when I get the chance and not lose the inspired opportunity. I want to open this entry with a joke I just heard from the director of the Bible school. It is super funny and since I am not a jokster by nature—I generally forget the joke or worse, the punch line—so I am trying to preempt all of that and distribute the humor before it is lost in the annals of my mind. Here it is:
A preacher went to visit the home of one of his congregation members. He knocked on the door a few times, not wanting to miss the opportunity to fellowship with this person. After several minutes of standing at the door and knocking, he decided that the person was not home, so he posted a sign on the door that said “Revelation 3:20” and left. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
That Sunday in the preacher’s church, when the offering basket was passed, someone put a note in the basket. At the end of the service, the preacher was helping to count the offerings and saw that note, which said, “Genesis 3:10.” So, the preacher got out his Bible, and this is what he read: He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny and wanted to share it with all of you. But, really, this is an exciting entry. A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks since my arrival in Baguio and I want to attempt to share everything with all of you. In sharing, it also gives me a chance to reflect and flesh out my thoughts and observations that I cannot do when I am writing in my journal, which has an audience of two—me and God ☺ As usual, follow the headlines, which will give you an idea of the direction, which my scattered brain has taken.
A lot of Prayer in this place!
One of the staff members, who is my age, and I were washing laundry together and chuckling about whatever happened that day—the students and their personal testimonies, including one from this kid who talked about how he had 16 girlfriends one summer and was the “face” of the prom two years in a row, which produced great mirth upon reading it. Anyway, we got on the topic of the Bible school and the lack of modern conveniences, particularly the washer, which was a beauty in its day—the 1950’s—but now is more than a little antiquated. We had a good laugh over all these things and concluded that at our place, you just gotta have faith!
My Korean gloves
Amy, if you are reading this, should appreciate the fact that I saw those latex-covered gloves here in Baguio too. I laughed and thought of my wonderful time in Seoul. Well, upon arriving in Seoul, like I wrote in my last blog, I was anything but prepared, including the fact that I did not have any gloves. I was forced to buy the first available pair, which happened to be in a convenience store called Family Mart. They were these lightweight cotton gloves that were half-covered in pink latex on the palm side—horrendously ugly to say the least. The funny thing about these gloves was that I five Koreans either made gestures or spoke against my gloves to my face, which is a pretty big deal when most people are indirect. I guess they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make fun of a foreigner and her ghastly pink gardening gloves! So funny! I just shrugged and smiled ☺
Just be humble and patient
When I arrived in Baguio, things had changed because of the impending Come to the River (CTTR) Conference, which is an annual leadership conference for pastors and Christian leaders all over Northern and Southern Luzon. I had a bed in my room for the roommate I would have during the prep period. The married staff members and their two children came to live with me down on “B,” which had formerly been quiet almost to the point of reclusive but is now full of life and its accompanying travails. The students were the little slaves they normally are, doing all the grunt work, but it was all directed to the planning efforts, and thankfully we had those hands. As my mom always says, “Many hands make light work.”
It was hard in the beginning because I wanted to get right to work when I arrived. I love to jump into things and when others are busy, I like to be busy along with them. Well, they had nothing for me to do. While the students were busy sweeping and cleaning and doing a myriad of other tasks, I was in my room reading and sleeping. I felt like the greatest sloth that ever walked our planet earth. But, I had to content myself with this quiet period of inactivity; otherwise, I would have gotten frustrated and done nothing productive. I got over these feelings by telling myself that I am here to serve and if they do not need anything from me, I will obey and get out of their hair. They knew I wanted to help and they knew I was willing to do whatever needed to be done. I was at peace with the knowledge that the preparation work was not about my feelings and my desires. It was about efficiency and list-ticking. If they didn’t want me to tick off the list, I would stand by and read and enjoy my life. Man, as soon as I surrendered to the clogs at work, I had such a great time with myself and did not feel guilty or pressured. It was liberating.
Market jungle and no one but myself to rely on
Finally, I started to tick off the list, and boy was I happy. Sure, I had come to terms with my inactivity and even reveled in it, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to be outside of all the activity. Sometimes I think we forget that we don’t have to want our place in life in order to be content, meaning we can be content anywhere when you set your mind to it; you don’t have to be in an ideal state in order to be content. So, my ideal state is one where I have lots of responsibility and have the freedom to act upon those details. In reference to CTTR, my duty was to keep the foreigners (American directors of the Bible school, the Irish missionaries that have come to teach for a week, eleven Vietnamese underground church members, and the American pastors that came to preach to the congregation) happy. I was really exhilarated with this job because it gave me an opportunity to speak with all these people and serve their special needs, which always requires a bit of coordination and planning¬—things which enliven my service skills.
Well, one of the tasks was to make their welcome baskets, which consisted of flowers, fruit, bottled water, and a greeting card. This meant several trips to the market. The first of several, I went with one of the staff members who is very familiar with the craziness of the market, but after that initial time, I was set loose and given this task. Like most things, I greeted this opportunity with my head held high and determination in the set of my shoulders even while my head was screaming, “You have no idea how to get around that madhouse. Are you crazy?” Good thing Determination is privy to large earplugs. I forged ahead, knowing that I was not quite sure how this venture would end. Wouldn’t you believe it, but I got lost! Yeah, I lost myself in the twists and turns of this market where every fish vendor and fruit peddler looks the same. I couldn’t distinguish one pineapple vendor from a stall selling blankets. The pulsing vigor of the hoards of people confused a mind trained on the idea of order not chaos. I persisted in my pursuit of the best fruit and pretty but cheap flowers and tried to recall all I had seen on my previous ventures to the market with the professionals. I give my thanks to God because I found my way; after having taken a couple wrong turns, I made it back to where I started! I smiled from cheek to cheek and became a fearless marketer ☺
Our special guests, the Vietnamese
It was really a momentous occasion to have these Vietnamese here at the conference. Pastor Giang Dong, one of the primary leaders of the underground church and a great musician who translates many Christian songs into Vietnamese for his church along with writing new compositions, and the founders of the conference have been friends for more than 15 years, so he this was his third conference to attend. It was the first time, though, that so many other Vietnamese traveled such a long way to come to the Philippines for this event. Even though Vietnam is just across the way, it seems a lot further because very few people in Vietnam actually exit their nation although as it modernizes, people with means are beginning to travel more widely. Vietnamese are such interesting people. I had such a great time observing them and fellowshipping with them at dinner, which they cooked for us three times. They all were astonished to see that I don’t eat meat, which is a big thing in their culture when they can afford it. (I think that is the French influence, particularly the beef and French fries combo.) They laughed and I smiled when I only took salad or mixed my noodles with beans sprouts and basil instead of eating their delicious soup ☺ They weren’t offended, I was sure to find out, but they just thought it was a most curious thing!
I had the pleasure of going out on an outing with them before the conference. They arrived several days before the conference, so on Monday we decided that it would be good if they saw some of Baguio and the Filipino culture. For the majority of these Vietnamese, this was the first time they ever traveled abroad, so I was glad they got to see more than just the conference hall, which is not uncommon when people travel for business-only purposes. I realized on this trip that I have never met any other people who love to take pictures as much as they did. Oh, my goodness! I think they stayed in one place for more than 15 minutes snapping photos of the same thing. It was hilarious. I just surrendered myself to the fun of being with them and got a kick out of their picture-taking habits. I was glad they were having fun. They are quick tourists, walking around a place and spending more time taking pictures than enjoying the scenery, but to each his own. They seemed quite content and happy, so I was too. What a blessing to be with them for so many days. I am excited, more than before, to be able to visit them in their hometown, Ho Chi Minh City, when I leave the Philippines.
The Conference and the Players
Now, for the conference, I would like to give you a little background, so it makes sense why so much preparation went into getting this event started. CTTR is in its 22nd year and maintains its goal of encouraging and edifying pastors and Christian leaders in their personal relationships with Christ as well as giving them momentum to serve others with more passion and love from God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. CTTR serves about 500-600 individuals each year and is held in a facility called Teacher’s Camp, which is supposedly one of the nicest conference venues in Northern Luzon. (I was a little disappointed when I heard that one of the dorms went for almost a day without water and even the cottage where we were staying had no water periodically throughout the conference. It is such a strange thing when you turn on the faucet and no water flows out. It reminds me of when my dad turns the water off when he is gone for the afternoon and I come home only to find the pipes are dry ☺ At least, I was able to laugh at my dad every time this happened!) This conference is considered a spirit-filled conference, which will make sense when I give a few more details about my personal reflections on the conference proceedings. I was really blessed by the conference not only because of the things that I learned, but also because of the people I met. Here are a few of the significant CTTR players.
The Founders and Organizers: Brother Daniel and Sister Menorah McCarty
This is the couple that invited me to volunteer at their Bible school, who more than two decades ago, listened to God’s call to go to the Philippines, which forever altered their life’s course along with the life’s course of the staff members here and droves of other people. They came to stay at the Bible school for a couple of days before the conference started to fellowship with the staff and to meet the students. It was wonderful to have them around, like we had someone to show off our progress and our upkeep of the facilities. Their interest and morale boosting really did a good work for the students and for us, the staff. I was given the chance to take a morning walk with Sister Menorah, and it was quite the occasion to talk about her life and some of her recent activities. I have always been interested in questioning people that are wiser and more experienced than I am. It furnishes my imagination with a better picture of the possibilities for the future and a more peaceful present. Anyway, she helped me to understand some Biblical doctrine and prayed with me, which blessed me to no end. I was really privileged with the time she gave me apart from her schedule of duties. They are both the founders of the Bible school and founders of the conference. To them was imbued the responsibility of opening up the various sessions and keeping things in line before and after the conference.
The Benguet Cowboy: Pastor Terry Matthews
I love this title, which is so fitting for this man of God and his non-descript southern accent and humble yet strong presence. I did not come up with this title, but apparently, he has held this comical alter ego for some years. “Benguet” comes from the name of the province in which Baguio is located and “cowboy” is a reference to his spirit of adventure and strength as he ministered in a remote area of Benguet with little to no conveniences back in the day. He is an anointed minstrel—which means to be filled with the Holy Spirit in a very evident way—coming up with songs that rhyme and praise the Lord like none I have ever encountered. I thought of my Grandpa Joe as I heard this man pray and sing in rhyme, reminding me of the days of my childhood when he would read poems for every occasion and whenever someone would lend him an ear. Here is the song bearing his affectionately displaying his Filipino “title”:
Benguet Cowboy
I’m a Benguet Cowboy coming your way
Lifting up Jesus everyday
Ain’t got no worries I’ve learned to pray
I’m a Benguet cowboy, living God’s way
I can rope the wildest demon and run him out of town
Take the name of Jesus and pull every stronghold down
I can hog tie that ole devil I have the authority
To bind him up and to cast him out and command him to bow his knee
I’m a Benguet Cowboy coming your way
Lifting up Jesus everyday
Ain’t got no worries I’ve learned to pray
I’m a Benguet cowboy, living God’s way
I can shoot ‘em up and ride ‘em tall
Jesus Christ is Lord of all
Praise the Lord and dance a bit
I am never going to quit
I’m a Benguet cowboy!
I really got a kick out of this and his many other songs, with which he blessed us all. During his sessions, we all laughed and danced and sang to the glory of the Lord, raising our hands as he cried his litany of lovely words and phrases: Praise God, hallelujah, thank you Jesus, Amen!
The Texan Dynamo: Mark Hankins
I guess if there has to be a star at every event, he would be it. I call him the Texan dynamo because he is from Texas and has a deep southern accent commensurate of this birthplace. Even he reminded me, that once you are from Texas, you are always from Texas. (My freshman roommate, who was born in Texas, once told me that as she tried to pull off cowboy boots and cowboy hat at our small liberal arts suburban college. I guess I have to give it to her now if I am to believe this man now.) He arrived on the second day of the conference, and I did not know what to expect. You know, the more you hear about someone, the more opportunities you have to exalt or denigrate him or her before you even have the chance to make that person’s acquaintance. It is never good to have preconceived notions of a person. I don’t even know what mine were for him, but I was not expecting someone who was such an inspiration while being so humorous and witty. I love witty people and thrive on opportunities to jab back at people who tease me or push my buttons. I had a great time learning from this “anointed” man of God and felt invigorated being able to exercise my wit again.
I really owe a lot to these four people because of the ways they have challenged me in my faith in Christ Jesus. I have never been so inspired by people and so enthralled by the profound ramifications of their teaching. Talk about a springboard. I hope you keep reading as you read about the staggering changes that have happened in my soul.
Reflections --- Wow!
I am finally sitting down to write this after having almost a week to think about what I want to write. When you are writing about matters of the heart and not just external observations, things become much more difficult to describe. A part of me, my flesh or my outward person, did not want to write this, but another part of me, my spirit or my soul could not wait to record and display for everyone one of the best things that has ever happened to me. So, since I have decided that in my life, I choose to operate according to the will of my spirit and not my flesh, I am writing this on my blog for all to see, so all can witness the great and mighty work Christ Jesus has done in my life.
The Bible calls what happened to me at the conference, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which results in the speaking of tongues (Acts 19: 2-6). I started learning about this when I first came to the Bible school because I was given the book of Acts to instruct. Before arriving at the Bible school, I had known that some people spoke tongues, even one of my good friends told me about her gift of speaking in tongues; however, I rejected this gift as either crazy and strange or unnecessary for me—good for her but unnecessary for me. Well, once I started really studying the book of Acts, I realized that the early church, and Jesus himself, emphasized this ability and this event, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That passage in Acts 19 discerns between John’s baptism, which is one of repentance or of the turning away from your sins and following Jesus, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the receiving of the Holy Spirit in a mighty way. The book of Acts also discusses this in chapter 2 and chapter 8 specifically.
Then, I started to think about how these early believers received this gift and the power that accompanied their lives. (I thought there must be some connection. It also says in 1 Corinthians 14:2 says that when you speak in a tongue, you do not speak to men but to God, and that only his spirit understands him. That’s what I wanted. I wanted the ability to speak to God in a language only he understands, to utter mysteries with my heart unto him. When one is connected to God, power flows beyond what is humanly comprehensible.) Beyond this early-church reality, I saw that Jesus himself spoke about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto the lives of believers and intended for this Spirit to be with believers in a might way (John 16: 13-15). I made a decision to follow Christ when I was seven years old, but until last week, I was unconvinced that the power of God was in me. I had great assurance that I was a believer, and I knew that if I died, I would go to heaven to be with God; but, there was something missing, something that I knew was right in front of me, accessible to all who believe in Jesus.
So, in early November, I started praying to Jesus, thanking him for giving me this gift because I knew it was a gift he had already given unto all believers; I was simply lacking it. I thanked him for it whenever I thought about speaking in tongues, and I was convinced in my heart that I would soon receive this gift. From the time I started thanking God for this gift until I actually received it was a period of about 10 weeks. It took some time for me to act upon my faith. This is how someone explained faith to me for the things that God has promised in Christ to all who believe. This preacher said that it is like having electricity in one’s home. You have paid the bill and you know have the power to light your whole house; however, you still have to turn on the switch. You have to act upon the fact that you have that power. Faith is the same way; faith is rooted in something you know is there, cannot see, but has power nonetheless for those who step out and take hold of those promises.
When the McCartys came to the Bible school, one of the first things I told them was that I was believing (this is an incorrect use of the verb in formal English, but it accurately describes what I was in the process of doing because my belief was an ongoing thing, present in my prayer life for many weeks) for the gift of speaking in tongues, that I would be baptized with the Spirit. Sister Menorah told me that she believed I would be given that gift soon, whether before or during the conference. She even prayed with me and for the first time, upon hearing her speak in tongues, I started to weep. I knew the presence of God so completely and I was assured that the power of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on me. Now, I did not follow suit and start speaking in tongues. My lips felt like they were glued together, but I realized that something had changed inside of me and something had been released.
I had the opportunity to speak with Pastor Terry Matthews before the conference and just soaked in all that he said about the Holy Spirit. He gave this great illustration that really helped me to understand how the baptism of the Holy Spirit is different from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that comes when someone chooses to put his/her faith in the message of the cross and resurrection of Christ Jesus. He used a bottle of water as an analogy. He said that you can take a drink of water and be refreshed—this is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at the point in time when someone makes a decision for Christ. But, you can also pour the bottle of water on your head and get yourself externally wet—this is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is also for all believers. It is the same water; yet, in that person’s life, it has two different functions. It is the same with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is poured out onto the lives of the believers, it comes with an external means of refreshing those people and empowering them to use the power of God through the message of the cross, which is that Christ Jesus died for the sins of all mankind and that since he rose again, we are now heirs with him of all the promises of God.
His message encouraged me and I knew I was close, but still, I had trouble opening my mouth to let the Spirit flow out of me. It was the second day of the conference, and I was energized and ready for what God was doing in my life. Pastor Terry spoke again on the Holy Spirit—he also gave this message the Sunday before the conference, but he did not invite anyone to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and I was too timid to just release myself unto God without someone’s help—but this time, he said that if there is anyone out in the audience who is a believer in Jesus Christ but has not received this outpouring that he or she should come forward. I leapt out of my seat in the front row and stood right in front of him. I knew I wanted it and that this was the time I would receive it. All fear was gone, and when he told us to open our mouths, to take a step of faith, words started pouring out of me. I could not control them. They were gibberish to my ears, but in my spirit, I knew that God understood what I was saying. It was a beautiful thing to be surrounded on all sides by multitudes of people who were all praising God from their spirits in languages no one understood. It was a powerful event and one that I will not forget ever. It was as if I was washed again in the power of the gospel and I finally understood the verse, ”I can do all things through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).”
Being able to speak in tongues to my heavenly Father was a wondrous and awe-inspiring kick-off to the several days that the conference lasted. I was really anointed by the Holy Spirit to be convinced of who I am in Christ Jesus, that I am healed; I am prosperous; I am bold and unfettered; I am wise. Before this conference occurred, I never identified with my savior the way I do now because I could never truly understand how his power was working through me. Even though there is so much more to understand and so much more to implement in my consciousness, I no longer regard Christ from my worldly and frail perspective (2 Corinthians 5:16). The realm of the Holy Spirit has been opened to me and my soul is flying with the possibilities for serving the only worthwhile person and creed on this whole earth. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen (Galatians1: 3-5).
A preacher went to visit the home of one of his congregation members. He knocked on the door a few times, not wanting to miss the opportunity to fellowship with this person. After several minutes of standing at the door and knocking, he decided that the person was not home, so he posted a sign on the door that said “Revelation 3:20” and left. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
That Sunday in the preacher’s church, when the offering basket was passed, someone put a note in the basket. At the end of the service, the preacher was helping to count the offerings and saw that note, which said, “Genesis 3:10.” So, the preacher got out his Bible, and this is what he read: He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny and wanted to share it with all of you. But, really, this is an exciting entry. A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks since my arrival in Baguio and I want to attempt to share everything with all of you. In sharing, it also gives me a chance to reflect and flesh out my thoughts and observations that I cannot do when I am writing in my journal, which has an audience of two—me and God ☺ As usual, follow the headlines, which will give you an idea of the direction, which my scattered brain has taken.
A lot of Prayer in this place!
One of the staff members, who is my age, and I were washing laundry together and chuckling about whatever happened that day—the students and their personal testimonies, including one from this kid who talked about how he had 16 girlfriends one summer and was the “face” of the prom two years in a row, which produced great mirth upon reading it. Anyway, we got on the topic of the Bible school and the lack of modern conveniences, particularly the washer, which was a beauty in its day—the 1950’s—but now is more than a little antiquated. We had a good laugh over all these things and concluded that at our place, you just gotta have faith!
My Korean gloves
Amy, if you are reading this, should appreciate the fact that I saw those latex-covered gloves here in Baguio too. I laughed and thought of my wonderful time in Seoul. Well, upon arriving in Seoul, like I wrote in my last blog, I was anything but prepared, including the fact that I did not have any gloves. I was forced to buy the first available pair, which happened to be in a convenience store called Family Mart. They were these lightweight cotton gloves that were half-covered in pink latex on the palm side—horrendously ugly to say the least. The funny thing about these gloves was that I five Koreans either made gestures or spoke against my gloves to my face, which is a pretty big deal when most people are indirect. I guess they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make fun of a foreigner and her ghastly pink gardening gloves! So funny! I just shrugged and smiled ☺
Just be humble and patient
When I arrived in Baguio, things had changed because of the impending Come to the River (CTTR) Conference, which is an annual leadership conference for pastors and Christian leaders all over Northern and Southern Luzon. I had a bed in my room for the roommate I would have during the prep period. The married staff members and their two children came to live with me down on “B,” which had formerly been quiet almost to the point of reclusive but is now full of life and its accompanying travails. The students were the little slaves they normally are, doing all the grunt work, but it was all directed to the planning efforts, and thankfully we had those hands. As my mom always says, “Many hands make light work.”
It was hard in the beginning because I wanted to get right to work when I arrived. I love to jump into things and when others are busy, I like to be busy along with them. Well, they had nothing for me to do. While the students were busy sweeping and cleaning and doing a myriad of other tasks, I was in my room reading and sleeping. I felt like the greatest sloth that ever walked our planet earth. But, I had to content myself with this quiet period of inactivity; otherwise, I would have gotten frustrated and done nothing productive. I got over these feelings by telling myself that I am here to serve and if they do not need anything from me, I will obey and get out of their hair. They knew I wanted to help and they knew I was willing to do whatever needed to be done. I was at peace with the knowledge that the preparation work was not about my feelings and my desires. It was about efficiency and list-ticking. If they didn’t want me to tick off the list, I would stand by and read and enjoy my life. Man, as soon as I surrendered to the clogs at work, I had such a great time with myself and did not feel guilty or pressured. It was liberating.
Market jungle and no one but myself to rely on
Finally, I started to tick off the list, and boy was I happy. Sure, I had come to terms with my inactivity and even reveled in it, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to be outside of all the activity. Sometimes I think we forget that we don’t have to want our place in life in order to be content, meaning we can be content anywhere when you set your mind to it; you don’t have to be in an ideal state in order to be content. So, my ideal state is one where I have lots of responsibility and have the freedom to act upon those details. In reference to CTTR, my duty was to keep the foreigners (American directors of the Bible school, the Irish missionaries that have come to teach for a week, eleven Vietnamese underground church members, and the American pastors that came to preach to the congregation) happy. I was really exhilarated with this job because it gave me an opportunity to speak with all these people and serve their special needs, which always requires a bit of coordination and planning¬—things which enliven my service skills.
Well, one of the tasks was to make their welcome baskets, which consisted of flowers, fruit, bottled water, and a greeting card. This meant several trips to the market. The first of several, I went with one of the staff members who is very familiar with the craziness of the market, but after that initial time, I was set loose and given this task. Like most things, I greeted this opportunity with my head held high and determination in the set of my shoulders even while my head was screaming, “You have no idea how to get around that madhouse. Are you crazy?” Good thing Determination is privy to large earplugs. I forged ahead, knowing that I was not quite sure how this venture would end. Wouldn’t you believe it, but I got lost! Yeah, I lost myself in the twists and turns of this market where every fish vendor and fruit peddler looks the same. I couldn’t distinguish one pineapple vendor from a stall selling blankets. The pulsing vigor of the hoards of people confused a mind trained on the idea of order not chaos. I persisted in my pursuit of the best fruit and pretty but cheap flowers and tried to recall all I had seen on my previous ventures to the market with the professionals. I give my thanks to God because I found my way; after having taken a couple wrong turns, I made it back to where I started! I smiled from cheek to cheek and became a fearless marketer ☺
Our special guests, the Vietnamese
It was really a momentous occasion to have these Vietnamese here at the conference. Pastor Giang Dong, one of the primary leaders of the underground church and a great musician who translates many Christian songs into Vietnamese for his church along with writing new compositions, and the founders of the conference have been friends for more than 15 years, so he this was his third conference to attend. It was the first time, though, that so many other Vietnamese traveled such a long way to come to the Philippines for this event. Even though Vietnam is just across the way, it seems a lot further because very few people in Vietnam actually exit their nation although as it modernizes, people with means are beginning to travel more widely. Vietnamese are such interesting people. I had such a great time observing them and fellowshipping with them at dinner, which they cooked for us three times. They all were astonished to see that I don’t eat meat, which is a big thing in their culture when they can afford it. (I think that is the French influence, particularly the beef and French fries combo.) They laughed and I smiled when I only took salad or mixed my noodles with beans sprouts and basil instead of eating their delicious soup ☺ They weren’t offended, I was sure to find out, but they just thought it was a most curious thing!
I had the pleasure of going out on an outing with them before the conference. They arrived several days before the conference, so on Monday we decided that it would be good if they saw some of Baguio and the Filipino culture. For the majority of these Vietnamese, this was the first time they ever traveled abroad, so I was glad they got to see more than just the conference hall, which is not uncommon when people travel for business-only purposes. I realized on this trip that I have never met any other people who love to take pictures as much as they did. Oh, my goodness! I think they stayed in one place for more than 15 minutes snapping photos of the same thing. It was hilarious. I just surrendered myself to the fun of being with them and got a kick out of their picture-taking habits. I was glad they were having fun. They are quick tourists, walking around a place and spending more time taking pictures than enjoying the scenery, but to each his own. They seemed quite content and happy, so I was too. What a blessing to be with them for so many days. I am excited, more than before, to be able to visit them in their hometown, Ho Chi Minh City, when I leave the Philippines.
The Conference and the Players
Now, for the conference, I would like to give you a little background, so it makes sense why so much preparation went into getting this event started. CTTR is in its 22nd year and maintains its goal of encouraging and edifying pastors and Christian leaders in their personal relationships with Christ as well as giving them momentum to serve others with more passion and love from God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. CTTR serves about 500-600 individuals each year and is held in a facility called Teacher’s Camp, which is supposedly one of the nicest conference venues in Northern Luzon. (I was a little disappointed when I heard that one of the dorms went for almost a day without water and even the cottage where we were staying had no water periodically throughout the conference. It is such a strange thing when you turn on the faucet and no water flows out. It reminds me of when my dad turns the water off when he is gone for the afternoon and I come home only to find the pipes are dry ☺ At least, I was able to laugh at my dad every time this happened!) This conference is considered a spirit-filled conference, which will make sense when I give a few more details about my personal reflections on the conference proceedings. I was really blessed by the conference not only because of the things that I learned, but also because of the people I met. Here are a few of the significant CTTR players.
The Founders and Organizers: Brother Daniel and Sister Menorah McCarty
This is the couple that invited me to volunteer at their Bible school, who more than two decades ago, listened to God’s call to go to the Philippines, which forever altered their life’s course along with the life’s course of the staff members here and droves of other people. They came to stay at the Bible school for a couple of days before the conference started to fellowship with the staff and to meet the students. It was wonderful to have them around, like we had someone to show off our progress and our upkeep of the facilities. Their interest and morale boosting really did a good work for the students and for us, the staff. I was given the chance to take a morning walk with Sister Menorah, and it was quite the occasion to talk about her life and some of her recent activities. I have always been interested in questioning people that are wiser and more experienced than I am. It furnishes my imagination with a better picture of the possibilities for the future and a more peaceful present. Anyway, she helped me to understand some Biblical doctrine and prayed with me, which blessed me to no end. I was really privileged with the time she gave me apart from her schedule of duties. They are both the founders of the Bible school and founders of the conference. To them was imbued the responsibility of opening up the various sessions and keeping things in line before and after the conference.
The Benguet Cowboy: Pastor Terry Matthews
I love this title, which is so fitting for this man of God and his non-descript southern accent and humble yet strong presence. I did not come up with this title, but apparently, he has held this comical alter ego for some years. “Benguet” comes from the name of the province in which Baguio is located and “cowboy” is a reference to his spirit of adventure and strength as he ministered in a remote area of Benguet with little to no conveniences back in the day. He is an anointed minstrel—which means to be filled with the Holy Spirit in a very evident way—coming up with songs that rhyme and praise the Lord like none I have ever encountered. I thought of my Grandpa Joe as I heard this man pray and sing in rhyme, reminding me of the days of my childhood when he would read poems for every occasion and whenever someone would lend him an ear. Here is the song bearing his affectionately displaying his Filipino “title”:
Benguet Cowboy
I’m a Benguet Cowboy coming your way
Lifting up Jesus everyday
Ain’t got no worries I’ve learned to pray
I’m a Benguet cowboy, living God’s way
I can rope the wildest demon and run him out of town
Take the name of Jesus and pull every stronghold down
I can hog tie that ole devil I have the authority
To bind him up and to cast him out and command him to bow his knee
I’m a Benguet Cowboy coming your way
Lifting up Jesus everyday
Ain’t got no worries I’ve learned to pray
I’m a Benguet cowboy, living God’s way
I can shoot ‘em up and ride ‘em tall
Jesus Christ is Lord of all
Praise the Lord and dance a bit
I am never going to quit
I’m a Benguet cowboy!
I really got a kick out of this and his many other songs, with which he blessed us all. During his sessions, we all laughed and danced and sang to the glory of the Lord, raising our hands as he cried his litany of lovely words and phrases: Praise God, hallelujah, thank you Jesus, Amen!
The Texan Dynamo: Mark Hankins
I guess if there has to be a star at every event, he would be it. I call him the Texan dynamo because he is from Texas and has a deep southern accent commensurate of this birthplace. Even he reminded me, that once you are from Texas, you are always from Texas. (My freshman roommate, who was born in Texas, once told me that as she tried to pull off cowboy boots and cowboy hat at our small liberal arts suburban college. I guess I have to give it to her now if I am to believe this man now.) He arrived on the second day of the conference, and I did not know what to expect. You know, the more you hear about someone, the more opportunities you have to exalt or denigrate him or her before you even have the chance to make that person’s acquaintance. It is never good to have preconceived notions of a person. I don’t even know what mine were for him, but I was not expecting someone who was such an inspiration while being so humorous and witty. I love witty people and thrive on opportunities to jab back at people who tease me or push my buttons. I had a great time learning from this “anointed” man of God and felt invigorated being able to exercise my wit again.
I really owe a lot to these four people because of the ways they have challenged me in my faith in Christ Jesus. I have never been so inspired by people and so enthralled by the profound ramifications of their teaching. Talk about a springboard. I hope you keep reading as you read about the staggering changes that have happened in my soul.
Reflections --- Wow!
I am finally sitting down to write this after having almost a week to think about what I want to write. When you are writing about matters of the heart and not just external observations, things become much more difficult to describe. A part of me, my flesh or my outward person, did not want to write this, but another part of me, my spirit or my soul could not wait to record and display for everyone one of the best things that has ever happened to me. So, since I have decided that in my life, I choose to operate according to the will of my spirit and not my flesh, I am writing this on my blog for all to see, so all can witness the great and mighty work Christ Jesus has done in my life.
The Bible calls what happened to me at the conference, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which results in the speaking of tongues (Acts 19: 2-6). I started learning about this when I first came to the Bible school because I was given the book of Acts to instruct. Before arriving at the Bible school, I had known that some people spoke tongues, even one of my good friends told me about her gift of speaking in tongues; however, I rejected this gift as either crazy and strange or unnecessary for me—good for her but unnecessary for me. Well, once I started really studying the book of Acts, I realized that the early church, and Jesus himself, emphasized this ability and this event, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That passage in Acts 19 discerns between John’s baptism, which is one of repentance or of the turning away from your sins and following Jesus, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the receiving of the Holy Spirit in a mighty way. The book of Acts also discusses this in chapter 2 and chapter 8 specifically.
Then, I started to think about how these early believers received this gift and the power that accompanied their lives. (I thought there must be some connection. It also says in 1 Corinthians 14:2 says that when you speak in a tongue, you do not speak to men but to God, and that only his spirit understands him. That’s what I wanted. I wanted the ability to speak to God in a language only he understands, to utter mysteries with my heart unto him. When one is connected to God, power flows beyond what is humanly comprehensible.) Beyond this early-church reality, I saw that Jesus himself spoke about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto the lives of believers and intended for this Spirit to be with believers in a might way (John 16: 13-15). I made a decision to follow Christ when I was seven years old, but until last week, I was unconvinced that the power of God was in me. I had great assurance that I was a believer, and I knew that if I died, I would go to heaven to be with God; but, there was something missing, something that I knew was right in front of me, accessible to all who believe in Jesus.
So, in early November, I started praying to Jesus, thanking him for giving me this gift because I knew it was a gift he had already given unto all believers; I was simply lacking it. I thanked him for it whenever I thought about speaking in tongues, and I was convinced in my heart that I would soon receive this gift. From the time I started thanking God for this gift until I actually received it was a period of about 10 weeks. It took some time for me to act upon my faith. This is how someone explained faith to me for the things that God has promised in Christ to all who believe. This preacher said that it is like having electricity in one’s home. You have paid the bill and you know have the power to light your whole house; however, you still have to turn on the switch. You have to act upon the fact that you have that power. Faith is the same way; faith is rooted in something you know is there, cannot see, but has power nonetheless for those who step out and take hold of those promises.
When the McCartys came to the Bible school, one of the first things I told them was that I was believing (this is an incorrect use of the verb in formal English, but it accurately describes what I was in the process of doing because my belief was an ongoing thing, present in my prayer life for many weeks) for the gift of speaking in tongues, that I would be baptized with the Spirit. Sister Menorah told me that she believed I would be given that gift soon, whether before or during the conference. She even prayed with me and for the first time, upon hearing her speak in tongues, I started to weep. I knew the presence of God so completely and I was assured that the power of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on me. Now, I did not follow suit and start speaking in tongues. My lips felt like they were glued together, but I realized that something had changed inside of me and something had been released.
I had the opportunity to speak with Pastor Terry Matthews before the conference and just soaked in all that he said about the Holy Spirit. He gave this great illustration that really helped me to understand how the baptism of the Holy Spirit is different from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that comes when someone chooses to put his/her faith in the message of the cross and resurrection of Christ Jesus. He used a bottle of water as an analogy. He said that you can take a drink of water and be refreshed—this is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at the point in time when someone makes a decision for Christ. But, you can also pour the bottle of water on your head and get yourself externally wet—this is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is also for all believers. It is the same water; yet, in that person’s life, it has two different functions. It is the same with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is poured out onto the lives of the believers, it comes with an external means of refreshing those people and empowering them to use the power of God through the message of the cross, which is that Christ Jesus died for the sins of all mankind and that since he rose again, we are now heirs with him of all the promises of God.
His message encouraged me and I knew I was close, but still, I had trouble opening my mouth to let the Spirit flow out of me. It was the second day of the conference, and I was energized and ready for what God was doing in my life. Pastor Terry spoke again on the Holy Spirit—he also gave this message the Sunday before the conference, but he did not invite anyone to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and I was too timid to just release myself unto God without someone’s help—but this time, he said that if there is anyone out in the audience who is a believer in Jesus Christ but has not received this outpouring that he or she should come forward. I leapt out of my seat in the front row and stood right in front of him. I knew I wanted it and that this was the time I would receive it. All fear was gone, and when he told us to open our mouths, to take a step of faith, words started pouring out of me. I could not control them. They were gibberish to my ears, but in my spirit, I knew that God understood what I was saying. It was a beautiful thing to be surrounded on all sides by multitudes of people who were all praising God from their spirits in languages no one understood. It was a powerful event and one that I will not forget ever. It was as if I was washed again in the power of the gospel and I finally understood the verse, ”I can do all things through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).”
Being able to speak in tongues to my heavenly Father was a wondrous and awe-inspiring kick-off to the several days that the conference lasted. I was really anointed by the Holy Spirit to be convinced of who I am in Christ Jesus, that I am healed; I am prosperous; I am bold and unfettered; I am wise. Before this conference occurred, I never identified with my savior the way I do now because I could never truly understand how his power was working through me. Even though there is so much more to understand and so much more to implement in my consciousness, I no longer regard Christ from my worldly and frail perspective (2 Corinthians 5:16). The realm of the Holy Spirit has been opened to me and my soul is flying with the possibilities for serving the only worthwhile person and creed on this whole earth. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen (Galatians1: 3-5).
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