ANTIQUE DAY THREE:

Motorcade. Dedication celebration. Interview with Antique's, Governor Sally.
Joy. Celebration. God's faithfulness. God's Glory.

Standout moment from the day...

Early in the morning an older woman sits in the Town Plaza. She goes there regularly for dawn watch - a time spent in prayer for her community. Usually she sits alone. Sometimes she sits with the grandson she brings along with her.

This day though, a crowd was beginning to gather in the plaza around the flag pole. A flag is in her wrinkly, weathered hands. She furls and unfurls the flag, "Launching of the Kinaray-a New Testament - September 26, 2009." As she does that her mouth moves. I move closer and her her uttering soft prayers of praise and thanks to God for the New Testament in Kinaray-a.

I quietly approached her and asked her how she felt. She told me that she was just there and just now heard about this New Testament. After a few minutes I left her to grab a copy of the New Testament. I handed it to her to show her how it looked. She flipped through the pages with her fingers gently running over the words. She seemed amazed in a way to see the words in Kinaray-a. She pulled out a Bible that she says she carries with her. A Bible... in English. Now, after all the years, she says she can read it in her own language.

As we talked, the crowd grew. Motorbikes, tricycles, vans, jeepneys, cars were getting decked out with flags and balloons. In the front of the motorcade... a high school band playing from a double-decker pick up truck. Through the streets of the town proper, the motorcade was joyously announcing the launching of the Kinaray-a New Testament.

As we did that, this woman was on her way home... to announce the good news to others in her barangay.