To the City of Smiles

I leave tomorrow noon for Bacolod City in the Philippines. Known as the City of Smiles, it is a seaport 45 minutes flight south of Manila. I don't know much about this city as this is my first visit there. We (my boss and I) will first fly into Manila and take the 4:55am flight to Bacolod the next morning - yes, you did not read wrong - it IS 4:55 am! This means, we have to be at the airport by 3 am and leave the hotel by 2 am! That's not the worst, yet. We get into Bacolod by 6:30 am or so and at 8 am, we have a radio interview! Hopefully I won't be talking gibberish at that unsaintly hour! My boss insists that this trip will help reprogram me into a morning-person like he is but I doubt that will happen!

I don't have to do any teaching until the next morning, fortunately (see my schedule on the right). It will be another intense trip but I am excited at the opportunity to speak to the young people there. I am especially looking forward to the talk on sexuality.

I had a slow start today and by the time we were to leave home for my speaking engagement at a church here around 3:30 pm, I was feeling rather lethargic and drained. But by the time we got to the church, my spirit was really livened up - the vigor we encountered as the 300 or so youths worshipped boosted my own level of energy. The meeting went really well. When I accepted the invitation to speak at this church, I was not expecting such a big group - so it was a surprise when we got there. I have been invited back to train the youth leaders twice in the next month and I'm looking forward to it.

That's all for now. I've much to do still for my trip tomorrow. I've yet to pack and am still working on one of my talks. Pray for me, won't you?