Thanksgiving in the Philippine Islands

Just a brief testimony about last thanksgiving (don't laugh just because I said brief - it could be)

As most readers here know, I was introduced to the Philippines because I work for a company that has tech support call centers there and I have been sent there 3x by them to train and coach the agents. Last year at Thanksgiving I was in Manila with Brother Paul Perkins. They spent each thanksgiving on the field by driving to Batongas (~2hrs away) and having a traditional thanksgiving dinner with another missionary. So, I had the privilege of joining them. I cant tell you what a blessing that was. I had not missed a holiday with my wife before since we have been married and to be away from her and the kids was tough enough. It was nice to be with some people that love Jesus and to share a bit of the traditional experiences that I would have enjoyed at home.
I cant say though that it was a normal thanksgiving. We did have a big meal but then we all had this great idea of going to pick up some of the men from Missionary Avery's church and play basketball. For the next couple hours we played basketball in 85 and humid weather on an outdoor court at the foot of a beautiful mountain after eating a big meal. When we were finished I was exhausted and was becoming dehydrated. I had already been there a week and a half working all night and being part of ro. Paul's ministry during the days. I recognize now that it was foolish for me to have played since I had to train the new agents that entire night.
Since it was the holiday in the states but not over there the agents would come in but it was the night that I had the entire shift to train them...
As we were driving back toward Manila I tried to catch some sleep but the roads and vehicle are not always conducive for a guy my size to rest. I got back to the hotel in time to clean up and rest for about 30 minutes. When I got to the 37 story skyscraper the call center is in I was quite sick.
HERES THE TESTIMONY
I called my wife almost immediately upon arriving and let her know that I needed to be prayed through the shift because I was miserable. I then said goodbye and headed up to the training room to set up. Within 30 minutes the Lord showed tremendous mercy on mercy by answering the prayer of my precious wife.

I am thankful to be able to spend thanksgiving today with my wife and family. I am thankful for my God that hears and answers prayer, I am thankful for a wife that prays for me and I am thankful that I can eat well today, will not be asked to play basketball today and do not have to train all night tonight, AMEN!

ON A SEPARATE NOTE -
The Philippines and the US have shared the same independence day of July fourth for a number of years.

As I was considering thanksgiving I remember how I was in the Philippines just a couple weeks before thanksgiving in '05 and I was also there on thanksgiving last year - '06. I remember distinctly that the Filipinos did not consider our day of thanksgiving as a holiday and so I thought I would look into whether they have one etc.

I found this blog post that gives you a touch of history if interested. (I did not verify the validity of the information on this post and we know we should not believe everything we read - except in the King James Bible!)

In reading the article though I learned first that it seems that the recognized date for independence day has since been changed for the Philippines.

I see that the official date for thankgiving for them is September 21.
It turns out that they don't make all that big of a deal of their thanksgiving. There was no famous speech given at its inception, the date is nothing to commemorate like the survival of the pilgrims etc.

In fact, it seems like how we might treat a Presidents day or something. The banks are off, maybe some other businesses etc but the rest of us work and no one pays much attention to it.

Christmas in the Philippines is a different story though. That I will leave for another post.