淩晨3點多起床，馬尼拉尚在睡夢中，我和傑明坐出租車到機場，4點多過了安檢，到登艙口，等待6點半飛往那伽(Naga)的飛機。計劃是，一個鍾頭的飛行到那伽(Naga)後，Compassion負責人從機場接我們，再坐一個多鍾頭的車，到Resty的家鄉，一個名叫以瑞伽 (Iriga) 的小村莊。若一切順利，當天9點就可與Resty一家見麵。
輕舟對菲律賓最早的印象來自80年代的亞洲首位女總統，菲律賓華裔科拉鬆·阿基諾夫人，如今，菲律賓的總統 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo，也是一位女總統。菲律賓的主要宗教是天主教和基督教，種族是菲律賓本土人，馬來人，華人，印尼，印度人，西班牙人後代的混合。等飛機時，我們閱讀起菲律賓報紙 Philippine Star Newspaper，菲律賓語言有本土語Tagalog和外來語英語。Tagalog用在口語多些，書麵語言大多數是英文：路標，商店，書店裏的報紙刊物，清一色的英文。
當天（6月4日）的Philippine Star報紙第二版頭條是大篇“Air France (法國航空)”3天前從裏約熱內盧飛巴黎飛機失事，墜入大西洋的報道。而右側欄目是一小篇題為“100 Million More Poor People in South Asia （一億多南亞窮人）”的文章，配有小幅卡拉奇乞討老人的相片，文章寫到，全球經濟危機，糧食價格上升，對窮人的衝擊最大。兩則文章讓輕舟印象深刻，感歎生命脆弱，戰亂，天災人禍，事故，都可能奪走人的生命，可正是因為人生有限和無常，我們想著，如何倚靠神，盡微薄的能力，幫助窮人，Make a difference for others，輕舟常帶著理想主義的色彩想問題。傑明務實些，他在教會作鼓勵美國人讚助貧困孩子的演講時，引用了聖經的一句話：“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:48b) 因為多給誰，就向誰多取；多托誰，就向誰多要." 他還用了一個很形象的比喻：夕陽下的海灘，潮水退後，無數的海星 （Star Fish）被推到岸上，一位老人彎腰拾起一枚又一枚的海星，不停地將它們投擲到海水裏，一旁的小男孩不解地問老人：“岸上的海星這麽多，你如何救得過來？”老人彎下腰，拾起腳邊掙紮的海星，扔向海裏，對孩子道：“我無法救所有海星，但是，我確實救了這隻，它得以幸存，我改變了這隻海星的命運（I made a difference for this star fish.）" 貧窮本不是孩子的過錯(Poverty is not children's fault)，若給孩子接受教育的機會，孩子的智力，潛能方得以開發。Compassion International與普通救濟或救災不同的是，救濟或救災能夠緩解一時，然，“授人魚不如授人以漁”，通過讚助孩子教育和醫療，並讓孩子參加所在社區的基督教會主日學活動，了解神的大愛。身量，學識，靈性並重地成長，成熟，孩子長大以後找到工作，可以幫助家人和社區，對改善貧困社區的境況，起良性循環的功效。
話題扯遠了，回到馬尼拉的候機室，6點快到了，我們被告知，飛機有故障，在修理中，飛行被推遲到7點半。我們隻有祈禱，願飛機快快修好，安全飛行。7點半過去了，飛行繼續推遲，但仍被告知當日會飛。直到9點15分，飛行公司正式通知大家，飛機故障一時難以修複，飛往那伽的飛行被取消，大家住機場附近的一賓館，明天同時間再飛。可是，我們和Resty一家已約好今天見麵。明後天返程機票已定，難道，我們不遠萬裏到了馬尼拉，卻無法與Resty見麵嗎？
候機室等了幾個鍾頭的旅客紛紛找飛行公司的負責人問話，他們用本土語Tagalog交流，我和傑明通過一旁的菲律賓醫生夫婦了解到，另外一家航空公司(Cebu)今天中午飛那伽(Naga)的飛機有5個空位，但這5個位子很快就給了5位會說Tagalog的菲律賓人。當我們向菲律賓醫生夫婦介紹了此行的目的，並給他們看了Resty的相片，他們連忙幫助我們用Tagalog打聽，我和傑明唯有繼續祈禱奇跡。
奇跡果真有了！Cebu航空公司下午飛往另一個叫勒伽斯匹（Legaspi）的飛機，尚有空位，我們是外國人，從未聽說過勒伽斯匹（Legaspi）這個城市，但醫生夫婦和他們的朋友們高興地告訴我們，Resty的家鄉以瑞伽(Iriga)介於那伽(Naga)和勒伽斯匹（Legaspi）之間。而且飛行公司為彌補改機的不便，到達勒伽斯匹（Legaspi）後，有司機專程開車送我們到以瑞伽(Iriga)，熱情的菲律賓人還告訴我們，“從勒伽斯匹（Legaspi）到以瑞伽(Iriga)的路途，將經過菲律賓最大的火山 - 美麗的Mayon，你們會喜歡的。”我和傑明十分感謝那些好心的菲律賓人，更感謝神，我們的禱告得到了回答，在機場困了9小時之後，我們終於坐上了飛機，離Resty越來越近了。
附上部分英文遊記
We flew to Manila that day and the next morning got to the Airport around 4 a.m. for the flight to see our child. The 6:30 flight was delayed, but they assured us it would fly soon. We prayed, but it was delayed again, and they kept assuring us it would fly soon and we kept praying. Finally around 9:15 they cancelled their only flight of the day and we thought we’d never be able to see our child! The way the plane schedules worked, we only had 1 day! They eventually sent a supervisor to advise everybody what to do and when he started talking, he spoke in Tagalog (the Filipino language) and we found out later there were 5 seats on another airlines to the same city, but others got those seats because they understood his language and we were left without seats. We’d been praying all along and it was getting close to noon on the only day we could see him. And there were a couple of people (especially this Filipino Doctor in front of us) who somehow mis-understood our attempt to get tickets and thought we shouldn’t have any priority.
We spoke up and showed the picture of Resty and explained how we’d travelled all the way from America and this was the only day we scheduled to see him. We said how we’d been sponsors for 10 years and wanted to visit our child! The doctor couple understood what we were saying, they did a complete reversal and went to the supervisor and spoke boldly in Tagalog language about our situation and need for immediate tickets. The 5 tickets were gone! They asked us what town our child was in and when we answered…
God did a miracle! There was another flight to another city we’d never heard of that had some seats that they told us was close enough that if we got on it, the Airlines would pay for a Mini-bus/taxi to drive to the town we needed to get to. It turns out Resty’s town was in between the new city we were flying to and the city that had the cancellation! We didn’t leave the Airport until afternoon (9 hours stuck in the Manila Airport which made us exhausted), but we were flying.
