WEC International Festival

Gary spent most of his day in Africa, Nicholas was a poor abandoned street child, begging for pennies and the rest of us spent the day 'travelling' around the world. How - you may ask. Today was WEC's International Festival.

Many hours had been spent in preparation and it was well worth the time and effort. The purpose of the day was to raise awareness in the local community of the 7,000 people groups around the world who have not yet heard the Gospel of Christ.

God was gracious and apart from a few sprinkles early this morning, He kept the rain away and although it was overcast and cool, almost 1,000 people came to Camp Hill to experience and enjoy this festival.

There were several locations in which people could explore and learn. Gary was working on the 'trail team' where we could walk through the woods and find 'Central Asia', 'Africa', 'Amazon' and 'North Korea'. Gary was located in the 'Africa' area, along with the snakes!! He spent quite a bit of time with a Colombian Boa wrapped around his neck or a baby Ball python wrapped tightly around his hand (it was trying to keep warm). Gary even put it under his shirt to try and warm it up!!!! In another Africa area the girls enjoyed playing with the African instruments - especially the drums.

In the Amazon area Daniel and Jeremiah went fishing for piranha and then Daniel tried, many times to kill a 'tiger' with paintballs through a blow gun. Also in the Amazon area the kids got their faces painted and received headbands made with feathers.

There was a center stage with some wonderful entertainment which included Korean dancers, African dancers, rap group and others which I didn't get to see as we were too busy 'traveling'.

Our taste buds were treated and sometimes tested as we were able to experience food from Mexico, Amazon, a refugee camp, an Italian cafe and the American hot dogs, cookies and chips. Elaina was very brave as she ate little worms and small raw fish!! Deanna had her first taste of cotton candy (candy floss-UK). It was so amusing to watch her as I broke a piece off and tried to put it in her mouth. She had no idea it was food and she looked at me like I was crazy. Of course, once she had her first taste, she was more than eager to continue to eat.

Nicholas spent his day in torn, worn out clothes begging people for money. He was representing the hundreds of thousands of street children that have to beg or steal just to survive. He did a great job. Of course he was allowed to come out of character to eat his cotton candy and hot dog!

By the time the festival ended at 3pm we were all tired, especially Deanna who was so exhausted that she just sat down in the road and refused to move!

Thank you to all those who put so much time and effort into this event because a great time was had by many - especially the Northcutt family.

If you wish to see more pictures of the festival, including snakes and Elaina eating bugs then please click HERE.

Michelle