Sometimes I’m totally amazed by how well things actually work out! I really feel that God’s Grace has a lot to do with it and, in this case, with the magnanimous heart of the Turkish people.
A bunch of friends and I are vacationing in Antalya, Turkey and, although there are so many exciting possible places to break Guinness records here, I didn’t want to think about it until I was actually in better shape. There was a record for balancing the tallest object on one’s chin for 10 seconds, but frankly, my practices weren’t going that well.
Then suddenly, one morning, I had an excellent practice and I was ready to begin the search for a venue. My friend, Homagni, had been raving about the 2,000 year-old Aspendos Roman Amphitheatre he had visited, so finally, I looked at a photo of the ancient site. It was incredible!!! I just had to do the pole-balancing record there, but how could I get permission?
Sometimes I’m totally amazed by how well things actually work out! I really feel that God’s Grace has a lot to do with it and, in this case, with the magnanimous heart of the Turkish people.
A bunch of friends and I are vacationing in Antalya, Turkey and, although there are so many exciting possible places to break Guinness records here, I didn’t want to think about it until I was actually in better shape. There was a record for balancing the tallest object on one’s chin for 10 seconds, but frankly, my practices weren’t going that well.
Then suddenly, one morning, I had an excellent practice and I was ready to begin the search for a venue. My friend, Homagni, had been raving about the 2,000 year-old Aspendos Roman Amphitheatre he had visited, so finally, I looked at a photo of the ancient site. It was incredible!!! I just had to do the pole-balancing record there, but how could I get permission?
I asked the management in my hotel about it and they said it normally takes 6 months to get the go ahead for an event at Aspendos! Rather than get discouraged, I said a little prayer and suddenly, as if by magic, everything started falling into place! Someone mentioned to me that the assistant to the mayor of Belek, the town we were staying in, happened to be eating lunch at the hotel. I went over and introduced myself and he invited me to join him at his table. He was intrigued by my project, but he informed me that Aspendos was not it his jurisdiction. It was actually located in the city of Belkis. No worries, right on the spot he called the mayor of Belkis, explained the situation and arranged for me to meet with the mayor in an hour!
I grabbed a Turkish translator, hopped in a taxi and, 45 minutes later, I was drinking tea with the mayor in charge of Aspendos. I liked the man instantly and I could tell that he had a very big heart. He calmly listened to my request, he laughed when I demonstrated on the translator my latest piggyback record, and in no time he was on the phone to the Ministry of Tourism. Before we had finished our tea, the kind mayor had given us the OK, less than 3 hours after I had looked at a photo of Aspendos for the first time! Now that, in it’s own right, has got to be some kind of record!
