(The “jungle” we walked through)
On our second day here, Alex, our contact wanted to give us a tour of the community so that we would be able to meet some of the families that made bracelets for him. I say “some” because there are between 400 and 500 families that are part of Threads of Hope. Everywhere we walked there were families making bracelets. Children, dads and mothers are all a part of this ministry. It is really cool to see. These bracelets are a way for them to make money for the family but it also is something that families are able to do together.
As we were walking through the “jungle” we saw a group of people setting up for a wedding. We had never seen these people before as it was only our second day in the country but we received an invitation to the wedding the following night. Yes all 13 of us Americans were invited to this Filipino wedding. We were all very excited but unsure of what to expect.
Fast forward to the day of the wedding, we had a church service at 7 so we did not leave for the wedding till 9:30ish. We could hear the music from our house and so our excitement grew. I mean how many times were we going to be invited to a wedding like this. We arrived at the wedding, the guest had already eaten, and the cake cut but the dancing was under way. The caterers (yes the wedding had been catered) prepared us all a place and began to serve us the wedding feast. Now we had no idea what any of the food was, so we were polite and tried a little of everything. One of the dishes I tried and as soon as I swallowed I knew was definitely special……in a bad way. We later found out from one of our contacts was a soup made of pig intestines and blood. Yes you heard me right, I ate it but never again. After dinner we were led to the dance floor. We found out it is custom for guys to pay to dance with the ladies. So the girls sit on chairs surrounding the dance floor and guys would just walk up and ask you to dance. You were obligated to dance, so that night I slow danced with more than one Filipino man. And it was safe to say they were all double my age and had all had a few too many to drink. As weird as the night was I can now say I have experienced a real wedding and eaten some authentic food.
(Food…the bowl at the top with the red rim is the soup we ate)
(JoJo,,she is so much fun)
(Bride and Groom)
It is awesome to see how this simple walk ended in a invitation to one of the most intimate ceremonies of our life. We didn’t even know these people and yet they invited us in without any hesitation. It is yet another example of how welcoming and open these cultures are to us. With this openness we are able to share the reason for us being here.
Until next time
Annalisa
