One day, our contact, Pastor Jojo, mentioned that it was their church’s thanksgiving the following Sunday. We weren’t quite sure what to make of that or what he meant. When we asked, he told us that it was the thanksgiving for the fifth year they had been together as a church – something we would probably call an anniversary. He told us that it was a big celebration after church – that there would be food, a lot of people, and great fellowship. He also invited us to attend the thanksgiving. It sounded like it would be something we would really enjoy.
We arrived that Sunday and the pastor spoke about something (the sermon was in Visayan) and before we knew it, church was over. The church stood up and started stacking their chairs. The staff brought tables down to the main room and laid banana leaves on them.
There were three long rows of tables. Then they brought the food and dumped it on the banana leaves. There was a lot of rice, meat, watermelon, and even juice boxes. Our team had a great time playing with the kids, eating delicious food, and spending time with the Filipinos.
Within probably half an hour, the room was full of stuffed Filipinos. They all had eaten so much food. Collectively we had eaten all the food that you saw in the first picture with very few remnants.
It was a great and fun activity to be involved in. The fifth anniversary for Pastor Jojo’s church was a huge success and everybody left with their tummies full!
