By Casey Ramirez, CBF field personnel
Have you ever made 400 dumplings? I’m guessing you haven’t. I hadn’t either, until this year’s Chinese New Year (春节 – Spring Festival). We invited our class to join us for a small New Year’s lunch with a plan to meet up in the morning, make some dumplings for lunch, then clean up and head home.
Brittany and I arrived early to begin setting up, but somebody had already been there and left a couple of suitcases in the entryway. We soon got a message explaining that a couple of students had dropped some things off and then went to the market to get fresh ingredients. Maybe they were headed out of town right after lunch? We set up a table in the middle of the hallway where we could gather round and make dumplings together. We set up a couple more tables further down the hall where everyone could sit and eat when it was time. Then people started arriving.
First, came the students (some who hadn’t been to class in a while). Next, came people who had been invited by the students. Many of these people brought their families and homemade dishes of food with them. We realized that our plan for a small lunch gathering had just changed into a potluck. We were going to need more tables!
Eventually the folks who had gone to the market returned with bags and bags of ingredients. They took the cabbage, zucchini, green onions, pork, beef and bags and bags of flour down to the kitchen, along with their two suitcases–which were full of an entire kitchen’s worth of pots, pans and utensils. Everyone got to work washing, chopping and mixing everything as needed.
While all that was going on in the kitchen, a few others were out in the hallway mixing piles of flour with just the right amount of water to make the dough in batches. The dough was then divided and rolled out into flat, circular dumpling skins. The prepared ingredients made their way from the kitchen to the table, and everyone took turns stuffing the dumplings and pinching them closed. When someone needed a break, someone else was right there ready to switch spots withthem. Even the kids got involved! As the dumplings piled up on baking sheets, they were put into the steamers and cooked. Batch after batch was cooked, piled on the tables and eaten along with the other dishes that had been prepared. All while more dumplings were being made. Everyone was eating in shifts. When someone had eaten enough, they’d go back and make more dumplings. So. Many. Dumplings!
What was originally supposed to be a quiet lunch ended up being a 5-hour long potluck fellowship. We have been so blessed by the formation of this flourishing community that is growing and getting to know each other better. We have repeatedly heard that many of our students and their families, many of whom are new to the Philippines, are apprehensive about meeting new people. Some have safety concerns while others may have had bad experiences. We are humbled that our gatherings and our group is seen as a welcoming, safe space. When all was said and done, there were 20 people eating, cooking and enjoying each other’s company-sharing life together. It is exciting to see how God is working in and through opportunities like this.