One of the things that we as a family love to do is share our home with friends, breaking bread, playing games, sharing life stories, and our faith. When we were in China we did this in with semi-regularity with some of our closest friends there and we usually played Mexican trains after gorging ourselves with excellent food (I really miss cooking with Donald, and also Simi’s curry). As my closest friends know, cooking is a great stress reliever for me, especially cooking with someone who is showing me something new. For Amy and me, cooking creates an environment where social awkwardness is diminished, strangers are invited to participate, and friends’ company are cherished.

When we moved to the Philippines, one of our hopes was that we would be able to have a community similar to what we had in China. We weren’t expecting it to be exactly the same – that is highly unrealistic –  but we did hope that we would be able to develop deep enough relationships to have a sense of community. Fast forward one year later, and we’ve found ourselves occasionally hosting the Thursday night discipleship group (or Dgroup to its members) for food and fellowship. A couple Thursdays ago, we made Gyoza (or Jiaozi) and miso soup, a first for a lot of our new friends. Here are the photos, courtesy of Mike.