Rachel has developed a friendship with a girl at church.  We have had her family over to share lunch and Rachel has visited in their home a couple of times.  We were not too surprised when we recieved an invitation to her 15th Birthday party.  The invitation had a professional “glamore style” picture on the invitation.  Then we were told by missionary friends that the 15th birthday is a big celebration here.  The event took place at our church last Saturday night. 

We arrived at the church at about 7:45 the invitation said 7:30 but I didn’t want to be the first one there.  We were surprised to see everyone seated in the sactuary of the church.  When we sat down we began to sing praise songs and hymns.  Then the birthday girl came in with a full length formal lavernder dress.  She was beautiful.  She was also wearing a tiara.  During the service scriptures were read and there were responsive readings. One of them stated that we (the audience) would pray for her. Others were praising God for creating her. During the service she sat at the front of the santuary facing the congregation.  At about 9:00 the service ended. 

Then it was time to go upstairs and have cake and traditional birthday party food.  Traditionally, they serve a dish call Vatapá (va-ta-PA), which is a rice dish with a yellow sauce and shrimp.  I really like it, which is a good thing, since it is served at EVERY birthday party here in Belém.  They also served a sandwich cake (it looks like a cake with a mayo frosting and inside is a very large chicken salad  sandwich) and a large birthday cake with a local fruit icing which was delicious.  There were  alot of people, a lot of ballons and a lot of heat and a small room compared to the number of people. 

We all enjoyed the cultural experience.  Even though we were one of the first families to leave at 10:00pm, the party was still going strong.