While we were in the St Petersburg area Gwyn started attending a Filipino Church. She met a family that lived in Hudson, and they opened their home to her whenever she needed to charge the van, eat, or a place to hangout over the weekends. She spent around 3 months attending the church and getting to know the family while she was in Florida. 

For a little backstory their family immigrated from the Philippines, lived in Canada as well as the US over the years, and moved to a few states before settling in Florida. Lolo (grandpa) was a Seventh Day Adventist pastor, and their family spent a lot of time traveling the world and doing mission work in their younger years. Their immediate family consisted of 8 members, with two Lola’s (grandma’s), two Lolo’s, Ate Em (big sister Em), her husband, and their two adult children (It gets a little confusing trying to explain it, but I feel like it’s important because they are such a close family unit). The family went on outings together, church functions, flea markets, fishing, ect. It was fun to see them work so well together and see something different than what I was used to at home. 

When I moved down to Florida with Gwyn, I got to meet the family the first weekend I was there. I was nervous at first because she had built a relationship with this family, and I felt like I was crashing into their lives.   

Once I met Lola, all of those fears dissipated. As soon as we parked and I stepped out of the van, she left the garden, and introduced herself to me. We talked for a few short minutes before she offered fresh passion fruit off of one of their fruit trees, and I felt all of my fear melt away. I knew from that point on, I was actually welcomed. 

After meeting Lola, I was able to meet everyone else and things seemed to move smoothly through our visits with their family. After a couple weekends I had a little help with mini Tagalog lessons learning some basics (and lots of repetitions) with Ate Em on pronunciations.  Between chores and setting up for the work week, Lola cooked fresh Filipino food sharing with Gwyn and I as well as Rose and Holly. Lola seemed to love the girls, and made sure they always had a little rice and fish as a treat while they were hanging out at their home. 

It was a hard goodbye when we had to leave. I was only there a few short months with the family, but they began to feel like family to me. Gwyn and I check in every now and then to see how they are doing, but I’ll never forget the kindness they showed us and I hope one day I can pay it forward. 

Over and Out, 

Whitney