Adel and the Baptism in Cairo

Fr. Michael Calabria, a friar at St. Bonaventure introduced us to his friend Adel from Egypt. Adel has been taking us all over Cairo and even spent the weekend with us down in Luxor. He was born and raised in Egypt and now lives in Giza, near the pyramids. He's quite the character and somehow was responsible for making Lindsay and I a part of a baptism in a Coptic church in Cairo.

So we were visiting a bunch of spots in Cairo as any tourist would usually do and of course in a historic city we made a few stops in some churches. Well when we walked into the Coptic church there was a large crowd that seemed to be just there for a regular mass. What we learned after we sat down is that it we were at a child's baptism.

Adel started telling Lindsay and I to stand up because he wanted to take our picture in the church. He then started to tell us to move closer and closer until we were just about at the alter. At this point I'm about 6 feet away from the child who is now actually being baptised by the priest and is surrounded by family and friends trying to capture the moment on camera.

Adel continues to tell us to get closer until we got so close that the priests and family members actually thought we were supposed to be part of this moment. They grabbed us on stage and started taking pictures, not with the baby, but with us! I couldn't control myself from laughing at what is going on so my eyes started to water up from laughing so hard as if I were crying of joy from this child's entry to the church. I have some great pictures of all this because the whole time Adel is has my camera in the back of the church, himself laughing hysterically.