Delvin's Pig!!!

I have to add a correction. . .This was NOT Delvins First Pig. . .It was the first one he cooked where he was the main person in charge and the only one who knew how to do it. . .he's done many others, but he was assisting his dad or uncle. So, with that correction, read on. . .

Delvin has always talked about cooking a pig, well today he finally did!!! Our ward at church was having a camp out and he decided this would be the perfect opportunity. He made all the arrangements and did so much work! Last night he and a few other men from church went and dug the pit at the church camp ground. He woke up at 4:30 AM and went back out there to get the fire started. Then while one of the men tended the fire he and his friend, Scott, went out to get the pig. The pig was still alive when they got there, so they did the works of the preparation! Once the pig had died they shaved it, cut it and gutted it. Once they got it back to the camp ground they washed it again and wrapped it in chicken wire. They do this to keep it intact after it's cooked.
I couldn't believe that the three of them got it in the pit - the pig was over 200 pounds! I was so concerned that one of them was going to nose dive into the hot rocks! They did an amazing job!
Once the pig was in they covered the pig with lily pads (normally you'd use banana leaves, but this is Washington, not Samoa). Then rocks where put on top of and surrounding the pig.
Next it was covered up with burlap sacks. The sacks had to be drenched with water first. So the wet sacks on the piping hot rocks created a spectacular steam!!!
He had the pig in by 11:00 AM and at 6:30 PM he checked it and it looked good, so out it came!!!
After removing the sacks, they had to move the rocks and burnt lily pads and cut the wire. As he was doing this everyone huddled around and just hovered watching so intently. It was very intense. . .there were over 100 people just watching. I was so nervous for him, that's a lot of pressure!
We were so grateful that our friends, the Fifitas, showed up!!! Latu is Tongan, so he knew just how to help! He jumped right into the pit with Delvin and they started cutting away!
We have to admit we were a bit worried that it wouldn't be fully cooked, but it was definately ready! It was soooooo good! I was so relieved and so proud of him!
After the meat was all cut and served, Delvin even gave a little speech explaining one of the traditions of cooking a pig is to present the head of the pig to the leader of the village or group that you're with. Supposedly the head of the pig has more nutrients and is a very honorable part. . .so he presented the head of the pig to the Bishop. I was curious to see how he would respond. . .the Bishop and his wife were so funny! They thought this was so great!

Delvin did such an excellent job with the whole thing! I can't believe he did it start to finish like this. It was quite an accomplishment!!!!!!! Huge thanks and kudos to Scott for helping him every step of the way!

We have many more pictures of the event (I spared you all the ones of the pig being gutted). Let me know if you want to see any of them and I'll send you a link to the full package of pics!!!