September 27th and the Wedding

September 27^th:  Today we were on the morning shift and all went well.  Lillian, the girl we have been teaching the temple preparation classes to with her fiancé Christian, came to the temple this afternoon to receive her endowment.  Mom acted as her escort and I went on the session with Christian.  It was lovely and they will be back tomorrow and I will seal them.

September 28^th:  We traded with the Pres. Diaz and his wife today so we could work in the morning and have the afternoon and evening free to attend Christian and Lillian’s wedding.  The invitation said the civil wedding would begin at 1:30pm in the auditorium at the patron housing.  The civil magistrate showed up at about 1:45pm.  Christian and Lillian arrived just after 3:00pm.  The woman marrying them did a nice job of offering advice and the whole ceremony took about 30 minutes. 

The civil marriage.

Signing their wedding documents.

Guests greeting the happy couple after the civil ceremony.

We then all headed up to the temple only to realize that they both had forgotten their recommends.  I called and talked to one of the recorders.  They had the part of her recommend for live ordinances and so she could enter.  But Christian had an old recommend that had been replaced with the one for his sealing.  Well, one of the members of the bishopric was in the wedding party so they decided that he could issue a new recommend and so after 30 minutes we all were in the temple.  There was a big group of members and many members of Christian’s family there.  Lillian is the only member of her family.  I did a much better job this time, much better than 2 weeks ago with Diana and Rudy.  I felt very honored to be able to seal them.  After the sealing they changed into formal clothes and went outside to take pictures. 

In front of the front doors to the Temple.

Don't you love the flowers?

In front of the fountain.

Happy couple!

After pictures, the member of the bishopric gave us a ride out to Apote where Christian’s family lives.  This is outside of the city and a little more rural.  Christian’s father drives trucks so we didn’t quite know what to expect.  Most of the people live in very humble circumstances.   We also rode with the former bishop, Leano and his wife.  So Brother Escobar drops the 4 of us off and the music is already blaring (LOUD) and we go into what looks like the driveway and patio of the house.  It is beautifully decorated with table and chairs, all covered in matching fabric.  The flowers were unbelievable.

Mom and a friend at the wedding party.

The first thing that happens as we enter is a man tries to give us a gourd with a drink in it.  We are all carrying something so we decline.  We sit down at one of the tables and they bring a big clay pot of drink and scope some out with a gourd and hand it to Bishop Leano and then one to me.  Well Bishop Leano drinks some so I, trying to be polite, also take a taste.  Bishop Leano passes the gourd to his wife so I pass mine to mom.  Mom takes one whiff of it and says, “That’s alcohol.”  Well, it turned out to be chichi, a local drink of the indigenous people. Most of the people there were indigenous. We asked them to take it away and they brought us some Sprite and Coke.  About an hour and half later the bride and groom arrived. 

Arriving at the wedding party.

As they entered a couple of cholita ladies threw confetti on them.  (See pictures)  Then they danced with each other, then their parents, then their god parents and then people who had given money for the cake and the entertainment and whatever else.  Then they had a reception line and people took their gifts and as they greeted the couple they put confetti on each other’s heads.  People were also pinning money on their clothes.  I went through the line and got confetti all over me and even in my mouth.  As you left the line, the mother of the bride handed out another gourd of chicha.  I passed on the chicha. 

Going through the line.

Dad going through the line.

While everyone one was going through the line they served dinner, chicken, rice, salad and a potato.  Then the dancing began.  Mom and I danced for maybe 30 minutes. 

Some of the guests.

Johan and I dancing. 


Mom and I dancing.

Notice the money and the cake.

We left about 9:15pm and went to another party.  The University Stake was having a dinner dance for all the married couples in the stake at a very nice hotel.  We arrived there at about 9:30pm with the Vallenas, another missionary couple from Peru, who had also been at the wedding with us.  We went around and worked the tables, saying hi to all the temple workers and people we knew.  Then the dancing started.  Mom got me to dance again. 

The stake dance.

 
The Kenneys cutting the rug at the stake dance.

 

 The stake dance.

We got home at 10:30pm because we had to be at the temple at 6:15am for the early morning session.

September 29^th: We officiated the early session.  Afterward the temple got crazy busy.  Even though it was our day off, mom stayed all morning helping in the “roperia”, clothing rental.  We had a number of buses arrive and we had a line to get clothing that we out the door down the hall and then down the stairs.  We had two overflow sessions with 9 new endowees.  I made a new Chinese recipe and we had the Crayks for lunch.

September 30^th:  We went with the choir to La Floresta ward and had a great sacrament meeting.  I had put some steaks, onions and potatoes in the crock pot and that is what we had for dinner.  We called the kids and got a little homesick.

Our Temple Choir.