I do I do I do I do

I know that to folks in the states, the effort to have a simple wedding is inconsequential.  When I was a bishop in Alaska, I would marry people who appeared at my office with a license. It cost them nothing and really often involved nothing intricate by way of planning--and certainly nothing to do with red tape and bureaucracy. 

Today we performed (in portuguese, the word is "realized") the wedding ceremony of Rui and Bendita.  Words can hardly describe the labor that this was for them them to achieve.  It was a monumental effort and accomplishment.  They were excited, despite having lived together for 22 years.  They recognized it as a milestone.  They are alone among their entire extended families and friends to legally wed.  It is just not done here by the common folk, and Rui and Bendita are uncommonly common.  The event was small for lack of funds--so they invited hardly anyone (interesting to note that there were still crashers from the street who presumed there would be cake).  They had no rings and were worried that the ceremony would draw attention to that--but I asured them that rings would not be mentioned.  But the whole things was delightful.  We did supply a cake, and a wedding dress, and moral support, and the music and preacher,but the bulk of the effort and sacrifice was still theirs.  And in the end, they were a proud and happy couple.

Mozambicans are not nearly as stern as they appear in their pictures.  This was really a happy occasion.  After the service and while all were eating we played a special ipod playlist that I had devised of sappy romantic songs in english and instrumentals.  Rui's father stands at his left side.  I met him for the first time a couple of nights ago and asked him his age.  He answered quite sincerely "42".  Rui chimed in and reminded him that he, as his son, was 47, so 42 was improbable.  In truth, he actually had no idea how long he had been kicking around this earth.

Yes, we admit that there have been fancier wedding dresses created.  But this one, which is part of our little inventory here, seemed to have served just fine and the bride (who's complexion showed up in nice contrast to the gown) was quite happy with it.  The real significance of the day for Rui and Bendita, was that their marriage today opened the door for baptism into the LDS church on Saturday.

This is the new Quelimane district of missionaries--only Debbie and I have been here for over a month.  It is a very strange event to have four elders traded out in a single transfer--and it has thrown us for a bit of a loop.  Left to right, they are Elders Gibson, Berg, Steel, Workman, Tanner, and Williams (who is fresh from the USA).  They are a good bunch (so far).