Thursday, April 17, 2008

La Boda -- The Wedding



Well, I am sure you saw this coming! Those of you who have been to Misión Victoria and worked with Laura, or have taken classes with David will surely want to see the pictures!

When finally it was time for me to hand my clipboard and pharmacy inventory over to Sarah, I was more than ready. I spent the next 2 weeks helping out a little in the clinic, helping with Laura’s many wedding details, and physically began to recuperate from the previous 4 months.

La Novia y el Novio- The Bride and Groom

The beautiful bride

Laura came to Roca Blanca in 1991 to help with the establishment of the ministry of Misión Victoria. A Registered Nurse, her ministry focused on opening areas closed to the gospel, and the medical outreaches into unreached areas were second only to the intense prayer that proceeded Laura and her teams’ contact. Over 70,000 people have been served by her ministry over the years.


David with son Nathan and daughter Miriam before the wedding

David has been a missionary to Spain, and a pastor as well as a itinerant missionary here in the states. Currently he is teaching at Christian School in upper New York State. We first met him earlier this year when he led a group of his high school students to Oaxaca this February. He is well loved for his crazy sense of humor. His subjects are music and Spanish.

After their honeymoon they will be going back to New York so David can complete the school year, and Laura can spend sometime away from the clinic, just being a wife. They will return to serve together at Misión Victoria. David has much to give the worship school, and hopefully develop further the vision for a Spanish language center at the base.


Lupe and Ann making last minute invitations

During the last week I have thought about you as I watched so many people work together to make the wedding happen in the true Mexican style. That includes: hand delivered, often handmade, invitations, purchasing and personalizing “recuerdos” (gifts given out to all the guests), obtaining the cows, butchering, digging a pit for the Mexican barbacoa, and baking 74 separate cakes which were to be placed on each table.



Angie helping me do the last minute shopping for the rehearsal dinner

Lasagna and lots of roasted garlic
Friday night I prepared the rehearsal dinner. My week was filled with lists and shopping, and lots of helpers. Saturday morning the base property was covered with teams for set up, flowers, decorations, cutting open coconuts and making the coconut water that was served.

Sarah serving lasagna

Linda Andrus, Dr. Ross and Linda Taylor and Ann Classen at the Rehearsal dinner


Misa helping with the decorations



Arranging dozens of flower baskets to line the aisle

Padrinos

Because Laura is so greatly loved by everyone, she was assisted in cash and practical gifts of service by churches and individuals from all over Oaxaca, and the U.S.A. There was even a patient who cut and delivered wood for the barbacoa.

wedding cakes were in every refridgerator on the base

Also very important are the Padrinos, who pay for the cake, the rings and other specific items. Eddie and I were padrinos de pastel, along with Ann and Ralph, and Vicky (the baker) (remember, there were 74 cakes!) Drs. Dave and Mary Kay were padrinos de anillos (the rings). It was a great honor to be part of the wedding for someone we love so much!


Little Princesses

Hani is one of my favorite little girls, when she walked she picked up her skirt and carried it just like Cinderella did in the movie that she has watched so many times!


The five little flower girls almost stole the show

La Boda

Laura's brother Leonard walking her down the aisle

Mexican weddings can go long, that's why they let the couple sit down....


Rebecca wasn't the only flower girl who fell asleep

Wearing the wedding lasso

I am afraid that I cannot represent for you all the specifics of the wedding. There were many Mexican elements, like the “lasso” and pillows given to couple for to represent their prayer life together. The service was about 2 hours long. There was worship and a very personal message from Duane Kershner, the founder of Misión Victoria.

"Beso, beso..."

Duane forgot to tell them to kiss before he sent them back down the aisle as husband and wife, so every now and then throughout the reception people would begin to chant, “Beso, beso…” (kiss, kiss…) and then after they kissed, the chant changed to “Otra, otra…” (another, another…).

It was a lovely night, so much rejoicing! For me the loveliest part was when David sang to Laura “Here, There and Everywhere”. We all just stood and watched and held on to our husbands and wives, it was very touching.

Well that was more than I intended to write. The following morning at 5:00 A.M. , Eddie, Angie and I, plus Dave, Mary Kay and Bertha, headed north back to our homes. I am writing this from our daughter’s home in Nayarit.

But that is another story.

READ MORE ABOUT THE WEDDING: www.jebojang.com or http://sarahbethcooper.blogspot.com or http://danbimartin.blogspot.com

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey! I like your blog too! and you are so lucky to have fast internet, and i loved all the pictures, and ill try to keep you updated with all the stuff going on here. it is AMAZING having Dan and Angelica and little baby cuteness here. :) but of course we miss you all too! you would be proud of Rachel tonight- she is making homemade manicotti! it was supposed to be for doug's birthday, but even though he is gone, we are still celebrating. :) oh well, happy birthday doug!
ok i'm gonna go to the beach today! yay! talk to you later

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Unknown said...

You’ve nicely covered the details of the wedding in your post. It must have been an amazing event and these pictures also came out great. The bride and groom are looking lovely in the photos. I also had a very enjoyable time attending my close friend’s wedding a few days ago at the event venue Atlanta.