Beautiful Feet: December 23, 2015

Wedding Bells! It is here! Kelly and Hose are planning to be married today in our home. Not only will this be our first wedding, but it will be in our home. The difficult part is trying to get everything ready when you will be gone all day. So, even though, I stayed up late, I got up early. Most of the cooking, I finished up the night before. I actually didn’t fix too much, cookies, wedding cake, sandwiches and chip and dip. They did not want to invite any friends or family, so there is only ten people coming, their family of four, Dwaine and me, Cesar, Eliza (for witnesses) and Abi and the judge, who turned out to be Kelly’s uncle. So, we got up early to work on décor and small things that were left. We were also trying to get an early start on studies because Cesar was planning to take Sister Ana with arthritis to the doctor. We went to Delmy’s first and she had to work, so we stopped by Mr. Rivas. His grandmother had said that he had been sick. We wanted to try to go by and pray with him. He was able to come out and visit a few minutes and he said that he was also going to the doctor. We said a prayer and headed on to Julia’s. This was a short visit because we are wrapping up this study. We continue to be prayerful that when the church moves to this area, she might visit. Next, met Suleyma and went for our study with Wendy. The guys went because they were hopeful that her husband, Oscar, would be able to study. He had picked up a short time job during Christmas and was out. Suleyma and I studied with Wendy and her neighbor kept walking by until she stopped and listened to about half the study. Wendy also had some questions about the service from her visit on Sunday. That was great. Afterwards, we took them to town so they could grind some corn. Suleyma and I went on to Eliza’s. We were all trying to have a meeting on organizing the children’s classes for the New Year. That is rolling around in a hurry. We have 6 teachers so we will rotate in pairs each month. We are also going to fix up a nursery. We have several babies, so this will give them a place of quiet for the service. We didn’t finish until 1 and my next study was at 3. That left two hours to finish wedding details. I ran by the market to pick up some flowers. I had been a time or two with Dwaine, so I was a little uncertain on directions. It went okay. I don’t always feel comfortable going into the market by myself, but thankfully it went okay. Anyway, I made it home and we got sandwiches made and final touches on the flowers. I went on to a study with Socorro. She had fallen 10 days ago and now had an open wound on her side where her arm rests from the heat. She is a diabetic, so be prayerful that all will be well for her. I dropped back by home for Dwaine, and we went to our 5 o’clock service. We kept that short to talk to the body about the house we had found for the church. Everyone was in agreement that we were growing and the area had a lot of potential. Most everyone made comments and were positive. So, we will move forward on renting a building for the church. We are very prayerful and excited about these events. We were trying to wrap up at 6 so we could make it back in time for the wedding. Of course everyone did not arrive quite on time, but when they came, it was wonderful. Kelly, Kiki and Nicole came first and they were overwhelmed about all the décor. Kelly looked great, along with Nicole in a special dress. It was so exciting. She said the judge would be her uncle and he had called to say he was on his way. Hose arrived and then the judge. The ceremony was unbelievable. The judge asked for a table because he said the papers all needed to be read without interruption. He said that if even a cell phone rang, it would mess up the process. Cesar and Eliza signed as witnesses and the judge read about 10 pages of documents. We had never seen anyone read so fast. Afterwards, the judge was ready to go and we said there was refreshments. Kelly and Hose cut the cake and we all ate and ate. It was so much fun. Dwaine hit it off with the judge and he said he would like to have some personal tutoring with English and Dwaine agreed. Jim Norville had helped Kelly and Hose from last summer and had left a gift to help with the wedding. We gave them the remains after the judge and we added a little. They were real excited, as well as a great gift from Cesar and Eliza. We had picked up some confetti and as they departed, we doused them good. It was great. We are prayerful that as we continue to study, they will be baptized in the Lord and we will labor with them in the Lord. It was truly a blessed day!