Mexican Wedding

We have experienced our first Mexican wedding. In the Hispanic culture, there are two wedding ceremonies - the civil and religious ceremony. Our houseparents at RIN, Alfredo and Vero had a civil ceremony 14 years ago, but now wanted to have a religious ceremony with all the celebration. this was celebrated at RIN in Reynosa at the Haven. We went over on Saturday and stayed the night in Reynosa so we would not miss a bit of the fun. Susan Brown, another volunteer came along with us and we stayed in the dorm - quite an experience as there were many bunk beds in the dorm - so we had our pick of beds. We were personally invited to attend the ceremony and were very excited to have the honor of seeing this wonderful Christian couple renew their vows. It was so very interesting as the traditions are somewhat the same as ours, but also very different. There are usually no presents, as "sponsors" donate many aspects of the ceremony - such as buying the rings, the invitations, decorations, cakes, the Bible, etc. (hmmm, we had four daughters, we should have followed this tradition!). An interesting part of the ceremony was the "lasso" that was a beautiful braided rope with two loops which were placed around each of the couple shoulders to signify one love, one union, and the life long promise of love. In all of this the presence of the Lord was there always in praise and prayer.

tables set and ready to begin

one of the many beautiful table decorations

the guest book

a unique cake top

Alfredo and Vero - the honored couple

a beautiful bride

Alfredo serenading his wife

a family prayer, including the "housekids" of their RIN family

wedding dinner - including the infamous green noodles!

the Rondallya - a Mexican musical group of which Alfredo is a part, provided the music for the day

the compound cat was very polite and just peeked in the door

our RIN girls, Lupe and Paty, and us

A Hispanic tradition - throwing the groom into the air - I did not get a really good picture of this

one of the games - the girls holding hands and running as fast as they can - sort of our crack the whip game. the object -just to see people fall. sometimes the bride and/or groom are knocked from their chairs in the excitement.

now is the boys' turn

another interesting game - loosely translated "and the branch fell". Sort of a no nonsense game where couples march in a circle while one person holds the broom (the branch) while they all chant a silly song - the outside circle then changes direction, the singing stops, the broom is dropped and the boys (or girls, depending on which ones turn it is) grabs another partner. The one left without a partner then gets to hold the broom. It gets pretty wild as everyone is grabbing hands with whomever is the closest.

After our over night stay and breakfast in Reynosa at VIPS (sort of a Mexican Denny's) we headed for the bridge and the U.S. Monday is Mexican Revolution Day, so the Mexicans have a three day holiday. That means going to the US for shopping - also in play is the fact that it is the beginning of the $300 duty limit (it is usually $100) which means they can buy $300 worth of items, per person, duty free. Therefore, the cars are full of family members waiting to cross the border. The lines were long as we had a 2-1/2 hour wait on the bridge. Director Betsy Chacon came back across with us, so it gave us time to discuss the wedding and also upcoming CHI events, planning stategy for fund raising.

while waiting on the bridge, we encountered one of many bridge vendors - they sell everything from food to trinkets. sometimes they cross into the US side, then the border guards have to herd them back into Mexico.

more vendors - some people even wash vehicle windows, as well as the ever present pan handlers.

The owner of our park also owns the Mexican pulga (flea market) next to our park, and has decided to divert the excess water from the pulga into the lake in order to keep the lake at it's high level. To make a long story short, he decided to dig a huge ditch down our street to the lake. It was quite an operation and is almost done. Luckily they left one side of our street open, but we all had to park our vehicles in different areas. Needless to say, there were tons of  sidewalk supervisors.

the culverts ready to put in place

quite a way to go

the ditch was really deep

one of the excellent workers - they worked fast and cleaned everything up

Fred and neighbor, Don, in a first class seat

manager, Barbara, also came down to watch

more supervisors at the other end of the street

This has been a long week, with many things going on. We continue gathering items for the Great Oaks Food and Clothing Ministry as well as collecting and working at CHI. We are so blessed that our park, as well as other parks, are so generous in donating to the needy. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up". We do not do good just to reap a harvest or enrich our place in heaven, but because God directs us to do so.

 

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving, praising God for all the favor He has bestowed on us and the blessings we have received from Him.