Wrap

Monday May 17th 2010 9:15pm

At the advice of my mother, I am updating my blog.

I figured I might as well call this entry "Wrap" for a couple of different reasons. First and foremost, it is because it will be a very brief summary of what I've been doing for the past two weeks. Second and secondmost, I've been watching a lot of online Red's games, and they call the postgame summary "the Wrap."

Two weekends ago, I was fortunate enough to visit Betza's family in the country again. This time, I knew what I was getting in to, and was able to be present for a beautiful wedding. Her sister (one of nine sisters) was getting married, and I was invited.

Little did I know the roles I would play throughout the course of the wedding day.

Because I couldn't ride in the bus, due to motion sickness, I borrowed the Batalla vehicle from the office and drove three of Betza's sisters and one niece three hours to Piedra Gorda (Fat Rock). The drive is half on paved roads, half not, which makes for an interesting journey.

When I got to the house, I was immediately sent out again with a few of the brothers in law to run some errands. Being the only one with a vehicle, it made sense. We drove all over town, and into the next town picking up people, gifts, and various marital odds and wedding ends.

Upon my return to the house, it was revealed to me that no one knew how to tie a tie. My duty then became to tie every male (including the groom's) tie until everyone was dressed.

Finally we were ready for the wedding. We walked over across the soccer field to the church, the groom walked down the aisle, and we sang a few songs. And the bride wasn't there. And we sang a few more songs. And the bride wasn't there. And we sang for an hour and a half and the bride wasn't there.

Don't worry like I did. This is customary.

I was called out of the church, and was asked if I could drive the bride across the dusty soccer field up to the church. I was more than happy to do so, and ran back to the house, got the bride, and drove over.

The exchanging of vows, rings, and a brief homily took all of ten minutes.

Then we sang for another hour and a half. When we started to leave, many commented on how quickly the service passed, and how short the wedding was. There wasn't really a reception, but people grabbed food on their way out.

I listened to the sounds of farm animals all night as I tried to sleep. The next morning was mother's day, and we all had a ten minute long prayer where we thanked the Lord for our mothers. There were special prayers for my mother who was "suffering" so far away from her children on the special day. I had no idea that mothers day was such a big deal here!

Since then, we have still been without internet and phones in the office. I have been working a couple of days up at our retreat center at Monte Carmelo helping out with an inventory up there. It has been nice to have something to do.

We would like to go every day so that we could get the inventory done, but people don't have enough money to do so. No one in the office has been paid in two months, and there is no sign of when they will recieve their next pay check.

Right now the plan is for me to finish out this week, and then take next week off to relax, vacation a little bit, and prepare for my journey home. I will try to keep everyone posted.