Wedding Day

Today was Luka's wedding. The anticipation for this event has been building for week for the four of us here. The day started with a nice and tight dala dala ride to the church with members of both Luka's and his bride to be's family. All the way to the church the women sang songs and cheered and shouted. It was quite the ride, not your typical crowded dala dala. When we arrived to the church (which May term should be happy to know that it is the same church that they painted) we found out that there wasn't just one wedding going to take place, but two. The church was packed as the choirs sang and people danced.

When it came time to perform the weddings there were two pastors to do the work. PH lead Luka's ceremony and another pastor took the lead of the other couple. It was interesting to see as the two took turns saying the same thing to each couple. I tried to imagine something like that happening back home, and I couldn't even wrap my mind around it. Back home a wedding is a special day where everyone focuses on the one couple, but at the two (technically 3) weddings that we have been to so far, there have been baptisms and with this wedding, two ceremonies.

Another thing that I thought about today as we were getting ready this morning was the fact that the power was out. If it were back home, no power would mean no wedding. At the wedding today there was no electricity needed. We had the sun to light us and fire to cook the food. There is something to be said about the lack of dependence on things like electricity. Unlike at home, where sometimes the day is more about the candles, the food and the reception, today was focused on the wedding and the ceremony.

The sense of community today was something that I dream about back home. Since Luka's family is predominately Muslim, 1/4th of the attendance today was Muslim. There was no conflict and everybody was happy. I again am amazed by the great Christian-Muslim relations here. I am sure that I will run into conflict in the future, but for now things have been just simply amazing.

I could go into the food that we ate after the wedding and how tasty it was, but I won't make you jealous. Let's just say it was way tasty.

Peace,
Peter