Lots of things happening in the last few days. I'm starting to adjust to the pace of life here. It's not that it's a very different speed, but that it's more of a different canter. In the mornings I've been getting up, creating some semblance of a breakfast, and sitting down by 9am for morning devotional: usually with Grace Hour (no Daylight Savings here). Then the afternoon is pretty much free, with a late lunch/early dinner around 2 or 3pm. The evenings vary, depending on the day.
New things: Let's see, so far I've ridden in taxis and buses, and even in one of those little three-wheeled car/motorcycle things. I've been to the mall, eaten at the food court, shopped in an open air market and in the grocery store. I've gotten to try a couple native drinks and desserts. Oh yeah, and I got to sing at a wedding of someone I've only just met, and I "caught" the bouquet. But that's getting ahead of myself.
The wedding was on Saturday evening. Earlier in the week (Wednesday night, in fact) I got to meet the sweet, the kind, the talented and all-around incredible Helem. One of the first things she asked was whether or not I could sing. When she found out I could, she asked me to listen to "Deciphering Me" by Brooke Fraser. It was the only English song being sung at the wedding, and she thought maybe I could help her with it. By Friday night, it was decided that I would sing with her.
Friday night and Saturday afternoon were spent setting up. Christmas lights on the windows, tall vases and dividers on the stage, and flowers around the room (the church looked incredible when we were done, by the way).
Finally, it was Saturday evening, and all the guests had arrived. It took longer than normal for the wedding to start, though: because the bride was almost an hour late! As Karen told me, in the United States we would worry that the bride had gotten cold feet, but in South America brides are supposed to be a little late, and are sometimes as much as an hour and a half behind schedule!
The ceremony itself was not unlike an American wedding. There were no bridesmaids or groomsmen walking down the aisles. The groom seated his mother, and then the bride walked down with her uncle (or brother or cousin: I'm not sure which). A song was sung, and then P. Stan preached (en español). Then came preparation for communion, during which Helem and I sang. Then communion, the vows, and the exchanging of the rings, and the pronouncement of man and wife. All in Spanish.
It got really interesting a little later. Instead of throwing her bouquet, Karol decided to get all the girls in a circle around her. Then she closed her eyes, spun around, and walked toward one girl to hand off the bouquet. I had already sung in her wedding. I had already managed to get into her bridesmaid picture. Helem had said earlier that I was a part of everything there. Karol stopped and began to walk, angled slightly away from me. As she walked, though, she began to turn. A second later the bouquet was in my hands. I've wanted a wedding bouquet for the past few years, ever since I began to go to weddings for people close in age to me. Suddenly here, in Peru, it's finally happened. The older ladies all began to ask where my groom was, and a few people joked and said that I'll be getting married in a year. No se.
The sad part is that I don't think I'll be able to bring my bouquet home. I'm drying it out, and praying the customs officers in Miami decide to let me keep it, but I don't expect them to. I'm pressing one rosebud to keep. It's alright, though. Wedding bouquets do not bring husbands (not that I'm particularly looking). But Helem is right. I'm here, and I'm a part of what's going on. God's little ways of showing that HE is the One Who loves me are not missed. God is speaking directly into my heart, some of the same lessons I should have already learned, but He's patiently teaching them to me again. God is doing something here, and I am a part of it.
Mis palabras en español para hoy: "Las muchas aguas no podrán apagar el amor."
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