A Filipino Wedding

August 18, 2010

Dearest Family,

Love stories here sometimes have strange beginnings. Yesterday morning was supposed to be my morning off but Sister Richey called and said Sister Cummings was ill and asked if I could do her assignment. I spent the first hour in initiatory even helping with one older sister’s own endowment. Then Sister Richey asked if I would go to the office and be the escort for a young bride to be, Mary Jane Mansader from Bacolod on Negros, a neighboring island. A lovely young woman with a beautiful smile stood and introduced herself as the bride. Beside her was a young man and an older woman who also introduced themselves as the groom and the groom’s mother, Roden and Rosedelinda Francisco, from Roxas on Panay,a different island. The bride had served a mission in Hong Kong and speaks some Mandarin and some Cantonese. She is the oldest child in her family. The groom served in one of the Philippine missions. Roden is his mother’s hope and joy; the youngest of three sons, he is the only one to serve a mission and the only one to be married in the Temple. I was shocked to learn that they had not seen each other until the day before when they rode the ferry together to Cebu. Their courtship had been entirely on their cell phones. One of the groom’s cousins who knew MaryJane had suggested Roden call her and talk, so he did. She told me they had both fasted and prayed about getting married and felt it was the right thing to do. They wanted to marry in the Temple but her mother was totally opposed, and said it was important to have a civil ceremony with a big celebration so all their non-member family and friends could come. MaryJane was adamant that she wanted a Temple marriage so finally her mother relented and said she would give MaryJane the money she would have spent on a wedding celebration for them to travel to Cebu to the Temple. Her mother was active, her father not, but there was not enough money for the mother to come too, so MaryJane came by herself. She told me her mother called her when she was on the ferry and cried and cried. She does not know when she will see her family again. I asked if they had a camera to take pictures to send her family, but they didn’t. After I took them upstairs to get dressed for the sealing, I changed my clothes, dashed home in the rain to get our camera. I was privileged to be one of the few to attend the sealing: Elder Ganir, Brother Fujardo—the Temple Recorder, who acted as witnesses, Roden’s mother and I were the only ones there besides the bride and groom and the sealer. President Mortimer talked to them about their endowment and then sealed them. When he told them they could kiss over the altar, they just looked at each other and blushed. They had not even held hands previously. They did not have rings to exchange. President Mortimer kept them by themselves for a few minutes afterwards to talk with them, hopefully giving them some practical counsel that will help them start their marriage happily.

Couples who are married and/or sealed are given the privilege of wearing the white temple clothing outside the temple for pictures. They just have to put on their own shoes. Very few brides have their own wedding dresses. There are a half dozen nicer temple dresses that are reserved for the brides and they are given the option of wearing one of the veils that we sister missionaries made if they would like. MaryJane delightedly chose a lovely two tiered veil and her mother-in-law helped her pin it in. She was radiant.

We took several pictures with President Mortimer and the couple in the waiting room by the recommend desk. The couple was standing very stiffly by each other without even touching so I had them hold hands for one picture and had Roden put his arm around MaryJane for another. They seemed to warm up to each other quickly. None of the rest of us could go out of the temple in our white temple clothing so we had the laundry supervisor Edmun Cordero who was just coming to work, act as the photographer outside. Even though it was still raining, he took some cute pictures, some with umbrellas. (I told him if he got tired of his laundry job he could become a wedding photographer.)

MaryJane hugged me tightly as she was leaving the temple and sobbed. I can’t imagine her emotions at that moment—coming so far by herself, not having her mother or family there, not really knowing her husband or his family, being in the House of the Lord and feeling His presence, acting on faith that what you were doing was right, realizing that this almost stranger was your husband for eternity. They do not know where they will live or what he will do—and as I found out later, they did not even know how they would get home, the trip had been more expensive than they had planned and they had no money.

The sister who had been sick came back in the afternoon so Daddy and I had part of the day off. Larry walked to a Kodak store only to find that our American camera did not work with their computer equipment to have the pictures printed, but finally they were able to do it, with the picture quality not as good as we’d hoped. Even so, we had 30 pictures for them to remember this day by. I stayed home and baked and decorated a cake (it was more like a birthday cake without the right pans and decorating tips) for the newlyweds. When we took it to them that evening, MaryJane cried and Roden and his mother were visibly touched. We discovered that MaryJane was sick and that is when we found that they had no money for their trip home; they had called relatives to ask for help but no one had replied at that point. Larry and I quietly conferred and decided this was another time for the Good Samaritan to step in. MaryJane must have clung to me sobbing for at least five minutes. She said, “Heavenly Father answered our prayers so quickly.”

WE may never see this young couple again. We pray that their love story has a never ending happy ever after.

Love, Mom