Weddings and such from Cebu

March 9, 2011

Yesterday I had the delightful experience of assisting a bride, Georgia Pahulaya, with her marriage and sealing to Arsenio Otacan. She is a beautiful 29 year old returned missionary. They both have been living in the Cebu City Stake. Her mother and sister were here to witness her marriage. She brought a beautiful dress with her and I found out that Sosie Telmo who is one of the three who runs the temple laundry had arranged to borrow her sister Rachelle’s wedding dress for Georgia to wear, and even made the alterations necessary for it to fit Georgia (Her husband helped hem it!) I took the long train down to the laundry because it was so wrinkled after being carried in a gift bag and Lea Garcia steamed it and brought it back so Georgia could wear it outside for pictures after the sealing. Everyone here wants to make a wedding/sealing as special and lovely as possible. Sousi had even made a gorgeous bouquet with red roses and zinnia-like flowers. Georgia was delighted when I showed her the veils she could chose from to wear for pictures outside afterwards, and I was delighted when she chose one of the ones I had made! And I hadn’t even told her that I had made it. Judith Pua and Sosie are both young, but very effective Relief Society Presidents in two of the wards that meet in the Stake Center here on the complex. They had made food for the reception afterwards as well as decorations. The young couple had told Sosie that they had saved 2000 peso (about $45) and that was all they had for their wedding. Sosie and Judith stretched that to cover everything including three main dishes for the wedding reception/dinner. The two of them could easily open a wedding planning/catering service-- they do this so often, but they would never make money—they do what they do out of love! They told me they have several more weddings coming up in the future. The families here cannot afford to have elaborate weddings and receptions without going into great debt—and I understand that some families do go all out, hopefully not members of the Church—but Sosie and Judith are doing all they can to make the day memorable and inexpensive for the young couples in this area!

March 14, 2011

I thought about my own beautiful niece, Summer Carr, and her wedding and sealing this past week (March 11) as I reflected on the weddings I help with here in Cebu, and knew that even though her own mother, Lynne, was not there in body, that her aunts and friends filled in to make that a very special day for her and her new husband, David Witt. We wish we could have been there to help too, but know that we are where we are supposed to be right now.

I am constantly amazed with what people here do. I talked to one of the caterers in the temple lunchroom and she told me that during the temple open house she made 4000 cupcakes a day for a three week period to be given to visitors at the open house. She slept two hours a night during that time. These people do not have fancy big professional kitchens either!

A week ago we had 40 youth from Biliran, a small island off Leyte, who came to do baptisms for the dead. None of them, had done baptisms before. They are from a very poor area, but they came to the temple with the boys all wearing white shirts (maybe not the right size for each) and ties and the girls all had their Sunday best dresses on. It was a great sacrifice for them to come. And they were radiant! They were so excited to be here, and they were so reverent. They have to attend Church regularly as well as seminary so they are spiritually prepared. As I talked to the boys, all of them said they planned to serve missions, but I was particularly impressed when one said his greatest goal in life was to be a good husband and a good father. Some of the couple missionaries donated money for Brother Farjardo, the temple recorder, to give to their leaders to help with expenses, because they had come so far. They stayed in the Patron Housing for three nights and four days, doing two baptismal sessions each day. I decided I wanted to make them a treat their last day so I made a huge batch of Texas sheet cake brownies, but when I took it downstairs, I found they had left the hour before. I was so disappointed! I ended up giving brownies to some of the others who were staying in the Patron House and to our temple missionaries. I wish I could have given them to the kids though; they were so special. Last week Sister Hansen brought Sister Bundac, one of our three “adopted” missionaries, to visit us. She had finished her 18 month mission and was leaving the next morning for home. We had a wonderful visit during which I asked Sister Bundac how she developed a testimony of the Gospel since she is the only member in her family. She was a working student during her college years studying computer technology and was impressed with the goodness of one of the men she worked with, especially when she saw him with his children. She asked him how his children had so much love and were so good and he told her it was because of the Gospel. He invited her to Church, but she didn’t want to go. After thinking about it for a week, however, she decided she would go. She was late getting there and the meeting had started. The congregation was singing “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”. A warm spirit flowed through her body and she knew right then that the Church was true. The missionaries taught her and she was baptized. Her greatest desire was to serve a mission and share the Gospel but her family refused any support; for one thing, there were seven younger siblings still at home to support and they didn’t like her decision to leave the Catholic Church. She finished college and worked for four years, earning enough money to pay for her own mission. Sister Hansen says she has been a powerful missionary.