The Big Wedding Day!

Today, our team was honored to participate in the wedding of Freedom and Shylet out at Rugare.  It was simply a once in a lifetime experience!  As we arrived to the church, we were instructed to bring the ladies from our team around the corner to the girls' home to help with Shylet's final preparations.  The bridal party looked beautiful and the young girls were all dressed up in beautiful purple dresses.  The procession began right there as the ladies laid their Zambias (outer skirt wraps) on the ground so that the bride's feet did not touch the ground.  At the gate of the girls' home was the team van and two other vehicles to bring the bridal party to the church.  They followed a small mob of people on foot to the entrance of the church...singing and dancing most of the way there!

I was given the privilege of preaching at the wedding this morning.  I am so thankful for this opportunity and grateful to God for equipping me to do something that I feel completely unable to do on my own.  God prompted me to both encourage the happy couple and challenge those in attendance and provided just the message to do so.

Terry and Walter were the designated wedding photographer and videographer, respectively.  They were commonly referred to as TW Productions (T Dubs for short).  I'm pretty sure they have a very promising future in this field in Zimbabwe, should they choose to accept it.

One of the most frightening moments of the wedding was when the wedding officiant asked if anyone objected to the wedding.  In fact, he gave a number of opportunities for people to speak up.  On one of these occasions, a woman rose and said in Shona, "I am carrying the child of this man and now he is with that woman!" (referring to the groom and bride).  Fortunately, the crowd laughed and the officiant played along with this fairly dramatic 'joke'.  One of the more entertaining moments was a dramatic entrance and exit of the bridal party, inclusive of dancing, singing and acting out a short story with a plot, believe it or not!