My first wedding

...ok, my first Peruvian wedding. This was the first wedding for me to be involved in here. I was in charge of the cake. It is customary here to have padrinos, or godparents, who in a sense are making a commitment to come along side the new couple and shepherd them in their marriage. It is also customary for the padrinos to pay for the rings and the cake and possibly even the wedding dress. The padrino duties were split between us and the Bakers - Jami and Wes were asked to do the rings and serve as the official "padrinos" and we were asked to take care of the cake. I think it came out very well. It was made by one of our RUF students who has just started a cake decorating business.

It was a great wedding. Gerber(pronounced hair-bair) and Berta have been in the church for a little while, I don't know how long. He is the master carpenter of our Peru Mission woodshop and very gifted.They came to Christ after the birth of their first two children and had been working towards making it possible to get married. It is very expensive here to get married, let alone the legal papers involved, which as with everything else here, are not easy to obtain. They don't have them at Plaza Vea.

We were very excited that they were finally able to come to the alter and make their commitment to Christ and each other public. And to add more reason for celebration, the wedding culminated in the baptism of Gerber and Berta's three children, a further commitment to a life of trusting Christ.

Congratulations, and felicitaciones go out to Gerber, Berta and their family. We are so excited for them.
And thanks to Allen Bradford for her exquisite picture taking skills. Since I stole all of these from her. :)