[Gathnet] (no subject)

[Stuart Gathman]

Dear
Gathnetters,
I
would like to relate to you a unique experience I had this last
Saturday.  I was invited to the wedding of Saul and Angie , son and
daughter in law of Tomas, a Christian friend of mine.  What made this
unique for me is that this wedding was in Tecate, Mexico (27 miles
from my house) and at the first Assembly of God church in Tecate. 
There were 4 of us Gringos there at the wedding and reception and
unfortunately, HS Spanish did not make any of us conversant in
Spanish.  Tomas met us in Tecate, California and walked us across the
border to his van parked near the gate.  We drove to the Church which
was beautifully decorated in green and white.  They had a white
carpet on the floor for the bride to walk on.   The service was late
in starting, which I understand is standard for Spanish weddings. 
The groom was getting nervous and called a number of times on his
cell phone to ask about his bride to be.   This is a new twist and
does set the groom more at ease.   The music was provided by a Roland
keyboard. And I had a chance to greet and chat briefly with the
pastor prior to the service.   It was fun to see all of the girls
dressed to the hilt in their very best.  They were all beautiful
although there were no blonds among them.


The
bride and her maids finally arrived on the sidewalk in front of the
church and the ceremony began.  Saul's brothers, David and Samuel
were two of the  grooms men.  The flower girls came down the aisle
with rose petals thrown all over.  Finally, the bride and her father
came down the aisle.   Angie is 15 or 16 but very beautifully
dressed. I found this to be very different from our weddings in that
the brides seemed so young.    The groom is 21 and able to care for
her however.   He is in the US Army reserves and works as a mechanic
in El_Cajon, a city close to Jamul here.  



Although
I could not understand much of the ceremony,  I picked up enough to
know that it was a true Christian ceremony with many references to
scripture and to Jesus etc.  After a communion sharing of a cup and
bread by the bride and groom,  they were officially pronounced “man
and wife”.
Jon,
my son who is a member of an Assembly of God church in the Saint
Louis area had to tell me that when Spanish people speak in tongues,
it comes out in English!  I guess there wasn't much speaking in tongues during the service.


Tomas
and Drusila, his wife invited us all to their home after church to
await for the start of the reception that evening.  There we had a
chance to meet many of the relatives.  There were many who came to
Tecate from Mexicalli.  I had not met Drusila before but it was a
pleasure to meet her.  She is 21 years younger than Tomas, a mother
of five children, the youngest about 3 years old .  She is a very
charming and attractive woman who speaks English and is musical as
well.  How the poor woman handled the situation with about 20
relatives staying at their house (hotels are out of the question) is
remarkable.  The home is about 20 by 35 feet I would guess, so they
must have had to sleep shoulder to shoulder on the floor in the
house. It reminded me of old times in my early life when all of the
relatives lived close enough to each other share occasions such as
this.  



We
departed for the Hotel about 5:30 for the reception.  They had rented
a large party room at the hotel and had it all decorated beautifully
in the white and green scheme.   There was a band with keyboards,
guitars, basses and drums.  I was told they only played Christian
music.  The music was loud and very rhythmic but pleasant to listen
to.  Members of the family took part in th music in singing and in
the case of Tomas, playing the guitar.  I was able to make some movie
clips of Tomas and Drusila performing.  There was a lot of coke and
orange soda available to drink as it was a pretty hot day.  They had
an interesting custom of “pinning money on either one of the couple
and the one at the end of the ceremony who had the most money pinned
to him or her was declared “boss” of the family”.  A hot
Mexican meal was served to all.  



Unfortunately,
my fellow gringos needed to go about 9:00 so I went with them to save
Tomas having to make two trips to the border again.  We missed the
cutting of the cake and a lot of other festivities I think.  But the
border closes at 11:00 so none of us were prepared to spend the night
there.  We crossed back into the US using our passports. 



 Anne
wasn't up to the trip and besides her passport is no longer good so
she stayed home and missed all of the fun.


Love,
to all   Der Alt Grossvater



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