A Mada Wedding

So so so. This week we had some interesting experiences in Ivato. I attended a wedding! The weddings are, tragically, very normal. The wedding that Eschler and I got to go to was for the investigators of the Sisters in our ward. We think that they just invited us so that we could take pictures for them with our nice digital cameras - the Sisters were indisposed as they were preparing the food for the reception.

It was held at this one government building that serves a variety of different purposes. All marriages have to be done through the government - not the churches. They churn out one wedding after another in this building. The room that the service is done in is very akin to a chapel. Benches and gold girding decorate the table at the front of the room. Some sort of government personnel ladies performed the marriage. The whole thing was very formal, in a way. There was lots of standing and sitting, standing and sitting, some nice words from the two ladies doing the marriage and a couple of signatures from the couple on an official looking piece of paper - nothing very exotic.

After the actual ceremony, we all rode a taxi bay while the just-married couple hopped into a borrowed car. So we rode for awhile, then walked some miles until we finally reached the house which was to be the reception site. For the party, we ate the really good dish called....well I don't know what it is called but imagine 2-day old pasta that is cold. I like it. Then we had rice and loque - the signature of Malagasy life - before having to pardon ourselves and then go back to work. I've heard from other missionaries that weddings here can get quite crazy and lavish.

So this week I have tried my unskilled hands at sewing. After accumulating a nice little herd of scrapes and rips in my clothes, I set to work on 'em. To my suprise, sewing was not nearly as easy as I had originally thought. All those signs in the MTC about learning to sew came to mind and frustrated me. In the end I was able to close all of the rips. Hooray! The repairs all look quite similar to a person who just got stitches in a badly made and under-budget horror film. The worst part about them though is that they are all now rock hard. Because my sewing ability was lacking, I went over all of my work with a hefty amount of super glue. I mean, that's why they put it in the sewing kit, right? I also ripped my wonderful gray suit pants - NOOOO! - so I gave them to a member who is very wise in the ways of sewing.

Alright well I'm going to go,
Love,
Elder Cryer