Saturday, December 30, 2017

What a day this has been!! It started out with a 9:00 am meeting at the church for ALL of our missionaries, the mission president, his two assistants, the district presidency, and the branch presidencies. We had a good discussion about missionaries and members here working more closely together.  It went until 11:00 and we got a call that they needed the Elders' braai (grill) at our branch president's wedding celebration (today at 11:00).  We picked it up at the elders' and put it in the back of our truck and headed up to the Shongwes' compound with Elder Pace and Elder Sinclair in with us, following the ZLs.
It was SO interesting to see a Swazi wedding!  



Pres. Shongwe's dad, Jerome, at our table with Elders Pulley, Powell, Pace and Sinclair







Pontsho's relatives from Lesotho (all wearing blue & white)





The 3-sided program...




Our water bottles all had the bride and groom's photos on them


Even the punch matched the silver and peachy-orange color scheme!




The cute mom and baby sitting next to me



The elders moved outside halfway through to give their seats to both a district and 
branch presidency member.





These dancers were hired to perform before the wedding celebration began, underneath
a tent in the Shongwes' yard. We got there just in time to watch them perform.  They also performed at the end of the program inside the tent before we ate. It was SO hot today!! (Inside the tent as well as outside!!)





Bob was asked to give the opening prayer


The "grand march" when the wedding party entered the tent



A few of the groom's friends
Nkosingphile on the right is in our branch and Nkosikhona in the middle is our seminary teacher in Manzini. They served their missions together with Pres. Shongwe.



Cutting the wedding cake





The groom's mother, Sister Thoko Shongwe with a grandson






This little guy came in with the groom's friends and danced around SO cute!


First dance...




The sky as we drove to and from our appointment in Elangeni tonight...





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