Weddings and Hospitals

Mayra and I were both going to be formal witnesses at Rafael and Mariana's civil wedding, which implies signing their formal marriage certificate and swearing you know them, but alas, being a foreigner the guy at the JP office said that I needed formal permission from the Secretary of Government, the Pope and the president of Mexico himself, so I wasn't able to do that, but it was neat seeing Rafael and Mariana tie the knot in the presence of their two little girls. Their order was a bit mixed up, but their obedient hearts were a sign of the gospel working in their lives.

After that, our van served as a shuttle bus, transporting family members and church people up to Samuel and Aurora's house for a simple, beautiful outdoor wedding. Mayra stayed, but I went meet our municipal president. He didn't show up (not the first time). Oh well, maybe next time. That was the last boring moment of the last couple of days. I arrived at the wedding in time to give a closing prayer of blessing and to eat. It was our first wedding with the Jesús María church, and a fun one!

Our study with Sergio and Eli (pre-marriage study) went well Saturday morning, and Cathy arrived on time to her violin lessons at 10 a.m. At 1 p.m. we loaded up the van again, this time with young people, and drove across the city to a youth conference with a mission focus, at the Villa de las Flores Bible Church. David Gómez was one of the workshop conference speakers, and a youth band from Harvest Bible, Mexico City did the music.

After the almost two hour drive, Daniel was actually crying from the pain in his head. He began to lose the ability to communicate in complete sentences. His vision became affected, and his hands began to tingle. He threw up several times. I called Mayra, then headed directly to a clinic that is close to Mayra's parents' house. By the time we got there, 20 minutes later, Daniel could at least put phrases together, but still struggled. Daniel speaks quickly in both Spanish and English. He was struggling to communicate to the doc what happened.

The doctor gave a prescription to get an MRI done, in Spanish, a tomografía. On a Saturday, during a holiday weekend, the first laboratory that we visited was closed. After traveling into Mexico City, near a place called Linda Vista, we found a hospital, and had the head x-ray done in less than an hour (it cost $303 U.S). His MRI, according to the X-ray technician, showed no abnormalities, signs of swelling, blood or fracture.

Tomorrow we see a neurologist at 11 a.m. He has been totally normal since about an hour after his incident, and we suspect a migraine.

We thank you very much for your outpouring of love and support via FB and email!

Here are some pics of the wedding and youth conference.