Diego, our host brother, got married today! His now-wife is Saila, daughter of a missionary from Germany. Diego and Saila are both trilingual (Spanish, German, English). All in all, it was a very special day not only for them but for us as well. This is our family right now, our community, our friends. After watching the preparations for this day for the last four and a half months, I was delighted to be able to join them today, to see Diego's face when Saila entered, to watch the grandmothers arm in arm, to see the bittersweet joy of the day.

All in all, the wedding was fairly close to what we have in the United States, minus bridesmaids. The biggest exception was during the reception, which lasted about 5 1/2 hours. Although everyone at the wedding was wearing formal attire, the reception was surprisingly informal in that it included a talent/game show. We had something like 5 acts, some of which were funny, some serious, and all fairly entertaining. As it turns out, this is not Peruvian in the least but is very typical of a German wedding. How interesting! It made the afternoon/evening a lot of fun and the event more personal and meaningful at the same time.

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