Today marked the first time in Branch history in which a wedding and a baptism occurred on the same day. After Sunday School, everyone gathered downstairs in the Primary room for a much needed, long-awaited linger longer social and refreshments arranged by Brother Patrick Shen. Some members practiced choir in the Relief Society Room, youth practiced music, and ministering. At 12:50 PM, everyone went up to the chapel to witness the wedding ceremony of Ruben Enrique Vera and Jin Fanglan. Many family and friends were in attendance.
At President Zhao's signal, everyone stood up at 1:00PM. Elder Whisenant played the Wedding March on the organ, and the bride walked into the chapel in a red dress. President Zhao conducted the whole ceremony in Chinese, except for Ruben's vows which was in English. Charles Huang translated the proceedings. After the remarks and the wedding ceremony, the newlyweds exchanged rings and a kiss. They walked outside to the foyer so everyone could congratulate and take photos with them.
Then everyone descended to the Primary room for the Fanglan's baptismal service. Patrick Shen, our mission leader, conducted the baptism, with Elder Whisenant at the piano and Cayleigh Zhao directing music. After we sang "There Is Sunshine in My Soul," Elder Cook offered the invocation. Sophy Fugal gave a very practical talk on baptism and marriage. Then Ruben Vera baptized his new bride in Mandarin, that he studied very hard to say it correctly. Elder Farnsworth with his companion and Sisters Nelson and McGreer were the baptism witnesses. Abbey Zhao gave the talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost, followed by Ella Chong's welcome to Relief Society and Wesley Wei's welcome to the branch. Immediately after welcoming Sis Jin to the branch, she was confirmed a member of the church. The closing hymn was "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go", followed by the benediction offered by Sister Nelson. Our stake president, President Arnold, attended the wedding, and our mission president, President Clarke, attended the baptism.
Although it was very long day of over 5 hours at church, we were all very excited about the wedding and baptism. We congratulate Ruben and Fanglan and wish them well on their journey as husband and wife.
Then everyone descended to the Primary room for the Fanglan's baptismal service. Patrick Shen, our mission leader, conducted the baptism, with Elder Whisenant at the piano and Cayleigh Zhao directing music. After we sang "There Is Sunshine in My Soul," Elder Cook offered the invocation. Sophy Fugal gave a very practical talk on baptism and marriage. Then Ruben Vera baptized his new bride in Mandarin, that he studied very hard to say it correctly. Elder Farnsworth with his companion and Sisters Nelson and McGreer were the baptism witnesses. Abbey Zhao gave the talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost, followed by Ella Chong's welcome to Relief Society and Wesley Wei's welcome to the branch. Immediately after welcoming Sis Jin to the branch, she was confirmed a member of the church. The closing hymn was "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go", followed by the benediction offered by Sister Nelson. Our stake president, President Arnold, attended the wedding, and our mission president, President Clarke, attended the baptism.
Although it was very long day of over 5 hours at church, we were all very excited about the wedding and baptism. We congratulate Ruben and Fanglan and wish them well on their journey as husband and wife.
From the words of Sis. Jin:
疫情放开之后终于可以撒欢了，于是我在五月的时候跟我姐一商量，就买了张机票来美国找她了。正好她朋友店里那两天少人，我就过去帮忙了。也是在那里，我认识了Ricky。
那天我在厨房吃饭，有人递了一杯芒果茶给我，说是一个小姐姐的朋友请的。后来我听他们说人家要走了，寻思怎么着也喝了人家请的饮品，好歹应该道个别，就出去了。他跟每个人握手告别，于是当他对我伸出手的时候，我也递出了手，但是我没有想到他吻了一下我的手背，当时旁边的人都发出了起哄的哇哦，我以为这只是他的玩笑，也没有在意。隔了一两天，他突然出现在我面前，趁着没有人递给我一个信封。我犹豫了很久，因为我英语不好啊，我还想着打开我也看不懂吧，就放在包里了。晚上临睡前忽然想起来，才拆开。打开的一瞬间，我就笑了，因为卡片上面写的字虽然很烂，但是却是中文。忽然我就觉得挺感动的，所以我按照他留的号码给他发了一条信息。如果他当时用的英语，也许就没有以后了 :'D
之后他邀请我去他外甥女的生日 party，我想着小姑娘过生日，就把我从国内带来的一条小兔子项链拿出来，打算当做礼物送给她。在路上我问他，小姑娘喜欢什么，他说兔子，我内心松了一口气，毕竟礼物最好还是送的别人喜欢才好。后来他告诉我他妹妹跟他说，小姑娘之前做了一个关于兔子的梦，然后我就送了一条小兔子的项链给她。其实关于梦，还有一个很神奇的故事。年初的时候，某天半夜我远在加拿大的闺蜜打电话给我说她梦到我找了个外国男朋友，而且还不是说中文的，当时朋友们都哈哈大笑，因为我并没有计划要出国，更何况找个男朋友说英文就不好沟通了，还不说英语？大家都觉得很离谱。但是我跟 Ricky 在一起之后，有人忽然想起来这个梦，直呼这是缘分啊。
7 月 4 号下午，他说他朋友有几张访客中心 演出的票，问我要不要一起去看。我不知道那是什么地方，但是本着出去转转也好的想法选择了前往。离得很远的时候我就看到了那白色的建筑，很漂亮，给人一种很圣洁的感觉。当我们推开访客中心的门，站在门口的正好是杨姐妹，我很开心遇见一个说中文的。于是就和她聊了一会儿，她给我介绍了圣殿的一些基本情况，后来我们在院里围着圣殿转了一圈，他问我有什么感受，我不知道该怎么形容，但确实觉得好像原本的不顺心忽然就不见了，于是我告诉他我觉得很平静。
之后偶尔我们会去访客中心找杨姐妹聊天，她会展示给我一些视频，加深了我对圣殿，对教会，对于家庭更多的认识。之后的周日，他会带我去教会，我聆听大家分享的见证，很多时候都会有感同身受的感觉。而且在教会遇见的每个人都很好，热情而且友善，我非常喜欢这里的氛围。于是，当某天杨姐妹问我是否愿意接受洗礼的时候，我几乎没有犹豫的说，我想我是愿意的。杨姐妹说你可以做个祈祷，得到一个确定的答案。我在耶稣画像前回想之前的一切，于是我知道，这是神的安排，我顺从了他的安排，所以我顺利的走到了现在。我也相信只要我跟随神的安排，我就能一直得到他的护佑。可能有一些兄弟姐妹在洗礼之前跟传教士们的沟通都很愉快，但是说到洗礼，内心就会有所犹豫，而我从开始就没有，也许我的经历本身就是神存在的见证。我祈祷并询问神，我是否应该接受洗礼，不是从犹豫到坚定，而是从相信到更加确信。
记得和方长老面谈的时候他问我，你是否相信神是真实存在的？我坚定的认为他是真实存在的，因为我就是接受了他的安排，才会来到这里认识了大家，也得到了一个属于自己的小家。
我很开心能够接受洗礼，成为教会的一员，我希望能够在追随神的脚步的路上，与大家一起前行。
Digital art by Clayton Z.
0 comments:
Post a Comment