Dressed in White; Muchenje's Wedding

 

   Another wedding! We've become marriage planners and photographers. We were so excited to help Cephas and Fortunate Muchenje arrange and travel to the Epworth Court on November 8th at 06:45 a.m. We met Cephas on the temple site as one of the main painters. The Muchenjes have been waiting for several months to officially tie the knot and then get baptized. They secretly planned the date; so their family wouldn't demand lobola. Lobola or bride price in Africa is a real roadblock to couples obtaining an official marriage license required by the church before baptism. Most Shona people have an agreement with their in-laws that the husband will pay some money in good faith to the bride's family to show he can support his new wife. Now the demands have gotten out of hand. When the lobola isn't paid the couple gets shunned. We thought they'd be "off the hook" on lobola because both their parents are deceased. They affectionately call us "mom and dad". However, the lobola is now required to be paid to Fortunate's aunt. BTW, they haven't seen this aunt for over 4 years and they have 3 children they are supporting. When they told the aunt about their plan for marriage and baptism, she tried to demand a large sum. We've also found out that hardly anyone ever pays all their lobola off; it's an occasional payment of good faith. We explained the prophet and apostles have come out with a statement that lobola is not God's way. Also, they'd be taking away money from their own family and children to pay an aunt, which makes no sense. The Zimbabwe government and courts do not care about lobola and it's not part of the process for obtaining a marriage license. It is so difficult to get these Africans to change traditions. However, Cephas and Fortunate have been converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and after waiting 4 months, decided to get married as we suggested. Bruce had talked to Cephas about "Do you want God made at you or your aunt?"

I had been storing a beautiful white wedding dress for Fortuante since August, which had been borrowed from Lolly's donation containers. She had tried it on last August and it fit perfectly.  We were excited to have Cephas finally see her in the beautiful gown. Fortunate made a beautiful bride! They came to our apartment by 05:45 a.m. because they wanted to get dressed there. Fortunate "dolled" up with makeup and the gown, while Cephas changed in our extra bedroom. They were as giddy as teenagers! They really do love each other and have been "man and wife" for the past 13 years; just not officially; according to Zimbabwe law their tribal arrangement is not recognized.

A beautiful day for a wedding at Epworth Court, 2023.11.08

Since the Muchenjes were new to Eastview and didn't want family members involved; we were struggling to find 2 witnesses, with Zimbabwean citizenship. We asked Sister Judd if we could use two missionaries; she suggested trying the Forigi's, a full-time service missionary couple, from Zimbabwe. The Forigis work with our humanitarian senior couple. We paid them $10.00 for travel and they were happy to come help out. Everything went so smoothly at the court. There was one bride without a groom and one groom without a registration so they couldn't get married that day at the court. We were so happy all of Cephas and Fortunate's paperwork was in order.

We loved the official marriage license, under Cephas, it said "Bachelor" and under Fortunate's name it read "Spinster". This beautiful mother of three is definitely no spinster! I never thought I'd have another "daughter" get married! This one however, was much cheaper in cost than Elise's wedding...

                                                                 Our witnesses, the Forigis

 They were so happy and made such a beautiful couple. I loved snapping photos of the ceremony and the two outside afterward. They loved posing and letting me take photos. It was a beautiful sunny morning full of joy!

After the wedding, we drove home and Cephas went to work, Fortunate took a combi home and it was another normal day for them. No gifts, luncheon, dancing, party, flowers, or honeymoon. Just sweet and simple! This was all the couple could afford and we donated the money for the license, the dress, the cleaning, and the photos as a privilege to this sweet humble couple. Now, we'll have another more beautiful day in white; this Sunday Cephas, Fortunate, Minunashe, and Keisha will all be baptized!