T Minus 5 Days, 22 Hours

I have access to the Internet! It seems improbable to be so long without Internet access but the days do turn into a blur and end without the necessary stop to an Internet cafe. Here is a brief rundown of what's happening in the Philippines while we wait for the wedding.

Arriving at midnight on the 13th I proceeded to the US Embassy in Manila at 6 AM on the 14th and thought I would arrive early (like 2 hours before they opened). To my surprise I was probably number 200 in line! But, Praise God, all went well and I got the required "Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage". Then off to Tagbilaran and filed this critical piece of paper completing all the hoops to get our marriage license. The license will be issued on the 23rd (another of God's favor) and the wedding will be on the 24th!

Thursday was a day to get "fitted" for the wedding gowns and my special 'barong'. A 'barong' is a Filipino dress shirt. This way I don't have to wear a tie or tux to the wedding!!!! Friday was setting up banking matters with Christie so we can hopefully make Western Union obsolete. Of course, any official transaction seems to take a minimum of two trips to the office with errands in between getting some obsolete piece of information they require. Saturday was spent visiting pastors and inviting them to the wedding. In our travels on
Christie's motorcycle, we got caught in a downpour so spent 30 minutes under a mango tree trying to stay dry.

Today I preached at Glory Evangelical Holiness Church (where we will be married). I am scheduled to teach at a youth conference on this coming Wednesday night. Next Sunday I will be preaching at 10 AM and probably at 1:30 PM. At this point I am declining all speaking invitations!

The days fly by fast but seem to crawl toward the 24th. There has been so much to do this past week. This coming week will be pretty easy as we have all the details taken care of (as far as can be discerned). I just discovered that McDonald's has free WI-FI so my next post will have some pictures.

I'll close for now. All is well. God is good. He is still on the Throne issuing forth mercy and grace! 5 days, 22 hours till the wedding! (But whose counting anyway).

Blessings