The Backstory Pt. II: Wedding

 

           We planned to marry on June 20, 2020 in Ulaan Baatar. After all, with ten younger siblings it only made sense for our ceremony to be held where Yaejin’s family wouldn’t have to travel! But the Mongolian government went into total lock-down shortly after Yaejin had returned in early February – initially for just 30 days. By now we all know that the pandemic situation would drag on far longer than we knew at the time, and hoped things would open back up in 2-3 months so that we could follow through with out original plan. Mongolia kept extending their lock-down by a month at a time, claiming intention to re-open at the end of April, then May, then June; each time announcing at the last week of the month that they would remain closed until the end of the next month. So April and May came and went without any flights coming in, and very few going out. Once it became evident that Mongolia would remain closed until further notice Yaejin’s parents selflessly told her that to just try to get out of the country and be married abroad.

This decision did not come easily to Yaejin. Setting aside the prospect of not one of her family or friends being able to attend our wedding, but also we had no notion of when we might be able to get back in to Mongolia. During the months of lockdown she had translated Phase 1 of the Harvest discipleship and started two separate discipleship groups within the missionary team, which were both yielding godly results. While we knew that God was calling us together, it was a drawback to have to abandon what seemed to be a providential pandemic-time ministry and the progress being made in the church members’ lives through these groups. I also was not sure if it was right to carry on with our marriage without her family present.  Seeking the Lord on this matter, Yaejin was drawn to the passage of Psalm 45 when it says:

“¹¹ Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention: 

         Forget your people and your father’s house.    

    Let the king be enthralled by your beauty;  

    honor him, for he is your lord.

¹² The city of Tyre will come with a gift,  

    people of wealth will seek your favor.

¹³ All glorious is the princess within her chamber;

   her gown is interwoven with gold.”

Yaejin decided that she would take her parents’ recommendation and get married away from them in the U.S. – pending one last test she decided to conduct as a sort of “fleece before the Lord.”  She would ask them once more whether to really go on, or rather to simply wait and see what happens and when I could get in to Mongolia. She secretly determined that she would stay and wait if either of her parents gave any reluctance or hesitation in urging her to leave for America, but when she asked, both her mother and father quickly said “What? We already decided this, why are you questioning it now? Go, go!” And so she did, with a clear conscious and her parents’ blessing.

She was able to get on a special flight to Seoul, and we then purchased a second flight from Seoul to Detroit to Lexington and moved our wedding date to July 25. The border control in Detroit detained her for a time, which we had feared due to hearing many stories about how the American agents see red flags whenever a foreigner comes for romantic relationship purposes such as dating or marriage. They were apparently more convinced of our legitimacy due to her wearing the engagement ring, and a phone call to me to corroborate our stories did the trick that time, though in hindsight it feels like an ominous foretaste of our dealings with Detroit CPB. She arrived in the late afternoon on June 19, 2020; just a day before our original wedding date. The next morning my filmographer brother suggested shooting that day for a video about our story. I was unsure, as it was our first day reunited after an uncertain separation and thought we might need to just spend the day quietly. Thankfully, I was convinced, and the result was the video showed in the opening of our wedding ceremony, which went a long way to introducing us to one another’s yet unmet friends and family and provided great context for her Father’s prayer for us, which we believe was very powerful in juxtaposition, and encouraging to all who watched it in the family of Christ.

We were furthermore blessed by Yaejin’s eldest brother Jakin being able to make it to Alabama from Moscow to walk her down the aisle. Holding the ceremony in the main sanctuary at Harvest Church allowed for ample seating distance between attendants, yet concerns for pandemic protocol did cause us to regrettably miss some whom I would have been most desirous to have present. But we believe that the Lord brought those who needed to be there, and it was in large part thanks to our separation from her parents that we ended up simulcasting the ceremony, which ultimately allowed for many more to celebrate with us than would have otherwise.  The ceremony and reception all went quite well thanks to the masterful efforts of several of our friends of old; all in all it was a day we quite enjoyed and during which we felt greatly honored beyond our merit! Yaejin has often remarked what a joy it was to be only mildly involved with the planning of our wedding, as it resulted in very little stress for the two of us, and furthermore because she did not have much reference for what would be expected at an American wedding to begin with. Those who did the planning created such a meaningful day that we feel represented our relationship well and gave glory to God.