‘Twas three days before Christmas and a cold, frosty morn.  Post-earth-quake San Francisco was enshrouded with a thick veil of fog.  At the underground train station, a multitude of early morning commuters was moving in like crashing tides of the mighty ocean.  Yet, over the hustle and bustle, there could be heard the tiny sound of a crystal bell being rung at a Salvation Army kettle.

Manning the red kettle was a young couple dressed in Salvation Army uniform.  The black-haired man, a Chinese-American, had a bundle of War Crys in his hand.  The woman, with blonde hair and blue eyes and of Italian descent, rang the bell vigorously, her warm smile radiant in the chilly breeze.  The young couple occasionally gazed at each other with expressions full of love.

I could understand why.  They had been married just a little over 24 hours.  I officiated at the ceremony attended by nearly 300 friends and relatives at the San Francisco Chinatown Corps.

Together, newlyweds Fred and Debora Wong had decided there was no better way to spend their honeymoon and first Christmas together than “in the street” with the poor and homeless.

Their story really begins six years before the wedding.  Debora Donini, an 18-year-old native of Torre Pellice, Italy, had a vision of herself as an ambassador for Christ in China.

Debora was born to Salvationist parents.  Her mother, Muriella, is the Home League secretary there.  Debora’s father, Adriano, is a teacher of physics and math who preaches whenever the corps officer is away.

After working in Salvation Army institutions in Rome, then in Paris and London, Debora heard about the San Francisco Chinatown Corps.  “I’ll settle for Chinatown,” she told herself, “if I can’t go to China.”

Arrangements were made for Debora to move to San Francisco and she was soon an active volunteer at the Chinatown Crops.

Fred was born in San Francisco.  Haunted by illness during his early life, he was eventually cured by Chinese medicine.  Determined to cure others the same way, he went to Beijing, China, to learn medicine.  Some of his classmates were Christians.  Fred was impressed by their behavior and eventually accepted Christ as his Savior.  Far from home, in the country assumed to be godless, Fred made his peace with God.

Upon returning home, Fred became a licensed acupuncturist.  He became a soldier of the Chinatown Corps.  That’s where he met Debora.  Almost before anyone knew it, they were deeply in love.

Their December wedding service was imaginative and inspirational. The sanctuary at the corps was in total darkness.  In came four junior soldiers from Debora’s children’s church class.  With candles in their hands, they were searching for Santa.  Then Fred and Debora walked in, not in bridal white or black tie, but in Salvation Army uniform.  Debora wore a white satin sash on her uniform.  She said to the children, “Fred and I are going to be married tonight.”

“Really?” asked the children with wide-eyed wonder, reacting with joy (and just a little sadness because Santa was not there).

“Really!” Debora affirmed.  The congregation roared its approval.  Many eyes filled with tears.  Mine were among them.

In a testimony, Debora said, “God is not only a part of our lives; He is our life!  Our faith and daily practices are inseparable. How can I talk about changing the world without talking about Him?  How can I talk about love without saying that perfect love comes from Him?” She concluded by saying, “A Christian life is not boring.  Sometimes it’s too exciting.  You never know what to expect from God…and sometimes you even see His sense of humor.”

A surprise message from Adriano and Muriella Donini was read to their daughter and new son-in-law.  In it, they said, “We think of you, Fred, whom we haven’t met, but of whom we know two important things: that you are a child of God and a Salvation Army soldier.  We entrust our Debora to you.”

That wasn’t the last surprise.  The phone rang, and Debora’s parents, thousands of miles away in Italy, were able to speak to the bride and groom via a speaker phone.  An elated Debora rushed to the phone to converse in a language I couldn’t understand.  But I understood the love they shared in those moments.

So it was with a happy note that wedding bells and Christmas bells blended in harmony as Fred and Debora Wong exchanged vows in the international family of The Salvation Army.

Some people wonder about the cultural differences between Fred and Debora.  What differences? After all—ravioli and won-ton, spaghetti and chow mein—aren’t they really the same thing?