The last thing proud people want is for anyone to feel sorry for them. To be referred to as "na' ma'ase" is probably one of the worst things to feel as someone from CNMI.
Tough people will persist, come what may. But for someone who grew up in comfort, never having to endure long power outages, I'm sure he will be shocked, but also happy to see he's marrying into a strong family who can make it through
Resilience is the name of the game.