Laughing Out Loud in the Ministry: When Boy Meets Girl

On Mother’s Day 2010, I was sitting in church and was looking around the auditorium and noticed that one of the guys from our church was home from Bible college and he had brought a friend. That friend was very good looking. After church, everyone was making their way to their vehicles, and this visitor was outside meeting some of the church people; as I walked by, I was introduced to him and his name was Matt. He returned to our church that night and after the service a group of us went out to Culver’s for some fellowship and Matt was there too. He sat across from me and I didn’t mind at all. Everyone was asking him questions, he was talking about his family and their time in Uganda as missionaries, and I was fascinated. At dinner the guys had mentioned that they would be leaving Tuesday to head to Florida for the summer which is where Matt lived. Monday and Tuesday I had been thinking about this guy. Wednesday came around and I got to church, and they were still in town: a nice surprise to see Matt again. We became friends on Facebook during the time he was there (because who doesn’t become friends on Facebook after meeting someone once). However, the next morning they left for Florida.

The next day, I decided to message Matt on Facebook. My message went a little something like this: Hey Matt. It was really nice meeting you and I would really like to get to know you better. He responded with his phone number and we began texting… A LOT. We texted everyday for about a week and then phone calls started happening. By the end of the month, he had invited me to Florida in June for Vacation Bible School. Did I mention he hadn’t even asked his parents if I could come before he said something to me? His mom thought he couldn’t have picked a worse time than during Vacation Bible School because it is one of the busiest times for his family. However, he wanted to see if I could handle the family during such a busy, yet ministry filled week. A lot of other questions were asked of Matt by his mom too: Why this girl? Who is paying for her ticket? Does she have a roundtrip ticket? Where is she going to stay?

I had bought my ticket and I was so excited, yet nervous at the same time. The week before I was supposed to fly all the way to Florida to see this guy, a few things were running through my mind: What am I doing? I’ve never flown before. I’m flying all by myself. I’m going to look into refunds for my tickets. Thankfully, I got out of my own head and prayed and the next week I flew to Florida.

This was my first Vacation Bible School and still my favorite one to this day. I enjoyed working with the kids in the classes but adored watching Matt leading the kids. No one at the church even knew I was there for Matt until we sat together in church on Wednesday night. During the afternoons that week, Matt had a lot of fun things planned: Snorkeling, Boating, Universal City Walk, Mini Golf and The Beach. We had a great week together, and I enjoyed getting to know his family. We had made some plans and by the end of that week we were OFFICIALLY a couple.

He came back to Peoria in August and we spent thanksgiving together too. He asked me if I would come to Christmas with his family. I had never been away from my family for Christmas before, so this was a first. A Florida Christmas, is much different than what I was used too. There was no snow, but there was Matt.

On December 23, 2010, Matt had a special day planned. He took me to the beautiful St. Augustine, where we visited the Castillo De San Marcos. It was a gorgeous day, and we took our time touring the Castle and finally made our way to the top of the Castle. We had a beautiful view overlooking the water, the sun was out, and there was a nice crisp breeze, Matt got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. It was the best day of my life. Of course, I said, “YES!” We were ecstatic and spent the afternoon walking around the town as an engaged couple. I’m not sure how much of the town I remember, I was too busy admiring my new accessory and handsome Fiancé. Merry Christmas to ME!