Matt grew up in Rwanda, Africa, until the age of 18 when he came to the states to attend Wheaton College in Illinois. I grew up in Bellevue, WA, just outside of Seattle. I was 22 and in the midst of my nursing pre-requisites in Bellevue at the time. One morning I woke up debating whether I should go to church since I had a huge anatomy and physiology exam the next day. I finally decided I didn't want to miss and I'm sure glad I did! All of a sudden, in walks this extremely handsome guy that I had never seen before! I found out that he was on spring break from Wheaton and had come, along with some other friends, to visit a mutual friend Airika. We were introduced and I learned that he was interested in missions like I was, and he was planning on becoming a missionary pilot. I'd never even heard of missionary aviation before but it sounded awesome! After meeting that one day, he left to go back to Wheaton. I was so disappointed.....here was this great guy and I'd probably never see him again!
After a couple of weeks however, Matt built up the courage to email me and we started an email friendship (also after some encouragement from our matchmaking friend Airika). In the meantime, he graduated from Wheaton and informed me that he had taken a position with an organization called Samaritan's Purse and would be working in Sudan for a year while he waited for a spot to open up at the Moody Aviation Program in Tennessee. Now pay close attention because this information is crucial to the story....the program was in Tennessee. I remember being so frustrated....I had already attended school in Tennessee and that chapter of my life was over!
We talked on the phone for the first time the night before he left for Sudan, and from there on had to write hand written letters that would take weeks to get to each other, and by then it was old news. He was in such a remote area (the area that is now being bombed by the government), it was actually the missionary pilots that brought him my letters! I remember thinking, "I know anything is possible with God, but how in the world are we ever going to be in the same place at the same time?" I had been accepted to the Washington State nursing program in Spokane in the meantime and moved there, not knowing anyone. He was planning on finishing up his time in Sudan and starting the Moody program in Tennessee. Then one day I got a phone call....the Moody Program had decided to shut down and relocate to....can you guess where? SPOKANE!!!!!! I remember getting chills. Of all of the cities in the country, what were the chances that this program would come to Spokane?????? Matt got the news on a satellite phone in the middle of the Sudanese desert and was shocked. He'd never even heard of Spokane until he met me. He had even bought me an African necklace, not knowing if we'd ever see each other again. God is so amazing! There's no way that this was just a coincidence.
He then moved to Spokane and we immediately started dating. The rest is history.
