Our Story
Our story is one of love, perseverance, and faith. Our love was passed through the fire and emerged stronger than ever. We first met in the summer of 2012 during a church outreach evangelism. We exchanged numbers and our relationship quickly went from acquaintance to friendship. Sandra was just through with high school then and I was going to my final year at the university. She eventually applied and got an admission to go to my university and we spent my final year together, and this was when our friendship graduated to a close one. There were still “no strings” attached, at least in my mind, at this time.
Well, that was for Somto. As for me, I was totally smitten with him from the first day I laid my eyes on him. He said we “met” at our church outreach evangelism, but that was only when he really noticed me and became interested in having me as a friend. We had seen and talked to each other before that day after one of our church services. And even before then, I had also seen him in church a year earlier but never approached him.
To be continued separately below…
Somto
Sandra and I continued as close friends in my final year and even became reading partners. If you knew that we didn’t take the same classes at the university, you might be wondering how that reading partnership could have worked. Well, it worked so well that I believe our grades improved partly because of that. A lot of people, me included, aren’t great at motivating themselves to study on their own. So, I definitely needed that.
My respect for Sandra deepened as I saw how intelligent she was and how she took her studies seriously and studied hard. Her glowing grades reflect these. (Looking back now, I wonder how that respect did not translate to a romantic love.) She even later emerged with a first class from law school and won several awards.
When I came to Canada to further my education, I continued to be in touch with her. In the period between our university days together and when I came over Canada, she had grown closer to God and her faith had deepened. After a couple months in Canada, I had an eye-opening experience through a rather painful event, during which I realized how much I loved her. It was as though I had always loved her but did not realize it until it bubbled up to the surface.
Before then, I had been praying to God to guide me to the right woman who would have a similar vision as me, and who could be humble enough to team up with me to make a great impact on our generation. I prayed this prayer right from when I was a teenager. And before Sandra, I had met a few girls/women, including those who were strong Christians, whom the Lord steered me away from, not because they weren’t “good people,” but because my calling and theirs weren’t compatible. So, when I first met Sandra, I thought God would again steer me away from her, but instead, I felt so much peace around her. It just seemed perfectly right for me to be with her. I wanted to feel that way forever so I prayed about it again, and popped the BIG question to her. The rest, as they say, is history. And here we are today.
God, indeed, writes the best love stories.
Sandra
Like I said earlier, I was attracted to my Somie
from the beginning and I considered him a role model. Although I hadn’t come to know the Lord, personally, at the time, Somie was worth emulating and I desired to serve God like he did and still does. Somto loves God deeply and this reflects in how he treats people and makes them feel great about themselves.
My friendship with Somto grew as we read together, and of course, my admiration and love for him grew as well, even though he was unaware of my feelings towards him at the time. In those days, there were a few guys who expressed their desires to court me. And in my conversations with them, I always ended up bringing the fact that I was in love with Somto. You can imagine how that went. Let’s just say they quickly realized they had ran into a wall they couldn’t scale over. 
After Somie graduated, I had a personal encounter with God and began to walk with Him closely. I was intentional and sincere with God about my feelings towards Somie, and I sensed that God approved of him. I decided to stick around his circle of friends and kept the lines of communication open.
My relationship with him eventually grew into a romantic one on February 2017 after he had left the country. And here we are today. God, indeed, writes the best love stories.