Imgur/habitualcriticThis lucky couple met on Instagram, fell in love, travelled the world together and the rest is history in what is one of the most adorable stories on the internet.
A 22-year-old Imgur user was working as a missionary in the slums in Kenya, when he was cruising through Instagram and stumbled upon his future wife – although she didn’t know it then…
Using the site’s trending hashtags, he discovered the 20-year-old pastor and immediately did a bit of Instagram stalking and started liking all of her stuff.
Imgur/habitualcriticIt was a bit of a risk, but clearly it paid off.
He said:
It was a bold strategy to get her attention and it worked.
Clearly she liked what she saw and when she realised they were both hugely into the same beliefs, she tracked him down on Facebook and slid into his DMs.
Imgur/habitualcriticApparently things weren’t plain sailing at first, as she had a boyfriend, which made the missionary a tad uncomfortable.
He explained:
She had a boyfriend at the time and when things started to get romantic I told her we had to stop because I didn’t want to disrespect her relationship.
They broke up instead and for months we talked. I felt like I knew everything about her except how it felt just to hold her.
Imgur/habitualcriticFor four months, they skyped everyday, before the brave guy took an even bigger risk…
Not thinking too much about it, the romantic bowled her over by surprising her with 200 roses and 100 candles, before asking her to marry him on the day they met.
She must’ve been so impressed by his huge display of affection, she said yes and the pair taught together in Africa -but only after he sought permission from her mum.
Imgur/habitualcriticAfter their first adventure, the pair visited the pastor’s hometown for the wedding, before setting off on their trip of a lifetime.
He explained:
We travelled all over the world chasing every adventure we could. Making stories to tell together and remember together.
After their globe-trotting adventures, the couple tried for a baby and on their first attempt, sadly lost the child, but now the pair have announced the birth of their daughter.
Imgur/habitualcriticThe missionary admits it hasn’t always been easy though and they have faced prejudice in the early stages of their relationship.
He added:
There were so many people that told us we were going to get divorced in the first 2 years. Some were family and some were friends.
It was such a scandal that she even lost her job with the church over it.
They said we weren’t going to be able to make it and we would become another statistic. They said our story was a bad influence for their youth.
Imgur/habitualcriticNow it seems, the couple defied all odds and are enjoying a very happy marriage.
He continued:
Marriage has been the best thing that ever happened to us. It has been an incredible adventure and we literally try every day to show our love for one another to one another.
Getting married young is not for everyone but don’t let anyone define your perfect love story. Every day we are constantly thinking about how we can make our story more and more awesome. We try and sometimes we fail but a lot of times we succeed. But trying together is what has kept us alive.
We hope you’re encouraged to take chances. To fail. To succeed. To remember all of your experiences. To choose to love and fight for each other every day.
Imgur/habitualcriticA truly inspiring story, promoting the message of you’ve got to go and get what you want, although stalking isn’t condoned, it did work out in the guy’s favour on this occasion anyway.
Pretty lucky though, otherwise it could be a very different story…
