Phil and Elayna met online (shout out to Coffee Meets Bagel) in August of 2020. They met for coffee and a... scone (definitely a missed opportunity) at the beginning of September, and closed down the coffee shop. Both of them have pretty busy schedules, but were also serious about dating intentionally, so they spent as much time together as possible. Doing this in the midst of a pandemic was a bit complicated... many of their dates consisted of meeting in the parking lot of the Gateway Shopping Center in Wayne, PA, grabbing takeout food, and eating together in the car! Both Phil and Elayna are adventurous, and love being outside. Snowboarding together was a favorite memory this winter, and when the weather is warmer they love to go to the beach. Phil enjoys surfing and is determined to get Elayna to share that interest, although she is just as happy to soak in the sun from a blanket in the sand. Neither of them is ever far from a good book, and a Saturday sitting under a tree with a cup of coffee and said book is just as appealing to them as skydiving or spontaneous road trips to Vermont are. Above all though, both of them love Jesus Christ more than anything. They are both passionate about seeing people come to a genuine relationship with Him, and they hope that their relationship with each other will be something that God uses to represent Himself to many people all over the world. This is something that Phil and Elayna really love to talk about, so if you have any questions about their faith, feel free to ask!

Phil: We live an hour apart and so we try to meet once during the week and once on the weekend. During the week we met for breakfast at First Watch and had some good long conversations about the Bible, theology, and whatever other book we were reading together at the time. One day we had more serious conversation about marriage, and I needed to know three things: 1) That she would come to the mission field with me, 2) That she would never leave me, and 3) that she would submit to me like the church submits to Christ. When she said yes I promised that I would love her like Christ loves the church. That is when I knew that Elayna was the one. Elayna: For many years now I've been praying for the man I'd marry, specifically asking God for someone who would pursue a relationship with Jesus harder than a relationship with me. When we first told each other that we loved each other, Phil referenced CS Lewis' 'The Four Loves,' and told me that he had prayed about it a lot and he knew that he loved me according to all of the ways that God designed love. I was pretty sure at that point that I'd found the man I'd been praying for, because I so appreciated how serious he was about keeping Jesus at the center of our relationship. As we've talked more about marriage and what our life together will look like, I'm so thankful for Phil's commitment to letting our relationship be a picture of the way that Jesus loves the church. The fact that I know he will love me and lead our family in the fierce, but gentle, and sacrificial way that Christ loves the Church is a gift. I can't wait to learn and grow together!