We first met at Krystel's house in Zambia in 2012 while Chitalu was in town from Seattle. While visiting loved ones in Lusaka, Chitalu stopped by with his best friend Mark to greet Krystel's housemate Megan (Mark's then girlfriend, now wife). This meeting was merely a “Hi” and “Bye,” one we wouldn’t remember until Mark and Megan reminded us shortly after we reconnected. Eight years later on June 28, 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, our lives intersected again. We were both worn out by online dating after years of many terrible first dates, flakiness and ghosting. Chitalu was ready to give up on dating and move to Japan to become a monk. Similarly, Krystel was ready to live a non-cloistered contemplative life as her best single self. After an intentional month of prayer on the matter, Krystel decided to try online dating once more, this time with Match. Searching "faith, community, and justice," Krystel found Chitalu on her first day. Drawn to his welcoming spirit and faith, she sent him a message with a greeting from a local language in Zambia. This wasn't Chitalu’s language, but it was enough to peek Chitalu’s interest! We quickly discovered we shared many similar values, interests and sense of humor. After 2 weeks of sharing stories and playful banter, Chitalu asked Krystel to meet in person. On July 12th we met for our first date at Lincoln Park. Krystel was struck by Chitalu’s warm smile, joyful spirit and how being around him was like being home-- so easy and comfortable. Chitalu was taken by Krystel’s beauty, vibrate personality, humor, and trustful spirit. We walked and talked down by the water-- laughing and sharing about hobbies, family, faith, and racial justice. Krystel abandoned her 1 hour first date rule for 3+ hours with Chitalu, as well as her COVID precautions by taking Chitalu’s hand when he offered to help her over a log. Less than 2 weeks later, on July 24th Chitalu asked Krystel to be his Queen and officially begin a relationship.

After 9 months of sharing an amazing relationship filled with adventure, faith and a blossoming friendship, we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives growing in love together. Chitalu planned a scavenger hunt around Seattle with stops at several meaningful places in our relationship-- complete with rhyming clues and friends in costumes. Unbeknownst to Krystel, Chitalu even disguised himself at one of the locations to observe Krystel’s progress on the scavenger hunt. The final clue led Krystel to a path of roses where Chitalu emerged at the very spot where we first met on our first date at Lincoln Park. Chitalu expressed his deep felt love for Krystel, got down on one knee and proposed to her. She said yes! To celebrate our engagement Chitalu had some of our loved ones waiting for us down at the water to share in the special moment--- such a joy for us to safely share with some of our community in real life after a year of living in a pandemic. We lingered in all the joy of the day with loved ones, with each other, and Krystel got to out-eat her fiancé at a Brazilian steakhouse before we ended the day dancing in the middle of Robinswood park at midnight. Funny story - Chitalu had ordered an engagement ring that didn't arrive on time so he improvised by buying a $78 stand-in ring from Walmart the morning of the proposal. Nobody even knew until he shared the story hours later with Krystel. Two days later he sat at his sitting room window and stalked the delivery man for the real engagement ring and took it to Krystel to re-enact the proposal at Lincoln Park. We're grateful that God has actively been involved in the details of our lives and brought us together to enrich each other’s lives, reflect God’s unconditional love for each other, and illuminate God’s goodness for the flourishing of our community-- locally and globally. Thank you for coming alongside us, near and far, to support us and pour into us. We look forward to celebrating our big day together!