Over 14 years ago, a young American boy from Idaho packed a Christmas box with goodies for the Samaritan’s Purse, a gift-giving program that provides lets American kids share their blessings to less fortunate kids from poorer countries such as the Philippines. What he didn’t know is that the girl who would receive his box would become his wife in the future!
Tyler Wolfe could no longer remember what was inside that box but he could vaguely recall he had filled a Christmas box with some goodies. The Samaritan’s Purse was received by Joana Marchan who enjoyed the goodies inside. While she couldn’t also recall exactly what was in that box, she did hold on to a photo of a cute cowboy with a dazzling smile
Because the photo had Tyler’s full name and address, a grateful Joana would later send the young boy a letter to thank him for the goods he sent her but, somehow, the letter didn’t make it to him for some reason.
Many years later, Joana found Tyler on Facebook but he would ignore her friend request for months. When he eventually accepted the request, he asked how she knew him.
The now 18-year-old Tyler was quite happily surprised to learn that she got his Christmas box when they were still kids but his parents weren’t so convinced, asking for proof that she did receive his box – and we couldn’t fault them as there are lots of scammers these days.
When Joana described the cowboy photo, they knew she was telling the truth. What started as a grateful chat from Joana would develop into deep friendship that soon blossomed into romance. When he saved enough for a trip to the Philippines, Tyler immediately went to visit Joana – and meeting each other face to face truly cemented their love for each other.
Joana even admits to crying the moment she saw him in person. Meanwhile, Tyler believes it was destiny that brought them together, seeing the hand of God at work. He said that there was a reason why Joana found him after all those years…