{"id":20133,"date":"2021-12-29T15:46:08","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T12:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/?p=20133"},"modified":"2021-12-29T16:38:30","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T13:38:30","slug":"lady-marries-the-young-man-who-sent-her-a-christmas-shoebox-gift-14-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/?p=20133","title":{"rendered":"Lady marries the young man who sent her a christmas shoebox gift 14 years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
Rashim Nabanja<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n

For this couple, it all began in Christmas 2000, when 7-year-old Tyrel Wolfe was helping his parents pack Christmas shoebox gifts for children in the Philippines. The project, headed by Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan\u2019s Purse, consisted of packing school supplies, toiletries and small toys.<\/p>\n

\n
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Each shoebox-packer was asked to include a photo of themself with their gift. And so, the boy sent a picture of himself decked in Western cowboy gear, and then was off into the sunset.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A random friend request<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over a decade later, at 21, Wolfe received a Facebook friend request from a Joanna Marchan. Thinking nothing of it, he ignored it.<\/p>\n

Then two years, up popped another friend request from Marchan. With curiosity getting the best of him, Wolfe replied this time, asking how she knew him. Nothing could prepare him for her reply.<\/p>\n

Marchan told him that she received Wolfe\u2019s shoebox gift and picture, and how much she cherished it all those years. She added that she sent a thank-you note, however it got lost in the mail.<\/p>\n

With that, the two began chatting and were drawn together like magnets. It was only a matter of time before the pull was too strong.<\/p>\n

And so, after saving up enough money from work, Wolfe took bought a ticket to the Philippines for 10 days to meet Marchan.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0told PEOPLE magazine that it was a leap of faith, “I knew I was taking a big risk. I had never traveled alone, let alone to a foreign country before and I was meeting people I didn\u2019t know or even knew really existed.”<\/p>\n

A leap of faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

That was quickly put to rest when he laid eyes on her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I finally got there and saw her, I had to punch myself a couple times because I thought it was a dream,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

The chemistry was reciprocal. However, in respecting Marchan\u2019s family tradition, the two couldn\u2019t officially be a couple until receiveing her father\u2019s blessing. When Wolfe finally had to return home, it was heartbreaking but only fueled his resolve.<\/p>\n

“It was one of the hardest goodbyes I\u2019ve ever had to say because we didn\u2019t know the next time we\u2019d see each other. I told her I\u2019m going to do whatever it takes to come back to her,” Wolfe revealed.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t be long. The two kept in close touch, planning their reunion. Finally, on a return trip to Manila a few months later \u2014 this time accompanied by his father Ivan \u2014 Tyrel got papa bear\u2019s blessing to marry Marchan.<\/p>\n

Settling down<\/strong><\/p>\n

The couple settled down in the United States because of Wolfe\u2019s job, which also lets him help Marchan\u2019s family back home.<\/p>\n

As for Marchan, it\u2019s all been alot to take in but she\u2019s enjoying the ride with her beau.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big change and adjustment for me,\u201d Marchan says. \u201cI was raised in the city and now I\u2019m living in the country with much less people and more space, but it\u2019s a beautiful place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolfe and Marchan are keeping another commitment: Packing a shoebox every holiday season, including a note with their story.<\/p>\n

“We don t want to give them some fantasy, but we do want to show that we care and want to share our love, Wolfe commented.<\/p>\n

Far from a fantasy, this incredible story teaches us that with an open heart and a little faith, there\u2019s love and magic all around us.<\/p>\n

\n
BE COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO LOVE<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cTo love is to recognize yourself in another.\u201d \u2014 Eckhart Tolle<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rashim Nabanja For this couple, it all began in Christmas 2000, when 7-year-old Tyrel Wolfe was helping his parents pack Christmas shoebox gifts for children in the Philippines. The project, headed by Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan\u2019s Purse, consisted of packing school supplies, toiletries and small toys. Each shoebox-packer was asked to include a photo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20134,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[524],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1784],"class_list":["post-20133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-stories"],"authors":[{"term_id":1784,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"weddingadmin","display_name":"weddingadmin","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd3996c46efafdc40969010bfd78c8e4dda9d99318e7dd6403983ea0dadbcfce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20133"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20137,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20133\/revisions\/20137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20133"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=20133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}