I have always known about Victory by reason of the relationship between our both parents even though I never met her personally. So, although I had not met Victory yet, by reason of the friendship between our parents, I always knew that Mr. and Mrs. Fejokwu had 3 children, one of whom was Victory.
However, Victory and I began to have personal interactions as from July of 2021 when Uncle Kola and Aunty Remi Adegoke, started a youth program called “Let’s Gist”.
I had been praying and looking for a life partner. Someone with certain qualities and someone who I will partner with to fulfill God’s purpose for my life, but I had not found the right person. 19th of April 2022, I received a call from a mutual friend (between Victory and I)o his call that ay was basically to ask about my well-being and to ask me about my plans towards marriagewhat houghtabo
ut Victory as a potential spouse. thought he was calling to encourage me to relocate to the US where better opportunities abound for me career-wise. I was quite surprised however when he began to talk about marriage because we had never discussed the issue of marriage before neither had I ever seen Victory in that light.
All interactions between Victory and I were strictly based on the administration on the “Let’s Gist” platform. He began to tell me about her great character traits and how God-fearing she is. While he was telling me about her, I was not really interested at first until he began to tell me about the role she plays in the youth ministry over there in the Atlanta fellowship. That caught my attention, because youth ministry is something I have a passion for and a calling in. So, I knew that the person I would want to marry would be someone who shares the same vision I have, so we can fulfill our purpose together.
After that call, I began to pray about her and pay more attention to her. The more I did the more it started becoming very clear to me that this lady has the traits and qualities I would want in a wife. So, I became more intentional about reaching out to her more frequently to get to know her more. Thankfully, our Let’s Gist administration work gave me a good platform to do that. After much praying, inquiry about her from others, and interactions with her, in November 2022 I was very convinced that this is the lady I would like to marry. I was advised by family and friends to build a good friendship with her first before making my intentions known. This was important because at that time I was the one doing most of the reaching out, even though she would still flow in conversations with me while we chatted on WhatsApp. At some point, I started thinking of what to do to get her attention and take our friendship to a deeper level, because so far, I was the one doing all the work in keeping communication going.
I found out that her birthday was coming up in January 2023, so I felt that a birthday gift from a guy all the way from Nigeria would get her attention. So, I liaised with our mutual friend on how to go about this. He gave me some advice on what I could do. I eventually decided to get her a box of cupcakes. After choosing the cake I wanted from the online store, I realized that I would not be able to make the purchase in dollars from Nigeria, so I liaised with him once again, who helped me with the payment (after which I refunded him the naira equivalent) and helped me with tracking the shipment until it got to her house. I was eagerly waiting to see her reaction to my well thought out gift, but the cold response I got after weeks of planning this surprise was really discouraging. This made me begin to withdraw from her a bit for some days to afford me time to rethink and pray more about my intentions towards her, because I felt that if she didn’t appreciate what I did, then trying to foster a relationship with her might be a waste of time seeing that she may not be interested.
However, she must have noticed my withdrawal and unenthusiastic responses after a while because she chatted me up out of the blues on the 6th of February 2023, just to check up on me. This was unusual but very encouraging. From that day, she became a lot more open, responsive, and interested in our conversations. We graduated from long unending chats to exchange of long voice notes and from there, to audio and video calls. All this happened between the period of February to mid-March 2023. By this time, we had bonded in a way that we had not bonded all through the year 2022. We had covered so much in our conversations for me to realize that we shared the same view on so many important topics, we had similar values and most of all, that I enjoyed her company more than that of anyone else.
This level of friendship was exactly what I had been trying to achieve all through the previous year, so it gave me the confidence to make my intentions known to her on the 14th of March 2023. Thankfully, she gave me her “YES” on the 19th of March 2023 and our courtship officially started. She visited Nigeria because she had been invited for Uncle Kola Adegoke’s daughter’s wedding which was to take place in Abuja, but now, her real intention was to see me, because prior to this, we had not met physically. She was in Nigeria from April 29th to May 7th, 2023, and every day I spent with her was magical. On the 4th of May 2023 I arranged for a surprise proposal with some friends when we went to take professional pictures at a studio.
This relationship with Victory is one of the best things I have in my life. She is so precious to me, and I would choose her a million times over.
I officially met Urim in July 2021, but I always knew he existed because of his parents Daddy Richard and Mommy Edith. I his parents since I was a little girl, and they would talk about their kids when we housed them for the Atlanta Conference. Urim and I moved in the same circles because of family friends, our parents, and the fellowships (churches), but we didn’t officially meet until Uncle Kola and Aunty Remi Adegoke made us both admins of a WhatsApp Group called Let’s Gist.
Since the two of us were the only youth/ young adults out of the 5 admins for the Let’s Gist WhatsApp group, we were tasked with keeping the group engaged and lively especially since most of the group participants are youth and young adults. So, Urim and I would message each other on WhatsApp to come up with ways to keep the group engaged and strategize on what we would post on the platform. We continued to interact on a strictly platonic level until he started increasing the frequency of communication. I first noticed it in October 2022. He would message me, and I would keep it cordial and friendly.
Then, the day after my birthday (January 19, 2023), I came home from a trip to find a box delivered to my door. Urim sent a box of cupcakes from New York with the help of a mutual friend, all the way to my house. The cupcakes also had a birthday card with lovely words written. I knew then he was serious about pursuing me. I started to tell my parents and close mentors/family friends what was happening. I did my due diligence to ask those in our mutual circle what they thought about him, and his character. Everyone I spoke to, both young and old, sang his praises. They told me he was a man of integrity and good character and they highly esteemed him.
As a result, I started to let down my guard and warm up to him. I realized he had been the one mainly initiating conversations and trying to get to know me and he had started to withdraw a bit, so on February 6th, 2023, I reached out to him to check up on him. That started the beginning of long text messages, voice notes, and calls. We started texting every day, then from texts to hour long voice notes, and then audio calls, and video calls. We covered so much ground in one month than we had in prior months combined. By March, I had strong feelings for him, and I fell in love.
On March 14, 2023, he called me on a video call and made his intentions known to me that he wanted to enter a relationship that would lead to marriage, and that he adores me. So, I told him that I would have to take some time to pray about it. While praying, I spoke to some family, friends and mentors, and let them know about him and his character. I even had family and friends who had visions and revelations of our coming together. I prayed and got my confirmations and on March 19, 2023, I told him yes! Thus, our courtship (relationship) began. On March 20, 2023, he asked my parents for my hand in marriage, and they agreed.
On March 15, 2023, I bought a flight ticket to go to Abuja, Nigeria because I was invited to go to Ibukun’s wedding. I also wanted to use it as an opportunity to meet Urim physically for the first time. On May 4, 2023, we were scheduled to take professional photos of ourselves, so we went to the studio. To my surprise, Urim did an official proposal and he invited his friends who did the decorations for the proposal. We celebrated and laughed! He totally surprised me!
It has been an amazing experience so far! I love him so much and I’m glad we decided to do life together. This relationship has been one of the best decisions I have ever made in life, and I cherish Urim. I got one of the rarest versions of men alive. He is a kind and gentle soul, with a pure heart, and good manners. A true gentleman who treats me like a queen. I look forward to doing life with him and walking alongside him till I’m old and gray!
