Nana and Catherine's wedding in Cambridge, Ontario

On the second day of the conference, he approached me while I was speaking with a church brother I had met at the retreat the year before. He asked me if I knew someone who lives in Kitchener/Waterloo area because he had a branch there, I said I did have a friend in that region. He provided me his flyer, what’s more he insisted that I send him a message so that he can connect about that friend’s information, I was reluctant at first so I waited until I had peace, then I messaged him several hours later with the information. By this time, I knew this was more than just outreaching for church members, I had a feeling he was outreaching for my attention.

Love blossoms

Pastor Nana, or RDC as I like to call him, called me after the conference ended, I told him I was staying for a 3 extra days with my parents, so he asked me out to lunch the next day, after consulting my calendar to see if I was available, I called him back and said I was free in the afternoon. He took me to this beautiful Thai restaurant, we had a great conversation, he was very open and direct about his love for God, ministry, himself and his intentions, I found out that he did some homework on me before asking me out! He kept making the waitress and me laugh with his quirky sense of humour. The icing on the cake for me was when he asked me for a dance to one of my favourite love songs playing on the radio. I knew in that moment that this was no ordinary man. Pastor Nana and I continued to get to know each other over the months through long distance phone calls and a few visits. What made me love him even more was that through the challenges and hurdles we faced, he stood with me in constant prayer and encouragement. His tenacious love for God, for me and my daughter whom he embraced with great love from the start, drew me closer to him. After deeply seeking the face of God, he confirmed to me that Pastor Nana was the man he had told me about several years ago, he was an extraordinary man, a kingdom’s man and this was not a story written several years ago, but this was a love story written before time in heaven I am excited to spend the rest of my life with him!

P.S. He apologized for ignoring me on that day

HIS STORY

Every year we have a leaders retreat at my church where all the leaders from all the branch churches gather which I have attended over the years. The purpose of me attending these retreats recently was to focus on doing the work of God in the city of Cambridge, so my focus had not necessarily been on finding a wife. But the year 2017, just before the leaders retreat in March, I believed that was the season for me to start looking for a companion, so I told the Holy Spirit jokingly that He must find me a wife at the leaders retreat lol.

The leaders retreat started on a Friday night, the Pastors usually sit in front. So here I was sitting in front with the other pastors and there were young ladies laughing behind. So I turned around and asked them what city they were from and they responded with smiles and giggles, as kind and gentle as the other ladies were one, in particular, was glowing in my eyes. So I asked them what city they were from and what their nationality was, but this was my way of trying to find out more information about the lady who caught my eye. As praise and worship was going on I looked briefly to see her again but she was so focused on the worship with her eyes close she didn't see me, but that really impressed me more than anything. Shortly after that, I went to the back briefly to see my niece and hold her for a bit, hoping that Lubuya will see me taking care of a little toddler loooool. Guess what ? it worked! She came and smiled and she looked really impressed lool. So throughout the Conference, I was observing her and trying to catch moments with her but didn't really get the chance. So on the last day of the conference during a break breaching the end of the conference, she was standing beside the elevator talking to another guy whom I happen to know and I was a bit nervous as I passed by trying to get her attention because I could tell that the guy was also trying to make a move but then I said to myself " if I don't get this wonderful lady's number this moment by next year she might be taken or even married".

So I went into the conversation and used our church evangelism flyer (which has my number on it lol ) to ask if she knew anybody in my city to please give me a call (lol). So I stayed there until she added my number lol and gave me hers lol . I was hoping and praying I would receive at least a text and she eventually texted. But in the process, I spoke to one of my Pastor friend who knew her and her story very well and they shared what they knew and gave me a thumbs up saying "if God says yes she is a great one". After the conference I called her briefly and asked her out for some tea, we sat down, I talked to her for a few hours and then I made my quest to seek God on the matter. To be honest she was transparent and just open about anything we spoke about, and what impressed me the most was that she never talked about her education(master degree in French literature) the first weeks I spoke to her, I found out from a third source, which really showed the humility yet confidence she had in who she was in the Lord. To the end, this long interesting story of how we met, let's just say I'm lucky (favour of God) by God allowing to move forward with Lubuya. I count it as a true privilege to share life with her and Daniella (my sweetheart) and move God's Kingdom forward.

HOW HE PROPOSED

On December 25, 2016, I came down from Ottawa to celebrate with my family in Toronto. As our usual tradition, we celebrated at my parent's house. I was waiting for my fiance, this would be our first Christmas together. The night before he took me to a beautiful chateau for a date night, I thought he would propose but he gave me a diamond necklace instead, I was not happy! Needless to say, I was not expecting him to propose to me on Christmas day because he said he would never do that as it would take away from the true meaning of Christmas which was the birth of Christ. Well, that was a lie. When my soon to be fiance arrived at my parent's house, I was not in the inside, my mother found a way to send me out on an errand, I came up to see him greet me with a smile and say " Merry Christmas love, I have a gift for you but you have to work for it, here is your first clue". He took me on a treasure hunt that took about 15 minutes of opening different gifts inside the house and outside the house, and then finally I came back to the house, slightly opening the front door.... there were rose petals on the floor leading to my handsome man standing there with all our family as he serenades me to the song "you are my African queen" while holding a ring box!! I was smiling from ear to ear, and I said YES.

THE WEDDING DAY

My fiance and I did our small traditional African wedding six months prior, our ' Canadian wedding day' finally arrived. This was the most beautiful, amazing memories and one of the best day of my life! I was with my precious little princess and my amazing bridesmaids of 8. We started off the morning very well prepared on high energy.

The theme of our wedding was "Heaven's Paradise" and we tried to let everything reflect the theme: the wedding party were "Angels", the ceremony was "pearly Gate", the reception was " heaven's great banquet". I had a feather bouquet, feathered centerpieces with backdrop colours of gold, white and hints of blue backdrop light.

Congo and Ghana = DANCE DANCE

When you put a Congolese and a Ghanian together, you have no choice but to DANCE! My husband and I both love to dance, plus we did not have an easy journey to marriage so we told ourselves that this will truly be a celebration love and we will dance all night. We incorporated both of our culture with the food and music. We asked two good friends of ours who are professional dancers to help us choreograph dance sets. Our large bridal party ( 9 groomsmen, 8 bridesmaids, two best men, two MOH) entered the churched ceremony to an African salsa groove and likewise at the reception. We dance for our grand entrance to our own choreography which we made. I danced with my bridesmaids in the evening to a set which we practiced in one day ( not advised but we had fun) It was a truly wonderful time.

GROOM SURPRISE THE GROOM

One thing i was not expecting was for my husband to create a surprise dance for me, they did such an amazing job, they had the crowd thrilled with excitement.

FIRST DANCE MEDLEY

My husband is very romantic, he asked one of my bridesmaid who has such a uniquely beautiful voice, to sing a medley of love songs which he suggested, it was so beautiful I cried during our first dance. We danced under the "cloud".

The night was full of surprises, joy, fun, laughter and so many memories ending at 1 am. We had many of our guests say that this was the best wedding they have ever attended. We are so thankful for all the love we received.