What happens when a missionary meets two random people for an hour each in the span of a week? They get married, duh.

This past summer (2018) a missionary named Jory, near Fairbanks, AK, came down to Soldotna to purse a church's pastoral position. Turned out, they weren't even hiring! However, a fellow missionary friend, Dave, he had met at a conference earlier that year, happened to live in the area. Dave told Jory that his church WAS hiring, and he should come talk with Pastor Justin. Justin and Jory spoke for an hour, agreeing to look at next steps for that role. (Random Hour #1)

A short time later, Jory picked up a group of Floridians in Nenana who needed to crash at his place while heading up to Kokrine Hills Bible Camp. A girl named Jill had tried to head up a few weeks earlier with her church from California, but her work schedule did not permit. Instead, she teamed up with the Sunshine Staters. Jill's plane just "happened" to arrive before the others, affording her and Jory some time to chat, as he learned she too was an eligible Jesus follower, said "Hey, I just met this single pastor down in Soldotna. You guys should connect!" "Yeah, ok random stranger dude," thought the bachelorette. (Random Hour #2)

When Jory returned to Soldotna for a second interview with Justin's church, he said to Justin, "Hey, I just met this single Californian lady up in Nenana, headed to Bible Camp. You guys should connect!" "Yeah, ok random pastor candidate," said the bachelor. "California. Alaska. That'll work great." Justin blew Jory off, leaving love lying in the dust.

A month later, when Jory returned a third time, to candidate, he approached Justin again and said "Hey, did you ever contact Jill?" "No Jory, I did not, nor do I ever plan to!", retorted the good reverend. "Let me show you her picture," replied the missionary. Upon a quick glance at her Facebook profile, Justin changed his tune. "Well, it couldn't hurt to say hello. I don't wanna be rude!" (What a guy)

Justin wasn't rude and did say hello, reaching out over Facebook Messenger on August 11th. He sent her a friend request and a message, acknowledging the awkwardness (and distance) of the situation, but also that "ya never know what God is up to"! She immediately accepted his friend request, but did not reply to the message. One day went by. Two days. Three days. "Hmmm," Justin thought. Four, five, eventually nine days go by. "Hmmmmmmmmm," Justin thought. "Maybe she saw my picture and likewise had a change of heart. A different kind of change." #uglypastor So he sent a follow-up message, leaving room for the fact she may have chosen not to reply yet (or ever) but just in case... asked, "did you get my message?" Turns out, she had indeed not seen the note! So on August 20th, after nine grueling days, they began to strike up a friendship.

Facebook messages turned to texts, to phone calls, to FaceTime, to a visit to CA over Halloween week, to a visit to AK in January, to a proposal on March 11th, to the glorious union of two strangers introduced by a random missionary who unselfishly took the time to say "Hey, I just met..." Thanks Jory!!