On a summer day in 1996, Elisa was born in the beautiful country of Venezuela as a daughter of Pio and Elka. When Elisa was 1 year and 9 months old, something really significant happened in her life, although she was not aware of the fact at that time.

Because meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Willem was born in the Netherlands as a son to Karst and Baukje.

Elisa went far and wide in this world, having lived in Venezuela, England, the United States, and Spain. She traveled all over, until one day, the 20th of May 2023, she knew her life was gonna change forever.

The build up

That her life would change that day, she did not know. Who hadn't heard the stories about the 'perfect man showing up at your doorstep'? Well, on this day, it became a reality for Elisa.

At that time in her life, Elisa could not take her eyes off of her books. She had been so busy studying for her upcoming exams, until the night before, the 19th of May. Her lovely housemate saw Elisa's hard work, and she instigated that Elisa really needed a break. Therefore, that night, Elisa invited 2 friends over. After a lovely evening, these friends returned home, BUT, not before our lovely housemate invited them to come back the next day. She had been planning a worship night, and was eagerly searching for men to attend this evening. What she did not know was that this was the beginning of a divine set up.

The 20th of May came to pass, and these two friends were to return to Elisa's house. However, they did not return before spreading the news to their housemate that there would be a worship night. This housemate heard the news, and decided to go. This housemate was Willem.

The day we met

Earlier that day, Elisa had been pondering if she would even attend her housemate's worship night. But by a nudge of the Spirit, she decided to get ready. And aren't we glad she did.

To welcome in all the guests, Elisa had made one of her signature dishes: her explosion-of-flavours-in-your-mouth-guacamole, which was a big hit under the -mainly male- visitors. Above all, her guacamole was a good conversation starter with some of the male attendees. She had seen this one handsome, tall man, but he looked a little young, after all: she was already 26 years old. At the same time, Willem was impressed by the flavourful guacamole. Never in his life had he enjoyed such a combination of flavours. A genuine compliment was made to the maker, and she had his attention. A beautiful latina, who was easygoing and really engaged with the guests, although she looked really young. She told everyone how she had grown up in Venezuela, and how beautiful her country actually is. She was intrigued by all the attention she experienced from this tall, young guy.

Willem wanted to test how smart this girl actually was, by asking her to guess where he is from, with one hint: that he is actually her neighbour. Elisa frowned for a second,

and said: Oh, so you are Dutch!

The conversation continued, and after finding out that he was actually only one year younger, and he found out that she was actually only one year older, the mutual interest increased.

It was time for the worship night to start, and both had a beautiful time in the presence of God. It was such a beautiful time, that God actually spoke to Elisa - as He so often does-. And at some point, she actually felt like she had a prophetic word for this interesting man she had just met. That's when the internal conflict started: she didn't want to give the word because she didn't want to seem like she was flirting with a prophetic word. She weighed the word; and then God asked her a question: 'is it your word?' no, Elisa said. 'Is it for you?'. no, Elisa said. 'So, who does it belong to?'. That's when she decided to go up to him, and give him this word she just had.

Willem felt flattered when this girl he had just met came up to him, and gave him such a beautiful encouragement. 'That truly is a woman of God', he thought. Not too long after, Willem experienced a similar prompting of God to give Elisa a word. Suffering through all the nerves, he gave her the -simple yet timely- word, which spoke to Elisa, and she thought: 'okay, this is a man of God'.

The worship night came to an end, and after all the guests had left Elisa told her housemate:

'I had this strange feeling of safety when I was around that guy'. Meanwhile, Willem could not stop thinking of this girl who he had met. He decided to take his chance, and text her that same night.

They started talking, they fell in love, and they lived happily ever after.

Wedding Day

Wedding ceremony