Recently a good friend from the UK commented, ‘Some folk have said, "Who is this guy Sharon is marrying? She has said a lot about the place they got engaged but hardly a word about the man himself in her letters or on the blog"!!!.......’ So here is an attempt to rectify that deficiency without getting embarrassingly sentimental in the process.
Let me see, I first met David in May 1999. I was in my second year of medical school and was attending a conference organized by the Christian Medical Fellowship for medics with an interest in ministering to Muslims. One of the speakers at the conference was a very intelligent senior house officer who caught my eye. One afternoon we both joined a walk through the countryside around Hemel Hamstead, and soon found ourselves deep in conversation.
David was actually a friend of a couple I had known since childhood, and through them had been brought into this ministry in London. He reminded me a lot of my father – a quick mind and great attention to detail, a willingness to take my ideas and opinions seriously (even seriously enough to disagree with), and a distinct lack of attention to time (but far greater musical talent – David’s the only person I know who has the option of being a concert organist if he ever gets fed up with medicine.)
Over the years we bumped into each other a lot through CMF and Islamic events, eventually becoming good friends. He went on to train in Public Health – working first in London and then in Birmingham, and I finished medical school in Leeds and then started my OB/Gyn training. In 2007 David started working for MedAir in Eastern Congo (out of all the places in the world that MedAir works, they sent him to the same town as my sister and brother-in-law, and he got to know them quite well through the work there). Meanwhile I continued to work in Britain and prepared for my own adventure in Ethiopia. Our communication dwindled away during this time, and I assumed I had heard the last of him. But clearly God had different ideas.
In January 2009, David heard about the concerns we had regarding my father’s health and the possible diagnosis of cancer. His mother had died several years earlier of cancer, so he was able to really empathize with how worried I must be, and he began calling me every week to see how I was doing and encourage me. This continued even after dad’s illness was over, and I came to look forward to these conversations, particularly during some of the challenges I faced in Ethiopia. Then when my plans to train at the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa fell through, he was able to arrange for me to come to Bunia for the fistula camp with Christina de Wind. We saw each other quite frequently during those three weeks, and after years of friendship the timing was right for the relationship to change.
These years in Africa have been good for both of us – God has taken each of us through some very difficult times, increasing our faith and trust in Him. He has also shown us how our friendship and affection can support and encourage one another.
I'm rather looking forward to the adventure of being married to David - though we both will have some adjusting to do. In many ways our backgrounds are very different – I was raised in Kenya as the child of American missionaries. In my immediate family I have 1 brother and 2 sisters – now all with spouses and children of their own. My extended family numbers nearly 70, all told – though we cannot get together as often as we would wish. David is an only child, raised in Manchester with a much smaller extended family. Until moving to Congo his international experience had been confined to short trips – though he has travelled widely through Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. He finds the chaos of my huge family a little overwhelming – but has come to enjoy my parents and siblings, and they are very fond of him.
But suffice it to say that I am still coming to grips with the privilege of receiving the love and affection of this man, and I am looking forward to seeing how God leads and directs us as we grow in love for one another, living and working side-by-side. (There, I warned you that I was likely to slip into sentimentality – I do apologize.)