Will and I first met in March of 2008. I flew to America from my YWAM base in Skien, Norway to attend a School of Worship held at YWAM Denver. Will was one of the staff members at the base and we hit it off from the first conversation we had. He actually walked away thinking, 'I don't know about that girl!' It was not a romantic 'hit off' but one of openness, friendship, laughing loudly, and discovering similar interests like painting. This photo was taken at the end of the 3 month school. In which Will ended up being the band leader for MY BAND. I guess as he would explain....'Erika, I could tell that you liked me'. I thought I was being quite innocent and quiet about it since developing new relationships were discouraged while attending the short 3 month school.

I enjoyed him....as a friend and confidant. I realized that because of my broken engagement 2 years earlier I had lost a lot of trust in men. Will was the type of person that sees you for who you are....not what you do or what you can do for him. He treated me like his friend and that was exactly what the Lord had in mind. I began to realize that there might be something in this friendship that I would like to see grow.

I waited until the end of the school...the last day to be exact....to expose my inklings. I sort of put my 'line' out there and wondered if he would 'catch on'. I wrote him a letter to thank him for the great times we had had, for being my friend and leader, and wished him well. I threw my boldness in at the end. Remembering a conversation we had had about his thoughts on relationships and courtship, I threw a loaded comment into the last phrase of the letter. (I wonder if he kept that card....hmmm) I said, 'the only thing I regret about our friendship is that we are not on the same path now.' I was commited to live in Norway for another year and he was staying here in Denver. How would that work? So my comment was sort of loaded.....because his heart was to not demand a girl to follow on his path...or even be manipulated to join her path. But rather letting the Lord do His work in you and then as you look around who is walking on the same path? I wanted to be on the path...to be the one he looked left and right and found serving the Lord. I knew we had similar passions and thought and pondered how any of this would work out. He picked up what I was puttin' down. He tortured me with a long phone call that talked about everything BUT the letter. At the end he said straight out, 'you like me don't you.' I felt like a 7th grader. The answer was an awkward yes and then all the moments of how, what, who, when, where came somewhere after that. We planned on just calling and keeping in touch over the summer. He couldn't say for sure what he felt yet....time would allow him to hear from God and let the idea of me stew in his heart.

It was an exciting and good summer. I felt great about the pace because I was leaving for Norway fairly soon anyway. I think it was at that point that I discovered a tip about long distant relationships. I could talk on the phone until my face turned blue, but I would still never know what Will was about fully (or will I ever, only the Lord can know). We miss face to face, day to day contact that is normal. You can't capture the day to day events in an email or a phone call. They are things you just have to do and experience. Nothing special....just normal. I think later on we would say this concept was DESIRED, YEARNED for. We wanted to have a normal chance to date and know each other.

But from the beginning we just tried to 'get into each other's worlds'. I would suggest this activity to anyone who is far away from a friend or family member. It's interactive and has the possibility to engage the heart----which is the point!


WHAT ARE YOU SEEING?
It's simple. Will would take a picture of something he saw that day or week and send it to me. I would make that my desktop photo so I could think of him...think about what he is seeing...and get into his world a bit. It was really fun and worked. We did it for a while and then sort of stopped. I would be up for starting that again....especially when we are in different places.

His Photo #1
Will took this picture of the small pond outside of the YWAM Denver base. I can remember him going out there after lunch and talking on his phone...sometimes to his sister who was at the time living in Bosnia, or to a friend. It's a beautiful little bubbling pond.

My photo #1

I sent him a picture of my grandpa. He thought I was joking. But I was not. He was faithful to the game so he put it on his desktop. I think he was more than ready to receive the next photo.

His photo #2 He is a pianist. He has played for many years and began playing at his church with the worship team. This is a picture of the piano he was playing on. It is SO nice to have a real piano you can play on and not just a keyboard. There is much excitement over a grand piano in the room!

His Photo #3

This photo was taken on his phone while driving through Montana on a trip to visit his friend Jordan. It's wierd....but because of these pictures and the story they plot out....the year is not a blur as much as it could be. We have small milestones that we invite each other to step towards.

there is so much more to come. please come back again someday and find out more!!