When I was in South Africa last summer, I got to know more than just South African college students.  I also got to know Cameron, one of my co-leaders on the team.

While leading together for six weeks, I was able to observe who Cameron was from close up, both in a ministry setting and in day-to-day life situations.  I came away incredibly impressed by her and knew that she was someone that I wanted to pursue when we came back to the states.

Out of sheer wisdom for team dynamics, Campus Crusade has a policy that people on their summer teams can’t begin to date while overseas.  The joke is, however, that once the plane hits the ground in the states and the fasten seatbelt sign is turned off dating becomes fair game.  The day that we were leaving South Africa, I went to the local market and picked up a blank card.  Inside, I wrote a bunch of things I appreciated about Cameron and, at the end, asked her if we could talk.  I also enclosed a daisy (her favorite flower) with the stem cut off within the card.  I sealed it and put it in my backpack.  It stayed there for the next forty hours and 15,000 miles, traveling from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg to New York and finally Los Angeles, where we landed extremely exhausted from our trip.  I grabbed the card and anxiously held it in my hand.  We began to taxi down the runway (which seemed to take forever) and arrived at our gate.  The fasten seatbelt sign turned off.  At that moment, I jumped out of my seat and handed the card to Cameron, who was one aisle in front and across from me.  We began dating the next day.

I’ve been dating Cameron for 7.5 months and am even more impressed with her today than when we started dating.  She loves Jesus, is mature, sweet, intelligent, beautiful, a great friend, and super compatible with my personality.  I am so excited to be dating her.

Cameron is in her junior year at UC Davis, which definitely makes it a long-distance relationship.  We’ve managed to see each other at least once a month, however, and we Skype and talk on the phone regularly throughout the week in the meantime.

Cameron is a big part of my life, and since you are invested in my life as well, I wanted you to know about her.  Pray that our relationship would be honoring to God, that he would help us continue to get to know each other, and that he would give us patience in this season of long distance.  Pray that we would continue to enjoy each other.

I’m thankful for your involvement in my life!