7-year-old American boy's gift box for poor kids reached a girl in Philippines — 14 years later, he ended up marrying her
Some people find love in the most unexpected places. A 7-year-old boy didn't know that he would find love when he sent a shoe-box gift miles away from his home. The boy, Tyrel Wolfe, was 7 years old in 2000 when he sent Christmas shoebox gifts with the help of his parents from Idaho to children in the Philippines. It was a project run by Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan’s Purse and people were supposed to fill the boxes with school supplies, toys and toiletries, per PEOPLE.
Each person had to include a photo of themselves in the shoebox they were going to send. Wolfe had sent in a photo of himself in a cowboy outfit against a mountain background. He never thought about it for almost a decade. But then, he got a Facebook friend request from Joana Marchan. He didn't know the person, so he ignored the request. She sent a request again two years later and this time Wolfe accepted it. He wanted to know how Marchan knew him. The woman told him how his shoebox gift had meant a lot to her, but Wolfe couldn't recount what she was talking about. Until his mom, Denise, reminded him about the gifts he had sent out as a child. The girl had sent a thank-you note for it, but it was lost in the mail.
"I was curious as to what he was like now. Was he going to college like me?" Marchan expressed. The two of them had quite a few things in common, like their belief in religion and their taste in music, so they started talking on Facebook quite often. After talking online for a year, they decided to meet in person. The man flew to the Philippines for 10 days to meet the woman. "I knew I was taking a big risk. I had never traveled alone, let alone to a foreign country before and I was meeting people I didn't know or even knew really existed," Wolfe explained. He was both excited and nervous during the flight. When he finally saw Marchan, he remembered being attracted to her immediately. Marchan shared his feelings.
They met for the first time in May 2013, but couldn't start dating right then because Wolfe would have to get permission from Marchan's father, according to her family's tradition. He felt it was one of the "hardest goodbyes" when it was time to go back. But the man was determined to come back, and they kept in touch through Skype and Facebook. In November 2013, Wolfe visited Marchan again for a month. He asked for Marchan's hand in marriage and her father agreed, but her mother wanted them to wait as she felt they were too young. Wolfe eventually convinced his dad to go to the Philippines with him in May 2014 and Marchan's mother told his dad, "You are a sign from God that we are allowing Tyrel and Joana to marry. If you had not come, we wouldn't have let the relationship continue." They threw an engagement party to celebrate the couple.
The couple moved to the United States and got married there in October, as Wolfe had a great job there. The couple got married in the Philippines in a second ceremony a few months later, so Marchan's parents could attend too, as they couldn't get a visa the first time around. The couple now sends the shoe-boxes every year and includes a note to tell their story. "They were excited to see behind the scenes of where it all happened for them. We want these children to experience love, and that’s exactly what they found. It was like a needle in a haystack," Rachel Mills, assistant director of Operation Christmas Child, conveyed. "We don't want to give them some fantasy, but we do want to show that we care and want to share our love. We both feel so blessed and grateful that Operation Christmas Child brought us together," Wolfe explained.