Happy 2015 to everyone! I'm sure everyone has had a year of surprises, trials, adventures, and announcements. If you are reading this blogpost, chances are that you saw a Facebook picture that was posted on January 1, 2015! And so for all those who are curious, YES, I, John Loo, am in a courtship with Rachel Wass!!! Many of you are aware of my commitment throughout the years to wait for the special person that God has for my future and so this is definitely an exciting announcement. Thus, Rachel and I (the following story contains both perspectives) want to make our courtship story public and allow God to use our testimonies for His glory. So here it goes....
2009
John - I saw Rachel for the first time while playing volleyball at Pensacola Christian College. She was part of the elite volleyball team with cool people. I was just a brand-new Freshmen who knew nobody and couldn't really play volleyball. Hey, but at least I tried!
Rachel - Volleyball game. Sports Center Annex at PCC. John Loo messed up my very competitive game by being silly and hitting the ball out of bounds. I thought to myself, "Who is this guy?" Little did I know . . .
2010-2012
John - I was officially introduced to Rachel for the first time by our good friend Yuriy Dolzhanskiy in September of 2010. She became part of my close group of friends who were mostly Russian and Ukrainian PCC students. I remember that we were really happy to have Rachel as one of our friends because she was really good at playing volleyball and we could finally win some volleyball games at the Sports Center Annex! She also became an active member of our group meetings and birthday celebrations. It was cool to go to her house for the first time in December of that same year for a Christmas party. At this point, I remember thinking that Rachel was really cool and had an awesome family. The year of 2011 was especially hard for me because I was under a commitment to God and my parents that I was not going to get in any type of romantic relationships while an undergrad. This was a commitment that I made prior to going to college in order to focus on God, school, and work. Thus, even though I saw potential relationships that I could pursue, I made it a priority to finish my degree without any romantic relationships. By God's grace, I graduated in May of 2012 girl-free!
Rachel - Sophomore year of college I was introduced to what would become my core group of friends by our mutual friend Yuriy. In my mind, John and I were just friends hanging out at parties devotional groups, and lunches/dinners. John was nice, but definitely nothing else. As I began to do more with the group, I developed some close friendships within that group. John was one of them. I remember that we could talk about anything and several times I remember thinking to myself, "Could there ever be something between John and me?" But, I would always dismissed these thoughts by realizing that we were just good friends. I really believe that it was just not God's timing.
2012-2013
John/Rachel - The summer following John's graduation, Rachel worked at the Bill Rice Ranch, while John went to Ukraine on a missions trip. In the fall, Rachel started her final and busiest year of nursing school, while John began his graduate work at Pensacola Christian College as a TA. The school year of 2012-2013 was so busy for both of them that there was little communication between them; however, they were still good friends.
2014
John - I was finishing my graduate work while still teaching full-time as a graduate Teaching Assistant. However, somehow, I was able to find time to go play "Settlers of Catan" with Rachel and several other friends at McDonalds on a regular basis in the fall of 2013 and start of 2014. This time of playing board games rekindled the good friendship and conversations that Rachel and I really enjoyed. I was specially excited for Rachel deciding to go work in Papua New Guinea for the whole year of 2014. She left Pensacola in February, and I was really glad Ilya Marchenko and I went to go see her off at the airport with her family. In my mind, I really felt like I would never see Rachel again since I was still not sure where the Lord would be taking me after graduate school. Plus, I really thought that that she would probably find some awesome guy in the mission field who would marry her and work with her in Papua New Guinea. But, this was not to be! Haha . . . As time went on, Rachel and I communicated via Facebook messaging, Skype, and Viber simply as friends who were interested in keeping in touch. However, our conversations soon became focused on deep issues like missions, doctrine, and life goals. These types of conversations began to make me nervous, because I felt like we were passing the friend stage without really talking about the status of our relationship or where it was going. Ever since I was a teenager, I made several strong commitments to God and my parents that I would take marriage very seriously, and I am not the person who will date around for fun or entertainment. Thus, I was in communication with my parents during the whole summer of this year of 2014, and we prayed and fasted for the Lord to show me what steps to take in this relationship. I decided to give Rachel's and mine friendship up to the Lord for good and focus solely on the missions trip to the Philippines that I was taking in June and July. The Lord was so faithful and I was able to see Him do mighty things in my life and the lives of so many in this life-changing trip. However, when I came back at the end of July, I really felt like the Lord wanted me to start a courtship with Rachel. My parents and I spent the whole month of August praying and discussing how to start a courtship, how to carry-out a courtship, and what a courtship should accomplish and result in. This month was an incredible time for me to get a lot of things clear in my mind about what a God-honoring relationship is and how I wanted to proceed with my courtship. So, finally, on September 9, 2014, my dad, Jim Loo, called Rachel's dad, Mr. Dave Wass, to ask permission for me to court his daughter. I had my dad call Mr. Wass because I believe that parental involvement and permission involves both sets of parents, not just the girl's. Thus, since Rachel and I are both still under our parents, it was important for me to have our dads speak about our relationship first. This conversation followed a few of days of prayer by Mr. and Mrs. Wass, and they finally called and spoke to Rachel on September 13, 2014. She said yes, and we officially began our "Secret Courtship" on September 14, 2014 when I called her for the first time since our parents talked.
Rachel - In the summer of 2013, I had gone on a six week long missions trip to Papua New Guinea as an intern. While there, the Lord led me to go back the following year and fill a need that would be present in the medical clinic. In February of 2014, I packed my bags and said goodbye to the USA for ten months. After a couple of months, I was missing my friends and sent out a text to a couple of them just to say hi. John texted me back, and we started texting back and forth a little. At this point, God started changing my heart towards John, and I realized that I was missing all the times we had played board games, volleyball, and just talked the previous six months while I had been preparing to leave to PNG. Thus, I started to pray about this. The Lord placed a desire in my heart for a relationship with John, but I was worried he would never ask because I had always said we were just friends!!!!! What can a girl do in this situation but pray!! One day out of the blue, John CALLED me!! We talked and laughed for so long and he kept calling randomly. He didn't call to often, since we both had ministries and responsibilities. But, I was realizing how much we had in common, and that I enjoyed his company. Finally, one Sunday in September, my dad called and told me Mr. Loo had called. I thought to myself, "Why is my dad calling John, Mr. Loo?" Then I realized what this was all about!!! John's dad had called my dad to ask permission for John to court me. God was answering my prayer. On September 15th in Papua New Guinea time, John finally called me and our courtship began!
December 2014
It has now been about three and a half months since we started our courtship. We decided to have a "Secret Courtship," where only our families and a few friends knew. This was primarily because we were doing this long distance and wanted to really have time to focus and get to know each other more deeply without having the whole world knowing about our relationship. But, now that Rachel has returned from Papua New Guinea, and since the Lord worked it out for her to spend a week in Houston with John's family, we both feel like it's time for us to make our courtship public. We want to make it clear that we are NOT dating. Dating in our opinion has worldly connotations that we want to stay away from. Thus, our courtship is purposeful and dealing with our compatibility for marriage. We have also decided to have a NO-TOUCH relationship, where we are abstaining from physical contact--again with the purpose of having a God-honoring relationship that will serve as a testimony for others who also want to have God-honoring relationships. Please pray for us during this new chapter of our lives, and we look forward to sharing more about our courtship and lives in the near future. Please stay tuned for more posts from us!
-John & Rachel
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