Joseph was in love with Ellen, and he didn’t let COVID-19—and the many miles between them—interfere with his asking her to marry him. Stepping out of his comfort zone, he planned a unique proposal to take place over video chat.
Joseph resides in Pennsylvania, and Ellen lives in Indonesia, so the virus and flight restrictions prevented them from seeing each other in person. Because of the uncertainty of when the pandemic would end, neither wanted to put their relationship on hold.
How it began...
Ellen gets the credit for setting their relationship in motion. In September of 2019, she discovered Joe’s profile and felt from his picture that he looked like a kind person, so she sent him a message. Joseph noticed Ellen’s sweet smile and how she appeared devout. He also liked that she loved children.
Those initial impressions turned into mutual admiration. Ellen became Joseph’s “light of his world” because she guided him to improve in many areas of his life. With her help, Joseph says he has become more mature, responsible, positive, and personable. More importantly, she has helped him grow closer to God. Ellen says Joseph’s patience, calm behavior, and kind-heartedness have touched her.
“I feel that he has a genuine heart for loving me unconditionally,” says Ellen, 34.
A safari park first date!
After three months, their relationship felt right, so Joseph made plans to visit Ellen in Indonesia in a month. The prospect of meeting and going on a first date was nerve-wracking for both of them. They both wanted to make a good first impression, but they both felt keenly their lack of dating experience.
“Neither of us had been in a previous relationship before,” she reveals.
On January 27, 2020, Joseph traveled to Indonesia to meet Ellen. Their first date happened at a Safari Park in Indonesia. On a Safari drive-thru, they had the opportunity to feed carrots to various wild animals such as zebras, llamas, and elephants.
“Following that, we went to the zoo and took many pictures together—some with exotic birds, some even with scary animals like a White Siberian Tiger!” they remember.
Then it started raining heavily and suddenly turned quite cold. “I opened up an umbrella for Ellen, and the two of us were walking side-by-side romantically in the rain,” he recalls. “Even though we got soaked, it was a wonderful adventure and made us feel delighted we could experience it together.”
Long distance & love languages...
After Joseph returned home, not seeing one another in person began to feel even more torturous for the couple. It was particularly agonizing for Ellen, whose main love languages consist of acts of service and physical touch. If Ellen needed comforting, Joe felt helpless because he couldn’t hug or hold her.
“It could sometimes make us feel lonely,” they share.
To ensure that both Ellen and Joseph felt loved in the relationship, the couple had a sweet tradition. Each day, they exchange reasons why they love one another.
“By doing this, we felt that it could really help grow and nurture our love for one another,” they say. “Even to this day, we continue to do this. We have kept a running log on an Excel sheet of all the reasons we gave to each other. “
The couple has over 1,000 reasons combined!
“Being able to look back at all these reasons from time to time makes us feel really happy,” she says.
Introducing the families!
When Joseph felt it was the right time to propose to Ellen, he began making plans. He didn’t want to propose before he and Ellen’s families had met, so he arranged for his family and Ellen’s to meet each other via Zoom. He wanted the families to see each other’s faces at least once before he proposed to Ellen.
“After that, I prepared and practiced what I was going to say to Ellen,” says Joseph, 32.
Creating an ambiance...
Before the proposal on Zoom, Joseph created a custom background to make it feel more romantic. He used one of his and Ellen’s favorite photos of them together during his first visit to Indonesia.
“I just cropped us out of the photo so that we could pretend we were together again,” he shares.
On January 24, 2021, a year after they met in person, Joseph began the proposal by singing one of Ellen's favorite songs: "Everyday I Love You" by Boyzone.
Ellen got a kick out of Joseph singing more because he’d never done anything like that before than because of his singing ability. She couldn’t help but laugh at this turn of events. Then Joseph began reminiscing about how they had met, and he told her the top reasons why he loved her.
“I then told Ellen why I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her,” he remembers. “And I popped the question.”
Ellen said "Yes!"
Not the ideal engagement!
A Zoom proposal wasn’t the ideal engagement they had longed for. “Still, we felt happy though because it meant we were ready to take the next step in our relationship together,” says the couple.
Joseph and Ellen plan to have a more conventional engagement ceremony when they meet each other again in-person. Joseph has plans to visit Indonesia this summer, but it will be a while before Ellen can come to the United States because she has to wait for her K1 Visa application’s approval. The K1 Visa application takes about five to seven-months for review by the government, and Ellen will also have to go to the embassy for an interview.
“Ellen was originally planning to visit the USA in the summer of 2020. But her embassy appointment and flights were canceled,” says Joseph. “We waited for months, and finally, in January 2021, she was able to try again. However, unfortunately, she got rejected at the embassy when applying for a US tourist visa.”
When Ellen's Visa was rejected, it devastated the couple and they began questioning why everything was so difficult for them.
“Thankfully, we didn’t lose hope, and we are making great progress moving forward in our journey together, they say. “We're hoping for Ellen's Visa approval by the end of this year 2021 or early next year 2022. When Ellen arrives in the United States, we plan to marry very shortly after.”
Continue Reading
