On their first in-person date, Joy told Mark she wasn’t ready for a relationship.
It was not the response that Mark wanted to hear, especially after traveling all the way from his home state of California to Joy’s home city of Winnipeg. Yet, Joy still needed some time to figure out if she was ready to be in a committed relationship. This hesitation was, of course, met with mixed emotions. “Mark was so jet-lagged and teary-eyed,” she remembers.
Still, while sitting across from her in that Winnipeg restaurant, Mark resolved that he was willing to wait for Joy.
Mark tried CatholicMatch as an antidote to Tinder.
After learning about CatholicMatch from a booth at SEEK2015, Mark decided to give online dating a try. “I joined the site because my friends were trying to make me a Tinder account and I refused. I wanted someone who shared my faith so I decided to try this site out.” Yet at first he found it quite frustrating. “It was hard to find someone, let alone to have someone reciprocate the interest.”
He spent almost 6 months on the site before coming across Joy’s profile. He thought she seemed cute, sweet, and humble, and wanted to get to know her.
Joy, intrigued by online dating, knew she wanted to find someone who shared her religious beliefs. She soon discovered CatholicMatch and signed up. She was only on the site for a few days before someone viewed her profile and sent her an emoji...Mark! Curious, she decided to “stalk” Mark’s profile in return. Liking what she saw—especially that he was also Filipino and liked to travel—she responded to his message.
Yet, things would take a slower pace for a while.
After that first in-person meeting and teary-eyed dinner date in Winnipeg, Mark flew back to California. They continued to communicate online and over the phone so that they could get to know each other better. And about a year later while on another in-person visit to Canada, they finally became boyfriend and girlfriend. This was about three years from when they had initially met on CatholicMatch.
During several more back-and-forth visits across the border, their relationship continued to grow. Mark soon learned how enjoyable time with Joy is, with her funny, patient, and light-hearted nature. The distance was not easy, however. Finding time to go visit each other was a challenge, and traveling itself had its struggles. “There was no direct flight for either of us to visit each other so I would always spend a whole day each way just being in the airport or on a plane,” Mark admits.
Even still, Joy grew in her affection for Mark, especially his sweet and understanding nature. "He wants to know my problems and helps me solve them."
COVID-19 strengthened their faith and patience.
Then, in March 2020, just as Mark arrived back from a visit to Winnipeg, the Canadian border closed due to COVID. The couple soon had to rely solely on video chatting and phone calls to keep their relationship going. They would even send each other food via DoorDash for their “dates.”
Thankful for their faith, they got through what would end up being 18 months of border closure. “I remember us praying Liturgy of the Hours together with our friends over Zoom, doing Consecration to St. Joseph and prayers for the intercession of St. Rita, just hoping that one day we would be able to see each other again,” says Mark.
That day finally came, and they were “full of excitement” when they could see each other again.
A surprise proposal during their long-awaited reunion!
In September 2021, Mark flew all the way to Winnipeg with a ring in hand to see Joy for the first time in 18 months. “[I] wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to propose to her, only that I wanted to talk to her parents first and wanted them to be there when I did.”
That very first night, after talking separately with Joy’s parents, Mark calls Joy into the kitchen with them. After running back into the guest room, he brings out the ring and proposes right then and there! Joy, who is so unsuspecting that she is already in her pajamas ready for bed, says, “Yes, of course!” Her parents then pull out their phones to document the happy moment.
The couple is currently planning out their wedding now for 2023!
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