Willie and I met in 1974. I was still in school. When my parents saw that our relationship became serious, they decided that we should break-up. They said I was still at school and Willie, five years older than me, was working already. They said I was too young for a serious relationship.

Willie was preparing to leave and go home. After he visited for the weekend I walked with him to his car and I made a promise to him. I said to him: Listen, you know this is not my decision, this was my parent's decision. I make a promise to you today: After I completed my school and start working I will call you and then ask you if you are still unmarried and if you are still interested in me, then we can meet once. We can then discuss if we want to start with our relationship again. We can do that. If you are not interested then we know. We greeted and said good bye.

Willie went home and continued with his work. He got involved with power boat racing and started racing. He really did well in the power boat racing. I continued with my school training and completed it. We did not contact each other during this time. I completed my last year at school in 1977. I started as a student nurse in January 1978 at the

Pietersburg Hospital. At the end of January, I got my first salary and did what I promised before.

I then made a phone call to Willie. I said who was calling and reminded Willie about my promise. I said that I started nursing in January 1978 and in March 1978 I and a group of nurses will go to Pretoria for training for a month. I said that we will go to H.F. Verwoerd hospital and they will stay in the nursing home during this time. Willie needed to do some research to see where it is in Pretoria.

We all travelled then to Pretoria and arrived at the H.F. Verwoerd Hospital and went then to the nurses home. That evening they called me downstairs to the front door and said that there was a visitor for me. I went then downstairs and to my surprise Willie was there to visit me.

Willie said that he is studying to become a minister in the church he grew up. It was a traditional church in South Africa. He is studying at the University of Pretoria and doing night classes. He was still working in the day. He had a break now between classes and we have about a half hour break to meet. We then drove of to the university grounds and underneath the beautiful Jacaranda trees with its purple flowers and a beautiful night we sat in the car. We did not know what to say to each other.

I then broke the silence and I asked him if he has a girlfriend or another woman in his life. He said no. There was silence. He then asked me if have a man in my life. I replied no. He said in such a case: Will you marry me? Without thinking twice I replied positively. He said that is wonderful but he is sorry that he had to return to his class at the university. He said that he has to take me back to the nurse's home and returned to the university.

I went upstairs and found my longtime friend. I was very excited and told her that I am going to marry him. She asked me what was going on. I told her what happened before. She said that she never heard something like this. I must think twice. I have to calm down. I must not get so excited about seeing someone once again.

Willie came to visit me a couple of times while I was at the nurse's home. We started our relationship again. At the end of the month we all returned with the train to Pietersburg. I started to work again. Willie's life continued as well. He carried on working during the day and having night classes at the university.

Every second weekend Willie came to visit me in Pietersburg. His aunt and family lived in Pietersburg and he stayed with them. We started dating again.

In the meantime I told my parents that I have met Willie again. My parents were not happy with this situation. My parents were not excited as I was because Willie was not in the Pentecostal church. He was studying to become a minister in a traditional church. My mother's words to me was clear, he is going to take you away from your church. I said, let him study, even for seven years. If he completed his studies then he can become a pastor in a Pentecostal Church. I am not bothered about him studying to become a minister in the traditional church. I love him.

I did not tell them that he asked me to marry me and I am going to marry him. They were very upset. Later on I went to my parent's farm and Willie came to visit me on the farm. My father had a rule in the house. Ten o'clock is bedtime. There was no electricity on the farm. My father had a diesel engine which generated power to the house. Ten minutes before he will say that it is bed time soon and he will go to bed.

He will then turn off the diesel machine at 22:00 so we only had 5 minutes for each other. During the day my father kept him busy with some jobs to do. Willie was like one of my father's servants but he never complained. He did what my father asked him to do. We only had like 5 minutes on the Friday and on Saturday night for each other. We stayed by my parent’s rules.

One weekend Willie came and he said that he has a surprise for me. It was during these 5 minutes before bed time. We had to light up a candle and in the candle light he took out the engagement ring and put it on my finger. I was so overwhelmed learning forward to look at my engagement ring in the candle light that I burned my hair on the front but it did not bother me. I was very excited the next morning. I was sitting at the breakfast table with the ring. My mother noticed the ring and asked me what it was. I said that Willie asked me to marry him and I accepted. We got engaged in July 1978. Our wedding plans started.

We got married on January 6th 1979. It was the most beautiful and happiest day in my life. I knew it was God who brought us together and we kept our promise to each other and we know His will. I was 19 years old Willie was 24 years old. We were just so young and we did not even know what we are but we got married. After the celebration we stayed in a hotel in Pietersburg. My sister and her husband, they were not married at this time, came to fetch us on Sunday 7th at the hotel. They promised that they will take us to the airport for our flight to Cape Town for our honeymoon. My brother-in-law said that he just want to stop over at his parents home to say goodbye. It was on the way. He was working in Pretoria. We agreed on that as our flight was much later to Cape Town. Then we stopped over at his parent house.

His parents had some family from Cape Town who was on vacation. They were visiting family in the Transvaal. They were related to his dad. They heard that we just got married. They then asked us where we will be staying in Cape Town. He said then that we are welcome to stay in his home in Cape Town and we are welcome to use his wife's car while we are there. His house is empty and he will contact his neighbor to collect us at the airport. We gave him all the details. He said that his neighbor has the keys and he will give it to us. We could not believe this and thought it was a trick. This was the first time we met this people. We also did not cancel the hotel booking because we were not sure if this is going to happen. We all then left his parents home with Allen and my sister.

Allen then dropped us at the Johannesburg airport and we got on the plane to Cape Town. At Cape Town a man was standing with a board with our names on. He came to fetch us and told us that his neighbor phoned him.

He dropped us at the home and gave us the keys for the house and the wife's car. He said that his neighbor is going to be away for three week in the Transvaal and we can stay there for three weeks while they were away. Every evening the neighbor visited us and gives us the weather report for the next day and then suggested what we have to do the next day. He even said what places we should visit. He helped us a lot and we had a wonderful time. It was the most wonderful time and we saw many places during our stay. It was our first visit to Cape Town and the region. We only had to fill the car with some petrol.

Just before our honey moon ended and we had to return home we got home from an outing and the door and windows were open. Initially we thought we left it open before we left but to our amazement the people of the house were back. We wanted to go to a hotel but they insisted that we stay. They will stay in the children's bedroom and we can continue to use their bedroom. Our washing was done and was all folded up on the bed.

They blessed us and it can only be God. God get all the glory and the honor and the praise. The way that God brought us together, the way God kept both of us pure. The way God brought us together is amazing. Nobody else had a story like this. Our Honeymoon was the most wonderful fun loving experience that I had in my life until then. Then we went home and we will cherish the time that we had the tree weeks that we did not live amongst other persons in hotels and to go by taxi\s or busses or to buy food. We saw a lot of places in and around Cape Town and we had a vehicle to drive around. We will cherish this time forever. The way that God provided for us to start our journey and our marriage together. We give God all the glory and all the praises. Our God is a God that keeps His promises and he brought us together and until today we are still together.

All the Glory to God.