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Show Notes
Lastly in the lineup for the Valentine’s Day Specials, we have the story of Shaun and Elisabeth. Last week we saw how Jonathan had moved to Holland when he was young and there married his wife Lydia and had their two children Michael and Elisabeth; let’s pick it up again from there.
Elisabeth’s Beginning
Elisabeth was born and raised in Holland, and almost as a complete opposite of her dad who moved from the US to Holland when he was 9, she moved to the US from Holland when she was 10, due to the Lord very clearly leading the whole family back to America. Elisabeth was back in the United States and that is where she would stay until later on in this story.
Shaun’s Beginning
Meanwhile, “on the other side of the pond”, the Lord was starting to work in the heart of a young man. Although Elisabeth was saved at an early age, Shaun wasn’t. In fact, he spent the first 22 years of his life living as an atheist. It wasn’t until he met his now best friend Daniel that he heard the Gospel for the first time. The Lord then began to work in his heart and bring him to the point of salvation when he truly repented of his sin and trusted alone in Christ his Savior. Shaun and Daniel started attending GraceLife London where Shaun would be for almost 5 years. Less than a year after he started attending this church, the Lord brought Elisabeth there as part of a mission’s trip from the church she was a part of in Southern California. Like we’ve seen before, and will no doubt see again, this meeting was purely orchestrated by the Lord. There were so many factors that played into this meeting that we can only throw our hands in the air and give the glory to God.
The Mission Trip
Firstly, the Lord had to work in the heart of Elisabeth, as one who never had great experiences with trips and summer camps, she had no desire to leave her family and go on this trip. However, despite this, the Lord prompted her pastor to ask her to pray about the opportunity and even apply to be part of the team. After praying and speaking about it with her parents, she applied, the application was accepted, and she was due to set out on the 23rd of June. She arrived in “sunny ol’” England on Monday the 24th of June where she saw Shaun for the first time, but even this was all by the Lord’s sovereign design.
The First Words
Usually, Shaun would meet with one of his friends from church to be discipled, however that night, his friend wanted to go to meet the newly arrived mission team; to which, of course, Shaun tagged along. It was there, that night, that Shaun made very good friends with one of the guys from the team (Zach) and made plans to come back the following day to explore London with him and the rest of the team. Whilst exploring London, Elisabeth was setting up her shot to take a picture of Buckingham Palace; and Shaun, being the big kid that he was (or still is), thought it would be funny to jump in front of her camera. This was the start of their relationship. Shaun had literally jumped into her life, and with Elisabeth’s first words to Shaun, “Really??” he was in love. He would soon come back every day that week to the church to see the group (but mainly Elisabeth) and their friendship grew wonderfully throughout that week.
The Next Steps
The time came for the team to return home, but Shaun and Elisabeth’s friendship didn’t end there. They would continue to stay in touch over Facebook for the next few months (until they ‘upgraded’ to Skype). Less than a week after Elisabeth had returned home Shaun expressed his feelings towards her and another week later, Elisabeth expressed hers. Shaun then spent every last penny and all his time on coming out to visit her in California. Until one trip in September of 2014, after being given permission by Jonathan, Shaun proposed to Elisabeth. They spent a romantic day alone in the mountains and after finding the “perfect” spot, in “the top of the world park”, Shaun asked her to marry him. Needless to say, the answer was a yes and they instantly started on their plans for the wedding.
The Moves
The next few months flew by, and on March 7th, 2015, they were married in Southern California. After their honeymoon in Monterey, Shaun swept her away to live with him in England. This was only a temporary thing, and it wasn’t long before they started applying for a Visa. After a total of two and a half years of living in England, they moved to the US where they are today with the rest of the FGG Designs team.
