She Renewed His Enthusiasm for Living

Our presence on Facebook is what prompted Rhodah to date online. “I had tried other sites briefly,” she recalls. “Then I saw your page on Facebook… I saw many successful couples [on the site].” Their romantic stories inspired her to sign up. “I love interracial couples,” says Rhodah. “I wanted a white guy, and I thought this was the best place to meet one. I was very confident!”

For five years, Rhodah was on and off the site. Then, suddenly, a new member appeared, and his profile caught her eye. This new member, aka “RuralRefugee,” was named Steve in real life. He had joined our site for reasons of his own. “A friend of mine was nagging me to look online for a wife, and I gave in,” Steve laughs. “I would say I thought the odds of success were about 50/50.”

Find your soulmate on AfroRomance

Join Free

Within a week of starting his membership, Steve received a greeting from another member. “Rhodah sent me a Flirt,” he remembers. Funnily enough, Steve had actually noticed Rhodah’s profile already. “Rhodah seemed very serious, especially about her future husband’s beliefs,” observes Steve. “She said she wanted a man who prayed in tongues! Also, her photos were beautiful. But I thought I was too old for her, so I didn’t make the first move. Fortunately for me, she could not resist. So after she Flirted, I started texting. But, of course, as a non-paying member, she had to count on me to start communication.”

And why did Rhodah reach out to this particular guy? “His honesty” stood out to her, she informs us. “He was upfront about what he wanted, and he said God was the center of his life. I also found him really cute… He was very close to what I had hoped for.”

In their early talks, Rhodah was immediately impressed with Steve. In fact, she had a good feeling about their long-term prospects. “I knew instantly when we video-chatted [that this might be special],” declares Rhodah. “I was able to open myself up, and he understood everything I talked about right away. He understood what mattered to me. And he was free enough to be himself with me.”

Steve also knew right away that their prospects were bright. “We were texting on WhatsApp on the day we found each other, and I knew it within a few minutes,” he reveals.

Given the hot start, it’s no surprise they were soon strategizing to meet in person. “We clicked instantly, and we knew we wanted to be near each other,” says Rhodah. “Because of COVID-19, and because we lived in different countries, it was hard to get together, though.”

Steve felt certain a get-together had to happen. “In a very short time, I fell in love and felt she should be my future wife,” he tells us. “To satisfy American immigration rules, we had to meet in person. But setting up a trip was hard because of coronavirus. We had to choose Egypt because so few countries were open.”

It was decided that they would convene in Egypt. “We met in Cairo, and on our first date, we had to rest because we were so tired from our flights,” laughs Rhodah. Steve remembers his first impressions of meeting Rhodah in real life. “I saw her in an airport parking lot, behind our guide’s car, looking cute. After that, we went to our hotel and enjoyed doing nothing for an evening.”

What was Rhodah’s initial take on the real Steve? “He was a charmer, and he had a gentleness to him that was evident when I saw him in person,” she recalls. “In their first few minutes together, Steve had some additional observations. “She was pretty and had a wonderful exotic look about her. She also seemed shy, but that didn’t last!”

Rhodah’s profile hadn’t fully conveyed every aspect of her personality. “Her profile was wonderful, but in person, I got to see how sweet, affectionate, funny, and helpful she was,” remarks Steve.

We asked the couple if their first date held any surprises for them. “There weren’t any surprises because we had lived on video chat since the day we met online,” Rhodah answers. “We knew exactly what we were!”

Steve is nodding at that. “I couldn’t be surprised because we already knew each other so well,” he says. “I didn’t feel like I was meeting someone new. I felt like we had been married for 50 years, and we were only being reunited now.”

“We were together for a number of days,” remembers Rhodah. “I liked what I saw, so there was no need to go anywhere!” Steve was already thinking about the next steps. “We were booked for a nine-day trip, and we were already in Egypt. I proposed during the trip, and we will be getting together again as soon as we can!”

Whoa, he popped the question during those nine days?! “The proposal was somewhat anti-climactic because, for weeks, we had been very open about getting married,” admits Steve. “It was not possible to put together a romantic, spontaneous proposal in Egypt because it’s not an easy country for finding and getting to suitable locations. I was hoping to find a good opportunity, but one day, Rhodah bluntly asked me when I was going to propose, which pretty much took the surprise out of it!”

Nonetheless, Steve had to formally ask at some point. “A day or two later, during our Nile cruise, after dinner, I sat down and told her how I felt about her, and I asked her to marry me. I managed to surprise her slightly,” he chuckles. “Of course, she said yes, and now we are working on immigration and future trips!”

Steve feels pretty confident his search for love is complete. “She was pretty much everything I wanted. I didn’t feel I had to settle at all. She was even better than I had hoped!”

Rhodah appreciates how much her life has changed since meeting Steve on our site. “I feel safe and protected when I’m with him,” she explains. “I feel I am living out God’s will for me because meeting Steve was not a coincidence. It was a divine arrangement. I love it!”

“It’s wonderful to have someone who always has my back and who will share every experience with me,” says a grateful Steve. “I love having a prayer partner who agrees with my beliefs. I love having another person to look after and pour my love to without reservation. Rhodah gives me renewed enthusiasm for living!”

Here’s what Rhodah advises singles to do when approaching their own Internet dating experiences. “Have patience, and don’t limit yourself to strict age ranges and so on,” she suggests. Steve tells men to “avoid women who are overly sexually provocative. Make sure they are willing to video-chat so you know you’re not dealing with scammers. Google the women you talk to. Get advice from people you respect.”

And don’t be afraid to send that first Flirt!

• Her Type, and Then Some
• A Taste for Adventure
• Trust the System
• Slapstick Makes Them Laugh
• A Pretty Fly Guy