Mitchell Moore and Lorena Vangjeli - Married January 2015
Lorena: I was born and raised in Albania and came to the United States (Massachusetts) to pursue a better education in the field of psychology. I became a disciple in December of 2004.
When I began to pursue a PhD program, I had to work long hours and commute a long way from Massachusetts to Washington, DC where my school was located. It was during this busy time in my life as a single woman focusing on God, family, friends and career that my older sister offered to pay for a six-month subscription to DT Heart & Soul, which later turned out to be an additional six months.
I was skeptical at the idea that a long-distance acquaintance would turn out to be a long-term relationship, let alone falling in love and getting married, but that is what happened to me.
I built many friendships over the course of time through the site and I changed my attitude from “this is a waste of time and I feel awkward” to “this is a great opportunity to learn, grow, and build friendships that can only enrich my life.” The change in attitude allowed me to enjoy people more, and I felt saddened that my subscription was about to end.
One week before my subscription was to expire, Mitchell Moore wrote to me. Within a few days we started talking on the phone on a weekly basis. I soon learned we had a common friend, Jack Frederick, who helped me have a different perspective regarding who Mitchell was.
It was a start of a great friendship and five months later we met for the very first time in Worcester, Massachusetts. He met my friends at church, by whom he was thoroughly questioned, and my family, by whom he was thoroughly drilled. I felt very loved and protected by my family and friends as well as by Mitchell, who wanted to do everything in a godly and respectful way.
We started dating on July 17, 2014 when I went to visit him in Auburn, Alabama. Long distance dating has a great potential for growing deeper and knowing each other in a greater depth than if we were to live in the same city. We shared dreams, fears, aspirations, honestly and openly. We had Skype dates and had to be creative in how to connect with each other.
In November of 2014, instead of celebrating Thanksgiving with his family, Mitchell flew to Massachusetts and plotted with my family and friends how to propose at Boston’s Frog Pond while I was ice skating with friends.
What followed was a whirlwind of long-distance wedding planning while Mitchell was in Alabama pursuing his PhD degree in civil engineering and visiting me in Massachusetts every month. We had Skype premarital counseling with our dear friends Chris and Ann Efstathion (from Worcester) and Ken and Kat Watson (from Auburn). We were married January 25, 2015.
As someone who had never dated because I could never make up my mind, God made it very clear that Mitchell was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. His thoughtfulness, his determination, his way of being honest and upfront as well as being very sensitive to my needs, his determination to please God and not his feelings, his wisdom to pursue not just me but my friends and my family — such as writing letters to my mother, playing chess with my dad and sending him math problems, and playing soccer with my nephews — all the little things make him the best friend ever to spend the rest of my life with.
Mitchell: I have been a disciple since 2006, getting baptized in college in Gainesville, Florida as a sophomore. I have always appreciated our churches’ culture of dating, friendships, and seriousness about relationships. Throughout my years in the campus and singles ministry, I have had the opportunity to get to know a lot of amazing women of God. But it wasn’t until I utilized DT Heart & Soul that I found my wife.
Since I live in a town with a small ministry, I traveled around in order to go on dates with sisters. The difficulties of attempting to get to know women through my own random date set-ups or blind dates through friends became a heavy burden. Sitting in a friend’s living room one day, I decided that I was tired of the blind dates and random luck! I was ready for some help.
I had heard the DTHS videos and read the testimonials before and thought, “Yeah, maybe for someone else.” But then I realized: Why wouldn’t I try it out? The fee was a lot less than gas I spent traveling even once a month. Maybe this personality test thing could help me out?
I signed up the next day, and Lorena was on the top of my list. I looked through her profile, and thought, “This girl seems pretty cool.” I messaged her, and she took a whole week to respond! And all she wrote was, “My subscription is ending, but feel free to look me up on Facebook.” Boy, was I lucky I got on at the right time.
Through messages, and then phone conversations I began to really connect and share my heart with this amazing woman. Meeting her in person after five months was nerve-racking! “What if she doesn’t like me in person, what if I don’t like her? Will it be awkward?” Well, as expected, it was a little awkward at first. But man, she was so beautiful! You should have seen her that day. I came up with some friends and we had a special date. The date was followed by a weekend of fun and adventure, as well as intense questioning from family, blood and spiritual. “What are your intentions with my daughter?” “What kind of man are you?” “Bro did you get advice about that?” “So what are your plans…?”
It was an amazing weekend. Although I wanted to ask her to be my girlfriend right then, I wanted to talk it over and get more advice, and give her the opportunity to do the same. We soon started dating and began the challenges of long-distance dating. Skype is great, but it doesn’t always work. We traveled a lot, but it was always worth it. There’s nothing like getting on the plane to see the one you love.
I worked hard to get her to love me, and to win the approval of her friends and family. And I’m so grateful she accepted me and loves me. We love DT Heart & Soul because it worked for us. I don’t think it is the solution for everyone, but you cannot deny that it works! Godly men and women have been greatly blessed by you all; thank you for making our dreams come true!
Watch their wedding video here!
UPDATE: Mitchell & Lorena have welcomed a baby girl, Katia, into their family – congratulations!
