I arrived Northern Cyprus in September , 2019 to pursue a Masters Degree in Informational Technology. After settling in , as a Christian  I had to find a church where I will be worshipping. I then went to Christ Embassy Grace Arena and started worshipping with them. The first thing I observed about the brethren in the church was that they were loving and welcoming people and had an Amazing Pastor, who was fondly called Pastor Taku The Best or Pastor Ma by everyone.  I was inspired listening to this young female Pastor teach and preach the word of God with such simplicity, Grace, anointing and passion just like Pastor Chris Oyakhilome who she constantly referred to as her father, mentor and Life coach. I was also amazed by her love for the brethren, her passion for souls, zeal for the work of God, her humility, smile and of course her beauty.

After attending church service for about a month, on a Saturday night I got a message from one of the leaders in church, that I should join Sunday Morning One hour non stop Prayer session (9-10 am) just before service.

I gladly accepted and attended the prayer  session. Woow we had an amazing time in prayer and unknowingly Pastor Taku was upstairs praying in her office throughout the time we prayed and she could hear us praying. After that Sunday service during a meeting with pastor Taku she paused while saying something and then said “I never knew that I had Mighty Men here and I’ve been calling people to join the Sunday morning prayer session” then she called my name and two other brothers that we should consistently join the Sunday one hour non stop prayer. That was my first personal encounter with Pastor Taku The Best.

Fast forward after Three years , by now I was a Cell Leader and also Head of The Follow-Up and visitation Department in church, I had an invitation from my brother who was a medical student at that time in the USA to travel to the USA for his Graduation Ceremony. I spoke to Pastor Taku about it and she just declared  “Brother Chucks God has placed the right people for you at the border of North Cyprus and the country were you are going for the interview and also at the USA Embassy”. I held on to those words. To the Glory of God, I got a multiple Entry USA Visa. Those living in Northern Cyprus who heard and knew about my testimony understand that it was a miracle.

My First Embarrassing Moment with Her…. Fasten Your Seat Belt..

After my brother’s graduation ceremony in the USA , I travelled to visit my eldest brother who lived in another state in the USA. While discussing with him, he asked me a question out of the blue, He said “ Canse when are you planning to be married and start a family?”, God bless him for that question he asked that day , I told him I am yet to find a lady who I will marry. Then he asked me “Don’t you have female friends in Cyprus where you live?, You always talk about your church and all you do there and the brethren , can you show me some of the pictures of your friends in church”

He scanned through some of the pictures in my phone and then stopped at Pastor Taku’s picture and asked me who she is, I told him she is our pastor. He asked me “IS SHE MARRIED ?” I said no then he said “Why don’t you want to marry her?”, I told him that she is our Pastor and moreover I don’t think she ever wants to get married because most times she keeps saying she is not interested in marriage. He said I know you like her because you talk about her most times when I call you to find out how you are doing in Cyprus, he encouraged me to open up to her.

The next day I called Pastor Taku and she was excited to hear from me and asked how I was doing and my brother’s graduation ceremony…. So I told her I needed to discuss something important and personal with her, so she said she will be ready to talk in about  ten minutes. I called back and asked her about her wellbeing and she said she was doing great then I asked her if she was in any relationship and she laughed and said no and enquired why I was asking her such a question , then I told her I liked her and wanted to know if I can get to know her better. She giggled for a moment then called me Brother Chucks!! by now the tone of her voice had changed and said “ I respect you a lot , Please I don’t want to insult you or anything BUT please don’t talk about this again. Just take me as your pastor and that I should not cross that line that’s all.. Bye and she hung up the phone.”

That was one of the most embarrassing experience and phone call I’ve had with a lady, I never called her again until I left USA and came back to Cyprus.

(let me allow Pastor Taku to share with you what she did after she hung up the phone or what came to her mind when I said what I said on the phone that day ?)

It’s like a dream to me that I am the one getting married to Brother. Gracious and writing our Love story here…  Well I never noticed him in church until, as he stated earlier, the day l heard him praying in church before our Sunday service commenced. 

I then asked him and the other brothers to constantly join the prayers. After some weeks I noticed his zeal for the things of God, I also noticed that he is a man of fervent prayer and every responsibility given to him in church was successfully accomplished. 

Fast forward when he told me about his USA trip and where he planned to go for the USA Visa interview ( those in the Cyprus Group know this Amazing testimony) I said to myself what manner of man is this? His Faith is great and that’s one of the major qualities I admire in him. Brother Chucks is a Man of Great Faith, he doesn’t think, speak or believe in impossibilities. Like one of his favorite confessions that he taught me” Train Your Mind To See The Good In Everything “

 After he got the USA visa which blew my mind even though I had prayed for him. When he travelled I thought he had finally left Cyprus to relocate to USA even though he told me he will come back but I didn’t believe him 💯.. 😊. When he called me from the USA to tell me he loved me. I thought he was joking because he jokes some times though we were never friends at any point while he was in Cyprus, I only saw him as Brother Chucks and he saw me as Pastor Taku I thought 😊. So I was not happy in my mind I said why would he even think of such a thing, when he knows we weren’t friends in any way then I thought to myself “is it because he just travelled to the USA? And he now thinks that he is a big guy. That even made me to be like who does he think he is! I hung up the call because I wanted to avoid saying wrong words and insult one of my brethren. 

We never spoke again until after about four months, I was in Sunday service then during the offering  time out of nowhere there he was walking down the aisle of the church to give his offering.. Everyone in church was surprised including me, because he never told anyone that he was coming back. He was looking really good, I guess America treated him well😂  I never showed any excitement to see him back because this was the same guy who had the boldness to tell his Pastor that I love you. Well I just had to casually welcome him back. 

After the church service everyone in church was all over him except me. Then he walked up to me and greeted me then we prayed for him and welcomed him back. 

 The New American Brother Chucks Phase.. brace yourself 😊. I noticed that he wasn’t sitting in the front row just as he used to do before he travelled to the USA, he avoided me at every slightest opportunity. Then he started speaking with his new American accent anytime he is having a conversation, I said this brother isn’t serious he just travelled for few months and he is now talking like he is an American. I even started to notice some things about him and be like hmmm he thinks I will agree to marry him, not knowing it was actually love that was working behind the scene already. 

Let Me Continue to Our Meeting Point….

When I got back to Cyprus I became a different person , I totally avoided Pastor Taku even in church.

Pastor Taku and other leaders organized a surprise Fitness themed birthday party for Brother Emmanuel (CE Grace Arena Haven Governor) . The organizers contacted me as a Certified Fitness Instructor to take the brethren and everyone that came for the birthday on a 45minutes Simple Aerobics exercise to spice up the occasion. Two days after the birthday celebration a sister from church contacted me for a fitness training session we signed the contract for the session, then she informed me that her friend wanted to register  for the training session. I never knew that the client was Pastor Taku.  

It was at the training sessions that I and Pastor Taku became friends and started to talk , laugh and became close. 

After some time we became friends and he became my fitness trainer, he tried again to do what he did back then in the USA and I politely told him that “Bro. Chucks you know the right way to go about this.” Then he spoke to my father Pastor Victor Uba and told him his intentions, Pastor Victor asked me if I was interested in getting married to him and we started our courtship with the guidance of my Zonal Pastor. And from the beginning Pastor have been with us guiding us all through the way.

This is our Love story.