As a child, the Rev. Janie Edinger McDonald enjoyed corresponding with pen pals whom she wrote to on a regular basis.
She believes her early years of establishing distant friendships laid the groundwork for a romantic relationship that started online with her future husband in Scotland.
The Revs. Janie and Matthew McDonald, pastors of Foursquare Gospel Church, shared the story of meeting through an Internet blog, their Scottish-style ceremony and entering the clergy together in recognition of the upcoming wedding season.
Eight years ago, Janie McDonald lived in Mount Jewett, was employed as a social worker in the area and an active member of Foursquare Gospel in Bradford. At the same time Matthew McDonald lived in Coatbridge, Scotland, and was a trained professional observer of police cameras set up in public places throughout Great Britain. He was also a lay minister at a local church and kept a blog on the Internet titled “My Thought for Today,” where his future wife first became acquainted with him.
“In July of 2007, I came across his blog on wordpress.com and read some of the things he had written,” she said. “I liked what he wrote so I left him a comment, but you don’t expect a reply from something like that.”
To her surprise, he sent a reply to her email and told her he lived in Scotland. She was comfortable responding back because she had written to pen pals in other countries as a child.
“I thought how fun it was to have an adult pen pal from Scotland,” she said with a laugh.
The emails continued back and forth for a few weeks, followed by their move to a chat room where they were able to write live time.
“Then he asked me for my phone number, but I wasn’t going to give it to him,” she recalled. “I thought there is no way I’m going to give my phone number to a man in another country.”
He not only persisted, but sent his phone number to see if she would call him. She continued to hold out, but finally relented and gave him her cell phone number.
“And so he called me and we talked for 45 minutes and were just laughing,” she remembered. “It was like we’d always known each other … when I got off the phone, I looked at my mother and said ‘Boy, I hope this guy calls me back.’”
She needn’t have worried as he did call back — again and again. They kept up the contact for the next two years through various international phone and Internet services until they decided it was time to meet in person. He traveled to the United States in May of 2009 for a 10-day visit and she flew back to the Scotland with him for a week-long visit.
The friendship was sealed and the relationship officially started during the visit when he proposed marriage. She answered yes.
Over the next two years, Matthew McDonald would make more visits while he worked on acquiring paperwork for a fiance visa and completing American Embassy interviews in London. By November of 2011 he was approved to move to the United States to marry. On Dec. 3, 2011, he married his American bride, Scottish style.
“We had a beautiful wedding,” she said of the wedding at Foursquare Gospel. “We had a ring-bearer, we had a Bible bearer and tartan bearer.”
The tartan, or plaid fabric representing the McDonald of the Isles clan, was the special cloth used in his kilt and the fly draped on his left shoulder. He also wore a sporran, or satchel, made of rabbit hair on his kilt that was given to him by his bride.
After their vows, a traditional tartan broach with a ring of thistle, Scotland’s national flower, was pinned to the bridal gown by her husband.
“I then gave her my vow of promise as a Highlander and pinned the tartan on her,” he said. “So she was not just being my wife, but she’s part of the McDonald clan.”
After their wedding, both knew they wanted to serve God and decided to follow their faith.
“We had the call of God to be ministers and we talked about entering this together,” Matthew McDonald said. They began their training at Foursquare Gospel, which has a licensing process involving independent study and online courses. After a year of training and study, coupled with their previous experience in their respective churches, they were licensed for the ministry in October of 2013. They were appointed assistant pastors at Foursquare Gospel in January 2014 and took over as full-time pastors on Sept. 1, 2014.
In retrospect, both agreed that time, thoughtfulness and common sense are needed with the beginning stages of Internet relationships.
“I think if both people are committed, and if you take your time and really get to know each other, it’s very possible” for a lasting relationship, she said.
He believes there was some sort of divine intervention for the outcome of his life.
“I wonder what did I ever do to be blessed in this way of God, to have a wonderful wife, a nice family and serve as pastor of a church,” he pondered. “I’m very, very happy.”
