11 Years After This Boy Sent A Shoebox Overseas, His Parents Were Alarmed By A Message From A Girl

Unbelievable Story

Let’s go back to the beginning, in 2000 when Tyrel Wolfe was a cute seven-year-old boy living in Idaho. He wanted to join Operation Christmas Child, a worldwide Samaritan’s Purse initiative that encourages people to create shoebox packages full of necessities and toys, to give to children in less fortunate situations.

Scrambled To See What He Could Find

So young Wolfe excitedly looked for what he could find, and  placed a photograph of himself inside his shoebox. He dropped the box off at church ready to be sent to an extremely needy child somewhere in the world. Wolfe knew he had done a good deed, but never thought about the shoebox after that day….

Farm Boy

This little boy and his family, were by no means wealthy. Yet Tyrel was always taught by his parents the importance of giving back and being charitable whatever way you can. So this shoebox project was a really positive way of doing this at Christmas time.

Sent To The Unknown

He wasn’t sure what would happen to the box, or where in the world it was being sent. He was excited, however, that someone far away would receive his box and he hoped it would make their Christmas. If he could bring someone happiness during this time of year then he knew he was doing a good deed.

Hard Times

Growing up, Tyrel was bullied a lot. He yearned for someone that accepted him and whom he could confide in, someone to love him. When the time came, he went to college and made some good friends, but he still felt that he didn’t truly belong.

Mysterious Caller

Time passed on, and a few years later Wolfe had a friend request on Facebook from a woman in the Philippines called Joana Marchan. Wolfe dismissed it, thinking that it was just some random person who added him by mistake.

Not What He Thought

Wolfe was curious when she added him again, he thought maybe it was someone from school that wanted to reconnect so decided to respond and accept the request. Well what happened next he could never have imagined. Marchan’s first message back was truly unexpected and left him floored.

Truly Taken Aback

Wolfe could hardly believe what she had written to him. The woman told Wolfe that she had a picture of him as a child – a picture she had received in a shoebox from Operation Christmas Child. It came flooding back, and he suddenly got shivers all over his body.

Left Dumbfounded

Even more, the woman said she had tried to write him a letter to say thank you. However, Wolfe’s parents were not so easily convinced by her story. You never know these days with social media. So, to check if Marchan was for real, Wolfe asked her to describe the photograph she said she had.

Could It Be A Catfish?

So, Marchan described a picture of a young Wolfe in a cowboy outfit, the very same photo that he had placed in the shoebox. Wolfe and Marchan instantly connected and then spent the next several weeks getting to know each other online. And while it was incredible that Marchan had managed to find her cowboy after all this time, what was even more unbelievable was how much the two had in common.

Unexpected Friendship But What Was Going On Here?

They both had a mutual love of Christian music, which they bonded over and before they knew it a whole year had passed and they had been computer pen pals. They had naturally grown closer, too, but no one could have predicted the next part of the story.

Needed To See For Himself

Wolfe decided spontaneously one day to book a flight to Manila to finally meet his faraway friend. He had managed to save up enough money and wanted to connect with her in person, even though he had never traveled anywhere on his own before and the Philippines is so far away. “I knew I was taking a big risk,” he told People magazine in December 2014.

What Would Happen Next

But as soon as Wolfe arrived, all his nerves melted away instantly. The moment he saw Marchan, he  knew he had done the right thing by flying out to see her. “I was immediately attracted to her,” he told People. But what would happen now?

What Did She Think?

Joana spoke about the first time she met him, “Once I saw his face, an amazing feeling came over me.” Tyrel was overcome with relief that she felt the same way. Tyrel recalls. “When I finally got there and saw her, I had to punch myself a couple times because I thought it was a dream.” Was this fate?

Whatever Would He Do Now?

He stayed with her and her family and before he knew it he was developing feelings for her. Soon, however, it was time for Wolfe to head back to the U.S., and by this point he had absolutely fallen in love with Marchan. He would not accept just continuing to talk with her over Skype, so Wolfe later returned to Manila to ask Marchan’s father for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

Not As Happy As He Would Have Hoped

Fortunately, he said yes – but Wolfe’s mother was a bit worried. It seemed that she wanted the couple to give it some time before they committed, after all did they know each other that well?. Well it seems that nothing gets in the way of true love, and eventually Wolfe persuaded his father to come to Manila and meet her family. So after that, the deal was well and truly sealed.

Best Day Of His Life But More To Come

The couple got married at Wolfe’s parents’ ranch in October 2014, and the groom wore a traditional Filipino garment – known as a “barong” – for the ceremony. In a touching tribute to how they were brought together, the couple asked wedding guests to each make a Christmas shoebox. So fitting.

Dreams Do Come True

His friends were ecstatic for him, and loved her too. One of them spoke out at the wedding saying: “He had a hard time a lot, but now it is amazing to see him so happy and to have found the woman of his dreams in such a special way, it is hard to believe, but gives us all hope that true love does exist”.

Past Coming Back To Life

As a kind of honeymoon adventure, the couple even drove the shoeboxes to North Carolina to deliver them to Samaritan’s Purse themselves. The newlyweds also decided to make shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child every year. They loved the idea of keeping the tradition alive.

Spreading The Christmas Love

In all of their shoeboxes, the couple also included a little note explaining the story of how they met. “We  want to show that we care and want to share our love. We both feel so blessed and grateful that Operation Christmas Child brought us together.”

Back To Olden Days

The couple made this scrap book to remind them of how they met, to keep their love alive, and even kept all the poems and love letters they wrote to each other when they were still mere pen pals. Nowadays everything is done over social media, so this is extremely rare and amazing.

New Chapter

After the wedding, the couple settled down near to Wolfe’s parents and have been enjoying married life so far. Marchan had never been to the U.S. before, but now she has been able to travel a lot with her husband to different parts of the country. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

Will It Last?

It’s the complete opposite to where she grew up in the Philippines. “It was a big change and adjustment for me,” she told People. “I was raised in the city and now I’m living in the country with much less people and more space, but it’s a beautiful place.”  She did feel homesick at times, but her love for her new husband and their incredibly remarkable story, meant the world to her and was her new life. What would happen next would change her life even more.

Another Surprise

The couple soon had to make even more changes. After three years of marital bliss which absolutely flew by, Wolfe announced some very exciting news on Facebook in May 2017: the birth of their beautiful baby boy!

Story Goes Viral

The new parents, who named their son Harlann Jun Wolfe, have received hundreds of messages of congratulations online. Their story was already a rare and touching one, but it is even more special now that they’ve welcomed a baby into the world. Their story caused such a stir, that it went viral and reached news channels worldwide. “The Christmas miracle”. Fans loved how they met and how they were so in love still. It gave others hope around the world.

All Because Of One Photo

Wolfe and Marchan managed to find each other when they only had one photograph. But they did it, and now they are so happy with each other as a soul mate. It really just goes to show that some things are meant to be. In this digital age, it is even more special that they found love in such an organic way, not on Tinder, or dating apps.

Cemented Forever

The scrap book that they kept full of love letters and pictures of their story will forever  tell their tale and be there to remind them of their incredible story, and one day when their kids grow up, they will be able to show them and retell it over again.

Christmas Miracle

This story really is a Christmas miracle and at this time of year, makes realize the importance of love and miracles. Anything can happen at Christmas. During this year’s celebrations think about the amazing things that have happened to you, and if you can, give back in some way to show others you appreciate them.

Operation Christmas Child

If this story inspired you in some way to give back, there is still time to create your own shoe box just like they did for Operation Christmas Child, or something similar to give back to those less fortunate. Who knows, maybe you will have a special experience from it just like they did.

Where Are They Now?

On her Facebook page recently, Joana wrote celebrating their 3 year Anniversary: “3 years down and our love has grown with a precious boy! Happy Anniversary Ty, thank you for doing this life with me as we figure out just how much the better in “for better or worse” really is when we’re in it together. I love you more than I can put into words.”

Like Father Like Son

Ty recently posted this picture of him and his son, and confessed the love that he felt so strongly for him and his wife for giving him two gifts. He also mentioned their story again and how blessed he feels for that shoebox.

The World Touched By This Story

This news channel covered the heart warming story.”Destiny packed in a shoe box”. It really did all start with one picture and one shoebox, and the rest is history.