Sharnessa Sanden: [00:00:00] I was standing in line, um, or at this table where you could donate like whatever it was, 10 P or something. Yeah, 10 pence for your, your cup of tea and then you could put in your cream and sugar and, um, and I’m, I’m at the table. Um, paying and then I, somebody was standing next to me and I hadn’t seen them.

I didn’t know who it was. I didn’t know if it was a guy or a gal, if it was an older person or a younger person, but I just felt this presence on this person that was like, it was so wild. I just felt like I knew this person. Like I was gonna turn around and it was gonna be somebody that I knew, which wasn’t gonna be the case because I was in London.

And um, but it was just this total wild familiarity that I was like. J just sort of, everything just sort of stopped and I turned and it was, it was him. It was the guy that I had seen passionately praying for everybody. So I was like, that’s weird. Okay, well,

Dawn Pruszkowski: love stories fill us with joy and inspire hope for the future.

And a [00:01:00] true life romance can remind us that sometimes just one spark is all it takes to change

Sharnessa Sanden: everything.

Dawn Pruszkowski: She grew up in Sweden and she was raised in Washington. Somehow their lives intertwined in the most unexpected way in England. Let’s hear their story. Welcome to Unexpected Love Stories. I’m your host, Don Kowski. Today our guests are Sam and Nessa. Sanden. Sam is originally from Sweden and Nessa is from Washington State.

Sam’s an associate pastor at Father’s House Church, and Nessa is a singer, dancer and worship leader. Together they oversee Fresh Attitude Studio, which is a very successful dance studio in Washington, as well as speak at conferences all around the us and you’re gonna see that they are passionate for fate.

Family and community. Welcome [00:02:00] guys. Yay.

Sharnessa Sanden: Hi, I’m on. Thank you to be with

Dawn Pruszkowski: you. I was so glad to have you here. Okay, let’s start at the beginning, like before you guys ever met each other, what was going on?

Sharnessa Sanden: Wanna go first, babe?

Sam Sanden: Sure. Yeah. So I’m born and raised in Sweden. Um, born in a, uh, born in a small town. Uh, it’s about 5,000 people, so I grew up there.

My parents, uh, were part of a church, very fortunate. Um, Sweden as a whole is very secular, so it was, uh, um. Privilege to be able to be raised in the faith from, from a young age. And, uh, and mind you, I think I, I was in sixth grade and I’m like, you know what? You know when I get get, when I’m 30, I think I, um, I don’t wanna go to church anymore.

But, um, but God got a hold of me and, uh, and my sophomore year in high school really turned my life around, um, got on fire for him and, uh, and I’ve been wanting to be a fighter pilot from, from a young age. So, so that was my plan. [00:03:00] And, uh, but my senior year in high school, uh, God, um, changed that completely.

So, um, being a Swede at the time, we still did, um, national service. So we spent a year in the Air Force, or in my case, the Air Force right after high school. Uh, but in that year I really realized that God wanted me to do something else. So I felt a, I felt a call to go into the ministry and, uh, and while there’s some smaller bible schools in Sweden, I, I felt I wanted to do something different and, um.

Decided to look, uh, look at England. And uh, a friend of mine suggested a place, um, in, in London called Kenston Temple, and it’s an Foursquare church and their bible school is called International Baptist Institute of London. And so that’s kinda what I was leaning towards. I applied, didn’t hear back, and, and one day.

Uh, so I’m in, uh, uh, right after service in, in the Air Force. Uh, one of the officers calls me into his, uh, well, calls me into the hangar really, and says, Hey, I wanna talk to you about something. And I’m like, okay, what did I do wrong? Kind of. Uh, but yeah, so [00:04:00] he calls me in and says, Hey, um, I’ve been wondering, we need someone to, uh, to go to the Air Force Academy from our unit.

Uh, I really think you should do it. What do you think? And I’m, I’m like, uh, at a loss for worse. But I’m like, well. I’ve been wanting to be an officer from, from being 10, 12 years old. And, uh, it, it was my plan, but, uh, I really feel God wants me to go to Bible school, but I’ll think about it and pray about it.

When do you need to know by? So he gets back to me and says, well, uh, I’d like to know by tomorrow. So no pressure at all. But I said, okay. I think it’s, it’s a no, but, um, but I’ll get back to you. So, uh, go back to the, the barracks of food. And then, uh, come back after the duty’s over and, um, take my phone out of a locker.

We couldn’t have it on, on duty. And, uh, within like five minutes my mom calls and she’s like, Hey, uh, um, she usually doesn’t call me, um, just out of the blue like that. So something is up. So she says, Hey, um, you got a letter from the Bible [00:05:00] school? And I’m like, okay, what does it say? Did it get accepted or what?

Um, or not. And he said, yep, you’re approved and, uh, you’re welcome to start in September. So I felt it was a, you know, very divine moment there when God says, this is what I want you to do. And, and even though I, I, at that point, I decided not to stay on with the Air Force. Um, it was one of those moments in my life that can look back to and say that God really had his hand on that.

So I finished the, the year out, went to Bible school. And, uh, so I did the, um, Bible part and, um, spent a year, um, figuring out the English language because even though we studied English since fourth grade, it’s different when you, uh, talk about facts and, and, uh, you know, theology versus talking about feelings and emotions.

So,

Dawn Pruszkowski: yeah,

Sam Sanden: so, excuse me. So I had a moment, a few months in, I’m like, I don’t even know English, it felt like, but um. It was a good, good time just to, to learn the language and, um, and Shea at that point [00:06:00] wasn’t at the school yet. She was gonna come the next year, but it felt it was a good time for me to just, to kind of grow up another year.

I like to say before I met Shea, learn the language better and to be able to articulate, um, um, my feelings, emotions, and, and, uh, to be able to better be a better communicator. And, uh, when you have English as a second language, uh, you know, it’s easy to. Uh, do you think you say the right thing? But, um, as we come to find out later on, you know, tone and intonation and how you say things matter as well.

But, um, but I had that year, uh, as a kind of moment of grace to um, really, um, be more proficient in English language and also, um, getting on that whole year establishing in my faith, which was fantastic. So, so that’s kinda my story bringing me to England. So.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Okay.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: And Nessa?

Sharnessa Sanden: Yes, ma’am. Um, so I grew up in Longview, Washington and with my mom and dad and my siblings.

And, um, it was a pretty, pretty [00:07:00] sweet childhood, pretty classic eighties idyllic childhood with the, you know, the neighborhood of 30, 30 kids. When school was out, the, the, our little street, our, um, our, our little road would just erupt with kids and bikes and all the things. And, um, we, we were homeschooled, which was different than pretty much, pretty much everybody around us.

Um. And this was the early eighties, so my mom act, she was a, she was actually a total pioneer and mm-hmm. You know, when you grow up with something, you’re, it’s your norm, right? And so it’s not weird. I mean, I knew we were different because the conversations that. You know, people would have with us the questions that people would ask.

Sometimes the looks people would have. Like I remember, you know, being in a, in a grocery store, um, in the middle of the day and people like, why aren’t you in school? You know, it’s 11:00 AM and um, you know, this is 1984 or whatever, 83. And so, um, and uh, my mom was actually [00:08:00] homeschooling us when there wasn’t even any legislation passed on it yet in Washington state.

So it wasn’t. Illegal, but it wasn’t legal. And so, um, she was, she was a pioneer. She’s pretty, she’s a rockstar. And so, um, both my parents are, and so we, I grew up homeschooled. Um, I loved it. Uh, I was involved in, we were very involved in our church, um, and, um, dance. I started dance when I was a little bit older.

We couldn’t afford dance lessons when I was younger, but when I was 12, we could finally afford them. So I started tapping. Tap dance lessons with my friend Kendra. And we did, I did that for four years. And then, um, did other styles, A couple other styles. This was, this was the early nineties, so there weren’t a lot of options.

Hip hop wasn’t out yet. I mean, it was starting to be like in the music videos, so if you wanted to learn any, as you know, Don, you would have to watch music videos to learn any choreography. ’cause it wasn’t being taught in studios yet. At least [00:09:00] not in smaller towns. Um, dance though was a huge part of my life.

Um, doing things with our, like homeschool group or youth group, our church, I was always wanting to, um, put together little productions and performances and so that was very much in me from a young age. Um. And so growing up, um, I, I was homeschooled all the way through, graduated from homeschooling, being homeschooled in 1996.

And, um, I still didn’t know at the end of my, of my high school years what I wanted, what I wanted to do, you know, which, um, I, I think that that’s. Little sidebar. I think it’s unfortunate when we put that pressure on kids at that age, because how many of us really ever know what we wanna do for the rest of our lives?

Like I, for me personally, God’s taken me through so many doors, so many, so many different seasons and opportunities, um, that it’s never been like a, this is the one thing I’m going to. [00:10:00] So anyways, so my, we, I just waited though for the next step. So what I did after graduating from high school was kind of a season of discipleship, um, and with my mom and, um, different books she had me read.

Um, and I worked for our family business. She’s, she’s an author, um, on home. She’s written homeschool books, has a homeschool course, um, has mentored many other women, um, in. In their homeschool journeys. And so, um, I worked for, as a secretary for homeschool business. I actually started that when I was 15. I just continued it through after, um, graduation and then in the middle of, gosh.

What was the timeline anyway? Doesn’t matter. After high school, a friend told me about a dear friend, uh, a gal, um, an older woman who has been praying for me personally, like my personal intercessor since I was seven years old. She told me about a bible school in London and they had a creative arts is very, [00:11:00] very small school, but they had a creative arts.

Program at the school and totally, totally resonated with me. Um, however, I was going to need to, uh, show up, um, after obviously after applying for the school and, um, and if I made it, I was gonna have to show up with all my funds in hand. Um, so I had to prove that I wasn’t gonna be a burden on the system.

So. I did not have the funds in time for that year. So, um, the Lord opened the door for me to go and nanny, um, in New York. So I did that for a year and earned all the money that I needed. Um, and so fast forward, that was, that was 98. Um. The fall of 98 sounds like another lifetime. It’s so weird saying 1998, but, um, in 1998 children, um, I, uh, the fall of 98, September, I, uh, moved to England, to London and, [00:12:00] uh, showed up at, you know, immigration with my bank statement, you know, um, showing them that I was gonna be able to support myself being there and, um, was given my student visa.

And so showed up at the school, like Sam said, he was, he had already been there a year. And, and so yeah, that takes me up to, um, to the, the city that we met in.

Dawn Pruszkowski: And at this time, you guys are just looking at Bible school. You’re not looking at.

Sharnessa Sanden: No,

Dawn Pruszkowski: actually. Oh, I hope there’s someone cute there.

Sharnessa Sanden: No, and what’s so funny is that actually a friend, she’s still a dear friend.

Um, I was at church and she was, uh, she’s from the east coast, has still has this fabulous East coast accent, New Jersey. And uh, I told her, you know, she’s asking me what I was up to. And so I told her and she was like, oh, you’re totally gonna find, you’re gonna find your husband there. And I was like. No, that’s so impractical.

Like, it, it didn’t [00:13:00] even, and I had never heard since I’ve heard of Gil, you go to Bible school to get your, you, your MRS degree. Um, never heard of that before. So it was so impractical to me when she told me that, that, you know, I would find my husband there. I was like, that does not make any sense. I’m, that’s not why I am going.

And I lit. I was, I was genuine. I, I said, I’m not going there to find somebody. I’m going there for school and whatever God has for me. Not that, and plus meeting somebody from another country that just doesn’t even make any sense. Mm-hmm. The Lord was chuckling.

Dawn Pruszkowski: So how did you guys first notice each other?

Sam Sanden: I was in a point in my life where I was done. I tried to do relationships my way, and I just had enough. And I said, God, I’m done. I want you to take the reins. I’m not looking anymore. The next one I want you to bring to me would be the one that, that I’m supposed to marry. So I, I was done. I was not looking.

And uh, and then the principal of the school, that [00:14:00] was a friend of mine as well, he’d like a month or so earlier, said like, Hey, we have this American gal coming. You’ll love her. And I’m like, yeah, I right. You know. Of course I kind of brushed that off, but, um, but I, I, I’d heard that, um. She was coming, at least I thought, maybe the first day of school to see if I can find her.

Just, just out of fun. But, um, had no luck, couldn’t, I was kinda like peaking the first day of school we had all the, um, ID cards out on a table and I thought maybe I can figure out who, who this gal is, but, but I could. And so I kind of just gave up and went about my business. Um, but yeah, I wasn’t looking at all, um, probably for the first time in.

A long time

Dawn Pruszkowski: since

Sam Sanden: girls became a thing period in my life. And um, so it was very refreshing because I was, I was a hundred percent I’m going for the Lord. Uh, I was, um, doing second year, like I said, I was also working as an assistant to the senior pastor and, um, and so that took a lot of time. And, and one of the stipulation was that we weren’t to [00:15:00] be in a relationship for the first six months, um, either so.

It was the perfect time for me to not be looking. And, uh, but God had some other things in store, so, yeah.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yep. Um, I think, okay. It was the morning, I was thinking it was the evening. Um, but that, that comes later. Um, I first noticed him, I moved into, uh, well, I guess that’ll come later. So, uh. The first official morning that we had, I think I had moved in the night before.

Everything was total blur. Uh, time difference being, you know, 20 years old and moving by myself across the world with, you know, schlepping my two giant suitcases. Um, literally they were so big. Um. I dunno what I was thinking, but, uh, you know, and then getting to, getting to into Heathrow and then taking the tube and our stop was noting Hill Gate, that’s where we lived.

And, um, [00:16:00] you know, some, a, a blessed British man had pity on me and was like, do you need help? I’m like, yes. So he, he took my suitcases. The up the steps and, um, found my place crashed, uh, you know, went to sleep in my new room, in, in the, um, number one Notting Hill gate. And, um, woke up the next morning, went to orientation and every, everything was just a blur, you know, this is like new place, new smells, new everything.

And, um, but what they did for orientation, it was really cool actually. You know, they had the, the practical things like this is, these are the rules and the guidelines and, you know, everybody got their, their name tags and um, or their lanyards or something. And, um, but then we had a time of worship and prayer and ministry and it just, uh, my heart just settled, you know, being in, being away from [00:17:00] everything that I know.

And, uh. Uh, you know, it’s when I first moved to New York, which was, you know, uh, it’s a big deal, you know, moving at 19, and that’s the first time I moved out was to New York and that was a, the first couple days of that were hard and, um, trying, you know, trying to get used to it and. Convinced myself I made the right decision.

And, but then I settled into it and it was great. And, but I think being in the same country, it’s like worst case, if it, if it goes terrible, I can rent a car and drive home, you know? Um, but you can’t do that when you’re on an island in Europe. So, um, so it was very different. Um, but then I just felt the spirit of God in that place and it was like, okay, this is my home right now.

And so ministry time starts happening. And I see this young man, um. And I actually thought he was older than he was. Um, but I see this young man just passionately ministering to people like going up and people had gone forward for ministry [00:18:00] time and I’m just sitting in my seat just taking everything in.

’cause whatever, you know, they had called people forward for wasn’t something that resonated with me. So I’m just watching and this guy just keeps standing out to me that he is just, he is praying for people. I think some people might have even been falling over and he was catching them and just. Super, um, intentional and focused, and I could just tell he was on fire for the Lord, and it was like, wow, I, I just hadn’t seen anything like that on somebody so young.

And, um, I’d been exposed to that stuff of course, but not with somebody so young. So that was when I first, that turned out it was him. And, um, that was the first time that I, that I saw him.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Okay. Yeah. And

Sharnessa Sanden: did

Dawn Pruszkowski: something spark inside of you, or was it like

Sharnessa Sanden: Yeah, I mean, I, I think at, at the time it wasn’t like I was watching him and like, I’m gonna marry that guy.

It wasn’t that, well, it was not one, it’s not one of those stories. Um, but there was something that was like. On [00:19:00] him that I’d not seen before in any other, any other young man in my life. And, um, even being in that culture where there were other young men that were, you know, falling hard after the Lord. Um.

There was definitely something on him that was, that was different. And then we had a break, you know, we had our tea, our tea break, and um, it’s where I learned to fall in love with tea. Wasn’t until 20 years old, um, in, in London. But, uh, we were standing, I was standing in line, um, or at this table where you could donate, like whatever it was.

10 p or something. Yeah, 10 pence for your, your cup of tea, and then you could put in your cream and sugar. And, um, and I’m, I’m at the table, um, paying and then I, somebody was standing next to me and I hadn’t seen them. I didn’t know who it was. I didn’t know if it was a guy or a gal, if it was an older person or a younger person.

But I just felt this presence on [00:20:00] this person that was like, it was so wild. I just felt like. I knew this person, like I was gonna turn around and it was gonna be somebody that I knew, which wasn’t gonna be the case because I was in London. And um, but it was just this total wild familiarity that I was like, just sort of, everything just sort of stopped and I turned and it was, it was him.

It was the guy that I had seen passionately praying for everybody. So I was like, that’s weird. Okay, well kept moving on and, um. I guess I’ll finish, I’ll continue with the rest of this story real fast. Um, so the rest of the afternoon goes on. Then I take the tube back home from where our, there were, the church that we were at, um, Kensington, Kensington Temple.

Uh, the main campus, the, like the original one is in this beautiful old church built in, I think it was in the mid 18 hundreds, um, in the middle of Notting Hill Gate and. Uh, that’s where, right where our, uh, where the place that we lived was, um, [00:21:00] where they basically, they chose like 10 or so students, um, international students to live in this house.

Um, and so whereas everybody else had to find their own housing, and so that’s the, that’s the place that I lived in. Um, then you had to take the tube though for, I don’t know, was it 15 minutes maybe?

Dawn Pruszkowski: Mm-hmm.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yeah, out to Acton, which is outside, farther outside of London. So on my tube back from Acton. To Notting Hill Gate.

I kept thinking about this guy that I had seen, you know, praying and, um, I just, he just was in my thoughts and I’m like, you know, my mind starts going, you know, where it wasn’t before. ’cause I was not going to Bible school to find a husband. Thank you very much. That’s not why I’m here, but my mind’s like, you know, just keeps going.

And it’s like, well what if that guy that I saw, you know, praying for people, I didn’t catch his name or anything, I was like, what if. What if he is, um, what was it? Was it, I think it was. What if he’s the guy? Oh. ’cause I knew that three guys lived on the top [00:22:00] floor of our house. It was, it was like four floors really?

You know, long like tall townhouse. And so I was like, well, what if that guy is, oh, because, sorry. The night before when I had gotten in, I saw the place where they put the post every day, the mail, there was like a wicker shelf that they would put our mail. Everybody that lived in the house. Plopped it all there.

And I saw, I saw, that’s right. I forgot about this. I saw the name Samuel Sanden and I was like, that’s a cool name. And, um, and, and I also thought it was cool as the same initials as mine and, um, just silly, silly girl things. Right. And so I was like, well, what wouldn’t that be cool if that guy that was praying for people was one of the guys that lived on the top floor of number one, is what we called the house number one.

Um, and then, and then, then I’m like, oh gosh, and wouldn’t it even be even more cool if he was the guy, you know, the Samuel Sande and that I saw in the mail that had arrived for him. And anyway, so my mind’s just being totally, totally [00:23:00] girl. And, uh, so then we show, I show up back at the, back at number one that evening we had a meeting.

In our den mother’s, um, uh, flat in her room that she lived on the main floor, and she gathered everybody that lived in the house to have a, uh, just like a, you know, a little powwow. Like, here’s what here are rules, this is when your rent is due by, and all those things. And so I’m in there already and um, and all of, all of us girls are sitting on the floor and then he walks in and I was like.

Okay. And then come to find out he, you know, he is Samuel. And, um, so anyway, that was when we like, I think first officially, officially met. Yeah. But this was all in one day. All that I just shared was all the first day, and it was kind of kept being these funny little moments. It was like, did something’s going on here?

So, yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Mm-hmm.

Sam Sanden: Yeah. So

Dawn Pruszkowski: how did things start to develop after [00:24:00] that?

Sam Sanden: Yeah, so for me, like I said, I couldn’t be in a relationship, so, um. So I didn’t think anything that night, but she just stuck out her joyful life, her, her, her passion for, um, and, and yeah, I just, there was something about it that really stuck out.

So I remember the next day I was talking to my friend Sean, who was the other guy who, who was there and said, you know what, if I know I can’t be in a relationship, but if I want to get to know someone a bit more, that’ll be the one. So, um. So that was kind of the initial thought. But then as we, we were in a moment of God really moving in our church and we ended up having church like three times a week full on services.

God was moving, people healed, said free delivered. And in that context, um, I got the opportunity to see, see Nessa worship and pursue the Lord kind of from afar. And, and I was just more and more intrigued. So we kind of get to the point where. Probably a month into it. I’m, I’m realizing that, that I have feelings for her, but I can’t act on [00:25:00] them and, uh, because of the commitment to my senior pastor and, and the situation I’m in.

So, so I realized I kind of need to at least come clean and say that I’m interested, but I can’t do anything, so. Mm-hmm. So wind up talking and uh, kind of have a DTR, you know, to find the relationship where I basically said, Hey, I have no idea if you have any feelings for me whatsoever, but this is where I’m at.

This is the situation I’m in. I can’t pursue anything and I can’t ask you for to wait for me ’cause I don’t know how long this is gonna be, but uh, uh, I really like what I see in you and I would like to get to know you better. So that was kind of it. I stepped out on the limb and. And she kind of said, well, I kind of feel the same.

Yeah. So, uh, so that was really cool and Yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yeah,

Sam Sanden: exactly.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Um,

Sam Sanden: but it was so different from, um, I’ve experienced before in regards to, you know, dating and things like that, and it was just a very different approach of just being forced in a sense, to get to know her as a friend. Mm-hmm. Which was fantastic.

Mm-hmm.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yep.

Sam Sanden: Um, [00:26:00] so we were able to have conversations during the group settings and then, um. We happened to have the, uh, uh, the general manager of the church was actually living in the basement at the time, and he kind of took us under his wings. Mm-hmm. And so he kind of became our, our. Um, you know, father away from home or chaperone.

Mm-hmm. So we were able to go for walks with him, or he would take us out for, for pizza probably once a week at least. Mm-hmm. And it was just a fantastic place to just be safe and have a third party and kind of, um, just get to know each other, which was, which was so wonderful. And, uh, and I remember come, uh, when it was getting closer to the end of the, the six, you know, six months.

I was on a mission trip to, uh, I think it was, to, um, Poland, and I just wanted to take that, that week being gone.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Poland,

Sam Sanden: yeah. In wars off, uh, Warsaw for a week and, which was fantastic. And, uh, [00:27:00] but I just sought the Lord and I kind of just felt him dropping, you know, at the, just as I’m coming back into, into London that.

That after that week, just the proverbs, you know, 1822, whoever finds that wi finds a good thing from the Lord. And that was kind of what I felt, the, the green light from the Lord to kind of pursue it more. So, uh, so I think not quite six months to the date, but almost, you know, I had a conversation with my senior pastor and say, Hey, this is the guy I really like.

I’d like to pursue her. I, you know, I’m not doing this flippantly. I, I really believe this, this is the one that got, has and kind of got the, the green light and, and, um, and that’s how we kind of started our journey as a, as a couple started courting so

Dawn Pruszkowski: well, so, okay. So how long did you, you court, like, was it throughout all of, um.

A Bible school?

Sharnessa Sanden: Yes. Or did

Dawn Pruszkowski: you get engaged while you’re still in Bible school?

Sharnessa Sanden: No, we, uh, we graduated in July of, this was 99. [00:28:00] 99 now? Yes. July, graduated July of 99. Um, I went home after that to Washington, back to Washington State for a couple months. Um, because in, in, in the earlier in the school year, I had auditioned for a, uh, Christian pop band and they were going to be based, they came down from Manchester, England, which is where we were gonna be based.

Um, they came down from Manchester to London to audition people at our school. And so, um. So I had to go back home to refigure and reenter the country, um, a couple months later and figure out the whole working visa thing. ’cause I was gonna now be living in England on a diff on different terms. So after graduation in July, uh, went home.

And didn’t know how long the process would take for me to be able to go back to the uk. Ideally it was gonna be in September. Um, but we did not know. And so [00:29:00] he, we had to say goodbye not knowing when we were gonna see each other again. And so, um, he, no, you came back first. Mm-hmm. He came back to the States with me.

That’s right. To meet people. And then when he, when we, um, said goodbye. In Washington. That’s when we didn’t know when we were gonna see each other again. ’cause we’d had no idea how the process was gonna be for me getting back into England. And so, uh, graduated, went Washington, went to Washington, he came back to England.

Um, I ended up being able to move back, I think the end of August is when it was. And um, and then September 3rd, right before I moved from London to Manchester, September 3rd, he proposed. So there you go. So we courted for basically five months.

Sam Sanden: Yeah.

Sharnessa Sanden: Um, and I mean, we had been friends, really good friends for a year up to the, from when we met to, um, the proposal.

So yeah. That takes us up to that point. Okay. So [00:30:00]

Dawn Pruszkowski: tell me about the proposal, Sam.

Sam Sanden: Yeah, so I had to kind of, you know, figure out how to make this happen with her out of the country, but I had some good co-conspirators, so,

Dawn Pruszkowski: yep.

Sam Sanden: So the plan was to, um, to take her out to a nice restaurant to. In, uh, uh, downtown London.

It was called Texas Embassy. So it was kind of Tex-Mex. And so the plan was to go there, have a good meal, and then, um, the plan was to then kind of randomly suggest that, let’s go and watch, look at Tower Bridge. ’cause I don’t think we have done that, um, as a couple. And so, uh, I think we took the underground or whatever to Tower Bridge and then walked across the bridge over, uh, over the Thames and, and then on the other side of the bridge, uh, opposite the, uh, the Tower of London.

There’s a, there was a little green area, so kind of tried to make an excuse, whatever to get her over there. And um, and then when we got to that, that green area, I got down on a knee and proposed and, uh, um, she [00:31:00] said yes. So was blown away. Just, it was a fantastic night. And then, uh, on our way back, um, our friends that kind of our co co my co-conspirators had set it up so.

At the, uh, at the number one, uh, the place we’re staying, there was, um, kind of like a makeshift balcony. So they had set it up with, with candles and strawberries and whipped cream and, uh, sparkling martinellis. So we came back and, and, and had some, some martinellis and um, and I think I managed to surprise her somewhat at least.

So,

Sharnessa Sanden: yeah. Yeah, it was very beautiful.

Sam Sanden: Yeah. And was really.

Dawn Pruszkowski: It

Sam Sanden: was really cool.

Dawn Pruszkowski: And that was, yeah, that’s really, I love that. Um, so how long was that before you had to take off Shaa?

Sharnessa Sanden: I think I, I think I left the next day.

Sam Sanden: Yeah. So Manchester, this is Saturday night. We had Sunday together and I just started to work as an interim pastor in a church, which was, I think my [00:32:00] first.

Sunday, actually, that

Sharnessa Sanden: 22 years old. Yeah. Pastoring a church, a little church in London. In, in interim ’cause of, uh, the pastor had to take a leave for a while, but he was 22 and pastoring a church in Covent Covent Garden.

Sam Sanden: Yep. So, yeah. So that was Saturday Night Church. Sunday, and then she took off Monday morning.

Sharnessa Sanden: Okay. I don’t, I didn’t remember that, but he, he does. Well done.

Sam Sanden: Yeah. And then for the next month, basically she was, you know, three and a half hours away. And, um, and I was staying in London. I was able to go up, I think like one or two weekends, but mm-hmm. Because of my job, uh, it was impossible. But, um, what was really cool was that, um, there was a, one of the units was still available in, um, in number one Yeah.

Where she’d been staying and I’d moved out at that point. So I stayed a few blocks away, but she was able to come down almost every weekend to, um. To, to be a part of, of church as I was pastoring. And, and we got to spend the time together and she was able to, uh, to stay back at number one, which was, uh, such a blessing.

So,

Sharnessa Sanden: yeah. [00:33:00] So because I was, at this point, we were just, we were recording an album, we were doing photo shoots, we were, um, preparing for interviews, just all kinds of things that, uh, weren’t, we weren’t really working on weekends yet. And so September 99. Right, yeah. September 99 to, I think roughly March or April of 2000, um, I was able to go down to London via train almost every weekend and just see the beautiful English countryside and spend the weekend together because, I mean, ’cause it sounds weird being in a band and you’re, you know, going, you know, going away on the weekends, um, which is usually when you end up doing gigs.

But it’s ’cause we were all in like that beginning foundation building phase of the band. So then in. April-ish.

Sam Sanden: Yeah. March. March. So in April we, we came to the point where as the band was about to start to tour, they really needed a road manager because the man in the

Sharnessa Sanden: States. Yeah,

Sam Sanden: yeah. Um, ’cause the, um, the manager at the time, you know, being based in [00:34:00] Manchester, a family, so Ali oversaw the, you know, bigger issues and bigger direction of the band.

He couldn’t be on the road. So, um,

Sharnessa Sanden: well, can I, can I interject here? Go ahead. So he, um, the guy Mark, who was my manager, he. It took me aside at one point, um, within the first, probably the first month or two of living in Manchester, and he is like, so, so this? No, no, no, no, no. This had to have been before we were engaged, right.

It

Sam Sanden: could have been. Yeah.

Sharnessa Sanden: So he took me aside and he was like, so this guy that you’re, yeah, no, we were not engaged yet. So somewhere, mark, somewhere before engagement, but after I auditioned for the band Mark when I was up in Manchester, he took me out for a meal and we were chatting and he was like, so this guy that you’re, you’re in relationship with, is this serious?

Or is this a fling? Or were you guys headed? And I was like, we’re headed for marriage. And he was like, okay. He’s like, ’cause I just need to know because it’s not gonna work if it’s not gonna wor, it’s not ideal. If you guys [00:35:00] are. Separate, you know, if you’re traveling, because we were based in Manchester, Manchester, England, but our record deal was in Nashville.

So our record deal was, um, we were committed to spending half of every year, half of every year in the States. And then the other half we were in England and Europe and doing whatever back there. And so he said, it’s not gonna, I, I do not recommend this being something where you guys are gonna be separated for.

Well over half of your marriage. And so he said, is there any way that we can get Sam. Tied into what we are doing. And so from there, mark, I believe talked with you. Mm-hmm. And so, like Sam was saying, the road managing stuff now, Sam ended up taking that on, um, for when we were in this actually, not just the states, also in Europe, but he became our road manager.

And it’s, it’s so funny to look back now because back then it was like, well, let’s figure out a way to accommodate. You guys having a healthy marriage and let’s do this to work for you. When now we look back and [00:36:00] literally the band could not have, it wouldn’t have existed without Sam. Like we, it wouldn’t have worked.

And so, but God knew. God knew that. So

Sam Sanden: yeah, it’s wonderful. What worked out perfect was that the, uh, the pastor job that I had, because it was an interim pastoring, um. It was only going those eight, nine months. So it was the perfect transition. Yeah. So my, my first week on the job, actually, I flew straight to, to Nashville to be part of the GMA, the Gospel Music Association week to, uh, to chaperone them around and all the interviews and, and everything.

Yeah. So it was, uh, baptism by fire, but, um, but we loved it. Yeah. So, so that kind of started off, we started touring and, um. And then, uh, that sep uh, that August, August 19th we got married. Mm-hmm. So it was kind of interesting to plan it from afar. You know, Nessa was able to do that with a lot of help from home, but, and we had actually a week that summer as we were touring, we were able to sneak back home and do some of the groundwork.

But, um, but [00:37:00] yeah, you did an amazing job planning a wedding from England.

Sharnessa Sanden: 5,000 miles away. My mom was a huge help, but thank you. That’s very sweet. But my mom was a, was my hands and feet back here. So yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Listeners, we’d love to hear from you. Please connect with us and share your comments about this episode on YouTube, Spotify, or whatever stream platform you use.

We want you to become part of the conversation. So please go to our website, unexpected love stories.com and share your love story with us. Us. You can find a link to it in our episode guide. And while you’re there, check out the photos of couples from each episode. We’d love you to share our podcast with your family and friends so that they can enjoy these stories as well.

Unexpected love stories could be found on all their favorite podcast platforms. Oh, so tell me something special about that day, about your wedding day.

Sharnessa Sanden: Oh, goodness. [00:38:00] Um. It’s kind of a blur. Like I envy people that remember everything about their wedding days. Um, it’s so, it’s, it’s uh, it’s a little bit of a blur for me.

And it was also in the middle of a tour. I still, it was in the middle of a tour. It was in the middle of also, my brother got married the next weekend. Um, ’cause he wanted me to be at the wedding and it was like, well, we need to do it when you’re stateside. So what do you think of the week after you get married?

So. We got married August 19th. He got married August 26th. So it was a wild time, but, um, I don’t know. I think it was, well, I’ll say, I’ll say this. It was our first kiss. Our first kiss was our wedding day. So that was, that was pretty special. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I’m gonna say that, that, that was a, that was definitely a precious, golden moment.

So,

Sam Sanden: yeah. And, and what was cool too is that while, you know, we were, we had [00:39:00] SSA’s side of the family here, but

Sharnessa Sanden: Yeah.

Sam Sanden: Uh, we were able to have some friends from England to be part of

Sharnessa Sanden: the

Sam Sanden: wedding.

Sharnessa Sanden: Oh yeah. And then, oh, in Sweden and

Sam Sanden: my family from Sweden, so it was not two world

Sharnessa Sanden: well,

Sam Sanden: friends from Sweden too friends, some friends Sweden

came

Sharnessa Sanden: Friends from Sweden.

Yeah. From Sweden. Yep. Friends

Sam Sanden: came. So it wasn’t just two worlds colliding, it was really three worlds colliding, so. Mm-hmm. Um, but it was. She said it was a blur, but a very precious moment.

Sharnessa Sanden: A precious blur.

Sam Sanden: Yeah. We took off for our first part of our honeymoon, uh, to Leavenworth and then came back for the her brother’s wedding and then went out for us and prepped

Sharnessa Sanden: for that

Sam Sanden: second part of, uh, our honeymoon

Sharnessa Sanden: at Canon Beach.

And then from there we,

Sam Sanden: we went and had a release party for the album?

Sharnessa Sanden: Yeah. For our first album. Wow. Our album that came out, so

Sam Sanden: yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Wow. It was, hopefully you have pictures of your blur.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yes.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Of your precious blur.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yes.

Dawn Pruszkowski: So I’m just gonna invite everyone, friends. Uh, I wanna invite you to see Sam and char’s wedding photos, as well as pictures that highlight their incredible love story from Sweden, [00:40:00] from London, from all over.

Um, you can find that at our website, unexpected love stories.com. The link to our is in our show notes just below. It’s gonna take it right to their episode so that you can go right into finding out more about them, finding out, uh, more about, uh, links, how to get in touch with them as well as see more and more photos of them.

So, all right. Let’s get back to this. How did, so you guys did a split honeymoon and went right back into work

Sharnessa Sanden: Yep. Right on

Dawn Pruszkowski: the road. And you’re traveling all over? Yep. Um. How did, how did that work as far as ha being on a, like starting your life out in a and transition all the time?

Sharnessa Sanden: Yeah. You know, I think we’ve, we’ve talked about this over the years and I think because we had to, and it’s all we knew, and, [00:41:00] um, everything happened from the beginning kind of simultaneously.

It wasn’t like we were together and then this opportunity came up. Like the, I actually auditioned for the band before we were officially together. Yeah. Um, or it wasn’t like I was in the band and then he came along. Everything was like birthed in this the same, very short season. So I think we learned from a young age how to make things.

You just make him work. We just made him work. It wasn’t, not that there haven’t been, um, bumps in the road. Um. But I think we learned early on how to manage ourselves well. Manage ourselves well in different roles simultaneously. And because it’s all we knew. I mean, I, I guess I, it’s even a nod back to homeschooling stuff, right?

Like it’s, people would look at it and think that it was, especially back then, 1982, when my mom started homeschooling us when I was five years old. But, um. [00:42:00] It was all I knew. Right? So it’s what you do. And so same with this. It was, it was all that we knew we didn’t have one or the other before the other, if that makes sense.

So I think because the busy life of being in a band and, um, I mean everybody’s, I, everybody’s lives are busy. I’m not saying this is more, or it’s better or anything, but it’s, being in a band is a lot, there’s a lot to it, especially when you have, um, you know, your. You have contractual obligations, you know, and so, um, we.

We just learned early on how to manage a lot. Yeah. And I think, I think manage it pretty, pretty darn well. Also, you’re in a band, you’re, and it’s not so it’s not just us, you know, we had mm-hmm. Um, my band mate and our dancers and who were also like family and so, um, and sometimes some places. You know, would only pay for like two hotels.

So it would be like, sometimes we’d get a hotel room together, but sometimes it would be Sam and the guys [00:43:00] and our two dancers were guys, and then other times and, and then, and then it would be myself and my band mate, Lucy, you know, in the, in our own hotel room. And so you just go with the flow. It’s just, it just what you do to make, um, not just to make life happen, but to make the, make the dreams happen, right?

There’s, um, mm-hmm. Everything that is of value comes at a cost and. It was worth it. It was, it was, it was different and it was wild. But again, it’s, I think it’s, it’s all we knew. So it was, mm-hmm. Um, we were, for the most part, again, bumps in the road, but for the most part, pretty, um. Happy and us, and I dunno what the right word is.

We were happy to make it work. We were happy to make it happen because we wanted, um, we wanted it, we obviously wanted our marriage and we also wanted to, and knew we were called to, um, what we were walking in, in that season. So you make it work.

Sam Sanden: And I think also,

Dawn Pruszkowski: so now, and I was gonna say, and then what led you to [00:44:00] go move to Washington?

Sam Sanden: Yeah, so, uh, so Nisha was the band. We, we came to a point where, uh, the other gal in the band, um, Lucy, she, uh, she also fell in love and met the guy from another band in England and just came to a point where, for, for their marriage sake, it didn’t work for her to travel the way the band was. So. So she stepped down and actually joined a different British band and, and we moved to Nashville and this was right before nine 11.

The plan was to do a second album to, uh, just keep touring and to, to just do the Nashville thing completely. And

Sharnessa Sanden: so, and this is literally. End of

Sam Sanden: August,

Sharnessa Sanden: end of August, 2001. We got married August 19th, 2000. So a year later, a couple weeks before nine 11, so 2001 end of August.

Sam Sanden: So we had a number of gigs planned.

Mm-hmm. And, uh, the plan was to come get a new, uh, record deal, to get a, you know, a new management and, and just take off flying. And nine 11 happens. [00:45:00] And the, the replacement we had for, for Lucid didn’t quite work out. And so we’re. A week after nine 11 realized that, what do we do? The whole world has changed.

Nothing seems the same. So we took a week and prayed, okay, God, is this, is this it?

Sharnessa Sanden: And doors kept closing too.

Sam Sanden: Yeah. Every door. Yeah. The, the record deal that was on the table didn’t happen. They, uh, the apartment we had signed, the lease four was, you know, rented out under our noses, everything. So every single door was closing.

So we said, okay, God, do you want us to. Just try to work Na Nashville happen. Do you want us to move back to England, move to Sweden? Do we move to to back to Longview, where Shea is from? Uh, or what do you have? And we kind of felt the, the answer was to move to Longview and, and what we thought was to continue the band down the road here in Seattle or Portland.

And so we packed everything up about a week and a half after nine 11 and, and drove cross country [00:46:00] and

my

Sharnessa Sanden: dad drove,

Sam Sanden: came back here.

Sharnessa Sanden: My dad sweetly drove his Honda Accord out to bring us, so we would have a car in Nashville. And then while he was there, he hadn’t even left yet, I believe. Um, and I, maybe he had, but mm-hmm.

Um. He had driven the car out, so we would have a car there. Um, drove from Longview to Nashville and then, um, turns out we just ended up packing that car and driving that car back to Longview. So, um, yeah, so we had a car and it was actually a little side note. It was really quite powerful. It was within how many weeks after nine 11.

Two,

Sam Sanden: two weeks, probably

Sharnessa Sanden: two weeks top that we had packed the car back up and are driving from Nashville to Longview. So this is fresh, like nine 11 is fresh and it was such a, it was such a sobering, powerful time to drive across the country. I mean, we love road trips. We’ve done some amazing road trips with our boys.

Six years ago we did a 10,000 mile, five week trip across the country. We call it our Trip Across America. A really rad homeschool trip [00:47:00] that we did. Um. We drove, and this is right after nine 11, and there are just flags everywhere. Like people had painted them, and I’m sure some had already been there, but it, it was next level, like on the sides of semi-truck on barns.

People had flags in the backs of their, you know, their, their, uh, car windows. And it was, it was such a. I, I still like, that still stands out as one of my favorite memories, getting to do a road trip across the country within weeks of nine 11. So we came back to Longview and, and

Sam Sanden: then

Sharnessa Sanden: just to kind of figure out what was next.

Sam Sanden: Yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Mm-hmm. And

Sharnessa Sanden: then Aunt Pat.

Sam Sanden: Yeah. And then, uh, our aunt, she’s aunt, said, you need to get away. You need to hear from the Lord. So I have a house in Hawaii, so. We’ll fly over and just spend time with Jesus.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yep.

Sam Sanden: And that’s what we did. And we kind of felt, you know, this is where God had us to be in, in, in Longview.

And God opened the door for Nessa to start, um, to do like a trial week for dance. And

Sharnessa Sanden: yeah, we’re trying to figure out what do we, [00:48:00] what do we do? Like what can we do? He couldn’t work, um, being, uh, not being a US citizen yet. And I, um, was like, well, I can dance. And again, it wasn’t even a, like a long-term thing.

It was like, what do we do with this weird waiting period? And what do, what can I do? What do I, what do I love? And so, um, we were, we offered a, like a, just a one. You know, couple hour, half day, um, an afternoon dance clinic. And I’m like, maybe family and friends. There’ll be a few that have pity on me and come to this thing, you know?

And 45 people showed up of all kinds of ages, and I honestly hadn’t thought beyond that. It was just like, we’ll just do this thing for the day and see what happens. And people were like, can we keep doing this? Like, um. You know, it, it was such a fun, precious moment. It happened in, in Father’s House, you know, our Commerce Avenue, um, venue and, um, before we moved to where we’re at now, four years [00:49:00] ago, five years ago, four years ago.

And, um, uh. So we continued. That was, so we started our dance studio, or that’s where our dance studio was birthed, that we have still to this day. So, and now we’re over.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I love to your ingenuity, how you said you make things work.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yes.

Dawn Pruszkowski: How, when you used, uh, we’re teaching at father’s house, you had the sliding.

Mirrors that are from, from sliding closet, doors

Sharnessa Sanden: from Home Depot, home Depot,

Dawn Pruszkowski: and slide them all out.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yep. From Home Depot. They stayed in the closet. The church, sorry. The church was, I managed to not touch that yet till now. Um, I, you know, we kept him in that closet and the sanctuary and Father’s house.

Nancy and Chuck were so gracious to let us use that space and wheel those closet door mirrors out. And that was a good couple years that we did that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I’ve actually used that in my book.

Sharnessa Sanden: Have you

Dawn Pruszkowski: doing mirrors? Yes. Aw. It’s like use ingenuity.

Sharnessa Sanden: I love it. That’s right. And it [00:50:00] worked. It’s, yeah.

Sam Sanden: Yeah. And then, uh, we just ask if we wanted to start helping with the youth at our church. Yeah. So we did that and um, then eventually became, that was

Sharnessa Sanden: early 2002, January, 2002.

Sam Sanden: Yep. And then, uh, eventually came on staff and I could actually be on staff, you know, and when I got my green card and. And, uh, we did that in all, in all for nine years.

And then, um, I became the associate pastor in 2011, and I think going back to the Vienna days,

Sharnessa Sanden: which is the name of the band.

Sam Sanden: Yeah. Name of the band. Um, we just done things together. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, um. So whether it’s the dance studio or I remember doing youth group where Shaa would be part, even when we had kids, she would have, you know, a toddler with her.

Yep. But we, we did things together and, and whether more recent than when we got engaged in, in politics, um, we just love to do things together. And I think that came out of, uh, the time on the road of the Vienna. Yeah. That’s when it all started. And, uh, we just, uh, very privileged to be able to do that. And.

We make things [00:51:00] doable by doing those things, or if it’s Christmas musicals or whatever. We have, we, we try to do as much as we can, uh, as a team and where we have been able to, we’ve included our boys, um, and, uh, yeah, they’re, you know, one is a senior and one graduated last year. Last year. So, um, we love to do things as a family and, uh, and see God move.

So it’s, it’s been a privilege these last, uh. 25 years since we’ve

Sharnessa Sanden: married. Yeah. We just had our 25 year anniversary a couple months ago.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I love that. And I love too, ’cause like it’s, it’s like when you know that God brings you together mm-hmm. It is so much fun.

Sharnessa Sanden: It is.

Dawn Pruszkowski: To, to do work together, to do creative things together, to, to do life together.

It’s, ugh.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yep.

Dawn Pruszkowski: It’s beautiful.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yep. Nothing like it.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Hmm. Anything else that, that you wanted to share about what you’re doing now?

Sharnessa Sanden: Yeah, we still have the dance studio. So during, um, COVID is kind of when I phased out of [00:52:00] teaching. ’cause we had done, I guess to back up a little bit more, we, we were the youth pastors at Father’s House for.

How many was it? Nine years? We, so we did junior high and senior high for nine years. Then, uh, Sam transitioned to being the associate pastor, which he still is, um, in 2011. Mm-hmm. And then, and I’ve done worship. I’d lead one or twice, once or twice a month. Um, and have done that for many, many years. Used to lead with your hubby long time ago.

Mm-hmm. That feels like another lifetime too. Uh, he, so he is been the associate for 14 years. That’s so weird to be able to say that. Um, and, uh, the studio, it officially started in 2002. And then fast forwarding with the studio to 2020 when things got, you know, crazy, crazy town. And, um, we, we were at our peak.

We had two, 270 students at that point, and we were at [00:53:00] classes maxed. We have two dance rooms behind the scenes, mentoring my girls. Um. Just being, just working alongside them. And then, um, being involved in all things dance studio, behind the scenes and still dancing in classes. So we have the studio aspect, homeschooling our final homeschooler.

Um, this is his senior year, so that’s weird. Um, but it’s, it’s, it’s been a journey that I would not trade for anything. And, um, we’ve absolutely loved homeschooling and. I think just in addition to that, we’ve, like Sam mentioned, especially starting in, we were involved in something called the One Campaign for 11 years.

Um, and so we we’re familiar with doing, with, um, with working in DC we would go out once a year to work with our elected officials on different things, um, related to poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. But starting in 2020 when we started to really learn, um, what a governor can and cannot do, or we started to, you know, see what [00:54:00] local, local elected officials could and couldn’t do, it was like, you know what?

I think it’s time for us to sort of wake up in this department. And, um, I mean, this isn’t just me. It was us. Uh, we, we knew it was time for us to, uh, be we the people on another level and had a quick civics lesson in what happens when we’re not involved. And so. We’ve got gotten very involved the last five years in, um, helping run campaigns from local, um, you know, friends that have run for city council or school board.

Um, we helped run campaigns. We’re very involved in turning Point USA and have, uh, attended. You know, they’re passed all their pastors summits. We went, they, uh, we went to Israel with them. Mm-hmm. And, um, with Rob McCoy and, um, two and a half years ago now, early, yeah. January, 2023. Went with them to Israel and um, you know, a huge chunk of that was paid, which was such a gift.

And, uh, so we’re, we bring in speakers to our church and, and we’ve had, you know, Rob McCoy here, we’ve had Eric [00:55:00] Metaxas, we’ve had. Seth Gruber from White Rose Resistance. All kinds of people that we’ve had the privilege of getting to bring. Um, getting to bring here and we just have felt very, that’s kind of a newer part of our calling, I guess.

Yeah. You know how things, you know how that goes down, like things, things morph or God just opens new doors and brings you into a new season. And the last five years we’ve felt that a big part of our calling is to, uh, is to educate and, um, I mean awaken and educate and engage and mobilize. Um, the church.

Yep. And so, um, we’ve been really blessed at our church that our, our pastor is all on board with all these things and super supportive. And so that’s kind of a newer, I mean, newer in the, you know, the scheme of things the last five years or so. Yeah. We’ve been walking in that and we’ve just seen a lot of, a lot of doors open.

It’s been very humbling and exciting. So we’re, we’re pumped for. We’re pumped for the next 25 years of marriage and what God’s got. So, yeah. And, [00:56:00] and then actually one other thing to add in there, um, musicals, musical productions are a huge passion for me, and we’ve talked about opening an art school.

Probably not for, not for like a kids’ art school, but like, um, arts of the, the arts of all kinds, especially performing arts for probably more like 17 years old on up. That’s still in the back of my head. It’s been a dream for 20 years or so. Um, but also kind of the big part of that is gonna be putting on super, um, stunning professional, um.

Musicals, musical productions that are Broadway quality or even better. Um, and Holy Spirit breathed and just are gonna, um, change, change hearts and minds and change culture. And so that’s, that’s another, that’s another thing that we do. Um, and that we, we’ve done some musicals, but we’re still working toward doing, um, bigger ones to like bigger scale and um mm-hmm.

And that art school eventually as well as the dream. So, so yeah. I

Dawn Pruszkowski: love that. [00:57:00] So I love that again. That’s awesome. Waiting for God. Yeah, no, just, I just love your story because it’s, I can identify that, you know?

Sharnessa Sanden: Yep.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Just like following after God and he brings you the perfect partner and that you guys can dream together, and you can grow together and do exciting, creative things together that you never would have.

Ever dreamed of doing, especially on your own. Um, it’s, it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful and I, I hope that people that are single are out there hearing this and, and holding onto it and going to say, God, I’m taking that for me too. Thank you so much.

Sharnessa Sanden: Yes. I love it.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yeah, I love it. Yes. Well, thank you so much for sharing your love story with us.

It is so beautiful. I love it. So friends, remember that true [00:58:00] love doesn’t just cross oceans. It builds bridges of hope, faith, and influence that can ripple across the whole world, just like Sam and Charnea does. You know, and you’re probably asking yourself, well, gosh, they’re so amazing. How can I connect with Sam and Charnea?

Well. I’ve got news for you, just go to the link below, unexpected love stories.com. It’ll take you right to their episode page. We’ve got, again, fun photos and links that you can click on to get to, uh, to connect with them. And I’m sure that they are going to just respond to anything that, that you send their way.

Also, you may be watching us right now on YouTube or Spotify, but now the Faith Channel also carries our shows. So just download the free app on your smartphone and start watching our show as well as other great shows and movies and things like that. So before you go, I also [00:59:00] want to ask you, would you please comment or leave a question?

Um, and we’ll write back to you. Don’t forget to hit the thumbs up button or the. Give us a five star rating, you know, that’ll help us a whole lot. Well, I hope your heart feels lighter and full of hope after hearing this wonderful story. ’cause you know, often the best love stories are the ones we never saw coming.

So keep your heart open because love truly is waiting for you. We’ll see you next time. Bye.