The Lwin 'Ohana - Our Wedding Website

Our story? Well that depends on which one of us tells it …

It all began on February 13, 1999 when we were introduced by a mutual friend, Jill, at a small group Bible study in Hawaii Kai. Interestingly, we were studying that night the book of Solomon from the Old Testament and our focus was on learning how to become God’s best so that in God’s timing we would be paired up with another one of God’s best!

I (Lynn) was introducted to everyone in the room - everyone except for Mike. In typical and very frequent Mike fashion, he was in the bathroom making 'shee shee'.

Mike: Hey, that's not fair...I can't help it that I drink lots of fluids and have a small bladder. Yup, I've got 'bladder envy!' Hmm...maybe I need Cleansing Stream (oh, speaking of stream...I think I gotta go shee shee again).

Well, it wasn’t TOO long before Mike joined the rest of us and I (Lynn) didn’t sense love at first sight (I mean, how could I immediately love him when the first thing I saw was him still zipping up his jeans?) However, I gotta admit that there was undoubtedly an immediate and curious intrigue about him. I noticed a quiet, contemplative intention about him – he didn’t have much to say at first (which is quite different from the Mike we all know and love today!) but when he did speak, it was worth listening to AND he has a great voice!

I (Mike) didn’t really notice Lynn at first upon my exit from the bathroom. Instead, I was more concerned with when we were going to eat! But following dinner, as we sat down to study God’s Word pertaining to this dubious subject of dating, I was blown away with Lynn’s words when it came her turn to share what God was teaching her. First, she was strikingly beautiful – not because of her bright red hair, but more because of God’s radiance shining upon her face and smile. More importantly beyond this was her spiritual depth. She was certainly a woman growing in the Lord and in the quietness of my heart I honestly heard God’s voice tell me, ‘you are going to marry her!’ At first I thought it must have been gas from the BBQ dinner that was making me think that this was what God was saying, yet I committed to not saying anything and just praying for her and for God’s timing.

The start of our friendship would be through church. We both attended New Hope’s Sunday morning service at 7a.m. and so we made a plan to “look for each other” the next morning at service. Lynn got up extra early that Sunday so that she could plant herself outside the front of the church so that she wouldn’t miss Mike! Of course, she made it look like she “just showed up and found him” when Mike pulled up late (of course!). After the service was over, we decided to head to Kahala for a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Great enjoyable conversation! I (Lynn) can still remember some of those details and find it amazing to see the Lord’s faithfulness even from the very beginning! We parted ways that morning – Mike headed to his Entertainment office to catch up on work and I (Lynn) was headed to church to teach Sunday school. Before departing that morning, we made a plan for that evening to meet for a bite to eat and a movie – I (Lynn) was so excited to have a Valentine’s date that year! Gosh, I think I (Mike) was more just stoked to have someone to go to the movies with...

In the years that followed our friendship would grow close and then grow apart. Nevertheless, the years that followed were fantastic years of spiritual leadership and ministry growth for us together, and individually. Looking back now, we can both see that everything we went through … from the joys to the frustrations to the tears … was God-ordained in order to develop us in character, personal spiritual maturity, and surrender. Because God is a big God, He knew the plans He had for us. He knew He needed to shape Mike into the man God needed him to become in order to fulfill God’s plan in his life. In a similar way, God’s great plans for Lynn’s life required Him to mold Lynn into the woman God desired her to become.

During this season of growth, we celebrated together God’s call for Mike to step out of the marketplace and into full-time ministry. Mike joined New Hope’s management team as the Equipping Director. At the same time, God called Lynn into ministry as well! And in His humorous plan, God placed me (Lynn) as Mike’s assistant. In ministry at New Hope, we together organized the Doing Church As A Team conferences, started up the Xtreme Ministry, launched the New Hope Internship program, operated and published a local Christian business directory, and helped to lead international mission teams. It was a very busy several years and our working relationship may not have been of the greatest benefit to our personal relationship, though we certainly got to know each other well and see each other’s true colors!

In 2002, we went our separate ways and established lives and routines on complete opposite sides of the island of O’ahu. Mike began working on a new church site that would become known as New Hope Leeward, and Lynn went to work as a Marketing Director for This Week Magazine. We were not in touch much during this season with the exception of an occasional ministry event. Although we were still friends in Christ, we definitely had moved away from pursuing anything greater at that time.

It’s nothing short of a miracle that connected us once again in early summer of 2004. Lynn: One day there was a missed call on my cell phone from Mike. It was odd because I hadn’t received a call from him in almost two years. Mike was on a trip to Maui and he claims he dropped his phone and it dialed my number.

Hee, hee … I (Mike) was on a personal retreat with God for a weekend and I was getting this tug on my heart that I was to call Lynn. I had no reason to call and I didn’t know why the Lord would put this sense in my heart. So I dialed the number and just before it rang I hung up and threw the phone in my bag thinking that this was the most ridiculous thing the Lord would want me to do. It wasn’t a minute before my phone rang back. I thought, “Oh no! The call went through." God definitely works in mysterious ways!

Since I (Lynn) had not talked with Mike in a long time, I figured he was calling because of a quick ministry question or something. (Turns out, it WAS the ‘or something.’) The quick returned phone call turned into a wonderful catch-up conversation with an invite to meet for lunch … lunch was a most enjoyable four hours spent on a Sunday afternoon at Longhi’s. We then set up our next get together - a double-date a month in advance of the actual date! (Now when that kind of pre-planning takes place, you have to suspect that this might be something special!)

God began to unfold His awesome plans for our relationship. One thing progressed to another and soon it became evident that God had been working all along, but He just worked in ways that we could not see with our eyes. Just as the Bible says, “His ways are higher than our ways.”

God brought restoration to our relationship by way of healing, forgiveness and divine perspective. We started to communicate much more and have worked hard to commit ourselves to the Lord’s guidance, correction and direction.

Well, it seems that from a Valentine’s date in 1999 to now, the Lord has been at work preparing our hearts for the sweetest earthly treat of all …. the love of a mate for life!