Hannah Graham & Daniel Foerster

I met Hannah for the first time in January 2022. I was trying to adjust back into school life as a second-semester student and was rather overwhelmed in my attempts to learn all my fellow students. I was glad to be placed on the Goforth student fellowship since I at least knew the president (Carl Hadley)! Hannah happened to be the ladies’ vice president, but the impressions I gathered were very vague. I did appreciate Hannah’s consistent joyfulness in fellowship gatherings and especially as she played Chavi for Nicodemus. When I went home for the summer, my mother asked me if anyone had caught my attention. No one came to mind.

After the summer, I returned to school as oblivious as I had come the previous semester, but less overwhelmed. I also found myself frequently assigned to table 4 for dinners— where Hannah served as the table host. As we interacted more, I discovered that we had more in common than our student fellowship— we were the only voice majors in the entire school! When I was asked to join the Christmas Carol choir, I got further opportunities to interact with Hannah while waiting for our entrances. Before the last performance on December 11, 2022, Hannah, who played a laundress, was discussing plans with her junior partner in crime. Since my role was the bobby, I decided to join the fun and quickly learned the truth— Hannah had been stealing brass buttons for four performances without me being any the wiser! When we reached that scene a few hours later, I caught sight of her moving towards her destination. I hurried through my own stage directions and unsuccessfully pursued her to the stage exit. When I returned home for Christmas, my mother repeated her question from the summer. This time, and for the first time, Hannah was a possibility.

When the spring semester came, I paid much more attention to what I was learning about Hannah! Early on, she gave a testimony about her time in South Africa over the break, and how she had been challenged in her surrender. Did she feel a strong call to missions? I didn’t know how to find out without looking suspicious! But when I looked at the roster for my second semester of Music History, I found that Hannah was one of the very few students in the class. Through the semester, we found common ground on Mendelssohn, Vaughan Williams, oratorios, and more, and I felt that Hannah had truly become one of my friends. We once more enjoyed roles in Nicodemus, and I was able to discreetly point Hannah out to my parents. When I learned at the end of the semester that Hannah would remain at Falls to teach after graduation, I was convinced that God was leading me towards Hannah. My parents and I prepared a timeline for contacting the Grahams, trying to balance her parents’ distance and the two years remaining on my own degree. That summer, I remained at Falls for an internship, and enjoyed getting to interact in different situations— including collaboration when my middle school boys had art lessons!

When the fall semester came around, I had fewer opportunities to interact with Hannah as she taught in the academy while I continued college. But a casual lunch conversation with Hannah and a freshman brought my settled timeline into emergency mode— Dr. Graham would be in Wisconsin in December! That was the only situation where my parents and I felt we should reach out before the following spring. Now my 9 months of waiting were down to 3! I began meeting with mentors I felt could give counsel and insight. I received encouragement from each, but the most exhilarating response came from Mrs. Van Gelderen: “I approve!”

In late November, my parents contacted the Grahams and arranged a meeting. Once I was done with my part in Christmas Carol— this time as Marley and with no interaction with Hannah— I was able to meet with Dr. Graham. To my relief, we quickly found extensive common ground and talked longer than we had planned. Perhaps overly worried about giving anything away, I passed up an opportunity to sit with Hannah and Dr. Graham at the Christmas banquet— even though my brother was at the same table! Later, Dr. Graham promised to respond in a few weeks, but I didn’t realize he was planning to tell Hannah while I had 3 semesters of college remaining. So it came as a delightful surprise when he called on January 5, 2024 and informed me that he, Mrs. Graham, and Hannah had said yes and a courtship could begin!

I met Daniel when he came to college, the spring semester of 2022. We were in the same fellowship, but our paths didn’t cross much in the beginning. I kept pretty busy, juggling a lot of responsibilities and classes. Early in the semester, I auditioned for the Easter production, Nicodemus, and received a cast role. Daniel also played in the cast, as Judas Iscariot. The production provided exciting conversation at the college dinner table, and I had the opportunity to ask Daniel more about his character. I lightly asked whether or not he thought Judas Iscariot was saved and was astounded to get a thorough, carefully studied answer, to my “off-the-cuff” question. During a particularly difficult week, I arrived at fellowship chapel, overwhelmed and a bit discouraged. It happened to be Daniel’s first opportunity to preach for Goforth. He preached a message on Psalm 118, which encouraged me, and I left chapel spiritually refreshed. At that point, I still had very little connection to him, but I respected him as a colleague.

A summer passed, and the fall came. I realized that Daniel was a fellow voice student, and our paths crossed a bit more often. Near the end of the semester, we were preparing for the production of A Christmas Carol. My background character was a laundress from the slum section of London, and the policeman, who passed through the slum on occasion, was Daniel. Backstage, some slum friends and I practiced getting into our characters. I pretended to be a pickpocket, and received a startled exclamation (in a perfect British accent) from the London policeman. As I tried to do my background role well, it was fun and helpful that Daniel would also play his part.

Music History was my last class before I graduated, and my only class with Daniel. It involved many class discussions, and I discovered that Daniel and I shared many of the same interests. It was at that point that Daniel, though an intellectual colleague, fellow actor and voice student, also became my friend.

My recital and graduation quickly followed the end of Music History. As I prayed about the next step, God opened the door for me to teach art in the summer day camp at Falls. Daniel would also work in Shining Stars, teaching the middle-school boys. I would also teach them two to three times a week. These lessons, sketching World War 2 planes and discussing a variety of subjects, quickly became a highlight for me. I enjoyed my conversations with Daniel, and admired that he could talk knowledgeably on a wide range of subjects. By that time, God had already started to do a work in my heart, but I tried to keep focused on the steps directly in front of me.

That fall, I began teaching art in the Academy. For the first time, my life didn’t intertwine much with the college, and I saw little of Daniel. Acting in A Christmas Carol brought back a lot of memories. I remained the same character, while Daniel performed the cast role of Marley. At that time, my dad was teaching a two-week-block course. Once, before a Christmas Carol performance, I was hoping to eat lunch with him between my make-up and hair times. With only five minutes to spare, I searched my dad, needing to explain that I wouldn’t have time to meet. To my surprise, I found him at a table talking to Marley! Not realizing that many meetings about a potential courtship were happening behind the scenes, I found the week very confusing. Exhausted and discouraged from the long semester, I was challenged spiritually to re-surrender my future back into God’s hands.

The next week, my dad, sisters, and I left for Arizona to spend Christmas with my grandma. On a warm, Sunday morning before church, my dad asked me to take a walk with him. As we admired the rusty Arizona mountains, he shared that Daniel had expressed interest in a courtship. I spent the next two weeks praying for wisdom about this potential step. By the time my mom arrived to teach in early January, I was excited to share with her what God had been doing in my heart. The next day, my dad called Daniel, and our courtship began!

5 January 2024

On January 5th, Dr. Graham called Daniel and gave his approval for the courtship. The next day, we had our first phone call— Daniel was driving back to school and Hannah took a walk through the neighborhood. We mostly stuck to safe topics— art and music, but thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.

During the first weeks of the semester, we took advantage of Mrs. Graham’s presence to go on dates to the Mitchell Park Domes and a barbeque restaurant recommended by Matt Foerster. We communicated almost exclusively by letters, but were able to celebrate Hannah’s birthday and Daniel’s recital, with a dinner with Daniel’s parents in between. We also enjoyed getting to film the Easter Encounter in Arkansas! It was very convenient that Daniel’s cousin Cheri was Hannah’s cast partner. Another special moment was serving together during Victory Conference. We didn’t realize we’d get a chance to wash so many dishes together!

When school wrapped up, Hannah came to Iowa to spend two weeks with Daniel and his family. After a week, Daniel travelled to South Africa for an eight-week internship with Dr. Graham, and two weeks later Hannah flew back as well! These weeks together outside school schedules helped greatly to confirm what God was doing in our hearts.

On July 4th, we celebrated Independence Day from a distance. Another missionary family came over, and we played a game of Poetry for Neanderthals. When Hannah drew the word “fingers”, she came up with a description for her team: “what I have on hand!” A teammate thought he had the answer. “A ring!” Hannah responded emphatically. “No!” What Hannah did not know was that the ring was only a few rooms away— Daniel had picked up the ring while she was in Iowa and flown with it to Cape Town! Since it was winter in South Africa, the weather became a central figure in finding the right time for a proposal. But July 5th would be exactly six months since Dr. Graham had called Daniel and the courtship had begun, so it was already the planned day.

5 July 2024

Daniel got up early on the morning of July 5th to meet with Dr. Graham. He had already received official permission to propose, but an almost equal obstacle was at hand— where the proposal should take place! There were many options, and Daniel had only seen a few of them. Finally, Dr. Graham consulted Mrs. Graham. She suggested a composite option: a trip to Table Mountain followed by a walk down Melkbosstrand beach. If the moment was right on Table Mountain, it could be the place; otherwise, Melkbosstrand would be the safe option.

However, when we arrived at Table Mountain, we discovered huge crowds of people— waiting in line to ride up the cable car to the top! The cable car was scheduled to be closed for months of repairs, and only one day of fair weather remained, so we stumbled into a last-minute rush. We waited two hours in line for our ride up, and while the mountain was beautiful, it was also crowded with people. And now we were behind schedule to make it to Melkbosstrand! Hannah was confused by her parents’ abnormal levels of impatience with the slow-moving traffic along the way. Meanwhile, Mrs. Graham worked several times to reschedule our post-proposal dinner reservations!

Finally, with an hour of sunset remaining, we arrived at Melkbosstrand. We walked very quickly along the beach— the only time Hannah has ever asked Daniel to walk slower— as Daniel shared the maximum detail version of his journey and tried not to act nervous. As Daniel neared the end of the story, he tried to find the right spot on the beach to avoid clumps of seaweed while not getting swept away by the waves or drowning in sand. Finally, with time, daylight, camera batteries, and story all running low, Daniel found a promising spot, knelt down, and produced the ring. Hannah said yes! A few moments later, a wave came surging towards our position. We noticed in time and escaped, but almost lost Hannah’s shoes in the process. Thankfully, Daniel thought to grab them on the way because Hannah wasn’t thinking about them at all!