Abi and Torin first met at a week-long youth retreat called Tides, where Abi was serving as the camp nurse and leading a girls' group and Torin had been asked to lead a guys’ group. On the way to the beach, one of Torin’s students got hurt at a rest stop, and the student was brought to Abi to check on him. That’s when the two first met.

Throughout the week, the student needed daily checkups, so Torin would accompany him each morning. Over those brief visits, Abi and Torin got to know each other a little more and discovered they shared a lot of mutual friends.

By the end of the trip, they realized they’d both be attending the same wedding just a week later. The night before the wedding, Torin practiced his swing dancing—just in case he had the chance to ask Abi to dance.

At the reception, the two spent much of the evening talking before Torin finally asked her to dance. Afterward, they ended up at Waffle House, where they continued into more conversation.

A couple days later, Abi left for Uganda for the summer. Right before she boarded her plane, she received a voice memo from Torin—a prayer over her trip. During her time away, they continued exchanging voice memos and updates. A few weeks in, Torin asked if he could call to hear more about her trip. That phone call turned into a four-hour FaceTime conversation.

Torin had planned to wait until Abi was back in Auburn to ask her on a date, but after that long conversation, he decided to ask her then for a date when she came home. When she did finally come home, Torin happened to be on a family trip, so their first date ended up being Abi picking him up from the airport and Torin made her breakfast for dinner!