I was one to always just go with the flow and take things as they came. But little did I know that crashing a motorcycle into the side of a mountain was going to be the main pivotal point that was going to start the timer for encountering the love of my life! I usually tried to stick to myself at church by sitting in the back, but still observant enough to be willing to help with things when needed. Little did I know that I was still garnering attention. It started off with a group of girls, who turned out to be roommates (I didn’t know at the time) and they were friendly and would say hi to me when I walked in. Little did I know that my future was among this group of friends. After crashing, having a concussion, and being asked to meet with my Bishop, I was shortly called to be the Elders Quorum President in the YSA. Guess the Lord had a plan for me. And sure enough, it was to help me use my personality to reach out and touch the lives of those in the ward and help them the best that I could while representing the Savior. Of course, doing it with the best black eye ever to boot (I mean I did break my face). While fulfilling my duties, I would continue to show off more of my personality and make sure that the YSA had what it needed. This meant that I had to be in charge of church building cleaning. While trying my best to get volunteers, I knew I would make do with whoever showed up, and if it took longer, then so be it. Of those people, Ellie and her roommate were some of the lovely ladies that would sacrifice their Saturday mornings to come to help. Little did I know that there was a divine design in all of this. Ellie knew exactly what she wanted!

Initially, she invited me to hang out with her established group of friends because they thought I would be a good fit and there was some interest from Ellie. Ill be honest, I wasn’t really looking for anything and figured things would happen in their own time, and so that’s how I went about things. I was in a little anti-social vibe some nights and didn’t always feel like hanging out, but most of the time, I genuinely had something going on that made it so that I couldn’t make the invites. One of the first invites that Ellie made was to join her and a group of friends and go to a piano bar in Salt Lake. But I was not prepared and had to wrap things up for homework and studying because that was finals week. But even though the conversation could’ve sat at a standstill after the invite, there was some good banter, and the conversation continued. This was the foundational piece into this love puzzle. And thankfully, the invites to different activities with the friends didn’t stop and they kept coming! This allowed me opportunities to say yes and then get to know the group of friends and meet new people. Right off the bat, I noticed that Ellie seemed to just get me. She got my humor, my personality, and just me in general. I always felt like I could be myself and that is an amazing feeling. I do admit that sometimes the other friends didn’t always click with things I said or did, but that is life, we are all different. However, at that point, I wasn’t looking for anything serious still, but I was glad to have friends to hang out with.

Now, the juicy stuff starts when as a result of having Ellie and her roommate come help with building cleaning, I asked the ward for some volunteers for help with a service project and they both volunteered ( with the understanding that I would be there, although I never said that). This made it so that after they did the service, they sent a message to me asking where I was, and so I jokingly replied that I was never planning to go… (I know shame on me) but it did lead me to ask them if they wanted cookies as my way of saying sorry, to which Ellie replied “No, but I will take a date”. This was a first for me, and I loved the straightforwardness and courage that she presented. Before this happened, I had one of her friends come up to me one day in the hall at church and suggest that I take her on a date, and being skeptical I was like “nahh she doesn’t like me”. (This wasn’t the only time that someone recommended that I ask her out, but they definitely knew that God had a plan in the works). Turns out there was enough interest, and so I followed suit and asked her out formally on a date. This meant that I had to get to work and think of something to do in Utah, since I hadn’t been here long. I also never really liked the simple and lame dates that I heard friends going on, so I wanted to be different, especially trying to make a good first impression. So, I presented her with some options, and let her choose. We ended up doing a painting and swap date night which consisted of a little discussion, some mad artistic skills and a good time. Little did I know that my plaid shorts I wore that day were almost my chances with Ellie, as she got majorly creeped out. I remember texting one of my sisters afterwards and being like “Well the enthusiasm in the texting just isn’t there anymore, so I don’t think she likes me”, but keep in mind that I had no idea it was because of a pair of shorts haha. (They are now no longer in the wardrobe, but I should’ve framed them). Anyway, fast forward a little more, and well, I lucked out and there was some more conversing and then an invite to an open house for the temple in Saint George with her friend group, and that was the start of more consistent “Benelli” (Benjamin and Ellie) time. Through traveling for work and talking, feelings grew deeper, and we would go on walks and hang out, and do different activities together, and when I thought I wasn’t seeking love, it decided to show up into my life at the right time. God knew exactly what He was doing. Through evening walks, movies with friends, shared laughs, “gurt gurt time”, late night facetime calls, and many fun adventures, Ellie became one of my favorite people, my best friend, the one who understands me, and the one who made everything just right. This was where our story began, and it just continues to get better and better with every passing day. There is always more to amazing stories, and that is the case with ours as well, but come, visit, spend some time with us, and ask all the questions you want and enjoy learning more about our story as we continue to write it, and we will enjoy learning more about yours as well!

.benjamins version