Jay and I met at our church, Yorktown assemblies of God in 2023, during Bible study. Prior to this meeting, we've seen each other at church numerous times, however, we never spoke to each other or even greeted each other as parishioners. Our church is pretty big, therefore, it's expected to miss a few parishioners here and there. I can recall a time, while our Pastor was preaching a sermon, I saw Jay sitting at an angle, where I can see him with my peripheral vision and I can remember shifting my eyes to his ring finger and saying to myself "ok... he doesn't have a ring on, that's good". I can remember saying "he's so handsome... ok focus girl, that's not why you're here".

Fast forward, it's now the Thanksgiving of 2023, and our Spanish Bible Study leader set up a thanksgiving dinner for all members and I can remember, all the seats filled and there was one seat left and that seat was right next to me. It just so happened, Jay was looking for a seat, since all the seats had been filled already. Funny thing is, I can recall someone yelling "right here, this seat is empty!!" and pointed right next to me, where the seat was...right next to me :). I can recall saying hello, he said hello, as he settled himself in that vacant seat next to me. I turned back around and I silently spoke to myself saying "oh my he smells so good". There was hardly any conversation between us, while we sat next to each other. We did however, say a few words to each other while on the dinner line, but I can assure you, hardly any words were spoken. In fact, I can't even remember what was said (lol).

Now, a few weeks pass, after our thanksgiving dinner with our church family and by now, Jay and I are becoming a bit more acquainted with each other, both in and out of church...mostly during bible study services. Our topics would entail family, jobs, and of course God. Very basic, but very detailed and purposeful :).

Christmas Eve, home alone, and no where to go, since I was scheduled to be with my family, but for some reason my car was giving me problems, therefore I decided to stay home. Suddenly my phone rings and whah-dah-yah-know... it was Jay calling me. I was a bit baffled because I never gave him my number, but I welcomed him. Jay then made small on the phone , but was very direct and boom asked me, "would you like to have dinner? I said "sure, I'm not busy". We went out to eat, and I must say, he really impressed me with his mannerism and his gentle approach with conversation. It didn't take long, before we became more acquainted, more familiar, drew closer to each other. One month after our first real date, which was December 24th we began courting. On December 17th though....it was a Sunday, and soon after service was over, we greeted each other and he asked, "hey you want to grab some breakfast"? I said "sure" I can assure you I wasn't the best date. I was rude. I ignored conversation. I was too busy fighting with my meal that was drowning in onions (lol). I hate onions, and I made that very clear to him, he said "ok...no onions". Today, he stopped ordering onions on his meals, just in case I want to pick on his meals (lol).

July 7th, my birthday, he gathered a few friends, family and surprised me with a birthday party, with the intent to surprise me with marriage proposal. SURPRISED I WAS!!!. It was a beautiful, memorable surprise and gift, that I will ever forget. I remember telling him "I don't ever remember celebrating my birthday as a child or as an adult, not because my mom didn't care, but growing up in poverty, you don't get to do much of these little things". He responded, "I can relate, I never had this either, we can enjoy it together". We celebrated my birthday/engagement as if it were both our birthdays. It was the nicest thing I could have ever received and a night to remember forever.

Jay and I have come to terms, that we both share many familiar childhood stories, ambitions, dreams and goals. Most importantly, above them all, we share the love we have for The Lord. First, our dream is to visit parts of the world, him and I have never seen. A cruise for example, we've talked about taking short visits, via traveling by sea. We've also talked about visiting our heritage island, (Puerto Rico), just so we can enjoy our love for food in our "Tierra Borinquen". Building a home, with plenty of space for all our shoes and clothes (lol), but most importantly, we both have come to terms with ourselves, that nothing in our lives would be complete without the presence of our Heavenly Father.

God has allowed us to unite, for His purpose and perfect plans. I admire Jay mostly, because he is not shy in serving The Lord, whether it be in public or in private. I especially admire his passion to worship The Lord. These are both tips of the iceberg for our goals in our lives as one, but most importantly, Jay and I anticipate the day The Lord would call us to ministry, for His glory and honor. I fell in love with Jay because of his love for Christ, watching him worship and praise, study the word, just as I joy the very same...time... with The Lord.

I fell in love with Jay's contagious smile and he fell in love with my silly laugh (lol). Today, we can trust each other to be there for each other, encourage each other, fight for each other, lift each other up, when we are struggling or experiencing difficulties. Most importantly, we can trust God, that His purpose in uniting us, is to pour into others, what He has poured onto us.

I hope our story, though short and simple, may be a blessing to those who struggle with trusting God's plan for their lives. God's plan is to bless you with a companion that, not only would be your confidant, but your best friend and your unshakable rock when facing life's challenges, whether good or bad. Just God. He knows why.