Erica: I was getting ready to head to Florida two weeks later, when I received a message from my friends down there that this guy they'd hoped to set me up with...wouldn't actually be there at the same time as me. They were very apologetic (and very annoyed at their friend's apparent self-sabotage), but I could see pretty quickly that this was God's hand at work in our lives.

David: I reported back to my life group about everything that had happened and they were very supportive. (If you're not part of a small group/life group at your church, get plugged in! They are amazing!) They jokingly said they would pray about the Florida guy being boring or not showing up. A week later, I was getting ready for life group when I got a message from Erica asking if I had checked my email. I went and saw a LENGTHY email from Erica where she told me about how Florida man wouldn't be in Florida after all, and how she felt that this was God pushing her in a different direction. She brought up how much my friendship meant to her. She still had concerns she wanted to address, but she said that she was open to me flying out to Minnesota to take her on a date.

Erica: I had a lot to consider. Those who know me well know that I have wanted to move overseas for missions work within a year or two of finishing graduate school, and that this was a dealbreaker in any future spouse. He had to be excited about serving God in a different country and culture and about making Him known among those who have never heard His name. I knew David was a pastor and had a heart for teaching others, but I'd never heard him express a desire for overseas missions, so I was hesitant and cautious. However, to his credit, David had expressed this when he first approached me, knowing that it was a dealbreaker for me, and saying he was very open to the idea, had seriously considered it, and would never have approached me if he wasn't willing to have that conversation. It showed me that he knew me well and had taken the time to genuinely pray through these considerations that were important to me.

David: After several conversations over the span of a few months - with each other, with our church families, with mentors, with friends - after a lot of prayer, I bought a plane ticket to see Erica in Rochester in December, and then Erica came to visit me in January, so I finally got the chance to show her Powell's. During that trip, I asked where she was at emotionally and she said that if I asked her to be my girlfriend, she would say yes. I did and of course, the best way to celebrate that was by going to get ice cream for dessert.

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