My first impression of Alex was during my first Apologetics class at Christian Life College. He wasn’t in the room.. he was actually in a zoom meeting with the class on the projector. He was driving to work and he left his mic on and the teacher kept getting distracted and told him to mute his mic. I thought to myself, “This guy is hilarious, I hope I get to meet him in person.”

Well fast forward about a week later, there he was.. this time on campus! I walked up to him and introduced myself and made a friendly connection with him. From that point on, we remained really good friends. We were both freshmen and majored in music. We saw each other all the time and had a lot of the same friends… and homework.

It was funny because we discovered many parallels between our lives. We had been in the same place at the same time so many times before we ever knew each other. We had come so close to meeting each other several times and never did until we both met at college. I like to think that God always had it planned for us to meet each other and it happened in the most perfect timing.

The more I got to know him, the more I started to realize he was my dream guy.. I mean I had a list of 80+things that I wanted in my future partner and it kind of scared me how much he was checking off my list.

He always made his intentions with me very clear. I wasn’t looking for a relationship in that season of my life, but at the same time, he was everything I could’ve ever dreamed of. We rode along as “good friends” for quite a while. After about 9 months of being “good friends”, I started to realize that what we had was so special and worth keeping for the long run.

He finally asked me to be his girlfriend and we continued our relationship, long distance. We took turns visiting each other, whenever we had the chance. I just knew he was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Going on 2 years of long distance, God opened doors for him to move up closer to me and now here we are, engaged to be married.

I truly can’t wait to see the rest of our love story unfold. God has always been so faithful in our lives. The story we have is already so beautiful and I know it only gets better from here. Until forever. 🤍

My first impression of Jayla was my first week of Bible College. Due to being sick, I couldn't attend on time with the rest of the students which made me 2 weeks late to on-campus attendance. I immediately met Jayla & several others and quickly gravitated toward those I got along with, Jayla being the most notable. We were friends right away. I thought her friendliness and outgoing personality were cool traits. Little did I know I was surely becoming friends with the love of my life.

It wasn't until the fall semester @ CLC that I started learning to follow the voice and will of God. I knew by the time I spent with Jayla, that this was unlike any other connection I've ever had. I knew I felt a way toward her that I wanted to deal with prayerfully and carefully. Jayla wasn't like any other girl I've ever known. Our chemistry was unique. Through continual prayer and fasting the Lord spoke to me and helped me to learn how to establish a God-centered relationship. God spoke to me with a promise and through that word, with faith, I knew that if this was the will of God, someday, my relationship with Jayla would work out.

Throughout college, we kept getting closer and closer. Learning more about each other and what we were looking for in a spouse. Discovering that I was checking off boxes of a list she had hinted at was a sign that my prayers were being answered. Without knowing the contents of that list, I was confident the Lord had my back. I was determined to be the man that I needed to be if I were to be with Jayla. She was special to me, she was worth all the work and effort it took to get where I needed to be. I'm thankful for her, as she played a crucial part in that season of my life. It was then, that I started to see our future falling into place.

It wasn't until after Bible College that things got more serious. For two long years during our long-distance relationship, I worked, prayed, waited, and saved money until the next step in our future together started falling into place. I graduated from EMT school and was hired by an Ambulance company near where Jayla lived. All the work paid off as I knew it would. I trusted God that the pieces would come together and in perfect timing they did.

We learned to communicate in the most challenging way possible, finding time to visit and balance our busy lives. Learning to maintain a friendship and a relationship. After all the waiting, within a month, I was living in Hanford and was finally closing that dreaded long-distance gap. The proposal shortly ensued and wedding planning was commenced. Now we are closer than ever to our future. I can't wait to marry the love of my life, a gift and treasure I've been blessed with. Here's to forever with my bride-to-be. ❤️