I met Paxton during the winter camps, shortly after surviving a serious car accident that made me reevaluate my life and focus more on my faith. Realizing the negative influence of my social circle, I began distancing myself from them and committing to God and his commands.

Despite my nerves, I followed through with my commitment to volunteer at the winter camps at Camp Elim. I was anxious about fitting in and making friends, but everyone there was so welcoming, and I reconnected with some familiar faces. I distinctly remember the first time I saw Paxton: a tall, curly-haired, ridiculously handsome, blue-eyed boy in his Tea sweatshirt and jeans, smiling broadly. Though he wasnt smiling at me—probably just at something funny hed said—I immediately gained a small crush on him.

I didn’t even know his name then, but soon after, Morgan Rose (love her) introduced us. We met briefly before I returned to my kitchen duties, probably cutting up oranges for dinner. Over the weekends I volunteered, I got to know many of the staff and made lots of friends. I didn’t hang out with Paxton much, but I was often around his friends. After my accident and deepening my faith, I decided I needed good, biblical friends who would positively influence me. So, I set aside my crush on Paxton and focused on being his friend. Paxton might tell a different story, but this is my perspective!

When winter camps ended, I tried to maintain our friendship, but Paxton GHOSTED ME for about 2-3 months. Although, this didn’t REALLY bother me because I knew he couldn’t avoid me over the summer since I was working every week at camp! Ha!

That summer, I did lifeguard training and SLT, meeting even more amazing people who were on fire for God. I was SO excited for the summer and the memories it would bring. And as I got to know Paxton better and hung out with the other GAP students, my crush on him rekindled. However, I couldn’t tell anyone because many girls at camp confided in me about their crushes on him—at least 6 girls. -_-

I would reiterate what Paxton had told me: he wasn’t looking to date at the moment. This made me look like a liar when he asked me out at the end of the summer(But HEY, that was HIS choice!! I just enthusiastically said yes).

During the summer Paxton and I had a lot of great conversations. I really got to know him as a believer and my small crush developed into a bigger one that admired his heart for the Lord. I could just tell there was something different about this guy, and I wanted to get to know him even more than I had thus far.

Fast forwarding to the second to last week of camp, we went to Daniels Park and watched the sunset on our weekend off (our first unofficial date). We talked, danced by my car, got told to leave by the cops, enjoyed good snacks, and called it a night. He actually kissed me goodbye that night, and I was surprised and a bit shocked. I didn’t think I was his type, but here I am!

The next day, we drove up to camp and continued talking, maybe flirting a little bit too. It was Simul-camp that week, which was when two camps would happen “simultaneously”(lol). I was counseling grade school, and Paxton was counseling middle school, so we only saw each other in passing or at meal times. We spent the weeknights texting about whether we should date, knowing he was leaving for Minnesota three days after camp ended. I was hesitant, but when he made me a bracelet with our inside joke and expressed his desire to make it work, I agreed. I made him a matching bracelet, and we decided to have our first official date the night camp ended at chick-fil-a! The rest is sweet sweet history. <3

I met Kati at Camp Elim while I was taking my GAP year working there. To set the story up I first have to say that at the beginning of the year, I had decided that during my year at camp, I would not date anyone and instead spend the year focused on my classes and work at the camp.

With that said, it was during the winter camp retreats that I met Kati for the first time. I remember her being super friendly and kind and one of our first interactions was talking about the Percy Jackson book series with a camper, (at this point I did not know about her book obsession haha). Throughout the weekend winter camps, we got to know each other a little more and Kati ended up friending me on Snapchat. After the camp retreats ended we snapped and talked for a bit but I could sense that she was starting to catch some feelings. My way of avoiding that was by ghosting her(sorry babe!).

It wasn't until the summer camps started that we saw each other again. During the summer camps you worked closely with people every day, all day, and throughout that time Kati and I became good friends and we got to know each other pretty well as Kati had signed up to work every week during the summer. Near the end of the summer Kati and I found each other spending more and more time together joking around, having fun, and helping each other out during stressful times at camp. But still, at this point, I was still determined to stick to my promise to myself to not date anyone while in Colorado.

After the second to last week at camp I ended up driving Kati home for the weekend and during that drive, we made plans to go hang out at a park that she wanted to show me. The park had a beautiful view of the mountains where Kati and I sat on a rock and talked. This is when I started to realize that I really liked Kati. We finished the night by dancing next to the car to some music and after, once Kati had driven me back to where I was staying that night I ended up kissing her. With hindsight this was crazy, but I was getting A LOT of hints that Kati wanted it so I initiated and it was well received.

The day after we drove up to the last week of summer camps and it was more of a quiet drive. Both of us were still stunned I think of what had happened the night before. We talked a little about it and still had a good drive but I think both of us just did not know what was going to happen next. I wanted to date her but I knew I was moving back up to MN in like two weeks. During the last week, Kati and I were working very different jobs and we did not see each other much so we texted when we could trying to figure out what to do. A few days before the end of the camp I made Kati a bracelet with an inside joke on it and told her I wanted to give it a shot to which she very happily said yes to. The day after camp ended we went on our first date and the rest, as they say, is history!