Kevin Asfeld and Kendra Kaczynski first met on January 1st, 2023. They were both on their way to St. Louis, Missouri for SEEK 2023, a catholic conference for young adults. Kendra first caught Kevin’s attention when she offered him a monster cookie on the bus. She then realized she hadn’t met him yet and asked what his name was. They quickly introduced themselves and went back to visiting with their friends. After arriving in St. Louis, the bus stopped at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

Kevin and Kendra then ran into each other a second time as they toured the church and were searching for Kevin’s sister, Mary who was exploring the church. At the first mass of SEEK, Kendra sat in front of Kevin and Mary. Since she had lost her voice the previous week, and she still couldn’t sing. This made her notice them singing behind her during mass. After mass, she complimented them on their singing, not realizing it was Kevin who she had given a cookie to earlier on the bus.

On the second evening of the conference, there was live music and a dance where Kevin had the opportunity to show off his swing dancing skills with Kendra. While Kevin and Kendra were standing in a small group, Kendra said to the group “I want to dance. Does anyone want to dance with me?” Kevin, being the gentlemen he is, offered to dance with her. It took a little while for them to figure out how to dance together since Kendra usually swing dances with Drew, her maid of honor, and was always the lead.

Throughout the week they continued to run into each other, especially when walking around St. Louis. By Thursday night, Kevin decided that he was going to ask Kendra out on a date. Before he asked her, he talked to Tyler who was part of MCCM (Moorhead Catholic Campus Ministries) with Kendra. He asked him if Kendra was interested in dating. Tyler said with a straight face “no, but you should ask her anyway because it’s good practice.” Kevin spent the next few days working up the courage to ask Kendra out on a date.

After a fun week attending the SEEK conference, they boarded the bus back to Minnesota. On the 12-hour bus ride, they ended up coincidentally sitting next to each other. They started visiting again and learning more about each other’s lives. As everyone fell asleep on the bus, they continued to talk all through the night. They made it back to Moorhead around 2am where they hugged each other and parted ways. After the hug, Kevin wondered if he would ever see Kendra again. He wished that he would have asked her on a date before he left.

Kevin still had to drive to Wahpeton and then home to Alexandria. On the drive, Kendra texted Kevin and said he could call her on his way home if he was getting tired. Once he made it to Wahpeton, he called Kendra and continued to talk to her for the rest of his drive home. When he was approaching Alexandria, he worked up the courage to ask her on a date. With a pause that seemed like it lasted forever, she said sure.

They planned their first date for the following Saturday, where they went to mass together and then out for supper at Plaza Azteca. They were both nervous that they would have nothing to talk about on their first date, but quickly realized that was not case. They visited all evening, and Kendra even taught Kevin how to play cribbage.

After a year and half of dating, Kevin and Kendra went on a road trip to Montana with their friends Mark and Adrid. On July 13th, 2024, they all were hiking in Makoshika State Park in Glendive, MT. As they were walking down the path they had been at the year before, they reached the end of the trail. Kendra celebrated that they made it to the end of the hike and as she turned around, Kevin got down on his knee and asked her to marry him. (She said yes, of course!!!) And the rest is history.