(Written by Edgar Barcenas, aka future hubby ;) )

Edgar was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on January 21st, 2001. Living in a couple of small towns in the Tulsa area, it wasn’t until 2009 when his family decided to move closer to the city for a better job opportunity.

Leslie was born in Pasadena, California on February 26, 1999. On her very first birthday, her family decided to pack their bags and move to Oklahoma where they would settle down to raise their family.

Both Edgar and Leslie met from a far in 2009 when they saw each other for the first time at St. Monica’s Catholic church in Edmond. Leslie became friends with Edgar’s older sister, Miriam, and together they sang in the church choir. Leslie always saw Edgar and “Miriam’s little brother” and a conversation never took place with the two.

In May of 2019, Edgar graduated high school and decided to continue his studies at the University of Central Oklahoma. During his freshman year, he was invited by a church friend to join the Catholic Student center at the time, now known as Broncho Catholic, on campus. There he got to build and make friendships that would last a life time during his college years. Soon after joining the student center, Edgar realized that Leslie too was a part of the Catholic Student Center and recognized her from church. It was later revealed that she too was invited by the same church friend that Edgar was to join the Catholic group on campus. Although they recognized each other from church, and now they were both going to the same school, and a part of the same group, Edgar became oblivious to the attraction Leslie was beginning to build with him.

During the spring semester of 2020, the world underwent a pandemic. During this time, Catholic churches around the world were too being shut down. After a couple of months, when churches began to open with restrictions, Edgar and Leslie both became ushers at St. Monica’s. Not having seen each other in a couple of months, Leslie began to approach Edgar to catch up with him and ask him how he’s doing before and after church. Little was it know to Edgar that Leslie found interest in him to potentially pursue a relationship. After weeks of trying to get him to notice her, Leslie gave up and moved on.

When December of 2020 came around, the Holy Spirit began to place it on Edgar’s heart to begin praying for his future spouse. He wasn’t sure why this stirring up began to take place, but he listened to the voice of God and began to bring it up in prayer. 2 weeks later and the Feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe rolls around. This feast day is Leslie’s favorite feast day of the whole year due to the devotion that she has to Our Mother in heaven. Every year at St. Monica’s, the feast day begins with the singing of “Las Mañanitas” or “happy birthday” to Our Lady at 5am. In 2020, the feast day fell on a Saturday so the singing was followed with mass shortly after. Edgar, not being a morning person at the time, did not wake up on time for the singing, but was able to make it as soon as the bells rang for the start of mass. Typically, a reception will follow after mass, but since Covid was still lingering, they only had the singing and mass. After mass, after everyone had left, Edgar stayed behind to chat with one of his high school friends who had converted to the faith that same year. While chatting with him, out of nowhere they see Leslie’s brother, Adrian hanging out in the narthex by himself. Edgar knew Adrian because they had later served together in the past so he approached to catch up with him as well. After chatting a bit, Edgar offered to take Adrian home. Having hesitated a little bit, Adrian went ahead and accepted the ride. On the way to Adrian’s house, Edgar was asking him about school and continuing to catch up with him. After a couple of minutes into the ride, Adrian, out of nowhere, asks Edgar what his thoughts were on Leslie, his older sister.

Being shocked and not knowing how to respond, Adrian follows up with “she thinks you’re really cute, and out of the guys she has ever told me about you’re someone I’d really respect.” Edgar didn’t know how to respond and was left in shock the rest of the ride. After dropping off Adrian, Edgar reflected on the conversation and took it as his sign from God as his answered prayer that he was praying at the beginning of December.

1 week later, December 19, a group from the Catholic Newman center got together to go see the Christmas lights in Chickasha, OK. Edgar had a feeling that Leslie was going to be there so he did everything possible to be able to get off of work early that day and make it on time to carpool. After waiting for everyone to show up to carpool, Leslie got there late almost making Edger to lose hope that he was going to be able to talk to her. But once Edgar saw her, his eyes lit up and he began to think of what he was going to say to her. They did not carpool in the same car, so once they all made it to the Christmas lights, Edgar began to pull Leslie aside to get to know her more and initiate the conversations they had. Leslie having already given up hope on him from the past summer, was very confused as to why Edgar was trying to talk to her. But she didn’t shy away and at the end of the night Edgar got Leslie’s number to continue the conversations they were having that night.

Edgar and Leslie would talk here and there for the next couple of weeks until they first hung out by themselves on January 5th, 2021. The next day, January 6th, Leslie tested positive for covid. Leslie thought that she was about to ruin her chances and that Edgar wasn’t going to want to talk to her anymore because of this. But Edgar didn’t care and took advantage of it and asked Leslie to FaceTime almost everyday she was in quarantine to continue getting to know her more. After quarantine, Leslie and Edgar hung out again and continued to get to know each other. January 28th rolls around and Edgar knew that it was time to take the next step. Edgar took Leslie put for breakfast and then they went to downtown OKC to explore the city. They visited St. Joseph’s Old Cathedral, the underground tunnels, and drove around just enjoying the day. When Edgar got back to drop off Leslie, he pulled out a letter and some flowers asking her to be his girlfriend. Leslie accepted and together they began a journey that would last a life time.

The last 3 years has been filled with a roller coaster of emotions. If you were to ask Edgar and Leslie how their relationship had been they would say it has been anything but easy. One thing that they would both agree on is that it has been nothing but fruitful. Both have made sacrifices for each other they would never have thought they would have to make, and together they have been preparing to live out a sacramental marriage in which they will enter on the 28th of September, 2024.

L&E

The Nuptial Mass (St. Monica Catholic Church, Edmond)

The Reception