Their first meeting: Matt and Christina's story began on March 8th, 2023, at exactly 5:45 pm at New Hope Church in Puyallup, Washington. It was a normal Wednesday night at youth group. Matt was a youth leader there for two years prior to meeting Christina. She had just started attending church there and was eager to start working in youth ministry. She walked in that evening after a long, cold, rainy day at soccer practice and sat where a line of chairs was placed in the church. To her right, a man sat from a distance, eating his carne asada fries for dinner. They made eye contact, gave a curious look, and waved at each other in their awkward manner. Christina walked over to him as he asked, "Hi, who are you?". She said, "I'm Christina." and shook his hand. He replied, "I'm Matt." They didn't talk much the rest of that night, but the following Wednesday, Christina learned that Matt was an avid hiker and it just happened that Christina was planning to go hiking relatively soon with her brothers. "If you like hiking, my brothers and I are going hiking soon. You can join us. No worries, though, if you don't want to go." She asked him as they were getting ready to leave the church after Youth. "That sounds fun. I'll have to see what I've got going on that day, but I'll let you know." he replied. Matt didn’t have anything going on that day and went hiking with Christina and her brothers at Little Mashel Falls in Eatonville. They walked and talked along the path. They found commonality in their love for the outdoors. After a long hike, they went for pizza at a place in Eatonville called Myles Pizza Depot and discovered that they both loved baseball. Christina being a Red Sox Fan and Matt being a Cubs fan, they were both relieved that neither was a Yankees fan.

Their first show of interest: As time progressed, Matt and Christina got to know each other a little more each day through church events and texting. One specific day after youth group, Christina and Matt were talking about baseball outside the church. Matt was telling Christina something interesting about the Cubs. “Did you when opposing players hit a homerun at Wrigley Field, the Cubs fans will throw the ball back on the field.” Christina had been listening, but had zoned out slightly until Matt said, “Speaking of baseball, do you want to go to a Rainiers game sometime?” Christina was caught off guard and just stared at him. After a few seconds, she responded, “Wait, what?” Matt repeated himself. Not sure what he meant, she just said, “Sure, I guess.” Matt smiled successfully and replied, “Cool.”

Their first date: Although they hadn’t yet gone on their baseball date, Matt decided to ask Christina out for breakfast before that. Christina had texted Matt on a Friday after work about the weather. They talked back and forth for a little bit until Christina asked him, “So, why did you want to become an engineer?”, to which Matt replied, “I could tell you over text, or we could go out for breakfast tomorrow and I could tell you about it there.” Christina thought that was very bold and exciting, so she said yes. They decided to meet at Wicked Pie Pizza in downtown Puyallup on a Sunday after church. They spent 4+ hours talking about their lives, their faith in Jesus and their intentions with their date. From there, they decided to continue dating.

Their engagement: After dating for around 7 months, Matt planned to propose to Christina on November 22nd, 2023. He planned a surprise hike that morning because they both had the day off for thanksgiving break. Christina had no idea where they were going that morning, but they had ended up driving to Little Mashel Falls in Eatonville. The very first hike they ever did together. Matt proposed to Christina at the second waterfall, and she said yes. She cried a lot, and they were both very excited and happy. Afterwards they went to Myles Pizza and ate at the exact same spot from their very first time there.

To be continued on May 25th, 2024