Katarina and Matthew met on January 19, 2023 at an evening Bible study at the UNM Christian Challenge. It was Matthew’s very first time at the Christian Challenge, and he and Katarina happened to sit next to each other at the same table. Although Katarina and Matthew talked to each other a little bit that night, it wasn’t until a couple of months later that they started to get to know one another in earnest.

Matthew and Katarina aren’t quite sure who “liked” the other person first. What they do know is that their early conversations at the Christian Challenge were full of laughter and joy, and before long, they both found themselves eagerly looking for every possible opportunity to talk to the other person. The more Matthew and Katarina got to know one another, the more they realized they shared a love for Christ and a passion for the Gospel. As Matthew recalls it, he was also rather taken in by Katarina’s naturally curly hair.

As the spring semester wrapped up, Matthew was getting ready to move out of his dorm room for the summer. To his surprise, he got a text message from Katarina, who was offering to let him use some of her cardboard moving boxes. When Katarina came to drop the boxes off outside Matthew’s dorm, the two of them ended up talking for almost an hour, smiling as usual but a little worried that they might not have very many chances to see each other over the summer. But it all worked out, because a little over a week later, Katarina and Matthew went on their very first date, sharing a rainy dinner together at a little Mexican restaurant right next to the campus where they had first met.

A couple of dates and a few laps around Hyder Park later and Matthew and Katarina officially became a couple on June 19, 2023. So began a wonderful seven months of dating as Matthew and Katarina – now boyfriend and girlfriend – enjoyed their new relationship and began dreaming about the possibility of a shared future. Katarina and Matthew welcomed one another into their families and churches, exchanged letters and memories, trained for a half-marathon together, and celebrated their first Christmas as a couple. The months went by quickly, and before long engagement was on the horizon.

Matthew proposed to Katarina on January 26, 2024 at a little bookstore in Nob Hill that the couple had visited on one of their first dates. To Katarina’s surprise, tucked away on one of the shelves was the notebook Katarina had gotten for Matthew on her recent trip to Spain. Inside was a poem, which Matthew read aloud to Katarina before getting down on one knee and asking her “the question.” Much to Matthew’s relief (and humble disbelief), Katarina said yes – and as the newly engaged couple left the bookstore on their way to do a few more laps around Hyder Park, they joked that an English major like Matthew couldn’t possibly have been expected to propose in any other way.

Now, Matthew and Katarina are busy planning a wedding! Matthew recently moved into the house where he and Katarina will live together after they are married, doing so with the help of the same moving boxes that Katarina dropped off outside his dorm room all those months ago. Matthew and Katarina are excited about the future and would be honored to have you join them for their wedding at City on a Hill church in Nob Hill on August 3rd, 2024.

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