I was so surprised the night Hsinwei asked me out for the first time. It was during a Swing dancing event our college ministry group had which was actually where we had first met about a year earlier. Throughout that year we didn’t know each other well, but whenever there was an event with swing dancing, he would ask me to dance and I just felt very comfortable talking with him. Although he later told me he had liked me for about half a year before he asked me out, he hid it well and I was kind of shocked when he did. However, I was flattered and excited and said yes.

From our first date, I felt like I could never spend enough time with Hsinwei. Every meeting just felt too short to talk about everything and I was always sad when our time together ended (I still am). In the beginning of our relationship, we often went to coffee shops and studied the Bible together, and seeing how passionate Hsinwei was about pursuing Jesus really impressed me and encouraged me about his character.

After only 4 months of dating, I studied abroad in South Korea for a semester and went straight to Thailand for about another month in the summer for a mission trip. Before departing, I was really nervous about whether our relationship would last. I knew I was not good at staying in touch with people long distance as I tend to focus on what is right in front of me. But surpassing all my expectations, this time was a time of tremendous growth in our relationship. Almost every call we had was filled with deep conversations and we were able to learn so much about each other despite being on opposite sides of the world. My affection and admiration for Hsinwei was able to grow slowly and steadily during this time, and I was also able to learn a lot about myself as I was alone on my own adventure.

But when I came home and saw him again, that’s when I truly fell in love with him. I feel as though all the emotions of the last 6 months came all at once and I saw him both as the amazing man he is and now as the man I loved. It just so happened that at about the same time, he told me that he’d been praying all summer that he would be able to marry me. God’s timing was so perfect in aligning our desires and hopes to coincide at the right time.

Since then, we have been able to share many experiences and go through some difficult things together, but I believe it has only made us more sure of our decision to devote ourselves to one another for the rest of our lives. Our dreams and personalities match better than I could have imagined and I don’t think I could have ever met someone better for me than Hsinwei. I am so excited to embark on the adventure of marriage with him!

When I first came to US, everything was new and fresh for me, and as a freshman undergrad student, I got distracted easily by this world, and of course, I got distracted by the beautiful girls on campus as well. During that time, thanks be to God that I met an amazing man called Ethan and he guides me towards my faith in Jesus and I commited my life to Jesus. At that time, I was focusing on both following Jesus and a beautiful girl on campus, and both Ethan and I know that this is not good and I have to focus on one thing at a time. I am glad I ended up choosing God and chose to do a Year of Singleness (YOS), where I determined not to pursue any romantic relationship and put all my focus on God. That one year is amazing and I built up a solid foundation of my relationship with God. However, God gave me a chance to swing dance with an amazing girl Megan, and I got attracted to her after dancing with her several times and have some great conversation with her. When I danced and talked with her, I feel extremely comfortable and enjoyable, which is really rare for me cause I am shy and I normally don’t really know how to comfortably interact with girls. Even though I was already attracted by Megan at that time, I am a man of commitment, so I prayed and tried so hard to focus on God and didn’t do anything that year, and of course Megan don’t know I like her at that moment cause I hide it really well. I prayed for many months during YOS, summer of freshman year, and even a month after the YOS has ended my sophomore year. At that time, for some reason I feel really peaceful and joyful when I prayed about a relationship with Megan, and I talked with Ethan and he also think it’s a good time to ask Megan out. So I did, I combined all the courage I could possibly accumulate at that time and asked Megan out on another swing dance event, and thankfully she said yes.

On our first date, a breakfast at toast 101, we each shared our testimony and get to know each other more (we don’t really know each other before this), and it was really great and I feel extremely comfortable around her. Megan was 2 year ahead of me in school and much more spiritually mature than me during that time, so I know that if this relationship is going to continue, it’s going to be a serious relationship and it has to be built on the foundation of God. Thankfully, Megan shared the same conviction as me so we had a consensus on how this relationship is going to look like and this relationship must be built on God otherwise none of us would want to continue this relationship. Thanks God that He helped us to have a solid godly foundation in the really beginning of this relationship. We meet up at a coffeeshop to study bible together weekly and make dinner together. I feel like we are growing spiritually together weekly and we are growing in our relationship with each other as well. At that time I feel really comfortable with Megan and this relationship is really stable and it just feel right when I prayed for our relationship. Moreover, I got to meet and spend time with Megan’s family in several American Major holidays and I feel really comfortable and I have a great relationship with her family as well. All these things gave me a great feeling that this relationship is blessed by God and we are going on a right direction, so when Megan have to leave for Korea and Thailand for half a year, I felt stable and not really worried about our relationship at all.

When Megan was in Korea and Thailand, we frequently called and we always have good conversations about our lives and our relationship with God. Even during that half a year of long distance, I felt like God use it to grow our relationship significantly. When she finally come back and we are united, I think that’s the moment when we deeply falling in love with one another and our relationship and intimacy significantly increased. At that time just had a great feeling that this relationship is probably going to end up in marriage. In the upcoming a year and a half, we continued grow in our relationships and experienced some really good moment and some really hard moment. We also found out that both of us have a heart in international mission and desire to travel around the world and live in different countries (fortunately both of us have a lot of international experiences). We also found out that a lot of things we want to do in our lives and our life perspectives seems to align. She also started to learn Chinese which means a lot to me cause she is trying so hard to learn the language that I grew up with. I always had a sweet time talking and practicing Chinese with her. I also enjoyed cooking asian food together cause we both really really love asian food. We even have a favorite restaurant in Tucson called Kong Fu noodle that we’ve been to more than 8 times. I also enjoyed going on a walk with her frequently during sunset time that we walked in the neighborhood and enjoy the beautiful sky and sunset. Most importantly, I feel really really comfortable and enjoyable when I spend time with Megan and her family. I love her smile, the way she look at me affectionately while talking to me, and traveling together with her. I looked back from the beginning towards now and I believe that God is at work and Megan is the woman God want me to marry and to spend the rest of my life with. I started to plan for proposal, found the best engagement ring on earth, went to Thailand for a mission trip, and got engaged with Megan in Taiwan by a beautiful lake and had a great time together in Taiwan with my family.

After engaged, we felt like we get closer even more. My life incorporates parts of Megan’s lifestyle and her life incorporates parts of my life style. We shared more time together, more than we ever have before and we both truly enjoy the time together. We felt like we grew closer together in God and we are actually sharing life together. There are so many things that we want to do with want another and can’t wait to get married and experience the exciting life and adventures that God has prepared for us. The wedding planning has been good, honey moon is super exciting, and we love each other more and more each day. Right now, both of us are ready and are super excited to get married and spend the rest of our lives together and enjoy the goodness of God together even more.