How We Met

Paola and I met for the first time in September of 2008 in Mexico City at Semilla de Mostaza, her church of ten years and mine of several weeks. Neither of us remembers that day very well other than that it was when we met. But, she soon became good friends with the girls on my STINT team, so we continued to see one another a lot throughout the rest of the Fall and into Spring of 2009. During this time, some of the girls on my team would often tell me how sweet Pao was and how they thought we would be great together. But, as Pao and I were just beginning to become friends at this point, I was perfectly contented with being her friend and continuing to get to know her better. Nevertheless, their advice stuck with me.

In the Spring, I began going to a Semilla Bible study on Wednesday evenings. The first night, I was pleasantly surprised to see Pao there as well! We sat together and then she gave me a ride home from the study. This went on for the next several months and our friendship continued to deepen. Pao tells me that it was around this time that she really began to be interested in me. Then in April was Misión Acapulco, Campus Crusade's annual student conference in Mexico. Pao was invited to help direct the conference and, as it turned out, I was assigned to be a personal assistant/errand boy for the directors throughout the week. So for me, it was there in Acapulco that I really began to get interested in Pao, too. But, as I was headed back to the U.S. several weeks later to re-raise support for the summer and wasn't sure whether I would be able to come back in the Fall, I decided to wait and see what plans God had for us.

Well, I returned in late August for STINT year two and we saw one another just several days after I had gotten back at a party. We hit it off again as if I'd never been gone, and about a month later in October we became official. Over this past year, we've had a blast getting to know one another better. We enjoy each other and our families and are excited to see the plans God has for us as a married couple.