Back in the summer of 2020, things were uncertain for the world dealing with a pandemic, and so much closed down. One thing that stayed consistent though was daily Mass. Every day at 5:30 PM, Lance and Alyssa would go to Mass and afterwards, them and everyone else in the congregation would gather outside to catch up and converse. Alyssa didn't have many friends, and found comfort with a few of Lance's group. Soon, they realized that Lance was a Meteorology major, and Alyssa was taking a summer class on the topic with one of his former professors. This would start small talk that blossomed into a friendship. During the same summer, ZOOM was the way to communicate with friends, therefore, Alyssa was invited to join a group to pray the rosary every night. Lance and Alyssa were known as the two who could constantly stay on last while working on homework, playing video games, or just talking about life. On August 21, 2020, Lance asked Alyssa over that same ZOOM call to go on a date that following Sunday. They went to Rudy's where they talked about tractors and weather. That first date would go in the books and start the beautiful relationship the two have created to this day.

Lance and Alyssa had been serving in the liturgy together at St. Mary's for a couple years, and continued even as Lance found his Music Coordinator position at St. Thomas Aquinas in College Station and Alyssa had transferred over to Sam Houston State to begin studying Music Education. Naturally, the place where most of the St. Mary's liturgy team met and did their work in the Old Church was the sacristy behind the sanctuary (where the altar is located). It was in this sacristy that Lance and Alyssa had their first of many interactions, and is where the question was finally popped. At the 5:30 p.m. Daily Mass on July 20th, it turned out that Alyssa was the sacristan and Lance was the altar server, so they both commenced doing their normal pre-Mass routine of preparing for the liturgy. Little did Alyssa know that Lance had the assistance of a couple of co-workers plus a couple of St. Mary's friends in preparing the sacristy after both had left to perform their duties at Mass. After Mass was concluded, Lance quickly went back to the sacristy and changed from his cassock and surplice into a suit and tie and had the ring ready in hand. The St. Mary's friends kept Alyssa distracted for just long enough by having her looking for something in the student center in literally every room. By the time Alyssa arrived back at the sacristy, the lights were turned off and candles were lit to light a path leading to where Lance was standing next to a bouquet of flowers on the counter. Alyssa followed the path and when she arrived at the flowers, Lance got down on one knee and asked if Alyssa would be his wife. The answer was a joyful yes!