We're getting married!

Words to Know: Canvassing - a summer program for students to earn money while selling Christian literature door to door. CAMPUS - acronym for “Center for Adventist Ministry to Public University Students”, an organization dedicated to training young people to share the gospel on public university campuses.

Our love story! My favorite story to tell! (Nichole) It was the summer of 2015 - I had just finished a canvassing program and decided to take a year off to do “One year in Mission” (OYiM) at CAMPUS in East Lansing. At the same time, Andrew also just finished canvassing and instead of going back to Michigan State University where he was a student, he decided to take a year off at a bible college. We literally JUST missed each other! Not to mention, I was supposed to be in his canvassing program that summer, but ended up getting placed somewhere else! That year was a major growing experience for both of us.

In the fall of 2016, Andrew had to make the tough decision to either return to Michigan State or stay longer at the bible college, and I had to decide where I was going to go to college. I decided to attend a community college in Lansing and he decided to finish his degree at MSU. Finally, during the school year of 2016-17, our paths crossed. We were both doing public campus ministries and got to know each other in a great setting. We were participating in small groups, Bible studies, ministries events, and retreats. During the course of this time we were genuinely friends and nothing more. I am so thankful for that time. During the spring semester, we both decided to canvass again (My 4th summer, his 3rd summer) and I found out that he was my program head! We would be leading a program together! That’s when we really started talking more and planning together. It was a lot of fun. Still no feelings, but I DID think, “man, this guy is pretty awesome!” At one point I prayed that God would send me a guy like Andrew! We had a wonderful summer - our students were the best and our leadership team was awesome. During this time, I really got to see Andrew work under pressure and hard circumstances; I respected him a lot and how godly he was. He is an amazing leader. When the program ended, we both returned to East Lansing for school.

As the fall semester approached, I started thinking about him more. I thought about what an amazing leader he was and all the qualities that I liked about him, and I started to have feelings for him. The only person I told was my roommate Halee though!! I didn’t think we ever had a chance. During this time Andrew was thinking some things too. I’ll hand it over to him.

After the summer of 2017, as soon as the canvassing program ended, I was listening to a seminar on relationships. The speaker in the seminar was talking about the difference between “attraction” and “interest”. While listening to this seminar, I had an epiphany moment and realized that I wasn’t just attracted to Nichole, but “interested”. Throughout the whole summer I really enjoyed spending time with her, but I shoved any thoughts of us over to the wayside. I was distraught. I liked this girl and was positive she didn’t like me back, and now we were going to spend the next school year doing ministry together at Michigan State! She was charismatic, bubbly, emotionally intelligent, talented, and beautiful! I stiff-armed the idea for a majority of the fall semester because I “knew” I wasn’t ready for a relationship. We continued to work together, talk together, and sometimes study together, but I masterfully concealed my interest for her. And, after confessing my situation to a counselor later that semester, it was suggested to me that I pray for her. “Pray”, the counselor told me, “that she develops into the woman she needs to be for her future husband, whoever that may be.” So, I did. I prayed. And as I prayed I knew that there was just NO WAY I was going to confess my feelings for Nichole because there was NO WAY I was going to be just another guy that she’s had to reject! I was in a dilemma. And I didn’t have a solution. I concluded that when I left for my internship at the end of the year, it would be the last time I would really talk to Nichole...then would go our separate ways. It was nice to spend time with her for the time that I did…

So I, Nichole, was completely oblivious to all of this. I also didn’t think Andrew would ever like me, so I concealed my feelings pretty well, too! I also talked to a counselor who told me to start praying The end of the semester was approaching and Andrew was going to move out to start his internship in Maryland soon. During that time, we had to finish recording a song that we started earlier in the semester, during that recording session, let’s just say that some words were exchanged about our feelings for each other. We went on Christmas break, didn’t really talk, and then met up again at the end of the month for a group of us to drive to GYC. Funny enough, Andrew and I got put as drivers in the same van, so we ended up driving 35 hours together to Houston, Texas! When we got to GYC, we decided to meet with ANOTHER counselor to talk about it. At this point, we both knew how the other felt but wanted to continue praying about it. After GYC, Andrew was on vacation with his family for two weeks while I was home with the flu. We decided to take that time to read the Bible, pray, and study the Spirit of Prophecy to see where God was leading. It was obvious to me that God was bringing us together through my time with God, but I didn’t know where Andrew was at. When he arrived back home on January 10th, 2018, he immediately told me he was driving to East Lansing. We still hadn’t talked about what was going to happen and I didn’t know what to expect. When he got to East Lansing, he picked me up, drove me to the Red Cedar River (I thought he just wanted to get fresh air… oblivious), and began reading a poem he wrote for me. At the end of it, he asked if I would be his girlfriend!!!

From January 10th, 2018 to now has been amazing, trying, and full of adventure. We were long distance for a year and a half while he was doing internships and missionary work in Hong Kong! And finally, a year and a half into our relationship after joining him as a missionary in Hong Kong, we were short distance at last! Time really flies, and once we were back in the US, he proposed to me when we went to visit my sister on Long Island for spring break. Now, only two more months until we’re married - we can’t wait! Thank you for joining us on this journey and even though we cannot celebrate with a large in-person gathering, we hope you will join us for the livestream as we unite our lives together July 12th, 2020!