My version of our story starts before we even met, in March 2018. God and I had a conversation, post a heartbreaking year, and I was led to pray for a man I had not yet met. Never have I prayed this "future husband" prayer before and never did I plan to (the idea of marriage was not my cup of tea). This prayer consisted of me asking for one very obviously observable thing: he must genuinely love to worship our Father. Due to my short-term memory and a lack of faith, I never repeated this prayer again. Flash forward to March 2019, I was volunteering alongside Joseph as a leader for a camp. During this camp, I had the privilege to witness Joseph doing what he loves to do the most - worship. If you’re ever around him while he’s in the presence of God, you’ll quickly realize what I mean. There’s no question as to how he’s feeling. The pure joy on his face makes you want to experience whatever he is in that moment. That’s what made me want to stop whatever I was doing and join him in God's presence. He worships so freely, it draws you to God without him having to even say a word. We then had one real conversation on the last day of camp (in which he jokingly insulted me) and we parted ways. The weeks following went like most love stories do nowadays: he DM’d me on Instagram, we hit it off and I demanded he tells me his intentions, to which he said: "not yet". At this point, I was ready to bounce but we took a week off from communicating in order to pray about moving forward. During this week, God reminded me of my prayer from a year ago and I knew this was him. I finally agreed to go on a date with him and on May 15th he called me and asked: “so are we doing this thing?” Well, you know my answer. Since that day, Jo has been everything I could ever ask for in a partner. Our family and friends have prayed and supported us through this season and I cannot wait to have them witness as I embark on a new journey as this amazing man’s wife. Let’s finally do this thing!

Well, I don't know about Anu's version because I just woke up one day at the Gathering Place in Tulsa, and she told me we are gonna date and get married, so Anu's story is what we tell our parents and the people that ask us. Now that I have your attention, I will tell you my version. The first time I met Anu was through an organization that she and I are part of called ICPF, and we had a camp, and I was the Men's High School Coordinator for the camp that year. The first time I truly did notice Anu was during worship (it was weird that the first time we noticed each other at that moment doing the thing that we love doing the most). At that moment, I did not think that I would be here with this amazing and beautiful woman in a million years. Above, you have read that "slid in the DM's" about one of her stories, and I was just inquiring about it, and that was my only intention, but we continued to talk after she told me about the story that she had posted on Instagram and we hit it off. We continued to talk for a month and a half then we took a week off from each other of not communicating in any way (even in memes) to pray and see if God wanted us to continue this relationship and pursue this relationship to marriage (of course we believe He said yes, cause we are here now, trusting and having faith in whatever His will is for us). After one year and a week (May 24th), I pulled a Beyonce and PUT A RING ON IT, and next to my salvation in Jesus Christ, it was one of my best decisions to ask for Anu's hand in marriage. Our relationship has had many ups and downs, but it has all been worth it to marry this amazing woman of God. There has been no one that has challenged me to be a better man and in my faith to pursue God at a higher level, and I cannot wait to do it together with Anu once we say "I Do" and build the kingdom of God along with her. A wise woman told me when I asked her tips for marriage, she told me, "Marry your best friend." I can say that I am.