The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:3

Ben’s family moved back to the USA in 2014, after retiring from their mission to the South Pacific Islands. Ben followed his family to Ohio from his home in Tonga, and then to Florida soon after. After moving to Pine Island, Ben’s older sister, Charity, became friends with Taylor’s mom. Charity told Ben about Taylor and Taylor heard about a “missionary family” that had moved to Pine Island, but the two didn’t meet until two years later. During this time, both Ben and Taylor lived within a mile of each other without meeting. In 2014, Taylor graduated high school and from Florida Southwestern State College with her Associate Degree, and then spent the first half of 2016 as a missions intern in Ecuador. Ben became a youth pastor at The Way Assembly church on Pine Island that same year. On a Sunday night in November of 2016, Taylor received a call from her mom, Tracy. Unbeknownst to Taylor, Tracy had just visited Ben's youth group and met Ben for the first time. “Taylor... I JUST. MET. YOUR FUTURE. HUSBAND!” exclaimed Tracy, (half) joking. To which Taylor responded with an eye-roll that her mother couldn't see. Unbothered by her daughter’s lack of enthusiasm, Tracy continued to gush about the "kind and handsome youth pastor" she just met, repeating again and again that he was “SO cute!” and “loves the water!”. Tracy then proceeded to bombard Taylor's phone with an alarming amount of Ben’s Facebook photos as Taylor was sitting in a church service. “The second I met him I just thought of you, and the more he talked, I was like: he HAS to meet Taylor! You have to meet him! I’m going to call Charity about having a family dinner!” Cringing slightly, but finding humor in her mom’s excitement, Taylor agreed to a dinner with her entire (and Ben’s entire) family on Friday, November 18th. Ben and Taylor met that Friday night at Charity's house on Pine Island. Their first date was two days later, on November 20th. They left their families behind for that one ;)