Spencer and I had been part of our campus ministry, Chi Alpha, for over a year, but we had never met or even seen each other before. I was scrolling through Facebook on July 22nd, 2020, and his name came up as a suggested friend. His profile photo was him with a few guys from Chi Alpha who I knew. They are all great guys who love God with their whole hearts, so I figured Spencer must, too. I friended him on Facebook, and within 10 minutes, he had followed me on Instagram. He messaged me and said, "Hey, I noticed you're a photographer and was wondering if you would mind giving my page a look and telling me what you think?" I then went and told all my sisters how this cute guy who loves God and has dimples and curly hair from my college just messaged me through Instagram. I wanted to play it cool, so I didn't open or respond to his message until the next day. I finally replied, and we had a good conversation that led to him asking for my phone number. In 2020, most people ask for your Snapchat. I thought him asking for my phone number was super sweet, so I obliged. At this point, I wasn't looking for a relationship, because I was recently out of a long relationship and was taking time to focus on myself and God. God had other plans. The first day we met, one week after we started talking when I moved back to campus early for RA training, we had planned to get food at La Huerta. I was so nervous, I invited my best friend, India, to tag along. They had known each other from City Church, where they both attended on Sundays. Spencer was so weird on the date, I didn't think I would ever date him. Haha.

Again, God had another plan. While focusing on myself and my relationship with God, Spencer continued to pursue me with so much understanding and love. He was patient with me through my healing, loving through all the tears, and always there to push me closer to God and remind me that He's got me. He prayed for me just about every day for anything. I would say my head hurt, and he would place hands on my head and pray. He set such a great example of following God through everything, and I am forever grateful for him. On October 14th, I finally told him I was ready to pursue a relationship. He then asked me to be his girlfriend on October 15th, 2020, and we have been pursuing each other and God ever since. I am so excited to continue doing that with him for the rest of my life:)

During the year 2020, the world got hit with an unbelievable turn of events when COVID-19 struck. COVID-19 left me searching out who I was and the plans God had for me. For the first four months of COVID, when I could not go anywhere because we were on lock down, I found myself at the prayer room at City Church in Russellville, Arkansas. I would spend a couple of hours there each day praying about my future and what God had in store for me. One of the things I prayed about was a future spouse and who I would spend the rest of my life pursuing God with. You know what’s funny and awesome? God heard that prayer and made the unthinkable happen. On July 22, 2020 I was chilling at home, or was it the church, I cannot remember, but I got a friend request from this girl named Danielle Bertuca (what a weird last name). At the time, I did not think much of it until I decided 10 minutes later to follow her on Instagram and ask her about my amateur photography page I created. She gave me some good pointers, even though landscape photography was not her thing. One thing led to another, and I ended up asking for her phone number. We started talking back and forth a lot, and we had a lot of things in common. We went to the same college, Arkansas Tech University, and we were part of the same campus ministry, Chi Alpha. Here is the kicker: we never ran into each other or never knew the other person existed. After many conversations and facetimes, I decided to ask if she wanted to go on a date when she came back to campus for the fall/spring semester. It ended up not being a date, because she brought her best friend. (Side note: girls, whatever you do, do not, I repeat , do not bring your best friend on a date.)

Danielle had to come up a week before all the other college goons, because she was an RA. We went on our “date” at La Huerta, and then we went to hike D-Rock (Dardanelle Rock) the same day. (Little tip: do not get Mexican food and a hike on the same day. It’s not a good combo.) The “date” went great, and we got along well. We started hanging out more, and I thought to myself, “This is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, and it’s going to be awesome.” Now, I know what you're thinking, “How come you guys are not dating yet?” Well, she had just gotten out of a long 4 year relationship and needed time to heal. (Side note tip for the guys: if she is healing from her past hurt, be patient with her and pray for her. It works better than trying to rush things.) It took about 3 months of me waiting patiently and praying before she said, “Yes!” on October 15, 2020 to be my girlfriend. After Danielle finished her final semester in December 2020, I moved to Northwest Arkansas for my internship semester so I could be close to her. As the days went by, we knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. On December 17, 2022 I asked Danielle Raylin Bertuca to be my wife, and it was the best day ever.