Zion: Some family/friends of mine pastor a church in New Hampshire, and I just kept hearing the same thing from them, “Zion, there’s this girl at our church that would be PERFECT for you.” I tried to ignore all of their setup attempts, since it seemed crazy to think about being with someone that was completely across the country. I took a trip to New Hampshire to visit them and their church, and the first night I’m there I hear, “Oh by the way, we decided it would be fun to invite Calista over for a game night!” I knew it was a setup, but decided that it wouldn’t hurt to meet her since I would probably never see her again. Once I met her though, it felt as if I had known her my whole life. That week we hung out a few times, and after each time I became more sure that she was the one I had been waiting for. I was blown away by her character, her beauty, her heart, and her calling from Jesus. At the end of my week out in New Hampshire, I asked her to be my girlfriend, and since then, I have only grown in my admiration of her. All of the things I loved about her when we first met were only scratching the surface of how perfectly God created Calista for me. Calista: I had been in New Hampshire for a little over a year before I heard anything about Zion. It all started with Pastor JJ telling me she “knew who I was going to marry”. She said his name was Zion and that he lived in California. I laughed that off fast because there was no way that my person was going to be a total stranger from all the way across the country. He became a frequent joke we had, she would always call him my “future husband” whenever she teased me about hanging with their family or showing me pictures of him. She even went out to visit their family and FaceTimed me while she was there and introduced me to the whole family. Zion made her tell me that he wasn’t around because he refused to meet me over the phone, and would only ever do it in person. So months later when she tells me that he is coming out for a visit I am trying so hard not to panic over the constant nerves I felt knowing this was a total set up. I heard all about what a great man he was, how caring, driven and fun he was to be around (not to mention that he looked like one of those people you don’t believe actually exist because he’s unrealistically good looking) and when I met Zion he was absolutely all of those things and so much more. It was Halloween Night, I had just gotten off of a serving shift and I was dressed like a pirate. I got home changed into sweats for game night and I was so nervous that I forgot to take off my massive pirate medallion earrings. I met the most handsome man to exist in sweats pants with a stain, my hair in frizzy braids and the ugliest earrings ever and it was love at 1st sight. After finishing our degrees in New Hampshire together, Calista and I felt the Lord moving us to Southern California for this next season of life. We don’t know exactly what’s ahead, but we’re excited to figure it out together! Thank you for being part of our life together, and we are so excited to celebrate with you!