CASSIA: I was doing research in Cambridge, MA for my master's program and had decided to take a week off to attend a college-age church conference called the North America College Training (NACT) in Champaign, IL. A few Boston sisters (in our church, we refer to each other as "brother" and "sister" or "saints" [Psalm 16:3]) and I did a road trip to the NACT with one of our stops being in Rochester, NY, to pick up another sister who was about to start her freshman year in Boston. We spent a night with that sister and her parents in Rochester and left the next day together for Champaign. That sister's name? Annie Guo (James' little sister!). ------------ JAMES: Within probably an hour of Cassia leaving my childhood home in Rochester on her way to Urbana, I received an excited call from my mom that went something like, "We just met this VERY WONDERFUL sister! You MUST meet her!" Soon, the good reports started flooding in from Annie during the road trip and throughout the following week while they were at the NACT. "You should really meet Cassia, she's SO SWEET and amazing... and Mom loved her also." Who was this mysterious, lovely Cassia? And how would I ever meet her???

CASSIA: My plan after the NACT was to go back home to Jacksonville, FL and continue my research remotely for the rest of the summer. I had made prior arrangements to catch a ride with some Florida saints driving to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to fly home. However, that planned arrangement unexpectedly fell through halfway through the NACT, leaving me momentarily stranded and in desperate need for a ride to Chicago. I proceeded to frantically text sisters I knew attending the NACT to see if they had an extra space in their vehicle to the airport. But nothing materialized. The next day, I ran into Annie in the cafeteria. Annie had mentioned that she'd be flying to Boston following the NACT, so I decided just to ask her if I could catch a ride with her to O'Hare, even though I had only just gotten to know her. She responded, "Oh, need a ride? Let me ask James!" I thought, "James? Oh, her brother is picking her up..." I was a little hesitant because I didn't want to crash their family car ride, but I waited to see what the response would be. ------------ JAMES: I receive a text from Annie at 11:05 pm on 7/19/23: "Hey how much room do you have in the car... Cassia doesn't have a ride to Chicago and was wondering if she could tag along with us." Okay, interesting. A quick prayer -- "Lord, is that You? Where did this come from?" I respond: "We can fit two more... Yeah, that can work." I drive down to Champaign Saturday, 7/22/2023 to pick up my siblings (Andrew and Annie), who both attended the NACT, and Cassia. Following the final message of the conference, held in the UIUC basketball arena, I make my way toward the front to find Andrew and Annie. In the frenzy of activity as the NACT ended and thousands of college students milled about saying goodbyes to one another, I had a brief moment to meet this Cassia, the one my entire family had met already and given good reports about. I remember the moment well. Amid the farewells around us, I greeted the woman who would become the love of my life. ------------ CASSIA: Nothing extraordinary happened in that 6-hour car ride, though we made some stops on the way to the airport for lunch and Jeni's Ice Cream in downtown Chicago. My impression of James was that he was curious, a quick thinker, and a gentleman. I was impressed with some of the small things, like how he held the door and even paid for my lunch. I enjoyed being with James and his siblings during our trip, and we discovered that we had very similar upbringings and shared a lot of the same hobbies. I told my mom about James when I arrived home, and although her outward response was minimal, she received my report and was inwardly praying. Nonetheless, I was happy to see a follow request that night from James on Instagram.

JAMES: After the drive from Champaign to Chicago, I had a good feeling about Cassia. I could see why my family had adored her after meeting her only the week before. She was thoughtful, brilliant, warm. I could tell she cared deeply for other people. And, yes, she was cute. I had been praying for my marriage in a general way for some length. But around the time I met Cassia, I distinctly recall a deepening, gnawing awareness of aloneness, the type that would be filled not by pleasure but by love. In the weeks after, I noticed that good feeling began to take shape as prayer–no longer general but directed. I asked the Lord, "Lord, what about Cassia? What do You think?" Every time I brought her name up in prayer, I just experienced overwhelming peace. I caught myself thinking of her, not necessarily in a romantic way, but just wondering about her. During a family trip to Banff in August, I uploaded some of my landscape photography onto Instagram. When Cassia "reacted" to some of them, I found myself excited... maybe too excited. After Annie moved to Boston to start college at the end of August, she would text me whenever she ran into Cassia at various church events. We didn't have any contact, but these were the small instances that kept her at the fore of my thoughts. I had promised Annie I would visit her in Boston at some point that year. And now, I had extra incentive to visit Boston to see if those feelings for Cassia were real or imagined. So, one day as I was calling Annie in September and discussing her upcoming 18th birthday... I had an idea. ------------ CASSIA: Between the months of August to September, we had no correspondence, other than me seeing James' amazing landscape photos on Instagram during his family's trip to Banff. Annie soon moved to Boston to start college, and I would occasionally run into each other through various church and Christian club events. She was always so excited and enthusiastic to see me! At the time, I was living with an older sister, who I will call Sister A, who had taken care of me since my college years. One evening, as my mom had come to visit me in Cambridge, we were all sitting around the dining table. Burdened for my marriage, Sister A inquired if I had any brother in mind. I cautiously said, "Well...I did meet this brother over the summer..." But as I told her more about him, she responded, "Oh! He seems to be a good match!" A few weeks later in September, Sister A and I were taking a walk together in our neighborhood to fellowship and pray. As the prayer went on, the subject of marriage came up and she said, "Lord, we give you Cassia's marriage! Lord, what about James Guo?" I was quite surprised how bold and specific her prayer was! Not knowing how to reply, I responded with a very soft and hesitant, "Amen?" still thinking it was quite bold for her to say his name out loud. But I felt the burden regarding marriage being lifted off my shoulders as we prayed, as marriage had been a matter in my heart and my personal prayer at that time. The very next day after the walk, I was in my research office when I received a text message from Annie. We briefly caught up and then Annie got to the reason for her messaging: for her birthday in November, JAMES was planning to visit Boston and they wanted to ask if I could show them around that weekend. I was shocked. So shocked, I backed away from my desk in a daze and quickly made my way to the bathroom where I started calling on the Lord's name. Yesterday, he was a thought in prayer. Today, he's coming to Boston. When I returned home later that day, I told Sister A about the invitation, and she responded, "You have to go!" I delayed my response as I tried to reschedule a large presentation for one of my classes I was supposed to give that week James planned to visit. Miraculously, an alternate date opened up soon after, and I rescheduled my presentation and let Annie know I could join them.

CASSIA: I took Annie and James around Boston on November 12 and spent nearly a full day together. We went to Seaport, Government Center, Chinatown, and MIT (of course I had to show them my campus). As the joke goes, it started out with James being the third wheeler, but by the end, Annie claims that she became the third wheeler. After that day, we started a group chat to share photos, and eventually James and I were texting so much that Annie got annoyed and asked James if he could text me directly. We talked about life, school, my upcoming job interview for a medical company (James knew the company and even hopped on a Zoom to help me prepare), and the Lord. In the midst of many school and life things I considered stressors, I had a sense of joy and excitement talking to James and received much assurance that he cared for me. James came back again at the end of November, asking to officially start a courtship. It was an easy decision for me. I'll let James tell that part of the story leading up to the second visit in Boston:) ------------ JAMES: The trip to Boston confirmed that the feelings were very much real and, after the trip, very much intensified. We exchanged phone numbers and our messages to one another quickly became nonstop. Our conversations ran the gamut from deep to hilarious. We even got on a Zoom call to help Cassia prepare for a job interview. Through it all, I started to know her heart–pure and caring–and her spirit–actively seeking the Lord. I think we both understood that the feelings and interest were mutual. I didn't want to start a relationship over the phone, so I started to think about how I would get back to Boston to ask Cassia properly. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long. While on a call with my family soon after the trip, my siblings were both trying to decide how they would get back to their campuses after the upcoming Thanksgiving break. Just as I had promised to visit Annie at Boston College, I promised Andrew that I would visit him at Princeton. It was decided: I would drive home to Rochester for Thanksgiving then drive both siblings back to their respective campuses. I would first drop off Annie in Boston, briefly see Cassia and ask her out to dinner, then drive Andrew back to Princeton spend a few days there with him, before driving back to Boston to take Cassia out for said dinner. Makes perfect sense, right? If you know me, you know I have a propensity for ridiculous road trips. In short, I laid out the plan for Cassia, but I don't think I was clear enough because she thought the two of us were going to get dinner together when I was in Boston dropping Annie off. Guess she didn't realize I was crazy enough to drive from Princeton back to Boston just for dinner (I was, and it was worth it!). In the mix-up, she suggested we meet for dinner at a Thai restaurant called Love at First Bite, one of the only restaurants she had tried in Lexington, MA since moving in with Sister A a few months prior. My only thought: "Wow, that's not a subtle message at all." (CASSIA: For some reason, I didn't think he would read into it :P) After my siblings and I arrived in Boston, we met Cassia at a boba place and then ended up at Costco afterwards to get some groceries for Annie. And, believe it or not, it was right outside the bathrooms of the Costco in Waltham, MA that I asked my future wife out for our first date (a story for another time). To my great relief, she said yes! Andrew and I drove to Princeton that evening, where I spent the next few days. And then, before I knew it, on November 29, 2023, I was sitting in Lexington, MA at–yep, you guessed it–Love at First Bite holding Cassia's hand and asking her if she'd enter into a courtship with me. To my great joy and excitement, she said yes! You could say Love at First Bite became Love at First Sight.

CASSIA: Our courtship was mostly long distant, full of FaceTime calls and taking turns visiting each other in Chicago and Boston and visiting our parents in Rochester and Jacksonville. As we fellowshipped with our parents and the saints and prayed with one another, we felt very much at peace and joy to be with one another. After James's back-to-back cardiology and internal medicine rotations from May to June this year, he flew to Florida to surprise me and pop the question on a beach near Jacksonville I used to visit growing up. Hilariously, I found out later that James planned much of the surprise after clinical rounds in a small medical supply closet at the Veterans Affairs Hospital where he was rotating. The engagement itself was beautiful, very fitting of James' romantic personality. ------------ JAMES: She said yes!!! ------------ BOTH: We are so happy, full of praise and thanks to God to bless us with each other as a companion to run the Christian race, in view of Christ's desire for His bride (Eph. 5:25). May our marriage be for His marriage (Rev. 19:7). We are so grateful for each one of you–for your care, prayers, support, and love to this very day. We hope to see you in person or online to celebrate our wedding day with us!