The Lord is gracious and full of mercy - abounding in steadfast love!

The Bride's side of the story: At the beginning of 2020, I thought I had a fairly clear picture of how my year was going to go: graduate, find out what ministry God was calling me to, focus on saving money to travel around with friends, and for heaven's sake, stay single for at least another year! Instead, my plans were quickly replaced with God's (better) plans as my old friend Ethan Nelson began popping up more frequently around my life. What began as a mutual respect grew to a thriving friendship and VERY shortly became a deep affection for each other. We sought each other out at every social event, and began messaging in order to continue the conversations we were both growing to love so much. After a few months of avoiding the subject, we finally decided to give ourselves a valid excuse to continue those conversations and began dating on Leap Day in 2020. Since then, God has used both of us to strengthen, frustrate, teach, grow, and cherish each other beyond anything we could have imagined. God's mercies are new every morning, and we have grown to understand that part of his measure of grace for us each day is each other. We are so excited to share in celebrating God's mercy on us with you at our wedding, and look forward to the days ahead with great anticipation! The Groom's side of the story: I have known Cora for about eight years. I never knew her very personally, but I always had a respect for her and generally thought highly of her. My senior year, Cora and I ended up doing a lot together helping with Teens for Christ. We always found time to talk and to make sure the other was doing okay. After a while, Cora and I decided to do a... "Bible study" together because I said I wanted to wait until I had graduated before pursuing a relationship. That lasted all of one day. Now, one year later, I am happy to say that I am engaged to the love of my life! ...we never did finish that Bible study.