The fateful day was Sunday, June 18th, 2017. It was the evening and Rafael had friends coming over to the house to celebrate his birthday. Daniela was about to move to Fort Myers in a few months, and her sister and sister's boyfriend, Fiorella and Xavier, were in a bit of a pickle. Being good friends of Rafael's, they were invited to his birthday but they also wanted to hang out with Daniela as much as possible before her big move to Florida's west coast. Their solution was to ask Rafael if they could bring Daniela along for the party. Rafael was fine with that, "The more the merrier", so they asked Daniela to join them. Daniela though, wasn't too keen on the idea of hanging out with her older sister's "Church friends" and was already devising a way to Uber herself away from the party early. That was until she saw the beautiful house the party was at and decided, "Maybe I can come in for a little bit and see what the house looks like inside." She then met the birthday boy and decided to stay for the remainder of the party ;). It wasn't one-sided interest though. Rafael, for his part, pulled Xavier aside after meeting Daniela and said, "Bro, why haven't you introduced her before?" Her pretty appearance and joyful attitude made an instant positive impression on him, which was particularly impressive considering she had come in not really wanting to even be at the party. They met up one or two more times before her move out of Miami, the final time being when Rafael invited her to his family reunion week at Pompano Beach. She hung out here that night and met most of the family. For his part, he had some real interest in her and wanted to see how she interacted with the family, but also just simply wanted a chance to see her before she left to go west. They exchanged numbers and would spend time exchanging witty banter through text and the occasional phone call after her move, until she eventually stopped replying to his texts and calls. Rafael had been ghosted. Come to find out later, she just wasn't "ready for the real deal at the time." Rafael, bummed and confused, accepted his fate, "I guess she just wasn't that interested." For the next three years, whenever Rafael wasn't dating someone else, he would reach back out to Daniela, through the occasional texts that might or might not be responded to, to the eventual handwritten letters to her in Fort Myers. Perhaps thanks to that letter, or Daniela's mom's prayers, or the insistence of her sister, brother-in-law, and friends to give Rafael a chance. Daniela eventually opened up to the idea of allowing something to happen between them. On a cool November afternoon in 2019 Fiorella and a good friend, perhaps inspired by the Holy Spirit, decided to set Rafael and Daniela up on a "blind-ish" dinner date. Daniela nervously accepted the offer after she had prayed the day before for God to give her another chance with Rafael. Thinking that ship had sailed, Rafael wasn't at all nervous, but was happy to see Daniela again. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night though was the massive new mustache Rafael was sporting that everyone had failed to warn Daniela of. Despite the shock Daniela was smitten. That reunion was enough to kick off renewed interest and several dates later Daniela and Rafael were officially boyfriend and girlfriend...just in time for the Covid pandemic to strike a week later. Despite the challenges of that time, God proved that he is faithful to our petitions and helped the two grow closer, despite social distancing. After two years and a few months of dating, God made it known to Rafael and Daniela that they were called to marriage. On October 26th, 2022, Rafael surprised Daniela on an unassuming Wednesday night at the Coconut Grove marina by asking her hand in marriage. Among uncontrolled nervous laughter Daniela responded “Jes! (Yes)” in her thickest Venezuelan accent. God is good and it's thanks to Him that this February 4th they become husband + wife!