When I first saw Javier, I actually saw a picture of him on social media. I didn't know who he was and I didn't realize he was the nephew of my good friend Erika. Over the past few months, I secretly had a crush on him since the day I saw his picture on Facebook. Erika had mentioned to me that her nephew had asked about me during Christmas Eve a few years prior to meeting one another, yet I did not know the nephew who asked about me was the one I was admiring in the picture. Eventually, I asked Erika who the guy was in the picture and she told me it was Javier. Erika wanted to set me up with one of her nephews just not Javier. As my search for love went on, I couldn't help but have a gut feeling that the one who was always meant for me was Javier since the beginning and the Lord had ordained this meeting. Sometime in May of 2019, we met briefly at his mother's house during a party for his sister. At this time, I still did not tell a soul about my crush on Javier, but I finally confessed my true feelings about him to Erika. When we first met, Javier paid no mind to me. Months had passed by and we eventually met again on Christmas Eve in 2019, even though I continued to tell Erika I didn't want her to re-introduce me to him. I told her I wanted things to happen naturally, but she didn't listen and continued to say, "Oh yeah, do you remember my friend Maria?" Javier insisted he didn't remember. That same night, Erika told me Javier had texted her and asked for her permission on if he could start to get to know me. Later that night, he sent me a friend request on Facebook. We ended up talking on the phone on and off throughout that night for the next 8 hours. Things did not work out right away. There were moments we had gotten to know each other and there were moments of silence. As our friendship began, we were both in dark places in our lives and really just needed a friend. Our friendship began blossoming over the years. Once we began to understand what the true void in our lives was, a life without the Lord Jesus Christ, our lives began to be restored and transformed, and we began to heal. We started going to church service together and found a congregation where the Lord planted us. We started to learn what it meant to repent, to be rebirthed, to be baptized and the circumcision of the old stoney heart, being filled with the Holy Spirit, walking in newness of life and birthed into the Kingdom of God, and being yielded to the Lord, but most importantly we learned what love truly meant once we put Jesus first. We give all honor, praise, and glory to God for putting two broken individuals together, loving us without conditions, and teaching us about forgiveness and how to forgive.

We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” ‭‭- 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭4‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬