With me being from Michigan, USA and Joel from orange, Australia and us meeting in Perth, many of you may not know how we met. So for you to get to know us better, here is a bit of our story. Joel and I met in October of 2016 in Perth, WA. He was doing the sports discipleship training school (DTS) with YWAM while I was doing the foundations for counseling ministry there as well. We both happened to be staying in the same building. When I first heard that I was in the same building as the sports dts, I was a bit apprehensive because I’ve never been sporty and honestly wasn’t looking forward to it haha. But then I met Joel and we quickly became friends. We met through mutual friends from our schools one night and started having breakfast together with a few friends every morning before classes started. Because of the intense nature of DTS, you are encouraged not to start a relationship during those 6 months and to focus on your relationship with God. So even though Joel had feelings for me, the next 6 months passed with us being friends. At the end of the school, we had both decided that we were going to come back to Perth to do another school in a few months. So the night we graduated, Joel told me how he felt and we discussed it but because I was heading back to America for the next 4 months, we still decided not to do anything about it and remain friends for the time being. So another 4 months passed with me being in Michigan and Joel in Orange and us keeping in contact regularly. Finally, when we both got back to Perth in July of 2017, we started dating. Since then, we’ve laughed, cried, grown, fought, encouraged one another and sought God together. We spent months together and months apart on different continents. A year later, almost to the day, Joel asked me to marry him and I, of course, said yes! We are so excited for this adventure together and to see what God has in store for us! We can’t wait to celebrate with you all at our wedding!