If you ask Lizzy: I first heard that Matthew was in the West Virginia Charleston Mission a few days before I was set apart. I had seen his Facebook profile show up on my suggested friends and thought that he was super cute. I even joked that I might marry him, but soon forgot about it as I went into the mission field. In May of 2024, I was transferred to Martinsville, Virginia where Matthew was the district leader of the Rocky Mount District. We quickly became good friends bonding over our love for Coldplay, Christmas, anything geeky, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I fell in love with Matthew’s voice impressions and funny quips as well as how incredibly humble and kind he was. As soon as I came home, he reached out to me. We talked every P-day over voice memos for 5 months. We laughed about everything together and he became my best friend. When he came home, I asked him out. For our first date we ended up walking around Provo for five hours because we were both ridiculously nervous. I eventually told him that I liked him while we were sitting in an art museum. That has by far been the best decision of my life :) Matthew is the most compassionate, generous, patient, and thoughtful person I’ve ever met. I can’t wait to marry him😁❤️ If you ask Matthew: As of May 11th, 2024, I was knee deep in the “heart locked" missionary mindset, but that same week was when I met her. When she walked into the church building that first day, I could feel the whole room light up. There was something very different about her compared to anyone I have ever met in my life. It was without a doubt the best time on my mission. Lizzy and I had become really good friends while serving together, my tesimony of Christ was growing rapidly, and I was in a great area that I loved with a district that I will never forget. Which is why it felt like a punch to the gut when I got transferred out. Over time in my new area, I noticed a strange feeling of sadness from not being able to talk with her, let alone not being able to see her 2-3 times a week. That’s when it had occured to me that over those 12 weeks I had caught feelings for her. Then Lizzy had finished her mission and was back home in Utah. That took a pretty hefty toll on me emotionally. Shortly after that event I had felt one of the strongest urges I had ever felt in my life, and that was to reach out to her. Granted, that was something I was already planning on doing, but I felt a strong external presence encouraging the exact same thing. So I did.  Over the last 5 months of my mission we were sending voice memos back and forth every p-day, most were 2 minuntes long until by January we were sending each other 7+ minute long voice memos on a regular basis. I quickly found myself falling in love with her. Then, on my final pday in the mission, I could detect her voice trembling (I analyzed this with several other Elders) when she asked me if I wanted to hang out with her when I got home. I quickly said yes. When I came home, we met up in Provo. Both of us were so nervous that we ended up walking around Provo for roughly 5 hours without addressing the elephant in the room. We ended up in the art museum and Lizzy had mustered up the courage to speak up first and tell me how she felt. 5 months later I proposed to her in Alaska. (even though I decided I wanted to marry her way before we even started dating, the 5 months was just to look realistic) She is the best thing that has ever happened to me!