Welcome to our love story

Erika's version above John's version below

August 28th, 2016: I jetted off to Spain for what I thought would just be a year. John and I met at church just five days after I landed. He had bleach blonde hair and I thought he looked like Fred from Scooby-doo. It was not love at first sight, but I thought he was friendly and nice to be around. Slowly John and I got to know each other as we were both on the praise team and helped with the youth group. John became like an older brother/mentor to me, as he would always help me and give me advice when I needed it. Sparks were still not flying yet, but I enjoyed his company. Then John started giving me piano lessons, and we started really getting to know each other. Piano turned into piano plus coffee, and then just coffee, and, well... I never did learn to play piano. I called John my "ray of sunshine," and I became attracted to his always positive outlook on life, his servant heart and his leadership. Also, his natural hair color was growing back, which was a plus too. Although I was somewhat subconsciously falling for John, I didn't want to admit this to myself or to anyone, as I wasn't sure how long I would be in Spain. I actually wrote in my journal in January of 2017: "I will not fall in love with John Edwin. Period." We all know how that turned out. As soon as I was sure I was going to stay in Spain longer, I started opening up a bit to the idea of dating him. Meanwhile, he was doing everything he could to win me over, from taking care of me when I was sick to bringing me chocolates. He eventually did win me over and, well, the rest is history. In September of 2017 we made our relationship official, and over a year and a half later he popped the question. Due to the pandemic, our wedding plans changed significantly and we ended up having an intimate ceremony in Spain, but by the grace of God we were still able to get married on our original date, August 8, 2020. Now we are so incredibly excited to celebrate it with all of you!

The first time I heard about Erika was through the person in charge of the church's Facebook page and my pastor when they told me that an American girl was coming and that she had contacted them through Facebook months before coming to live in Spain. They told me what would later become a motto for me--"we have to take care of her." When she came into our lives in the summer of 2016, she brought with her joy, passion to serve God, and a lot of punctuality! At the beginning I just saw her as God wanted, a sister in Christ who found herself alone in a foreign country very far from home and little by little she became my partner in the worship team at church and with the youth group. I was impacted by her way of seeing life and how she loved God, and she was a great role model for the girls at church and like my late pastor used to say--"She is an angel God sent us." And that's what I believed when she served with us. Everything was better and you could feel God's peace when she sang. Everyone at church loved her, and little by little we also became friends and she used our new friendship to tell me how she felt and the dreams that she had. Later when I saw that she was often gone for her frequent trips, I realized I missed her. I confessed to her what I felt and my sincere intentions, and we started to get to know each other more with the intention of beginning a relationship. In September of 2017 I felt I knew her well enough to ask her to be my girlfriend and so a new stage began. When I asked her if she wanted to be my girlfriend she said yes! Accompanied by the first "I love you" that she told me. It seems like I won her over hehehe. And I have to be honest that since then, life by Erika's side has been a great, fun adventure that challenges me and I want it to be that way for the rest of our lives. Almost two years after starting our relationship, in June 2019, I finally got up the courage and I proposed to the most wonderful woman I have ever met. I LOVE YOU.