On November 1, 2019, Ethan and Joia individually attended a small get-together hosted by mutual friends. They immediately made eye contact as soon as Ethan walked in the door, and they both smiled and looked down thinking they had no chance. They joke that God allowed Ethan to get tipsy enough to have the guts to speak to Joia. And thank goodness He did, because otherwise they never would have spoke, as Ethan recalls he thought Joia was so pretty (as he told one of her best friends, Ashley who brought her, repeatedly). Joia thought he was extremely handsome and spent most of the night doing her homework in the back bedroom. Once Joia finally came out of the back bedroom to socialize, she sat right between Ashley and Ethan. To make conversation, Joia asked Ashley if she'd heard her new favorite song as her phone ringtone, urging her to call her to hear it. When Ashley couldn't find her phone, Joia thought to ask Ethan to call her, an opportunity to give him her phone number since he was still too shy to ask. Ethan didn't hesitate to say yes — giving him the ability to then text Joia about a week later to say how nice it was to meet her. The couple couldn't stop texting and talking on the phone...for hours, each day, for weeks! Joia knew after two weeks of talking that Ethan was her future husband, the best gift from God she could ask for. Ethan knew Joia was the one when she offered to drive an hour to make him her special sick tea when he became unwell the day he planned to come cook dinner for them in her dorm.

Although both having been raised Christian, neither Ethan or Joia had their own personal relationship with God. They realized quickly when they started dating that this relationship had been brought together through God, and God alone. They both seeked to know the Lord, that He may be brought into the center of their relationship. Ethan and Joia decided to hike up a mountain in Sedona, and start reading the Bible together at sunrise. Since then, Sedona has become a cherished place to the couple, where their new journey to befriend Jesus, together, began. After 7 months of planning, Ethan finalized his ideas of what he knew would be the ultimate place to propose — Sedona — where the red rocks and lush greens sing of the glory of God. Ethan had two of Joia's closest friends, Autumn and Ashley, convince her they were having a girl's trip to shop and get dressed up for a fancy dinner. As they were doing just that, Ethan was preparing the home he rented for the 4th of July weekend for the proposal. Scattered LED candles, rose petals, and handwritten signs expressing his love for Joia, formed a path leading down a hill to a private part of Oak Creek, where he awaited for Joia to discover, dressed in all white and playing their song, Speechless by Dan and Shay. If you weren't aware, she said yes! :)