I first met Grace when I was 3 years old. My family had just moved to California from India, and we were attending the same church. Grace was also close friends with my cousin (and still is to this day). After a year, we moved to a different part of the Bay Area, and we stopped going to that church. Grace and I crossed paths again in high school when we both participated in a church program called Bible Quizzing. After that, we parted ways for several years. In the fall of 2018, I started pursuing my Master's degree at Stanford, around the same time Grace started working there. But we did not interact at all during this time. In the fall of 2020, I moved to Germany to start my first job out of college. It was then that my parents asked if I would be interested in Grace. I thought and prayed about it for a few weeks; and when I came home in December for my sister's wedding, I told my parents that I was interested. After I found out that Grace was interested as well, we started talking on the phone and eventually FaceTiming. By this time, I had gone back to Germany; but we were able to make the time zone difference work and started talking for hours every day. I learned a lot about Grace during this time, including maturity in her walk with God and her desire to use her gifts and talents to serve Him. Though we didn't know each other very well when we were younger, it felt like we were getting to know each other for the first time in many ways. As the months went on, we continued to get to know each other better. I was convinced that God was the one who had brought us together. Once I found out that I would be able to take vacation in July 2021 and come home for a few weeks, I began making plans to propose to Grace during that time. I ordered the ring while I was still in Germany and shipped it to the US. I finally made it home on July 3rd; and after a few close calls, I popped the question to her at the marina right by my parents' house, and she said yes!

I have known Benny for as long as I could remember. I would often see him when visiting my best friend Sharon. I also participated in the Bible Quizzing program with him in middle and high school, and Benny was an exceptional quizzer. He became close with my brother during this time, but Benny and I never spoke unless it was quizzing related. I always thought that Benny was really kind and thought he was very mature for his age. After high school, we went our separate ways. I finally saw him in 2019 and we both talked briefly about Stanford, since I was working there and he was a grad student there, but we never ran into each other on campus. When my parents spoke about marriage with me, I had a long list of 30 things that I was looking for and a few “must haves”: a strong believer, someone who had the heart to serve the Lord, and a musician who can play guitar and sing. Over the summer of 2020, my brother Solomon had a conversation where he told me that he really liked Benny and thought he would be a good choice for me if the opportunity arose. Months later, I attended Carol’s (Benny’s sister) wedding where Benny was the best man and gave a speech that I thought was hilarious. I admired the way he carried himself and remembered what my brother said a few months back. A week later, my parents asked me to pray about dating Benny. I decided to give it a shot and Benny and I started talking. I fell so hard for Benny that I surprised myself. During our initial conversations, I was checking off all the boxes on my list in my mind. It was very clear to me that God was bringing us together. After six months of dating long-distance, Benny came home for a month vacation. A week after meeting in person, he proposed on my parent’s anniversary. I am grateful for the support from our parents, siblings, family and friends along the way. I am so thankful to the Lord for bringing this incredible man into my life and I am counting the days until I can marry him!