We met in New York City in 2021 while serving as short-term missionaries for Maranatha Baptist Church! We worked together for the summer and then Zach came to visit Montana before school started. We went hiking and camping with friends, star gazed for hours and showed Zach around Montana!

A few weeks after Zach visited, he called and asked Rachel if he could come back to Missoula and take her on a date! The rest is history but the majority of our dating relationship was spent 1600 miles apart from each other. This meant that we had to get creative with our dates! FaceTime was our best friend, and we spent our Thursday evenings cooking the same meals, watching movies, playing games and talking for hours. We both now see how God used that time to intentionally teach us how to communicate and helped us deeply get to know each other.

Almost a year after we met Zach made it official! On a trip to New York to visit friends, we walked around Central Park admiring the view and then found a break from the crowds in a quiet nature sanctuary. There we took pictures and then Zach got down on one knee! After an hour + of crying and praying together, we got to enjoy the rest of our trip as an engaged couple!!