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Sarah moved up to Portland in the summer of 2023, having decided to go to Portland State University to get her Master’s in Speech Language Pathology. As she began telling people at her church in California, Redeemer Baptist Church, where she was moving, inevitably they would follow it up with “Hey, did you know that Miggi Iniesta lives there?” Now, after that happened about 27 times, Sarah, assuring everyone that yes, she was well aware and would connect with him, wondered what it would be like to meet him in person. Miggi and Sarah met up at Hawthorne Asylum food cart a few weeks after Sarah moved. He was a friend of her older brother Luke when they both attended California Baptist University and had been a member of Redeemer as well, so they found that they had quite a bit in common. He invited her to a Maggie Rogers concert later that week, where she met several friends of his and current members of Hinson Baptist church. After the concert, life got busy and they drifted out of touch. In the spring of 2024, they reconnected at a St. Patrick’s Day party hosted by a member of Hinson. Miggi asked Sarah if there was anyone she was interested in at the church and offered to keep his eye out for someone to set her up with. He never did follow through on the offer, but their friendship continued to grow as he became a member of Hinson a couple months later and joined Sarah’s small group. In June, Sarah headed off to Quito, Ecuador, for an 8-week summer term, and when she got back on July 28th, she realized she needed some last-minute help moving to a new house in Mt. Tabor. Miggi and a few other friends from church were willing to pitch in! Sarah and Miggi got lunch after church at the Asylum food carts again and caught up on their summers. On the drive over to the storage unit, Sarah asked Miggi about the conclusion of the Song of Songs sermon series the church had been going through when she left the country. Somewhere in her jet-lagged brain, she decided that she needed to offer to buy her friends coffee as a thank-you. After the evening service that night, she turned to Miggi and said “I owe you coffee!” Sarah went away content, ready to get some sleep. For Miggi, the whole day had seemed to be one “branch rustle” after another and was convinced that Sarah had just asked him out. After checking with a few close friends, including PK Kim who said “she didn’t offer to buy me coffee for helping her move” (which was true, she had indeed forgotten), he texted her with some options - rather than get coffee, what if they had a drink? Or, better yet, what if they had a picnic at Mt. Tabor? Sarah, entirely oblivious to the hints she had been dropping, readily agreed! Imagining it to be a casual platonic picnic with her brother’s friend, the only passing thought she had was “this is a far cry from a thank-you where I would have happily Venmoed him for coffee”. Thankfully, Miggi clarified over text, explaining that this was, in fact, an invitation for a picnic DATE. Sarah, though initially surprised, agreed to the date and they went to Tabor the next day. After a bit of initial awkwardness, they again found how much they had in common with their shared Mexican cultural backgrounds, love for the local church and hospitality, appreciation for the arts and a good book. After another week of dating, Miguel asked Sarah to be his “novia” and she said yes. Over the next six months, they continued to grow in their love for one another and dating relationship. On their six-month anniversary, Miguel took Sarah back to Mt. Tabor. As they walked in the park, approaching a circle of candles on the ground, Sarah wondered "Aw, what cute event does someone have planned?" Then, as Miguel led her over and knelt to ask the question, she finally realized that she was the one doing something special that night. It was the easiest "yes" she'd ever said.