Jaya and Simon’s paths first crossed at a 2023-24 New Years Eve party. They didn’t begin to get to know each other till nearly five months later at Living Hope Young Adults. They then began to ‘trash talk’ during nine-square and volleyball, go hiking regularly, and even went on a camping trip with a small group of friends. After the camping trip, Simon left for a Thailand mission trip. He was gone for a little over two weeks. Three days into the trip, Simon sent Jaya and her sister a video telling them that he will no longer worry about them riding in the back of his truck (something they had done a couple of times). That sparked conversations that kept them in communication throughout the trip, despite the major time difference. July 25th, shortly after he returned from Thailand, Simon asked Jaya out to coffee, under the guise of wanting to tell her all about his mission trip. They went on their first date on July 31st and did talk a bit about how the mission trip went. For the next month, they regularly went on dates, usually to coffee or to walk around a park, and continued to get to know each other better. At the beginning of September Simon officially asked Jaya to be his girlfriend! The next five months were filled with questions and conversations, group dates and one-on-one dates and family gatherings. Twice Jaya ended up in the ER due to first a chiropractic incident and then appendicitis. Each time, Simon was incredibly kind and caring in helping Jaya through the healing process, keeping her spirits up and making sure she didn’t do anything to hinder her progress. From the very beginning, Simon and Jaya were very open about their goals in life and their intentions in dating. They frequently discussed their dreams for married life, their wants of kids and property to raise them on, and vague ideas of their timeline. Jaya, when asked, had told Simon that, ideally, she’d like to be engaged by the end of the sixth month of dating. She believed in the ‘when-you-know-you-know’ and felt that six months is all she needed. Simon didn’t not disagree. So, at the beginning of the sixth month, Simon asked, ‘what do you think about getting married? Is that something you want to do with me?” Jaya answered that she did want to get married. Then began Simon’s process of asking her dad, purchasing a ring, and planning the proposal. On January 25th 2025, Simon picked Jaya up for what seemed like a normal date. They were headed to walk along the river at one of their favorite spots. However, they did not park at their normal spot. Simon parked a little farther up the river, thus began Jaya’s suspicions that this was maybe NOT a ‘normal’ date. Simon guided Jaya across a bridge then down to a spot right on the river, where Jaya promptly got distracted by a log, some rocks and ice on the other side of a wall of weeds. Simon summoned Jaya off of the rocks and stood her on the little patch of stomped down weeds near where the log was. He then handed her a Bible with a letter marking his favorite passage. Jaya began to read the letter, and as she neared the end of the first side Simon nervously commented on how fast she was reading. She turned to the back of the letter and when she got to the end she saw the three words Simon had said he would not tell her until he proposed. I love you. As she read those three words, Jaya turned to face Simon. He was down on one knee and as she covered her face, Simon said, “I love you, will you marry me?” Jaya hugged Simon and said. “Oh my gosh, yes!!” They stood up and Simon put the ring on Jaya’s finger before leading her back up to the path and surprising her with her sister!