I first met Melody sometime in 2022. Yes, this is how I would recall things because I have a very bad memory. Melody is the one who always remembers everything. We even have an inside joke, thanks to a couple of our friends. She calls me "Naomi," and I call her "Sherman." If you two see this we just want to say thanks! LOL. Anyway, I was called as a candidate for the associate pastoral position at Twin Cities Hmong Alliance Church. During that weekend, I got to meet many of the members of Twin Cities and Melody was one of them. I remember she was one of the first few young adult ladies that approached me and the first thing I noticed was, "She's so bubbly, warm, and welcoming." I truly appreciated the warmth that the brothers and sisters extended. You all know who you were.

I believe it was around April 2022, the time when our church was candidating pastors. A church friend and I were making our way through the pews to formally meet him, and the first thing I noticed was how much hair he had. Our meeting wasn't anything too out of the ordinary. In fact, we didn't talk much as he and my friend were having their own conversations. I just ended up listening. He eventually got caught up meeting other people, and I had other plans, so I had to go. The last thing I remember was wishing him a safe flight back home ... who knew that in a few months he'd be coming back.

It was October 25th, 2022. We met up at a coffee shop that morning to do a book review and discuss ministry strategies and plans for 2023. After a few hours, we finally finished, and it was time for Melody to head out. Right before leaving, she asked if she could ask a personal question, and I complied. To my memory, she asked something along the lines of, "Do you have a friend? Are you talking to anyone?" In reponse I said, "No." What Melody shared next took me by surprise. Why? This beautiful, confident, and respectable young woman expressed her feelings to me. Now, what do I do? What do I say? Trying to keep my composure, but nervous inside, I took the many bubbly things that were shared, and also expressed my feelings for her, trading a journey less for a hopeful God-honoring adventure with her.

It was 7 months of me crushing on Tub Zoo, and by this time I didn't know if I wanted to wait anymore, so I had to make a decision: confess and live with his answer or live with never knowing how he feels about me. Wrestling with this decision brought out many things I had to factor, so I reached out to my mentor, sisters, and close friends for advice. After many hard conversations and many many nights of journaling and praying. I knew the risks. I understood the costs, and I was willing to take it. All that was left was how I would bring this up to him. In September, he gave me a book for ministry. I thought I’d use it as an excuse to at least confess to him privately since I didn't feel comfortable confessing at church. Just as I was explaining this to my friend, he had texted me first asking how I was progressing with the book. I looked at my friend and said "this is my chance." ~ Wednesday, October 25th, 2023. We said we'd meet at 9am, but I went to the coffee shop a few minutes early to pray and maybe try to settle down my nerves before he came. I was feeling wide-awake, nervous and yet tired all at the same time. I barely got any sleep the night before as I decided to not only confess to Tub Zoo but to also have an interview on the very same day! 😵‍💫 He arrived and bought us coffee. We settled in, and talked about the book. This went on for about a good two hours. Surprisingly, my nerves settled as we both excitedly talked about our takeaways from the book. It was getting real close to the time of my interview and I told myself, "Gurl, it is now or never because you know you won't get another chance like this again!" So with all the confidence I could muster I said, "May I ask you a personal question? ... Are you talking to anyone right now?" I had wanted to make a reference to how he had asked me this same question two months before this meeting, but turns out he didn't remember the reference. 😅 After a few minutes of stumbling over my words, I expressed to him how I felt and asked him if he felt the same way. He said, "I Do." "... and I would love to explore a relationship with you." Clarity. With that, we called the night after, "talked" a month later and officially courted Feb 13th, 2024. Oh and also, I got the job. ;p

Since the beginning of our courtship, Melody and I agreed that within a year, our goal was to find clarity. The clarity to either move towards marriage or to understand God's will for us on different paths. We would spend many months before continuing to get to know one another and have a series of weighty but well-meaning conversations that gave us clarity. I want to thank all of our mentors, brothers and sisters, family, and friends who were a voice of Godly wisdom and reason for us. Truly, thank you all. Anyway, there was one specific day that gave me the confidence and peace that I needed. Gaosheng, I am sure that you remember that day. And no, I won't spill the beans on what it was that gave me this confidence and clarity. That is a lesson I hope God will teach you (our readers) if you have not learned it yet when the time comes. After that day, I knew that if God would grant me the grace, Melody was the woman I wanted to commit myself to in this lifetime. After this day, I had two objectives. The first was to talk to her parents, and the second was to talk to her sisters to share my intentions in proposing to Melody. I was able to have a conversation with her parents, but did a terrible job setting up a time with Melody's sisters, Crystal and Faith (two days prior to the proposal date). There, I shared my intentions about proposing to their sister, and they were supportive of it. They would later that night message me about the things Melody would like for her proposal, and I appreciated that, sisters. With the things they shared, I had to scratch some of the original plans and prepare an alternative plan. I called up the Avengers (a few of my youths) to help with my plans, and they were so willing to help. I showed the crew the place I wanted to propose to Melody, presented a vision of how I wanted things to look, got their input, and then we got to work. We got to our location to do an in-person walk-through and then finalized the things we needed. We went on our way to grab our supplies for the night and then came back to the park to plow snow and decorate. Mind, I tell you, Melody had set PTO to spend Christmas Eve together, and she was very persistent and adamant in asking me what we were going to do. I felt like I gave her the bare minimum answers and even tried small talk because I was so focused on the proposal. She might have felt frustrated, but oh well. Lol. The following day, Christmas Eve, Melody and I spent an entire day together. And while Melody and I were out and about, the Avengers worked on all the decorations. You know who you are, brothers and sisters. Thanks a lot for going above and beyond! We finally made way to the destination that I would propose to her, and I truly thank God for every moment of it. As we made way, I was nervous, afraid that my words would fail me, which they did. But one thing I knew for sure, Melody Gaosheng Mua, is the woman I want to be in a covenant with. With one knee, I got down and asked...

It was Christmas Eve and I pulled up just outside Village Inn ready to eat some good brunch, watch a good movie, and dressed up all cozy to go on a walk in the park later. However, when I got out of my car the first thing I notice about him was how nicely dressed he was. Hair was combed back, white clean polo shirt, navy blue dress pants and dress shoes. Yes, in the middle of winter. For a hike. Dress shoes. ~ We arrived at the park and walked on the trail. When we got near the end we took a left into the snow getting closer to the pavilion. From a distance I saw how it was beautifully decorated with hanging lights. Thinking that they did this for Christmas, I had asked Tub Zoo if we could take a photo over there. As we were making our way over I had asked Tub Zoo, “What is it that you do to get your mind off things?” He had replied, “ Well, there are two people I go to: The first being God. The second being you.” “What?!?!” I replied. “You sure it isn’t your best friend Xf. Daniel?” “Nope.” He replied. “Your Siblings?” “No” “Your mom and dad?” “No”, He said with a chuckle and with that we turned onto the pathway which led to the pavilion. There I saw rose petals beautifully decorating the walkway. “It’s you.” Flabbergasted and mouth wide open he led me down the path of petals and candles. The lights hung low like a canopy, and balloons and garlands framed the pavilion. In the middle was a music stand. He had told me he wanted to sing a song but his guitar wasn’t there. After stumbling over a few words, he gave a speech and then with one motion he got down on one knee and said, “Will you marry me?”. Nervous and touched all at the same time, I bent down to his ear and gave him my reply. After that we sang the song on the music stand and before we knew it friends and family popped out of nowhere congratulating us. We ended the night going to an African restaurant eating our first meal together as fiancé and fiancée.

We gave a journey less for an adventure with each other.