Makda "Maki" Workneh was born and raised in Ethiopia. She speaks two languages: Amharic and English. She has three sisters and one brother, who all live in Ethiopia. Maki moved to the United States in 2006. She lived in Virginia for eight years and attended college. In 2015, She moved to Los Angeles where she earned her bachelor's degree in Human Services. She then worked as a Social Worker for The Salvation Army Santa Monica Corps in 2018. During her time there, she got her calling to be an officer (pastor) for The Salvation Army, which has led her to the College for Officer Training. She loves hiking, soaking up the sun at the beach, and laughing. She is compassionate and loves Jesus and helping others. And naps are her best friends!

Christopher Rodriguera was born and raised in Hawai'i. Chris grew up going to The Salvation Army church and is a 4th generation Salvationist. He attended the University of Hawai'i and earned a bachelor's degree in Communications in 2006. After college, Chris pursued a career in music and became a touring musician. After 13 years of playing music, he gave his life back to Christ. He left his music career in 2019 to pursue his calling to be an officer (pastor) for The Salvation Army.

In 2020, we both got accepted into The Salvation Army College for Officer Training (Seminary School), where we met for the first time. We hung out with our own groups of friends when school started and didn't talk much to each other. Then we were assigned to the same house duty group, cleaning the child care center. We made the most out of our time there getting to know each other, laughing with each other, and trying to scare each other ;) We became good friends and enjoyed each other's company. We spent a lot of time studying together, talking about Jesus, and laughing at random things. God was gradually bringing us closer together without us realizing it. Others around us could see it and started praying for us to be together before it was even a thought in our minds. In December of 2020, we both realized the gift that God had for us in each other and started to date. We got engaged on September 26, 2021, which has brought us to where we are now. God is so good and we are blessed to be getting married and starting a journey of serving the Lord together!