Marcus was visiting Houston on a guys trip, while I was hosting some out of town friends from Atlanta that I had made from zoom field service, that same weekend. A mutual friend invited both of our groups to hang out and that's when Marcus and I first met. Upon learning that I was Nigerian, we shared a brief conversation about him making ogbono soup. Which is a difficult and unfamiliar to most Nigerian dish, which sparked my interest! Some days later Marcus "innocently" reached out to me on social media over our shared love of music, and the rest was history. I knew this was really something when the first time we talked on the phone we spoke for 6 hours straight! I've never done that with anyone, and I quickly realized I had found "The One" that I'd been praying to Jehovah about.

On Thursday, February 23, 2023, I flew to Houston from North Carolina with my family (Reggie, Sherri, Micah, Asia, Matthew, and Stephanie) all super excited for the next day. That weekend was especially important to Tobi. She asked me several times to make my next trip to visit on that weekend, because she wanted me to attend the circuit assembly with her. This would be our first assembly together. I told her that I would love to go with her, but that I couldn’t make it this time. Little did she know, my trip had already been planned for that weekend. In order to stop her from asking me to change my mind, I told her that I would be on a hiking trip in the mountains and would probably not have cell service. However, this was very difficult to pull off because of how frequently we communicate. With the help of several of Tobi’s close friends and family, (Falilat, Mahiya, Buky, Grace, Ari, Toni, Matthew, and others) I was able to plan a successful surprise proposal. Tobi was told that she would be taken to dinner on Friday, February 24th, to celebrate receiving an assignment at the upcoming circuit assembly. Instead, she showed up to a friend’s apartment. They all rode the elevator to the fourth floor in order to grab something that her friend "forgot". When the doors to the elevator opened, there I was; smiling uncontrollably with a single rose in my hand. Tobi and I hugged and shared a few words with each other and proceeded to walk towards the courtyard. When she walked outside, she was shocked yet again! There, lined up in front of her to the left and to the right, was her family, my family, and a few of her closest friends. We continued to walk as each of them handed her a rose. As we approached the end of the line, she noticed the bright lights on the marquee letters that spelled, “MARRY ME.” We walked down the rose covered red carpet where I said a few words, got down on my knee… and the rest was history!