Michael and Danique met through Danique’s mother Charlene in June 2021. Danique was working at Wildwood Health Institute’s media department at the time while Michael came to study at Wildwood Center for Health Evangelism (part of Wildwood Health Institute). Danique’s mother was volunteering at Wildwood at the time and frequently ate at the student cafe where she often chatted with Michael. She told Danique about what a nice man he was and that she should get to know him. Danique was talking to somebody else at the time though, so she suggested that they’d set him up with a friend. They invited both Michael and that friend to the a game night at Danique’s place. The funny thing was though, once Danique opened the door to let Michael in, she immediately regretted that decision. “Oh no!”, what have I done? There was instant attraction. Michael and Danique developed a friendship and frequently hung out in groups with mutual friends together, which included two camping trips. It was November 7, 2021, on the second camping trip, when Michael and Danique were the last ones still sitting around a bonfire (everyone else had gone to bed already) that Michael asked Danique to be his girlfriend. One week later Danique said yes. Danique and Michael dated in-person at Wildwood for about 7.5 months, going on hikes together, both learning how to rock climb, going camping with friends, and celebrating their 6-month anniversary at Community Pie. It was after that pizza date that Michael and Danique watched the sunset near the walking bridge in downtown Chattanooga that Michael told her he loved her for the first time. Unfortunately just a couple of weeks later Michael had to leave the USA to go on a month-long mission trip to Kazakhstan and then back to Australia. This was for their good though, because those few months apart really strengthened their relationship. And it also allowed for Danique to come visit Michael down under in November 2022 and meet his family. They also got to spend their one-year anniversary together at Australia Zoo, which was a bucket list item for Danique. Other things they did there were kayaking, going away for the weekend with the family, camping in Noosaville, watching sunrises on Main Beach in Gold Coast, buying souvenirs for Danique to bring back, having dinners with family, puzzling with Michael’s mom, seeing The Outback Spectacular show in Gold Coast together, and so much more. After those wonderful 3.5 weeks together Danique had to go back home to Wildwood, GA. It was extremely difficult to say goodbye and lots of tears were shed, especially since they didn’t have a set date yet for when they’d see each other again. Little did they know that this time the separation would last 7.5 months! On June 13, 2023 Michael arrived back on American soil again, this time to volunteer at Wildwood Health Institute. A couple of weeks later, on July 16, 2023 Michael officially popped the question, and of course Danique said yes!