It was May of 2023 and Ryan and Courtney each prepared themselves for their summers abroad. They had just finished their final exams and were both practically one foot in another country and one foot on domestic soil, but there remained an important matter of business before leaving the States: their best friends were getting married. Ryan and Courtney were eager to support their friends on their big day, and just like the veteran single people they were, had even brilliantly fooled themselves into believing they did not notice each other the night before the wedding. In fact, so confident was Ryan of the shield of his looming summer on mission, he confidently concluded the odds of falling for any girl at some wedding were extremely low, as he was sure to lose interest as soon as he left for Central America. So Ryan tested what caliber of a woman Courtney was, and it was more than he bargained for. It took one cocktail hour, two hearts that beat for the nations, and some really poor moves on the dance floor from Ryan just to woo her. But woo her he did. Still, Courtney kept her cards close to her chest. She asked Ryan (with a wink wink) if he wanted to push pause on everything until they returned from their mission trips...10 weeks later. Yep, these lovebirds let their feelings grow through newsletter emails. And soon it became incredibly obvious that while they shared an undeniable attraction to each other, there was also something more tangible. More spiritual and enduring. A summer of waiting and six months of long-distance dating later, God pulled them both toward a desire for covenant relationship with Him in marriage. Courtney and Ryan got engaged about 27 miles from where they met, just a year and a week after their unassuming first encounter.