We're Getting Married!

We met at the Kingdom Hall in Closter, NJ the weekend Daniel moved up to New York to serve as a temporary volunteer at Bethel. Gaby vividly remembers being introduced to Daniel at that meeting. Daniel instantly was drawn to Gaby but knew that the timing wasn't right and figured she was out of his league. After Daniel's assignment ended and he returned home, Gaby found herself thinking about him and missing his presence at the congregation meetings.

Although we didn't see each other at all during the peak of the pandemic, we were still able to have many virtual interactions with congregation meetings, the field ministry, and a handful of Zoom game nights. Although neither of us expressed any interest in each other at this point, we did learn things about each other that stood out and that we remember down to this day.

When Bethel opened up and allowed vacations, Daniel made it a point to stop by and see the Betancourt family on is way back to North Carolina. Being able to spend a little time in person together peaked Daniel's interests, and Gaby figured he was just making a kind visit to the family.

Who said relationships can't blossom in Instagram DMs? That's what happened for us. We started talking about our interests, and showing our personalities. We both would look for excuses to message each other daily.

Daniel planned a weekend trip to spend more time with Gaby in person. We only had a few group activities planned, but secretly Daniel was hoping to ask her out sometime that weekend. He invited her to coffee at Starbucks with the hope of asking her then. However we both got so caught up in conversation that he never got the chance. Thankfully that night we made plans to get ice cream in Piermont, NY the next day. Daniel finally got the nerves to ask but only managed to say "I know it's a weird time with the pandemic and everything, but do you wanna date?" Gaby responded with "Oh, so that's how you're going to ask..." We still laugh about it today. We started talking about our goals and realized that we were unimaginably compatible. The next day Daniel came and officially asked her parents for permission, and just like that we started dating!

After almost a year of dating, learning more about each other, seeing how well we work together, taking trips and spending as much time together as we could despite the Bethel lockdown, we got engaged! Daniel planned a surprise trip back to Piermont, NY and proposed there. Gaby was completely surprised and both of our families were there to celebrate.