We met at church in the fall of 2022 when Tessa started the Young Adult Group. As I (Jacob) was finishing traveling early 2023, she asked that I be her co-leader. We spent the following year coleading while I dated somebody else. The end of that year can be summed up with my relationship ending, Tessa hinting at liking someone, travel beginning to ramp up for me, and me being clueless as usual. For Christmas, the core of the Young Adult Group exchanged presents; and me being me decided it was a good idea to get Tessa a stud finder (You know, to test this guy she kept hinting at liking). Anyways, when she opened it, she looked just as confused as you were when you read the previous sentence so I demonstrated how to test someone on myself. I was later informed that Tessa and the other gals had to muster all their strength to keep from blushing/laughing so they employed Yoshi (my golden retriever) to distract me. Winter of 2024 was me being on the road constantly working 12+ hour days 6+ days a week. So, to keep myself sane, I began calling members of the Young Adult group every night to keep the emotional side from going nuts. Given I was on the west coast and Tessa had a bakery job which had her up way too early, we spent many long phone calls with her dropping hints and me still being generally clueless. At this point, the entire Young Adult Group (and everyone else as I'm told) began to pick up on what was going on so they started making comments as well which also went over my head. At some point, I ended up working only 10hrs one day so the logical side was able to actually join the conversation with Tessa; and lo-and-behold, I finally picked up on someone hitting on me (Thank you, Thank you, major achievement there I know). I then made the decision that I'd entertain this more once travel finished. Fast forward a month or so when I was in the lobby of church where 2 of the core members of the Young Adult Group were poking fun at me. I tell them and I quote: "I know I may be being stupid about this whole thing with Tessa...", & Mo looks at me with the most "You idiot" face a girl can muster while Josh blurts out "Cause you ARE!" I then decided that I should take this more seriously, once travel finished. Fast forward a few months with travel finally winding down, Tessa invites me to her brother's wedding as her plus one. After a fierce internal debate, I end up agreeing to go knowing full well that her family is incredibly nosy and I'll probably be thoroughly vetted. So I stepped up to the plate with my best foot forward and had to keep letting people know that I was “The Guy”. During the couple’s dances, I got the DJ to play a song and then dragged Tessa onto the dance floor. I then got hit with a wave of emotions where Option A: Cry in front of everyone or Option B: sing my guts out to the song while we danced. So, being a good Schonthaler, I went with Option B and saw all the phones raised up every time we went around in a circle. After that, I asked her to be my girlfriend a few weeks later after we realized we’ve essentially been dating the entire time we co-lead the Young Adult Group. We managed to keep it secret from most people for about a week until we told everyone. I managed the same thing once I got the ring as it was “in transit” while I was waiting to get Tessa alone in a park. Now, we’re here planning a wedding and going out to eat with people every weekend (Thanks). See you all soon! -Jake & Tessa (She proof read)