Our story starts at our local church in Palolo Valley, where both of our families attended and served as leaders in the youth group. Through that, our families became close, and our friendship grew naturally over the years. Funnily enough, Mikayla was actually the very first friend Dylan made when his family joined the church, thanks to a little encouragement from our pastors to say hello and to make him feel welcomed. We continued growing closer as friends while spending time together and deepening our relationship with God, with no intention at first of being anything more than friends. That started to change when Dylan moved back home from college during the pandemic, which gave us more time to hang out and connect. After a few one-on-one hangouts, Dylan worked up the courage to step out of the friend zone and ask how Mikayla would feel about dating. We both decided to give it a real try, and that “try” has now turned into four years together. Looking back now, we can clearly see God’s hand in bringing us together, and we can say without a doubt that His plans and ways are far better than anything we could have arranged ourselves. We’re so thankful to Jesus!