We’re getting married!

We met in Hawaii at the YWAM campus in Kona the beginning of 2023 while Chini was doing her nine-month Bible School and Zach was volunteering at the campus farm during a sabbatical away from Taiwan. The very first time was at the cafeteria while having lunch with some mutual friends and through some brief small talk, Chini realized Zach was cute and liked to surf. Zach was impressed with Chini’s consistent attendance at the campus CrossFit class every single day at 6:30am and found himself attending more and more often. A few months later the friendship grew as we found ourselves in the same group more frequently. Things started to shift when Zach invited Chini to the beach to surf one weekend and talkative car rides, coffee stops, and surfing lessons quickly became an every weekend event. After getting a Costco membership together “by accident” (Zach loves to tell this story) and spending a full weekend hanging out at the beach, we both kind of knew something was going on and it needed to be talked about. We were both planning to bring it up on the same day after surfing, but Chini beat Zach to the punch and asked about his intentions. We both shared the feelings we were having for each other and talked about how well our interests and future plans aligned together. But it was complicated. Chini still had two months of her intense Bible school, and Zach was returning to Taiwan for the summer in two weeks. We decided it was best to just stay friends. A week and a half later and only a few days before Zach was leaving the Island, “just friends” wasn't really working out. After a long conversation with one of her best friends, Chini decided to give the guy a shot and agreed to a date on Saturday, her one day off, and the day before Zach was flying out. Needless to say, it was the best first date in the history of dates, and “just friends” was completely off the table. So began a summer of long-distance communication, continuing to get to know each other as Zach was in Taiwan and Chini was finishing up Bible school and heading to South Africa for two months of outreach. Chini planned to stop over in Taiwan for six days on her way back to Hawaii from outreach in South Africa, but after a denied visa didn't allow her to complete her full outreach there, she was able to travel to Taiwan for a full three weeks at the end of August to visit Zach’s second home and do ministry in the community to complete her outreach. We officially started dating the night she arrived and had an amazing three weeks, finally being in the same place once again! In late September, three weeks after Chini returned to Hawaii, Zach followed, moving back to Hawaii full-time to begin working in the community and to be near Chini. We were blessed with amazing opportunities to meet each other's families and close friends quickly, despite living so far from both. In November we traveled to Costa Rica for a quick week for one of Chini’s best friend's weddings, and soon after Christmas break was the perfect chance for Chini to spend Christmas with Zach’s family in Pennsylvania. On February 15th, two days short of officially dating for six months, Zach proposed on the same beach where ten months before we had decided to “just stay friends”. And so officially began the dreaming and planning of the summer wedding and our future together! We will be returning to Kona in August and settling in for the time being! Chini will once again be staffing the school of Biblical studies from September till June of 2025 and Zach will continue his fulltime work at a local custom cabinet shop. We are excited to start life together serving the community of Kona and for wherever God may take us in the future.