the one where i proposed

Our eight month anniversary was our last day before our team arrived. So, I set up a date for us.

You know you only get one chance to propose. For everything else, there seems to be plenty of opportunities, but you only propose once. I wanted everything to be perfect.

I was actually ready to propose 3 months in – or earlier. But since her parents were not so favorable I waited.

I decided our anniversary could be a good date, because we could go on a date that day, it would be easy to remember and be an excuse to do something special.

However, after I had planned to propose, I got a sense Soo may not want me to propose; and that I should really seek God in prayer before I make such a big decision.
Eventually I told the Lord, if You don’t want me to propose, You have to stop me!

The forecast for our date was 70-80% chance of rain. The plan was to be outside. I thought God may want to stop me. When I got up in the morning it was grey. And when we first walked out, I felt a few drops on my head…

After taking an extremely long time to get ready – after a night of like 3 hours sleep- I made it over to Soo's place with a dozen white roses. From there we went to the green house- a western coffee shop here and spent some time with the Lord. It was good for us to focus our day on DAD and connect with each other. I had planned on playing ping-pong like we did on our first date, but we ran low on time and instead headed to get our massages. Getting a massage is pretty cheap here, so we can do it often. I made sure we reserved the good ones, so we had a set time we had to be there.

I had made a playlist for our date and we listened to half the songs while we got our massage.
Then we headed off to Casa Mia - the restaurant she said was her favorite place to eat a few days earlier.
During lunch we did something we try to do every month – take time to reflect on our relationship.
We each wrote down ten of our favorite memories of each other.
We also wrote down ten ways we have grown in our relationship with God thru our relationship.
God has taught us a lot and has used the relationship to teach us much of His love and grace and faithfulness.

By this time the rain stopped and the sun came out and was shining brightly.

The beauty of my plan was we could have these conversations, but I also set up for us a photo shoot.
Our friend Mark got a new camera a few months earlier and had been eager to take pictures for us. So we set up a time on this day, before the rest of our team came in.
The real beauty is now we needed to be dressed up. And Soo could tell me what she wanted me to wear- for when I would propose to her.

We arrived at the park and I had the Fertigs bring over a dozen red roses. We took a bunch of pictures – several where Soo is embarrassed because I tried to kiss her, and several that probably show how nervous I am.

I scouted out the park the day before, but every place I suggested, it seemed like Soo thought was ugly or not that special.

Eventually I convinced her to sit down in a spot and Mark would take some candid shots of us.

When we sat down I pulled out that journal and read to her about my feelings for her and the great qualities I see in her.

Then I stooped down and began to wash her feet.
- instead of using water and a towel though, I used a wet wipe. It worked great!

When I had heard of other people washing feet, I thought it was cliqe.
But I decided I really wanted to wash her feet because I really want to serve her, and I wanted to start of our engagement with that act.

As I washed her feet I gave her something else to read. I really shouldn’t have because at the bottom it said, “Will you marry me?”
I figured she already knew. I read out of a journal and I was washing her feet talking about how I want to serve her the rest of my life.

She couldn’t read it all, so I took the book read it and asked her to marry me- and she said yes!

And it is all captured in photos – and on video, so it is documented and real.

She loves the ring, but more she loves me.
I am so blessed!
I am so excited to be engaged to Soo!
She is an amazing woman of God, beautiful in so many ways. She has a sweet smile and a gentle heart. She has a huge heart for the world and a genuine care & compassion for all peoples.
We would love to get married this winter, but we also want to honor her parents.
They don’t like me and don’t really want Soo to marry me.

I wasn't able to ask for permission, I can barely communicate with them since I do not speak Korean, but from conversations with others I felt getting engaged could help make our relationship a reality to them.

Please pray for us
1. We’d grow in our relationship and fall more in love with each other
2. We’d be focused on Christ and not ourselves and help each other grow
3. Her parents would accept our relationship and would be encouraging and supportive
4. We can get married soon
5. And get the details planned
6. Our relationship would be pure & honor God

We were hoping to get married in January, but I don’t think that will happen. We want to honor her parents in our wedding and so are waiting for them to be more favorable towards our marriage.

My parents of course are ecstatic, and even seem to like Soo more than me. They want us to be married already...

Indeed, some thought it would never happen; others may even say it could never happen. But with God, all things are possible!

My story of Soo

Some thought it would never happen; others may even say it could never happen. But with God, all things are possible!

I went on my first date with Soo on December 20 2008.

A couple on my team asked me if I had any interest in her in October. There was a little, but I didn’t really want to date someone on my team.

But the more I got to know her, the more I liked her. And as I prayed about it, I felt like God kept opening doors and drawing me to her. We had to make a business trip together, and I experienced a lot of grace from her and had a lot of fun with her. I also discovered there was a guy she was kinda interested in.

But he didn’t step up… I prayed and realized the nly reason I wasn’t asking her out was fear. I asked God “Why can’t I ask out a girl who likes me?” Still i knew i liked her and God answered a prayed for an opportunity for just the two of us to talk and i asked her out.

After a couple days she gave me an answer that God told her not to fear and she would go out with me. We began spending a lot of time with each other, even before our first official date. We went out on 4 dates in 9 days and saw each other every day- and often for extended periods of time for 2 weeks. I also discovered God indeed allowed me to ask out a girl who liked me!

Our relationship progressed quickly. Less than 2 weeks after our first date, I wrote in a journal how I was feeling about Soo and was ready to marry her.

She is a godly woman. She is a servant and has great compassion on others. She has a huge heart for the world, serves God, cares for others, has intimate relationship with the Lord and loves me. Oh, and she is super cute.

I began looking at rings online one day – and I thought to myself I’ve never even considered doing this before!

We came back to the states to meet her family, and after some initial good impressions, we left California with her parents attitude not having changed.

We came back to Asia and began preparing for the next year, still with hopes we could get married soon.

(continued in next post)