Due to popular request, the long wait to hear Ian's side of the story is over and you can hear it told in its dramatic entirety.
I had just recently come off of my mission in December of 2006. I was attending my first semester of college with a head full of determination and desire to be diligent in my assignments in school and church. (hopefully that has not changed, as I still strive to be diligent in my doings). However, I came into the semester half-way through on the second block which meant that I did not receive a calling nor a home teaching assignment the whole rest of the semester! You can imagine what this did to a brand new return missionary. I was going insane. I tried to volunteer for what ever I could so that I felt like I was doing my duty. When the semester came to a close and the new one began, I was finally able to receive a home teaching assignment and a calling in the ward. I was called to be the Elders Quorum president, which caught me by surprise. I was a little overwhelmed by the task but set out as best as I could. My first task was to organize the home teaching in the ward. Because I had missed out on the opportunity to do home teaching earlier, I made sure that everyone received a route and a companion, and I prayed and tried to insure that everyone was matched up correctly. I assigned myself a few people that I knew nothing about, and that I thought would be good for me. I also assigned myself a companion who I had been told was a little on the less active side. With enthusiasm I set out to be the best home teacher I could be. (Contrary to want many people have felt, I did not assign my self her apartment to home teach because I thought she was cute, it just happened that way).
The first apartment that I visited was a group of guys (all return missionaries) who lived two doors down from us. That was a piece of cake. The next apartment was a house full of girls. On the first Sunday of the month I approached one of the girls that I recognized from my list and tried to set up an appointment. Her name was Cristina Baron, and as I came near her and called out her name she just walked past me. I could not tell if she just did not hear me or wanted to ignore me, but I did not lose hope. I saw her roommate and then set up the appointment with her.
during out visits, I quickly came to realize that my companion was not at all as less active as people made him out to be, and that the girls really enjoyed having him as their home teacher. He was a recent convert from Hong Kong and pretty funny. I tried to be a good home teacher, but they took to him quicker than me. Despite this, we had really good visits and I really enjoyed home teaching them. My companion was great and we worked really hard.
When I tried to get a hold of their apartment to talk to them the only number that I had on my list was that of Cristina Baron. Consequently the girls thought that it was odd that I always called for her and set the visits through her; But for me it was my only way of contacting them.
I will not lie, but when I first saw Cristina I could tell that she was the kind of girl that I would date. She seemed to have a certain glow about her that made her stand out from all of her roommates. I did not invest much into that thought at the time, but I did not completely forget it either.
As the semester progressed, my roommates and I started this group that would play sports every Saturday at 8:00 in the morning. We thought it was a fun way to make the most of our summer in school, and get to know some new people in the ward. We started a vigorous recruiting campaign so that we would have enough people to play sports with. We started going door to door in our apartment complex and asking every one we knew if they wanted to come. Subsequently I ran into Cristina at church and started talking to her about fixing another appointment when our Saturday Sports idea come up and she said that she would have liked to have come the previous Saturday had she known about it. So the following Saturday I invited her to come and play softball with us. Little did I know at the time that softball was her favorite sport! She could not resist. She said that it was a little outside of her comfort zone, but she loved the sport so much that she showed up and played with us. We had a lot of fun, and I remember teasing her and having fun with her the whole game. When I returned home I told my roommates that I was "in like". Here was girl who was fun, cute, and loved sports; What more could I want?
From then on I started to believe that she really liked me. It seemed that I was always being invited over to hang out with her and her roommates, eat rice crispy treats with them, and she even came over to my apartment and gave me brownies personally. It was only later when we were dating that she told me that her roommates were the ones who kept inviting me over because they knew that I was starting to like Cristina. And that when she brought me over brownies that they were intended for another boy that she liked, and she thought that the left overs could go to me for being such a good home teacher. Funny the way things turned out. However, I was sure that she liked me, so I did all I could to be around her and interact with her. My roommates were all excited because I was the first of the four of us to have a girl singled out as the one that I wanted to date. They did all sorts of odd things like take over my cell phone and send text messages to her claiming to be me; They said a lot of mushy things that I would never say to her. But they did not scare her away because she saw through them and knew that it was not me witting those things.
I really began to like her the more I was around her. She had a firm testimony of the gospel, and real commitment to serve in the church, not to mention her love for sports and fun personality. When our summer was coming to a close, and we decided to play kickball in the morning and then have a big barbecue after wards. I resolved to ask her out on a date. I figured that we were going a really steady pace and that it was now time to ask her out. The barbecue was a lot of fun, and contrary to what you might have heard her say, I did not cheat in the game of capture the flag that we played, I merely allowed a certain team member of hers to get across our lines(only one person in particular) unopposed, and then I went after her flag. I chickened out that night and even though we had a great time, I did not ask her on a date. It was not until the next night that I got the courage to pose the question. When I told my roommates that I had asked her out and that she accepted, it was the talk of the complex.
Our first date was a lot of fun. We took a long walk. I could not believe that she thought that I could never be serious, so we had a serious conversation as we walked. In the end I wanted to pursue a relationship and so I nervously told her that I liked her. ( I was even nervous to hold her hand). I told her I liked her and then we decided about where to go from there. From then on, things have gone well for us. It is interesting to look back on our story; the whole time I thought that she really liked me, and that she was just waiting for me to ask her out, but that turned out to not be true at all. I had to convince her that I was the type of guy she wanted to date and eventually marry.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
How We Met As Told By Cristina
Why I was at BYU-I
The University made an offer to the Fall/Winter track students to stay for the Summer semester and get some extra classes in. I had been trying to decide if it's something I wanted to do or something I thought I should do.
As the semester came to an end, I was so blessed to have earned a full tuition scholarship as well as a little extra money for books. Things seemed to work out, and since I wanted to get school done as quickly as possible, I took the challenge.
First Impression
On our first day in the ward, after the new semester started, Ian was speaking in church. To be perfectly honest, I don't remember what he spoke about. All I can remember is what I thought at the time. I remember that he said that one thing or another really "stuck out to him." He said that at least 5 times in his talk. I said something to my roommate about it, and we had a little laugh. Despite all this, I could tell that he had a love for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That really impressed me. I also remember him saying that he was from San Diego. I took a guess before he said anything and thought "Utah for sure." Obviously, I was wrong.
Later on, I believe it was that same day, we found that Ian would be our home teacher. I had to laugh at the irony. It was interesting to me that when he called our house to set up a time to come by, he asked for me. My roommate had answered the phone, but he had to talk to me. I thought that was weird and came to find later, that it was just a coincidence, and my name was the only one he knew.
He came by to teach and mentioned how things "stuck out to him" a few more times. My roommate was giggling through the whole thing.
I thought that he was weird, but I certainly didn't have anything to hold against him. He seemed genuinely concerned about the girls in my apartment, which was a refreshing change from some of our previous home teachers.
The Plot Thickens
Occasionally, since we really appreciated his service to us so much, we would make him treats. One day, a friend of mine was over and I had made some peanut butter rice crispy treats. I called Ian to invite him over as well (by suggestion of my friend). The phone number I used was what he gave us after our first appointment in case we needed anything. To my surprise, I called the number and talked to Ian's Dad, Wayne. I was really confused at first and thought his roommates were playing a joke on us. I think he was pretty confused too. We got it all sorted out after a while. Ian stopped by later that night and I told him the story of how I had talked to his Dad. I think he was embarrassed, but at the same time, we were able to have a good laugh about it.
Time passed and Ian came to invite us to do things with other people in our ward. The first Saturday sport we played was softball. I love softball! How could I pass that up? The next week was Ultimate Frisbee which I had recently discovered I loved playing. I had to go to that. We spent many Saturday mornings together.
"I Think He Likes You!"
My roommates noticed that Ian had started dropping by more often and asking if I was home. They said he would play it off by trying to see if everything was okay with them, but they would say things like "I think he likes you". I was in total denial. I knew what Ian was looking for in girls (most particularly her testimony of the gospel) and I hadn't shown that to him in any way. It certainly wasn't that I didn't have one, I just didn't have any opportunities to share with him. At the time, I was teaching Gospel Doctrine, but he didn't know that. All he knew of was my other calling (Relief Society Greeter).
I remember one specific Saturday when we played Ultimate Frisbee. We had all gone to breakfast afterward. When saying goodbye, Ian got a funny look on his face as if he was sad to go. I thought it was a little weird, but I just shook it off. Later that day, he stopped by my house. He said he was on his way home from the Library (my house is not on his way home) and thought he'd just stop by. He asked me if I wanted to go to a concert with a bunch of people from the ward. I was already planning on going, so I agreed. After this episode, I was pretty sure there was something going on, but I wasn't sure why.
As time passed, Ian continued to stop by at the more random and inopportune times. I remember once, I was just about to leave on a date and he came over. All I could think was 'great timing'.
The Bonfire
The day I was absolutely sure how Ian felt, without him saying anything was a Saturday night. We had been out to the Sand dunes for a BBQ/bonfire. He had spent a lot of time around me (weather I wanted him to or not) and I could just tell. I decided that I would test it a little. When we went to play capture the flag, I went to Ian (since we were on opposite teams) and asked him to cheat for us. Knowing that Ian was an upstanding guy, I didn't think he would actually do it. When he agreed (after a lot of convincing) I knew there had to be more than just the duty of home teacher to his motive.
After the game, we walked back together to the fire where everyone else was. I expressed my fondness for walks. Ian said that he hadn't taken many walks, and I made the suggestion that he should. It's nice to have time to calm down a little.
That night, after I dropped him off at home, I was talking to my roommates about what had happened. While I was dropping him off, Ian had said that on a scale of 1 to 10, his day was a 9. Soon after I started talking to my roommates, I got a text message from Ian with a correction to his evaluation of the day. He said that his day was actually an 11. When I asked why, he said "because of the company." You can imagine my amusement.
Our First Walk
The next day, Ian called. I was sure he wasn't calling about home teaching, because he'd already done that for the month. When he called, he said "I'd been meditating on what you said last night about walks, and I was wondering if maybe you'd want to go on a walk with me today." On my end, I thought 'he's really trying hard' accompanied by silent laughter. I agreed resolving that it might be fun and that he was certainly harmless. Don't doubt that after I hung up the phone, I reported to my roommates what had happened.
Later that day, we enjoyed a short walk and each other's company. It was Father's day, so I got another chance to talk to Ian's Dad. That was definitely embarrassing considering what happened the last time we talked. To my surprise, it was good.
To Bake Is to Love...
The next day, Ian asked me to help make a cake for his roommate's birthday. We made the most amazing cake (Mike Wizowsky). It was a great time, and to my surprise, when he left, I actually missed his company. At this point I thought 'is he actually starting to grow on me?' He came back after his Family Home Evening and we took some cards that I had forgotten to send with him to his roommate, Won.
When we got to Ian's apartment, Won asked "so, anything new?" At that point, I knew something was up. I decided to go home and Ian offered to walk me to the car. It wasn't very far away, but I decided to allow it and see what would happen. We had some small talk and then he asked me, in what seemed like the most awkward way if I'd like to go out with him on Friday. I agreed and asked if he'd like to go to Devotional with me. He agreed.
I had no intention of asking him to go to Devotional with me. It just popped out. Weird.
We spent every night that week together until curfew. Neither of us were used to staying up so late so we were exhausted. Also some people in the ward had seen us at Devotional together, so needless to say, we were the "ward gossip," as my visiting teaching companion put it.
Thursday came and I started teasing Ian, saying that I never saw him really be serious and I never saw other emotions besides happy. I wondered for a while if he had any others. I also teased him that I couldn't trust him because he wasn't telling me everything about him. Mostly, I just wanted him to tell me that he liked me and this was the only was I could think to do it.
Our First Date
We went on our date Friday night and had a great time. It was a very simple date. We went down to the Rexburg nature park and took a walk. Ian and I had a serious conversation so I found he could be serious and did have other emotions. Then we had to address the trust issue. I think he knew what I was getting at all along. After trying to escape about a million bugs, we found a bug-free spot to sit and talk. After a little coaxing including me saying "just say it already", Ian told me that he liked me and I reciprocated the feeling. He asked me what the next step was since he'd never been in a relationship before and was relatively clueless.
I explained how we would need to decide to be exclusive or still date other people. He said "In my mind, the reason I told you that was because I don't want to date anyone else. Are you okay with that?" I agreed, but I wasn't quite sure about the whole thing. After making it official, I decided that holding hands would probably be a good idea and a good indicator if I actually liked him as much as I though. I asked him if he wanted to hold my hand and he said "yes, actually."
We walked and talked and got to know each other better. From that day forward we've hit it off!
And That Is History...
In the beginning with Ian, I wasn't sure what would come of it. I certainly didn't think that I would be marrying him. As time passed, somehow Ian changed into my wildest dream come true. He is my knight in shining armour and certainly the love of my life and all eternity. I'm so grateful to be getting married to him, and that through the mercy of God my judgemental mind didn't prevent me from missing out on this wonderful man, and tremendous blessing. I guess I've gotten more than just a husband out of all this, but a life lesson too. Don't judge a book by it's cover.
The University made an offer to the Fall/Winter track students to stay for the Summer semester and get some extra classes in. I had been trying to decide if it's something I wanted to do or something I thought I should do.
As the semester came to an end, I was so blessed to have earned a full tuition scholarship as well as a little extra money for books. Things seemed to work out, and since I wanted to get school done as quickly as possible, I took the challenge.
First Impression
On our first day in the ward, after the new semester started, Ian was speaking in church. To be perfectly honest, I don't remember what he spoke about. All I can remember is what I thought at the time. I remember that he said that one thing or another really "stuck out to him." He said that at least 5 times in his talk. I said something to my roommate about it, and we had a little laugh. Despite all this, I could tell that he had a love for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That really impressed me. I also remember him saying that he was from San Diego. I took a guess before he said anything and thought "Utah for sure." Obviously, I was wrong.
Later on, I believe it was that same day, we found that Ian would be our home teacher. I had to laugh at the irony. It was interesting to me that when he called our house to set up a time to come by, he asked for me. My roommate had answered the phone, but he had to talk to me. I thought that was weird and came to find later, that it was just a coincidence, and my name was the only one he knew.
He came by to teach and mentioned how things "stuck out to him" a few more times. My roommate was giggling through the whole thing.
I thought that he was weird, but I certainly didn't have anything to hold against him. He seemed genuinely concerned about the girls in my apartment, which was a refreshing change from some of our previous home teachers.
The Plot Thickens
Occasionally, since we really appreciated his service to us so much, we would make him treats. One day, a friend of mine was over and I had made some peanut butter rice crispy treats. I called Ian to invite him over as well (by suggestion of my friend). The phone number I used was what he gave us after our first appointment in case we needed anything. To my surprise, I called the number and talked to Ian's Dad, Wayne. I was really confused at first and thought his roommates were playing a joke on us. I think he was pretty confused too. We got it all sorted out after a while. Ian stopped by later that night and I told him the story of how I had talked to his Dad. I think he was embarrassed, but at the same time, we were able to have a good laugh about it.
Time passed and Ian came to invite us to do things with other people in our ward. The first Saturday sport we played was softball. I love softball! How could I pass that up? The next week was Ultimate Frisbee which I had recently discovered I loved playing. I had to go to that. We spent many Saturday mornings together.
"I Think He Likes You!"
My roommates noticed that Ian had started dropping by more often and asking if I was home. They said he would play it off by trying to see if everything was okay with them, but they would say things like "I think he likes you". I was in total denial. I knew what Ian was looking for in girls (most particularly her testimony of the gospel) and I hadn't shown that to him in any way. It certainly wasn't that I didn't have one, I just didn't have any opportunities to share with him. At the time, I was teaching Gospel Doctrine, but he didn't know that. All he knew of was my other calling (Relief Society Greeter).
I remember one specific Saturday when we played Ultimate Frisbee. We had all gone to breakfast afterward. When saying goodbye, Ian got a funny look on his face as if he was sad to go. I thought it was a little weird, but I just shook it off. Later that day, he stopped by my house. He said he was on his way home from the Library (my house is not on his way home) and thought he'd just stop by. He asked me if I wanted to go to a concert with a bunch of people from the ward. I was already planning on going, so I agreed. After this episode, I was pretty sure there was something going on, but I wasn't sure why.
As time passed, Ian continued to stop by at the more random and inopportune times. I remember once, I was just about to leave on a date and he came over. All I could think was 'great timing'.
The Bonfire
The day I was absolutely sure how Ian felt, without him saying anything was a Saturday night. We had been out to the Sand dunes for a BBQ/bonfire. He had spent a lot of time around me (weather I wanted him to or not) and I could just tell. I decided that I would test it a little. When we went to play capture the flag, I went to Ian (since we were on opposite teams) and asked him to cheat for us. Knowing that Ian was an upstanding guy, I didn't think he would actually do it. When he agreed (after a lot of convincing) I knew there had to be more than just the duty of home teacher to his motive.
After the game, we walked back together to the fire where everyone else was. I expressed my fondness for walks. Ian said that he hadn't taken many walks, and I made the suggestion that he should. It's nice to have time to calm down a little.
That night, after I dropped him off at home, I was talking to my roommates about what had happened. While I was dropping him off, Ian had said that on a scale of 1 to 10, his day was a 9. Soon after I started talking to my roommates, I got a text message from Ian with a correction to his evaluation of the day. He said that his day was actually an 11. When I asked why, he said "because of the company." You can imagine my amusement.
Our First Walk
The next day, Ian called. I was sure he wasn't calling about home teaching, because he'd already done that for the month. When he called, he said "I'd been meditating on what you said last night about walks, and I was wondering if maybe you'd want to go on a walk with me today." On my end, I thought 'he's really trying hard' accompanied by silent laughter. I agreed resolving that it might be fun and that he was certainly harmless. Don't doubt that after I hung up the phone, I reported to my roommates what had happened.
Later that day, we enjoyed a short walk and each other's company. It was Father's day, so I got another chance to talk to Ian's Dad. That was definitely embarrassing considering what happened the last time we talked. To my surprise, it was good.
To Bake Is to Love...
The next day, Ian asked me to help make a cake for his roommate's birthday. We made the most amazing cake (Mike Wizowsky). It was a great time, and to my surprise, when he left, I actually missed his company. At this point I thought 'is he actually starting to grow on me?' He came back after his Family Home Evening and we took some cards that I had forgotten to send with him to his roommate, Won.
When we got to Ian's apartment, Won asked "so, anything new?" At that point, I knew something was up. I decided to go home and Ian offered to walk me to the car. It wasn't very far away, but I decided to allow it and see what would happen. We had some small talk and then he asked me, in what seemed like the most awkward way if I'd like to go out with him on Friday. I agreed and asked if he'd like to go to Devotional with me. He agreed.
I had no intention of asking him to go to Devotional with me. It just popped out. Weird.
We spent every night that week together until curfew. Neither of us were used to staying up so late so we were exhausted. Also some people in the ward had seen us at Devotional together, so needless to say, we were the "ward gossip," as my visiting teaching companion put it.
Thursday came and I started teasing Ian, saying that I never saw him really be serious and I never saw other emotions besides happy. I wondered for a while if he had any others. I also teased him that I couldn't trust him because he wasn't telling me everything about him. Mostly, I just wanted him to tell me that he liked me and this was the only was I could think to do it.
Our First Date
We went on our date Friday night and had a great time. It was a very simple date. We went down to the Rexburg nature park and took a walk. Ian and I had a serious conversation so I found he could be serious and did have other emotions. Then we had to address the trust issue. I think he knew what I was getting at all along. After trying to escape about a million bugs, we found a bug-free spot to sit and talk. After a little coaxing including me saying "just say it already", Ian told me that he liked me and I reciprocated the feeling. He asked me what the next step was since he'd never been in a relationship before and was relatively clueless.
I explained how we would need to decide to be exclusive or still date other people. He said "In my mind, the reason I told you that was because I don't want to date anyone else. Are you okay with that?" I agreed, but I wasn't quite sure about the whole thing. After making it official, I decided that holding hands would probably be a good idea and a good indicator if I actually liked him as much as I though. I asked him if he wanted to hold my hand and he said "yes, actually."
We walked and talked and got to know each other better. From that day forward we've hit it off!
And That Is History...
In the beginning with Ian, I wasn't sure what would come of it. I certainly didn't think that I would be marrying him. As time passed, somehow Ian changed into my wildest dream come true. He is my knight in shining armour and certainly the love of my life and all eternity. I'm so grateful to be getting married to him, and that through the mercy of God my judgemental mind didn't prevent me from missing out on this wonderful man, and tremendous blessing. I guess I've gotten more than just a husband out of all this, but a life lesson too. Don't judge a book by it's cover.
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