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In 2018 we both felt led by the Lord to lay down our respective lives in Texas & Indiana to go on a year-long trip with Adventures in Missions called the World Race. Most of you are familiar with this part of our story. We both believed we were simply committing a year to this journey but here we are 6 years later living in Gainesville where AIM is located. Whether you support international missions or have strong opinions against it, whether you are a follower of Christ or not, one thing we can come together & agree on is the character formation that comes from committing to a spiritual journey such as the one we chose. If only we could share every memory & meaningful moment with you to convey how our hearts & minds have grown but hopefully the fruit of those years can be seen in unspoken ways. On our first round with the World Race, we were part of a squad made up of 14 participants, 5 leaders & 3 mentors. 7 men & 7 women, all split into 3 smaller groups. For context, on these trips the average size of these groups range from 25-50 so to have a group of 14 was more uncommon. Throughout the year our smaller teams rotated & we were sent to different cities within the same country on different assignments & sometimes even in different countries entirely. Despite that, we always came together as a larger group for debriefs & travel days at the end of the month Our friendship didn't have the luxury of time on a smaller team to be built but was formed in small passing moments on travel days & debriefs. Brene Brown's “The Anatomy of Trust” uses an illustration of a jar of marbles - relationship built in small moments over the course of time. She has a quote that is a great show of our built relationship: You cannot judge yourself for needing help but not judge others for needing your help. & somewhere in there, if you’re like me, you’re getting value from being the helper in relationship. You think that’s your worth. But real trust doesn’t exist unless help is reciprocal & non-judgment. Memories & “marbles” like our first flight to Japan where Allie had a non-window window seat, abruptly started her period without any pain meds & her screen froze the entire flight. Brandon’s response was to share his screen/play games together. Or later in the flight when Allie decided to be intentional & ask about Brandon’s inner thought-life he struggled to communicate freely. Or other moments like when Brandon was afraid to let Allie know the first time she hurt his feelings & she trapped him in a room to talk about it & work it out to help him understand he could share those small things to create a safer relationship. Or when Brandon sat with Allie in a low moment in that same week afterwards & just shared memories of his dad & brother instead of exacerbating the issues that had her low. A marble for when Allie pushed Brandon into uncomfortable leadership positions & he could trust she wasn’t waiting for him to fail but wanting him to grow. Or when Brandon saw the fear & grief of a hard personal moment on Allie’s face, just sat with her compassionately. Marbles for calls during COVID & encouragements & confessions of failures in life & sharing the pains of heartbreak with other relationships. Even more marbles for all the laughter & non-judgement that formed through the strength of reliability on one another. Romantic feelings would rise & fall intermittently but a strong friendship was the basis of everything we have now & moving forward & we cherish, truly. We’ve unknowingly worked hard to support one another in the small & large moments & now have a lifetime ahead of us to build a bigger jar & fill it with marbles & more goodness from the Lord. We hope that everyone attending our wedding can help us to keep those jars full with real life moments. We’ve learned to cherish weddings more now that we’re planning our own & invite you all to spur us on as we head into the next unknown leg of this journey with excitement and hope.