The Beginning (Jake's version)

I was making brownies for my home teaching families when I received a call to help Mekell bring some patio furniture from way up north. I was told it was pretty far away, but I didn’t care. I had the chance to hang out with Mekell! I was so excited that I offered to leave that moment to bring the patio furniture, but we re-scheduled to pick it up the next day.

Even though I was extremely nervous to go with her I was the most excited I had ever been. I was thinking the whole day “what are we going to talk about?” “what if she thinks I’m shy.” Then I realized that I just needed to be myself so that she could see who I really was. The night was great. We loaded her furniture in the back of my truck, then we headed back to her house. She bough some Dairy Queen as a treat, then we hung out afterwards. I was excited that I received that phone call because that was the start of our journey together.

We started a Scary Movie Marathon that September. This allowed us to hang out and get to know each other a little better. We were instant friends.

We had a ward campout in mid October 2007 and Mekell and I were up until 2 am talking with our friends. The next day my brother and I took a large group of buddies from the ward to go shooting, and when I came back Sprint’s cell service area (which isn’t great btw) I saw that there was a left message in my voicemail box. I was thinking to myself, “self, who could have called me. I normally don’t get a lot of calls, so who could it be?” I listened to the message and it was Mekell asking me to call her back when I got back from the trip.

I called Mekell back as soon as I could. I was excited. I had no idea what she was going to ask me. I was nervous to call, but the excitement overcame the nervousness and so I called her back right away. She asked me to go to the Stake’s Luau which is held once a year. I immediately answered YES!

Our first date was great, and so were the rest. The day after Mekell found her bubba lubba, Smudge I became really sick. I was sent to the hospital for 3 days after having an infection penetrating my heart cavity. I sent Mekell a text message saying “My heart is full of love for you.” I sent that to her hoping that she knew I was really saying that I love her with all my heart. Sometimes my wording doesn’t make sense even though it makes sense in my head. Ha!

Mekell found out from her friend, Joylyn that I had been sent to the hospital to recover from this attack. Mekell came over the first night I was in the hospital to check in on me, and it was when she was there visiting me that I knew that she really cared for me, and I knew that I had really cared for her with all my heart.

Through the month of December I had a leave from work so that I could recover from the sickness that had entered my body. I decided to make Mekell a quilt. She was always cold in the house that she was living at on Jentilly, so I thought she would really appreciate it.

While I was making the quilt I was thinking quite frequently about all the pieces of Mekell that make her great. She is the most selfless person that I know, she is always serving, she always is there for her friends, she had become my best friend. Patching together the quilt had given me the chance to realize that I truly did love her with all my heart. I prayed about it, and the response was almost instant and I had to tell Mekell how I felt. That night, we watched The Office and I told her how I felt. I told her that I loved her and that I had been praying and I felt that she is the one I was to marry. I didn’t expect her to feel the same way right away.

New year’s day we went to Sedona, and she says that while we were there that she found out that I was the one that she was to marry. I was extremely excited, it was the best news that I have ever heard!

Since then we have gone through so much together that have truly helped us grow as people. But I wanted to write this to thank my sweetheart for her perfect example to me. She is the one that picks me up when I am down. She is the one that can ALWAYS put a smile on my face. She is the one person that I trust with all of my heart!

Sweetheart, in my eyes the beginning of our life together was perfect, and has continued to be perfect since then. I am grateful for all that you do, and I am eternally grateful for that phone call that started it all.

I love you forever, sweetheart!



Love, Jake