I don’t remember exactly all of the beautiful words David said to me, but I do remember him saying that it was the ‘moment’, or the ‘time’ and he told me that if God could bring us to the end of the world together that He could do anything. I remember he asked me to be his wife, and I remember that I said YES! It was the easiest ‘yes’ I have ever had the privilege to say to another person, and it was the most beautiful and spectacular proposal ever!
To fully appreciate the beauty of this story and get a glimpse of all the details and funny moments that led up to our engagement we first have to go back a little bit in the story. It will be worth it because it truly is a story that only God could have orchestrated.
David and I were already having the most amazing trip and adventure. We had travelled to the UK together and spent Christmas with my family. David got to meet them all for the first time and experience an almost white, and very British Christmas.
When we were in Nottingham with my sister and her family, having only just arrived a couple of days before and David still adjusting to everything and everyone, my mum drove us past a church in Bramcote that I had previously mentioned to her as a potential place to have a marriage blessing in the future. She made a not-so-subtle comment about it, and I later asked her not to say things in front of David as I didn’t want him to feel any pressure. Little did I know that weeks prior David had asked my mum for help choosing the ring he was carrying with him at that very moment.
After Christmas we had flown to Argentina via one crazy mini adventurous day in São Paulo, Brazil. A day that involved feeling a little unsafe in a big, unknown city that was not very well looked after and was home to a lot of displaced and homeless people, being mistaken for Adele over breakfast in a little cafe (I told them that they definitely did not want me to sing), buying a lot of overpriced fruit in a local market which was not even the famous market we had been looking for, visiting an art museum and pretending to be the type of people that go to art museums, eating the expensive fruit in a park and finally going to a mall before heading back to the airport.
At security David’s backpack, the one containing the ring, got pulled over to be checked! My water bottle, that he was kindly carrying, still had water in it. David quickly drank the water, and we were allowed to move on. I’m sure that was a tense moment for him and the relief afterwards must have been huge! He later told me that he thought the surprise was going to be ruined at that moment.
In the same airport David was getting something from his backpack when he realised that his hat had an escaped rolo (chocolate) stuck to it, slightly melted and gooey. He then proceeded to dig around and pull out other escaped rolos but insisted that it was fine, and he didn’t need help.
Our wonderful adventure continued and when we finally landed in Argentina, we got to explore a little and eat very good food with Steve, Lindsey, Mark and Rosalie (Central America CMS Team). Another fun moment I didn’t know about until later was that at lunch David told them all that he was going to propose whist I was at the bathroom. They all did very well at hiding it from me. We then got to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Buenos Aires with friends, old and new.
From there we headed to Ushuaia, the end of the world, the land of fire. A truly breathtaking place. I’m not sure we fully appreciated it in those first few hours as we were tired and hungry. We went to our hostel, and I offered to look through David’s backpack to make sure there were no more escaped rolos but he very strongly insisted that it wasn’t necessary and for some reason I actually listened and didn’t look. Honestly, a miracle. I really wanted to help and make sure it was all fine, but I just knew not to.
Once we rested and then found a place to eat, we could really enjoy the stunning scenery, snow-capped mountains, beautiful blue waters and sunlight until 10pm, what a magical place.
What I haven’t mentioned yet is why we were in Ushuaia; we were there for a CMS Latin American conference. I know, super romantic!
There is a lot of history that brought us as a group of missionaries with CMS to celebrate and share together in Ushuaia, but that’s a story for a different time.
What is important and lovely is that they had allowed David to go with me even though we were not yet engaged.
I want to share a couple of funny moments that happened once the conference was in full swing. One morning, Paul, Latin American Regional Director (the boss), asked if we could chat and catch up, which of course I agreed to. So, I sat chatting with him and sharing news, when in secret David and Steve were making plans together.
Paul had no real interest in knowing how I was (I’m joking of course), Steve had asked him to distract me and told him why. By this point a lot of people knew I was about to get engaged but I remained oblivious!
The next morning, 4th January 2023, David and I went for a walk along the beachfront of the Beagle Canal outside the hotel. As we walked David stopped and picked up a perfectly formed heart shaped stone. He gave it to me as a lovely gesture and we shared a very beautiful moment. The stone is now proudly displayed as a magnet on our fridge. I had no idea that later that day we would experience a much more beautiful and significant moment together.
As we walked further, we stopped to talk with Sarah, Paul’s wife, as she played with their three daughters. She said congratulations and then quickly backtracked at our confused faces as I said that we were there as boyfriend and girlfriend, again trying to deflect so that David would not feel like people were putting pressure on us. It was a little awkward, but we didn’t think any more of it. Sarah later apologised, which was not necessary but kind, she explained that she didn’t even know David was planning on proposing, she had thought we were already engaged and that was why David was with me on the trip.
Later that same day we all went on a day trip to Ushuaia’s national reserve at the end of the world, the land of fire. Two busloads of missionaries all on a fun outing together and the weather happened to be the best it had been in weeks, God in the details. Afterwards David told me that he had been praying and thanking God for bringing us to Ushuaia but that he couldn’t quite ask for good weather because he was already so thankful, God gave us the best weather anyway because He loves with a lavish kind of love.
Our first stop was the Post Office at the end of the world, and we all queued to get our passports stamped and to send postcards. When it was our turn, David and I approached the desk and were greeted by the very friendly and animated postman who noticed that our passports were different and asked where we were from and if we were married. David said we were novios and the postman told us to wait and disappeared behind a curtain, moments later he came back out with a mini bottle of wine. He placed a special sticker with his photo on it and handed it to us making a joke, ‘whatever happens after you drink this don’t blame the postman!’ It was very kind of him to give us the wine, now we see it as a preproposal celebration gift. I think several people were confused as we boarded the bus with the wine, thinking the proposal had already happened. David had to subtly indicate that it had not.
The scenery in the national reserve was incredible and we were thoroughly enjoying our day.
Next stop was a walk along a stunning lakeside. The shore was pebbled with an array of different coloured stones, the crisp blue waters glistened in the cool sunlight, there were breathtaking, lush green mountains framing the other side of the lake and white snow-capped mountains further off in the distance. What a beautiful sight to behold.
I noticed David and Steve stood chatting as they looking out across the lake and I captured a sneaky photo of them. Moments later I found out that David had just told Steve it was time, being far sneakier than me.
David took my hand, and we started to walk away from the group along the shore. The tour guide, oblivious to David’s plan, tried to get us to walk the other way with the rest of the group but Steve encouraged us to keep going. A little confused but also content to enjoy the view and continue our walk I kept on walking with David. David paused and said it was ‘time’ or ‘the moment’ and I started to ask, ‘what moment?’ but before I could finish my heart knew what moment. David took both my hands and brought me to face him, he got down on one knee and proposed. We both had tears in our eyes and as I said yes, we embraced. I don’t remember fully all that happened in those moments but there is photo evidence of a kiss and me jumping up and down in celebration. Steve had very strategically and stealthily been capturing everything on his phone, so we are blessed with beautiful photos from our special moment too.
As we returned to the group everyone cheered and congratulated us, we couldn’t stop smiling and I’m not sure we took in the rest of the beauty of the national reserve but it was the most amazing day!
On our return to the hotel we went to share the news with our families and got ready to go out for a meal that Steve and Lindsey generously gifted us with. Our families were very happy and content. I was especially pleased because we would be returning to the UK, and I would be staying there longer than David which meant I could celebrate with my family and choose a dress with my mum and sister. Another beautiful story of God’s provision and gifts for another day.
David also shared that he had been able to buy the ring with his brother, Josué, which had been a special moment for them to share.
Apparently, David had also been making sure I didn’t see his phone in the days before the engagement because family and friends had been asking if it had happened yet. David had shared his plans with close family and friends in Guatemala before we flew to England, and he shared with some of our closest friends in England the day before we flew to Argentina (via Brazil) during a lovely walk around a lake. It felt nice to know that so many people had been excitedly waiting for our news, praying for us, and were ready to celebrate with us.
After sharing our news with our nearest and dearests we went down to get a taxi to the town centre, and everyone had gathered with drinks and a cake to celebrate with us. It was especially nice that our CMS family gathered around us to pray and bless us.
We enjoyed a lovely meal at The Hard Rock Cafe at the end of the world and they played ‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran, and we decided it could be our song. After dinner we found a place to get ice-cream and walked around the town a little, only to hear a busker singing our song as he played his guitar.
We noticed the sky turn red and orange and rushed back to the hotel to catch the most breath-taking sunset at around 10pm. It was as if the sky was on fire and apparently was a very special occurrence for the time of year. Another gift from God. Words can’t describe it, and photos don’t even come close, God is The Artist!
Our engagement truly was orchestrated by God and the most spectacular and beautiful moment surrounded by other wonderful moments and special details on either side.
We felt so overjoyed and blessed.
As if all of this was not enough, and it was truly more than enough, it was extravagant, on our last full day in Ushuaia we went with some other CMS folk on a boat trip to see penguins in the wild. It was so much fun and an extremely enjoyable once in a lifetime experience. We saw sealions and different aquatic birds on huge rock formations in the sea. We saw the beautiful little, Les Eclaireurs lighthouse at the end of the world. And then we got to watch as penguins played in the sea and waddled along the sandy beach. It was delightful.
On the boat ride back, I said how special it had been and that another dream of mine has always been to see whales in the wild. We joked and said how maybe for our first anniversary we could see whales.
Well, God was not done with His extravagant gifts yet. We heard a girl shout that she saw something in the water, there was some commotion and then the boat stopped, and everyone rushed onto the deck. There in the water we saw three whales as they surfaced and sprayed water from their blow holes. It was one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen in God’s wonderful creation, what a spectacular gift!
We definitely saw it as another engagement present, especially as even the tour guides were amazed and said that they don’t advertise whale sightseeing because it is so rare.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you for this whole story that happens to be our real life.
Only You could have done such wonderful things.
We are blessed.