G: Our journey begins one fateful Monday night in our first term in the FTTA, adoringly referenced to as “draft night” – where all the new bright-faced unbroken first-termers get delegated to the different campus and YP teams. The two of us wound up being assigned to the same campus team.

I made it all the way through my first term with no major issues, surprisingly. I spent my first training break in Irvine, serving at BfA and staying with a freshly-minted FTTA graduate brother who was my housemate for a good portion of my first term. On one Saturday, he had to go to the meeting hall to help with the preparation for a welcome dinner for UCI and convinced me to go with him. There were a bunch of people there, including Irvine full-timers and current Irvine trainees to help out – Linda falling in the latter category. All I remember from that day is that she and I wound up washing and drying dishes at the sink in the meeting hall. She was washing (while standing on a stool WITH tall shoes!); I was drying (while standing on the ground).

L: Hey! I was standing on a stool because the sink was really deep!

G: Anyways, sometime during our dish washing session, probably mid-sentence somewhere, I suddenly had this strange unfamiliar feeling. I didn’t really know it right then, but that’s when I had the realization that I would spend the rest of my life washing dishes with her. I’m not going to lie – it was a scary thought. I just finished my first term in the training! What am I doing thinking things like this? So, of course, I brushed it off and nervously continued our conversation.

L: I remember being surprised to see George at the UCI welcome week dinner. There were lots of dishes to be washed so I figured I’d ask George to help me tackle the job. Little did I know this wasn’t any ordinary night. George had an epiphany – he foresaw us washing dishes together FOREVER *dun dun dun*

G: After our first term in the training, we took the opportunity to go on a gospel trip out to the Philippines bundled with the Chinese New Year’s conference in Taipei during out training break. Out of the 20 in our CSULA team, I think Linda and I were the only ones that wound up going. I don’t recall that much interaction between us, but Linda relayed a story to me after we started seeing each other about me picking up her luggage after customs.

L: That’s when I “noticed” George. I was the last person in our group to clear customs on our way back from the Philippines.When I finally cleared customs,  I noticed a brother, with a very worried look on his face, pushing a luggage cart with MY luggage in it towards me. It was George! Boy, did he looked worried and concerned. Before I could say, “hi,” I heard, “what took you so long?!” I thought to myself, “That’s very sweet of him to do that.” That left an impression on me.

G: On the night before I drove back to Atlanta from California after the training, I was with a couple of people sitting in a Denny’s in Anaheim at midnight, reflecting on the many years we’ve shared together thus far and what the future will bring us, largely as an excuse to prolong packing even longer. Actually, they were talking, and I was texting Linda under the table. When we finally left sometime after 1am, they went home and I went to meet Linda in a park. We walked countless laps together in the wee hours of the morning, talking about all manners of things. Eventually, I had to go home to pack, seeing how I’m leaving to drive cross-country in a matter of hours.

L: At this point, George was still like a big brother to me. I was sad to see my big bro leave when we said our good-byes, thinking I probably wont see him again until one of the conferences or semi-annual trainings. So we went our separate ways.

Continue to Chapter 2