Boy Meets Girl

My name is Ryan Booker and this is my story….
With a little help from Adriel!

I first met Adriel in Townsville during a Youth With A Mission national leaders conference in May 2005. It was at this time that we started developing a friendship.

[Adriel: I remember meeting Ryan and thinking, “wow, this guy is super nice, cute, my age... and single?!” Very interesting!!! But, that was that. He lived East, I lived West. In my mind there was no possibility of anything between us--accept for a giant red desert--for the matter of distance alone.]

Then in November 2006 we met again at another YWAM national leaders conference. This time the week-long meetings were held in Melbourne. We spent more time together during this conference during meals and free time and at the end of that week I was in a smaller breakout session that Adriel was also in. I remember looking across the table at this beautiful woman and thinking to myself “Hmmm…” and wondering about her, but I was very unsure if I would be the sort of guy that she would go for. In fact, I was convinced I wasn’t. Anyway, you can say by this time I had a real attraction to Adriel.

[Adriel: I too had the hots for Ryan then, and was convinced he was deliberately checking me out and flirting with me. I remember thinking that he always just happened to "turn up" wherever I was - surely he was sussing me out. I was convinced he was following me, and was very aware of his presence. Of course he doesn’t remember this part at all! (And I now know that he's just really, really friendly with everyone... and probably not always aware of what conclusions people might jump to because of his attentiveness. And perhaps he wasn't even aware of some of his flirting because it was all so subconscious.) Anyway... Moving on. There is an even crazier aspect to this little part of the story: One of the older leaders in the mission gave me a word they believed was from God that week. They said they that "God was shifting things over my life right now and I would meet my husband that year... and, when I did it would all happen really fast - so be prepared for that and don't be afraid when it happens." As soon as I got this word, Ryan's name popped into my head, but I quickly dismissed it because I was seriously interested in someone from my own base at the time. Attracted to Ryan, yes... but not with any kind of seriousness or substance - just pure attraction mixed with genuine friendship! In my mind a relationship with Ryan still wasn't an option at all. The distance-factor was just too obvious for me to get over! Anyway, I decided to "shelf" the word I had been given and just observe him a little more... wait, and see what happened.]

In the weeks after that, I sent an email through to her with the intention of trying to continue developing the relationship. But the reply I got from Adriel did not really lead to continuing conversation, so I didn’t really do anything about it.

[Adriel: I thought his email sounded polite, but with no intention of trying to start more conversation back and forth... so I politely wrote back with no hint of more! I know now that when Ryan writes a whole paragraph in an email... that is something to STOP, READ, and TAKE NOTE! Me, however, sending a paragraph email is almost like sending a one-liner... Cause you know, I tend to write......... In any case, we didn't connect, and so both moved on.]

Then in April 2007 (five months later) we both attended another YWAM conference in Sydney. Adriel and I continued to develop our friendship. It was at this time that things got interesting. When I was going down to the conference I very much wanted to hear from God. One of those questions was about getting married and finding a life partner. I felt at the age of 33 I was ready to enter into a new stage of my life.

[Adriel: I thought of Ryan on my way to this conference... wondering if he’d be there. When he was I was glad—and nervous—but excited to spend more time with him and see where it led. I too was really praying about getting married and asking God to show me something related to all of that during the week, and I couldn't help but to think back to that word I was given at the last leaders meeting and wonder if it really was God speaking to me....]

We had a good time at the conference and again spent many of our meals at the same table, and much of our free time hanging out within the same circles. (We later found out that more than a few of our friends were trying–and hoping–to set us up!)

As the conference went on I had an opportunity to take one of our guest speakers to the airport, which was at least an hour drive from where we were staying. On the way back I turned off the radio and just had a time of unloading my heart to God about marriage and telling God I don’t know how this works. I said to Him “I need you to make it so clear to me cause I am just not getting this relationship thing. You have to make it really obvious!” So I told God that I would do nothing and I don’t know how, but He would have to make this happen with the person that you know is right for me. That conversation happened over the course of the hour-long drive home. I could really sense God’s ear and presence; I knew he heard me. But, even still, I had no idea how it was going to all work out. (And Adriel wasn’t even in my thoughts at this point of the drive.)

[Adriel: Earlier in the week one of the leaders came up to me and said “Adriel, if there’s someone here you’re interested in, you should tell him so! Why does it have to be the man’s job to do all of that? That’s not biblical and I think we put way too much pressure on the guys in this area!” I replied with a “no way” comment and laughed telling her that even if it wasn’t unbiblical, it was un-cultural in our circles to do that! I laughed it off and thought nothing more of it. I was adamant that I would never do such a thing! That was on Monday night. Then… on Thursday night—the last night of the conference—I lay awake in bed unable to sleep. It was around 2 or 3am and I felt like God began to speak to me about talking to Ryan and telling him I wanted to get to know him more. I was mortified at the thought of it! Though I am normally a fairly bold woman, the thought of this sent me absolutely spinning! I was so nervous just thinking about it that I had tears streaming down my face and I wanted to vomit! I wrestled with the idea and with the principal of it for about two hours before I finally decided it wasn’t going to kill me and so said “yes” in my heart. I knew that God would never prompt me to do something that wasn't for my overall best interest. Plus, I did think Ryan was actually interested in me--he certainly seemed to give that indication in a lot of ways--so maybe I had a chance. Maybe it wasn't so scary after all. Anyway, the next morning I woke up hoping it was all a bad dream, but I knew it wasn’t. I had to do this and I was terrified!!!]

Okay, back to my side of the story now. During the conference a few leaders and friends of mine had prayed for me in this whole area. I heard these prayers and I wanted to walk in faith, but at the same time I’m thinking “Oh, here we go again”. Then one particular person prayed for me on the last day of the conference, and it was just one of those times that you can’t explain what happened, but you know that the Lord did something… and YES it was in relation to a wife.

[Adriel: Meanwhile, all morning I’m freaking out about having this little conversation. In my head I was reasoning that it wasn’t a big deal and all I was doing was telling a friend that I wanted to get to know him more. But in my heart I knew it meant so much more. Of course I knew the worst that could happen was that I was rejected and humbled.... And a little humbling is always good for us! But still, I was so nervous!!! I determined to do it though. I couldn’t understand why God couldn’t just speak to Ryan about coming to me... but if this was the way it had to be, well then, so be it. *Gasp*]

After the session that morning Tom Hallas also began to pray for me. He had no idea about what I had been praying or about Adriel or any of it. He suddenly began this thundering prayer – “WOMAN, COME FORTH” and just kept yelling that out over and over as he prayed for me. (Good thing Adriel didn’t hear this. She would have been totally freaked out to “come forth” if she heard that… But it was definitely fun to share about all this stuff once we got engaged!)

[Adriel: Yeah, I had no idea... And I'm so glad I didn't! Just after this was happening with Ryan, Steve Ahern came up to me and whispered in my ear that God told him that he was bringing me the man of my dreams. Moments later Dave Stephenson walked up to me and sang "love is in the air" to me and then walked off - just being his goofy, fun-loving self. It was a totally random thing for him to do, and I just sat there thinking "what is going on with all these YWAM leaders?!!! But I knew God was speaking and encouraging me not to be afraid of what I was about to do. Well, I was encouraged... but still afraid!!]

After the morning session I was saying my good byes to friends when Adriel came up to me. I quickly saw that she was nervous. She started by saying “Ryan, I don’t normally do this…” and once that was said, I quickly guessed what was about to happen. I knew enough of Adriel to know this was a big step that she was about to take and I knew enough of her to realize that she was right (in that it wasn’t a “normal” thing for her).

Now at this point there are two sides of the story about what happened next. There is my story and what I HEARD and then there is Adriel’s side and what she SAID. So I will share the two and you can choose your own conclusion. What I heard Adriel say was: “Ryan I think that you are extremely HOT and sexy and that you have buns of steel and abs of rock and I really, really like you.” What Adriel could have said was: “Ryan I think you are a nice guy and I’m interested in getting to know you more as friends.” (Or something to that affect.)

[Adriel: Need I say more? You can come to your own conclusions on that one! Ryan still dreams about this moment whenever he gets a chance to share the story.]

As soon as Adriel said that I felt the Lord say to me “Can I make this any more obvious and clear to you?” Of course, this had been my exact prayer the day before! But honestly, even with that, I was still very nervous about the whole thing. I was hesitant about getting my heart broken, being disappointed, or hearing God incorrectly. I thought I would be cautious and see how things went. Even though I liked Adriel, there was still lots of reserve in my heart.

At that point we got each others email addresses (again!) and phone numbers and I started to pursue the relationship. For several months we wrote emails back and forth and talked on the phone getting to know each other and developing our friendship. After about four or five months of this, I asked Adriel if she would come to Townsville were I work with YWAM so that we could spend more time in person and see if we should take our relationship to the next level or end it. Adriel said yes and planned to come in September.

Now behind the scenes I was still going back and forth in what I wanted with this relationship and was dealing with all of my fears as well as all of the “big questions” as to how we would work together as a couple…. And I wasn’t the best at my communication.

[Adriel: Let’s just say Ryan’s grown in this area and it’s much better at communication now! But at one point things got so bad that I nearly pulled out and didn't come at all. The only reason I finally did was because by this time I was convinced God had set the whole thing up. But I was nervous - SO nervous!!!]

Also at this time my parents wanted to come up to see me for my mum’s birthday. As my dad considered the visit (and questioning if it was worth spending that much money on plane tickets for a three-day visit) he prayed about it and felt that—-yes-—they were to come. He felt God told him that the visit had something to do with Adriel.

It worked out that both Adriel and my parents arrived in Townsville two hours apart from each other on the same day. This wasn’t at all planned (mostly due to my bad communication!), but of course God knew. It was just another one of those God-orchestrated moments.

[Adriel: I had no idea that this was happening - I had understood that Ryan's parents had arrived days earlier and they had already had a bunch of time to spend together. But by this time I was just glad to be arriving in Townsville so that we could get things sorted out! I was ready to have more commitment from Ryan after 4+ months of regular phone calls and letter-writing.]

Well I spent the first day with my parents and the second day was my first date with Adriel.

[Adriel: Whoa, EXCUSE ME?!!! Let’s correct the story here!!!! Actually, I had an entire TWO AND A HALF days of being there with NO word from Ryan whatsoever!!! I was there alone, didn’t know anyone very well, was there specifically to visit him, and he was busy morning, noon, and night with work and with his parents! I was NOT impressed, and he was not scoring any points! Not only that, but I was feeling more and more insecure with each passing SILENT moment. I thought that maybe I had made a giant mistake. I also thought he was incredibly rude and inconsiderate to invite me to fly in from the other side of the country (a lot of time and effort and money!) and then leave me alone and stranded! Seriously, he picked me up on Thursday morning... and then I didn’t hear from him until Saturday afternoon WHEN I TEXTED HIM and said “what’s the deal here? Are we going to hang out or is that not why I came?!” Okay, I din't actually use those words, but that was what I was thinking. I was actually very polite, but very much at quitting point! Anyway, he then invited me out that evening with his parents for his mom’s birthday to Sizzler for a buffet dinner. Ah, how romantic! (More points.) Oh well, at this point, I just needed something... ANYTHING, or else I would have been back on a plane the next day for sure!!! Seriously, I was that close to giving up on him all together.]

Anyway……. we went to a buffet restaurant with my parents for Mum’s birthday. I know what you’re thinking: “Ryan you’re so romantic.” (Laughing out loud!) Hmmm, it’s not the best way to start or to impress a lady. It’s just as well that Adriel has a lot of patience!

[Adriel: Of course the dinner turned out to be a lot of fun and Ryan and I were surprisingly comfortable together and with his parents. We all hit it off and had a good time... so no water under the bridge! But yeah, it is funny to now tell people that our first date was at Sizzler with his parents!!! He's got years to live that one down!]

Over the course of the next few weeks, Adriel and I spent all our free time together after work and it didn’t take long for us to realize that we really enjoyed each other’s company and that there was a STRONG attraction to each other.

[Adriel: And I was thinking... this is so obvious, why doesn’t he just ask me out already?! I'm sure everyone else around here thinks we're already dating anyway- awkward! But I knew there was more to it than I could understand so I just continued to wait...]

You see, I have been hurt in the past and wasn’t ready to get my heart bruised again. I also didn’t want to feel pressured to make a decision before Adriel had to go back to Perth. Adriel was very understanding and gracious, and I wasn’t in a hurry.

But then a few days before Adriel was to fly back we had a day off together and went on a day trip to near-by Magnetic Island. It was then that I felt God spoke to me and gave me the green light to move forward with her. A few days later, just before Adriel was to fly out to Perth, I took her out for coffee and asked her to be my girlfriend. And she of course said yes.

[Adriel: Oh, “of course she said yes.” Ryan you’re too funny! “Of course!” How could I resist you, right? giggle. And I love how God gave you the green light and you still waited another two days until two hours before I was to fly out. Do you enjoy torturing me?!]

So yeah, it was exciting but I still had no idea how it all was going to work out as Adriel flew back to Perth and we continued our relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend… but again, from a distance.

The next month Adriel was celebrating her 30th birthday. Adriel had been given a beach house for the weekend to celebrate with her friends, and she had invited me to come along with them. Of course I wanted to be there, but I was in the middle of leading a school and had some commitments that prevented me from going. So I made the decision not to go, and Adriel new that. She understood but had really hoped I could work something out to be able to come. She felt like turning 30 was a real milestone for her life and that it would be really significant for me to be a part of it.

[Adriel: By then I already knew/believed I was going to marry him...]

As time went on some of the commitments that I had changed and an opportunity opened up for me to go to Perth… but finances were a problem. (I didn’t have the money for a plane ticket.) I felt God was going to make a way for me to go, so I organized to get to Perth and surprise Adriel. (Some of Adriel’s friends actually chipped in to pay for my ticket, which of course she didn’t know at the time.)

[Adriel: In the meantime, I was disappointed—-but okay—-with the fact that Ryan couldn’t make it over to Perth for my 30th. I did feel it was important that he get to spend some time in "my world" so that he could see me in my home environment and also so that my friends could check him out to see if they thought we were a good match. But yeah, I was okay with the fact he couldn’t make it. It was, afterall, a huge trip to make across the country for a short amount of time. Problem was, every time I prayed about it I felt like God was speaking to me that Ryan was coming. There were even several times when I wasn't praying about anything remotely related to Ryan, and I felt like God interrupted me and repeatedly spoke to my heart about him coming. Not only that, but I’d had a dream months earlier—-before we were even dating—-that he had come to Perth to surprise me for my 30th, and I couldn’t shake the dream or the feeling that he really was coming. I didn’t want to have my hopes up though, and I certainly didn’t want to be disappointed. I spoke with my best mate Emma about it on the weekend before. Little did I know that she already knew he was coming and was actually organizing things for him. She gave nothing away! But during this phone conversation, I told her that I felt like he was coming in on the Wednesday night before my birthday. She grilled me to find out why I thought that –- to see if Ryan had let something slip or whatever –- but I could only tell her, “I don’t know, it’s just a *feeling* that I have. I think he’s coming on Wednesday night!” She laughed at me and teased me, but still gave nothing away.]

So… I arrived in Perth on Wednesday night. (And no, I had let nothing slip about my coming!) Emma had arranged for their friend Andrew to pick me up and take me to their house where Adriel was hanging out with Ashley (Andrew’s wife). It was about 11pm and Adriel was getting ready to head home… and then I knocked on the door. Adriel opened the door and I could see all sorts of emotions expressed on her face at once. I think the first thing she said was “Hi! You’re here! I’m not crazy!” And then I think she also said something about being glad to see me or glad I had come. (We were both grinning from ear to ear.)

Of course I later found out that she had felt like God was speaking to her about me coming… so then it all made sense. Isn’t God good?!

[Adriel: I can’t tell you how relieved I was to see Ryan! Of course I was soooo excited to see him and have him there for my 30th, but I was also so glad that I wasn’t going nuts and I did in fact know how to hear God’s voice... even down to the detail!]

The time in Perth was great with Adriel and meeting her friends. I was able to stay for five days and we spent every waking moment together, whether it was just the two of us, or with her friends. It was during this trip that I felt that God told me that I was going to marry Adriel. Actually, it was on her 30th birthday when we went out for a nice dinner date, just the two of us. But yeah, throughout the five days we had a great time and I came home floating on cloud nine. Everyone in Townsville kept commenting at how different I was after this trip. I guess that’s what falling in love does to you!

So, I knew I wanted to marry Adriel by then, but I felt there were some things that had to happen before I was able to get to the point of proposal. A lot of that was still within my own heart, but God was definitely working in me. Not only that, but I was missing Adriel very much.

Adriel was able to come back to Townsville at the end of November and we continued to spend more time together. Not long after that I came to a place of being ready to ask this beautiful and wonderful woman to marry me. Leading up to this point, we’d already had several discussions about marriage where we worked though key issues like God’s call and how we wanted to raise a family in ministry and missions. I was settled in my heart and now just needed to speak with her parents.

Without Adriel knowing, I was able to phone her parents and talk with them about marrying Adriel. They gave me their blessing! Now it was just a matter of planning the proposal. The next day I was ready to do it.

So here’s what I had in mind: At Christmas each year, the churches of Townsville put on a Christmas festival for the community. It is a 5-day event where we see over 30,000 people come through each year. This year we had a famous jazz musician-—James Morrison—-playing one of the nights on the main stage. (Adriel loves jazz.) Since I’ve been involved for a number of years, I know many of the organizers quite well and I was able to arrange to come up on stage during the intermission and talk about Youth Street (or so Adriel thought). When I got up on stage, I then asked Adriel to come on stage with me in front of about 1500 people.

That’s when I turned, got down on my knee, and proposed to her. It was great.

[Adriel: That morning I felt like God spoke to me about Ryan proposing that night... so, I was ready. We went out for a nice dinner and then headed to the beach. I thought, “Oh, what a beautiful night – dinner and then jazz on the beach.” I thought that maybe after the concert we’d go somewhere quiet and I’d have a nice, romantic, intimate proposal somewhere. Maybe there would be flowers and he would softly tell me why he’s in love with me and wanted to marry me... It would be a private, intimate moment... and I was excited to say yes! Little did I know that I was about to have one the most embarrassing moments of my life as he proposed PUBLICLY in front of a whole slew of strangers!!!! I was completely shocked and had no idea that he’d do it in front of all those people! Thankfully, I was ready to say yes. Beyond that I was totally lost for words. Ryan got me good! But let me say again, of course I was glad to say yes, and even though it wasn’t what I had expected or hoped for or dreamed of... it was wonderful. It was so RYAN. I knew that Ryan loved me and wanted the entire world to know. And this was the MAN I had hoped for and dreamed of! That was the most important part!!!]

So yes, I enjoyed being able to surprise her, which is what I wanted to do, but I also believe it was a prophetic thing as well, and I wanted the world to know I was in love with this woman and wanted her as my wife. It was by far the most wonderful thing I have done outside of making the decision to follow Jesus.

After we got engaged, it was all a whirlwind! We were able to spend a few days in Townsville (and celebrate Christmas with my YWAM family there) before we flew down to Adelaide on Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas with my parents, my sister Koronae and her husband Ben and their new little baby, Jackson, as well as Ben’s parents and sister, and some really good friends that pastor down there. It was great to have Christmas with family and for them to meet Adriel (well, my parents already had) and for all of us to also meet our new nephew. It was a great time of family bonding and celebrating.

From there Adriel and I drove from Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne for two glorious days with no schedule or agenda, and then on to Canberra with our friends Emma and Darryl. After that we went to Sydney to organize the major things for our wedding (all in the space of 4 days!) and also to introduce Adriel to my key friends and church family. It was great to have more time together, and we continued to learn so much about each other as we began to figure out what it means to really share life and learn to do things together on a deeper level.

Those few days flew by and before we knew it we were on separate planes again – me heading to the far north of Australia, and Adriel heading to the far west. I went back to work, and Adriel went back to Perth so she could prepare to move.

At the end of January I flew out to Perth to help Adriel move across to the east coast. We had an engagement party there with Adriel’s friends and had a wonderful time of celebrating our engagement. There were also many tears as Adriel said farewells to her good friends in Perth.

[Adriel: It’s a good thing I am very much in love with this man, and that God’s clearly spoken to me about moving to Townsville... Because leaving my friends and leaders and the city of Perth was waaaay more difficult for me than I had expected! Regardless, Ryan is a great reason for most anything! He is wonderful. And not only that, but I have made some amazing friends in Townsville already and I know I will fit in well there with my leaders and co-workers.]

But yes, our time together in Perth (for those 3 days!) was really good – so much different from my first visit, but so “right” for where our relationship had grown to.

From Perth we flew straight to the States for a week so that I could meet Adriel’s family, friends, and church family. I was able to spend time with both sets of Adriel’s grandparents and many of her extended family members, as well as have lots of time with Adriel’s parents (Scott and Gwen) and brother Andy. Scott and Andy even took me snowboarding one day! Even though we were very busy trying to get Adriel’s Australian visa paperwork all sorted out and completed, we had an amazing week as it dumped snow and gave us a winter wonderland to enjoy… We even finished up our time there by ice skating with Scott and Gwen and Andy. So much fun!

From there we had a night in Portland where we had a great time meeting some more of Adriel’s close friends and family. And then, once again, we said our good-byes at the airport as I boarded the plane to fly back to Australia. Adriel returned to her parents house to wait for her visa to be granted so that she can come back to Australia and marry me! We will be married in Sydney on 25th of March, 2008, and will have another celebration in Oregon on 11th April.

Well, there is so much more to this wonderful story that has God’s fingerprints all over it. It’s definitely one of those relationships that you can look at and say that it would have been impossible if God hadn’t been in it and behind it.

[Adriel: That’s for sure!]

And… that’s our story. We certainly treasure it… and hope you do too.