Our Story

The Skinny:

Met in the MTC (yes while we were both missionaries). Wrote each other on our missions. Fell in love.

Her side (the extended version):

I first met Daniel in the MTC, but at the time there were no vain imaginations of any sort of relationship developing between us. The day I entered the MTC I called up my brother Jon for advice. The two things that I can remember him saying were "Talk to 100 people every day. And DON'T FLIRT WITH THE ELDERS." With that kind of wisdom ringing through my head and other male prospects waiting back home anyway, how could I have thought of Daniel as anything more than just another Elder?

He was going to be serving in Japan and I was destined for Korea, so our MTC schedules lined up and we had every meal, exercise period, large group meeting, temple trips and other joint activity at the same time and place. And yet when I think back to Daniel in the MTC, the only memories that stand out are the two or three conversations we had over dinner (I bored him to death with talk of diabetes amongst the Pima Indians while we ate Navajo tacos and my companion made fun of him for talking about unicorns in the Bible) and the bright yellow shirt that he would wear running every day (he says it wasn't every day, but it's the only thing I remember him wearing. At the time I didn't remember his name and for some reason "Daniel Pipkin" sounded like a familiar band name-- I kept meaning to go up and tell him that I thought I had heard their music somewhere).

As the time came for him to leave, he approached me one day and asked for my mission address. I gave it to him and asked for his in exchange, but he didn't have it on him and he was leaving too early the next morning to be able to give it to me. I let him know I could just get it from the mail room and the next P-day I did just that and decided to send him a letter.

A few weeks later I left for Korea and waiting for me in the mission office was a letter from Elder Pipkin. In fact, his letters were the only ones I would get for the first couple of months I was in Korea. There was something so honest, so funny, so absolutely relate-able in his letters that every time I would get one I wouldn't be able to stop smiling for hours afterwards. I had a hard time adjusting and getting along with my companion during my first couple of transfers and the friendship that developed over letters between us helped me to feel like I had someone who cared and who could commiserate, even if they were in a different country and we didn't even know each other before our missions.

I have always had this fear of eternity. It's not just a very long time. It's the point when there is no end and what if I married someone and we just ran out of things to do or say? Having an awkward silence in a car ride on date is one thing, but having an awkward silence that spans forever with no end in sight is something so terrifying to me that I would much rather stay single than risk it. 

When the time came for him to come back I was ecstatic (and nervous) beyond belief. (I had tried to sneak a visit to see him when I was headed back from my mission-- my dad came to pick me up and decided that we would travel through Tokyo on the way home. The week before, however, there was an earthquake and the day I arrived in Tokyo, Daniel was emergency evacuated out of it. I figured it was a sign that I shouldn't try and cheat the system.)



Although there were some awkward parts of our first post-mission meeting, things clicked really fast and I knew that he was the one. The one I wanted to talk to at the end of every day. The one who I could make me smile with his silly anecdotes. The one I wanted to hold me and tell me about scientific concepts. The one I wanted to be with for forever.  


I couldn't tell you when I fell in love with Daniel. Everyday I find something new that I love about him. I loved the idea of him, with his humor and expressions in letters and I fell in love with everything else since then.

His Side: