Her Story: My Fairy Tale

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always been stubborn, and had always wanted my "fairy tale" and "prince charming" and all that other fun dreamy stuff...

February 11, 2006 Fairy tale begins. I get baptized and become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day  Saints.  Told my self that I would NEVER serve a mission, because it would be too difficult to do.

August 26, 2009 I report to the MTC to serve in SIBERIA!!!! (you just can't argue with Heavenly Father) My arrival there was great!  Full of goals, ideas, and excitement.  I told myself that I would only focus on missionary work ( I have a problem.  I'm a big flirt)  Anyway, I have always had a thing for blue eyes, and tall, lanky, dorky, talkative guys are my weakness...Elder Stoops fit the mold pretty well, so good thing we were serving in different missions.

Well,  I don't remember our first meeting. I just remember that he would always pop out of nowhere and say stuff to me (like P-day when I would be writing my mom an email and he would stand right behind me to see who I was writing lol) Then I started seeing more of him during our lunch time chats, which were always fun. I found him attractive, but I was so stressed about learning the language that it really didnt dawn on me until he left to the field.  I remember he informed me that he had a problem with his visa and had to go serve in Oslo until it got fixed.  My reaction was " Score!  I get to see him for a few more days"  where as he was not very happy :p

Nonetheless, I stayed a month and a half longer at the MTC, and he sent me the first letter, and we agreed to write.  I told him that I wanted to go visit him in Norway, and he said he was game...he probably thought I was joking! Anyways, we agree to write and genius Elder Stoops gave me the wrong address to his mission...but luckily I had a friend that was serving in his mission so she gave me the address...and we wrote.  I enjoyed every letter I recieved because they were funny, long, and spiritual.  He also sent me a birthday candy :p  How sweet!  So we wrote consistently until I got home...Then I got nothing from him. Talk about buzz kill.

When I got home, I had to deal with getting all my life back in order, which involved my getting three jobs, setting new goals, and getting ready for school etc.  so I really didn't have time to think about dating or anything other than work and how I was going to get to Utah to study at BYU.

Push forward to late May 2011, I decided to do a fast for three weeks.  I was praying for divine guidance because I felt like I was going nowhere.  I basically went back to missionary mode.  No t.v. no wordly music, just work, get home, study the scriptures and the words of the Prophets, church activities, going to bed early and rising early and no internet.  During those three weeks I recieved guidance on alot of the things I needed...the only thing I found strange was that I kept thinking about Elder Stoops very often.  I thought I had forgotten about him.  Guess not :) and the last week of May I got a letter from him(dated in March). I ended my fast and found out Elder Stoops was home, and found him on Facebook.

I remember how I wanted to skype with him, and initially it seemed like he didnt want to...I still was attracted to him, and it was fueled when he asked me to be his date for his best friends wedding.  That was enough for me to take the risk to see if I had a chance...and also the awkwardness of our first skype date, especially when he told me about how his best friend and his best friend's wife met... and he told me AFTER I told him I still wanted to go to Norway...talk about awkward... after that first skype date, we just had them every weekend (good Sunday night courting activity) On my birthday, I fessed up and told him I liked him...which worked out well :)  Did LOTS of skyping :)

So I finally got to Norway in November!!!! He told me our first kiss would be at the airport, obviously he changed his mind cause he gave me that hug while I tried to kiss him...and I was kinda mad and thought that I would make him wait a few days for a kiss for ripping me off of my fairy tale kiss.  Fortunaley, he wrote me a cute little note in Russian and Spanish...and we bumped teeth and locked lips in his car  for the first time.

We had LOTS of dating and LOTS of staying up late talking...he likes to talk, I like to talk...yeah hours of it. The more time we spent together, the more I found out that I wanted to stay with him longer...that I had found my geeky, Star Wars, Tetris loving, RM prince charming :) Well I guess I fit the mold of what he was looking for, and we agreed to get married, but since I thought that he didnt have rings, nor that he had even thought about getting engaged, I gave him my Joseph Smith Eternity ring to wear on a chain around his neck (If you wanna see it, ask him.  He still wears it). He then caught me off guard when he came out with my wedding ring and got on his knees and asked me to marry him...while I looked like a pure mess.  Perfect timing!

Everything else is pretty much self explanitory(read Joseph's story) We're getting married!!!! Plan Utah and BYU...fail...Plan Norway and be with my love for all eternity, APPROVED!  Do fairy tale love stories exsist?  Oh yeah! :D

Our wishlist

Gifts; for millenia have they been given to better relations between kings, presidents, chieftains, family, friends, and co-workers. In the olden days in Russia, they used to welcome visiting important persons from other countries with bread and salt. Troy was gifted with a horse statue by Greece. USA has gifted several countries with Democracy. Christmas, Hanukkah, St. Valentine's day, Birthdays, and for our occasion, Weddings, have all been events with gifts in the picture. A gift, however, should be given out of free will, and is not required. But, if you do desire to help us out, then here's a list of things I've thought of that we need:

Gaver; for årtusener har de blitt gitt for å forbedre forhold mellom konger, presidenter, høvdinger, familie, venner og medarbeidere. I gamledager i Russland, pleide de å gi viktige, besøkende  personer fra utlandet brød og salt. Troy ble gitt en hestestatue av Grekerlandet. USA har gitt demmokrati til mange land. Jul, Hanukkah, St. Valentinsdag. bursdager, i vårt tilfelle, bryllup, har alle vært anledninger til å gi gaver. Dog skal en gave bli gitt av egen fri vilje, og er derfor ikke påkrevd av noen. Om du vil hjelpe oss, så er der gitt en ønskeliste her over ting jeg tenkte vi kunne trenge:

• Slippers - tøffler
• Morning robe - morgenkåpe
• Bedding - sengtøy (240x220cm, 94"x87")
• a Tool set - verktøyskrin
• my two front teeth... oh, wrong list
• bathroom scale - vekt
• kitchen scale - kjøkkenvekt
• funnels - trakter
• bathroom rug - baderomsteppe
• Wall mirror - speil
• board games - bord spill

And really, just money would help us out more than anything, that way when there's something we need, we can buy it for that money. Or, for those of you who don't like just giving money, a gift card at IKEA would be just as nice :) Oh, don't feel restricted to buying the items on this list! if you think of something else you'd like to gift us, then go for it, these are just hints to what we'd appreciate ;)

og virkelig, bare penger ville vært til stor hjelp for oss, siden om vi finner noe vi trenger, da har vi pengene til å kjøpe det. Om du er imot å gi penger i sin skjønne form, da kan gavekort hos IKEA være et godt alternativ :) åja, ikke føl deg knyttet til å kjøpe kun det som står på denne listen! Om du kommer på noe annet du ville likt å gitt oss, gjør det så da! Disse er bare hint til hva vi ville likt ;)

How it all happened - His story

You said you want the long story?

Starting from the day I entered the Missionary Training Center, I met my companion, Elder Heuer, one of the things we have in common is that we're both talkative. We talked to a lot of other fellow missionaries, elders and sister alike, but probably most sisters... we'd talked to them while waiting in line, when we were outdoors studying, we'd stop random ones to testify in our mission language, etc. etc. etc. My point is we talked! Now I used to be super interested in linguistics, and still am, I just don't have the time now that I had then. I spoke fluent Spanish, and had it as a goal to keep it fluent even though I would be in Russia. I failed at reaching that goal. But I was good at it in the MTC, talked plenty with the spanish speakers, I even went on the Spanish speaking tour for Temple Square.

Anyway, the day finally came when the group ahead of us left for Russia/Baltics/Ukraine! We became the knowledgable, know-it-alls that could teach the younger group everything, and give 'em help, hehe, to be honest, I enjoyed it a lot! :) I kept seeing this one Mexican looking girl, I thought "meh, she probably doesn't belong here, she's probably just visiting a friend." I finally came close enough to read her nametag, and it read Сестра Rivas, so I knew she was serving in a Russian-speaking mission, but to break the Siberian Ice I asked "do you know Spanish?" and of course she did! so we were Spanish-speaking buddies.


I admit, I found her to be cute! However, I was too shy, and too into my role as a missionary to do anything appropriate. But she was cute. So I was happy, I'd found someone with whom I could practice my Spanish. I have another confession, is this a sin? I'd use her to sneak in the lunch line... bad? haha, whatever, everyone got fed, and no one ever died of hunger in the MTC, most actually gained weight. So, from my point of view, we had good contact already in the MTC.

The day came, when my group FINALLY got to go to Russia! Although it was the most spiritual place I've been besides our temples, it felt SO good to finally leave the place. so, that meant it's time to get everybody's contact information. Before my mission I'd developed a special way of getting a girl's attention, it was "if you want a girl to like you, you need her friends to like you too" (which obviously never worked, since I hardly ever dated, hah!) but, so when it came to getting Sister Rivas' contact information, I asked the companion first, then for her's... It worked, and I think she got a little jealous, or offended, "why didn't he ask me first?!" but I'm pretty sure it worked in my favor.

While we were in separate missions, we sent each other letters. We'd write to get to know more about each other, but also success stories, testimonies, spiritual thoughts. I always was impressed with how spiritually tuned she was, and also how lively and down to earth she was. She still is. Although I mostly wrote her to practice my Spanish, we wrote less Spanish and more English for each letter, my interest for Spanish turned more into an interest for her.

She got home, we still sent letters.

I got home, got on Facebook, went through messages, updates, friend requests... she had added me, goodie goodie! Facebook turned into Skype. Half an hour turned into two hours. Two hours into 4 hours. It always was SO easy to talk with, Jude. We could talk about science the one minute, then talk about something stupid like Justin Timberlake. We never went empty for topics to talk about.

I was surprised the day she told me that she had bought tickets to come to Norway! Sure, she'd mentioned the possibility, but I never actually expected she would go through with it. I couldn't complain though :) So I suddenly had a gorgeous Return sister missionary come all the way to Norway to see if we clicked. It was torture though, 'cause I had to wait for how long? three months to see her? During that time, my Mom, brother, and I went on a vacation to Turkey as part of a tourist group, and one of our stops was at one of Europe's largest jewelry shops, what do you think I looked for? that's right, and I found the perfect ring for her personality! :) I had only bought the rings IN CASE she was THE ONE. It was funny though, 'cause suddenly everybody in the tourist bus was talking about me, and later on they would give me tips and encouragement. Here's a random fun fact about my trip to Turkey, I ended up talking more in Russian than in English! Turns out many shop owners, either are Russian or learn Russian to help the many Russian tourists :)

Now for the real fun part, the day she arrived at the airport! I should say first that many of my friends had put in their wager-less bets on how long it would take me to "shalalalalalalala... kiss the girl!" so there I am with my "Ms. Rivas" sign, waiting. Then she walks through the door, I was speechless! she was actually there, in front of me. So I guess I went awkwardly in for the hug, she went in for the kiss, turned into a face-on-chest hug... haha, but it gave me the courage I needed, so I walked her out to the car, and  we had our first kiss. Now kids, kisses aren't always like you see them in the movies, they're not always smooth, we knocked teeth a couple of times! Then I drove her home.

We had three days of constant dating, getting to know each other even better, but the truth is: I'm marrying myself! I took her out to my cabin in Arendal with married friend couple of mine (chaperones). November 5th, at about 5 AM we got engaged. We'd just been talking all night, and the topic of marriage naturally came up, 'cause my ingenious friend, Martin, brought up the question "so when are you getting married?"

We drove home with the great news, Mom was very excited. Then, for the proposal, it was so romantic, for any girls reading this, please sit down, for any guys, either get a bag or skip this paragraph. Jude didn't know about the rings I'd bought, so I take them out of my hiding spot, take a little breath on the other side of the wall. I then walk up to Jude in my mom's living room, she's in her PJs, my mom is sitting right there, I get down on one knee and say "Judith Rivas, will you marry me?"

The End Then the beginning of something beautiful just started. We talked about a date to get married and sealed for eternity, and figured we'd need a couple of months to get the necessary papers and and requirements, so we decided April 6th would be perfect. It also just happens to be the day the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, and the day we believe Jesus was born, also the day the Salt Lake temple was dedicated, and the day ABBA won the 19th annual Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo." so this day is very special to us :)

To be honest, time has gone much faster than expected, I thought it'd be foooreeeveeer til Jude'd come back March 19th, but now there's only one month left! Then only two and a half weeks til we're married.

I think that's all I can tell from my side of this story. Thanks for your time and attention!

with love,

Brother Stoops.