Bryan and Kelley and Robert and Millie are Engaged!

My little Brothers Bryan and Robert both became engaged this month. Robert & Millie will be getting married on the 30th of December this year, and Bryan and Kelley will be getting married on April 24th, 2009. We are excited for both of them!

Here is Bryan's story in his own words and one from Robert soon to come! And a photo too!

"Dear Family,

Well if you have not heard through the grape vine yet, or if you do not read your e-mail, I am engaged!! I know it is probably unbelievable for most of you that any woman would say YES to me, but she did, and I have never been so happy in all my life. Rather than have to tell this story a billion times, I decided I had best just write all the details in one e-mail and send it out. That way no one feels left out.

I had better start at the beginning of our story, because not many people even knew I had my eye on anyone. I returned to BYU-Idaho the second week in September to start the fall semester 2008. My fist Sunday at Church was fast and testimony meeting, so I got up to bare my testimony. That is where Kelley Ann Malloy saw me for the first time. You will have to ask her what her thought were at the time. Priesthood and Relief Society were being held as a combined meeting that day, and the Bishop had asked me to teach the lesson. I met Kelley for the first time when I asked her to say the opening prayer for the class. I found out later that her roommate turned to her after I left and told her she should marry me. What a coincidence!

Kelley returned from a mission in the Baltimore, Maryland Mission in January this year. She did a semester at BYU Provo, and a summer term at the BYU Jerusalem center. She had felt very strongly she needed to come back to Rexburg. I will be forever grateful she followed those feelings. Many things have also transpired in my life in the last year that made me available as this semester started. To both of us, it appears the Lord had a way of preserving us and finally bringing us together. We really have no other way of explaining it. The whole thing has truly been a miracle.

Kelley and I started to get to know each other when I walked her home from ward choir after church a few weeks later and we enjoyed seeing each other at devotionals, and filling a few cleaning assignments at the temple together. I finally got up the nerve to ask her on a date, and made it the most spectacular date ever. I picked her up at 6:30 in the morning and we spent the day hiking in Yellowstone. I was amazed at how well we knew each other when we came home, how a deep friendship had developed practically overnight, and how we just seemed to be perfect for each other. She comes from a family of 10 kids, I from a family of 12. We both grew up being taught to work hard in the garden and in life. We both loved the Lord and wanted, more than anything in the world, to have a family. In the back of my mind, I knew things could work if we did get married. Love was beginning to sprout in my heart. She was and is just amazing.

We continued to date and enjoyed doing many activities together and it was not long before I felt that if I felt comfortable I should marry her. It would be the best decision of my life. Me being not one to keep my thought to myself had the audacity to tell her that and she expressed her feelings to be the same. A week later situations worked out miraculously that we met most of each other's families. Coming back to Rexburg that Sunday evening we made our final decision that we both felt it was right that we be married.

I still had not met her Dad or talked to him about this. The original plan was to go for New Years and take care of that, but it worked out that I could go with her to California for the Thanksgiving break, and meet the rest of her family. The experience of talking with her parents was a blessing to both of us. Kelley and I went with her Mom and Dad out for dessert the night we got to California. Her father had many questions for me and her to answer and we took a great deal of time talking about how to make a good marriage. When we had passed all the questions I told them I had a question. I asked if they would grant permission and their blessing that Kelley and I be married. They agreed. We then enjoyed a very special moment as her parents counseled us relative to the new life we are beginning. As we left the restaurant it was raining, Christmas lights lit the trees in the street, and the song, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" was playing. It could not have been more perfect. We had to take advantage of the situation and dance to the car in the rain to the perfect song that could have been playing. Her parents just laughed at us.

The next morning we went to the Las Angeles temple. My original plan was to climb to the top of the mountain to propose, but the mountain we wanted to go to was burned out by the fires this last summer. So instead, we climbed to the top of the Mountain of the Lord. In the celestial room I asked her if she would be my companion for eternity, my queen in the life to come, and my wife. She paused for a moment and then said yes, most defiantly. After talking for a time, we walked over and looked in to the ceiling room. There the Lord spook to both of our hearts. There was a feeling there I have never experienced. Outside, between the rows of 12 olive trees, I knelt and recited a poem that I had composed for her and then placed the ring on her finger. Never have I felt such joy, and never have I felt such peace. I have no doubt that at last we are on the straight and narrow that leads to exaltation. The Lord truly has been good to us.

Well that is the end of my story; I hope you all enjoyed it. We are getting married April 24, 2009 in the Las Angeles temple. If you have any questions, you can write me back. Thanks for everything, I love you all.

Love,
Bryan and Kelley (Soon to be) Lewis