The Best Weekend of My Life...So Far

Last week I took a long four day weekend to go to London, England to see the love of my life, Camilia Malnar. She is doing a study abroad in London for the semester with a group of BYU students. Cam is an art major (an incredible artist I might add) and is having a great time studying and practicing her art in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. When I found out about the opportunity to study in Lisbon for the semester, I jumped on it knowing that I would be able to see Camilia a few times. Our first visit together in Europe was magical, I felt like I was living a dream. We were able to see a lot of fun sights and have a really fun time together doing so and doing some fun activities, but those things fail in comparison to what happened within the first hour that I was there. Camilia picked me up from the train station (I was awaiting her with flowers) and we took the subway to Hyde Park. She didn't know this, but I had come this weekend to propose. We found a nice, quiet, reserved place to sit and talk, and I surprised her with a scrapbook that I have been making for the past month or so. I put a lot of time into it, and it has pictures and nice notes from the past year that we have been dating. At the end of the scrapbook, I wrote a poem to Camilia telling her how much I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her. The last line of the poem read "So will you make me the happiest man in the world." As she read it, she could see me reaching into my backpack to get something. When she saw that it was her ring, she stood up, and I got on one knee. I will be quite honest that I was a little nervous as she was reading through the book, especially as she was getting to the end. I was praying the whole time, and had been praying for the last couple days that it would go smoothly and that she would be able to feel of my love and that it would be a special experience for both of us. My prayers were definitely answered, as it was one of the best experiences of both of our lives. She was in tears as I asked her to marry me and as we embraced right after, it was something I will definitely never forget. We stood there holding each other for a few minutes, I can't even describe how great it felt to be in her arms knowing that I will never have to let her go again. A lady jogged by right after I popped the question, and she was ecstatic when she found out that I had just proposed and was more than willing to take as many pictures as we wanted together. There was also a big, black dog that came up to us afterwards that dropped his ball in front of me and wanted to play catch! I kicked the ball a few times and he kept bringing it back until his owner got a hold of him again. We went back to the center she lives in, and the 45 girls that she lives with where obviously ecstatic to hear the news and to see her new ring (which we had gone to pick out together before she left for London, but I had told her that I wouldn't be bringing it with me to Europe because I didn't want to risk it getting stolen). We went out to a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant across the street from Hyde Park after this, and the rest of the weekend was filled with sight seeing and other fun activities. The best parts of the weekend, however, were the conversations that Camilia and I had with each other. On more than one occasion we were both in tears of joy as we talked and shared how much we mean to each other and how grateful we are for each other in our lives and especially the fact that we will be able to live together for time and all eternity as we make and keep our covenants in the temple. I cannot express in words how grateful I am that the Lord has blessed me with Camilia in my life. I do not have words to describe how much I love her and how much she means to me. This weekend I realized more than I ever have before how much I truly do love her and how grateful I truly am that we will be with each other for the rest of our lives and that death will not separate us. Being apart from her the past few weeks has been one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I have grown so accustomed to having her by my side and being there for me in my difficult times, and not having her here with me in Portugal has been a real struggle. It has made me even more grateful that I will never have to be apart from her again. We are both very excited for our lives together, and are both a little anxious to get home and get started. But at the same time we are both grateful for the opportunity we have to be experiencing Europe together (kind of). Our next encounter will be in about a month from now in Paris, which will be incredible! It was the best weekend of my life to this point, and my precious Camilia most definitely succeeded in making me the happiest man in the world.