In August of 2023, Justin, now age 27, knew he wasn’t going to date anybody long-distance. It just wasn’t for him! Justin saw an ad for CatholicMatch in the Mass bulletin in Indiana and decided to give it a try.
He hoped his big city in Indiana would produce some good Catholic dates.
Meanwhile, Raquela, now age 24, joined CatholicMatch a year previously because all three of her older sisters had met their husbands on it. She was still trying to figure out how the messaging system worked, though. For her part, she was open to long distance, and scrolled past Justin’s profile in her match section. She clicked around a bit before moving on.
She had no idea that she accidentally “liked” his profile!
“Which turned out well because he would never have seen mine!” she laughs. Justin saw the “like” and clicked on Raquela’s Minnesota-based profile.
Well. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to just send one teeny tiny message. She was pretty cute! Besides, she was into strength training, hiking, and was a fellow teacher. They’d have something in common right off the bat.
The two swapped phone numbers early on, but after a few rounds of texting, Justin was pretty sure Raquela wasn’t interested anymore. But, then at work, he broke his nose playing basketball with his students. He decided the funny story would at least capture her attention one more time!
“Hearing that he was concussed and broke his nose was the epitome of an ice breaker!” Raquela laughs. She was indeed waiting to hear from him again. “Apparently, my responses didn’t convey my interest.” (Don’t worry; one of Raquela’s older sisters scolded her to “start responding to the poor boy faster, for heaven’s sake!”)
After this clever rekindling of their conversation, Justin saw his opening during a phone call.
“We were talking on the phone . . . and he was asking about my interests. I mentioned I liked the Packers and someday I wanted to go to Lambeau. After a long silence on the other end, he asked if I wanted to go to their next game with him!” Raquela was impressed that Justin wanted to drive ten hours to go on a first date, and then drive another five hours together to go to a Packers game!
“Why not shell out a bunch of money and make a good first impression?” Justin recalls. So on October 27th, they met up in real time for a classic dinner date.
“He brought me flowers and only dropped them once!” Raquela says. They spent a wonderful dinner together and walked to her apartment nearby. “I displayed my weirdness by modeling my Halloween wolf costume for him.” (Romance is alive and well, people!)
Later that evening, before their trip to the big Lambeau game the next day, Justin went with Raquela to her nephew’s baptism. And there he met the immediate family . . . all twenty of them! Justin impressed them all with his seriously deep voice and the baby gift he brought for the newest arrival. One of the impressed in-laws pulled Raquela aside and asked: “Is that your date? Nice work!” The baptism was followed by a huge Nerf dart war with all of her little brothers and nephews.
“I was completely sold on him!” Raquela remembers.
The two began a long-distance romance, and began driving the many hours back and forth to see each other.
Distance is always an obstacle, and it becomes more and more difficult to wait weeks between dates. So by spring, Justin was planning on making the move from Indiana to Minnesota to be closer to Raquela, and started job hunting at schools in her area. Unfortunately, a family member suffered a health crisis, and he decided to put off the move for another year to be there for his parents. Raquela was fully supportive, having been through family emergencies before, but of course, this meant another year of long-distance dating.
During their extra year of long-distance, they began accumulating favorite memories–usually with a sibling or two in tow. Raquela has eight brothers and sisters, and Justin has three, so they were never short on company! They saw the world’s largest beaver skeleton together, rode a plastic bull, and won Christmas trivia. Justin lost his shirt in a waterfall while they were swimming, and luckily his little sister found it again! He also got another concussion at the Mall of America because he sprinted into a wall. (At this point Raquela realized she had her work cut out for her and might need to get him a helmet.) They also spent a year trying to get tickets on a Mississippi boat tour, only to discover they arrived at the wrong dock “due to our inferior navigation skills.”
Finally, one year to the day later, they recreated their first date in October 2024. Justin had a secret up his sleeve.
“I had no idea he was going to propose that night. When he asked if I wanted to go for a walk at midnight and he started to reminisce about one year ago, I started to figure it out!”
“I think this is where I dropped the flowers,” Justin said. “If only I had something to drop this time. Oh wait . . .” Then he dropped to one knee and pulled out a moissanite ring.
“I believe my reaction to the question was jumping up and down and flapping my hands like an idiot. It took me a while to remember to say something!” Raquela laughs.
“She looked like a bird trying to fly for the first time,” Justin says.
They spent seven months wedding planning and lining up moving plans.
They wed June 7th of 2025 at Raquela’s home parish of St. Joseph. The day was full of delight and surprises! Justin waited to see his bride until she walked down the aisle, they both cried during the vows, and their wedding party consisted of twenty-six friends and family.
Raquela, a singer as well as a teacher, surprised her groom by writing and recording their first dance song, as well as recording the father-daughter dance song. Justin surprised her with a moissanite bracelet to match her engagement ring. They honeymooned on a cruise in the Caribbean later that month. (Finally, no siblings along for the ride this time!)
The two now reside in Iowa, where Justin is working as a physical education teacher. They are expecting their first child in March of 2026!
