How A Forced Double Date Sparked An Unlikely Beginning

Two people walk into a YSA dance, and nothing sparks. That’s the kind of beginning we love telling, because it’s the truth: awkward, funny, and held together by burnt-toast vibes and a DJ who definitely wasn’t paid. We thought we were wrong for each other. A few rides, a long drive, and a boring movie later, the only heat was from a Montreal tunnel and some very mild handholding.

We pull back the curtain on Mormon YSA culture—Institute on Fridays, dances designed to mingle you toward marriage, and the unspoken scripts that shape who dates whom. Mike owned the room and the small talk; Krista kept her guard up and her answers short. When a six-hour trip to Toronto turned into a reluctant double date at Canada’s Wonderland, we weren’t chasing romance. We were fulfilling a favor. Still, free food softens edges. The day didn’t make us a couple, but it nudged us from strangers into “kind of friends” who traded MSN messages and prepaid texts across provinces.

Then came Utah. A cheaper flight led to a temple wedding, YSA ward mixers, and a crash course in return-missionary expectations. “Where did you serve?” became the conversation starter and stopper. With a heart condition that blocked a mission, Mike didn’t fit the mold, and the interviews disguised as dates felt off. Out in the desert, a quiet conversation with an old family friend cut through the noise: if there’s someone back home who might matter, go find out. So we did something small and inconvenient. Change the flight. Come back a day early. Ask for a real date with no chaperones and no agenda. Ice cream, a walk, and a second look changed how we saw each other and where the story might go next.

This is a candid origin story about mismatched first impressions, religious culture, and the tiny choices that shift a life. If you’ve ever been groomed by a system, coasted on momentum, or dismissed a maybe too soon, you’ll hear yourself here. Hit play, share it with someone who loves messy meet-cutes, and tell us: what tiny decision set your life on a new path? Subscribe, rate, and leave a review to help more listeners find our corner of the internet.

Transcript

Setting The Scene And Banter

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi, welcome to another episode of Life Changers. And this is Mike.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

This is Krista.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

I almost I almost feel like I should just say my real name since he already put it out there. But that is my name. Mike is my name. That's what I go by.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Okay, my real name, like as you heard from Christo saying is Michelle. But that means Michael, so in English it's Mike.

unknown 0:27

Okay.

Why And Where We First Met

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Fair enough. Anyways, so on today's episode, we're going to continue on talking about, I guess, officially how we met. Since everybody's chomping at the bit for that. They are chomping. People are like, I don't give a shit. We all know you were Mormon, and now we're going to hear how you met. Is this going to go anywhere? I don't know. We don't have a script, remember?

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yeah, we got rid of that. Smells like burnt toast in here, though.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Just because you turned the heater up really high, I'm sure. So now it's burning all the dust on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Just burnt dust.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

I don't smell it.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

So warm though. Currently straddling it. This is not that kind of show.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

What else are you doing? What you wearing. Anyway. So, how did we meet? I don't know. I don't remember. Do you remember?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

You remember everything.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

I guess I do. It was the year 20205.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Yeah, because we got married in 2006.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Let's not give them too much information here. Oh shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

I'm sorry. It's not like anybody's gonna remember what I'm talking about when I'm ranting. Okay. So yeah, I guess like, so I have a buddy, and he was like telling us how he met this girl online through a friend of a friend. That's pretty much the gist of it. Back then it was always a friend of a friend. Do you remember those days? Like that now I don't think it's like that, eh? I have a a friend of a friend of a friend who this happened to. Remember those stories? No, I guess I'm a little bit older than you. Just four years older than you. Oh, yeah, I'm not supposed to ask you questions.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

That's what you usually do.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Anyway, so we had a buddy. So yeah, um, I guess at this point, like we're adults. We're at why we're adults, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Barely for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Shut up. Um I wasn't an adult when we met. No, that's why I didn't date you.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

That's the only reason I well, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Anyways, I was like, what, 20, 21? I think you were 20 then. 20, yeah. My birthday was that summer. Yeah. Anyways, so we're at a thing called, what was it called? YSA? No. YSA. Yeah, YSA. Young Single Adults.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

So like we'd a church event, of course.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yeah, it's part of the Church of Mormons. The Church of Mormons. That's part of being in the church. Uh we had a thing called Institute, and that was always cool and fun. Um, so like it was every Friday for us.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Don't worry, it's not because they were institutionalized. It's just it's called Institute for some reason.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

We should have been institutionalized. Anyway, so it's called Institute. And since I grew up in Montreal, Quebec area, um, it wa there was so everybody met there. It was at the French Stake Center, so there's the French, English speaking people, Spanish, Chinese, and so on. Because like I guess the the church has all these different anyways, digress. So we're all meeting there. And Institute is more like same thing as when we were younger. Remember, I guess you talked about you went every morning to seminary. Um, so that was similar. So when you turn 18, you go to the thing called young single adults, and that is like you have to do this course, and it's actually like university credit too, and college credit. If you complete the course, you get credits. Oh. Because it's run through the church and the church owns BYU and they give out credits. Fun fact. I guess you never really went, eh?

SPEAKER_01 4:12

I never went. I was too young. I got married too young.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Don't give it away. No. Um yeah, so we go there every Friday. Um, it usually starts at like six, six thirty in the evening, anyways.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

And it's like no one cares about that. Get on with the story.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

See, that's why you're here. People be like, maybe he'll stay on track and actually tell us something useful. Anyways, and so we go to the thing, we learn about religion and all that crap. Anyway, so I have a buddy there, and after that, there's always an activity. So it's either like sometimes it's volleyball, sometimes we dance parties at the church. Um, they bring in a DJ, which is usually one of the people. And anyways, and they're trying to mingle so you get ready to get married, right? It's pretty much the church like grooming you to get married. Um, so I had a buddy and he's like, oh, talking saying how he's like talking to this girl for a while. We all made fun of him. We're like, what's her name? Hey, Pamela Andrea. Is she real? Is she in your dreams? You know, you think you're dating somebody? It's probably like a morbidly little beast male on the other side talking to you. So we were bugging him like that. Anyway, so he says, Yeah, like uh, she's gonna come up and visit me from Toronto. We're like, oh, this imaginary girl's coming from Toronto. Okay, we'll believe it when we see it. And sure enough, she showed up and we're like, oh, she is real. So, you know, I guess the joke's on us. And then she brought you, Krista, with her, your younger sister. And it was at a yeah, there's a dance that night. So it was one that there's a dance. And I guess at the time you were seventeen, so she wasn't even allowed to be in there.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

I had a boyfriend at the time, just to clarify.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Boyfriend. I'm doing air quotes.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

I was dating him for like six weeks. That was my first relationship, like real relationship.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Does that even count like To me it did? Were you guys like just seeing each other? Or were you like, we're boyfriend and girlfriend now?

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Well, I mean it's it's complicated because he was of another religion that doesn't allow you to have girlfriends at all. And so we weren't official.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

So no boy girlfriends. What is that? Boyfriends? What religion is that?

SPEAKER_01 6:28

It's just no one knew we were dating. We did it in secret.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

So I wonder if one day we find him and interview him. Be like, did you even know you dated this girl?

SPEAKER_01 6:38

He knew about it, but no one else knew.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

He'd just be like, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

That's what we did. That's all we did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Oh, that's hilarious. Anyway. So I was 20. Yeah, I thought, yeah, because you're 17. We're yeah, because I was turning 21, because we're three years and a bit older than you. Anyways. So yeah, so we met. And I was known as like, hey, you know, it's Mike, the fun guy.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

And I speak French, English, so a little bit of a player is what he was.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

She saw me as so I guess in the Mormon world I was like a player, but in the real world it's like vanilla.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

I'm like, yeah, what's up, girl? You want to dance? You want to dance? And that's being a player in the Mormon church.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

He was the talkative one that like he liked to make people feel good.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah. I don't like I remember like I would try to make people feel good and like beautiful and stuff like that. Like, why not?

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Dance with the awkward ones that stood in the corner, like me.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Yeah, pretty much. So yeah, so my buddy, he's like, hey Mike, you gotta make it fun for them. Like, what are we doing? And like you usually sometimes we go to like a restaurant called the Belle Provence in English, it's a beautiful province. But like it just has like hot dogs and poutine and hammers and stuff. And we're like, I don't know. Sometimes we used to go bowling, but he's like, I don't want to do big group things like with a ton of people. Sometimes we go bowling with like 10, 20 people, or we'll go to like a buffet or something, we just take off and do stuff. And then he's like, I'm like, well, I guess we go back to my house. It's like what, an hour drive? Yeah, it's probably a good hour from there. Anyway, so we decided to go to my house. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do that. So first we stayed at the dance for a while.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Yeah. Is this the part that we should say that we uh slept together the first night? Shut up. No, okay, not yet. Not yet. Okay. Continue.

The Drive, The House, And The “Sleep”

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Sleep together. I know one of my sisters said that. Anyways. So then we uh decided to go to my house. I have to dance. So yeah, I was dancing with everybody, flirting it up, and uh danced with you. And like I wasn't interested. Like, you gotta understand, I wasn't interested in it.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Obviously not.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

And we had another friend of ours there, he's year more close to your age. I think you guys are just a few months apart. Anyways, and uh and we're like, whatever, like I'm just doing this for my buddy to show off because he wanted to look cool in front of this girlfriend who apparently is real. We all thought she was a fake. And anyway, so we all went to my house and we took two different cars.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

So I got I drove with Michelle in his car.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Yeah, so she drove with me. Uh you sat in the front, yeah, in the front seat. I had the what did I have back then?

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Was it the convertible?

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Yeah, I had a black pontiac convertible.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Like I I actually remember this drive. Like I don't remember much. Like you can always ask us, and it's always Michelle remembers everything, and I just don't. But I remember this drive because you go through like this tunnel in Montreal, right? Like it's like an underground tunnel.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Yeah, so it goes underneath like the city, like downtown city of Montreal.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

And it's fairly long. And he talked the entire time, okay? And he's such a good talker. I mean, I guess you can figure that one out. But I thought he was very, very successful at the time. It was interesting to hear him talk. I thought he owned a house. Like by the time I got to his house, I thought he owned the house. I was wrong.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

See, that's her point of view. I never said I own the house. I said we're just going to my place.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Going to his house. So I just assumed that he owned his house. Like, oh, what a successful.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

He owned a car. I thought that was amazing in itself.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

I guess for you. So we're just talking, and I was telling her, like, I don't know if we were talking.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

You were talking.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

I guess you were listening.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

I was fascinated.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Well, it's like it's like doing the podcast. I ask you a question, you just look at me like, Why'd you ask me a question, dumbass? It was the same thing when we first met. So we get to my house, and uh and it's like my house, it's my brother's house. Um so I grew up in that house. My dad sold it to my brother.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

He was renting a room.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

So I was renting my bedroom.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

I learned that later.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Yeah. Uh it's a long story though. Anyway. But I did not tell her I own the house. She just assumed. So you know what's her fault? She should have asked, and I would have been like, no, it's my sister-in-law's house. I swear I said this is my sister-in-law's house.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Well, not not initially.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

I don't know. Because it was still under renovations then, too. She was renovating it. Anyways, and there's a pool. We went swimming in the backyard and stuff. We hung out.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

I wore his clothes.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Yeah, they didn't have swimsuits, so I gave them shorts and t-shirts and stuff. Yeah, I remember that now. Yeah. I guess I wasn't that fat that day. You actually fit my clothes. Anyway, so we're hanging out. Um, I guess that's pretty much how we met, but then like, you know, and the part she said how like, oh, we slept together the first night. So, like, yeah, there's we had like what, there's a bunch of us, and four of us were sitting on my bed watching a movie.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

You make it sound like an orgy.

Zero Interest And The Pity Date Rules

SPEAKER_00 11:53

It's a Mormon. It was not. It's a Mormon orgy. So there's four of us sitting on my bed, because I had a TV in my room and everything, and we're watching a movie, and then other two people were sitting on the chairs or something. There's six of us total, I think. Yeah. And we're just sitting there watching a movie. So I fell asleep. Movie's boring as fuck. I fell asleep too. She fell asleep. So the story is we slept together. Yeah. But that's it. Like, that's pretty much it. We just fell asleep. Boring movie. Anyway, so that's how we met. And then it was funny because when we were done, everybody left except me and my other buddy. So he left with his the his girlfriend, but his younger brother was there too, and he was hanging out with me still. And uh he's like, Yeah, I'm not interested in any of those girls. I'm like, Yeah, me neither. If you want Krista, have at her, you know. Go on go on a date with her. I was already pawning you off. Like, if you want to ask her out, I'm not standing in your way, buddy. I got a lot of other opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Well, I wasn't interested in you either.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

And then he gave you girls and nicknames. That was funny.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

So funny. Yeah, it was.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Anyway, so that was that.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

You're not gonna say what it was. Do you want me to I don't care?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

So we used to call Krista Raccoon and her oldest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

That's it.

unknown 13:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Oh, you don't want me. I get it. Because she was such a nerd in school. I guess she stayed up like all hours of the night redoing her schoolwork. So she had big eye bags.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

It really wasn't that bad, honestly, but if I could show you a picture, I would.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

What what are they called? Eye bags. Eye bags? I guess. I don't know. She just looked like she was always tired. So, anyways, we call her raccoon. Unless you wore black makeup and smudged it at that point.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

I didn't wear makeup. I can barely wear makeup now. All I know is like a little bit of eyeshadow and that that stuff you put on your eyelashes. What's that called? Eye liner? No.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Eyelash stuff?

SPEAKER_01 13:54

The eyelash stuff.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

I don't know. Anyways, people don't care about that. So we're just getting to our story of how we met. So that's pretty much how we met. And then I was like, not interested. And then like time went by. I think your sister forced you to call me on my birthday. Like you'd called me a couple times for some reason.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

I called you?

SPEAKER_00 14:13

To wish me happy birthday? I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Like I remember for some reason I vaguely remember like you called me once or twice.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Maybe that was after?

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Maybe it was after. I'm supposed to remember everything. But anyways. So one day my buddy looks at me and goes, Hey man.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

So this is like in a few months later, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Months later, yeah. Like you turned 18. Yeah, yeah. You were 18. And anyways, um, so it was months later. It was summertime now. And uh he's like, Hey man, remember how like a couple years ago you said if ever like I'm gonna want to go on a date? And I I was like, you know, we I told him this a couple years before. I'm like, yeah, if you want to go on like Montreal, like we could drive like an hour or two, whatever. And like as long as I date the the hot the hotter one like that was my rule is I had to date like her hottest friend she has, whoever he's gonna go on a date with. So he looks at me and goes, Yeah, yeah, like we're gonna go to see his girlfriend all the way in Toronto. And I'm like, Oh, it's a long drive. And he's like, Yeah, it'd be cool. And I'm like, Well, who's my date? Oh, you'll see. Like, uh it's she's really hot. I'm like, she better be hot, like she better be like, you know, boom. I guess I was shallow, eh? A little bit. I must sound shallow to the people now. Only if you see me, you know I'm not strucking. And uh he's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so we drive like six and a half hours. And we get there, and I'm like, we pull up to her house, the address he had, and I look out the window and I see Krista just standing there. I'm like, why is she here? He goes, Oh, um, she's uh, you know, just waiting for her sister to get off work, so she's gonna hang out with us. I'm like, she might date. He's like, Yeah, I didn't want to tell you, man. Because you wouldn't drive me. I'm like, what's wrong with you? You know I'm not interested. Like, I'm a man. I know you're eight, she's eighteen and I'm only like twenty-one or twenty two at this point.

Toronto Trip And Canada’s Wonderland

SPEAKER_01 16:15

But see, it's even worse. My side of the story was that my sister like kind of forced me into it, even though like she's like, the only way that he'll come is if his his friend has a date. So like I need you to do this for me. So I'm like, uh, I guess. But I had literally just broken up with my boyfriend like a few days before that. So I was just not happy outside of like, you know, rough place. I just broke it up with my boyfriend of like six weeks. It meant a lot.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

I guess. Meant a lot kissing in the woods.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Yeah. So I was not happy with it, but I did it for her.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah, and I wasn't happy with it. Yeah, he's right. I wouldn't have driven that long to date you. Out, I know. But that's how it was, like then, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Yeah. Um like we literally had no interest in each other at all. There was nothing there.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

She didn't care about me, I didn't care about her. This is how it went. Like, we picked her up, we go to this park waiting for his girlfriend to finish work and meet us there. And I'm there, we're talking, me and him, and I'm talking and asking Krista questions. She's just there, like, either not answering or just one-word answer. It's like, yeah. I literally looked at her and I'm like, what's wrong with you? Like, I don't want to be here, you don't want to be here, but uh like let's make lemon out of lemonades. Like lemon out of lemonades.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Let's make a bunch of lemonades and by shoving them together to get that lemon back out.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

You know what I'm trying to say. Let's make lemonade out of lemon. See, French, I'm thinking of my French brain, we say things backwards. Show me to put up with this for 20 years. Anyway. And I was just like, yeah, you're being such a bitch. Like, I don't want to be here. You don't want to be here. Like, you're gonna we're gonna go out to dinner, like we're going, we were going to like Canada's Wonderland in Toronto.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

It was an all-inclusive date. It was an inclusive why would I complain?

SPEAKER_00 18:12

You were complaining.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Just I said, why would I, though? I mean, how dare I?

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Yeah, how dare you? Yeah. I guess I sound even shallower at that point. Anyway, so she's just like, whatever. And I'm like, whatever. I'm just looking at my buddy like you're gonna get it. Anyway, so the day goes on. Eventually, like she stopped being grumpy. She's like, whatever, like this.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

I got free food. I was happy after that.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

She's happy with free food, and this really hot, amazing guy was flirting with her, right? We went to the water slides, we went on rides, we had a lot of fun. It was all right. Because we went Canada's Wonderland.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Oh, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Yeah, it was called Canada's Wonderland. What is it called? Or call it Paramount Canada's Wonderland, not just Canada's Wonderland. Anyway, maybe people that live there like the history. And that's pretty much like how we met, and then after that date, like we you called me a couple times because your sister forced you.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

I'm pretty sure you always called me. Like, I don't think that I ever picked up a phone to call anybody.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Your sister must have called and then passed you the phone.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

This is back in the day when we only had like phones, not cell phones, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

I had a cell phone.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Oh, I didn't have a cell phone.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Yeah, you did? Then? Yeah, you had that prepaid one where you had to put money on it and you could only text.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Oh, where you had to like push one number three times to get like a letter.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yeah. Yeah. I remember that phone. The old phones. I had a phone when I was eighteen.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Then we used to talk on like Messenger or something.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah, like MSN. MSN, yeah. MSN. That used to be a thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

I don't know if it still is, but we're older than we sound.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Yeah, like I guess you called me once in a while, I called you, but like it was just like friends, like whatever, like my buddy's dating your sister. And like, whatever. I guess it was alright. Like we won't finally had a good decent date, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

But like Yeah, like I didn't hate him by the end, which is nice.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yeah. And there's no kissing. Maybe well there's hand holding.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Was there?

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Did I grab your hand at one point?

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Maybe at Wonderland, I think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Just to be flirty and like make her feel special.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

That's the only reason.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

I really wasn't interested. Were you interested then?

SPEAKER_01 20:24

No, I I like the attention, I guess, a little bit.

Staying Friends Across Calls And MSN

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Yeah, who doesn't like the attention, I guess? So yeah, that was pretty much the date. And then like a few months later, well a few months later, eh? I don't know. I don't know. Then I had a buddy of mine call me um from Utah. Mormon, right? But it's okay. He's like, I'm getting married in the mor, you know, in the Mormon temple in Utah. Do you want to come? And I was like, yeah, man, I'm gonna make it. And I was looking at plane flights, and it was like$300 cheaper from Toronto. So I'm like, hey, I know somebody in Toronto. So I call you. I'm like, hey, Krista, I'm coming to go to a wedding and to go to the airport. So like I was wondering if I could just like come to your house and we could hang out, and then I could leave my car there while I fly to Utah for a free.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

I didn't feel used at all.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Did you?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

No, I don't think I did. No, I don't think I picked up on it. No, that was pretty naive.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Whatever. Like we're friends. We were friends, I think.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

I think we were kind of friends.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

I think we were kind of friends then. Like you called me on my birthday and stuff like that. So I was like, yeah, that'll be cool. And your parents seemed to be cool with it.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Yeah. So I I don't think they liked you yet.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

No, no, they didn't. It took her a while, even after we got married. Anyway, so we're gonna get to that story. It's true. Numbered in part two. But uh yeah, so then I drive all the way down there and I we hung out, we went out to dinner, I think, and we talked, and I'm like, oh, maybe you're not so bad after all.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

And you're like, yeah, you know, like Yeah, because this I think this is our first time hanging out together, just me and you, right? Yeah, we went for a like a double date thing.

Utah Trip And YSA Stereotypes

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Yeah. We're just hanging out as friends, talking, we won't got ice. Scream, I guess, and stuff. And we're just sitting around talking. And I was like, oh, I guess, you know, you even you said, Yeah, you're not as bad as I thought. Yeah, you're not as bad as I thought. Just, you know, I guess it's quite the love story. Yeah. We fell in love. No, not even. And uh so then I went to Utah for the wedding, and my buddy's parents in Utah, their goal was for me to find a Mormon girl out there so I could live there, and they were gonna like, you know, get me my citizenship and I could become American and stuff. That was their goal. So I go over there and then I'm trying to so in in Utah, and in some parts, I guess now they're everywhere, but back then uh they didn't have any in Montreal where I grew up, which was YSA wards. So it's a whole church where young single adults go only. So there's no families, there's no nothing, it's just people between the ages of to mingle and be groomed for marriage.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Between the ages of eighteen to thirty. In a good way.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

In a good way.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Yeah, it was fun. So eighteen to thirty, single, you're allowed to go to this ward. And the only people that are married are the like the bishops or the branch presidents that are running the wards. So they're allowed to be there because and they're married, and then they run the ward. I don't know. Maybe there'd be some Mormons being like, no, there's married people there, the bishop. Don't want to see that in the comments. I don't want to get an email reading about it. So okay, I'll move along. And anyway, so I'm going, and there's like an activity happening, a relief society activity. You've got to understand relief society activity, because I went to this church to go find some girls to go date, because I'm supposed to find a girl and live in Utah. And uh in the real church wards is like um what was I saying? Relief society is like, you know, a lot of more like it's everybody, all the women, right? 18 plus. But usually there's like a lot of old married people there too, and like families and stuff. So like there's a relief side activity, nobody was volunteering to help set up there's like a big dinner or something. So I was like, well, I'm gonna be in town. My buddies, you know, get married, and so he's not gonna want to hang out. He's gonna want to hang out with his new wife. So I was like, yeah, I'll volunteer. I start talking with all the girls there because there's only sing young single adults. But he's like, you hear a lot of these Mormon stereotypes, I guess. About like, oh, you know the Molly Mormon. The Molly Mormon, yeah. Like you have to, you know, they'll rub your leg to see if you have garments, right? We're not getting out to that. Okay, they rub your leg to see if you have some special magic underwear that the worm's and then that means he served a mission, right? Um I asked you where you served your mission, because if you're not a return missionary, they don't want you. Stuff like that, right? I thought it was all stereotypes because it wasn't like that where I grew up. Because like if you were a Mormon, you actually wanted to be a Mormon. It wasn't like not forced, but like everybody's a Mormon in each other. Yeah. Anyway, so like they had those stereotypes came out because I wasn't allowed. I actually tried to serve a mission, but I wasn't allowed because I have a heart condition, and then I was refused to go on a mission. And yeah, people were like, I'm banging the table. Oh, he holds my hand. Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

To make you stop banging the table. Bang on the table, not banging the table. I'm joking. Joking.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

We're gonna pause right now and do an intermission.

unknown 25:11

Continue.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Anyway, so in in long story short, yeah, all the stereotypes were true. All these girls were like, oh, I'm not interested. I was like, yeah. So my buddy's sister, older sister, and uh his mom were trying to set me up on dates. I went on a few dates, but like it was just weird. Like, I like I never experienced a I guess a Mormon like that. They're just like, hey, I don't know something about it. Like, I don't know. Like they're like, Where did you serve your mission? And I'm like, oh well, uh, I didn't. I could oh yeah, you must have been a sinner, you know, something like that, I guess. And so then I'm hanging out, I did Zions Canyons alone. Met a bunch of Russian girls. That was fun.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Because I actually went to that was your next plan if Utah didn't work out.

Dates, Awkward Questions, And Rethinking Us

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Yeah, if Utah didn't work out, I was gonna find some Russian models and bring them to Canada because they're gonna want green cards. But no, I not not Russian girls. I bumped into some German girls, and I was actually spent time in Germany when I was 18 to go date a Mormon girl. It's another story. But anyways. So I was hanging out with them, that was pretty cool. But yeah, so I went and did a bunch of things. My buddy's married at this point, so he doesn't want to hang out. And uh so I was hanging out with his dad, and we were just out in the desert in Utah, and uh, we're just talking, and he's like, Is there anybody special? I'm like, not really. He's like, There's like he's no girls, like you're always like I want this girl, this girl, this girl. Because we need he knew me, I was like 14 and all the way up to 18, I guess. And they moved away. And I was like, No, like there's kind of this girl named Krista, like I kind of told him the story, and he's like, Well, is she alright? Like, do you don't want to get to know her or anything? I'm like, I don't know, like maybe. Then I just started thinking about it. I'm like, maybe I do want to get to know her. He's like, So why don't you go hang out with her? I said, Well, when I fly back almost my flight, I gotta go straight to work in Montreal the next day, so I'm not gonna hang out. I'm just gonna land in the middle of the night and drive home. And then I was like, just thinking about it, I'm like, I should go see Krista. So I was like, so I call, I'm like, hey, it's Michelle. I'm from Central, I'm in Utah. The wedding's over and all that. And she's like, cool. I'm like, so I'm thinking about coming back a day early if you want to, you know, try to go on a date with me. For real, not forced. And then you were like, Yeah, yeah. Like, I guess you I don't know, you felt special or something. So maybe a tiny bit of interest. Maybe, like it was just something, I guess, whatever. Because before the situation was weird, and so anyway, so I was like, Yeah, I'm gonna call the airline, see if I could switch things around, I'll pay the fees and come back a day early. And she was like, Okay, and your parents were cool with that. I even slept over at your house. So they're cool with that. So I made the arrangements, I get there, and I see her, and I'm like, hey, how's it going? We're just hanging out and talking. And then we went back to where we went to get ice cream. Then we were talking, and then something happened. But I'm gonna leave it as a cliffhanger. And then we'll start that in the second part of this. And it was uh different, it was cool. So yeah, we'll talk about that. So that's that's the story. Story of a girl. No, who didn't like me? And I didn't like her at first. Okay, so yeah, thanks for staying with us if you stayed this far. We appreciate it. I don't know what we're doing anymore. But this is our podcast, and it's gonna get interesting, I promise. So we're just getting through all this stuff. So interesting. It is very interesting. It is like you got to see like where we come from, like the whole point of us telling you these stories and all that. Like, yeah, sometimes I ramble and crap and trying to stay unfocused. You crap sometimes when we check the chair, and like telling stories and all that, just so you get like groundwork of where we're coming from, who we are. Like everybody pretends online that they know their shit and they show you like the best life. You can look up Mormons on there too, and you see like the perfect Mormon family and all that. But I guarantee what you see is not real. Like, we're just showing you who we are, talking about our real story and how against all odds, actually, we ended up where we are now, and like we still are creating our perfect reality and our perfect things, and how everything works out perfectly. So, yeah, we are getting more into like the law of attraction and stuff, but this was our life back then was you know, God knew best, we trusted the Holy Ghost, and we did everything according to what God's will, you know, and He knows best for us and stuff, so that's our life. But then it gets flipped upside down, so stay tuned. Well, thanks for listening, and this is uh another episode of Life Changers, and I'm Mike.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

And this is Krista.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

We'll talk to you later. Bye.