Even though they grew up living 30 minutes away from each other, Hannah and Dallas never officially met until they were both coincidentally placed in the same Ram Rush group.
Ram Rush is the term used for the University of Mobile’s freshman orientation. Through Ram Rush, new students are able to meet new people, take part in fun activites, and get to know their way around campus.
Hannah and Dallas’s friendship quickly blossomed as they discovered their shared passion for missions. Both were majoring in intercultural studies and attended many of the same classes together. Over the course of their freshman year, Hannah revealed to Dallas that she felt the Lord calling her to ministry in Asia. Dallas responded by telling Hannah that God was calling him to Central and South America.
“Because we were being called to different areas,” Hannah explained, “Dallas and I never dated because we didn’t want to interfere with the Lord’s plans.”
However, God works in mysterious ways and, during their sophomore year, Hannah and Dallas were chosen to lead a Ram Rush group together.
“She wasn’t even supposed to be my partner.” Dallas laughed. “The girl who was originally paired with me had to drop out at the last second, and Hannah was put in as a replacement.
Through this second Ram Rush experience, the two developed an even closer bond. This special relationship grew even deeper when Hannah began taking a Spanish course. The class drew Hannah into the Hispanic culture and allowed God to nurture within her a love of the people from Central and South America. It wasn’t long before she realized the Lord was calling her to minister to these people.
“There came a point when I started to refer to Dallas and I as ‘we’,” Hannah said, “But I wasn’t thinking in the context of a romantic relationship. I was more thinking along the lines of, ‘We can go to seminary together, fly to South America, plant a church and be neighbors!’”
These talks of future goals consumed most of their sophomore year together.
“We went to the same church and, after the service ended, we would stay up and just talk.” Dallas said, “Church normally finished at 10 p.m., but we would often find ourselves up till 4 a.m.”
One week in December, a few days before final exams, Hannah and Dallas were watching movies together when Dallas suddenly said, “I think we’re supposed to get married.” Hannah wholeheartedly agreed, and they both called their parents that night to tell them the news.
The couple became officially engaged in March of 2018 and were married soon afterward in August. Dallas’s father officiated their ceremony.
Hannah and Dallas have been married for a year and a half and will both graduate in May 2020. They cannot wait to see how the Lord is going to use them as they prepare for both the mission field and another task they both feel the Lord calling them to – becoming foster parents.
(Photos by Justine and Wayne Photography)
Hailey Morgan is a graduate with a bachelor’s in communications and English at the University of Mobile. She won the area award in communication as well as graduated Summa Cum Laude. 2022 graduate, as a freshman she interned in UM’s Office of Marketing and Public Relations. Hailey enjoys reading, listening to music, and writing for fun in her free time.