I am so excited to share these pictures of my beautiful friends today! David and Simone have been a part of our lives for the past 9 months and we have been so blessed by their stories, their friendship, and their incredible faith. David is originally from South Africa and Simone from Brazil, but they were temporarily living in Virginia when an opportunity came for them to drive to Los Angeles with a friend. Coming to LA had always been a dream of theirs, but they had no idea where they would go or who they would stay with when they arrived. Still, after praying about it for two days, David and Simone packed up their belongings and began their journey to LA.

It was on that drive over that Simone remembered meeting someone from California the summer before. This someone was Erin, a girl from our church. They had only met briefly while Erin was on a missions trip to Brazil, but they exchanged facebook information. After a few messages Erin welcomed our new friends in, and that’s when all of us got connected. I was hosting a girls’ smoothie night around that time and I remember Erin asking if her friend could tag along. I can still picture all of us girls surrounding Simone as she shared her journey with us and just how encouraged we were by their bold faith. David and Simone joined our community after that night and we have been blessed by their lives ever since.

Fast forward 9 months. David and Simone decided to return to Brazil for a season and we were all so sad to see them go. I really wanted to bless them with a photoshoot so they could remember their time in LA and just how faithful God was in these 9 months. David and Simone chose to take their photos at the Griffith Observatory and it was the perfect location with the city of Los Angeles in the background! : ) We love and miss you, David and Simone! Come back soon!