In honor of Valentine’s month, these are a few of the love stories from couples within the Missouri Baptist University community. Each love story is beautiful, unique and worth sharing. These couples have learned invaluable wisdom from each other and their relationship, demonstrating that they are better, and happier, together.
Emilee and Jake Messer
Each couple has a story to share, and there is no shortage of love stories from members of the MBU community.
Emilee Messer worked as an administrative assistant for MBU from July 2022 to July 2025, and she is currently the Resident Director of Spartan Village.
During her time working for MBU, she attended an event that would introduce her to the love of her life.
As Messer arrived at the trivia event, she did not realize she was sitting at the same table as someone who would become not only a close friend, but eventually, her future husband.
Messer’s love story with her now husband, Jake Messer, started as meeting at a fundraiser, becoming friends, and then getting married not long after– demonstrating that intentionality and fun can and should coexist in a relationship.
In an email, Emily Messer retold her sweet love story with her husband.
“Jake and I met in 2023 while sitting at the same table at an FCA [Fellowship of Christian Athletes] trivia night fundraiser. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight, but I do remember thinking that the guy in the Hawaiian shirt with the red hair was really smart, really humble, and really cute. Our trivia table became a friend group that hung out almost every day that spring and into the summer — playing pickleball, watching Star Wars movies, learning how to golf, trying new flavors at Clementine’s and bowling on Monday nights — and I fell hard and fast for Jake because I had never met someone so gifted in so many areas, yet so kind, humble, and gentle. Eventually, our group hangouts turned into just the two of us spending time together, and once we started dating, we pivoted pretty quickly into serious conversations about marriage and the future because neither of us wanted to waste time. We got engaged four months after we started dating and got married a few months after that, and on my wedding day in March 2024, I thought there was no possible way I could love Jake more than I did in that moment; somehow every day since has grown my love for him (and my like for him!) because I am blessed to be married to someone who has seen me at my lowest and still tangibly lives out the gospel by sacrificially loving me every single day!”
– Emilee Messer
Daniel Gardiner and Heather Mai
Daniel Gardiner is a senior at MBU who plays lacrosse and is majoring in journalism.
Gardiner and his fiancée, Heather Mai, weren’t on the greatest terms when they first met in their high school years.
However, when they happened to reunite a few years later, their feelings for each other drastically changed.
Gardiner wrote in an email about the journey of his love story with Mai, and he spoke about the invaluable lessons that their relationship has taught him.
“Heather and I used to work together at a trampoline park back when we were both in high school. She wasn’t the biggest fan of me back then due to some issues I had with our manager and me being stubborn. A few years later, I recognized her when she came into my new job and we started hitting it off there. We would then eventually go to the gym together, which led to hanging out outside of the gym, then dates, then finally making it official. Being with her has taught me a lot about not just her but myself. I’ve learned that being myself and not conforming to those around me leads to a much happier life. And of course, happy wife, happy life.”
– Daniel Gardiner
After two years of dating, in October 2025, Gardiner proposed to Mai, and the couple began to plan their wedding, which will be in November of this year.
Ellie Mollish and Jake Broyles
Anyone who has been around MBU for a while has likely met the friendly, lovely couple: Ellie Mollish and Jake Broyles.
Mollish is a Resident Assistant for South Hall on MBU’s campus and a senior studying exercise science.
Jake Broyles is also a well-known member of the MBU community who graduated from the university and has worked on campus in the past.
Mollish and Broyles got engaged near the end of 2025.
They both share a love for sports and for their mutual friends and people within the MoBap community.
Mollish and Broyles, who are now engaged, met at MBU.
The two were just friends for a couple of years.
While neither of them was necessarily looking to be in a relationship, God had better plans for them.
A conversation that Mollish and Broyles had after The Pursuit, a student-led worship night at MBU that Broyles spoke at that night, became the beginning stage of the pair moving beyond the friend zone.
In an email, Mollish explained how her journey of friendship, and now romance, with Broyles unfolded.
“Jake and I met through having a mutual friend group. We became friends while we were both students at MBU. He graduated a semester early and then started working here, so I saw him around all the time. He taught at The Pursuit one night, and we chatted a lot after he taught. From then on, we talked nonstop and then started dating! It didn’t take long for either of us to realize that this was the person we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with. Something I’ve learned is that God’s timing is better than ours and that He does answer prayers but in His own way, so that only He can get the glory! Neither Jake nor I were looking for a relationship when we started dating, but we thank the Lord every day that we did! Now we are engaged and getting ready to get married at the end of [the] summer. Thank you, Jesus!”
– Ellie Mollish
The pair were friends for two years before they started dating.
10 months after they began dating, Broyles proposed and the couple became engaged.
Mollish and Broyles will have their wedding in August of this year.
Although they will both be graduates of MBU soon, they will forever have a love story tied to the university.
Mollish and Broyles will always have an irreplaceable story and sweet memories they can look back on together, all thanks to their relationship that originated at MBU.
These three couples, who all have ties to MBU, have their own unique love stories, unlike anyone else’s.
However, they are all alike in that these members of the MBU community have found a love that feels like home– a love that will last forever.
Love is worth cherishing, celebrating and fighting for, especially when it’s the forever kind.
