Wedding and How They Met

TARA ROLANDELLI & JEFF VAUGHN AUGUST 8, 2008

Dearest Temple Square family,

It has been far too long (a few years too long) but I felt I was finally due for an update. :) I do have some exciting news...I am getting married!! The lucky man is Jeffrey Vaughn and we are getting married August 8th in the Dallas Texas Temple. It is amazing the things the Lord has in store for us! I am such a blessed girl.

Just a little bit about us....I met Jeff two years ago when he came in to a store I managed and I interviewed him for a job. At the time, he was a nice Southern Baptist small-town Texas boy. We became good friends and I started inviting him to some church activities...I thought he would make a great Latter-day Saint the moment I met him. :) One of our first dates, we had a very long gospel discussion--I basically taught him the entire first lesson. Afterwards, I asked him how he "felt about all of it" and he replied "well, it sounds interesting but I don't think it's for me." He wasn't interested in talking with the missionaries, but he did accept a book I gave him that would teach him more, "Our Search for Happiness" by M. Russell Ballard (one of my favorites, I recommend to all investigators). I had also told him I was only going to date and marry a guy that would take me to the temple. Jeff has always been a very spiritual guy...even though he didn't agree, at the time, with everything I believed, he also told me he felt very strongly about us pursuing a relationship. That's when we both decided to put ALL of our trust in the Lord. This was definitely NOT where I pictured my life going, dating a non-member, but I also felt really prompted to continue dating him. I started praying for a BIG miracle that I felt completely unworthy of. It was easy to pray for miracles as a missionary, but all the sudden I felt like I was asking for far too much.

Well, I didn't give up on him and a few months later HE called up the missionaries and asked them to come over. Through lots of fellowship, very long gospel discussions, lots of prayers, and amazing missionaries, Jeff accepted the gospel and was baptized about a year and a half ago. It was amazing experience to be a part of....the Lord did bless us all with a miracle!! Our Heavenly Father is a God of miracles...I see that everyday in the way that Jeffrey has embraced the gospel...it is amazing. I am so grateful for the unmeasurable amount of love God has for us. Now, about two years later... we are going to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. It seems I am always learning over and over again, that what I have planned for my life is good, BUT what God has planned is ALWAYS better!