David and Anna Guthmann

by Anna

David and I grew up together in Charlotte. We were involved in lots of the same co-ops, classes and activities. These activities intersected mostly through music. We were almost always in the same choirs and shows together. We also shared a love for volleyball and spent many summer nights at David’s house playing volleyball with friends. Ministry was another passion we shared growing up. David and I were both small group leaders for middle school students while we were in high school and also participated in incredible mission trips to Romania.

As romantic as it would be to say that we were childhood sweethearts, that was not the case. David and I were good friends but were not interested in each other beyond that. We went to separate colleges, David to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD and I to Grove City College in Pittsburgh, PA. We always enjoyed catching up at home over our college breaks and hearing about all the excitements and challenges of our college experiences.

After we both graduated from college in 2009 and were in town for Christmas break, our relationship took a different twist. David was home from his submarine training in Charleston, and I was on my first break from teaching kindergarten in Charlotte. I came over to the Guthmann’s house to share in the excitement of the engagement of David’s younger sister, Elizabeth. While I was there, David continued to pop in and out of the conversation, and I remember thinking to myself, “Hmm, he’s really cute!” Apparently, he thought the same of me, because I got a call from him shortly after I left asking if we could catch up sometime soon. While David and I continued to communicate over the phone, it wasn’t until a few weeks later when David returned to Charlotte for a mutual friend’s wedding that our relationship really began to go in a new direction.

David and I were placed next to each other during the wedding reception and had a blast chatting and dancing together. We stayed up really late talking together and realized how much we had grown and changed during college and had fun reminiscing about childhood memories and all that we had in common. Two weeks later, we started dating.

Our dating relationship wasn’t the most ideal as we were separated by his Naval submarine career and my teaching job. However, through our long distance relationship, we learned a lot about making the most of our time together and really preparing ourselves individually for a long-term relationship. Eight months into our dating relationship and shortly before leaving for a seven-month deployment, David proposed. He asked me to marry him the day after Thanksgiving at my family’s lake house where we had made so many memories together over the years.

We got married two weeks after he arrived home from his deployment and moved to our first duty station in Norfolk, VA. It’s amazing how the Lord prepared both of us during our dating relationship and engagement for life and marriage in the military. Our relationship has been incredible. We have learned so much about relying on the Lord while we are apart and taking advantage of every moment that we do have together. We have been extremely excited to see how the Lord steered our lives together and cannot wait to see what He has in store for us in the future!

Anna Guthmann, daughter of Roger and Susan Preble, grew up being homeschooled in Charlotte. She attended Grove City College and taught kindergarten for two years before getting married and moving to Norfolk, VA.
David Guthmann, son of Howard and Alice Guthmann, grew up being homeschooled in Waxhaw. He attended the Naval Academy and is now serving on a submarine in the US Navy.
David and Anna were married on Oct 1, 2011.