Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
Griswold is such a beautiful and unique place. It really allows you to quiet your heart and listen to what the Lord has to offer you in those moments.
By Micah Mertes
Where else could he propose but Creighton’s Retreat Center?
The Retreat Center was, after all, the reason that Pete Elbert, BSBA’23, and Christina Davis, BS’23, are together, the place where they fell for one another and realized they’d make great life partners.
It started their senior year. Pete and Christina kind of knew each other (or at least of each other) when they joined Campus Ministry’s associate director Father Jeff Sullivan, SJ, BA’23, in coordinating the freshman winter retreat at the Griswold, Iowa, center.
“Before the retreat, Christina and I met several times to plan everything,” Pete said. “I started looking so forward to those meetings. My favorite thing was just hearing Christina talk about her day.”
Before, during and after the retreat, Pete and Christina engaged in long talks about their faith, the retreat's framework serving as a quick and meaningful way to get to know each other.
A few months later, shortly before graduation, they started dating. “That was a big decision for us because I was moving to Spain, and he was moving to Chicago,” Christina said. They would have to make their new relationship long-distance for the first few years.
Three years later, they’re both living in Omaha again, both doing well in their careers (he’s a healthcare business consultant; she’s a fourth-grade teacher about to become a school counselor).
When Pete decided to ask Christina to marry him this past spring, he knew there was only one place to pop the question. But what were the logistics of a Retreat Center proposal?
He called Fr. Sullivan, then the Retreat Center. “Everyone was so excited about the idea and so nice to work with,” Pete said. But how could he get Christina to the Retreat Center without tipping his hand?
Pete found an old pamphlet from a Creighton retreat, copied it, changed the dates to this April and then gave it to Christina on her birthday. For her gift, he said, he had booked “a silent retreat” for them in Griswold.
Pete is admittedly bad at surprises. Plus, the silent retreat just so happened to fall on his and Christina’s anniversary weekend. She knew something was up, and she suspected what it was (and already knew what her answer would be when Pete asked).
“We got to Griswold and went on a walk around the grounds,” Christina said. “Then he proposed right in the middle of all the cabins. Even though I saw it coming, it didn’t make it any less special.”
Right after their engagement, they went to the Retreat Center’s chapel, one of Christina’s favorite places.
“I asked him, ‘Where are we staying?’” Christina said. “And he told me, 'Oh, actually the retreat was fake, and we’re going back to Omaha now.’ He had planned lunch with both of our parents.”
Looking back on their time at Creighton, Pete and Christina see that their story began before they even really knew each other. They crossed paths all four years, often at retreats and other Campus Ministry experiences. All the while, they were deepening their faith and relationship with God (and, in the process, becoming even better-suited partners for one another).
“There's such a sense of belonging in all of those retreats,” Christina said. “They gave me time and patience and a comforting place to learn how to encounter Jesus in prayer. I wouldn’t know how to pray the way I do without that community supporting me and leading me through it.”
“Griswold is such a beautiful and unique place,” Pete said. “It really allows you to quiet your heart and listen to what the Lord has to offer you in those moments.”
Next summer, Pete and Christina will be married at St. John’s Church (where else could it be?), with Fr. Sullivan officiating (who else could it be?). Over the next year, they will be taking part in Creighton’s marriage prep sessions at St. John’s.
“St. John’s is one of the most beautiful places on Earth,” Christina said. “We each sat there for so many afternoon and evening Masses. It’s a place that, like the Retreat Center, ties our faith journeys together, and it will always be special for our family.”
