Jeff: I was the middle child out of seven, and I grew up attending mass and catechism classes. Church was a part of our lives. I believed in God, but I didn’t understand who He was. I didn’t know His love. I don’t remember ever being read to as a child. I struggled with dyslexia, which led to me failing a grade – a failure for which I was beaten. In Dallas, an X-rated world was readily accessible to me, and pornography became a part of my life early on.

The Dannemillers were all swimmers, and Jeff found success in diving. Although dyslexia made schoolwork incredibly challenging, Jeff received a full diving scholarship to Texas Tech University. As a freshman, Jeff sought freedom, fun, and affirmation through the college party scene, where drinking and flirting were the activities of choice. During that first year of college, Jeff’s path crossed with Celeste’s for the first time.

Celeste: I grew up in Texas with my Puerto Rican father, my mother, and a sister who was five years older than I. My parents both worked, and, on the outside, our family looked like we had a perfect life. We had a beautiful home, new cars, tropical vacations, and nice clothes. But inside of our home things were far from perfect. My father was an alcoholic who was also addicted to pornography, and his relationship with my mother was volatile. I was a deeply insecure child. While my older sister was a go-getter who was smart and organized, my emotional instability meant that I struggled with school. I was worried and afraid all the time. Poor grades meant that I was often grounded, but I didn’t have the encouragement I needed to succeed. We didn’t share family meals; our family values were skin-deep.

Because Celeste didn’t feel valued for who she was, she learned to manipulate others’ perceptions of her through exaggeration. While she was a moral girl who made mostly right choices through her high school years, she clung to the idea that the honest version of herself was not enough. To be loved or approved of, she had to fabricate a persona that met the elusive standards of beauty and success.

Celeste: I went to church with my grandparents, but religion was a confusing topic. My father was an atheist who said that the Christian faith was a nice story that helped weak people. On one hand, my grandparents were strict, Bible-believing and legalistic. On the other hand, my parents lived a licentious life without faith. It was confusing. But I always felt pulled towards faith.

At a Nazarene revival, sixteen-year-old Celeste was stirred to fear by a hellfire and brimstone message and its accompanying altar call.

Celeste: I was definitely compelled to go forward out of fear, but I also truly believe the Lord saved me that night. He did move in my heart and call me to Himself. I learned more about the Gospel by serving with the Billy Graham crusade a few months later, but I still didn’t fully grasp what it meant to be Christ’s follower.

During that time of new spiritual growth, Celeste found herself on a blind date to a rock concert where everyone was smoking marijuana. After taking one puff of her date’s joint, she panicked, and sought the aid of Jeff – whom she recognized from the pool. Celeste was only looking for a safe ride home, and clean-cut Jeff seemed like her best option. A trio of police officers noticed that the pair did not seem to belong or be comfortable in the wild, drug-fogged scene of the large concert, and escorted them outside. Jeff walked Celeste to his campus dorm. He borrowed a car to drive her home, and she impulsively invited him in for popcorn and cocoa. Their late-night conversation in Celeste’s living room started a whirlwind romance that led to marriage within a year.

Jeff: Our first year of marriage was rough. We fought a lot. I was still drinking quite a bit, which didn’t help.

Celeste: We didn’t have the tools to work through our disagreements. We didn’t know how to apologize to each other. We had poor conceptions of marriage and didn’t know what we were doing.

Jeff: Six months after our wedding, Celeste found out she was pregnant. I had been struggling my way through college up to that point. With Celeste expecting our baby, the need to support our family seemed like a good reason to quit school. It probably wasn’t the right decision, but we were wise in our own eyes, and, at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do.

When baby Danielle was a few months old, Celeste determined to take her to church. She walked each Sunday to a neighborhood congregation and Jeff eventually joined them. Attending church helped bring stability to their marriage as their family grew, though the pattern of flaring tempers and unresolved conflict continued. The local church leaders baptized Jeff and invited him to serve as a deacon, even though Jeff had never accepted Jesus Christ as His personal Savior. 

Jeff: I was teaching junior high boys at this church, and I didn’t even know Christ yet. I had never really understood salvation. I invited a pair of visiting Mormons into our home and went through their seven-week training program, though Celeste, who knew they were teaching false doctrine, didn’t join us. I was so confused. I tried asking God for a sign. Ultimately, I told Him that I just wanted to be on the right team. I wanted Him to show me which beliefs were His Truth.