She’s now engaged to her boyfriend Michael Macatangay
Star Circle quest finalist Melissa Ricks has been through a lot of challenges, even admitting in her Instagram account how life was two years ago. “When I felt that everything was falling apart, I was feeling hopeless. I didn’t have as much money as I did before. I was a single mom, I was alone, I didn’t have work, and I was scared,” intimates the single mom.
When a friend, Direk Paolo Tesico, told her that the best days were still ahead of her, it made her cry. “I held on to that. That was when I turned to God,” says Melissa. From her search to be closer to God, she found herself frequenting Jesus the Anointed One Church in Rosario, Batangas, which was two and a half hours away. She tried her best to attend Sunday mass every week. “Somehow, it felt like I was home. It felt right, I felt safe, I didn’t feel judged, I felt like my worries were taken away, and I felt like I had a family there,” she muses.
In one of her visits, Melissa asked God, “Lord, baka naman po may ma-meet ako dito.” Her credentials were “masipag, mabait, mahal ako and mahal anak ko, but most of all, may takot sa Diyos. Sana po may makatabi ako.” A few months later, she sat on the front row right next to her would-be fiance.
Fast forward to Aug. 30, Michael Macatangay, along with Melissa’s friends Ru, Mau, and Prey, surprised her with a wedding proposal in Rosario, Batangas. Michael asked the help of florist and event stylist Gideon Hermosa to dress up the path with beautiful flowers. Polaroid shots of the couple were hung on the curtain wall at the end of the walkway where Michael knelt down in front of all their friends and family to propose.
Melissa ended her post by thanking Michael’s family, “for all the love and kindness you have shown Kiera and me. I can’t wait to be part of this wonderful family. I promise to take care and protect Jayden and Michael the best that I can.”
Photos by Nice Print Photos