LAYTON — Couples in the Diocese of Salt Lake City have the opportunity to deepen their relationship and their faith at a conference on Saturday, March 7, that is meant to be a day of restoration and renewal through speakers, worship, adoration and the Sacrament of Confession.St. Rose of Lima Parish in Layton will host the “Fully Surrendered” conference through the efforts of parishioners Alicia and Frank Martinez, who got in touch with Louie and Gina Rodriguez, co-founders of Date with the Word ministry based in Oakdale, Calif., which is the sponsor of this conference.
Alicia Martinez said that they have been working with the Date with the Word Ministry for about a year to host a couples’ conference in Utah. “Louie and Regina Rodriguez are family, and they shared their story, and I was immediately excited for having a similar ministry here,” she said.
Date with the Word started in 2022 as a ministry for married couples to strengthen together through God's word and establish a community to promote the sacredness of marriage. 
“This is the first year that the conference goes out to another state,” Rodriguez said.  
The conference is important because “as a married couple, it is often difficult to juggle all that life requires of us, like managing school and sports schedules, taking care of aging parents, work commitments, etc.,” she said. “Squeezing in date nights can be an extra challenge. We hope this event will be a call to couples across the diocese to carve out time to ‘Date with the Word’ during this couples’ conference.”
Father Gustavo Vidal, pastor of St. Rose of Lima, was very open to having the parish host the conference, she said. “He told us that he absolutely wanted this for his parish, allowing married couples and the surrounding communities to be able to experience God’s restoration and healing.”
The conference will feature three couples as speakers: Deacon Dan Paulus and his wife Kim, co-founders of Date with the Word; Tino and Vivian Scoto; and Tara and Patrick Correa.
“Through the tragedy of losing a child and also the struggles of pornography, Deacon Paulus was able to be fully healed, and so was his marriage,” Rodriguez said.
The challenges the Pauluses faced, which they will share at the conference, “brought their marriage closer, with the help of Christ, in their marriage that was broken,” she said.
That Paulus became a deacon “is also a reminder that even as a deacon, couples can be broken but God will come in and heal them,” Rodriguez said.
The Correas also have had difficulties, Rodriguez said. “They have gone through infidelity in their marriage and have had to root themselves. They had to really put God as a priority to restore their marriage. Now they have been married almost 30 years. They have so much life experience, and they share it through their walk with God. No matter how [bad] things can get, with God everything is possible.”
The Scottos have faced health challenges in their marriage 
“Vivian had a schizophrenic mother, and she had to learn how to forgive her mother not knowing what she was doing,” Rodriguez said.
Then Vivian’s mother was diagnosed with dementia, and “she and her husband had to take care of her,” Rodriguez said, adding that the Scottos also have dealt with infertility, “but they have held to the greater joy that God has a plan and in that plan he has not forgotten them.”
These couples’ stories are very real and relatable, Rodriguez said, and other couples need now more than ever “to hear of God’s miracles that have been happening in our families. He continues to change us, to transform us.”
The conference is open to all couples, married and engaged, or together long term.
“We want all to see what can happen in your marriage, and how having God with them will help them,” Rodriguez said. “This conference is for all the couples that are in the journey of walking with God.”
The conference is “an opportunity to grow closer to each other through Scripture, through creating sacred space for each other and to celebrate marriage – [although] unmarried couples are very welcome,” Martinez said.
"Fully Surrendered: A Couples Conference" will be Saturday, March 7, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, 210 Chapel St., Layton. The cost is $60 per couple; includes lunch. Scan the QR code to register. For information, call or text 209-764-5950.