Long post; please help!

So, I'll give you the full story. My boyfriend dated his first love for just a little over two years (from 2009-2011). She lived in Houston, which is about 4 hours from where we live. He used to drive down any chance he could depending on his financial situation. It was the typical long distance relationship; emails, letters, gifts, various surprises, yada yada. They were both attending college, and were even making plans to be near each other and eventually get married, although my boyfriend was more invested in the relationship than she was. Mind you this was both of their first relationships. They had very similiar backgrounds: homeschooled, same religion, same views, and very many of the same interests. I guess distance and disapproval of him by her parents is what caused her to one day break up with him over the phone. He says that she never gave him a reason why or told her what was wrong, but he thinks it was distance and parents.

So, he was very depressed afterwards. He and I had known each other from college for about a year. I had feelings for him, but he never knew. About a month after their breakup, he started dating another girl. Essentially, she was the rebound. They broke up within the same month, and he was single for the next few months. He then dated another girl long distance because she moved out of the country. They lasted about 6 months, but they weren't romantically invested in each other because he had a hard time trusting and opening up to her. I imagine because he still wasn't over the first love. She too broke up with him via phone.

Now, he found out I had feelings for him about 3 months before the last gf broke up with him. We were best friends, and did virtually everything together. His gf was very jealous, but neither of us flirted or acted anything more than friends. In fact, it turns out that he had had feelings for another one of our friends, but he never acted on them. About 2 months after his last breakup, he all of a sudden had feelings for me, and asked me out. About two months after we started dating, his first ex gf showed up at our church, and he avoided all contact and afterwards smoked 3-4 cigarettes. He said it was a very stressful situation; he doesn't smoke.

We took things very slow. It was frustrating at times because I knew that he wasn't as invested as I was: It was months before he held my hand on a regular basis or went out of his way to do things for me. He only mentioned things about past gf a couple of time. Usually things he hated about them. 5 months in he told me he loved me. About 8 months in I got baptized in his religion, but not just for him (I had been going to that particular church for a year).

Now here's where it gets weird. About two days after my baptism, which coincidentally was a few days before we were scheduled to leave to go to Houston to help his sister fix up a house, he had a mental breakdown and was crying, saying he was a horrible person, and he's been so full of hatred. He told me he needed to know that I loved him, and that I would never leave him. He also said that when he saw me baptized he knew he wanted to marry me, and that I was his rock. I don't know where this came from, but I think it was the whole, going-back-to-Houston-bad-memories-of-past-gf. (first time he'd been back since the breakup) While there he refused to go to the same denomination church there because his ex goes there.

We've been together for 1 year and 3 months. We talk about our future together constantly; marriage, family, religious views, etc. We are not sexually active, and are waiting until marriage. Recently, we went on vacation with my family, and it just so happens that we had to drive thru Houston. Any mention of Houston, and he gets an, "I hate that place attitude." The car ride was very tense, being that he barely talked at all. The vacation was great, but he seemed someplace else. We are very open so we allow each other to read emails or whatever, but I read a few texts that he had sent to a friend while we were on vacation, his responds were as follows:

"I know, but I'm not really a fan of Houston for sanity's sake."

"My first gf lives there and there are a lot of not-so-nice-to remember-memories there."

"It's one of those things where you get over it, but you're never really OVER over it."

"I'm over it, but Houston brings it all back."

My concern is, it's been 3 years since they broke up! Why does Houston bother him so much? And why does it still hurt him so much if he's over her and happy with me? If he's over it, then why does it all come back? I'm OVER over my first bf. Should these be statements coming from a man who's saying he wants to marry me and have a future with me? Does it seem to you like he still has feelings for her? I'm worried they are stronger than he will ever feel for me. What do you make of this? I am actually quite disturbed about these statements he made. Should I confront him? Is it normal to feel this way? I don't understand.

Another thing...he still has journals from the time he dated her, and some of her letters and gifts to him. They are in boxes, but still...why did he keep them?

Please help!