The Larson and Yi families.

Mark and Alice Larson came to visit the shop with their daughters and Alice's parents. It was so fun seeing them. We were able to visit over Bubble tea for a bit. My mom even recognized Mark from the old Green River days. Mark and Alice are one of my longest and more faithful supporters. I felt blessed by the visit. I know I've been joking on the Blog that I want people to come visit and I'll take your picture and all that (by the way, I forgot the Larsons' picture). But, really, I think the reason I appreciate the visits is because the transition has been so hard that it's been easy for me to isolate myself. I don't have the energy to initiate much. I don't call people or try to get together much cuz it's so busy with the shop and it's just easier to let it go. But the long term affect of that is disconnection and isolation. I feel blessed that many have come to visit. God has been showing me His love for me and His provision through these visits.

My former pastor from Federal Way Church came to visit with the family. Pastor Don and his wife wanted to see how I was doing. This is my home church, the one that dissolved last summer. But Pastor Don hasn't been the pastor there for 6 years. He is now in the process of planting a church. I shared with them about how I'm doing and the rough transition. They were so gracious. I felt that they were sent by the Lord.

Memorial Day Weekend and the Taes

Paul and Jeehee drove up to Seattle from Portland for vacation on Memorial Day weekend. Jeehee is a precious wonderful gal whom I met when she was a freshman at UO. I was on staff with Crusade and I discipled her Bible study leader, Victoria. Then, I invited Jeehee to go to East Asia with me on a summer project in 2002 when she was a junior. She did go with me and it was a life-changing summer for her. We had an amazing time and we are still very close friends with many from that summer project. Now she's graduated and married to Paul.

Anyway, they came to the shop on Friday. It was very sweet that Jeehee asked me all sorts of questions about how I was doing in the transition. She really cares about me. I felt loved that she was so concerned for me. She and Paul decided I was couped up at the shop too much so they dragged me out to dinner the next night. Lindsay (another gal from the UO days) and her cousin joined us. We had a really great time out on the town on Sat. Then, as if that wasn't enough, they really wanted me to go to church with them in Seattle. So we met up again on Sunday in Seattle and attended a really nice community church where the pastor is Korean American and there were lots of young K-Am people my age. It was good for me to be there.

I really love Jeehee and Paul. I feel honored to have had a chance to be in Jeehee's life at a crucial time in her life in East Asia. I walked with her through some hard times and now she is a mature, spiritual woman who is very other's centered. It felt really good to be pursued and initiated with. It also made me feel honored that I get to benefit from some of the fruit of my ministry with Crusade. :)

To be honest, the transition from ministry to secular life has been very rough. I have felt isolated and lonely at times and have questioned my place in the world. I don't questions my decision to leave Crusde and come back home, because i know that was the right decision. The hardest thing is feeling disconnected to the people who have been the most significant friends over the years. My life is so drastically different that I have a hard time getting my head and heart around it. How can I feel as passionate about Bubble tea as I do in helping people know Christ. I know my place is here with my family. My parents have so loved having me home. I am still wrestling with the Lord about my purpose in this season of life and where he has me. If you can think of it, I would appreciate your prayers.

Marketing Strategy

I have a very sophisticated marketing strategy as you can see from my billboard. Ok, this town is kind of ghetto at times. The stripmall which the Wok is located in has a variety of stores. I found out that we are all suppose to take turns putting up our ad on the board but no one knew where the letters where to put up on the board. Visits to practically all the shops and then finally a call to the property owners finally got me the box of letters I needed. Except, there weren't enough of certain letters to make my sign. How can you write anything intelligible with only two "E"'s and "L"'s. So, I had to print them off on my desktop printer and then "laminate" them by taping over them with clear packing tape. You have to be innovative when you have limited resources. It's a very polished and professional sign. :)

Sherri and Andrew

Sherri, one of my best friends, came to visit with her son, Andrew. You can tell from this picture that they BOTH love Bubble Tea. Sherri used to drink BT all the time in E. Asia where she was a missionary with Campus Crusade for many years. She is now living in Federal Way. Sherri had the Black Milk tea. That's just the original straight up black tea without any flavoring. You gotta love the way she drinks it all authentic, just pure tea. :)

It was so good to see Sherri. She is one of the three in my closest circle of friends. It's Sherri, Daniela, and Katie. We all went to UW together, we were involved with Campus Crusade, and we all joined as fulltime missionaries with Crusade. Now, only Katie is still with Crusade. She is serving in East Asia. They continue to be my dearest friends and I know they will be with me for the rest of my life. It's good to have life long friends you can count on for anything and everything.

Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day and it was a really good one. Best in many years because our whole family was together. The morning started with getting up late and getting plenty of sleep. My mom and I went to visit a church for the first time called Rainier Christian Church. To my surprise, my mom really liked it, mainly due to the fact that they sang "I can't help falling in love with you" the song by Elvis Presley during worship. Funny huh? My mom wants to go back, surprising since she hasn't attended church in like a decade. Of course my dad refused to go, even on Mother's Day.

Then, we drove to Federal Way to get the rest of the family and drove up to Seattle to an amazing restaurant on Elliot Bay called Palisades. It was the best food I've had in a long time. They were so busy that they messed my up order and so we ended up getting two of our meals for free. What's more wonderful than an exquisite meal is when it's free. :) Here's a picture of me, my sis, and my neice with my mom. Emma our second cousin and my dad were there too.

Afterwards we went to the Seattle Center (that's where the Space Needle is) and we sent my parents to see an IMAX movie on Greece. They ended up going into the wrong theater but stayed in there because they thought they were seeing the 3D underwater IMAX instead which they were more interested in anyway. Little did they know that they were gonna have to sit through an hour of the new movie Poseiden. My dad loved it but it gave my mom a headache cuz it was so tense. They left the movie early because the Greece movie would have only been 45 minutes and so they couldn't watch all of the Poseiden. Well, so much for giving my mom an enjoyable visual experience for Mother's Day.

All in all, it was a wonderful day of being with the family. This is one of the reasons I wanted to be closer to my family. I'm thankful.

Where is Bonney Lake?

People keep asking me where Bonney Lake is. Even people in WA don't know where it is because it's a small obscure town. But as I mentioned before, it's the 2nd fastest growing city in Washington. Here's a map to help you. It's near Tacoma and not too far from Seattle. See it on the map on the bottom right near the 410 HWY? It's really just a short detour off the I5. Just so you know if you wanna come visit. :)

Shawn- good to see old friends

Shawn takes the record for visiting me twice! He came with his old high school buddy for lunch so I was able to get a picture of him this time. Shawn reminded me that I said I was a Bubble Tea snob. I guess I am since I look down on Bubble Tea shops that don't use tea in their Bubble Tea. There is a popular chain here in WA that caters to high school kids and they don't use tea. The tea is really the only good healthy ingredient of BT since all the rest of it is sugar and flavoring. So, really, they are just selling sugar water. I don't want to brag but there is real Taiwanese tea in every single one of my drinks.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. It's so fun seeing old friends. Especially since I've been stuck at the shop for most of the day and night. I worked 60 hours last week. At least now, one of our cashiers also knows how to make Bubble Tea. I just showed her the basics so that I can leave the shop for a few hours during the day. The excitement of opening has started to wear off so now my only joy in life is to have visitors. :)

Many Visitors

Oh my goodness. Saturday was a busy busy day of visitors. It was so much fun. First, Yu Jeong (a former student from Univ of Oregon, can you believe we've kept in touch all these years?) came with our mutual friend, Belle (who happens to be Michael Na's cousin, what a small world!) with another friend of theirs. We had so much fun hanging out. They stayed for over 2 hours. They all loved the Bubble Tea and that's quite a compliment cuz they know their Bubble tea.

Then, my cousin was visiting from Korea. He came to visit his daughter, Emma, who lives with my sister so of course they all came to dinner at the Wok. My cousin is the CEO of a woman's clothing line (our family business in Korea). Emma's favorite BT is Matcha Green Tea. It's really creamy and good!

Then, right before closing time, Stephanie stopped by on her way thru town with her husband and kids. They've never had BT before. I actually had never met Steph before. She is a friend of Jan who I know from Orlando. I had called her since she lives in Federal Way and asked her for a contact of someone who could help Sherri with childcare. Well, it all worked out. Sherri has a great childcare worker and Steph and I are now friends. Thanks Jan. :)

Then, on Monday, out of the blue, Daniel Azuma walked in the doors. What a surprise. I met Daniel when I was raising support for Crusade at his church in Renton. He knew Crusade because in college he went on a summer project with Crusade to East Asia. He was a faithful supporter for many years until he went to seminary at Regent. He still attends there but was in Seattle for a wedding. He drove ALL the way down to Bonney Lake to visit before heading back up north to Vancouver BC. What a friend. He had the Mango Milk Tea.

Remember, if you visit, you get your picture on the Blog. :)

My First Visitor

Today I got my first visitors to the Bubble Tea at the Wok (BTW). I had sent out an email to all my friends inviting them to visit and I had my first taker. I got so excited when Shawn Manley emailed saying he's coming to visit. He came for lunch and we got to chat about life and family and jobs, and lack of jobs. :) It was a great time of fellowship. I decided that I would put a picture of everyone who visits me on my Blog. Of course, I forgot to take Shawn's picture in the midst of visiting with each other. I'm off to a good start, huh. But honestly, if you visit me and I can remember, I will put your picture on my blog. Shawn only lives in the next town so I'll get his picture the next time he comes, maybe he'll being his wife and kids. Let it always be remembered though that he was my first visitor. He has also been a very faithful prayer supporter of my ministry for many years. We met at Green River Comm. College where we were involved in the Crusade sponsored Christian group, called GRACE. I hope many friends from GRACE will visit since they all lives pretty close by. Green Rive is in Auburn which is very close. Let that me a challenge to all my GRACE friends to come visit the BTW. :)

Bonney Lake Courier Herald

There is one newspaper in this small town and it only goes out once a week. The best thing about it is that everyone is forced to read it since it's the only paper and it's also free. I decided to do some advertising in the Courier Herald. So, they made us the Featured Restaurant of the month. Cool huh? That's me and my mom in the picture. I wrote the text for the description. I love small towns.