Stories That I Can't Explain: An E-mail to Remember

Soon after I met an amazing girl in Hong Kong, an unbelievable chain of events began to unfold... bringing the two of us together!

This is the beginning of our love story.

An E-mail to Remember

Do you remember my friend, Jessica, from the first story?  Well, our friendship would prove to be filled with an awesome purpose... one greater than I could've ever imagined.  You see, Jessica played a vital role in me meeting some wonderful people in China - some of my best friends to this day.  And without them, I probably wouldn't have stayed in China as long as I have.

      

One of those friends is named Bella.  And before I was living in China, Bella had met a girl named Bomi at my university.  During that time, the two of them really hit it off and became friends.  And now we need to fast forward three years.  I had moved to China and a small group of us were traveling throughout Vietnam.  At the end of that trip, we stopped by Hong Kong for a few days.  Bella was a part of that group and wanted to see her friend, Bomi, who was living there at the time.

This is a picture of us... myself, Bella, Bomi, and Tammy

We were fortunate that she had time to meet with us as she traveled from Hong Kong to Korea every Monday morning for work.  Nevertheless, it worked out and we had a lovely time together, eating Mexican, drinking coffee, and playing NINJA in a really cool park.

But more than all that, this was the day I started to like this cute, little, Korean beauty!

After a few hours of fun, we said good-bye and went on our way.  A couple days later, we traveled back into mainland China and began settling in for the next term.  But I couldn't stop thinking about her.  And the more I thought about her, the more I liked her.  A week later, I reached out and made contact, which is a whole other story in itself!  But our initial "talks" didn't go so well.

After a couple weeks of these "talks," I received an e-mail from John Mark McMillan, a wonderful singer/songwriter with a huge heart.  I had seen him in the Viper Room in Los Angeles and subscribed to his e-mail list... I was hooked.

Here's the e-mail.

 Please notice the date

And at the end of his e-mail, he mentioned that his band was going to be in Hong Kong.  I thought that if all went well with Bomi, it'd be fun to take her to a show!

"... and Hong Kong!"

I immediately clicked on the link.  I noticed that his Hong Kong show was on April 30th, which meant I didn't have long to get to know Bomi before bringing it up.  But then I noticed the venue and realized that something crazy was in the works.  McMillan's concert was being held at her church!  He was a guest singer for a conference they were hosting.  And I had even been there once before!

So now I'm excited!  I couldn't wait to tell her about the show.  A movie-like vision suddenly began to play in my mind, showing me how our weekend together might go... and Bomi and I were the stars! (It was beautiful, let me tell you.)  But regardless of my creative daydreaming, I was amazed that McMillan's e-mail had somehow led me to the church of a girl I had just met and happened to be interested in.  What were the odds?  But that wasn't all...

The truly amazing part of this story was still to come!

A couple days later, I revisited the website for the conference and realized that there was a recap video from the year before.  I clicked on it, began to watch, and couldn't believe what I saw.  It was her!  Bomi was in the video!  There was a close-up of her singing and she was the only one in the shot.  I couldn't believe it! (And this was no small church.)

The whole world seemed to be saying,

"Get To Know This Girl!"

So track with me here.

I met a girl named Bomi in Hong Kong.  I liked her (a lot).  Three weeks later, I received an e-mail from a band in America who happened to be singing in Hong Kong the following month.  That show happened to be at the aforementioned girl's church.  And not only that, but then I found that same girl in a video for a conference from the year before... on an entirely different website from my e-mail account, John Mark McMillan, or the girl's church.

And that was the beginning of our love story.  

And the rest is history.

Fun Fact: A couple days before we had met up with Bomi in Hong Kong, Bella considered NOT going through with seeing her.  I challenged this and was so glad I did.  Little did any of us know that just 8-months later, Bomi and I would be married!

Another Fun Fact: Before I came to China, my (now) wife had visited the university I teach at.  She hung out with many of my friends before I ever knew them, including Jessica from the first story.

What is the likelihood of all this?

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