Donut. Honey Fritter from Dunkin Donuts. It was on my mind, so much so that as I drove on IC35 making my way north toward Daejeon (and ultimately back home to Suwon), I was doing a slow drive by at each rest area to see if they had a Dunkin Donuts there. First one...no donuts. Second one...no donuts. Third one...no donuts. Fourth one...Deogyusan, near Muju, a ski resort town...saw that orange and pink sign I had been looking for. Woo hoo! Parked the car, and walked across the rainy parking lot in my capris and a Mets shirt with no jacket to the covered area where all the concessions were. I spotted another coffee shop, and figured I would go there first to get a white hot chocolate, since some of their shops serve that beverage.
As I walked to the cashier, I asked for my white chocolate, and the gal in coffee shop uniform started to converse with me in English. "Are you from Hawaii?" she asked. "No. NY." I replied. Her face immediately lit up. She told me she was from Queens. I showed her my NY Mets shirt and we started gabbing about Flushing, NY! Of course she asked how I came to be at her rest area in the middle of Korea if I was from NY, so I told her I was traveling from Geoje back to Suwon. It came out that she had been born in Korea, but when she was young moved to NY. She grew up there and had only come back a few years ago to get married. She shared how she had a tightknit group of friends from there, who were all still single, and called her a loser because she had married and moved back to Korea. She has a five year old daughter, and would love for her daughter to see NY. I encouraged her to go visit sometime with her little girl. As we spoke, she began to tear up, and I could see how much she missed her home in the US. It was a neat little NY connection with this new friend, who asked me my name, and gave me my drink for free, right there in the middle of the highway in South Korea. She asked me when I was coming back, and I told her I drive by about once a month. As I left, I said Good bye and felt to say 'God Bless you!". I did say it, but let it trail off as I walked away, and immediately regretted it, feeling I should have made the point to say it to her while looking at her. She had blessed me, and I really wanted to leave her with something. Most of the time I drive by there, it is night time, and the coffee shops are often all closed already. Really going to make a point of it though, to stop at that particular rest area and see if I might run into her again, as I would love to see her and encourage her again. For now, I will pray, for her, and that I don't fail next time I feel prompted to share God's love boldly with someone. My Redeemer lives, and I know He is faithful to show His love to this lady who I believe was encouraged to see a face from home, and to me, even when I fall, that He will pick me up and redeem things in ways I cannot fathom.
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