How it all got started...God's will be done in His time!
2003 Summer: Life Teen Mass at St. Ann's in Coppell
During Mass as Yong waited for her turn to receive Jesus...the idea and vision came to her. She heard an internal voice saying: Open up a Catholic coffee house for young people. Confused with this idea, she went and spoke with her spiritual director, Father Michael Forge. He assigned her a year long assignment: pray about it to see if it's God's will.
2003 - 2004:
The praying began. However, Yong honestly prayed for it to go away and for the ideas, desires, and thoughts to leave her heart and mind. (But God had other plans)
2004 August 20:
One day at work, as she sat at her desk...she got an urge to go register the name: The Shepherd's Cafe. Without hesitation, she went to downtown Dallas during her lunch hour and registered the name. It was official, The Shepherd's Cafe was now a business.
2004 -2006:
Continued praying and discerning this desire. In the meantime, she wrote down all ideas, visions, plans, and images of the sign and logo for the cafe.
2006 December:
With the help of Remnant Apostolate members, Yong was planning a Korean Young Adult retreat for Texas Korean parishes. This opened up opportunities which allowed them to have The Shepherd's Cafe at the retreat. So the planning began.
2007 January 5-7:
The Shepherd's Cafe made it's first appearance at the Korean Bi-lingual Young Adult Retreat on Friday and Saturday night after all the retreat program ended. They had Remnant Band and Brother Mariano Demma, CFR on Friday night assisting with the music. All the Religous who were at the retreat: Father Michael, CFR, Brother Mariano, CFR, Sister Juana Theresa, DLJC and Sister Sophia, Korean Martyr had the opportunity to speak to so many individuals on a 1 on 1 basis. It was great! Saturday night was unplanned, but a blessing from God. The 2 CFR's and 2 Nuns (in a laid back coffee house environment) began speaking to the retreatants about their vocations...how they were called, why they said yes, what they have experienced as a Religous, and a little bit about their orders. Everyone was listening, few asked questions, and all laughed during humorous moments. The cafe was a sucess and everyone had a great time.
2007 April 28:
With the help of Remnant Apostolate, The Shepherd's Cafe made it's first debut to the public at St. Andrew Kim.
2007 June 19:
The Shepherd's Cafe discussed Live on Guadalupe Radio Station (http://www.grnonline.com/index.php)
2008 - 2009:
The Shepherd's Cafe move to Ft. Worth Diocese to St. Maria Goretti in Arlington for the monthly cafe event.
2010 January 23:
The Shepherd's Cafe move back to the Dallas Diocese to Mary Immaculate in Farmers Branch.
Today:
Continuously praying for God's will to be done. Having The Shepherd's Cafe every month (typically every 4th Saturday of the month) at Mary Immacualte (go to Home page for more info).
Tomorrow:
Continuously praying for God's will to be done.
Future:
A stand alone Catholic coffee house near a church to serve the people of Dallas/Ft. Worth Diocese.