On a Friday night in October 2019, Christy was making the rush hour trek to Arcadia to attend the dinner portion of a leadership conference. She was low-key dreading it during the hour-long drive as her sister Charissa and friend Stacy had been teasing in a group chat that many Jesus-loving male singles from around the country were in attendance at this conference, which has since proven to essentially be a real-life "Christian Mingle."
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Ryan had been enjoying his two days in LA as one of the members of his Seattle home church invited to be equipped during a weekend leadership conference. He was reveling among his friends at a very Chinese restaurant when he saw - * gasp * - a girl “making an entrance” into the noisy restaurant and walking toward him.
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Christy rolled up to dinner late and plopped down at the saved seat between Sasa and Stacy, right across the table from Ryan.
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There, under the delicate lights of the ever-romantic, alluringly named establishment called Tong Tak (doesn't that just sound so dreamy) and the sweet intoxicating aroma of steamed fish, Ryan was smitten. As Christy began gorging herself on the authentic Chinese cuisine, Ryan was steadily chugging bottles of water and looking through Reddit for a cheesy Christian pickup line to strike up a conversation.
Though nothing eventful happened when we met, Ryan proceeded into research mode. He found Christy’s Instagram a few days later through another conference attendant he befriended named Josh (he’s resourceful like that). He then slid into the DMs like only a classic, chivalrous Gen-Z could.
Christy saw the message flash across her phone and began to mildly panic. Why would this guy message her? Why does he use so many emojis? Is it because he… God forbid… is single and ready to mingle?
It was too much for her, and she quickly alerted Sasa and Stacy that one of those Jesus-loving males dared to start a conversation. She breathed a sigh of relief when she opened his message as he seemingly innocently was inquiring about a small group (which Christy leads) for his “friend” that was moving to LA. Little did they both know that this imaginary friend he was talking about… would turn out to be him.
Christy (lives in LA) and Ryan (lives in Seattle) met in October at a church conference in LA and went on their first date shortly after in November. On this very first date, Ryan dared to admit out loud to Christy that the Lord spoke to him and led him to believe that Christy was the one he had been praying for. Naturally, Christy thought he was cuckoo for cocoa puffs.
She countered his confidence with hesitance until it was undeniable that Ryan was the real deal, and would remain as serious and committed as ever about her and their relationship as he was in the beginning.
He demonstrated this by leaving his comforting community in Seattle to move to Christy's turf in LA and join her in the ministry she told him about when they first met. Since then, they've been serving together and growing together in Christ.