All of Me (Us), Loves All of You!

It’s been a while since I have written a post, but for a very good reason. I have been so busy with Little Prayer Tea Co that I haven’t had a chance! So I need to begin by saying WE LOVE ALL OF YOU!

QUICK UPDATE

Since I haven’t had a chance to write anything in a while, I thought that you deserved an update on what we have been up to lately. So much has transpired over the last few months, and we have been truly blessed.

First. We added another member of the Little Prayer Tea family! Teijo (Tay – Jo) Ikeda Conlon was born on March 21st and he is truly a blessing! Thank you, everyone, for your prayers and greetings via Facebook and Instagram. Thea has been a wonderful big sister and has been loving on him since day 1. She always asks where Teijo is and gives him little kisses and hugs :). We couldn’t be happier.

Second. A possible blessing in disguise? If you have been following our progress for a while, you would know that we have been trying to open a tea cafe, and we were previously announcing that the cafe would open in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle in a church building. We went through the whole process, dotted all the T’s and Crossed all the I’s and were even about to celebrate when…. The big bad City of Seattle decided to hit us with a large and unexpected expense and put a wrench in the entire project. At first, we were very bummed out since we had been working on this for about a year and were so close. We actually thought that we were just about to start construction the day before we found out otherwise. But, even though there was some disappointment and frustration, we always believe that God is in control and is guiding us in our adventure. I say that this might be a blessing in disguise because after Teijo was born and Thea has hit her “Terrible Twos”, it might be best to not work 60 hours a week and spend more time with the family. Plus, Regina has been tasked by the Nazarene district with using that same church building and creating a ministry there. She has been working on updating the building and connecting with the neighborhood only since the beginning of June and we have already had some amazing connections with people that only God could have orchestrated. So for now, we will continue to build our tea community through other means.

Third. Little Prayer Tea is thriving! Our community is growing and it is so wonderful to see! I am so excited about this that I need to use three exclamation marks!!! 2019 has blessed us with so many new relationships and so many new ideas of how we can move forward. I need to make sure before I forget that I offer a special thank you to our good friend Sarah Emerson for all the help she has given us. Whether it has been watching our kids or helping set up at farmers markets or other events, you are everything I could have asked for and God has provided a true friend, so again, thank you Sarah! I have so many other people I want to thank for their support, but I don’t want to leave anyone out, so I will just say thank you to the people in our lives that are always ready to help, that believe in our mission of prayer in community. I want to offer a very special thank you to all of you that we have never even met, but are following us on social media and leaving us likes and comments and sharing our story with your own friends, you are truly special to us.

A JOYFUL STORY

I have a quick story to tell, and it may seem small to some, but it really means a lot to us.

Little Prayer Tea Co has been doing pop up shops and farmers markets lately, and one farmer’s market truly stands out thanks to a wife and her husband and child. We had set up shop at the Federal Way farmers market a few months ago. The day was going great, the sun was out and I was having a good time talking with people and just enjoying the day. Towards the middle of the day, a man came by with his child and immediately said to me “There you are, we have been looking for you!” I looked at the man, and looked at his child and had no idea who he was. I said hi, and he told me that his wife would be here in a minute and that they had been looking for Little Prayer Tea Co. He said that they go to farmers markets all the time and when his wife found out that Little Prayer Tea Co would be at the Federal Way farmers market she told him they had to go see us. They jumped in their car and drove quickly to Federal Way to make sure that they didn’t miss us. I was truly flattered! After talking with them a little, it turns out they had purchased our tea for the first time 2 years ago at a holiday market. The same holiday market that started our little adventure in the tea business. They have been buying our tea online ever since and have been giving it to all of their family and friends.

A very small story to some, but again, these are the things that mean so much to us. This is what keeps us going.

THE FUTURE

I want to finish up by telling you what Little Prayer Tea Co has in store for the future.

I am very excited to announce that we will be selling our own branded tea accessories and merchandise soon! We are currently putting together tea shirts and mugs and even branded tea sachets! We were very excited to offer branded teaspoons, but when they arrived they were not up to the quality that I would have liked, so we might be doing some giveaways with some not so perfect teaspoons in the future :).

We just got connected with a new teaware supplier, and I am very excited about what they have to offer. I have recently listed about 10 new teaware items for sale which include beautifully designed teacups and teacup sets, cat and polar bear tea mugs and much more! Check out our teaware page to see what’s new: https://littleprayertea.com/product-category/teaware

Lastly, we have new flavors coming out very soon! We will soon be offering peppermint tea, spearmint tea and a Ceylon vanilla black tea which is the same tea we use to blend our famous Vanilla Lavender tea :p mmmm delicious! On that same note, we are in the works with a farm in Japan to start offering Matcha! Our starting lineup will be Sweet Matcha, Blueberry Matcha, and Raspberry Matcha. Last but not least, something I am very excited to be offering and have had excellent feedback already is our very own Tea Espresso line of teas! We will be offering our Chocolate Banana, Autumn Chai, and Summer Fruit Green Rooibos ground up and ready to run through your espresso machine (espresso machine not included). I have been serving these tea espresso’s at our popups and have had excellent feedback.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

I want to end this post with a Bible verse:

Psalms 20:4 “4 May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”

What are the desires of your heart? Have you talked with God about them? Maybe you have, but nothing has happened. Are your desires aligned with God’s will? I sincerely believe that if your desires line up with Gods will for your life, then He will make all your plans succeed. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Sincerely,
Ryan Conlon
Employee of Jesus Christ