Oh, Satan is sly!

So this is not the happiest of posts, but it is an honest one.
After our team Bible study on Monday i found out that most of our team is feeling pretty discouraged, including me. Partly because it just isn't the way we pictured, but mostly because we feel we have had no affect. Or maybe the problem is that our idea of affect, the way we see it in our heads, is ours. The idea is human and therefore flawed. It occurred to me yesterday that i never gave my preconceived notions to God. How can i, who can only see this moment and only from these two eyes, think that i even know whether or not something has been affected. My Father can see all and He works all for good. So, i don't even have the authority to say or think that i have been of no use at all. Such lies!
And also, why would Satan even whisper these lies unless it was of some consequence to him. Of course he picks the issue that threatens him the most and we are the least secure in. But it just occurred to me that God must be doing some pretty awesome stuff, 'cause He's got Satan pretty scared. Of course, none of us expected to see the fruit of any work in this short time we are here, but Satan managed to slither in somehow.
Satan does not want God in this nation and he is working hard to scare off the missionaries. Discouragement is the #1 reason missionaries leave Japan. i have to remind myself of His power and knowledge. I have no idea what is going on compared to the knowledge of the Creator. He knows all. All things, at all times, forever. i cannot pretend to know what is best. He knows. What i can do is listen and follow His leading. How else would i know what to do? no one puts a blind man in a car and says, "picture it in your head then drive to your desired location." not only is that location probably a non-existent idealistic place, but he's going to kill himself unless he asks for some serious help because he can't actually see what is going on around him. Maybe this is an extreme example, but you get the idea. Maybe I'll use this to remind myself to trust God with everything.
i am beginning to understand praising God in suffering. Praise Him because if Satan is working hard against you the LORD must be working powerfully through you.

And then they were eight

Just a quick update and an introduction to my team.
One of our team members, who came with this program last year, was only able to stay for one month this year. Sunday she left for the states while we were at sports festa (i'll get to that).
So, this is my team + the local mid-term (2-3 years) staff (who we affectionately refer to as mid-termers).
The first one on the left in the front row is Becky (now back in Colorado), then me, Johanna, and Gabi. Back row: Kathryn, Gabe, Cody, Aileen (mid-termer), Kevin, Mandy (mid-termer), Thomas, and in front of him Elbert (mid-termer).

I also wanted to include a picture of a bunch of student's that we crammed into a small space after about have the people who came to this BEST event had already left. ok, so it doesn't look that impersive in the picture, but trust me we were smashed in there.


Sports Festa aka Sports camp is held at a camp near Mt. Fuji (about 1.5 hour drive). It is attended mainly by the Shizuoka BEST Club, but Utsunomia brought a team (including 1 SIJ student who we met at orientation when we all arrived in Tokyo) and a few from another location. It is 2.5 days straight of sports. Everyone is divided into teams by two students who coordinated the whole event. The teams were fairly balanced in ability. They put one foreigner on each team and made sure that there were enough English speaking knowledge to get us through all the events. I had two girls on my team, who together were knowledgeable enough to explain the rules to games and translate anything else i needed to know. For two solid days we played basketball, volleyball, dodge-bee (basically dodge ball and frizbee put together), soccer, kick base (similar to kick ball), ultimate frizbee, a race like a three-leg race except the whole team (10-11 people) together in a big line, and a few others that i can't remember the names of.
This is a picture of some of the girls there and Elbert. Only the one in the solid blue shirt was on my team.
All in all it was fun, exhausting, but fun. The best part was just being a part of something they enjoy so much. My team came out 4th, by the way. Actually, we tied for 4th with another team, at which point, and clearly the automatic response, rock-paper-scissors was performed by the two captains, and by shear talent we were declared 4th place (out of 11 teams, not bad). The same thing happened for first place- can you image settling 1st place with rock-paper-scissors?! that's how they decide a lot of things, but the results don't cause any fussing, it's just used to decide and that's that. I guess it just surprised me because American kids complain "that's not fair!" I'll try and get a picture of my team and put it on here.

Getting to Know the Students

sorry i have not updated in a while. i got a short video, as requested, and i wanted to explain what all we are doing with the students. All the activities we do with the students fall into 3 basic categories.

1. Fun things we do together for instance: Thursdays we go to a gym and play sports for a few hours, then in the evening we meet at the Joy House for “creative time”, which is always a different activity.

This week for creative time we met at the Joy House and split into 4 teams and did a picture scavenger hunt! We had a list of 20 ideas and we had to do as many as we could in 1 hour. Then we came back to the Joy House and show our pictures. This video is our team showing one of our pictures. It demonstrates “Do a model pose”. All the students got a kick out of it! This video also shows, not all, but a good amount of the BEST Club students.

2. Bible study and English lesson. There are 5 or 6 different studies for differing exposure to the Bible and all meeting at different times so students can come to one that fits their schedule. This is a smaller group to allow for group discussions and a closer relationship between attendees. Because of that each of us chose 1 class to attend weekly (a few in my team attend 2 studies).

3. And lastly, we spend time with students one-on-one. This is casual and can be anything from going shopping, meeting for coffee, or even asking them to help you with something simple (that is very difficult because of illiteracy in the language) like at the post office or learning to cook their favorite Japanese food. Being a learner and humbling yourself by asking for help is a witness in itself.

We are all involved in each of these 3 areas building relationships with students. Being willing and eager to learn about the culture and language is a huge witness. As we build relationships with them and open up to them, we build trust. We share pieces of our testimony when we spend time with them and I pray they’ll open up to us in time.

Right now I am in the beginning phase. I am starting to meet individually with students outside of BEST events and I am beginning that relationship process. I pray to become close enough with 1 or 2 students that the relationship will continue when I return to the US.

I am also working with Marc Leis and some local Jr. High kids. Yumiko Leis started a cooking class for Joy (her daughter) and a few of her friends.

This is (R to L) Megu, Yumiko, Leika, Sana, and Joy proudly displaying their cupcakes and citrus club soda that they made.

In Japan and Loving it!

hello everyone!

Thank you all for your prayers! I arrived in Tokyo Sunday with no problems.  We waited for the next flight of team members to arrive then headed for the trains.  With Gods help we managed to get 30 students (and all the luggage) on each of the three trains (one of them being in Shinjuku, a very large and busy station in Tokyo) lead by about 5 Navigators staff without loosing anybody.

We stayed in Tokyo until Wednesday afternoon doing orientation and training, then we all went our separate ways (my team and i coming to Shizuoka).  Shizuoka is beautiful!  The raining season started Monday, but we have had a few nice days.  It has been in the 60's and 70's so far with a nice cool breeze.  Perfect weather.  But i was told by the natives that it is unusually cool for this time of year and that means it will be even hotter when the rainy season ends.  great.  But God will protect me from dying of heat stroke and then Kentucky weather will be very welcoming.  Every new food i have tried so far has been fabulous (except the pickled plum i ate last night).  

Yesterday we did sports with the BEST club and got to know some of the students.  We went to a gym and played basketball and dodge-bee (which is like American dodge-ball, except with these soft Frisbee things).  i will remember all their names eventually. 

Sorry, i haven't given an update until now.  I will probably be posting about once a week.  Check out the pictures!  

Funding Update

Wow! Look what God has done! I am now 90% funded!
Thank you for your prayers!
I cannot wait to see what else God will do this summer!

Counting Down the Days

I am still raising support for my trip. I am currently at about 65%. I am also counting down the days. I leave in 13 days! It's kind of surreal. Thank you all for your prayers!