Tug-of-War

Hello Everyone!

First of all, thank you for the prayers after the warnings of a tsunami coming to Japan, it actually hit, but it was northern Japan…It was maybe 4 feet high, but luckily not too much damage, and no fatalities (I think…I hope). We are all fine here in Osaka and J-House.

Despite all these things that are going on in this world, God still is working and is still providing. My heart is aching and in an emotional tug-of-war for those suffering from the Earthquakes/Tsunami, for those here in J-House/Japan who doesn’t know about God’s love personally, and for those at home that I want to be there for (who I dearly wish to see today for some reason).

I will talk about two people that I have been able to talk with/meet with more than once this week:

1. Atsushi Nozawa

This guy I met last year, and he has actually been coming out to J-House for over a year and a half, but he is not a believer. He really enjoys the atmosphere, practicing his English, the people, the events, and especially all the food he gets to eat here. When I first met this guy, it was only small talk or things not relating to God or Christianity. But now, he has really opened up a lot to at least talking about Christianity. On Tuesday, we watched 2012 and had a small discussion time. I asked what my group thought about the movie, and Atsushi asked about “The rapture” and what happens to the people who were not taken by God. Whoa…. Haha how am I supposed to answer this? From what LITTLE knowledge I know about the rapture and stuff like that, I attempted to explain (which I don’t think I did very well, but he didn’t seem to understand either way). So I tried shifting the conversation to death and asked them “If you had one day to live, what would you want to do?” He answers with, “I would want to spend a lot of time with the people I care about the most.” I remember we had this conversation with a couple other people last year when I met him, and his response back then was, “Eat the best food from all over the world.” Progress? I think so.  So he emails (they call texts emails, go figure) me and asks if I want to hang out. So definitely I say yes, and ask others if they want to come hang with us, but all the other Jesus Soldiers were busy, so it was just me and him. I think God gave me this chance to really talk to him about anything, but in a much deeper way, and I think I accomplished that! Praise God! I was able to straight up ask him what he thought about Christian people in general, and overall had a good impression on them, but just doesn’t feel like committing to it YET he says. So slowly, I want to continue encouraging him and sharing my testimonies and stories with him, not forcing anything upon him, but to by action show him God’s love. 

      2. Shinichi Sasaki

      

      This guy reminds me of myself sometimes. Does things when people don’t ask him to do anything, loves to worship, quiet yet saying things when he wants to, and does the small things that no one really notices. However, I notice them, and I am really looking forward to see him grow more and more in Christ! He just got accepted to Kansai-Gaidai (a foreign language school) and gonna major in something related to English. Very young, but wants to be on fire for God! I’m on the lookout for people who have an interest in worship and want them to develop maybe a different style than what they are used to, and Sasaki-kun is certainly one of them. I can tell he wants to be more comfortable around me and be able to talk more, but the language barrier kind of stops him a bit. So, instead of words, maybe we can communicate through a universal language – music. I want to find more people like Sasaki-kun and teach them what little I know as well as me learning from them too! Hallelujah!

Thank you all for the constant prayers and well wishes! I appreciate all the encouraging words that you shower upon me! I totally forgot that it was my birthday today, since Monday is usually our rest day, that’s all I really thought about. Yesterday, some of the J-House members got me a cake (which was hand-made by Maeda-san!) and it was ridiculously good (even though there were bananas in them! :D )!! Tonight I guess I will go to dinner with whoever wants to join me. 

Thank you for all the Birthday wishes back home!! Seriously, it isn’t even my birthday yet, but you all were so thoughtful and sent it to me because in Japan it’s my birthday!! I <3 you all!!!! 本当にありがとう!!!!~

 I’m so happy, yet so sad that I can’t celebrate it with you all back home :( My heart is seriously in a tug-of-war.

Limitless

Wow.. It’s been over a month now, and how much have I seen already. God has been doing some amazing stuff here. How dare me to think so pessimistically about evangelism, the short amount of time that I’ve been here, and the power of friendship. God can use anything, any time, any one, and any place whenever He wants. Forgive me God for thinking that there is a limit to what You can do…You are limitless! Hallelujah!

So many things have happened, but I will give you just the highlights of my week 

1. Tuesday Bowling with Gaidai and non-Gaidai students. We were honestly expecting maybe 2 students to come out, but we ended up with 6! By the end of the day, they were saying how they wanted to keep hanging out with J-House people. (5/6 students are non-Christian)
2. Friday, I led a worship/prayer night for people who just wanted to come worship and pray without having to do the typical loud/charismatic worship/prayer that J-House normally does (nothing wrong with that, but it’s always nice to just be still and know that God is God in our lives) and at first it was going ok, I was kind of worried that it would be too different for everyone, so I ended the whole thing after just an hour, but I said if anyone wants to stay longer and continue praying, to feel free to stay, but not feel obligated to stay either. Expecting maybe 60% of them to leave, I open my eyes to find that no one has left, so I kept playing the guitar and gave them the space to pray for different people, for themselves and wow what a beautiful sight it was! The night started at 8 pm and I finished it (officially) at 9 pm, but the last bit of people left around 10:30 pm!! Praise God. J I was definitely encouraged.
3. Sunday after the 2^nd service, we had a ministry meeting and I was glad to see so many people there wanting to be a part of some kind of ministry! It is good to see that those who believe are really excited and know the urgency to spread the Good News to people! Also, a girl that my team met last Summer, Saki, texted me to say that she wanted to come visit J-House, unfortunately she couldn’t make it to service, but she came after to hang out! So it was a good time of just catching up and reconnecting with J-House again! I took her and her friend, Kanoko who is a J-House member, to dinner and I am desperately hoping that I will continue to have chances like that with her to become a believer! She is very open and it is good to see both those people very happy and enjoying themselves. They both seem to have been going through a lot, and it was just nice to see them enjoying themselves.  Another guy named Shotaro, lately he has been coming a lot to J-House and finally we were to explain the “Bridge” diagram to him and he seems very open to it. He actually emailed his friend after that and asked him why he was a Christian (not in a bad way, but more of a curious way).
4. Today I was able to just go out with Justin (one of the main staff/Jesus Soldier) and not worry about the things I had to do today. As soon as I woke up I was just thinking about what I needed to do and get done, but Justin told me to go out and chill. I hesitated at first, but felt like I needed to get out of my room and J-House for a couple of hours. I even brought my laptop to work on this update and a paper I had to do, but didn't end up touching it. I just had a time where I could enjoy the sun (that was out for a couple of hours :D) and reflect, think, and take pictures! :) So I am grateful for that!

I know that in 2 weeks (how long I normally stay on missions) God can do MANY things, but I really see how that staying longer that relationships truly start to open up and there are a lot of opportunities to go deeper!

Please continue to pray that I will have more opportunities to share about God! Also, that my body, soul, and mind can be ready for the upcoming craziness that will come faster than I expect! Arigatou!!

P.S. There are times when I get super lonely, but please just pray that I can find peace in God and constantly remind myself that I am never alone!

(Yay for macro shots!)

Internal Clock

 Hello everyone!

I can’t believe I am going on my 4^th week here already? Only? I really don’t know anymore. The internal clock that is set in my brain and body every time I come to Japan has been telling me that it is time to go home. Why? Because every time I come to Japan it is usually for 2-3 weeks. Not that I don’t want to go back home, but things have been good here. As physically tired I am sometimes, my soul has no other choice but to cling on to the One who constantly refreshes it. When my internal alarm clock wants to go off, God always winds it back up so that I can keep going.

Things are starting to pick up in terms of events and different kinds of ministries. J-House is in a state of transitioning and learning from the experiences from the past few years. They are also starting to make good use of me. “Oh, you do this?! Then can you _________ for me/us?!” or “Can I put you in charge of this?” I feel like I am back home, but I am catching myself saying “Yes” to everything…despite catching myself, I am STILL saying “Yes” to everything… haha... Perhaps this is the reason why my days and weeks are feeling longer and longer?

So, this past weekend was what, we as Jesus Soldiers, have been preparing for all week, which was the Valentine’s Party/Event thing. I was in charge of decorating the place, and all the responses I get were either: “No way!! Only girls can design romantic things!” or “Kevin, I didn’t know you were like that!”

DON’T JUDGE ME BECAUSE I LIKE TO DESIGN/DECORATE THINGS!! ^__^ 

 

haha.. but really, I do enjoy doing things like that. Don’t ask me how my brain works, because I don’t really know either. All those years of decorating for “Bridge Services” and events at Covenant has given me the experience that I needed to do well here. J They actually liked my decorations that they left it on for the wedding that was the next day! But the Valentine’s Event was really successful, otsukare sama deshita (thank you for your hard work) to all those who were helping out!~  I was hearing from the members who participated that it was a very good mix of people, because there were the core members, new people, as well as people who haven’t been to J-House in a while come to this event! I was very happy to hear that! I honestly was a little pessimistic about this event, but God surely proved me wrong, and rightly so, it was awesome! God can use anything, anyone, any time, any where!!~

This week will be a bit busy for me, I have quite a bit of things to do… so if you can all pray that I can keep my sanity and not overdo things, that would be awesome!

Here are some of the things I will be doing this week:

• Tues: I am playing a couple of songs during Morning Prayer every Tuesday now, so please pray for that. Also, we are going to meet with Kansai Gaidai students to go bowling. It might seem like we are just playing, but at same time, trying to get them to really open their lives with us and for us to find a chance to share about God to them.
• Wed: I have to do a morning devotional every Wednesday also. This week instead of our usual Prayer Meeting at night, we will have time to be with our Life Groups. To pray that it will be a meaningful time for all of us.
• Fri: I will be leading a worship/prayer night for those who want to just worship! Please please pray for this, I think there are a lot of people who are in need to just Be still and know that God is God and just be in quiet meditation. Not the usual loud charismatic worship they are accustomed to.
• Sat: Cooking for this Sunday with my cell group!
• Sun: I will be doing a short “recommendation” for offering, and just sharing how God has blessed me through offering…

Thank you all!!

P.S. I miss Mexican food and I need a haircut.

夢の世界 (Yume no Sekai: Dream World)

Hello everyone! Genki desuka? (Are you doing well?)


First of all, I am going to be a typical Californian for a second...


SNOW~ too bad it lasted only....30 minutes or so, and it also melted as soon it landed on the ground. :T

These days, it seems as if things back at home were only a dream and what I am doing here in Japan is the real life that I have been living. The J-House members treat me as if I have been going here all my life and I guess to a certain extent, that is what I kind of hoped for, but I can already tell that I am doing too much. Whether it is doing the sound system, doing worship, filling in spots when people do not come on time or don’t show up. I was hoping to transition into these positions slowly and smoothly, but (maybe out of habit) I put myself in that position. This has caught the attention of the staff here, and I guess they want to make the most of my stay here. I actually don’t mind this, and in my heart I am actually excited to be such help to people of this church, but my body and mind has been in agony telling me to stop doing so much. Yesterday and even now, I feel the aftereffects of it all already (hence I had a pretty big migraine). I was planning on updating my week last night before I went to sleep, but I couldn’t write anything…so I went to sleep early. I woke up this morning, with my body and head feeling better, so I sit in front of the computer ready to update my week. However, 2-3 hours pass and I am still staring at this blank page. Not a single word. My brain was dead, it didn’t want to cooperate with me, and it just wanted to rest.

Now that it’s a bit better and I left the comfort of my room, I will tell you all about my quiet, yet long week…

It feels like months since the second Korean Mission Team left, but it was actually this past Tuesday that they left… It was very nice to see them interacting with the students and inviting people to come to J-House and such. They were a blessing, but for me to not be able to actually rest and settle in was a bit hard (I had to go straight to work since the day I got here, because the first Korean mission team came on the same day, then the second one came right after the first left). Now that I had some time to settle down and take care of some things that needed to be finished, I thought it would be a bit more calm, but I realized I had to prepare a morning devotion (every Wednesday, actually), a testimony for the first service on Sunday, a Bible study on Friday, meet with a student on Saturday, etc. I don’t want my heart to feel like this is work, but an act of worship instead. 

Though it looks like I am exhausted, I am actually quite blessed with things that are happening here. I am getting to know more and more members/students here and I hope to get to know them more personally. It is quite hard for me, being the introvert that I am, to be so active and extroverted. It drains a lot out of me, but I have to realize that a lot of people here are actually even more shy/introverted than I am. I have to really come out of my comfort zone and initiate conversations or be inclusive. However, every time I do, it usually turns out to be a pleasant time. J

This past Sunday (yesterday for me), I did a testimony about why/how I came to decide to come back to Japan as a Jesus Soldier. It indeed was a long journey for me to finally decide to come back; God has shut many doors and opened many other doors that I did not know of. I guess the main point of my testimony was this: that even if I don’t understand everything right now, as I obey and trust God to lead me, He will reveal things to me, even if it didn’t make sense at first.

God is good. He won’t leave me or anyone astray, but being the great Shepherd that He is, I just need to hear His voice and come running back to His amazing grace.

This was a very long post or maybe it's my brain telling me to stop again, so I think I will. I hope all of you are doing well! I really do miss you all.~

P.S. It was really really nice talking with Rebekah! It’s been a while since I have been able to catch people online at the same time, please if you see me online on Skype, Gmail, or Facebook, a “Hi” would really make me happy. 

Thank you all you intercessors!! You have truly given me strength to go do God's work every day!! <3

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7