Things I am thankful for!

The weekend ended on a rough note and Satan was really getting me down coming into this week, but the Lord is good and still on his throne. I wanted to celebrate that with a few photos of some of the blessings of the past few days.

Kaiten sushi with the team!

Skyping with Eugi is never dull

Claire, my pudding buddy

Quality time with our visitors from the PSW!

Ramen family

With our wonderful coaches Kristen and Jonathan

Got to skype with Lauren while sitting in our shower room...it was the only place I could go and not bother my roommate! Just one of many reasons small living spaces are so entertaining I guess.

Baptism at Tokyo Church of Christ...tears on tears, God is so good

Team and coaches

Also, Matthew 10, particularly verses 28-31 really blessed me this morning before campus. I pray the Lord uses them to empower and encourage you too.

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

Lessons from God- Ask

Each month we get to take a full Day with the Lord, one of the perks of being in full-time ministry! This wednesday going into it I realized I just really needed rest. We've been going pretty nonstop since moving to Nishi-Waseda so I hadn't noticed how worn out I was getting, both spiritually and physically. As always the Lord met me right where I was at and provided real rest for my soul (along with a two hour nap). He takes good care of me :)

I've started reading through the gospel of Matthew as a continuation on from the Old Testament minor prophets. For four days I just re-read the Sermon on the Mount and wrote down my impressionis each time around. It was enlightening to see how they changed each time through, something different always struck me or stuck out more prominently. The word of the Lord really is alive and active!

In Matthew 9 Jesus speaks one of the most famous "missionary calling" lines in the Bible. In verses 37 and 38 he says, "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." For the first time ever I recognized the imperative in this short passage. Usually the Great Commission from Matthew 28 is seen as the utmost command to all believers, the command to go to the ends of the earth with the gospel. But here we see a second one given before the command to go. It is the command to ask, to pray, to hold the Lord of the harvest to his promises.

I was personally struck by this "new" command because of my specific situation. Backing up a bit, I am a proud graduate of UCLA and was involved in Cru in college. UCLA's Cru has a partnership with the ministry in Japan, meaning they are committed to sending students and staff to Japan to do ministry. That being said I am one of only a handful of Bruins to go on a summer missions trip to Japan in the past four years and the only stinter to go for about the same amount of time. These stats aren't to toot my own horn, but to show the great need for people and the great calling I have to ask for more to be sent. There is a great sense of personal responsibility in asking the Lord to provide more laborers because I see firsthand the incredible spiritual need here. God was gracious to bring me this far, I need to be faithful in answering his call to ask that others might be able to come as well. And I don't ask for myself, that I would feel more at home doing ministry amongst familiar faces. I ask so that more Japanese students would have the chance to know someone who passionately loves Jesus. I ask so God's heart for his people, for the nations, might be professed more boldly than I can do on my own.

All this being said I want to challenge you to start asking more of our heavenly father. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his disciples to ask for it will be given to them. He tells them God is a father who delights in giving his children good gifts when they ask him. As Christ-followers we should be claiming these promises of provision boldly, asking the Lord of the harvest to meet the need for more laborers. He can and he will.

Bible, journal, jasmine tea and worship playlist

Narrow is the road that leads to life

Jasmine dragon phoenix pearl tea

Home Tour

Here is the promised home tour! It's not very long because it's not very big. But it's home :)

Our entryway/hallway/laundry room/kitchen/bathroom

Where the hygiene happens

Good thing our shower room is almost as big as the bedroom!

Closet stuffed full

Other half of our closet hanging on the wall because it doesn't fit in closet

My bed/table/couch/personal space

Angle at which our room looks the biggest

Tiny kitchen

Everyone's favorite part of Japanese homes, the cool toilet. Ours has a seat warmer, be jealous.

 

 

 

View from our balcony

Well, that's about it! I hope you enjoyed that comprehensive, albeit brief tour of my home. Visitors are welcome, but we ask that you stagger your visiting hours. Due to health and safety codes we're only able to hold about 3 people at a time...unless you are fine sitting on the toilet or in the bathtub, then the more the merrier!

Prayer Warrior

Found this little guy while the team was prayer walking ICUHS on Wednesday. Glad to see someone 

is always "praying" for this campus and the sister university!

 Speaking of prayer, please keep the "Let's Talk" ministry at ICUHS in your prayers. We have slowly been meeting more students, especially guys actually, but the ministry still needs to regain momentum. Also there have been few girls for Christine and I to build friendships with so that has been a little frustrating. But God is definitely working and I'm excited to continue to be involved in this outreach!

October 8th, National Sports Day

Let's Talk at ICUHS held a sports day this past Monday for students from the high school. We met at a local park and played flag football, ultimate frisbee and other random games. We had about 10 students come and everyone had a lot of fun. There was a contest for the best/biggest sundae, magic tricks, and lots of quality conversation. It was neat to get to know everyone better and see them all so invested in the activities.

Photo credit goes to Christine and Keigo!

Jan ken pon for first pick

Best goal post ever!

Action

Successfully made the coin disappear!

My team's sundae, flying buttresses included

Other team's sundae, complete with skewered marshmallows

All our ICUHS friends!

The whole bunch

 

And yes I did score a touchdown during the flag football game. Thanks to two brilliant plays by Jacob, I am now unofficially known as Tebow II, the running quarterback  :)

Playing Catch-up

Brief update
Things I've learned this past month:

• Words are hard. My team and I are working on learning Japanese and in the midst of that have found that our English is quickly deteriorating. We often catch each other saying painfully ungrammatical things, even making up words or new verb forms. I've also caught myself making more mistakes typing than ever before. I think my fingers are forgetting what the English alphabet looks like on a keyboard. By the end of the year my posts might be mostly monosyllabic, just a heads up.
• 250 square feet of living space is small, but doable. You learn to be really resourceful with what space you do have. Pictures will follow soon, but for example, half my roommate's and my wardrobe is hanging in plain sight on our wall. Suitcases become sculptural pieces in the corner or function as a sort of trunk to store things. It's a little hard when you realize the only furniture you have is your futon serving the function of bed, chair, couch, and table. But I like to think of it as a dorm room with a bathroom and kitchen attached. And actually our shower room is quite large so we can always go there when we need alone time!
• 7-Elevens in Japan are a God-send. Without them my team and I would currently be starving as we have no pots, pans or a rice cooker yet. You can get your average corn dog, but they also have onigiri, noodles, gyoza, really anything your tummy could desire. And whatever foreign phrase they ask too quickly when you pay is to see if you want your food heated up. Yes is usually a safe answer. And talk about convenience. Dinner in under 5 minutes, done.
• The 99 cent store equivalent, Japan's 百円ショップ (Hundred Yen store) is a fun, but dangerous place for poor interns like me to go. It is a little too easy to justify spending just 100 yen on something, especially something you don't really need. But at the same time, it is an amazing place from which to stock an apartment at a cheap price. You can find anything from laundry clips to bentou boxes to tupperwares to dishes and pans. If you came over to visit, pretty much my whole apartment is furnished from here. Maybe not Better Homes and Gardens approved, but it works for our simple needs and tastes.
• I like fall weather a lot better than summer weather in Japan. I would take a cool brisk day anytime over heat and humidity. But then who wouldn't? There's nothing like a walk to campus on a sunny day with the air crisp and the birds singing.
• Ministry is still intimidating and tiring for little introverted me, but God is ever faithful in providing good conversations when I most need them. Japanese students are usually pretty shy in using their English but are also usually quite friendly when you break the ice. We've all met at least half a dozen students in our week and a half of ministry who are interested and excited to hang out with us. Sometimes we just pull the pity card and say we are new and have no friends and they generously take pity on us and let us hang out with them. It's nice having friends.

I think that about sums it up for now. Pictures of the apartment (aka dorm room or small boat maybe) and a ministry update from Waseda to come over the weekend!

Blessings in Him
Quinn


P.S. Check out Ephesians 1: 12-13 from the Message when you get the chance. And enjoy the glorious living we have in Christ!