February Snapshots

Celebrating February with just a few memories from the day to day activities this month!

Wandering around Toyama park

Weekend baseball practice

Valentine's Dinner invite from our wonderful men

Rainy day karaoke with the picnic family- Christine, Jacob and Kylan

Eclectic decor at karaoke

Valentine's Day Let's Talk

Coffee and pancakes with Mio!

Thick and delicious

First hint of spring- plum blossoms

First taste of spring- Sakura doughnut at Mister Donut

The spread: the North America table at International Day at ICUHS

Cooking lentil soup

Tohoku- A Lesson in Hope

My team had the privilege of going to the Tohoku region to do some volunteer work for a few days this past week. We helped a man with the finish work on his new restaurant, his old one having been destroyed by the tsunami on March 11, 2011. It was pretty lowkey work, but I really enjoyed being able to help in a tangible way. One of my favorite moments of our trip was when he gave us a tour through the half-built structure. Picturing the kitchen, toilet room, and dining area along with him was exciting and allowed us to share his vision as he rebuilds his life.

A few locals were generous enough to show us a few significant places in the area of Kesunuma where we were working.  It was surreal standing in places that had been so ravaged by the triple disaster, the emotions are hard to put into words. Looking out at the ocean and have it be so calm and deep blue knowing what great destructive power it held was eerie. And to stand next to the fishing boat that was carried inland 800 meters and then dropped was another reminder of how forceful the waves had been. Bare foundations of what used to be homes were painfully juxtaposed with brand new supermarkets. The many places displaying gravestones for sale was a sad reminder of the reality of loss these people face everyday.

Despite all the physical reminders of the losses, there is also a great deal of hope sprouting up here. The lady who helped organize our trip up, Emiko-san, shared a lot of how the area is healing. I got to spend time on our commute to and from the work site with Emiko-san so it was an honor to hear more of her story.

She worked with Cru in Japan for several years before starting a lucrative career with Costco. When the triple disaster hit she felt the Lord calling her to Tohoku. She has since been living in the community of Senmaya being a light to her neighbors. Hearing her vision for a church plant and her observations of how the gospel is slowly softening peoples' hearts was really encouraging. I'm thankful God called her and that she is clearly seeing how he is using her. Please pray for Emiko-san and her faithful work. She is in it for the long haul with these people and that brings a lot of joy as well as sorrow.

Request on Jacob's and my bus ride

Pikachu and Jake- best buds!

Snow day shoveling

Hard at work scraping wood

The work site- future Italian restaurant for any foodies out there

Empty land behind our work site where over 100 people died during the tsunami

Looking back to the mainland from a peninsula that was washed over by the waves on March 11

Lone tree standing at the end of the peninsula, it's thought to be lucky since it is shaped like a dragon

Unreal serenity

Skeleton of a building

The fishing ship that was carried 800 meters inland during the tsunami

Bare foundations

Kylan and Cam with Hoshi-san

With Emiko-san at our "base"

17+ hours on the road home, some of which looked like this

Finally, here are a few video clips I took during our time. The first is the snow fall at the place we were staying. The second is of the area in Kesunuma where the fishing boat was carried in by the waves, and the final one is on our long, snowy trip home. Enjoy!

Summer Project

/http://www.gosummerproject.com/

God broke my heart for the Japanese in 2010 on a summer project. 

It can truly be a life-changing experience. To any college students reading this, 

I challenge you to pray about it and take a step of faith to go. 

See what God will do!

My Best

"Since it is the Living Lord in the final analysis who appraises our excellence, 

it is He whom we must please and serve, honor and adore. For His eyes only we 

commit ourselves to living above the level of mediocrity.  

He deserves our very best; nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. 

That alone is excellence." 

Chuck Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity

It's funny how God chooses to speak to us sometimes. There is the speaking through Scripture, through other people, through music. There is also the random book you pick up and skim through because there is nothing else to do. God speaks through that too. That is where I got this quote. On our team retreat planning for ministry next semester I was bored one night and started reading a Swindoll book from the 80's. Classic 80's Christian book design- title in a swirly script font and a picture of an eagle on the cover. Pretty great.

I was just hoping to pass the time and maybe get a nugget of wisdom or two. But as is often the case, God showed up and blew me away. On the last page of the book those five words "he deserves our very best" hit me like a pile of bricks. I couldn't stop thinking about it. 

The questions swirled through my mind the next few days. Am I giving God my very best? What does that even look like? What is my best right now? What does giving him my best mean for next year? If I came back to Japan for a second year of STInt would I be able to truly give him my best? Tough questions to answer honestly. Questions that demand sacrifice and challenge faith.

I've been praying through what next year will look like for awhile now. It's been a lot of back and forth, a lot of wrestling with God, a lot of tears, fear, trust, and surrender. Considering what it meant for me to give God my best was the new perspective I needed. All he asks is our best. He doesn't demand perfection, he just wants us, broken but redeemed people to hold our lives with open hands to be used for his glory. The crazy thing is whatever we give to him was really his in the first place. Why is it so hard to give when it was given to us to begin with? 

In Romans 6:13 Paul calls us to "offer [ourselves] to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of [our bodies] to him as instruments of righteousness." We have been bought with the precious, holy blood of Christ and have the opportunity to live 100% for his glory. Being redeemed doesn't mean giving our best is easy. God doesn't promise us an easy life, it's pretty much just the opposite actually. But he does promise joy in the face of suffering, he promises eternal awards to those who make sacrifices on earth for His name's sake, he promises to be near. I believe these promises to be true and I also believe that God deserves my very best. As insignificant as my best might be, I want it to be fully his.

Watching life go by

Riding the train on a cold, dreary day in Tokyo. 

Sunshine and Sticky Rice: Thailand 2013

Back from a glorious two weeks in Thailand! We had our East Asia Midyear conference the first five days in Cha am and then took a week of team vacation time afterwards on the island of Koh Samui.

***To view pictures in full size, just click on one and it will take you to a slide show of all the photos in this post! ***

Midyear was really restorative. Each team had coaches who flew in for the sole purpose of helping us process the year so far and begin thinking about the second half of our ministry and what will come after. Cool small world story: my team's coaches were the Priolas, Cru staff in San Diego who lead the movement at UCSD where Tynan attends. I had heard bits and pieces about them from him so it was a neat blessing to meet them in person and spend time with them. They really ministered to our team well and we were super blessed by the time and effort they put into coaching us.

The focus of the week was "Refresh." Our MC dubbed the worship team the Refreshments, we got goodies (aka junk food) from the States each night, and received solid teaching from several different speakers. It really was refreshing physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Every team came in in a different place, but I think we were all worn out in some way. To come together and have everyone there to rest or help us rest was an incredible experience. Hearing stories of how God has been moving in some of the hardest places to do ministry was also really uplifting. To think he is using kids just out of college to bring the good news to the ends of the earth is absolutely mind-blowing and humbling.

I got to spend some quality time with people I had met at various other conferences and trainings and it was fun to hear what God had been teaching them so far. It's crazy how different our experiences of culture and team and ministry are just from one country to another. It makes for some really great stories!

Your choice of Firm or Soft pillows!

Team thai iced coffees

Team with our coaches the Priolas!

Christine's crib

With the Priolas

View of the hotel lobby

The second half of our Thailand adventure took us on a 6am flight to an island off the southern tip of Thailand, Koh Samui. For the week we were there I basically read by the pool, swam in the pool, slept, or ate. It was glorious!

Some highlights included: feeling the ocean breeze again, thai iced coffee, finally getting mexican food, fruit and granola and yogurt every morning at the breakfast buffet, riding elephants, always being warm, sitting in the infinity pool and watching the waves, having time to slow down and really process through some things with the Lord.

View of the pool and ocean from the lobby

Hanging out with all the old, sunburned European couples

Twins!

Jacob- elephant whisperer

My elephant Bang Bang!

Our elephant guide

Guys at the waterfall

Paradise!

Roomie photos part 1

Roomie photos part 2

Roomie photos part 3

Roomie photos part 4

Glorious Mexican food for our last dinner in Thailand

Breakfast of champions

Thai flag on our ferry from Koh Samui

Our vacation ended with a lovely 30+ hour travel day back to Japan. Five loads of laundry and a couple nights of 10+ hours of sleep I'm back on track and thankful to be here again. I was admittedly tired of Tokyo and ministry when we left for Thailand, but being away awhile made me appreciate afresh all the things I love about Japan and the Japanese. God knew what I needed to regain a passion and vision for this place. I'm thankful he provided the time and space away so I could be reminded of why I'm here to begin with.