New Hope and Waseda

Our first full day in Tokyo was mellow, but we got to go to a Japanese/English church service at a church called New Hope Tokyo. The pastor is Hawaiian, the message and worship were done in both English and Japanese, and there was an Australian giving the announcements in Japanese. Needless to say it was quite the experience for our jet-lagged team. It was really beautiful too, however, seeing God still praised with little concern for language barriers or any barriers men tend to establish. Singing praise songs in Japanese and having no idea what I was saying except that I was singing to God was a special experience for me. It really showed that God is transcendent over time and place and culture. That is what is so special about this time we have in Japan. We don't speak the same language or have the same traditions or cultural norms, but we're all sinners in need of saving grace. THe only difference is that my team knows that grace. Now we get to share it with these people.

Moving on to today...we took the train to the JCCC Student Center at Mitaka to have an orientation with the Japanese staff team. They shared their heart for this ministry particularly and answered questions we had about what we would be doing and how to best do it. After an amazing lunch of tuna sashimi, we got on the train again to finally visit Waseda University where we will spend most of our time.

The campus has several parts, a main campus, literature building, engineering campus etc. We prayer walked the main campus and it was beautiful. It almost had the feel of UCLA with a mixture of old and modern architecture, but very classic designs, and lots of gorgeous mature trees. It was crazy walking around and seeing some of the 40,000 students that Waseda boasts and realizing we are actually here and this ministry is really happening. My prayer was that God would just clearly lead us to people who are seeking and that we would just be humbled by this honor that we have to further his kingdom. We did meet a few students before leaving the campus so that was an exciting first step.


Last night was the worst for jet lag, but I'm still feeling the affects of it right now. God has blessed me with an amazing team, they are so much fun and so genuine. I feel like I have known them forever so it is strange to think it has been less than a week. God's grace can do crazy things!

Kon ban wa.


Oh! I wanted to leave you with a better picture of the team. This was taken at Vanguard right before we left. I haven't uploaded any other pictures yet, but when I do I will be sure and put them up.