a missionary

wow it's been already 3 weeks or so since i've been in japan.was hanging out with a missionary yesterday. she had strained her back yesterday and so i went to help her with her back pain. and she was telling me how God had prompted her many years ago to forsake her (well-paying) job and her family and all her possessions to come to Japan. she was clearly instructed to give them all away and not even sell them! and she obeyed. how amazing. and she has now been here for more than a decade serving faithfully in the church and english school. she lives frugally and has to be very careful with spending money and she was teaching me that despite earning very little, generosity is really important. that as you give to God, He gives you back many fold.

she isn't with any mission organization as there aren't such things in india. and to join a japan agency she said would take her alot of time (much ongoing paperwork) and also she would have to raise her own funds (but people in india are really poor anyway and what they give would be 1/10th the value here) and also she would have to account for her time and spending which will take more time-- the time that could be better used for ministry. for practical reasons, she's just here 'by herself', just obeying the call that God has placed on her heart. ah, i was so encouraged. and she was like,"it's not a sacrifice. i am content". and here i am, much "richer" than her, for at least i have a car and a job that pays me probably 3x more, but wanting to upgrade myself to a more challenging job etc. i am ashamed. i really am.

and i am reminded of Gods promise "and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. but many who are first will be last, and the last first"

my perspective of missionaries is also changing. i always thought they were something special. haha not that they aren't cos they ARE special. but just that i had this impression before that they had a special call on their life and a special anointing or something. but really, talking to them and watching them and kind of being on 'mission' myself, i realise that it's just the mindset. it's the obedience of following the call, and really making the most of every opportunity to tell someone about Christ. like Jesus called us all to go and make disciples right? so doesn't that make us all some sort of missionary? and i guess when you are out of comfort zone with the mind set on wanting to make disciples, you are more focussed in your interactions. but in fact, perhaps that is what we all aim to be just that we get distracted by work/family/social needs. like i was saying before, lighthouse is using these 40 days leading up to Easter to fast one meal per day. and use the time to pray and seek God. and haha, i must say, my food baby (stomach) is NOT used to not eating when it's time to eat. but the hunger pangs are a good reminder for me that as my stomach needs food, my soul needs the Word of God. and like yeah, i think living the way they are, missionaries here really live depending on the provision and sustenance of God in a very viable way, causing their faith to be tested and stretched but also proving God to be a good God of provision.

so please pray for the missionaries here. there are 3 at the moment. est*, hea* and jul*. pray that God will continue to sustain and provide for them in all areas of their lives. (physically, emotionally and spiritually) and also if you ever feel inclined to give anything at all (for they are living from paycheck to paycheck and do not even have any savings for retirement or anything) that yea, let me know and i can do it on your behalf while i'm here. :)

have a great day walking in the provision of God, never forgetting that like He is the one who sustains you! :)

halfway there

the hope collective left yesterday after a fantastic service to close off their time here. feels slightly lonelier now that i know my aussie compatriots are back in sunnysummerybrisbane. haha BUT i am only halfway there so let's power on! God is still good! :)

so something that is fairly unusual about this church is that their time together on sundays go on forever! in my brisbane church we meet now at 9 and say we have lunch/brunch... we would have gather together for perhaps 6 hours maximum? in lighthouse. 1st service starts at 845 and people start streaming in at 730! (in fact, there are a few youths who stay over from saturday!) and then they have morning tea and bible study. 2nd service at 10. afterward, they have lunch altogether and they sit down and talk (read have fellowship)!... and talk... and some jam on the instruments available and some clean the church while some pray... and then they talk somemore.. and then it's time for dinner! and then more talking! its really amazing! i'm usually getting tired about 4pm. by 6 i'm like ready for bed. but then around 8pm after dinner the conversations usually become really interesting. perhaps because everyones guard's is down since they're all tired or perhaps its because by this time the group has waned till about 6-10. but yeah, if you can endure till the end, you usually are blessed with reallyreally fruitful and edifying conversation. :)

last week was another amazing week. thank you so much for praying! :)
it was jam packed with events (the lighthouse partnering with hope collective). tues was a gig in starbucks, wed the jazz/swing night which was a blast! thurs there was the 2 ways to live drama and finally hope sunday. there were so many people who came! for some (eg mr inoue) it was their first time to church in years or for others their first time ever to come to church!

theres one girl in particular that i was so encouraged by. her name is yas*. so remember i was saying how we braved the cold to busk and hand out fliers? so i handed one out to her. and i stopped to tell her alittle more about us and asked her to come (in broken japanese) for the jazz/swing night. she looked kind of shocked/embarrassed so i smiled awkwardly and stepped away to continue handing out fliers, praying silently that the whole morning doing this wouldn't have been for nothing! :) and then she came for the event at night! it's practically unheard of that one would come from receiving a flier. in fact for most the flier is glanced at and then chucked in the bin! but she came. alone! (so brave!) and we connected with her and very briefly introduced her to Jesus and also the rest of the church. We also got her contact and she was really eager to hang out again! how amazing hey! haha! i'm so glad!

class with the older professionals also went swimmingly. we started talking about differences between the east and west and our view on love, marriage and life in general so we never got to talk about justice and freedom. which was fine. :) we also talked about the greatest love and then we read the story of the lost son and i explained how God loves us and the extent to which he does and like they were like hmm... aahhh... eeehhhh! :) this week they want to talk about same sex marriages and want to know my view? kek! in another class we were talking about casinos and various vices and they wanted to know my view too? thing is, i think they take my view as 'THE christian view'? so please pray for wisdom. pray that what i say and how i say it will not be misunderstood and that Christ will be glorified always please.

also later on today i'm touching base with m* the chick i was sharing about before. and we're thinking of inviting her to this saturday's youth group! i'm teaching on saturday nights now tho so i don't know if i can go for youth? ah! but i'm sure God will work something out. :) so please continue to pray for an open and receptive heart on her part and that even as she compares religions that her mind and heart will be opened to see how indescribable and uncomparable Christ is! :)

thank you for praying and please continue also to pray for the land of Japan. Mario (a mate from the brisbane church) is also in Japan atm. he's in ishinomaki now doing renovative/construction work for the flood devastated houses so please also pray for him and his team. :)

some photos!

here are some photos as promised:

february is the month of "love-in-action" for the church here. this is when we show the community and our friends God's love in a tangible way.

here's tomoko, me and fukunawa-san :) she's 102+now! :) and she remembers me from 3 years ago! haha there are sooo many older (read elderly) people in japan now. it's such a ministry to just visit them and have lunch with them and talk about Jesus. like just to show them that someone cares and that God loves them and knows them. she was so very appreciative and made me promise I would keep coming back to visit her.

here we are at Ak*'s house. the kids are so naughty but bright! :) this is also part of the love in action where we go to people's houses to care for them and reach out to them :) heather, juli and i went together to encourage them to come to church and read the bible and all. it was quite a good time of fellowship. the father isn't christian but was quite open and happy that we came to spend some time with them.

 my first attempt at takoyaki! not bad eh! haha looked pretty round and tasted fantastic! mmmm! haha

so the previous Sunday, we went around the neighbourhood to pick up rubbish to show our love for the community. for the Sunday past, in lieu of valentines day, we went together to the nearby train station to hand out valentines day chocolate which had like an short intro of the church and a map to the church. :) in the photo below we have erica-chan ambushing some lady on the bicycle who had to stop as the gantry was down. haha! :) 80% of the church was mobilised for the event and the kids had such a grand time giving out the chocolates and also practising their english "happy valentines!"

 ah here's a picture of ka* the guy who i told you was homeless and now is not. he serves in PA and also in youth and welcoming and doing various chores around the church. in the photo, i caught him taking out the trash. haha! wat a servant heart. (did you know that in japan, they separate their trash? so like not only recyclables and household waste but like cardboard, glass and plastic bottles. and the labels of the bottles have to be torn out and put in a different bin. very interesting! kekeke)

 and last photo. just to show how cold it is. it was so cold the oil in my little bottle froze! haha! can you see the crystals? kekeke. now do you believe it's really cold?

ah. talking about cold, we (the hope collective, ps hide and i) braved the cold this morning after jap-class to busk and hand out fliers to the upcoming events at church. please pray along with us that many would come and hear the good news. it's only an hour plus till the jazz/swing night at the lighthouse kicks off so pray that many would turn up and not only enjoy the music but that God would direct conversations to him. i am really excited because everyday now i've been talking to different people about Jesus. hehehe and like tho i'm getting tired in the body and also a sore throat from talking non-stop but i'm still excited to talk about him. heheh. :) so pray that like the osakacold will not seep into my bones and make me sicker. haha OK! talk to you soon! :) let me know if you want to know anything in particular too. or you can just tell d* to ask me when u see him. :) see youuuuu

はじめて．．．

i reckon that one of the most exciting things is sharing Jesus with someone who is hearing about Jesus for the first time (はじめて-- hajimete). often i think the person is probably thinking how crazy i am for believing something so "unbelievable". but then they say something like, "oh that's soooooo cool". haha :) God help my skepticism!

i've shared before about how some japanese think they will be less japanese if they receive Christ. BUT m* is quite different. thank you God for bringing her to the lighthouse today. (the relationship with her and us is pretty tenuous. her mother met one of the other girls at a cooking class? so it's a real wonder she came to hangout and visit us at the lighthouse). I really wish my japanese was MUCH better. but praise God I could call on another chick when I began to falter. she then explained (in japanese) the role and necessity of Jesus and the difference between the rituals of religion she is very used to and the vibrant relationship we have with Christ. :) how amazing is the grace of God! :) m*'s really interested and has promised to come and watch the 2ways to live drama/dance by the other aussie team this thurs. I also gave her a bilingual new testament to read so yeah! please pray that God would open her eyes to see him and her heart to receive Him for who He really is! :)

kekeke. other than that, it's been still super cold. in the house this morning, it was 2 degrees!!! TWO! ARGH! or A-KAAAAAANG! as they say here which means like NOOOOOOOO!!!! ;d haha you have to say it with much gusto if you want to fit in. :) haha english classes have been really good too! most of them are at a beginner to intermediate level but last night's class was pretty interesting. there were 2 older professionals and we had a pretty intense discussion about politics and the economy and for bibletime we talked about finding contentment in Jesus which they were very polite about! they seem quite opinionated though and i pray that i can capitalise on that. am planning to use justice and freedom for next week's lesson as a springboard to talking about the role of Jesus as judge and saviour? so please pray for a clarity in delivery. and of course creativeness so it's not all scary and dry. hehhehheh

oh d wants me to tell you how expensive it is to buy meat and veggies, and how cheap it is to buy like a bento set! so odd!

tomorrow's my first time helping out in Sunday school too (730 am) so better sleep early! 11:32pm now! thanks for reading and don't forget to pray! :) i'll see if i can put up some photos next time! :) oyasumi nasai! (goodnight!)

back in japan

wow it's been almost a week since i "re-arrived" in japan. so so so busy really. was immediately caught up in the flurry of activities here: teaching english, visiting people's homes for care ministry, talking about Jesus to non-Christians, encouraging Christians and of course shivering. :) haha it's crazy cold here now. last night it was like 1-3degrees celsius. AH freezing! especially coming from Brisbane where it was averaging 32deg the week before? Amazingly cold!

God is so good to me. like just in this few days I've had the opportunity to share Jesus with about 4 people. Also, another team from kenmore-baptist is here. they're using music and drama for evangelism and will be coming to the church next week.

that's a photo of the church service. the young man behind the drums is actually the pastor. :) as you can see, it's the same space as before. but because God is so good, many of the older members are preserved and also there are many more new people. :) so they also started a 2nd service while looking for a bigger place! :) praise GOd! :)


so one guy i wanted to share about. ka* was homeless when we last came. he had racked up massive gambling debts and was kicked out of his house. and was found on the streets by the pastor. he was then staying in the church building and had like nothing to his name. fast forward to today, he is renting an apartment and is a regular at the church and helps out with various ministries like welcoming and cleaning. what a testament to God's grace! :) he was working but was recently fired (i couldn't really understand why but understand its something to do with they have never hired a male before and thought he was not learning fast enough?) anyway, please pray for him. that God will provide him with a good job and that God will continue to build him up in Christ.

so many other things i have been learning about the culture here and all and it's really interesting. have to head out soon though so have not much time to type it. ask me about it when i get back? about the hole-in-one, the difference in socio-economic statuses, the culture of gift-giving etc. :) haha it's so interesting!

lastly, an insight to where i'm living at the moment. i'm living with 2 missionaries. one's from northern ireland. she's been here for about 14 years now and considers japan her home. :) she's had massive hand and back pain which i helped her with recently and we've been joking that that's why God sent me here. to provide her with some relief! haha so funny! the other one's from sydney and is on a 3 year stint. been really encouraged by their heart for the lost. here's a photo of the stairs up to the room. it's narrow and super steep!!! ah, always have to be careful to keep my momentum forward so i don't roll down the stairs. :)

if you have time, please pray for the people here. for the missionaries that they will not burn out but burn brightly. ;) for the pastor and pastoral team that they would lead with love and wisdom people to Christ. :) for health cos it's so freezing. for ka*. for the other team from aussie. for the nonchristians who'd be coming to the evangelistic events (students from the english school associated with the church and random strangers). for me that God will continuously remind me that these people need him desperately even if they don't even know that's what they need. that God will use me to be a shining light to everyone i meet. to uplift and uphold and to direct everyone to Christ. the center of all my affections.

till next time. :)