Wonderful Things to Tell Of

Discover Friends Parties

Japan Campus Crusade for Christ, or Student Impact, as they call themselves, allowed us to help them put on two parties on Friday the 8th and Friday the 15th as cross-campus outreach events for Japanese students. They were crazy! Tons of Japanese kids, our team from LA, a team from NY, a team from Singapore, the Japanese Staff and the team of just-graduated kids who have been on mission here for a year (Stint-ers) were all cozy together in a good sized conference room, learning about other cultures and each other. Both weeks I had the amazing opportunity to share my faith and the gospel with different groups of kids, and it was such a cool experience.

This sort of thing is so my heart – Christians from all over the world working together on the same ministry, loving on our Lord, serving His people, speaking of the love and unity that comes from His Spirit and being able to demonstrate that in a very real way as we come along side each other. They were both awesome nights. The first night I shared alongside an American man who is on staff and a Korean guy from NY, both whom I had just met that night. (But they were my brothers…!) It was cool to talk to the students with them. The second night I got to share with Heather Brainerd, which was beyond amazing. We had not gotten to share together before because we go to different campuses, so it was a blessing and a very cool time for us as sisters and as friends. All in all, sweet parties, and it has been fun keeping in touch with the girls we met both weeks!

A Divine Encounter

Cecilia

On June 4th I had the amazing chance to meet a girl named Cecilia. She is a senior at Waseda and is originally from China. We were in the cafeteria and had wanted to eat upstairs, but there was no room, so we moved downstairs and found a table. Within a few minutes, Cecilia and a friend of hers sat down next to us, so we started to talk to them. Within the first few minutes, we found out the Cecilia is interested in going to USC for graduate school, and that she is coming out to visit in early August. How random is that?!? Actually, I don’t think that it is random at all… I believe that God wanted us to meet her and that He made us sit downstairs so that we could. ☺ When I told her that, she seemed to understand and agree, so…

Our conversation progressed to the gospel somehow, and I had the precious opportunity to share Christ with her. I shared so much… my faith, the basics of the gospel, my testimony, how God had been faithful through specific hard times in my life, and so much more. She responded so much to all of it, saying things like, “Maybe I should pray to God the next time I don’t know what decision to make” and “Maybe I should learn how to forgive.” She called the Bible beautiful and she asked me so many questions. It was an awesome conversation.

Throughout the week we emailed back and forth and she called our cell phone to make sure that we could see each other again. On our English Lunch on Friday, she came and brought along two friends to meet us. They were all so wonderful and I got to talk with all three of them the whole two hours of English Lunch. It was an awesome day because we found out that a boy Gen had shared with earlier in the week had decided to accept Christ, and he was so excited, so filled with the joy and peace of the Lord… it was awesome! The whole following week Cecilia and I emailed and planned to have lunch on Friday… I was very excited to see her again, and planned to give her a copy of the New Testament.

Friday was ridiculously hot, so as a favor to Cecilia, because she had gotten sunburned the week before, and as a way to make sure that I wasn’t distracted, we sat apart from the group, in the shade of this beautiful garden on Waseda’s campus. What an intense time! Cecilia had so many beautiful and challenging questions, and we talked for around 2 hours. She asked me why bad things happen to good people, she asked me what I thought about Christian’s and non-Christians dating, she asked a handful of questions about faith, and about praying in faith that God will answer. It was an amazing time, and I was exhausted afterwards, but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

I got an email from her later that weekend that said that when she had gotten bored with studying she had looked in the Bible. She used the concordance and found passages that applied to her life, and she also got an overwhelming sense of peace and direction about a situation that had been on her mind and causing her pain. It was an amazing email to get, and I was so excited to talk to her about it all.

This Friday we had lunch, and it was a very fun time, chatting and joking and being silly. We did not have any really deep conversation, but she let me pray for our meal and I prayed again at the end of our lunch for her because she was going to be taking her TOFEL examination today and she was a little worried about it.

She is so hungry for the Bread of Life! She believes in God and thinks that it is important to do so, and she thinks that the teachings of Jesus are beautiful and have proven to be applicable to her life. Please pray for her! I am meeting with her again for lunch tomorrow… She is such a beautiful, kind, considerate girl, and I really want her to be my sister…

The Precious Hearts of Gakshuin

Chika and Kasumi

On the first day that our team went to Gakshuin (last Monday, May 28th) Cherie and I wanted to meet people, so we got food and tried to talk to this girl, but she was totally not interested. We moved to a different part of the cafeteria, and went to sit at a table near the window. Before we could even completely sit down, the two adorable girls at the table next to us made eye contact with us and said, “Hello! Hello!” We sat down with them and chatted like old friends.

Both girls are majoring in English Literature, both are in the guitar club at Gakshuin, and both are tiny! I feel like a giant around them, we always hang out when we are sitting down. ☺ Kasumi speaks better English than Chika, but Chika has visited the US. (She has been to Disneyland… She loves Disneyland! So cute!) The whole first day we didn’t have any deep conversation, it was all pretty sweet and on the surface getting to know you stuff… we were laughing and joking and it was a good time. Cherie and I were so encouraged by how easy it was to meet people, and how excited they were to speak English with us and hear about out lives in the States. We exchanged contacts and set up a time to meet the next day.

On Tuesday we had lunch with them again, and then they had to go to class, so we wandered and found our boys. Then Chika came back and said that she didn’t have class, so she wanted to hang out more. She got to meet Gen, Kris, Russell and Greg, and Gen talked to her in Japanese about Disneyland, and California and it was really fun. All of a sudden, I realized that everyone left and it was just Chika and I sitting and talking about our friends and our families and how she gets lonely sometimes because she is an only child. I showed her pictures of my best friend and my brother and other important people in my life, and she said that she wants friends like this. I then told here that even though they were all amazing people, and I love them all dearly, sometimes they hurt me and I hurt them. I told her about a friend I have who never will hurt me, but who takes my blame away when I hurt others. I told her about a friend I have who never leaves me, so I never have to be lonely. She understood some of what I was saying, but she thought that I was talking about the boy I am dating, and so I had to communicate to her that my friend was not a friend in the typical sense of the word. I called Gen and he came back to try and translate my heart for Chika. At the end of the conversation she told me that she wanted me to talk to Kasumi about it, and that I should put her “in charge” of talking and explaining because she could do it in Japanese. It was a great time for me and hopefully for Chika as well.

The next three days we were at Waseda, so we didn’t see the girls, but they invited us to their guitar club on Friday. Cherie and I went and met about ten of the girls’ friends in their club. They played for us and they laughed when we didn’t know how to play but were willing to try. Somehow I let it slip that I sang in highschool, and I found myself singing out Beatles songs with the guitar baking me up, laughing and joking and being silly with these amazing Japanese students.

When we were back on campus on Wednesday we ran into the girls and took them to English Lunch. Later in the day I took Gen and Greg back to guitar club to meet the kids (Greg plays guitar, Gen speaks Japanese, I thought it would be cool)
I was feeling a little sad on Wednesday night, though, because when I thought back to our time at lunch together, I remembered Chika saying something that made me realize that despite how much time I thought I had spent with her, I really didn’t know her at all. I had put her and Kasumi into little boxes defined as “Adorable Japanese girls who love Disneyland and guitar” and hadn’t wanted to realize that they have so many deeper aspects to their characters, so many places in their heart that I wanted Jesus to go, but I didn’t want to go myself. I prayed for them and asked God to not let me be discouraged. I wanted to understand how to love them better, and I know that means just continuing to spend time and delve deeper into their hearts.

On Thursday (yesterday) we met up with them again, and Kasumi ended up not having class. I felt like our conversation wasn’t going anywhere when everyone else left, so I asked her if she had wanted to go practice guitar, thinking that we could spend time together without talking if we went there. (I was scared… so silly, I know, but I felt like I was failing them on one hand by not actually knowing them and I didn’t want to give up on the other hand.) She played a bunch of songs and then the last one was one that her friend wrote. I thought of Jay Denton and the CD he and his buddies just made, so I asked her if she wanted to hear a song that my friend wrote (I had my iPod with his CD on it) Her and one of her friends in the club split my head phones and really liked the music. As they got into it, I told them that Jay was singing to God, because he loves God and God loves him. I asked Kasumi what she thought about that, and she said she didn’t know, but she wondered if I had an opinion…
Do I have an opinion?!? I think so…!

I shared the gospel with both of them, and it was beautiful. Kasumi wanted to know when I started thinking about God, and I told her a little bit of my testimony. She was so open to it all, and I couldn’t have been more excited!

Cherie and I are going to continue to pour into these two girls and love on them in anyway we can. Soon I will have a good picture to post with this, so you all can see their beautiful faces – these girls are so precious! They make me smile; I want to call them my sisters so badly! Please pray for them, that they would come to know the perfect love of Christ that is not found anywhere in this world. I will keep y’all posted on the progress of our friendship… Gosh, they are beautiful.

UPDATE!!!!!
On Thursday, June 14th, we found out that Kasumi had accepted Christ! Cherie had talked to both Chika and Kasumi the day before at English Lunch. I had shared the gospel with both girls individually, so Cherie initiated conversation with them to see what they thought and what they were continuing to think about religion. They were both interested in talking about it, and Cherie said that we wanted to give them copies of the New Testament. On Thursday, Chika sat next to Cherie and Kasumi sat next to me, and when I gave her the Bible (Cherie and I had written notes and bookmarked passages in both of them) I asked her what she thought.

Without hesitation, Kasumi told me that she believed in God and Jesus, and she pulled out the "Knowing God Personally" booklet I had given her. She flipped the pages to the part where it talks about how it is our choice to respond to God's sacrifice and ask Jesus to be the Lord of our lives. She pointed to the circle that had Christ on the throne and said that it was her life now, that she had decided that was what she wanted. I think that I almost squealed. :)

It was really the most amazing experience ever. She showed me that she is writing an opinion speech for her English class and she decided to write that Japanese people should believe in God. We worked together on her outline and then got to read the Bible together. I told her that she should pray for Chika, and she said, "How do I pray for Chika? Do I have to pray in Japanese?" This prompted me to grab Gen, and the three of us prayed, with him starting in Japanese, Kasumi praying second and me closing, thanking God for my new sister, for her precious heart and beautiful faith, and asking for protection for her and Chika.

We said good bye to her and Gen turned to me, saying, "I almost cried when she prayed." He translated her prayer, which was something like this:

"So yesterday I decided to believe in you, and I have never done this before, but I am very glad. Thank you for Christina, Cherie and thank you for Gen. Thank you for the Bible. I am very excited to read it and to know you better. This feels a little strange, but very good. I am very happy."

She closed with a Japanese phrase that directly translates as "I put myself in your care" but it is something that you say when you first meet someone, like "Its nice to meet you or make your acquaintance."

Needless to say, we were very excited. I introduced Kasumi to a Japanese Crusade staff woman, and they clicked right away, so that way when we leave there will still be someone to pour into Chika and Kasumi.

Praise God! The angles are rejoicing, and we are so excited. God is good, and His word does not return void. I have faith that Chika will come to know Him, too. (How could she not, with all y'all praying for her?) Love you! :)

Long time coming...

Hello beautiful people! Can I just say that I am so blessed by each and every one of you? I am realizing more and more that our ministry here in Tokyo is so not limited to the 17 of us, but to all our amazing family, friends, and supporters back home. You all rock my world, and I am so grateful to have you in my life and to have you supporting our team in thought and prayer.

I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to get an update out to you all… there is no excuse for it, and I am going to do my best to do better and be a little more consistent. So, here is the summary of the trip so far (from my perspective, I know that many of you are reading Gen, Chad, Megan, or Sarah’s blogs, and I think that at least Heather if not more of the team have sent out updates that you might also have seen… if this is old news, I am sorry ☺ but here we go!)

We were at briefing in Orange County for an intense, busy and fruitful 2ish days. We had training, team building, worship, and speakers to spur us on, get us excited and prepare us for some of the hardships that we may face. What I liked most about it was getting to know some of my team members and realizing that as much as I want Japanese students to come to Christ this summer, if I can get to the end of project and be able to say, “Lord, in it all and through it all, I was faithful to your direction and your call on me” then it will have been a successful summer. I realized that it was just so improtant for me to be sitting at His feet, trusting Him and learning to lean on Him always. Oh sooo good…! We did have a scare the last night we were there, because it was possible that two of our team members were not going to meet their financial goal, but the Lord is so faithful, and we all got on the plane Friday and arrived safely in Tokyo on Saturday!

The first week of being here was intense and awesome! Our team of 15 students and 2 leaders is spending time on 6 university campuses, which means that we are split up into three mini teams of 5 people which is each responsible for 2 campuses. My team consists of Gen Nakamura, who has an amazing gift of loving people and is my co-leader, Cherie Fontanilla, a beautiful girl from North Carolina (you should hear her accent! Love it!) Kris Fortin, an SC junior who is an amazing artist, and Russle Champoux, a very smart kid from Michigan who loves the Japanese culture. The five of us are so very different, but we seem to work really well. Gen and I were unsure of how life would be on our campuses with our diverse team, but we have found that we really are great together. Besides sharing a huge love to eat and specifically to eat together, we really seem to be blessed. My favorite time together as a team is the first ½ hour that we are on campus every day… Gen and I decided to start each day reading a passage of the Bible and then discussing and praying as a team, and we have been able to be really vulnerable with each other in those times. Praise God for giving us a spirit of unity! We go to Waseda University three days a week and Gakshuin University two days a week, and we have been able to make friends on both campuses with some awesome people.

Spotlight on how cool God is for giving us divine appointments: Cherie and I got to hang out with these two beautiful girls on our first day at Gakshuin who have been so inviting and loving, we met a girl at Waseda who wants to go to USC for grad school and wants Gen to show her around campus in July, and just today I got to talk to a girl who lived in San Jose for a few years! Talk about things happening for a reason and a purpose… and this is all just by waiting on the Lord and asking Him to bring us people to talk to.

When we are not on campus, we are having prayer times, date night’s with Jesus (sooo fun!) girls time and guys time, team worship time that gets the neighbors to call the cops on us because we are a little loud (oops!) going to church, doing fun random things as a family (boat rides, seeing movies, eating sushi, will be going to Tokyo Disney…) and trying to keep in touch with people at home. I am so sorry again that I have been so bad at that… I really do love you all, and I cherish your prayers and support.

I think that this is long enough for now… I don’t want to bore you all, but just know that we are here and we are well, and that we are all learning so much and growing so much, it is intense and beautiful and precious.
I will update often, so check this out and the other guys blogs for new stories of this amazing summer...

Love you all!