Long plane rides are great times for thinking. Since I get motion sickness when reading and sometimes even from watching the videos, I’m pretty much stuck with (1) audio input, (2) constantly finding excuses to get up, and (3) working out major life issues in my head. I didn’t think to ask for an aisle seat on the way home, so that meant exchanging option #2 for a great view of the plane’s wing. God made good use of options 1 and 3 (plus some sleep, thanks to the empty seat next to me) to help me figure out the following.

More first-time experiences

Teammates have asked me how many times I’ve been to Japan. I can’t remember exactly, but I know it’s been less than 10. Still, with the number of times I’ve gotten to go, there were plenty of firsts for me.

• First JR Rail Pass
• First time actually enjoying (and wanting to return to) the public bath — although, technically, it was the Kingdom opportunity and not the onsen experience that I enjoyed
• First time working on a farm
• First time on the Joban line past Hitachi
• First time to any disaster site
• First time I’ve felt (not just observed) God’s heart for the Japanese
• First time I’ve felt (not just studied) the heart of the Japanese
• First time I’ve given a music lesson in Japanese
• First time I think I can say “I know I will be back” rather than “I want” or even “I feel called” to return

When it comes to Japan, I can never claim to be an expert. There will always be more to learn and to discover. Every time I go, I will meet Him in a fresh new way, and I will enjoy the culture and people through different dimensions. However, I get to do that on top of past experiences and foundation He has been building in me. I’m so grateful for the friendships He has been building for me over the last 10+ years there!

New experiences ahead

From early on in our trip — the shuttle ride from the airport to the hotel — I knew I was in the right place at the right time, even though I knew it would be nothing like previous visits. Throughout our 10 days on the ground, there have been many moments of deep satisfaction that confirmed it. The end of this trip marks the beginning of a new season, of some significant changes that need to take place, and of a renewed heart for Japan. I’m not sure how this will all work out, but I know the hints He has been dropping over the last 6 months have been pointing to this, and He used this trip to clarify them and bring them together into a clearer vision for the future. Things could happen quickly, or they could stretch out over a period of years. I don’t know, but I also know I don’t need to know that right now.

Important vs. Urgent

It’s too easy for me to be moved by what feels urgent at the expense of what is really important. In my mind, I know what my next steps are. I’m eager to jump on them and have them accomplished…yesterday! Being stuck in an airplane for about 8 hours didn’t really allow for immediate action. On the even longer plane ride to Japan, I let the iPod randomly shuffle through songs so I could re-discover what was on there, especially free downloads I hadn’t reviewed yet. One of them was a song by Chasen called Slow Down. It caught my attention on that first ride, but I didn’t have a chance to listen to it the entire trip until we were on the plane back. I think God planted it in my mind, then used it to minister to me when I needed to hear it again.

If there’s any ongoing prayer request I have for this trip’s follow-up, it’s that I leave the responsibility of change to God. It’s tempting to think I’m in control, and I certainly have responsibility to take active steps and make intentional changes. The bottom line remains, though: it’s not up to me, whatever “it” is. I don’t even need to know all the details about what “it” is. What I do need is to follow His lead, submit to His command, move in His time. Please pray I will learn to enjoy this mode of operation, to actively rest in it, to master the “unforced rhythms of grace.” (Matthew 11:29, MSG)

Thank you!

Thanks so much for praying with me and supporting our team over the last two weeks. Our team leader, who was constantly updating his Facebook status, jokingly said, “I brought 2000 people with me on this trip, and they’re all in my pocket,” referring to his iPhone. It’s so true, though. My Japanese friends thought 13 adults plus a toddler was an unusually large team for a Japan mission. It is, but we were just the tip of the iceberg. It might have been difficult to navigate our group through the rail systems (especially when we had to get the entire team + luggage off the wrong train at the last minute!), but it would have been impossible to make the personal connections and engage in heart-to-heart ministry without the collective hundreds of prayer warriors supporting us and preparing the spiritual realm for us to move freely in it. Thank you so much! I’m so grateful for all of you!

Also, for those of you who were on the daily update list…my apologies for not setting up the system properly! I realized too late that you were getting the same update each day until I posted a new one. What a drag! Thanks for graciously not pointing that out and asking me to change it when I didn’t have access to the system. I now know what I did wrong and can fix it for next time, when I hope you’ll pray for me again!!

Have a wonderful holiday season! So much to be thankful for. So much to look forward to. Our loving King reigns and will return…this is just the beginning!

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin…
Zechariah 4.10 (NLT)

We’ve finished the bulk of our assignment. As we make our way back down to Tokyo and spend the next two days there, please pray we will know how to cut off any unhealthy attachments we may have made while treasuring in our hearts what God has shown and given us. We’ll have a lot less internet access from here on out. Thanks!

While in the Tohoku area, our base camp is Global Mission Chapel. They have a cool testimony of how they got their building (formerly a Pachinko parlor) and how God worked through their renovation journey to prepare them to be a key contributor to the relief efforts now. Last night, we got an overview of some of the realities of living in the aftermath of the tsunami and losing 125 lives from the community. The thing that broke my heart was the report that 6 months after March 11, the suicide rate doubled.

In the morning, we joined their daily prayer walk/drive to the nearby town of Usuiso where one of the church members lost two from his family in the tsunami. They lived less than 100 yards from the beach. They’re now asking God to build His Church there.

From mid-morning through early afternoon, a part of our team got to go to one of the temporary housing sites for fellowship and to help out with serving lunch. I got to hang out with Carolina, a YWAM Tokyo staffer from El Salvador. It was nice to get to know her and hear her story as we served drinks.

It was a much lighter work day than we had been told to expect, which I didn’t mind. I was actually wanting to meet and talk to as many people as possible, and that doesn’t always happen if you’re working with your own teammates for 6 hours trying to move a wall. Since it was pouring rain from late morning until now.

This has been the most difficult part of the trip to process so far, so please pray I’ll hold on to whatever God wants me to take home and let go of what He wants to leave here.

Thanks for praying for us along the way. We have a night of fellowshipping with the volunteers tonight and sharing testimonies from the day and worship service tomorrow before heading back to Tokyo in the afternoon. We have a free day tomorrow before possibly joining Tolyo’s House of Prayer for another meeting. I’m also trying to connect with some old friends from past years, so please pray we can connect. I know it isn’t crucial to this mission, but I’d be so encouraged to spend time with them again after over 5 years. I grateful, though, to catch up with one of my friends at a meeting on Thursday night.

Just finished helping to prep dinner for 50 staff and volunteers, so I’m hiding out in the girls’ room while the curry is heating…on a massage chair! it kind of hurts! And its hard to type on a phone when the chair is shaking you. Yes, following God to Japan is hard. grateful for you as you support me in this!

This trip is so fast-paced, I’m glad I was given the chance to skip the sight-seeing today to catch up on some communications and do some laundry. Tokyo Metropolitan Tower and the Imperial Palace are nice, but I’ve already seen them a few times. However, it’s been so fun to experience Japan with people who are here for the first time! They remind me to really delight in the little things like supermarkets and traveling on trains with all of our luggage during rush hour.

Surprise #1

Our time in the Osaka area was amazing. We stayed with a family who is renting an old school and using the land to teach others organic gardening, which is right up CRI’s alley when it comes to learning to live in sustainable community. When we finally arrived in Wakayama, we were picked up by (to my surprise) someone I knew from Asian Access! That’s the org with which I’ve mostly gone to Japan. He called his wife, so I got to catch up with her for a few minutes on the phone. Such an unexpected encouragement!

Surprise #2

Our first stop — since they felt we needed a cultural experience and some relaxation after 8 hours of lugging our bags through train stations — was the onsen, or public bath. I’m personally not a big fan of those. If I’m going to have a conversation with someone over some hot liquid, I’d rather it be a cup of coffee, and I’d much rather be fully clothed. However, in trying to find out some information for a teammate, I ended up talking to a woman who was a survivor of the recent floods. She’s a lumberjack. How cool is that? This particular area is covered with cedar forests, so that’s part of the main industry there. She showed us pictures of her house and told us about her experience. In the end, we got to pray over her. I was actually hoping to go back (that has to be the Holy Spirit because there is no way that desire is from me) the next night to talk more with her. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go with the rest of the team back to this particular bath house. However, I did get to hang out in another one with two women who are students from the house in which we were staying. Still, this was an unexpected opportunity in a place I didn’t even want to go!

Surprise #3

The owners of the house/school where we stayed are pretty influential in their area. While we were there, we met two city officials who are interested in what this family is doing: organic gardening and offering an education in that free of charge to anyone who is willing to learn by experience. The wife, in particular, seems interested in our faith and wanted to join us as we worshipped. Of course we invited her. One of the students there is also a city councilman in charge of creating an evacuation plan for situations such as the recent floods and typhoons. The location itself would be an ideal place for a CRI training in Japan. We had no clue about all of this until we got here and conversations revealed it all. What an unexpectedly perfect connection! If the owners came to know the Lord, they would be an incredible asset to the Kingdom in this place! Please pray them into His family!

Surprise #4

Ayako and Sayako are from Saitama (near Tokyo) and Hitachinaka (near where I used to live). By the end of the day, due to some logistical excitement, I was the only one left working in the farm with them. It was actually a divinely appointed time (thanks, all of you, who were praying for moments such as these!) where we could talk a little bit as we worked. During lunch, a Canadian universalist who worked for the city, stopped by to join us and two of our leaders and I ended up in a very interesting conversation with him. Actually, it was mostly the two leaders. I felt like I was supposed to just stay quiet and pray.

Aya-chan later asked me what that conversation was about, since it had been in English. I don’t have enough Japanese to explain philosophical and doctrinal concepts, but with her English and my Japanese, between sections of the fence we were repairing, I was able to explain to her the very basics of why our team was in Japan: because God loves the Japanese and the nation of Japan. Because we were constantly interchanging our conversation between that and the big question of which part of the fence to secure next, it didn’t seem like the time to share the gospel. Also, I felt like the Lord wanted me to wait so they wouldn’t feel like I was trying to “sell” her on it. I also had a short one-on-one time with Saya-chan as we walked back to the house from the field, but, again, didn’t feel like I was supposed to say anything yet. Still, I went to bed a little disappointed because I really wanted to see the conversation go in that direction. I was praying for a second chance, feeling a little bit like I had missed it, but the Lord had other plans.

The next morning, as we were getting ready to leave, I saw one of my teammates talking with Aya-chan and Saya-chan. They looked so fascinated and engaged in the conversation, and I could tell he was sharing the gospel, so I grabbed the woman next to me and told her to pray with me for them as they talked. It was so satisfying to see him follow up on what I wasn’t able to do the day before. What an unexpected answer to my prayer for a second chance! It didn’t matter that I wasn’t the one who shared it…that’s the beauty of the body of Christ. They’re still trying to figure things out, so please pray for their salvation.

Surprise #5

After traveling all day to Tokyo and going straight to a vision sharing meeting at the Tokyo House of Prayer, we returned to the Tokyo Biblical Church and crashed. We spent the morning in worship and prayer, and I felt like the Lord was reminding me how important it is to maintain a childlike posture with Him. He brought back to me the time Gen-chan (the two-year old son of the house/school owners in Wakayama) and J.J. (our 15 month old unofficial team mascot) were able to communicate without speaking a single word in the same language. He pointed out to me that Ayako and Sayako asked us to address them with the more youthful “-chan” suffix rather than the more respectable “-san,” and how ripe and ready they were for the gospel. I felt like He wanted to encourage us that, as His children, find other childlike Japanese and, without even needing an adult’s grasp of the language, we could communicate His heart and ours for them to join our family, to play with us. What an unexpected revelation! Please pray along the lines of this strategy…that His children would find each other, enjoy one another, and come to Him together as our loving Father who has adopted us into His family.

Thanks so much for praying! Sorry for the huge wall of text without any pictures. So much has happened, and for such a technologically-savvy country, we’ve had a really hard time getting internet access. My pictures are on my phone or my camera, neither of which I’m using to post this. Please keep praying for our team. Praise God that unity has been pretty exceptional for people who haven’t really known each other, half of us having met in LAX or Narita airport. Pray for health, too…some people are under the weather, and that weather is supposed to keep getting colder as the trip progresses. Thanks! Need to go catch a train now…

Two months ago, I headed east to explore how God is working in a Western cultural context. This time I headed west to meet God again in a Far Eastern nation. No wonder I struggled with the land navigation module at the CRI training!

On the plane ride over, there was lots of time to listen to the Lord. The one word I heard was “navigation”. Feel like I’m supposed to ask Him to help me navigate, whether it’s geography or relationships or spiritual dynamics. Please ask Him to make me more aware of His guidance in every situation.

Overall, I’m glad beyond words to be back! During the shuttle ride from the airport, we opened the windows, and it was so nice to smell the fields again. Went for a short run this morning, and seeing the fields reminded of the morning in February when God made me think of Japan and how, since then, I’ve been waiting for this moment to be back here.

Best of all, it was my team’s idea to hang out at Starbucks while waiting for our train into Tokyo. Clearly, this wa meant to be.

We’re spending the night at Tokyo Bible Church, then heading down to Osaka tomorrow morning. Got my first JR Pass today! I’ve always wanted to use one but could never justify it or was in the country too long to qualify for it.

Thanks for covering us in prayer! Please keep praying for health & safety, team unity, favor in the eyes of those from whom we’ll need it, and mostly for God to be both glorified and blessed. And for whatever language ability I used to have to come flooding back. It actually hasn’t been too bad, but could definitely be better. Arigatou gozaimasu! At least I got that part down.