Small coincidences

Satsuko/Satchuko // Started attending an English class offered by the church. Became a believer.

Ikuko // Liked to sing and joined the gospel choir through the church. Started attending the church and was saved.

Otake Sensei // His mother [non-Christian] was a nurse many years ago with a doctor who was a Christian. The things he taught her planted seeds in her mind, so that when years later Sensei joined a religion, she realized that it was a cult. [The Moonies] Because they were concerned about him, they went to his university to rescue him from the cult. They found a Christian who told them that oftentimes people in cults need another religion/belief to take the place of the improper one. Because they desperately wanted him out of the cult, they asked for the help of several Christians, they rented a room and kidnapped Otake Sensei to deprogram him. They sung praises, they read the Word, and kept watch over him 24 hours a day. His father even took off 2 months of work to take care of him. Eventually, he was rescued, was saved, and knew immediately that he wanted to become a pastor. As time passed, his mother was saved, his sister was saved, and his sister's husband was saved as well. His father is "almost" saved as well.

God is moving in Japan. It indeed takes longer, but you cannot deny that He is rescuing ppl left and right over here. Small coincidences in God's hand = new creation and new life.

Justin, Otake Sensei, & Soh @ Sushi Ro [the sushi boat equivalent x 1000]

SOMEN!

hey guys! thanks for checking our blog out and commenting and such! it really is such an encouragement!
first off, the food here is FANTASTIC! my goodness!
today = an incredible somen noodle experience. so they would send down clumps of noodles down a pipe and we had to snatch them up with our chopsticks! and that was our lunch!

the people here are AMAZING! so open, so willing, so generous, so hospitable.

Fighting to stay awake to combat jetlag

Me: I don't feel like blogging. Is there anything blog-worthy?
PaulChoi: You mean besides everything?

So in lieu of a post, here's a pic of what the church here [our church now] created to announce our arrival. Sugoi.

Podcasting From Japan

Konnichiwa from Japan! We`ve now been here for about 24 hrs, and i can truly say that God has been doing some incredible stuff in and through the team. Alot of new experiences and really good food is what it amounts too, but best of all we`ve been able to connect with the community through this Summer Bible school for children. It was just such an amazing time spending it with the local people. After this we had a meeting with our missionary partner Peter, in whom really enlightened us to a many different things that have really filled my heart with such joy and expectation! We even did a Podcast! For those of you who listen to Podcasts, its a podcast called "Japan Stories" So check it out as it`ll be updated from time to time! And for those of you who dont know what Podcasts are, they are voice recordings that you may subscribe to on I-Tunes for all sorts of reasons. So Please check it out! Hear about the amazing things that are going on! God bless everyone! till next time! Ja-ne!

two thoughts:

1) another reason why i adore this team: knows how to enjoy fooooood!

2) wow...so this is it! this troop is boarding the plane in exactly 36 hours and 18 minutes from the time of this post! pl ease, please pray for us! we cannot go without you!

Send-off Update

Ohayo! Our send-off time has been bumped up to 10a, not 10:30a. Please come and see us off at the American Airlines terminal.

2 more days!! I'm going delirious w/the excitement!!

Fresh

I love these shirts that we got for missions this year... even my parents said it was cool! ^_^ anyhow, i think the thing that has impacted me the most during this process would be having just experienced God's amazingly wonderful blessing! From being prayed for by a church prayer leader from Harvest Crusade to the incredible amount of support I've been given financially and motivationally (is that a word?) God has done some ridiculous things in and through me. I've been changed, and am learning the value of growth not just from trials, but from the receiving of gifts(blessings). What a powerful thing it is, to be a son of God! What a mind blowing statement! A son of God... what a weird yet profound thing we are. Amazing even, and so true. After all that God has done in these past two months, i cant help but feel eager to see how God moves our team in Japan! What a blessing it'll be im sure.

!!

Wahoo!! As of tonight, I have raised $5 more than necessary for the trip! So if you were planning on sending me money, please don't! Give it to another worthy cause instead. Or else it might go to us to enjoy some nice Kobe steak [which Hannah SWEARS will cost us pennies to get since we'll be so close to Kobe]. Mmmhmm...

Anyway, to inject some levity into this blog, who is your favorite quasi-Japanese fictional character?

1. Mr. Miyagi
2. O-Ren [aka Lucy Liu from Kill Bill]
3. Ryu from Street Fighter
4. Pikachu
5. Any of the Chinese-accented actress from Memoirs of a Geisha

in the midst of chaos...

we still meet.
so just as paul mentioned, we had our last official-unofficial training yesterday. and even after discussing how insane our weeks will be with mad overtime at work, packing, running personal errands, running team errands, pulling stuff together, we STILL squeezed in time for Team Voltron bonding! hahahhaha...i <3 you guys! God has definitely been working in and through this troop.
And again, again we thank you, supporters, for your prayers and encouragements! SERIOUSLY! we can't go without them!
so if i may, remind you once again of our prayer theme:

U.N.F.U.R.L

U = Unity

N = Natives

F = Faith

U = Unending Inexplicable Joy

R = Relationships

L = Love and Light

Blown away!

So about three weeks or so ago I took my sister to be an extra for this one television show. I forget what its called... And while I was reading my book "Intercessory Prayer" this lady came up to me and asked what book I was reading. After telling her, i found out that she herself is a Christian as well... In Fact she is one of the Prayer leaders for Harvest Crusade! Greg lourie's church! Crazy huh?... After speaking to her awhile about my vision for the future and how i'll be going to Japan, she asked me for my email address and told me that she'd be praying for me... IN fact! that she'd get her whole Intercessory prayer group to pray! Not just for me, but also for Japan, and our Japan team! Craziness right? So anyhow, I decided to email her about a week ago, to update her on what was going on with the Japan team thinking that she may have forgotten about my group. Heck she may not have ever prayed for us, but that thought was quickly banished as i recieved her email back... I only hope this serves to encourage any of you who read this... so here it is... ^_^
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Justin,

Thank you so much for updating me on your upcoming missions trip. I was so blessed and encouraged after meeting with you. I came home and shared with my husband and we've been lifting you and your vision, your schooling and your upcoming trip to Japan. I've also added you to our intercessory prayer group. Justin words can't express how excited (as well as convicted) by your desire to minister to youth and that "forgotten" age group of young adults and college students!!

I believe God is going to do indescribable works through you my friend! (Ephesians 3:20)

Be confident that you will remain in our prayers as well as the Japan trip attachment is being forwarded to our Intercessory Prayer Group. (and posted where we can be reminded to stand in the gap!)

(We just took sign ups yesterday for an increase in intercessor's!!)

If you have time I would love to hear the feedback from your Japan trip. (I haven't stopped praying for the people since you shared the spiritual battle there...)

encouraged in heart, united in love

2My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Colossians 2:2-3

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These days i've been reading from Colossians and I feel like there is so much in that letter that will translate in Japan. This verse especially rings true to both what we desire to do in japan -to encourage others and be united with them in love, and also to communicate with non-believers the riches to be found in God and hope that they get to really know Him and that the words bear fruit....

to our supporters - please pray that we would have those divine encounters with people with hearts that are of fertile soil - that we could plant seeds that will take root and not wither.

(In exactly two weeks we will be at the airport getting ready to depart. It seems so far away... yet i know the time will come quickly! Crazy!)

meaning

talking about meaning...
i keep on thinking of that image again. no exact meaning or revelation or epiphany regarding it, but the image is there and alive and kickin'! maybe it's just a simple explanation, or even something that will be revealed during our journey. hmmm..

image:
cityscape, stacked buildings, skyscrapers, a mass of figures standing, sprawled across the metropolitan picture, no identity, no distinction, just pillars of ashes, colorless. as the light draws in from the upper left corner of my mind, it begins to listlessly wisp away the ashes, revealing the forehead, the brows, the eyes, the nose, and giving color and identity.

the image is apparent. so apparent.

Whoa...

I just found out that my mom's dad went to college in Osaka, Japan. I don't know why, but it just gave me chills. Some meaning or just random? I don't know. But this trip keeps getting crazier and crazier...

Rocked, Rolled, Jelly filled... Yumm...

Wow, I say Wow... Amazed by grace, torn away by mercy. Having been sucker punched to the face by the enemy's fantastic scheme's, God made quick work of the enemy by providing me more!... Amazed by grace, torn away by mercy... Last week I found out that i was going to be a little more than $400 something short of meeting my goal for Missions and $450 something short on my visa credit card because of various events... Totaly enemy influenced... I wont go into detail, but ya i was sucker punched to the Face! But in just three days after having asked for prayer and praying hard on my own... God not only provided for me the money for what i was lacking to pay for Japan and my own credit card, but also provided even more then what i had before for Japan!... PRaise God!!!... So though i was like flour mixed with yeast and water, then Rocked then rolled, God filled me with Jelly!!! Oh Joy! Oh How sweet is the Lord almighty! Can i get a Amen?!?!
^_^ Hehe...

Oops!

Haha, sorry all you lovely commenters out there! I just learned that I have to accept all your comments before they show on the blog. Sorry about that. Thanks so much for the lovin!! It's encouraging to know that you all are interested and engaged in what we're writing about and that we're not just writing it for ourselves. I am blessed because of all of you out there in Internet-land reading and sharing in our journey.

17 more days to go!!
[Oh man, a bit of nervous nausea just hit me for a sec there...]

Attacks...

The retreat this past week was just amazing! We had so much fun bonding together while eating great food. It seriously felt like a least a two day retreat since we did so much! It was in a word, a Blessing... But now after being back, I feel like the enemy has been trying to get me down with just an array of different things, using my parents, work, school and just other small things to get me down. But what am i to do? Back down? NEver! i'll never back down from being attacked. So i pray and pray for the Lord's strength and i am asking for more blessings as well. As it is, as a team i think we could all use more and more prayer, so those of you who are reading this... would pray for us regularly? prayers of protection in the spiritual, that God would foul the plans of the enemy, and would bless us as well. Thank you!

Recuperating...

The mini-retreat was a blast as you may have gathered from Jean's email. Although it was literally about 24 hours...it was the longest 24 hours ever - and I mean that in the best way possible. Our team has really grown in love for one another and just being ourselves... or so I think :)

God is really answering our prayers, that we would grow in unity. So thanks to all of you supporters who have lifted us up... He is definitely working to bind us together.

Which reminds me...people have said that they check our blog - but no one leaves comments! We want to know who you are and who reads this besides us. So drop us a comment or even just a quick "hello" - we'd love to hear from you!

bonding

hey, don't know about the rest of you guys, but the retreat was a blast! from waking up at 7:00 in the morning, to eating an insanely huge b-fast at marmalade cafe, to random toys R us and target runs (we DID spend a significant time there), to watching france beat brazil, to eating BBQ madness at "it's all in the sauce" (justin, have you checked out the one near home yet?), to seeing thrift shops for "retarded children" and "pets" (those signs were a little awkward), to justin wanting to be super dark, to knocking out at the beach, to throwing the $2 frisbee around (man, we're really not that good...), to watching A Cinderella Story (no further comment), to praying together and sharing with each other, to more eating at Freebirds (gargantuas burritos!), to zonking out, only to wake up to more good food (BUTTERY pancakes at Dupar's!), to our good old ride back, to our middle-of-the-mall/theater coffee run, and to our acronym-creating obsession! (i think this was just tj...hehe...G.O.P.C....haha....P.O.C.T....just ask us). whew...goooood and necessary bonding time! you guys just get more and more awesome!

these are my two favorite pictures:

THE LAMP:

THE ICEBOX:

Retreat

This weekened the team will be heading out for a Japan team retreat. I cant help but feel excited since we'll be able to spend some good time fellowshiping together as well as just having fun. =) My only concern is that we dont burn in the sun as we head off to the Beach!...hehe