<- the team w/some our favorite pplMissions Testimonial: Japan 2007
Hello Everyone,
Praise the Lord! Amen? What an incredible summer it's been! And with this Fall season approaching, or already here, i felt a need to write this letter now rather than wait another day or two in which could very well turn into another month! So as this is a Testimonial, i just wanted to thank you all for being such incredible supporters in my trip to Japan. This being my second year going to Japan, I felt even more so that God's presence and leading upon me was to an even greater degree! I believe that this was because of your prayers and so i thank you once again, and again i will do so over and over because i've been so blessed by everyone who has supported me. So to start, since coming back from Japan, i've had several opportunities to share what God has been speaking to me about and im just so excited to see that every time i've done so, those who have heard the word are blessed by it. I've also started my second quarter at The King's Seminary in which i am taking on a full load and already trying not to let the overwhelming amount of work overcome me! So with that said, excuse me for being a little brief as i talk about my trip Japan.
At the end of last year, i really felt like God was telling me to go back the next year, which really wasn't what i had hoped to hear after having prayed all pretrip before for God to tell me what He wanted me to do in Japan. And so this year, I as i headed back to Japan, my mind was filled with even a little bit of confusion. Though i knew that God wanted me to go back, i really had no idea why. I knew only that by going, i was doing God's will. Not that i didn't have a passion for the people, it's just that I really didn't know what God was going to speak to me about through this trip. I think i was just hoping he would tell me a little more about my actually calling in Japan and so forth. I think three main experiences really really spoke to me, and are the experiences in which have really solidified what i believe is God's calling for me, at least in part. The first experience was that in Tokyo. While in Tokyo, my team visited two churches, one called the "Jesus Life House church", founded by Hillsongs in Australia, and the second called "New Hope Life church" founded by "New Hope Life" church in Hawaii. What was amazing to me is that after both services, which were both very amazing, the pastors actually spent time afterwards to speak with the team. We we're all very blessed by how willing and eager they were in encouraging us to continue on in our efforts to reach Japan. What spoke to the most about what each pastor was telling us was that ten churches in the area were united in their endeavors to reach Tokyo. Some of those churches even met in this one building! Sharing facilities and everything! One pastor even told us that if we were ever to plant a church in Tokyo, they'd be willing to support us! Amazing right?... first that ten churches in Tokyo are so willing to work with one another, and secondly that they're so willing to help out others. I think in the Valley alone there are like 30 churches, yet not even two of them are truly united as these churches in Japan are. Amazing right?
The second experience i had was simply just seeing those people in whom met the year before. People like my half Japanese, half Scottish friend Stephen, who serves as a youth coordinator at the main church that we work with. I was just so filled with joy seeing all of the little kids and parents that I so eagerly wanted to see again. Especially so, Stephen represents to me my first real friend in Japan, someone in whom i can relate with since we're the same age and he's able to speak perfect English since he was raised partially in Scotland. There was something about this trip though, that unlike last year, felt very much like being "at home". And this is just one of those experiences that have shaped what I believe God is using to speak to me.
Thirdly, During my last night in Japan, i was treated to this amazing dinner in which about 20 or so people had come too. At the end of the meal however, the host asked me to speak a short message. I was so caught off guard because I had nothing planned or written out to say, but I knew that God was telling me speak about something that has been on my mind since February, that being Christs reliance upon the Holy Spirit. I was nervous partially because I had a little over twenty people staring at me, and also because I was about to speak a message that normally takes about forty minutes to speak into ten minutes! As my translator spoke after me, my mind raced to get out what i'd be saying next, all the while looking to see if the Japanese people were getting what i was trying to say. I was a little discouraged at first, because if you know Japanese people, they kind of just stare at you with little expression. So there were no, "Amens" or "Hallelujahs", just maybe crickets in the background. After the message, and I had gone back to my home stay, i sat on my bed a little bummed about the message i gave, second guessing the order and content in which I chose to present my message. But this changed the morning after as i met up with my team, i was told that after I had left, a non-Christian mother and son had gone up to the translator and told her all about how the message i gave really encouraged her and made her feel closer to accepting Jesus as her Saviour! Hiro, my translator and fellow team member told me that they even spent an hour so talking about her faith and how the message really applied to her. Praise God!... So in this God used me to speak to me them in a powerful way.
So out of these three experiences this is what I feel God has spoken to me. I felt God's leading for me to plant a church in Japan, His peace in being there, and in His wanting to use me in speak to His people in Japan. Amazing right?
I wish I could have spent a lot more time preparing and then writing out this testimonial, but I hope that at least some of my joy and excitement for what God is calling me to do in Japan has rubbed off on you. My plans for next year does include going to Japan again, but eventually if not this next year I actually hope to lead the team. So ya, again i know this letter is not written very well, but because of the work load I'm under I really needed to write this quickly without much editing. Thank you so much once again!
God bless!
Justin Huang
