One Week.

So it has officially been my FIRST week in Japan! Praise God! Below I will list some of the wonderful things I have been able to be a part of this week. . .

One of the awesome things I have had the privilege of getting into is COOKING alongside my Sensei, Naomi! Haha. I even got to make dinner for the Ghents (Martin and Naoms) all by myself! I have to admit that at home I find cooking to be a chore, but for some reason I find it to be a joy up here. I think I might know why this is : Naomi is truly an inspiration to me. She is a free-spirited, unconsciously nonchalant SUPER WOMAN who I adore. She's effortlessly talented at baking, cooking and designing things. What makes her so special is the attitude of humility she brings to all she does...I praise God for revealing to me that I can truly experience pleasure in all things, even cooking and cleaning, as long as I do it for the Lord. I pray I take this sacred mindset back with me and apply it to my daily tasks at home. I am just bracing myself with excitement for Ruth's return since she is pretty much a true pro at baking, cooking and so many other things...I know I will learn so much from these Godly women. Y A Y!


I have also had the gift of helping Naoms study for an English test she has coming up. Surprisingly, we have shared a lot of laughs and fun times while studying!

This past Friday night we had a Youth Live meeting for Junior High aged children. I suggested some new games that they had never played before. For those of you who know this game, I got the kids to play "ZIP ZAP ZOP"! hahaha...Except they changed the words to Zippu, Zappu, Zoppu which made it a lot more Japanese and adorable...We also managed to play a game called 'Strawberry, Lightbulb', a variation of 'Broken Telephone', despite the language barrier! NICE! Short-termer Chris, ran a devotion which seemed to resonate with the kids quite well. I am really excited to grow with this group and get to know them better.

One of the highlights of my week was that, when asked if they had any prayer requests, the two girls in the middle both said their prayer is that God would allow them to find ways for them to communicate and get to know me better...*melts* This warmed my heart as this, of course, is my prayer as well...

On Saturday we said "goodbye" to our good friend Chris from New Zealand. He had been here for two months and was a joy for me to work alongside with, even though it was only for 3 days. I also had the awesome opportunity of helping him run an English class with about 4 Japanese-speaking adults. It was a blessings to be able to meet them and witness their eagerness to learn English. Please pray that God will use us to ultimately display to them Jesus' love...

(Taking this pic made me feel VERY Japanese! It is definitely a fad in Japan. It is called "purikura"and it is kinda my favourite thing in the world right now...haha. We went after Tomomi's birthday party which I mention below.)

Sunday was probably my most challenging yet rewarding day I've had in Japan...Sunday is definitely the Ghent's busy day, as they run two church services, with one that takes place in another city called Hirosaki (40mins away). What was challenging was that almost everything was in Japanese that day. Now this point seems painfully obvious and should not come as a surprise. However, I realized that the last time I was here, I was surrounded by other non-Japanese-speaking people to feel alienated with. In a sense, their similar lack of knowing what was going on was a huge source of comfort to me. I knew I was not alone in my inability to communicate and understand. This time, it is quite a different experience, but it is one that I am MOST thankful for... After the service at Harvest Chapel, Naomi, our little friend Shiori and I went to a surprise birthday for the sweetest lady Tomomi at a funky coffee shop. It was extremely interesting observing the way these ladies interacted in a social setting, and I can honestly say they are such a gentle, courteous group of friends who I am glad to now know. Other than observing though, it was really difficult to be a participant in hardly any conversations. Naomi and Martin have been marvelous at translating when possible, but I have reassured them and also encouraged them not to always translate for me, especially in social situations where I would much rather them all act naturally. This lack of being able to communicate with beautiful people who you SO badly want to reach out to has revealed to me a number of things...Mostly it has greatly humbled and reminded me of my Man, Jesus who chose to become alienated and singled out to the point of death...I am very grateful for this somewhat awkward experience of being stretched and smoothed out for His glory... Also, this has made me really want to learn and practice my Japanese! Pray that God will allow me to study hard in order for me to further be able to express Jesus' love to the people here...


My first BUFFET IN JAPAN!!!! :) It was awesome to me, but probably pretty standard to everyone else... haha!

Thanks again guys for following along. Please know that I feel your prayers. They give me strength and joy to fulfill His will for me here. . .

THIS WILL MAKE EDY SQUEAL... Snipets of my new 'home'

I though it might be nice to post some pictures of some of my favourite trinkets, spots, and details of my home here in Itayanagi. What I love about the coffee shop and the Ghent's place is its cozy simplicity, soul-warming ambience, and snowy sunlight...haha these attributes pretty much epitomize my best friend Edy who would be in love with this place, hence the post title... Most of all though, I love that God is honoured, praised and placed first in this home. You feel it the second you walk in these doors... The first few pics are of the coffee shop located merely a stone throw away from the house... :) Enjoy!




The Ghent's Place:




My wonderful lunch made by the most talented girl Naomi... I love her!

Itayanagi, Aomori, JAPAN! :)

So here is a very cliche but absolutely necessary shot of the famous OMF sign on the side of the main office... I just had to take one!

My trip up to Itayanagi (the town where the Ghent's live) took around 6 hours and included three different trains and one bullet train (Shinkansen)...Here is a pic of me in front of the bullet train!

My ride up on this train was fabulous! It is very spacious, clean and smooth. I had a great time praising God with the help of my ipod. The view was also really awesome which I will show you below. This is a picture of my first doughnut in Japan. My favourite part is the adorable 'Peanuts' bag it comes in that says: "Happiness is...". To be honest, the doughnut was a bit strange, but yummy. hehe...

So this ultra cool Japanese business man was wearing these rockin', bumblebee inspired, knee highs, so I just had to take a picture of course... LOL!

Here is a picture of the bathroom/storage area. You can see the rows of seats through the window.

One of the views from my window! I just love the background of mountains.
:)
WELCOME TO ITAYANAGI! It continued to get snowier and snowier as I made my way to my final destination! The further you get up north, the less and less English there is. There were definitely some moments where I had NO idea which train to take or which platform to wait on. Thankfully, the Serve Japan Coordinator, Chris gave me a cell phone so I could call Martin and ask for some help! I also managed to use my VERY broken Japanese to ask other locals where I was supposed to wait. Haha...I finally made it to my last stop and was delighted to come down the stairs and discover a Christmas Wonderland! It is very snowy but absolutely beautiful here in Itayanagi. What I love is that while it is cool, there is not that extreme chill you find in Canadian winters. Praise God! haha... Most of you know I have horrible circulation and being cold was one thing I was a bit worried about, especially since Japanese homes have no central heating system. Eek!

The room given to me is the most amazing room I've ever had! It is by far the largest and most adorable. I feel like I am at the beach every time I look at this little sitting area! I love the bright windows and wicker accents. sigh... This makes me smile!

My bed which is EXTREMELY warm and comfortable!

I love that my desk is right by another window. I have a thing for natural light. It always makes me feel more positive...


AAAAAND one of the most AWESOME parts of my room: MY HEATER! hahahaha...It heats up this big space amazingly. Even though I turn it off at night, it heats up fast in the morning and to be honest, I have felt a lot colder this winter in my house back in Markham, ON! LOL... :) The Lord provides!

Sorry for the lengthiness of this post. I just wanted to tell you all how amazing God is for leading me here and include you in my adventure! I can honestly say I felt His light walking beside me the entire way, and it was a blessing depending on Him during times of feeling unsure. The moment I walked into the Ghent's house I got teary-eyed. There is just such a genuine sense of His spirit in this place. A still, pure, humble presence lingers, and I am praising God for giving me this gift of being here. Thank you guys for reading along, and I send my prayers and love to you all...

<3

WELCOME TO JAPAN!

Call me crazy, but generally I experience positive feelings when I think about and eat plane food...Not that it tastes good or anything, but for me it just somehow adds a strange (and somewhat gross) excitement to the entire traveling experience!! haha...


SO! Yes, I have arrived! It is pretty surreal to be sitting here in Tokyo, Japan! I had an awesome plane ride, mainly due to my crazy awesome friends who gave me very happy plane letters to read! (A special shout out to Kayla for the HILARIOUS custom-made crossword and wordsearch...I was literally laughing out loud!)

I was also able to RAID the kid's section of the movies available! (Diary of a Wimpy Kid is my new fave film...LOL)

But most importantly, I felt God near me the entire time. It was just such a unique and new experience for me to be doing something this big, alone...Well, alone in the sense that there were no other people I knew...However, I felt Him very close to me and it was great just to spend time sharing my heart and spilling my guts to my True Best Friend. Ah... I just love Jesus. SO. MUCH. :)

I was met at Narita Airport by a very sweet spirited lady Christine, originally from Chicago! She is just lovely and it was great to hear a bit of her missionary story that God has begun to write for her! We are both amazed and excited that His plan has brought her to Japan...

Currently I sit in this cozy, and surprisingly WARM guest room at the OMF mission house in Ichikawa. I'm nodding off because even though it is only 7:18pm here, it is actually 5:18am in my brain...ugh... :) BUT, God is with me and He has led me here. I am so grateful and full of joy. I love tomorrows...They are always beautiful when Jesus walks with you.

I love you family , friends, church brothers and sisters. I feel your prayers and will not stop praying for all of you as well.

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world."

Isaiah 12:4-5

Nitey Nite!

See You Soon...

(photo taken the last time I was in Aomori, seven years ago!)

I have one more full day in Canada before I embark to Japan!

I am feeling about 500 different emotions, but trumping every feeling is this overall sense of excitement and peace... God is Good!

For all of my close friends, my special friend (Kevin Teh hehe!) and all those I call family, I leave you with these beautiful words:

“Every ache of homesickness, every bit of heartache will be a sacrifice, an offering of praise and surrender that goes straight to the throne of Jesus.” (said by a missionary friend of a missionary friend)

I love you all and the next time I write I'll be in JAPAN! : )

Love, Blessings and Peace...

On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided...

God truly does discipline those He loves and calls His legitimate sons and daughters (Hebrews 12:4-12). What a painful, yet beautiful honour...

Lately, I have felt close to our ancestor Abraham. In the past, accounts of the old testament seemed unreal, unattainable and foreign. Today, God has been using them as a way to divide my joints and marrow; to judge the attitude and thoughts of my weak human heart (Hebrews 4:12). Amen!

Abraham and Isaac... (Genesis 22)
I have many "Isaacs" in my life as the world, my own brokenness and satan try to compete for God's rightful place in my heart... I see Isaac as a beautiful gift from God, yet also a site of possible idolatry for our dear Abe. Isaac was so much more than just Abe's promised son. He was his good reputation, trophy in society, hope for the future, relief from a piercing disappointment...and, so much more...In my life, there have been many moments where I have failed to acknowledge God's ownership of all aspects of my life... While laying your desperate desires onto an alter at the feet of God is brutal in the journey up the hill, the moment of release is True Joy. Because: GOD WILL ALWAYS PROVIDE. . .and we will always be refined further into holiness if we trust in His will. smile.

An example of this happened to me today as I finally made my way to the Consulate General of Japan in Toronto. I was eager, anxious and excited to finalize this part of the process that I have been longing to complete! Shortly after I handed in my papers, the lady informed me that I would probably not be able to attain the type of visa I was applying for and I would most likely have to postpone my trip by a couple of MONTHS... This was due to the "religious" nature of my trip, requiring me to apply for a Missionary Visa. Many thoughts ran through my mind as tears filled my eyes during the long elevator ride down to the lobby... Why God? Yet this time He not only answered (as He always does) but I was able to listen and learn. I must admit that it was a temptation to become bitter, blame others and feel self-pity as this reality began to toss around in my mind. However, God has been preparing me through many people and experiences to NOT LOOSE HEART, to say "YES LORD" AT ALL TIMES and to trust that HIS way is always the harder way, yet by far the better one. His way for us is the way that saves. Soon after, I got a call from the same lady saying that her doubts about my visa were wrong and the official visa officer felt my application was appropriate for the visa I was applying for... really? NICE!

Thank you Jesus for leading me up this hill today. The fact that the visa officer had a softened heart towards my application was wonderful, yet the real miracle is that Your Holy Spirit really does move and breathe within me. I am so full of joy that you allowed me to hear "no" today, because it gave me a moment of candidness with You. My heart wanted to falter, but YOU kept me strong. Jesus, I know Your way is the only way...and even though there will be more trials, closed doors, shaking heads, miscommunications, bumps in the road, You are my promise, reward, shield and Beloved. I love You.

ONE. MORE. MONTH. (Lord willing that is... :)

Joy of the Redeemed

Isaiah 35

Joy of the Redeemed

¹ The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, ² it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.

When pondering about a place you hardly know about, it is almost impossible to escape from letting cliches dance around in your mind...For me, one of the most exciting things that I have been waiting to experience in Japan is the beauty of the Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) in the spring! Although a VERY stereotypical "Japanese" image, God knows that I am a real softie for nature and He will often use it to reveal to me aspects of His divine character: He is such an innovative Creator! I can't help but smile at the thought of finally seeing these beautiful jewels with my own eyes. Hence, when trying to find an interesting name for this blog, I thought it might be worthwhile to see what the bible had to say about "blossoms" or the act of "blossoming"...

Isn't it amazing how God's desire for us to grow, thrive and prosper is reflected throughout nature itself? We are just like these...Dry, dull, and hidden until His love pours out living water and glorious light to make us Flourish. What a great God is He...

May I always spur others on into growth through the only true Life Source.

About fifty more days! : )