Mission in
Osaka, Japan

Today, I am officially less than 2 weeks away from doing mission work in Osaka, Japan! Now, to the people who do not understand what I am doing completely, this is a more in depth explanation of what will happen while I am there. A team of 4 staff and 8 students (including me) will be in Osaka, Japan for 5 weeks. Over the course of our time there, we will be meeting Japanese students while they are in their academic year at college. 

Why college students (compared to other demographics)? 

College students are in a stage of life where they are finding who they want to be, what they want to do with their lives, and ultimately that decision is super important! In addition to that, Japan is already massively unreached! (only about 1% are Christian), which means 99% of people do NOT know who Jesus is and do NOT have the hope of Christ for their lives now or in eternity. 

With this in mind, this trip will include our team going into different Japanese universities to meet students, build relationships and tell them who Jesus is! Ultimately, without the hope of Christ anyone who does not have a personal relationship wanders and tries to find meaning, joy, satisfaction and fulfillment in a variety of things, and this is no different for people in Japan. 

With that being said, I am excited and nervous (as I am learning about our vastly different cultures) to travel to Osaka and share Christ with them!

It is now only 8 days until I fly from LA to Osaka! We meet up as a team for our last meeting on the 27th to discuss the Japanese Mind book and how we can minister to the Japanese people we will be encountering! But until then, the family has been visiting old friends and extended family in California for a few days now and for a few more days! 

I feel as if the Lord has been really calling me to be in prayer for Osaka lately. The more I have read this book and getting to know some of the team a little bit better, the more that I realize that this trip is getting closer and I will be gone for over a month from my home. It is a little bittersweet, yet it is for the glory of God. I have just felt this need to be intentional, not only in a few days but even now as I only have so much time in Japan, California and even Knoxville. Whether the Lord returns or He calls me home or even just in the grand scheme of life, we can only be kinda sure about the time that we have right now.

In times prior when visiting California to see family and friends, I have not taken advantage of the time that I could be ministering to others. This time, God has burdened me more to share the good news with more people. I think back to when I was initially called to Jesus and that hope that I knew. I still have that hope in Him, and over the past few months it has only gotten deeper and more passionate.

Something I read today that really has been on my mind is this: 

"'You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

(Matthew 5:14-16)

So it has been about 24 hours (maybe a little less) since I have been in the country now and there has already been so much that has happened! Up until last night, I probably had a combined 4 hours of sleep through the single night in Los Angeles and few hours in Canada and the flights. We arrived at KIX airport on like an airstrip in Osaka and took a train to where we are staying and got here at about 6pm local time. 

When we first got here, we got our transit passes loaded, our currencies were exchanged, and we got through customs. 

(5/30)

Okay, full update time! Yesterday, we got to meet the pastor at the church we will be attending while we are here! We also got to get connected with the JCCC (Japan Campus Crusades for Christ) organization, which included getting to learn about the staff and organization a little bit more. I tried sushi for the first time, and it was just a full day of getting ready to talk to students, enjoy the scenery and know the culture! There is almost too much to really describe, but hopefully I will get a moment to really slow down and process all that I have been learning. 

Today is our designated Sabbath rest day, which was intentionally planned into the trip. It was planned so that during the busy Japanese life, we would not feel tempted to non-stop go when today could be used to step back and rest. Some of us woke up at around 6-7am (our sleep cycles are still a bit thrown off), but we had church at Enjoy Church, which is a local congregation in Osaka. Following that, we had lunch at this ramen place, where I learned very quickly that I did not know how to use chopsticks well at all. 

However, today is exciting for a few reasons.

1. Tomorrow, we actually get to go on campus and talk to students. As a team, we will be going to 4 different campuses over the course of the trip.

2. Today, we will be spending some intentional time with the Lord and prepping our hearts and minds and bodies via rest for the busy week ahead of us.

Our first day on campus was Monday, and it was at Kansai University. We were there from about 11:30 to 4:30pm (which was also the time we were there on Tuesday and Wednesday). So how our team is divided is we have 12 people in total, half of which go to 2 schools and the other go to 2 other schools the whole trip. We are at Kansai and Gaidai Universities. The next two days were at Gaidai, and the last day on Friday will be back at Kansai. Then, we will go back next week and do it again!

We definitely have had some highlights and lowlights (is that a word?) at both campuses, however I do not think any conversations were bad. In total, I have probably been in about 10-15 conversations this far into the trip with different students.

The first day was pretty rough as the area we were talking to students in was pretty dead. There weren't too many people, but we did have a few. One of which, led to him leading us to the bookstore and me finding an interesting Christian history/Bible meaning book that was written by a Tokyo Professor (more about this later).

The second day was a little bit better. We went with the local church, Enjoy Church! They showed us around campus and we got to meet some of their friends, and their friends and their friends (it was a large web of connections). We played Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza and I got to connect with some students, tell them about America and learn about Japan. (I even showed them some Forrest Frank music). It seems so far that they want to meet up again and get dinner!

Today, I definitely got some kind of sickness unfortunately. I have been feeling tired and congested all day, but had no choice but to thug it out for the gospel, which was a good move as it was probably the most encouraging. I met another international Christian (who lives and goes to school in Japan. I got to answer a hard question, encourage him and listen to his story. While doing so, we got to meet some other new friends! One of which, Adridge and I are going to watch at Karate practice. (he is a blackbelt).

That is all! Tomorrow, we do not have campus time so I am hoping to rest and try to not be sick for Friday! God be with you all!

Hi again! Here is the update for the past few days! I have now lived in Japan for now a little over 2 weeks, and I am definitely a lot more adjusted to the culture. There is a scripture that I am reminded of when really getting used to the culture (1 Cor. 9:20), and when I say that I am becoming a Japanese person for the sake of them, I have tried picking up a few phrases, learning train ettiquete, dressed to the culture, etc. It has been so fun really getting to explore the city of Osaka as well by going to places like Osaka Castle, the local universities, trying food favorites like Sushiro and various ramen places. In addition to that, I have been able to try eel, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and other Japanese foods!

As far as ministry goes, I would say that week 2 really gave us a feel of what being a missionary is (in terms of ups and downs). Our schedule has us going Monday through Wednesday to campus to talk to students, and this past weekend we went to do street evangelism on Sunday after church with Enjoy Church in Osaka. By Wednesday, we definitely were worn out as a team. However, we have had some great conversations over the few days. 

Highlights as a team include 3 people from Kansai University/Gandai University making a decision to follow Jesus, which in Japan is a huge deal since the more realistic statistic of Christians in Japan is around 0.1% of the population. On one of our outreach days, I think it was Wednesday, I met a student named Huruto who shared a lot common interests with me (He also knew Country Roads Take Me Home). Though we have not talked about spiritual topics, I am praying for an opportunity to share the gospel with him! 

Some other people I have met were Yuta(Enjoy English), Kenta and Yuta (from Kandai University). Yuta from Enjoy English was such a great friend right off of the bat, such a loving guy who has been doing Enjoy Church events for a few weeks and we bonded over Minecraft and his interest in learning English. Kenta and Yuta from Kansai were two guys I met today who I had the opportunity to share the gospel with. Though Yuta rejected it, both students saw Christianity as good. Kenta, however is studying Philosophy so he definitely had more reason to think about Christianity. 

The last few people are in a huge friend group who regularly attend Enjoy Church events. One (Rikotu) has definitely been on my heart to pray for, because it seems like we have been getting along well and is just a great guy! 

The prayer request for this week is for all of these guys, that God would reveal Himself in just a sweet and impactful way, and for the new believers that they would be connected to a healthy church in Japan. Peace be with you all!

These last two weeks have been pretty crazy, I have so much to update you all on and probably can go about this in a lot of words, but I will try to keep it short to get all of what has happened. 

One thing that has happened since the last update is just this friendship that I have built with the student named Yuta. I have probably seen him about 5 times at this point but each time being just marked by a deeper friendship. On what I thought was our last conversation, we talked about the gospel and he had an opportunity to respond, but it seemed like religion or relationship with God was not an interest for him. However, he showed up later to an event our team had, and he was exposed to the gospel again through a story in the Bible. I truly believe that the Lord is really working in his life, showing him Christian community time and time again. 

Another student named Akira has been coming to the JCCC events as well. We have met a few times (some of them even being seemingly coincidental). We met this past week for lunch, where I got to understand more of what makes him who he is. Something I can notice about him is that he keeps coming back to Christian community though he is not Christian himself. Though I do not understand why he rejects Christ, I am aware that he has heard the gospel at least 2-3 times (one from our meeting), and that he longs for love from a friend (true friendship). 

Lastly, this story comes from Monday this week (6/23). I was on campus and really was not finding any good conversations to have, and long story short I met a student, waited for his class to end and then share the gospel with him. Now, in the middle of the conversation, another student who spoke better English was curious about our conversation and joined us. Both of these students heard the gospel on Monday, and while the guy I initially talked to rejected Jesus, the other guy seemed to accept Christ, though I cannot be 100% confident. However, his curiosity and the questions he asked alluded to the fact that God had been pursuing this student for quite some time. He asked questions like, "Is God good?" and "Why do you believe in Jesus?" These students both declined to me following up with them, but I know God will be faithful to pursue whom He will.

This week is coming to an end with our last vision dinner tomorrow and traveling to Tokyo for debrief on Sunday. I am excited to bring what I have learned back to America, yet I know Japan is still very lost. I am praying that God sends more of the Body of Christ here to share the good news of Jesus! If I am to be here, so be it. God be with you all!