Hey guys! These past few days have been insane! Super summer team went home last week. And it was a blast to be able to work with them. Brown family had so much unity and so much love for each other that it made their focus very strong. During the week they were able to talk to many Japanese and make friends that they were able to meet with later. Thank God that the Super Summer team came and worked hard. It was so cool to watch God work in their lives and then use them for his glory.
The day after they left we were all getting ready for Mount Fuji. I was soooo nervous!! Anyways we spent the day buying warm clothes and head lamps and cool stuff like that. Then 4:30 rolled around and we headed to our bus stop. We got on the bus for a 2 hour ride to station 5 of the mountain. It was already raining and wind was blowing but we decided we would go for it. So we started climbing. Made it to level 6 and talked to a man who lived there. He told us that he would worry for our lives if we would have kept on going. He also said that a man had already died earlier that day. So Jeff decided that we would not keep going, thank God. If we would have kept going we literally would have frozen to death. The weather was so bizarre, it's usually alot warmer that far down the mountain. So we were all soaking wet and being blown off the mountain literally. We started back down and finally made it back to station 5. Then we remembered that our bus didn't leave until 11 a.m. the next morning. So we were lucky enough to catch a bus ( the last bus of the night). We all squished on with a million other foreigners. And finally made it down the mountain. Then we saw that the train station didn't open until 5:20 a.m. So we all spent the night in the outdoor train station. And what a night! It was so cold. We all felt like hobos. Jonathan sums it up real well:
"well...I mean, anyone can just say " I climbed mount Fuji" but honestly how many can claim, " I got to station 6 of Mt. Fuji and got turned around because the mountain was too torrential and below freezing and wind gusts almost ...blew a member of the party off the mountain. Then I had to haggle to the point of selling my left kidney to the hood-rat bus driver to get off the mountain, only to survive off of the 7-11 while sleeping on the stone floor of a deserted trainstation on the wrong side of the mountain." Ahhhhh, a long night of raining, trudging, haggling, eating, hobo-ing and desperately trying not to throw up from the sheer volume of junk food we consumed always does a body good =]"
We finally made it home after a 3 hour train ride and a long walk home. And from 9 a.m. in the morning to like 6 p.m we were all sound asleep.
So fuji was a wonderful experience. Not many people can say they have done all of this! What an awesome day full of team bonding!
Tomorrow we have one last church service and then a sayonara party at the missionary's house. Then Monday we have debriefing and cleaning and packing. Then tuesday we will be home! CRAZY!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Praise God.
Hey there everybody.
It's been a crazy past few days!! They've been incredible though. Yesterday we all waited anxiously all day for a message that said it was time to go pick up the super summer team. We were all sooooo excited. Finally the moment came and we got to go pick them up and we finally got them all to the hostel after blood, sweat, and tears. It was sooo cool to see their bright faces. And when I saw Brenna and Jess I about passed out. It is such a blessing for a peice of home to be here with me. And Father has great plans for them this summer.
Today we got to go pick up our team bright and early and then take them to orientation. There we had some great worship time and a good message from Drew Worsham. It was a wonderful morning. Then we took our teams to lunch and then to the government towers for prayer walking and seeing the city. I think they really loved it, I know it never gets old for me. After that we got to go to our ministry sites for 5me. That went sooooo great!! My team got to talk to a lot of people. And I got to make two girl contacts that are my age :] So exciting. I get to meet with them and have a bible study with them some time next week. They were sooo interested and they want to learn more about God. They actually have never heard of him before, that breaks my heart.
Pray for these two girls that they'll be curious and understanding. Pray for the SS team, that they can get over jet lag and have lots of energy every day. Just keep praying!
Lots of love!
It's been a crazy past few days!! They've been incredible though. Yesterday we all waited anxiously all day for a message that said it was time to go pick up the super summer team. We were all sooooo excited. Finally the moment came and we got to go pick them up and we finally got them all to the hostel after blood, sweat, and tears. It was sooo cool to see their bright faces. And when I saw Brenna and Jess I about passed out. It is such a blessing for a peice of home to be here with me. And Father has great plans for them this summer.
Today we got to go pick up our team bright and early and then take them to orientation. There we had some great worship time and a good message from Drew Worsham. It was a wonderful morning. Then we took our teams to lunch and then to the government towers for prayer walking and seeing the city. I think they really loved it, I know it never gets old for me. After that we got to go to our ministry sites for 5me. That went sooooo great!! My team got to talk to a lot of people. And I got to make two girl contacts that are my age :] So exciting. I get to meet with them and have a bible study with them some time next week. They were sooo interested and they want to learn more about God. They actually have never heard of him before, that breaks my heart.
Pray for these two girls that they'll be curious and understanding. Pray for the SS team, that they can get over jet lag and have lots of energy every day. Just keep praying!
Lots of love!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
He is Holy.
Hey everybody,
The past few days have been sooo good. Friday we got to go to our English class at a Baptist church for the last time. I love love love going there. All of the people that attend are not Christians, but the leaders of the church use the class as an outreach. They teach Enlgish using the Bible as their textbook. They also pray at the beginning and the end and then we play fun games that allow them to practice their English like telephone or hangman. The people are sooo sweet. They're always so excited to learn more and speak with us. They just love to love on us. And this Friday was our last time to go, so it was a little sad going to it knowing we would probably never see these beautiful people every again. After the class all of us americans each got a say a little something and then they all thanked us for coming and helping. Then it felt like Christmas day because all of the ladies were bringing us little presents for helping them learn English. It was so precious. Sadly, we said our goodbyes and headed off to some more 5me. That went pretty well. God answered some specific prayers there.
Yesterday was mine and a few other peoples' day off, so we decided to go to Disneyland :] One team member invited 4 Japanese friends and we met them there. We spent the whole day hanging out with them and just enjoying the rides and shows. It was alot of fun. It cool to fellowship with them and just share our lives with them.
Today my Samarai team got the privilege to go to a Baptist Church. It was really cool to once again go a Baptist church in Japan. It was incredible to worship and be with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ even though we don't even speak the same language. We all got to share with the Church what we've been learning this summer and to encourage them to go out and share the gospel with the people in Japan. Going to a Japanese Baptist church is something very special that I will never forget.
One more day until the Super Summer team arrives with all 123 of their members. It's going to be CRAZY! But i'm excited to see how God uses all of them to reach the people here. Please be praying for the team.
Family is in Africa!! Continue to pray for them please!! God has huge plans for them. Check out their blog and see how they're doing: www.kraftfamilyinafrica.blogspot.com.
Love you!
The past few days have been sooo good. Friday we got to go to our English class at a Baptist church for the last time. I love love love going there. All of the people that attend are not Christians, but the leaders of the church use the class as an outreach. They teach Enlgish using the Bible as their textbook. They also pray at the beginning and the end and then we play fun games that allow them to practice their English like telephone or hangman. The people are sooo sweet. They're always so excited to learn more and speak with us. They just love to love on us. And this Friday was our last time to go, so it was a little sad going to it knowing we would probably never see these beautiful people every again. After the class all of us americans each got a say a little something and then they all thanked us for coming and helping. Then it felt like Christmas day because all of the ladies were bringing us little presents for helping them learn English. It was so precious. Sadly, we said our goodbyes and headed off to some more 5me. That went pretty well. God answered some specific prayers there.
Yesterday was mine and a few other peoples' day off, so we decided to go to Disneyland :] One team member invited 4 Japanese friends and we met them there. We spent the whole day hanging out with them and just enjoying the rides and shows. It was alot of fun. It cool to fellowship with them and just share our lives with them.
Today my Samarai team got the privilege to go to a Baptist Church. It was really cool to once again go a Baptist church in Japan. It was incredible to worship and be with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ even though we don't even speak the same language. We all got to share with the Church what we've been learning this summer and to encourage them to go out and share the gospel with the people in Japan. Going to a Japanese Baptist church is something very special that I will never forget.
One more day until the Super Summer team arrives with all 123 of their members. It's going to be CRAZY! But i'm excited to see how God uses all of them to reach the people here. Please be praying for the team.
Family is in Africa!! Continue to pray for them please!! God has huge plans for them. Check out their blog and see how they're doing: www.kraftfamilyinafrica.blogspot.com.
Love you!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Great day!!
Sorry I haven't been blogging the past few days!!
Today was super good! First we distributed a ton of Gospel of Johns throughout the M district. I love distributing! I love the feeling of knowing that SOOO many people opened their mail boxes today and now have a part of the Bible. God could use that opportunity soo many different ways. Like they could bust it open right then and get saved on the spot and then show their family and friends and they could come to the Lord too. Or they could just throw it aside and forget about it and then one day God can reveal it to them when the time is right. I wish I could hear all of the stories of the people that get them in their mailboxes, but that's impossible. Pray that the people that found them would just be so intrigued and interested in the Gospel and read it and actually understand it.
After distribution we had 5me. And it went really really really good times 100. I had a lot of people come and talk to me. One lady, who was Buddhist and sort of Shinto, (she prayed to buddha but also believed in many other gods like the gods of the trees and animals) anyways, she was so excited about everything we talked about. I was able to share some of the Gospel with her and also my testimony. She told me that she was happy that we as christians were out sharing the Gospel. She said ït's a great thing. Marvelous! Incredible!" I was so surprised. I gave her a Hope tract and then she gave my a pack of gum. She was a sweetheart :]
After we finished we debriefed and told some good stories of how everything went. And a member of the team told an awesome story. Guess what???! We have a new brother in Christ!!! PRAISE GOD! There's a party going on in heaven today :] Pray that he can get plugged in with a church and a missionary so that he can grow in his faith and relationship with God. Pray that he really was legit in accepting Christ and that he really understood what he was doing.
Today was awesome. Continue praying for our team, we've still got some sickness going around. Satan is trying hard to mess us up! Pray that can stay healthy.
Super summer team gets here in 5 days!! Pray for their safety. Pray that we will all be able to lead the teams smoothly and that every team will have unity. We are all sooo excited to get to work with them.
My family and the Africa team left today. Pray for their safety!!! I'm sooo excited to hear all the great stories of how God is working in Africa. He has huuuuge plans for the team.
Thanks for all of your support. love you!!!
Today was super good! First we distributed a ton of Gospel of Johns throughout the M district. I love distributing! I love the feeling of knowing that SOOO many people opened their mail boxes today and now have a part of the Bible. God could use that opportunity soo many different ways. Like they could bust it open right then and get saved on the spot and then show their family and friends and they could come to the Lord too. Or they could just throw it aside and forget about it and then one day God can reveal it to them when the time is right. I wish I could hear all of the stories of the people that get them in their mailboxes, but that's impossible. Pray that the people that found them would just be so intrigued and interested in the Gospel and read it and actually understand it.
After distribution we had 5me. And it went really really really good times 100. I had a lot of people come and talk to me. One lady, who was Buddhist and sort of Shinto, (she prayed to buddha but also believed in many other gods like the gods of the trees and animals) anyways, she was so excited about everything we talked about. I was able to share some of the Gospel with her and also my testimony. She told me that she was happy that we as christians were out sharing the Gospel. She said ït's a great thing. Marvelous! Incredible!" I was so surprised. I gave her a Hope tract and then she gave my a pack of gum. She was a sweetheart :]
After we finished we debriefed and told some good stories of how everything went. And a member of the team told an awesome story. Guess what???! We have a new brother in Christ!!! PRAISE GOD! There's a party going on in heaven today :] Pray that he can get plugged in with a church and a missionary so that he can grow in his faith and relationship with God. Pray that he really was legit in accepting Christ and that he really understood what he was doing.
Today was awesome. Continue praying for our team, we've still got some sickness going around. Satan is trying hard to mess us up! Pray that can stay healthy.
Super summer team gets here in 5 days!! Pray for their safety. Pray that we will all be able to lead the teams smoothly and that every team will have unity. We are all sooo excited to get to work with them.
My family and the Africa team left today. Pray for their safety!!! I'm sooo excited to hear all the great stories of how God is working in Africa. He has huuuuge plans for the team.
Thanks for all of your support. love you!!!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Last two days..
Hey guys. Here's the update:
Saturday we went to I park. We didn't really know what to expect because no one has ever done ministry in that park. So we went for it and alot the IWC made friends playing ultimate frisbee. I met a coulple people. (Ask me the stories later, I can't really blog about them. ) and handed out a few mangas. The last guy I met knew a whole lot about the history of the Bible and of Christianity. He must have studied it for a long time. Even though he knew so much, he knew so little. He was believing in some crazy things, and we talked for a very long time about the differences between different religions. Unfortunately he had to leave all of the sudden, so just pray for him please! Pray that God can show him truth and guidance. After the park we had 5me. We didn't really get to talk to anyone, but that's ok.
This morning we went to worship at the park. That was really good. Then we had park ministry and I got to meet a few Japanese girls and one of C's friend. And we all got to play ultimate frisbee together and that was fun. Then I got to go with C and his contact to mcdonalds to talk and hang out. And he was asking some really good question that required some hardcore Bible searching. And that really convicted me, like it made me realize how bible illiterate I am. Anyways, we got to talk alot out God and he was super interested in everything. Hes so close!!Pray that God will work in his heart and make him even more interested.
Tomorrow we will be doing personal ministry day. This just means that we go out and do something we're good at like basketball or cooking or something and go out and make friends that enjoy the same activities. So I will be going to a swimming pool and hopefully making some friends that can show me up in some lap swimming. I'm super excited. :]
Keep praying!! Family is leaving this week for Africa!! Pray for their safety!! God has some huge plans for the Africa team :]
Saturday we went to I park. We didn't really know what to expect because no one has ever done ministry in that park. So we went for it and alot the IWC made friends playing ultimate frisbee. I met a coulple people. (Ask me the stories later, I can't really blog about them. ) and handed out a few mangas. The last guy I met knew a whole lot about the history of the Bible and of Christianity. He must have studied it for a long time. Even though he knew so much, he knew so little. He was believing in some crazy things, and we talked for a very long time about the differences between different religions. Unfortunately he had to leave all of the sudden, so just pray for him please! Pray that God can show him truth and guidance. After the park we had 5me. We didn't really get to talk to anyone, but that's ok.
This morning we went to worship at the park. That was really good. Then we had park ministry and I got to meet a few Japanese girls and one of C's friend. And we all got to play ultimate frisbee together and that was fun. Then I got to go with C and his contact to mcdonalds to talk and hang out. And he was asking some really good question that required some hardcore Bible searching. And that really convicted me, like it made me realize how bible illiterate I am. Anyways, we got to talk alot out God and he was super interested in everything. Hes so close!!Pray that God will work in his heart and make him even more interested.
Tomorrow we will be doing personal ministry day. This just means that we go out and do something we're good at like basketball or cooking or something and go out and make friends that enjoy the same activities. So I will be going to a swimming pool and hopefully making some friends that can show me up in some lap swimming. I'm super excited. :]
Keep praying!! Family is leaving this week for Africa!! Pray for their safety!! God has some huge plans for the Africa team :]
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Whoa dang.
What a great day!!! God has really just shown up and showed off. I just love it. Here's what happened today: First we went and met with our team at the station. Then we split off to do distribution (put Gospel of Johns into every mailbox we could find). We got finished with that and then went to lunch together and then had a quiet time and a devotional time all together to prepare all of us for 5me. Then we went back towards the station and has some Pr walking for 5me and the people that we would come into contact with. Then we got started with 5me. And when we got there we noticed there was a pimp guy trying to hand out tissues to only attractive young japanese girls. The tissues were meant for advertising their business, they want attractive girls to come work for them in their business which is very sketchy. I dont know if you know but Japan has a ton of cults and one of them is pimps. And their main goal is to get more pimps to join them, and they sure do. It's really sad to see that because it seems like some of them feel like it's the only thing they can do. Like they're trapped and they have nowhere to go but prostitution. Anyways, we were watching the guy and he was there the whole time we were. And one of the interns got to go share with him why we were here and he gave him a manga messiah and a Gospel of John and a hope tract. And from then on he was very curious about us and he always watched us. As we were gettin ready to leave, we looked over and noticed that he was reading the manga! That was so exciting to see how curious he was!! So the intern went back over and gave him his email address and got the guys email in return. (his name is D) And he left and as he was leaving he stopped at a member of the IWC team doing 5 minute english and D asked the team member "so you christian too?" and he was like "yes I am!" and he tried to give D another gospel of john but D told him that we had already given him stuff and he was sooo excited!! You could just tell that God was so working in his heart and moving inside of him. So cool.
Here's another story. This is so cool. Usually I always carry around with me like 4 mangas so that when we do 5me I can hand them out to kids or teenagers. But this morning I just didn't think about it and I didn't grab any. So we were at 5me and I looked over and two little boys were standing right by the telephones in the station. And I was just like dang it I don't have any mangas! And I felt like I needed to give them one. So I looked down adn I noticed that the girl beside me had a manga!! So I showed her the two little boys and told her that she should go over and give it to em, so she did and they were sooo excited. The problem was, though, that there was two little boys and only one manga. I looked back over and noticed that they were fighting over who would keep it. And that broke my heart! So we started asking around to see if any of the other team members brought any mangas but no one had, finally we found one person who did. Thank God. And as I was walking over to them to give em another manga, they were playing rock, paper, scissors to see who could keep it!! So we gave em another one and they were super excited and they immediately threw it open and started reading it. And taht was just so cool to see how God worked in that situation. Please pray for D and for the two little boys! That they will be soo curious in what we gave them and they will learn from God. God is really working in their lives and that is very obvious.
Love you!
Here's another story. This is so cool. Usually I always carry around with me like 4 mangas so that when we do 5me I can hand them out to kids or teenagers. But this morning I just didn't think about it and I didn't grab any. So we were at 5me and I looked over and two little boys were standing right by the telephones in the station. And I was just like dang it I don't have any mangas! And I felt like I needed to give them one. So I looked down adn I noticed that the girl beside me had a manga!! So I showed her the two little boys and told her that she should go over and give it to em, so she did and they were sooo excited. The problem was, though, that there was two little boys and only one manga. I looked back over and noticed that they were fighting over who would keep it. And that broke my heart! So we started asking around to see if any of the other team members brought any mangas but no one had, finally we found one person who did. Thank God. And as I was walking over to them to give em another manga, they were playing rock, paper, scissors to see who could keep it!! So we gave em another one and they were super excited and they immediately threw it open and started reading it. And taht was just so cool to see how God worked in that situation. Please pray for D and for the two little boys! That they will be soo curious in what we gave them and they will learn from God. God is really working in their lives and that is very obvious.
Love you!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Our God is in control.
Hey everybody,
Today was very good. Very very good. We went and met our team in Asakusa where the temples are located and we all went through it once so that they could all get used to it and look around and take the pictures that they wanted. After doing that we had some debrief about how they felt and they we went to lunch. Then we came back to the temples for prayer walking. We encouraged them to pray using Bible verses and listening to worship songs. So they all dispersed to get into their Bible and pray for the temples. That was the third time for me to go to the temples, and it still hurts to see the people praying to a fake god. I learned this time that one of the huge 5 layered building supposedly contains a portion of buddha's ashes. So buddha's dead. How can these people believe in a god who is DEAD while the living God of the Bible is waiting for them to call out to him. It just breaks my heart. Also, while being at the temple I felt very uneasy about something: Why is God allowing all of this devil worship and idolatry continue? Why is he letting these temples be used to worship something other than him. As soon as I thought that God showed me in John 14 his answer. John 14: 1 says "Do not let your hearts be troubled. TRUST IN GOD." This reminded me that God IS in control. And he is only allowing this to take place because somehow he will receive the glory from it. Somehow in some crazy way he is using this idolatry worship to be transformed into his glory. And we can't be troubled or uncertain that his plan isn't going to work. God isn't worried, he has everything taken care of. And that just comforted me soo much.
After the temples we showed the team home, then went home to clean and get ready for fellowship. In the cave we all gathered in the living room and we had a time of worship and Jeff gave a message. That was a really good time. Then we were assigned our accountability partners to have accountability every wednesday night at 9. And my partner was M. And that is such a God thing because I feel like she is the only person that I haven't really been able to connnect with or get to know very well. So God thought this would be a great opportunity, and that is so cool! So we had accountability time at a cafe and it was soooo good. She encouraged me so much and we both opened up to each other the way I need to be more often. I'm so excited to keep that going.
Tomorrow we will be doing distribution and 5me. Please pray that the hands that we distribute to will be interested and curious in what we give them. Pray that God will bring us divine appointments during 5me and that we will be able to share his story and make some lifelong friends with the Japanese.
Love you guys, talk to you later.
Today was very good. Very very good. We went and met our team in Asakusa where the temples are located and we all went through it once so that they could all get used to it and look around and take the pictures that they wanted. After doing that we had some debrief about how they felt and they we went to lunch. Then we came back to the temples for prayer walking. We encouraged them to pray using Bible verses and listening to worship songs. So they all dispersed to get into their Bible and pray for the temples. That was the third time for me to go to the temples, and it still hurts to see the people praying to a fake god. I learned this time that one of the huge 5 layered building supposedly contains a portion of buddha's ashes. So buddha's dead. How can these people believe in a god who is DEAD while the living God of the Bible is waiting for them to call out to him. It just breaks my heart. Also, while being at the temple I felt very uneasy about something: Why is God allowing all of this devil worship and idolatry continue? Why is he letting these temples be used to worship something other than him. As soon as I thought that God showed me in John 14 his answer. John 14: 1 says "Do not let your hearts be troubled. TRUST IN GOD." This reminded me that God IS in control. And he is only allowing this to take place because somehow he will receive the glory from it. Somehow in some crazy way he is using this idolatry worship to be transformed into his glory. And we can't be troubled or uncertain that his plan isn't going to work. God isn't worried, he has everything taken care of. And that just comforted me soo much.
After the temples we showed the team home, then went home to clean and get ready for fellowship. In the cave we all gathered in the living room and we had a time of worship and Jeff gave a message. That was a really good time. Then we were assigned our accountability partners to have accountability every wednesday night at 9. And my partner was M. And that is such a God thing because I feel like she is the only person that I haven't really been able to connnect with or get to know very well. So God thought this would be a great opportunity, and that is so cool! So we had accountability time at a cafe and it was soooo good. She encouraged me so much and we both opened up to each other the way I need to be more often. I'm so excited to keep that going.
Tomorrow we will be doing distribution and 5me. Please pray that the hands that we distribute to will be interested and curious in what we give them. Pray that God will bring us divine appointments during 5me and that we will be able to share his story and make some lifelong friends with the Japanese.
Love you guys, talk to you later.
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