I'm sorry it's been so long.

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!

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!

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!

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!!!

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 :]

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!

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.

Our God is so big.

Hey everyone!

Today was a really good day. We got to go meet our team and spend the morning in orientation with them. It's so exciting to get to work with a team. I know Father has awesome plans for while they're here. Please pray for them that they will have unity and energy to fight the jet lag. Pray that they will be bold and will make wise decisions every day.

After orientation this morning we got to go to lunch all together. Then we got to head over to the government towers for some prayer walking. After the awe-inspiring towers, we had 5me in our station and we got kicked out of our first spot, so we picked a new one. 5me went really well though. Alot of people stopped to talk to the group. One guy met a hard core athiest that just wanted to argue about his beliefs and ours. Pray that God will work in his heart so that he can wake up. Another team mate met an olympian. He was a trampolinist and something else. So how cool would it be if they got to meet with him again and he got to accept Christ. He has some influence. If he accepts Christ then he will tell his whole olympics team and then fans will learn.

I also learned some crazy news today. As many of you know, Japan has an emperor. And everyone looks up to him for guidance and wisdom. Some even worship him. Anyways his grandaughter will soon be attending a Christian college that old testament and new testament teachings are required to learn to go to the school. So this emperor's daughter is going to be learning about the Bible. God could use this in a mighty way. If she became a christian then she would tell her whole family. And if the emperor believes in the truth also then the whole country of Japan will be surrounded by Christianity. Pray that God will work in the grandaughter's heart, so that he will receive glory from this.

This week is going to be super busy so don't expect too much blog updates.

Just please keep praying for everyone here! There is alot of sickness going around. It seems like everyone is getting sick. And one intern is about to head to the ER because she hurt her foot. Pray that we can stand strong against the devil's attacks so we can focus on the task ahead.

Love you guys!

Higashi Koganei

Hey everybody!

Had a wonderful day at Koganei park. We got there and met the Paramount team and had worship with them. Then we had lunch and then we had some time to invited people to come play capture the flag with us. We invited a bunch of young adults and I don't really think they understood the whole concept of how to play the crazy american game, but they tried to play anyways.

Sydney, another intern, had invited two people to church in the park with us and after we were done in the park they invited a few of us to go to kareoke so we went. And it was soo cool to hang out with them. They're both chrisitans and kana is really working hard to get her friends plugged into the Bible. So, it was a great encouragement to hang out with some christians and get to know them.

God is really drawing people close to him. The guy in the picture is Hisa. This is my friend that I met at our first 5minute english lessons. He came up to me within like 2 seconds and he stayed for like 40 minutes. We got to talk all about the Bible and Jesus and I got to share my testimony with him. Please just pray for him! God is really working in his heart and it's very obvious that he longs for something more than worldly pleasures. I've been emailing him because my phone is being weird and its kinda hard communicate with him via text. So, anyways we've been emailing and hopefully we will be able to meet again and maybe have a bible study. Please just pray that he will feel even more curious to learn more about God. I'm excited to see how God works in his life. And I'm super excited to see everything else that God has planned.

Happy fourth of July to everyone!! Tomorrow we will all be celebrating at the river with a cookout and fireworks. Praise God for our freedom.

Love you guys!! Talk to you later.

Amazing!

Today was a really AWESOME day! When I woke up I was able to skype my family and Jayci and that was a huge enouragement to keep me going. During the morning though I felt sooo drained and I felt like I was about to fall asleep on the walk to the station. But I just asked God to give me strength and instantly he did. I felt like I could go for days without sleep! Anyways, today is our English class day sponsored by Chofu Baptist Church. And today was extra special, TODAY WAS SUSHI PARTY DAY!!! And I was kinda nervous because I never had sushi last year so I didn't know what to expect but we got there and everyone was sooo welcoming. We got split up into groups and with our groups we got to get everything ready and cut up so we could make sushi. And I was in charge of mixing the rice and cutting up octupus legs. And the ladies in the kitchen were very impressed. "Segoy!!!" is what they kept saying (awesome!!) and they said I was very good at cutting up octupus legs haha. After we got everything situated we got to make our sushi. So we grabbed our seaweed and we got to put anything and everything we wanted in our sushi. Everthing from cooked beef to salmon eggs and wasabi sauce. There was sooo much variety, it was hard to try everything because we all got soooo full. Sushi was pretty good and I was surprised I liked it. After the sushi and lots of coffee and some chocolate dessert we started the class. We played a game with our teams kind of like the american game telephone, so that they could get better at speaking and reading english. We also sang amazing grace to help them with their english and that was super cool. It was cool to see the way that the church is reaching out to the community. There was wall full of pictures of children that the church has reached out to, so that was awesome. Very evident of God's ancient work.

Then after the class we got to go to Mitaka for 5-minute english practices. We didn't have many people come up to talk to us, but we were fortunate enough to hand out about 5 manga messiahs to some kids. mangas are like Japanese comic books that teens and kids love because of the cool pictures. The mangas that we have are the story of Jesus, so it's a great way to reach out.

Praise God for a great day. Please pray that the seeds that were planted will be evident in all the Japanese hearts. Pray that the children will have a desire for the mana messiahs and that they will read them and learn the story of our savior.

Our God is truly marvelous. Love you guys!

Back to the city...

Hey guys!

Well we just got back from our retreat up in the mountains. And let me tell ya, it was soooooo BEAUTIFUL!!!! Everything was so green and there was a very big, very clear river right under our camp site. It was really just a huge eye opener on how beautiful God's creation is and how beautiful our God is. His creation is incredible!!!

The retreat really was a privilege for all of us because we all became unified through fellowship and worship and getting to know each other. I'm super glad we got to go but I'm super excited to get started in our routine. Since we've gotten here everything has been totally insane. I'm ready to get into the flow of our routine and see what God has planned for the summer.

We really learned alot at the retreat. God has really showed up and showed off everywhere we've gone. Last night we all got to have a camp fire with smores all together as a team. And we just got to all sit there and share everything going on in our lives and what God is teaching us. It was awesome to hear everyone be transparent and honest. I shared about what I have been struggling with. The devil has been especially vicious while we've been on the mission field. But here's my biggest struggle: The devil knows how much I love my family and he knows how much I think about them. And ever since we've been here he's used that to his advantage and attacked me with being homesick and worrying about my family and Africa. You know, we've been saying all year about how I'm spending the summer in Tokyo and the rest of the family is going to Africa, but it's just hitting me that they're all really going. It's all a bit overwhelming. I've really been worrying about their safety, and took me this long to realize but I finally realized that worry is not from God. It's from the enemy. And worrying is a huge distraction. I've learned to just fully trust in God completely and know without a doubt that his plan is over all. His plan is right. His plan is number 1. I know God is going to keep my family okay and I know he has huge plans for them in Africa. So please pray for them as they prepare to go the next two weeks. Pray that I won't worry about them and pray that they will not worry or be anxious about anything. Pray that they will be unified as a team, so that the can stand strong against the Devil's schemes.

Check out Ephesians 6! And remember every single day to put on the full armor of God.
*The belt of Truth- Turn to God's word and servants to find the truth on every matter.

*The breastplate of righteousness to guard your heart- focus on God; strive to live like him.

*Put on the shoes of the Gospel of Peace- Daily read God's word and understand the Gospel so you are prepared if you fall. Memorize some scripture!

*The shield of Faith- Trust God in all you do. Believe that he protects you and will guide you. He has everything under control so be courageous. Then satan cannot pierce you with doubt and worry.

*The helmet of salvation-Turn back to God. Remember that he has forgiven you. Remember who you are and who's you are.

*The sword of the Spirit(God's word)- Use scriptures, God's word, to actively attack sin and fight against satan's strongholds. Take up your sword, be a soldier, and fight!

I'm reading ''I would die for you" again and BJ is just being a great role model for me. If you haven't read this book, check it out. It's very inspiring. BJ wrote this and it's very encouraging:
I will not be satisfied.
I will not let my passion be held in a bottle.
I will not let my light be hidden.
I will stand up.
I will let my voice be heard.
I will lead, I will serve, I will fight.
I will tell people about Christ.
I will unsheathe my sword.
It's time to raise a revolution.
God will give my strength.

That just is a great reminder every single day of why I am alive. I am alive to shout about God's name from the rooftops. And I am here to be used by God in order to bring him the glory that he so craves. Our God is soveriegn and I WILL fight for him.

Thanks guys for your support. Missing you!