I'm back in North America!

On Monday, June 16, we left Japan and arrived in Abbotsford safe.......with some adventures, yet safe. And I say left and arrived on the same day because we left Japan at 12:35 pm on Monday, and arrived in Vancouver at 11:30 am on Monday..........time difference if you're confused.
Well, during debrief, I don't really have much time to blog, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm in Canada safe and sound. Thanks for all your prayers. Much love. Blessings.

This is my best friend Breanne typing now:

So toe socks are socks that shelter each and every little piggie, sweet and separated. Ahora estoy en el habitacion de mi chochera Joanna Chapa y Sarita, mi companera de nuestra nido, y Brianna, quien tiene el mismo nombre.

Today is the day...

Today is the day that we leave Japan.
It is insane how fast time has gone by, and as we had an awesome full day at Toyota Higashi Christ Church yesterday, we realized how close you can get to your brothers and sisters in Christ, even though you don't speak the same language. God has done so many things in, around, and through us while we've been in Japan for 3 1/2 months. We've had our trials, but we have definitely seen God's hand in everything.....and I mean everything!
Please pray as we travel for about 25 hours. Pray that we would stay healthy, enjoy each other's company, that our luggage may not cause too many problems and that it gets back to Canada safely, that we have divine appointments with people and that we will be able to share God's love everywhere we go, and most of all, pray that we learn how to trust God in everything....and I mean everything!
Blessings.
Sayonara.

In about 10 days...

In about 10 days, we'll be heading back to Abbotsford, BC, Canada for our 10 days of debrief and then finish our TREK experience on June 27. Even though we only have about 10 days left in Japan, it seems like we have about 3 weeks worth of things to do. But it's all jam packed into these next few days and I'm looking forward to seeing how God works when we just lay down our lives. At the end of the day, we are all tired and weary, but we are glad that we can be "going all out" these last few days that we have in Japan as the TREK team.
As we've talked about the end of our TREK experience coming closer and closer, a lot of us get really sad and almost teary. God placed our team together amazingly and we've had some amazing relationships develop within the group, the missionaries in Japan, and the Japanese people. All of us have learned something and have been stretched in more ways than one, and I thank God for that.
Please pray that these last few days in Japan will be more meaningful than we can ever imagine. Pray also that we may stay healthy and well rested. These days get longer and packed as we go on, so please pray that we also have patience with each other, ourselves, the missionaries, etc. Thank you for staying updated with me and we all truly appreciate the prayers.........more than you'll ever know!
Blessings.
Sayonara!

Last day in May...

Last day in May.......wow! Time has gone by so fast and it is not slowing down. We have 2 more weeks in Japan, and one of our team prayer requests has been to be exhausted, tired, and everything else that comes with that, everyday. We want to do as much as possible these next 2 weeks, so please pray for strength, patience, health, team unity, etc.
This weekend we are at a church in Fujigaoka, which is about 1 hour away. We are doing a children's program on Saturday and on Sunday we are attending the regular Sunday morning service and then after lunch we are in charge of a 1 hour and 10 minute special service for the church people and visitors. Please pray that our visit and ministering together may be of encouragement and a boost for the Fujigaoka church.
Because of our crazy schedule, I don't know how many times I'll be able to post up new blogs, but I ask that you please pray as we want to finish strong and tired at the same time.
I can't believe we only have 15 more days right now......but I know that God is still stirring up some hearts, so please pray that the hearts and lives that we come across may see The Light in our lives.
Arigato goizaimashita (thank you very much)!
Sayonara (good-bye)!
In Christ,
Joanna

Peru in Japan?!?!

I never thought that I would have to speak Spanish in Japan, much less translate it. And I never thought that I would have met a Peruvian, but God is so sneaky!
After practicing with the worship band Sunday morning and waiting for the service to start, Kisuna-san, a lady from the church and one of my English Bible class students, came running into the sanctuary saying, "Joanna-san, Joanna-san, come here!" So I quickly went over to where she was standing, and saw that there was a lady and 2 young girls, who clearly looked like they weren't Japanese. Kisuna-san then asked me to translate into Spanish for the lady. It was then that I met Peru in Japan.
Karina, the mother, came to the church because she was searching for God and searching for people to help her and her life situation that her family is in at the moment. Xiomara and Ayanai were both born in Japan and they know how to speak Japanese, so that helps Karina get along in Japan. During the worship time and testimony we stayed in the sanctuary, but during Laurence's message, I asked Karina to step out, into the foyer so that we could talk a bit more since she didn't understand a thing of what was going on. Laurence gives us his message translated into English for us, but that wouldn't have helped her since she doesn't speak English either.
As we were sitting outside in the foyer, Karina shared her life story with me. She explained why she was in Japan and the situation that her family is in at the present moment. The story is long, complicated and touchy so I'd rather not go into details, but please pray for wisdom on how to help her and her family and how much we and the church should do.
One of the things that Karina told me was that she knew God had her and her family in His hands and that He is in control right now and is in control of the future. It was hard to use my rusty Spanish, but like Karina said, "God had a reason for you being here the day that I came. If you wouldn't have been here, I would've come into the church, and right back out with not having talked to anyone." Karina made it clear to me that she was very appreciative of me helping her, and that she was able to see how God places people in her life for a reason.
Please join me in prayers for Karina, Xiomara, Ayanai, and Karina's husband, and their family situation.

MEDIA FAST AND MID-TERM RETREAT

This past week, our team decided that we should do a media/internet/email/facebook/etc fast. We decided that the two main reasons why we were doing this fast was to grow closer as a team, by not retreating to our laptops, or even feel like we had to respond to people back home. We get so distracted with so many things, and by no means are those bad things, like talking to people from home, but I encouraged the team to think about how much "quality time" we spend with each other and with God. I also encouraged them in this telling them that we only really have here and now, we don't have tomorrow or next month or next year promised, we only have right now.

I have to admit, the fast was hard for me. It was hard for mostly everyone on the team. A little harder for some more than others, but none the less, it was hard and challenging. The reason it was hard for me was because there were some things that were happening at home that I had no clue on how they were going, and it hurt not knowing how things were going. But God brought us threw and drew us closer to Him and to each other. We had some really good conversations within our team and I thank God for the week of being intentional with our time together.

For our "mid-term retreat," we stayed here in Toyota for the most part. We did go sightseeing to different places but we slept in our own beds in our house. The people that attended the retreat were the Hieberts, our team, Sean, Andrea and Wendy (Sean, Andrea and Wendy are in Japan with MBMSI, teaching English as a Second Language), and Katie (a friend of the Hieberts who is from Ontario, Canada). We all shared our life stories with each other at different times throughout the 4 days. I love hearing peoples stories and how they got to where they are at right now that I know them. I love getting to know people at a deeper level and that definitely happened this past weekend. God works in our lives, and it's not until we share it with people, that we see how God works in amazing ways in everyone's life!
God is good...........all the time.
All the time...........God is good.

Professional recording studio

So this past Friday morning, Laurence walked in with a proposal. He told us that Mori Yuri, the most famous Christian artist in Japan, wanted for him to help her with the pronunciation in an English song that she was recording, but he had no time to go, so he asked us. And of course, I wanted to go! So did Simone, so we both headed to Nagoya by train to meet Mr. Oka, Mori's manager, at the station. Both Mori and Ken (Mr. Oka said we could call him Ken) were very nice people and very easy to work with.
As we walked out of the train station, Ken walked us to a building that didn't look like it would be a place where only professionals record. We had to get "buzzed" in through an intercom, and once we got upstairs and into the actual recording studio part of the building, I was going "googoo gaga" over the studio. Once I walked in, it definitely looked like a professional recording studio.
Mori handed both Simone and I an 11-page booklet of the song she was going to record. She sung and recorded phrase by phrase, stopping after each one to ask us for suggestions and corrections with the English and her pronunciation. I have to admit, I LOVED IT! I had never really helped a professional artist record a song and not just that, but correct them. It was a little different than what I've done before, but it was so awesome!
After she was done recording, she sat down at talked with us for a bit and the first thing that she told us when she sat down was, "Thank you for being a part of spreading God's glory to the Japanese people!" I had not thought about this in that way. When she said that, I was reminded of how everything we do, is to point to God and His glory.
Here is a picture of me, Mori and Simone.

JAPANESE DAY

The ladies from the church and some ladies from the English classes wanted to dress us up in kimonos, and give us the opportunity to do some traditional "Japanese" things. They brought 3 koto players. A koto is a traditional Japanese musical stringed instrument (there is a video at the end of this post that Simone recorded of me and Brianna playing kotos). They also prepared for us to do a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.
We really enjoyed this day because for lunch, before we had "Japanese day" at the church, we had about 14 people from the church over to thank them for what they've done for us already. We love the women of the church because they are awesome and they have done so much for us.
Hope you enjoy the pictures and the short video of the koto playing. Blessings.

Oh yeah, Nike Shox and a kimono.......that's me in Japan!




















Brianna and I playing the kotos.

Getting dressed up by 3 women......kinda got used to them pulling, tugging, tightening, touching....it comes with the kimono wearing!

The very uncomfortable sandals that are worn with the kimonos. They were uncomfortable mainly because they were way too small for us.














The kimonos Amber, me, Brianna, and Amber-Lee wore (in order from left to right).














Brianna, me, and Darlene drinking matcha (a bitter, thick green tea) during the traditional tea ceremony. We first had a traditional Japanese dessert and then drank the matcha.



This is the video of Brianna and I playing the kotos.

God is doing things in Japan

Japan is a place where missions is a little more exhausting than what you would think. Most of the time, you don't get the results you were praying and hoping for, and it can be very discouraging. We've felt like that a few times here, but we've seen God work in people's hearts in our English classes and in the church! I'll tell you of one....

I co-teach an "English Music Class" with Amber Solski on Saturdays from 3:30-4:45, and we have one student, Misa. She has lived in Kentucky for 3 years because her husband was transferred there because of his job. She's been back in Japan for about a year now and is taking a "North American Culture" class on Friday nights with Brianna and Darlene, and also taking the music class on Saturdays. The first day of the music class, we asked Misa what she wanted to get out of the class and if she had any specific songs she wanted to go over, and the only song she mentioned was Amazing Grace. That made us wonder why, but we had that ready for last week, the 2nd class time. So while I was explaining the song Amazing Grace to Misa last Saturday, I noticed that after the first verse, she was tearing up and basically crying. When I realized that she was crying, I prayed that God would continue working in her heart. She has asked Brianna and Darlene questions about their faith and God is doing something so please pray that He continues to use us to water that seed that was planted long ago.

God is doing things in Japan and we're excited to be a part of it. Please continue praying that His name and renown be the desire of our hearts and that we continue to be sensitive to His Spirit and be led by The Spirit. Blessings to you all!

Nagashima Spaland

Today (Monday) we went to Nagashima Spaland amusement park. The Hieberts all went and took our team and Sean. We had a blast riding all the different rides and roller coasters, and since it was a school day, the longest wait for a ride was probably around 20 minutes. Nagashima is infamous for the "Steel Dragon 2000." The Steel Dragon is put in the "gigacoaster" group because of it's size. It set a record for longest track length in the world - 8133 feet, 2 inches (2479 m), which it currently holds. It is the 5th tallest roller coaster and has the 5th biggest drop in the world. The ride last 4 minutes! And let me tell you, it's the fastest 4 minutes of your life! We got on it twice! With a break in between of course, to catch our breath. It was so much fun! Here's a picture of the huge drop, and only half of the track is in this picture because it's just that huge!

I don't know if I've mentioned this already in my blog before, but Japan is the land of vending machines! They have them everywhere! And sometimes lined up like this.......10 in a row! This was at Nagashima Spaland, so it was a little overpriced, but what do you expect.



Today was a beautiful day, and we couldn't have asked for a better day!
We are in our last full week of April this week and that's insane! Time has gone by so fast it's crazy! We have so much planned for these next 2 months. Please pray that we stay diligent and most of all faithful in Him. Pray that the Lord's name and renown be spread here in Japan through His daughters.

So now I'm 22

I turned 22 on Wednesday, April 16. It was a good day. I started off the day by doing my morning devotional and digging into the Word. Lately I've been extra hungry and thirsty for the words of Jesus. As I've already read through Matthew and Mark, I've realized how much I want my life to reflect Jesus more and more! Seriously, He's a pretty sweet guy! He had some amazing compassion, love, authority, power, grace, mercy, and so many other things that will make this list go on and on, but you can read more into His words on your own.

After reading my Bible and doing my devotional, I talked to Josh (my brother), my parents, and my Grandma Lupita. It was good to talk to these people because they have played and still play a huge part in my life. The days before my birthday, and especially on my birthday, I like to reflect on my life in the past year. I ask myself if my life meant anything? Did it change anything? Did it bring glory to God? Did my life point to Jesus? I realize that I'm not perfect and have failed a lot, but I pray that I continue focusing my life on bringing Jesus the glory and honor through my life. I want for people to know Jesus more because of my life. When I leave this earth, I want people to remember Jesus Christ more than me!

After one of the ESL classes that I and Amber-Lee help Sean with, we had the 2 ladies who attend the class come over to our house and have dessert, coffee/tea (water for me), and play some Dutch Blitz (a card game). We talked a bit about us, and they talked a little bit about themselves. The ladies really enjoyed coming over and we loved having them over because we had never really had any visitors come to our house. As they were leaving, they invited us to one of the ladies house for an "Okonomiyaki Party." Okonomiyaki is a very traditional, famous Japanese dish and is something that our whole team enjoys immensely! We're really looking forward to May 12 so that we can build those relationships a bit more.

Yesterday night, Friday night, our team, the Hieberts and Sean surprised Amber-Lee and I with a really good dinner cooked by Leona (it's Amber-Lee's birthday today, April 19). And after we ate and had an amazing dessert, Amber-Lee and I opened our gifts that our team bought for us. I got 2 sweet Japanese shirts with some awesome English sayings that make absolutely no sense and a notebook.

After dinner and the gift opening, they made Amber-Lee and I go to the house to "relax." I knew they were up to something else, but obeyed anyways. At around 8:30ish, Brianna, Simone, Darlene, and Amber came into the house and started telling us to put on jeans! They were being very pushy as well. They hurried us and then blind folded us. They then lead us to the Hieberts van. They didn't tell us what we were doing or where we were going and kept us blind folded until we got to our destination. We ended up in a small room which was at a Karaoke place. Japan has these Karaoke places that you rent a room and have your own private room with your own Karaoke machine! It was so much fun and we took some awesome videos, but I won't put those up here because we all know how embarrassing Karaoke can be! We had a really good time and it was a really fun night of "surprises." I love my team! They're awesome!

Feeling better

Hey all, I'm sorry I have not posted lately, but my laptop is not working at the present moment. I dropped my laptop before leaving for Japan and I ruined my charger. My actual laptop works fine, but since the charger doesn't work, I can't charge my laptop. I ordered a charger on the internet and it'll be here in like 3-4 weeks, so I'm using someone else's laptop mean while. Anyways, that's the reason why I haven't posted lately.

I've been feeling better from the pain caused by my ulcer. I've also been eating a lot less because I feel full fast, and I've stayed away from salty, spicy, caffeine, raw vegetables and citrus fruits. It's been hard at times to get used to it, but I think I'm used to it now. My team has been a huge encouragement and they have challenged me to not be as stubborn and not feel like I have to be strong all the time. I've always been the type of person that has felt that I have to be the strongest person in the team in all areas. It's not something that I feel everyone else is expecting, but especially as the leader, I feel like I have to be the one that people can lean on. But my team has told me that they don't expect for me to be the strongest. They have continually verbalized that we are all in this together and I couldn't say enough words on how much I appreciate them.

We have about 7 students for our English classes that start on Friday and Saturday of this week/weekend. It has been a bit discouraging to get so little response out of 10,000 fliers, but we know that God has plans that we don't know about yet. We have confidence in our God and know that He knows what's going on and the purpose of all of this. We've learned about patience a lot through all of this. Please continue to pray that we look for His will in everything and we wait upon the Lord for everything. Thank you for the prayers and blessings upon blessings for all of you! Much love from Japan! Sayonara!

My doctor's visit...

While we were in our team meeting on Saturday morning, before we left to Komaki for the weekend, I got a really really sharp pain in my abdomen. So my team "forced me" to go the doctor, and I say forced, because those of you who know me, know that I'm not the type who would just rush to the doctor to inconvenience others. They went to go tell Laurence that I was needing to go to the doctor before leaving, and "my health was more important than going to Komaki." And that was hard for me to say was true, and I don't think that statement is true, but we can debate that later.
So Laurence took me to a clinic and Amber-Lee came along to be with me. The clinic we went to was a fairly new clinic and so it looked very modern and "not sketchy" at all. While with the doctor, he asked me (through Laurence translating) where I was feeling pain and also what "type and color" of poop I had. I told him I had really really sharp pain in my upper/middle abdomen and my poop was dark (almost black), tar looking. Sorry for being graphic but that's an important part of what was going on in my body. After examining me and taking a blood test, he told me that it seemed like I had a peptic ulcer, but it was in the process of getting better. So he gave me 2 types of medication (don't ask me what type because it's all in Japanese, and I can't really read Japanese, sorry). One of the pills I take after breakfast, while the other I take after each meal (3 times a day).
Today (Sunday), after dinner, I had the pain again, and it's still lingering after about 4 hours. I've been praying and ask you to join me, that if it's in God's will, for this medication to work and heal me of this ulcer. The part that bugs me the most of this whole thing, is that because of the sharp, unbearable pain, sometimes I can't do things with my team. I have to admit that sometimes I've felt like a failure because I haven't been able to be the team leader that I'm supposed to be, and that's why this pain is so annoying and discouraging.

After getting home from the doctors office and getting my medication, we left to Komaki. The people there were some of the most, if not the most hospitable people I have ever met. The Hope Chapel Church is a very small congregation and cute, small chapel/church building. We ate with them, sang with them, saw The Chronicles of Narnia, read scripture with them, and shared life together. Even though we were only together for less than 2 days, God's love definitely bonded us. Over and over again, I've been convinced of how much Christ love is a lot more binding than a language. A language can be a barrier to a certain extent, but with the love of Christ shared between people, that barrier means nothing. These people constantly asked me how I was feeling, if I needed something, and continually poured into all of us. Pastor Abe and his wife were awesome. They knew a little bit of English and sometimes we just ended up laughing because we couldn't understand what the other person was saying, but that was ok.
I've also been learning how much power there is in prayer. Sometimes we don't realize and try to comprehend how much prayer is the best weapon that we can use. And as I've been learning this, please, dig into prayer, dig in the Word, dig into what God has for you right now, at this very moment. Please pray that prayer would be more than mere words that we feel we have to say to have a good and valid prayer, rather, that prayer would be the cries and praises given up to our Creator, Provider, Counselor, Healer, etc. And as I've been here in Japan, I've realized how privileged I am to be able to call Him Father and know that He is the True God and He's my Father.
Blessings as you seek to find God in the everything, the everyday.

Komaki pictures

The lady in the picture is a calligraphy teacher, and she made 6 different calligraphy pieces, one for each one of us. The picture below is her handing me the piece that says, "God."

This is the calligraphy teacher with our team. She was very excited to take a picture with us.

This is the Hope Chapel Church congregation and our team.

Some pics...

This is a picture of our "Easter Dinner".....yes, we had sushi for our Easter dinner.

Sometimes we fail at making rice...actually, this was our first failure at making rice and it was the rice makers fault! But we're not keeping our "rice ball" outside so that we can paint it and have fun with it.

This is a picture of Trenton Hiebert (the son of Laurence and Leona Hiebert, the MBMSI missionaries in Japan that we're working alongside) and some kids lined up and getting ready to hit the pinata......yes a pinata in Japan! It was probably the smallest pinata I've ever seen, but then again, everything in Japan seems to be smaller.



Suniki and me. This was a kid from Hirakata Christ Church who loved us so much and was hilarious! He is going to be an amazing Japanese comedian!



















This is our team in front of the Golden Castle in Kyoto, Japan.

I slept in an old bar this past weekend...

This past Saturday, we left with Pastor Junichi Fujino (pastor of Hirakata Christ Church) to Hirakata. He pastors a small Japanese Mennonite Brethren church in Hirakata, Japan. He has been the pastor of this church for over 25 years.
As we were pulling up to a very small parking lot (of 5 spaces) after a 2-hour drive, Pastor Fujino asked us if we saw the church, and we were so confused. What we didn't know was that the church was a small building that was wedged in between other small buildings, and it looked like a house amongst a business and another house. We stayed in a "church building" that was right next to the church. And as Pastor Fujino was showing us how to work the complicated lighting system, he casually mentioned that the building used to be a bar. At the bottom level of the building you could guess that it was a bar, but the 2nd level was made up of 2 small rooms. We slept on some futon mattresses on the floor....all 6 girls in one nice cozy room (team bonding I'll tell you that much). This building had a shower, but it did not have hot water, so we had to go to the public bath every night. Public bath? Are you wondering what that is? Well, it's just what the name says, it's a public bath. In the old days, when there was not any running water, the Japanese people invented this thing called "public baths." Everyone from the surrounding area would come and bathe at the public bath. Japanese people are very cautious about being clean, and going to the public bath is a good time to get clean and have some good chats with people. What happens at a public bath you ask? Well, you pay a fee to get in, then you go to this locker type room, strip your clothes off (all of them) and place them in a locker, then you go rinse off before entering the showers. At the particular bath we went to, we had to take our own shampoo, conditioner, and soap, so you would rinse in a spot with a small scoop and then to sit down at a "station" that was open to all the other stations. One big rule at these public baths is that you get really clean before entering the actual bath or pool part. After you get clean, you walk to which ever pool you want to soak in, with only a small washcloth to cover you. Once you got the soaking part, it was very relaxing. Did we have a hard time doing this? Umm, yeah. As North Americans, we are not comfortable with or in our own bodies. We, especially being girls, are not very comfortable with others seeing our bodies and we had a lot to pray about before hand. One thing that I learned was to realize that when I continually criticize my body and how much I don't like it, I'm saying that to my Creator, my God. There are things that I can work on, but there are things that I can't, and it's those things that I have to realize that my Creator created me in that way for a reason.
On Sunday morning, we attended the Sunday morning service at Hirakata Christ Church. Even though this church is small, God is amazingly evident through their lives, love, services, and fellowship. We experienced God's family to a new level. Even though most of them spoke only a few words in English, and we speak only a few words in Japanese, we spent all day Sunday having fellowship. Of course there was some interpreting from Pastor Fujino and the international students from Kansai Gaidai University that attend Hirakata Christ Church. We sang some songs during the church service and I shared my testimony with them (with interpretation from Pastor Fujino).
On Monday and Tuesday Pastor Fujino gave us a guided tour of Kyoto and Osaka. We went to Kiyomizu Temple, Yasaka shrine, the Golden Pavilion (pictured below), the Osaka castle, and some other Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Our initial reaction to seeing these different places and seeing these amazingly beautiful buildings, was to be in awe of what was in front of us. Millions of people visit these sites every year and have no idea of what actually goes on in these buildings. As we entered some shrines or temples, I could feel a spiritual heaviness. These shrines and temples are so dark, and people go to them looking for light. The picture below the Golden Pavilion temple is a picture of what is done in the Buddhist and Shinto religions. Outside the temples or shrines are really long big ropes that if swung hard enough, they ring a bell. People go to these places with their requests and present them before the gods. As they're approaching the rope, they throw in some money over the railing, then put their hands together and I guess basically present their request before the god or gods, and then when done they swing the rope to ring the bell as a sign of worship. My heart broke when I would see the deep sincerity in the people. They would come presenting their request to a god that they don't even know. They have no idea who the god they're praying to is. As I saw people "coming to the rope," I realized how awesome my God, The God is. We have hope in Him, we have a relationship with Him, and we're important to Him. Please help pray for those people that are searching for a god, and that they may find The God, Yahweh. And that Japan may be overflowing with God-fearing Christians.
This weekend was long, and exhausting, and I thank God for every minute of it. Thank you for your prayers! Blessings upon blessings.

So I feel like a Kindergarten student...

This morning we had a "Japanese Manners" class given to us by Misaka-san and another lady from the church (I forgot her name). They taught us to say things like "itadaki-mass" (means "I receive" and you say it before you start eating), "sumi-masen" (means "excuse me"), "wakari-masen" (means "I don't understand" or "I don't know"), and a lot more. They taught us to do a lot of things, here are few: how to pick up chop-sticks, how to pick up the rice bowl, how to pick up the soup bowl, how to pick up and hold our tea cups. They also taught us a lot of things we shouldn't do because they are rude to do in the Japanese culture. It was really helpful to get these pieces of information that we will most definitely use while here in Japan. There are a lot of things that are completely opposite of what we're used to from home, but there are also a few similarities.

In the afternoon, we had our first Japanese language class from Kasama-sensei (you add -san at the end of everyone's name, but when you have a teacher, you add -sensei as a sign of respect). She will be teaching us every Tuesday afternoon while we're here in Japan. I'll tell you, I have not felt like I was kindergarten since..........well, since I was in kindergarten. I realized that Japanese is not a very easy language to learn, but it is so intriguing and beautiful. We learned how to write some of the letters or characters. Japanese uses3 different alphabets: the most traditional one (I don't remember the name and we will probably not learn), Katakana (which is the alphabet for foreign things and people), and Hiragana (this is what Japanese mainly use. It is written up and down, and this is the main alphabet we learned today). If there's one language that you need to be a semi-good artist in, it's Japanese! We learned how to write a, e, i, o, u, ka, ki, ku, ke, and ko. She gave us a lot of homework to write out and things to say for practice.
I have a lot to learn, but our team is determined to practice with each other and get as much Japanese in our minds as possible!
Please pray that we focus in our lessons, practice as much as possible, but most importantly, come to love the beauty of the Japanese language.
Sayonara (good-bye)!
Blessings.

Some videos of our house in Toyota

These are videos of the house we live in here in Toyota, Japan. Start with video #1.......in case you didn't figure that one out.

Video #1


Video #2 (continuation of #1)

We're here!!!!!!!

So we made it safe and sound! We left the MARK Centre at 4 am, and got to Toyota at 9 pm, which is 4 am pacific time or 6 am central time a day behind. We traveled around 29 hours over all. It was a long long day of traveling, but it was awesomely coordinated by our Father up above, that's for sure!
When we arrived at the Vancouver International Airport, we were told that our flight to San Francisco was canceled......not delayed, canceled! So we laughed about it and got in line to get a new flight out. We were kinda scared that we weren't going to get a flight early enough to get our Tokyo flight from San Francisco, because we only had a 2 hour lay-over in San Francisco. BUT, God having everything in His control, had a 7 am flight to Portland ready for us, and then we went from Portland to San Francisco at our original time.
We were a bit nervous of some things, but everything worked out. I'm telling ya, God definitely had everything under control! We even sang "God is on our side" while in the Vancouver airport, and that was definitely truth throughout the trip.
Our close to 11 hour flight from Portland to Tokyo/Narita, was kinda long but it was good. It was quite interesting getting from gate to gate in Narita, because most things are in Japanese, but then again, most things also have English on them as well. So it was fun.
On our flight from Narita to Nagoya, we were all really tired, and we all pretty much slept the whole flight. Laurence Hiebert (the head MBMSI missionary here in Japan) and a man from the church, were at the airport to greet us. As we were getting into the van, I almost got on the driver's side, because they drive on the other side. I'll tell you one thing, most of the stuff in Japan is really nice. I really enjoyed the 1 hour drive from the Nagoya airport, which is on a man-made island, to Toyota because we got to connect and talk to Laurence about quite a few things.
I'm so excited to be here! I'm really looking forward to jumping into the culture, ministry, and everything else about Japan.
Thank you for your prayers! They were definitely answered!

Just a few more days...

I can't believe that it's already Wednesday of the last week of training. So many things have happened in the last 2 months while at training, but like I shared with everyone on TREK this morning, this whole time, the most significant thing that has happened in my life has been looking at my life from the outside in (in a sense). So many times as Christians we can go on with life just okay with being okay, and not really realizing that being a Christian is a day to day decision to come under God's authority. After hearing all the speakers, I've realized that there is so much that I have learned, and there is even more stuff that I still have to learn. In a way, being on TREK is like getting taken out of "real life" and being able to look into our lives from the outside. TREK staff has really emphasized that these 6 months should not be it......but that it should be a lifetime commitment to becoming more like Christ, and this is just the beginning.
I've been able to see things in my life that I need to surrender to Him, give up to Him, ask Him, and praise Him for the grace that He has for me. I want to challenge you as you stay updated with me, that you may feel God calling you to a deeper relationship with Him and I pray that you come to that realization DAILY! I pray that you be encouraged to be "covered in the dust of your Rabbi."
As I'm preparing to go lead a team into a country that I have no idea about the language, culture, people, etc., I hope that I will be surrendering everything to Him in every second! I am praying that our team jump into this opportunity to jump alongside with God and into what He's already doing in Japan.
Please pray that as we leave Vancouver on Monday morning and get to Toyota City, Japan (city we'll be living in) 24 hours later, that we would have safe travel, stay healthy, patience for our team members, and most of all, be witnesses for Him wherever we're at. Thank you for all your support, love, prayer, etc. I feel so blessed to have people like you come alongside us in prayer! Blessings upon blessings!
In Christ abounding Love,
Joanna