January 2019 // Welcome!

An Update from the Month of January:
In December, I had the pleasure to go visit Houston again, after two years. It was truly such a blessing to reconnect with my family-- both by blood and by Christ's blood. Truly, it was a blessing to share my vision for Japan and be encouraged by those that I grew up with.

Thank you for your support, first in prayer, but also financially. Thank you for being apart of the work that God has here in Japan! The men who stayed behind and the men who went to war, both received the blessings from King David. In the same way, the Lord will bless you as much-- if not more-- than He has blessed me here in Japan.

Coming back home to Okinawa was fairly easy, except for the emotional goodbye's from my family and friends and run-in through the airport in Taipei due to our 45 minute layover! Praise the Lord, the flight was a little delayed, but we arrived safely in Okinawa around 10 in the morning.

After a week of getting back into the Japanese time zone, Hiromichi (my brother in Christ from Ginowan as well!) and I had bought tickets months ago to go and do a short two-week "missions trip" to share our vision for raising the next generation, make connections, encourage others, be encouraged, and even help other small churches do ministry here in Japan. We were tired, but we knew that the Lord would bless our efforts. The Lord has encouraged me especially since I have graduated CCBC Japan to go and minister throughout Japan. The Lord has encouraged me to especially spark passion and further the Kingdom of God in these churches throughout Japan.

So we started our short "missions trip" in Tokyo and at Calvary Fuchu, which is in Fuchu, west of the heart of Tokyo, with Pastor Rich Rose. He has an international daycare and elementary school, where he spreads the gospel to those who have a desire to learn English. His heart for the young-ins is really inspiring and really awesome because through that, some of the parents have come to know the Lord and attend his services he has throughout the week. Hiromichi and I have decided to first have a worship night for the young adults and have an Okinawa night, where we would make some Okinawa dishes, have fellowship, and get into the word.

We were also asked to go help Calvary Chapel Logos in Arawako, which is north of the heart of Tokyo, to do worship and teach the word of God, as their Pastor Kiyomasa Akashi was in California attending the missions conference there.

We also decided to go visit Pastor Santo, who is the pastor of Calvary Nisei-Tokyo, which is north west of the heart of Tokyo. We attended his Wednesday night service where he opens up his home, and feeds us both physically and spiritually. It was a blessing as we fellowshipped with those who were there and were truly encouraged.

Lastly, on the the day we were leaving to the Sendai area, we also attended a Pastor's breakfast meeting and fellowshipped with other Calvary pastors in the area and it was really a blessing. We spent a week in Tokyo but it felt like a couple days because we were so busy fellowshipping and ministering to these churches in Tokyo. 

We decided to take a night bus to Sendai and so we left at 11:05 pm and it was not the best drive been apart of, but we made it safely with little to no sleep to Sendai, the next morning around 5:30 am. We safely arrived to Higashi-Matsushima, which is an hour up the coast of Sendai. This area, along with Sendai, was an area affected by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Pastor Churck Robb is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Higashi-Matsushima and runs a functioning cafe called Koinonia Cafe, and has English classes available at nighttime. They minister to people in the neighborhood and even hold bible studies for specific people for them to grow in faith with the Lord. Hiromichi and I helped with the cafe most times, did worship, and taught the word for them. They even had a lot of extra New Testament bibles and even Manga (Japanese Comic) Bibles that we stent to Okinawa to use as witnessing tools and a means for us to interact and impact the community around us. We stayed there for a week and it was a blessing getting to know Pastor Church and Yumi Robb. 

After this two-week-long "missions trip" I feel that the Lord is doing amazing things here in Japan!