Kami no kazoku.

Thank you for everyone who supported me through the trip. I know a lot of you did, specifically through prayer, and it was much appreciated. Though I didn't update much later in the trip, I think my prayers often remained the same, only shifting to different people... which I guess I could've updated, but didn't. Oh well. So yea, huge, huge thanks to people that prayed for me... it was definitely felt on the field and appreciated.

And the beginning of (what probably should be, but I might be too lazy to write all of) many posts in regards to our trip to Japan.

If there had to be a "big idea" or "theme" that I personally had for the trip, it might be something like, "God's family" (kami no kazoku).

In a lot of ways I felt, and saw in action, God's family, while in Japan. Allow me to give one example for now.

Me and Maria taught three full English classes (each spanning one week) and then one last class of Dave's that we had to cover for him. We had two adult beginner classes and one older elementary school class. In our second week of adult beginner, our class consisted of roughly seven or eight elderly women (60+ years old, in my opinion) that weren't Christians, and one elderly woman of similar age who was simply on fire for God. On fire like, I've never seen anyone even close to her age so aggressive about sharing the Gospel. Unfortunately I don't remember her name (and never really knew... sadly), so we'll just call her AL, short for "awesome lady".

From the makeup of our class and the nature of our trip, you can already tell there would be some interesting interactions. Our first effort to sneak the Gospel into class was on the second day, when their homework assignment for the next day was to write about their favorite hobby. I gave them an example, which for me, was playing guitar. But why did I like playing guitar so much? Because it let me worship God in my own way, of course. And worshipping God and praying to Him is something I love to do.

Not only have I never met anyone as old as AL who's on fire for God like she was, but neither have I ever seen anyone like AL smile as big as she did once I said this. I'm positive that she didn't understand much either; I think all she got might've been "God" and "pray", but that was enough for her to know what I was trying to do and for her to know we were on the same page.

She then invited our class to stay for lunch the next two days, and told Maria and I that we would be praying for the food. (Maria is pretty decent at Japanese, so when AL explained this to her Maria put together the pieces and figured that's what would be happening). And over the course of the rest of our time together, Maria, AL and I continually shared mini-testimonies and invited our class out to different church events that we had planned, including the weekly Sunday Service. At one point, AL pointed out that even though she had been single for nine years (her husband passed away), she was never lonely, because she had her relationship with God, and that was enough for her.


So there it is. AL, a early-60s, non-English speaking, Japanese woman, and two American NYU students, working together for the Kingdom of God. Across cultures, age differences, languages, our hearts were linked by the love of Christ that was so apparent in AL's life, and I pray was equally apparent in ours.

In this, I believe I saw a good piece of what unity in Christ really means and looks like. We had nothing, absolutely nothing, in common, except for the grace of God exhibited in our lives.


There were a lot of other ways I was blessed, and a lot of other ways I got to see and witness God's love through and in these people. But I think that's all for now.