A Summary of my trip to Japan, Summer 2012

Hello, everyone 

 I wanted to thank each and every single one of you who supported me both financially, and through prayer, with my summer missions trip to Japan with the PAZJapan ministry. My trip lasted just under 2 months, and I could not have done this work without you. Thank you SO much for everything you did for the trip. 

  My trip began on June 9th when I arrived at the PAZJapan church in Kawasaki, Japan, an hour from Tokyo. I arrived there at night and woke in the morning, learning that a team from ORU (Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma) was staying at the church as well, finishing off a month-long trip, within a few days. I spent that time getting to know the members, and learning the ropes and basics of living in Japan and talking with the Japanese people, as well as meeting some Japanese friends they had made during their stay, 3 of which became my good friends that I was able to spend the 2 months with! It was a blessing having our trips allowing us to cross each other's paths like that. God is so good.  After their departure, my main focus was to work with the Youth ministry PAZ had created for young people between the ages of 17 and 27. I spent my days at the church building, studying Japanese, chilling with members who also lived there, and chilling with the Japanese friends I made through various events, as well as the 3 I met through the ORU. On Sundays in the late afternoon, me and the FUSE Jesus team with PAZ got a dance studio ready, by transforming it into a meeting/worship room for a few hours, where we invited Youth to first join us for free Japanese/English practice, then we had our worship and a message by one of the missionaries that lived there. We usually had between 20-55 Youth attending every Sunday, depending on how their school schedules were for the week. After the FUSE meeting, we all broke down into Cell groups, where 3-8 people meet somewhere, pray, study the Word together, and learn about the other people in fun ways. Mondays were usually the 'days off' for the missionaries there. We didn't have meetings, classes, events, or anything, so we could stay at home, go travel in the city and site-see, or anything we wanted, really.  Tuesday mornings we had a missionary meeting at the church where the main leaders, Tim and Christine Huber made breakfast and led us in prayer and worship for PAZ. That was followed by FUSE team leadership meetings, where we then planned out the week of what activities we would do for FUSE. This included planning the FUSE meeting on Sunday, it included parties and events, as well as Friday Night Outreach.  Afterwards, we all liked to head out to Senshu, a local University up a hill in the city, where we met new students, hung out with ones we knew, etc. Senshu is where my three friends, Wam, Yuuki, and Yuki (a boy and girl) attended and met the ORU team.  Wednesday mornings I had free language class, usually, at a hall in one of the nearby cities a trainride away. Thursdays a couple gals and I liked to go to an all-girls University called Keisen, where one of our missionary girls living in my church building attended.  Honestly, being a foreigner in a country such as Japan, is just shocking, and kind of exciting. You wouldn't think so, but it truly was an experience I can't forget. Because I am an American and speak English (Anything American is studied and copied by Japanese, including English), all the Japanese people automatically look my way. They are curious about me and my culture, and are eager to practice their English on me. However, Japanese people are shy. Very shy. So as the foreigner, you have to go reach out the them. So reach out is what we did. Whenever we saw a group of people looking our way and talking about us, we smiled, headed over, and started conversation with them, usually ending with an invitation to our Friday Night Dinner, or to do something fun.  Fridays were spent in prep for the Dinner. We have everyone, Japanese, American, Canadian, Brazilian, Korean, anything, all meet down in the basement of the church I stayed at. We would prepare a meal for them, usually Curry (a favorite meal in Japan!) or a foreign food like Spaghetti, Brazilian food, Korean, or American. We would meet people who came, play games, and have a fun activity with everyone before cleaning up (which was my major thing-I love to clean up, so I usually did the hundreds of dishes there were the result every week, with one of the live-in missionaries, Jeremy).  Saturdays were pretty much open for me, so I did whatever my friends wanted to do. One weekend we all went to the beach, once we went and did a popular activity, Karaoke. Karaoke in Japan is different than in America. You rent private rooms with a huge tv, mics, a table and drinks, and computers and books to select music from. No singing in front of strangers. Japanese youth spend literally hours doing Karaoke with each other. Karaoke, shopping, and Purikura, an advanced version of photobooths where you decorate your pictures with fun draw-on-screen art, and then print out as tiny stickers.  Many things to do in Japan with the youth!  Living there, and getting to invest my time in just being with my friends was a blessing. I did what I love to do, and what they do, and I was able to share and communicate a love for them which they have never known. Most Japanese people have never even heard the name of Jesus. Not as anything, not even a swear word. Crosses are just stylish jewelry they wore, so whenever I spotted one around my friend's necks, I would smile and tell them what it really is. Many little moments to share the Gospel with them. There was a river about 15 minute's walk from the church, where my friends and I would go and chill at, and one day while skipping rocks with my friend Yuki (the guy), I picked up one and asked him if he knew the story of how a giant was killed by one that size. His eyes got big, so I told the story of David and Goliath. I've never been able to do anything like that before. Getting to share stories and love with people who are stuck in a culture that is spiritually dead, is so wonderful! It was a blessing. :) 

  After being in Japan for a few weeks, I really had the urge to DO something beyond just the activities involved in FUSE. I really felt that I should be helping somewhere else for a bit, so after discussing it with Tim and Christine, they told me that I could accompany a Brazilian team that would be arriving soon, on their planned trips to do disaster relief up North. !!!!!!!!! That was so exciting to hear!  The day after they arrived, I accompanied them down to Machida, the city where we held FUSE, and showed them around for their shopping. The two single girls who were on the team, Edilaine and Leticia, more or less my age, had learned English when they were in Brazil, so we were able to chat and get to know each other in a special, fun way during their stay. The main leader of the team, Becky, is Tim Huber's sister, and she is the leader of PAZ in Brazil. Her son Paul also came, so I was able to converse with those 4 in English during our trips. Some pastors and other single guys from Brazil were also part of the team. The first week of volunteer work, we (the singles and one of the pastors) drove 9 hours up to Sendai, and spent the week living first in a Christian family's home, then a Christian Center in the city. Ok, so for the first couple months after the disaster last year, everyone was devoted to helping Japan. But after a little while, everyone seemed to have forgotten. We were wrong to. Japan needs SO much help still. All the thousands of houses that used to stand, were wiped away. All that was left in cities were the concrete foundations of homes, and tons of garbage. Thousands died in every city. It is SO tragic, my heart breaks to see what they are living with. We need to remind everyone, and pray that the Lord would send people out to help! The Japanese people were SO blessed and touched to see people coming out of their way to help them.   The first day we moved shed pieces to different sites to be built for homeless families. The second day we tore down everything but the structure and outer wall of a small building of an elderly Japanese man, so that it could be rebuilt and fixed, and the third day we spent preparing food, games, and fun activities for families in a temporary housing neighborhood. Most of the people in that city were living in temporary houses, and lots of the men had lost jobs, so the families just wandered around not doing much. Getting to serve them the way we did was just a blessing for me!  The 4th and final day there, we, along with a Korean team in Sendai, did the same thing for another neighborhood of temporarily housed families, before heading back 9 hours to the church in Noborito.  Now the rest of the team (the pastors, wives, and Becky) had flown with Tim, Christine, and their sister Angie, to Korea to spend their days in the churches there. They unfortunately got stuck because the Brazilians didn't have re-entry passports to Japan, so they had to fly straight back to Brazil. So they were unable to accompany us for the second week of volunteer work.  The second week, Becky, Tim and Christine, Jeremy, a Japanese friend also named Yuki, and me and the Brazil team went up to Iwaki, another city that got hit. First we went to a Japanese Gospel choir performance (which, btw, was amazing! Imagine Japanese people singing African-American style Gospel music :) ), and spent the week living in another Christian center, where a bunch of other teams and missionaries lived at as well. There was a group of people from Romania, some spoke Spanish, we may have had a few Koreans, we had the Brazilians, Japanese, and Americans. Every night and morning we spent singing/praying together. And let me tell you, being surrounded by godly people of SO many languages and cultures, worshiping the same Amazing God, is just so powerful and inspiring. I will never, ever forget that experience, and I am SO blessed to have been a part of it!! :)  The week was spent doing odd jobs around the center, doing beach cleanup, shelter cleanup, touring (that was a fun Japanese man who took us around in the ministry van to tour awesome places. heh He wasn't supposed to :P), and entertaining temporarily housed people again. Yuki, the Japanese gal that accompanied us, was a first-timer with volunteering. And when she saw the disaster area and what actually happened, her heart broke. Honestly most Japanese people didn't go to help with the relief work, and they have no idea what truly happened up there. Having her volunteer and come spend her week with Christians was heart-changing for her.  Another wonderful week of serving with my favorite Brazilians. :)    During those two weeks, I spent lots of time with Leticia and Edilaine. We became best friends. I love those gals to pieces, and it was a honor to know such godly ladies who live somewhere where the Gospel has been changing lives at a rapid pace. So inspiring again! 

  The last weekend I was in Japan, a team from one of the Korean churches came, and they entertained us for the Friday Night Dinner. Before that, I had spent my time with Yuki (the guy), and invited him and Wam to accompany us at our pre-dinner prayer meeting. The Koreans led the worship and prayer. And believe me. Oh my goodness. Korean faith is POWERFUL. They are not silent prayers. And powerful is a small word. It was amazing. There were people bowed down to the ground, people with faces and hands reaching up to our Lord, people crying, people yelling prayers. Tears, laughter. Wam and Yuki, that night, later told us that that was the first time they truly knew that Jesus is real, and that something is very good about this person we talk about. :)  

  I apologize for the length of this summary of my trip. But no matter how many times I try to, I can never make it small or insignificant in size or meaning. Not even if I wanted to. This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip where I met so many wonderful people from around the globe, all cultures and languages, serving One True God.  The revival in Japan is just beginning, and I am blessed beyond anything to have been a part of it. And I can say that you were, too! Your support is something I can't thank you enough for.  I cannot ask you to stop, however. I would ask you to continue in your prayers for this country! Japan is waking up from it's spiritual sleep. There are millions of people in Japan that need love and prayer. And they need Jesus.  Pray for Japan and that people would keep sending help! The disaster relief is far from done, and we have hardly any missionaries out there. Every single person counts.  Pray for that, and also pray for the friends I made! Pray that Wam, the 3 Yuukis I met, and my friend Yu would all continue to attend the meetings and hang out with those wonderful people, and that they would be changed and truly know Christ's love for them! It is a beautiful thing, and I love those people so much.    Remember, in Christ we can do so many things! With little faith we can move mountains. Brazil and the Amazon has seen it. Japan is next! The Lord is good and faithful to his children. 

   Thank you so much, everyone! God bless! 

       Kirstin 

Disaster relief-PLEASE pray!!!!!

Actually scratch that, guys. I'm leaving tomorrow morning at 5 to go up North for disaster relief work with the Brazilian team that arrived on Wednesday. So, I'm leaving in 7 hours and won't have time to write my second post till this weekend when I get back to continue Fuse work. 

Please be praying for us!!! Pray that God would fill my days with endless opportunities to serve and share the gospel and love people with His love, and also pray for the language barrier to be broken, as people there don't speak much English. Thank you SO much!! 

Once month down, one to go :)

Once month. 

Wow. So crazy! God is so good!! :) 

Sooooo, what has happened in the past 2 weeks? I don't even know. hahah

Saturday I went with Rosie, Abbi, and Yuuki chan to Shibuya and a few other places. We went to the busiest intersection in the world, I believe. It as a starbucks overlooking it, and every 5-8 minutes all traffic stops to allow hundreds of people to cross in all directions. We went on it several times-SO fun!! hahah! We visited a 7-story Forever21, where I purchased several adorable on-sale shirts, about 1/4 the price I'd find in America. You don't find loose and flowy chiffon blouses very often for $12 now, do you? :) We went there, did purikura, and then went to 109, a CRAZY mall. The styles are insane. Ridiculous things. And the ladies who work there compete in welcoming you the loudest with the most ridiculous nasal voices ever. Ew. lol But it was fun to walk through!  After that, we grabbed a bite to eat at a corner restaurant, met a Japanese girl who attended highschool in Aspen, Colorado, had the best American accent ever, and talked like Hannah Montana. It was crazy. lol! We visited Hiroshima, and then went back happy people. Abbi and I walked into the Noborito church to find Wam and Yuki's shoes in the shoe floor. We looked for them. Nothing. Oooookay....I went up to try on my shirts again (I love re-trying things on once I'm home. Happiest feeling ever!!), grabbed leftover spaghetti, orange juice, and Abbi, and headed back down. Abbi and I were talking, and suddenly I look over a few rooms down and I see a guy sleeping on the nursery floor. I shriek, and we start laughing as Wam and Yuki sleepily wake up and walk over, telling us a unique tale of how Isaac abandoned them last-minute and they ended up chilling at the church alone. hahahah Boys. Gotta love them! 

On Monday, I made a trip to the Military Base in Zama. Or at least...well, yeah. I got directions from one of the guys at Fuse on that Sunday, and directions from another lady, too. So I had 2 sets of different directions. I get out of the station I'm told to go to, and ask a police officer were 'Zama base' is. He pointed somewhere, so I follow. I walk. and walk. and turn around and walk the other way for a bit. I walk around the block, and across various intersections. Finally I go back to the station and walk around for a bit...I wasn't going to go to that officer again. I walk by the bus ticket station, so I ask the guy where 'Zama base' is. He tried to sell me a bus ticket. Okay. So I keep walking and finally see police bikes, and find the police station. It was more of an oversized box room thing. I go in and ask the man sitting at a desk, and he pulls out a map. YESSSS!!!! He shows me in broken english, and pulls out another map with actual english words on it! Huuuzzaaaaaah! So I walk about 15-20 minutes down a road, and next to the fence, and once I see the security gate entrance, I get super excited. I show my military ID, and pop in. Oh.my.gosh. American things. I seriously burst into tears while I was walking to the commissary.  For those of you who don't know, I grew up a military child. We went to the base somewhat often for many things, so walking around and seeing men and women in uniform, seeing military sports practicing/drilling fields, various signs and posts in english, and American shops to go into, plus American women at the store, made me cry. It was a blessing. So I was able to grab a bunch of groceries for about $10-15 cheaper than regular stores, because of the military discount a Commissary and Exchange store gets, and I packed the items into a bag for cold foods. Thank goodness I had it. It was HEAVY. SO heavy. every step was agony. I wished I had a strong man with me every step. Literally. So walking back 15-25 minutes to the station, and a 10-20 minute ride and walk back to the Noborito church just about exhausted me...hahah Oh well. I got groceries I've wanted since I came here, and God gave them to me for way less than I expected! :) 

Tuesday was pretty rough for the first half of the day. I cannot remember why it was so rough, but I just remember being down at the breakfast missionaries meeting, hating every moment. From people asking about my commissary trip, to 7-year-old missionary daughter Emmaly constantly tapping me when I was talking to adults. Aaaaaah. I was close to tears. After prayer, I quickly helped with dishes and headed to my room. Sobbing. Yeah. I really wanted to spend the entire day lost in my Bible and prayer. Unfortunately, I was called 10-15 minutes later to go to the Fuse meeting, but God helped cheer me up through that. 

Wednesday, Wam, Yuuki, and Yuki and I went to the bus station to see Isaac off as he left from his year-long missions trip here, returning to his home in Colorado. After that, Yuuki chan (the girl!!) came back to Noborito church with me. I let her have a bag of my cereal I got from the Commissary (Cinnamon Toast Crunch-a classic!), and she and Abbi and I went for a walk to the riverside where we sat and talked about girl things. about life, visiting each other once Abbi and I left, and also about Yuuki's experience with the Bible she got on Sunday!!!!!! Oh my goodness it made my day seeing her get her first Bible in English and Japanese!! <3  It was wonderful!! But she talked about how she has been reading it every day, and her life, since she met us, has been changing for the better. !!!!!!! We eagerly told her to just ask any questions she had about it. Biblical information found in the Bible is hard to understand for people who have never even heard of Jesus. Not even for a swear word.  Oh, and we also talked about boys. :) Here in Japan, they don't get married till they are like, 30. But she still knows what she wants. We listen the qualities of the guy we want (tho for me, I listen the qualities my guy has. I'm waiting for him and he for me. Very blessed to be his friend and fellow servant of Christ!!), and when I was done listing mine and my little story, goodness. Yuuki was squeeling. I love girl reactions to cute stories like that. :) heeheeee 

Thursday, instead of spending my morning at language class, which I honestly would have done-I really like my teacher. bless her heart. :)  I ended up staying home and reading Bible/praying for a bit more, cause my soul was still not at rest. At 12 I joined Rosie, one of the fellow missionaries, at Keisen, a all-girl's University in Tama City, location of the Hello Kitty World. :) We visited during lunch hour, and while walking around trying to find girls to meet and talk with, we saw 4 girls looking at us and talking to themselves. Invitation right there! We headed over and it turns out they speak English! We spent the hour chatting with them, and within 15 minutes, had received an invitation to go Karaoke with them!! This is very rare for Japanese people to readily and eagerly invite strangers to something so soon. It was lovely! Those girls were adorable. :)  After that, Rosie and I checked out Tama Center, walking up to the Hello Kitty world doors. Oh.my.gosh. Ok. So that place, just the entrance, is HUGE!!! I'm not even joking. I couldn't stop staring at it with wide eyes. It was amazing. So magical and just...amazing. If I was speechless, imagine what little children must feel! hahah!  After that, Rosie left to go do things, and I ended up browsing the 100Yen shop (dollar store), and going to Shinyurigaoka's mall, OPA, where they actually ended up have at 30-5o% off sale on all the stores! So I was able to buy a bunch of gifts for people. :D There was a store that had shorts and skirts for less than 1000Yen. Which is less than $12. I wanted one SO bad. The thing is, I'm like a tiiiiny smidgen bigger than Japanese girls, so those didn't fit. :( Oh well. Afterwards at home, I recorded purchases, and was joined by Abbi, who sat on my bed and chatted with me for a bit. 

Friday morning, guess what I did. The impossible. I woke up at 5:45. Yeah. Early. Know why? I wanted to facetime my best friend. :) We talked for 2-3 hours. It was so wonderful to see his face and just chat. You have no idea.   After that. Christine (the main missionary leader's wife here) and I went to the Commissary to buy groceries for the Friday Night Dinner the Noborito church holds. Now what we didn't realize, till my mom pointed it out, was that only Military members can use ID cards for benefits. I cannot let another person purchase something under my card, and they cannot pay me back if I buy something for them. Which is great for me!! God blessed me SO much with extra funds for the trip, and I wanted to in turn be able to bless those around me! So I tried to convince her to let me buy her things, and we ended up getting her at least 6 items!! Yay!!!! Someone tell her it would make my day to do it again! hahah We got ingredients for tacos and burritos (I thought that would be a fun meal to try), and it ended up being SO heavy again. 25-35 pounds of food adds up. We ended up sharing the load, one person each grabbing a strap from that bag I had, and we made it outside the base to a bus stop. We thought we had just missed the bus, but as we were sitting down to wait 10 minutes, God blessed us with it's arrival-it was actually late! Praise God. :) So we cut about 10-20 minutes of painful carrying, by that bus. Oh my goodness! hahah  After we got home, I prepared some of the food, and went down to my room. Within an hour I developed a sore throat, a headache, and my body was killing me everywhere. The week before, one of the other girls at the church was sick, so I guess I got that. I didn't attend the dinner, and on Saturday I was feeling slightly better, so I hung out with Wam and Yuki and their friend when they stopped by, went with them for sushi (I've actually been craving it! hahah!), and watched a movie with Hugh Grant afterwards. :D :D :D My first movie since the plane!!! Aaaaaaah!!! Made my night. 

Okay, I'm going to have to end this post, since it's long, and my fingers are killing me from all the fast typing. SO much to tell! :) 

Till next time! Check back within a day or two for the next one!! 

2 weeks already

Hey, guys! I can't believe it's been 2 weeks so far. Time has flown by soooo fast! I'm over my first hard week of adjustment. Getting used to a new time zone, new culture, different food, learning train-riding strategies (such as memorizing which lines to take we're, when, etc), budgeting, and just fighting off the devil's constant attacks is mostly over. God is helping me get through everything. He obviously has a big plan for this. I'm his servant, ready to work for him.
Nowadays I'm just living life. Last Monday I was going to go with a missionary family that arrived on Saturday, but someone called me last minute and asked if there was anyone available to watch a 6-month baby while his mom attended a care group. Why in the world not? I am here to serve, and that was a chance I quickly jumped at. :) Later that day several of my friends (The girl Yuuki, Wam, Tye and Ben came over and we all did homework or language practice. That night Yuuki emailed me asking if she could come over and hang out with me the next day. !!!!!!!!!!!! I've wanted to for a while! So Tuesday after our missionary and Fuse planning meetings and prayer were over (which, btw, we're wonderful! Tim and Christine Huber are back from their trip, so they made breakfast for the team. We all ate a wonderful meal before diving into important matters the King gave us to do), we headed up to a university, 25 minute's walk from the Noborito church. Yuuki, Wam, Yuki, and some of their friends were there and we all had lunch together before heading back. Rosie and Yuuki and I went to the basement and practiced our languages together. My brain was fried from trying to figure out how to say things. In Japanese, the verbs are ALWAYS at the end of a sentence, but the other words can be mixed up and still be understood. So confusing. After that, we girls did our nails before heading to a restaurant. The night before, on fb, I had mentioned wanting rice. Yuuki saw that and offered to let us go eat rice somewhere. :) She was so sweet! That was also during the typhoon night, however. So we fought the wind and rain with our umbrellas. Hahah
The next couple days have been relaxing. I'm just hanging out at the church, available whenever someone wants to hangout. Tonight we are having out dinner and games in the basement, tomorrow I'm going with Rosie and Yuuki to Tokyo, and Sunday will be Fuse, and my 3rd Sunday in Japan!! :) God is good. He knows what he's doing.

First 4 days in Japan (*^.^*)

Konbanwa! (good evening) It has been 4 days since I came to Japan. In those 4 days, God has blessed me SO much.  I came to the PazJapan building where a church is located, the home of Tim and Christine Huber is, and where missionaries are usually housed, at least till they can get their own apartment. The first morning, I was introduced to a missions group ORU from Oklahoma. And oh, man. They completely changed my life. Every day these amazing people let me tag along and join in on their different activities, ranging from Family Mart (the little convenience store around here) visits for small meals, to eating out at an Indian Curry place, to my first experience at a moving sushi bar restaurant, to visiting campuses and meeting new students, to walking around the city either handing out fliers for FUSE, or just looking around in the AMAZING shops and participating in purikura (their version of a photobooth-better lighting, makes your skin flawless and eyes big and pop out, and you get to edit the pictures with fun graphics and things, and they print out as tiny picture stickers <3 <3). This group was just...wow. Their love for the Lord, for each other, and for their mission in loving the people of Japan was inspiring and just something I envy greatly. They became close friends with me in the 3 days I knew them before they left for home again.  It was just....I can't describe my experience with them. :) 

On Sunday, I started the ministry. FUSE is a youth program. We go out on the streets, meet people, and invite them to join us in the meeting, which consists of worship (in both Japanese and English, each chorus or verse varies in the 2 languages), announcements for various activities during the week, and then a message, followed by Cell Group, which is like a care group where you are a few other peeps get together, study the word of God, pray for each other, and get to know everyone better. I didn't attend this week because I was so jet-lagged. It was exhausting doing all the activities I did. I ended up going home early with Abi, one of the missionary girls here who has been living in this building since winter. She took me to a little 'fast food' place where we had a nice-sized bowl of rice, thin beef strips, and the most amazing onion I've ever tasted. None can compare to what I had. All forrrrr....I think it was 380 yen or something (less than $4.50 American dollars). It was quite delicious. :)  When you arrive in many of these restaurants, you are seated at a table, you share a menu among many people, and when you are ready to order, you just push a button they have ready for you. It's amazing, not having a waiter come up to you and pressure you into a choice. hahah 

Monday, I went with the group to an all-girl's university where we spent all of lunchtime getting to meet girls. It was super awkward at first. Tami (one of the  ORU girls) and I went to 2 Japanese girls who didnt' speak ANY English, so it was kind of intersting trying to communicate with her. Thankfully, Tami had been here a month and had many different sentences and words memorized. We used my dictionary to help. After those girls, we found 3 others who were quite good at English, and they were super interested in talking with us, and will even join us for some of the meetings and activities this week! I'm soooo super excited to see them! :)   After that university visit, we went around and looking in the shops and malls for a while. We were actually in the city where Hello Kitty World is located. :) I'm going to have to visit, since she was my childhood hero back in the day. <3  We all went to the mall, went for sushi, and afterwards, we stopped by a convenience store and bought fireworks, then walked a few minutes to the riverside. It was SO fun! I've never lit fireworks or seen them lit in person. You just don't do that in America. Or at least not where I'm from. Not unless it's the 4th of July.  We were next to a group of Japanese people who also had fireworks. The difference was, tho, they were young peeps who were drinking. So some of them would light a firework and aim it towards their buddy. One guy's pants literally lit of fire, he fell to the ground, and holes marked his pants afterwards. It was kind of freaky, but I was still laughing my haed off. I'm terrible. hahahah But you don't see that every day. I think I was the only girl in the group who wasn't freaking out like a mom about the fires. I lit several myself. It was great. :D    This week, I've met several Japanese peeps who have been hanging with the ORU group, including Wam (a real swag guy. he's the Japanese version of Michael Jackson. He works as a DJ in Tokyo, and invited me to come over and watch, which I'd LOVE to do!!! He's great), Yuki, the sweetest guy alive. He helped me learn Japanese, and is just so nice. And Yuuki, a darling girl who has spent so much of her time with us. I love her :) I'm excited I got to spend time with them during the ORU group's stay. Even though those wild, loud, crazy people are leaving, I hope these guys will hang out. I may not be able to speak much Japanese, but they are amazing people. God let me get to know them for a reason. :) 

Tuesday was the ORU's last day here. We all went to a missionaries meeting at 8:30, and that was followed by prayer. Everyone in the room counted into 1, 2, 3, or 4, and went to a separate room with our number to take prayer requests and pray. It was SO AMAZING. I'm not the type of person to show my emotions. I don't cry that easy, and rarely show it. I was nearly sobbing. Just from prayer, and the overwhelming thought and knowledge of being here for God's people, with God leading me. I have a purpose here, and I'm blessed beyond anything to be able to live it. Oh my word. It's incredible. Seriously. Anytime I think about it, I start to cry.   Anywho, after that, I went upstairs for a FUSE meeting among the FUSE peeps. For those that go to Covlife, it's like the ADMIN team. We lead, design, and run all things related to this. We plan all the activities, who will do worship, who will translate, what games to do, what things to run and be held during the week, etc.   After that, I hung out for a bit before having a one-on-one meeting with Mark, one of the leaders of FUSE. That was really helpful to talk to him about everything. Getting to know what life here will be like for me as a missionary working with FUSE.  He took me to the bank, we came back and took the ORU team to the train station, and then I came back and hung out with a bunch of the missionaries and some Japanese friends I met this week with the ORU team. We talked together, each practicing Japanese or English, then played cards together. Card games are REALLY popular here in Japan. :) Unfortunately, I got creamed. hahah! 

Today I moved into my apartment. Since the ORU team was here, the girls got the basement of the church building, and the guys shared the room I now have. I was using Tim and Christine's apartment till now. It's an adorable Japanese room. Bamboo mat flooring, carpet squares in cute block designs, the paper window covers that slide, nice deep brown closet doors, cool light fixture. I have a desk and a tiiiiiiiny brown leather chair for my furniture, and I'm using 4 futons stacked up for my bed. I spent the day moving in and cleaning up. Dusting, vacuuming, arranging things, etc. etc. took WAY longer than I expected. I'm so surprised. hahah But it's a lovely room a few doors down from Abi and Yuriko, a Japanese girl who is also living here.  At 5:30 we headed to Shinyurigaoka, a 5-10 minute train ride away from here, where we met Rosie (Mark's sister-in-law) and another Japanese friend. We had dinner (I only had less than 500 yen to spend on dinner, since earlier in the day I bought several food sandwiches (kind of like hotpockets), 2 cartons of juice for the next few days, and a sandwich for later. Ok. So I went to the family mart, and my intention was to have one of the hot pockets for lunch, and save the other for a different meal on a later day. The cashier asked me a question related to the food. I nodded, since the usual thing is to nod cuz they usually give you a straw or napkins or something. She took a pair of scissors, cut BOTH of them, and stuck them in the microwave. *head smack. hahahah Darnit. Learned that the hard way. Anyways. So that's why dinner was limited. But I had a ceasar salad, and we later went in the mall to the 100 Yen shop (the dollar store here with EVERYTHING, and good quality, too). I'm so grateful for that.  haha I had a list that was getting bigger of what I needed (nail clippers-forgot mine. That's important in life. air freshener for my room-the fridge on this level is controlled mainly by Koreans who have um....stinky food. :P my room kept the smell of that + the ORU boys who lived here before. I got a rose freshener, and it's already doing a wonderful job. haha I got a plastic box to keep important papers and receipts, that I'm now keeping in my desk. It's SO amazing. I love it already. Weird, right? It's just a clear plastic box with clip locks. haha You can laugh.  And I got some ramen bowl meals for later. I'm really cheap over here. I can spend maybe $10-14 a day on food, and I want to spend less than that, if possible. I have yet to take a bus or train to a Military base and go shopping at the Commissary for some basic cheap things that will get me by. Working on that part. It's not cheap to take a train here. But if the amount I save through the Commissary is higher than what I'd lose to get there, then I'll give it a go. 

Did you know I've lost 10 pounds in the past month? Yeah. hahah 4-5 pounds here. It's really weird. It's not bad, but it's unusual. It can't be water or food weight. Idk.  The meals here are quite tiny, but it's SO good and so filling. I'll figure this all out soon enough. 

This is Kawasaki on my first day. It was bright and sunny. Since then, it's been cold and rainy. Apparently it will stay cold and rainy for a month. And then get really hot and humid as summer officially begins. Hmmm.... 

The group before we headed to lunch. Boys being boys. x) Gotta love them. :) 

 Indian Curry. Endless Naan bread in your order. Oh, and that's Emily being a darling silly goose. :) 

 Corrine, me, and Wam. :) 

 Tami :) 

 Corrine and Tami were the only peeps in the group I could grab a pic with before they left. Everyone else was busy. :/  The little thing they are doing with their fingers is SO in with the Japanese. It's adorable. (*^.^*) 

Well, I should get to bed now. I've spent nearly an hour writing this post. Please comment! You'll be the first. hahah ;) 

Japan

I was up since 9:30 east coast time on the 8th of June, 2012, and got to bed at 9pm Tokyo time. My flight was abouuuut 12-13 hours long. Customs, money exchange and all that took around an hour or so, and nothing was like I expected. English was everywhere, so I was able to get to places easily. Everyone spoke at least the basic English words for what I needed, which was wonderful. I was dreading my moments in the airport, thinking it'd all be complicated and stressful and difficult with Everything-Japanese. It wasn't. Easy breezy stuff. :) I got my bus ticket to Shinyurigaoka, and called Mark, one of the main missionaries at the church. So I boarded my bus, and because I had 2 suitcases and a smaller carry-on suitcase (they only let you put 2 under the bus), i had to sit next to a guy with my suitcase in front of me, squishing my legs. And I didn't think I'd have time to grab a bite to eat before the bus, so I was quite hungry. Anywho. It was a 2-2 1/2 hour bus drive to the station, where a few of the gals at PazJapan took me back to the church. I get to meet everyone today! Church is at 3 and a train ride away. I'm excited. Apparently all my stupid nerves and worries were useless cause nothing has happened like I thought. So I Know it's going to be wonderful. :) Obviously God wants me here, because I'm here. I'm safe, sound, and things are going smooth as butter. It will be an adventure I won't forget. :)


(movies watched on airplane: Jeauno, War Horse, Australia, cartoon Alice in Wonderland, and half of Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor in it. They served us some type of meat (I didn't get any o that cuz my tray wasn't down...I guess it had to be around for them to know I'm hungry? Hahah), cup-noodles (I ate with chopsticks like a Boss..ish :P), and some NASTY breakfast foods. I got the omlet. Ew. Ew ew ew. Hahah. Oh and they served us plenty of drinks. Twas nice. I've been sooooo thirsty all day long, however many hours it's been for me. Lol
So. That's it for now. I'm sooo excited!! Here are some pics of my last moments with friends in MD, a pic from my flight, at the Tokyo airport, and a few from the building I'm staying at

Hey, all! 

This is it. The last few days in America for the next 2 months.  I'm finishing up all the little things I need to do here (figuring out flight itineraries, layover activities (spending over 20 hours in Toronto, Canada both ways), info for trains and buses, currencies, finishing up fundraising projects, planning outfits, activities over there, and even trying to locate the nearest Military base so i can buy groceries cheaper. heh Oh the joys of being a military doctor's daughter. x) 

Anywho. I'm leaving on Thursday, so I just have to get together with a few friends, pack, and head on over to the airport. I'll try to update this blog with posts on how the ministry is going, post pics, etc.  See you guys soon! 

Kirstin