Okaasan Update

I just wanted to throw up a blog update about Okaasan and the Abe family.

I have been in contact with Wayne, our team leader, and getting updates on how everything was going. The Abe house was finished about a week and a half ago, and they had the house dedication ceremony last Friday. During the house dedication, a local pastor comes and there is a time of worship, prayer over the house and family, and then the message. During this message Pastor Suzuki explains John 3:16 and explains who Jesus is and what we believe. He then asks the family if they would like to give their life to Jesus. Even if the family does not make that decision, they are presented with a Bible. This Bible has been personalized by the members that have worked on the house, and they write little messages and stuff inside the cover. In addition, an easy to understand book on Christianity is give to them as well. 

So at the Abe-san ceremony they chose not to make a commitment. I have no facts to back this up, but I have a feeling that even if Okaasan would have wanted to, she would not have spoke up. The reason I say that is because in Japan the focus is on the family name, and the man is the head of the family. A woman going a different route than the family is not common and would probably raise some eyebrows. Japanese culture is all about not making waves; there is a Japanese proverb, " 出る杭は打たれる。" ....."The stake that sticks up gets hammered down."

A main problem in Japan when it comes to sharing the Gospel is that Christianity is seen as "foreign" and not Japanese. The view is that Buddhism and Shintoism is Japanese, Christianity is European/American. Therefore, the thinking is if you are a Christian, you're getting away from your Japanese roots and away from your family tradition. That view of Christianity being European/American has started to fade with the younger generation, but their parents are typically not in agreement.

Despite this, there is a way that can get past the stereotype: Japanese Christians building relationships with them. Now, I'm not saying that other Christians can't be effective, because that is not true. However, a fellow Japanese citizen talking to them makes them see that Christianity isn't just for Americans. The second half of what I said was much more important: building relationships. This is the case in all cultures, but especially in Japan. It is all about the relationship!! Without building a relationship, a Japanese person will politely listen and nod their head, but will not do much more than that. Once a relationship is formed, though, doors will open up.

So back to Okaasan and the team. I am so proud of Wayne and am so honored to have been on his team. Wayne has been intentional about forming a relationship with the family, especially Okaasan. As I said, they finished the house 1.5-2 weeks ago, yet Wayne and the team continue to stop by their house for tea time. Now, there is not much time in the day for them to do this; the carpenters have busy schedules. So I was so happy when he told me that they make time to stop by and have tea with them. 

So with this blog, I just wanted to shine some light on the challenge of sharing the Gospel in Japan and also talk about how honored and proud I am that I was able to be on Wayne's team.

Please pray for the Abe family and the continual relationship building that Wayne and the team is doing. They are only there until the end of April, and then the base is getting taken down and they are going home. Pray that God will do unexplainable things in the next couple weeks and that after Samaritan's Purse leaves, that the Japanese churches would be blessed and effective in maintaining relationships and sharing the Gospel.

Day ju: Tokyo with Takuya and Sae

Sorry this blog is late..I got home from my day with Takuya and Sae and was so tired I fell asleep right away.

The day started out with church at Kiyose Evangelical Free. It is a beautiful church and I enjoyed the service even though it was in Japanese. After the service the church had lunch. It was the same type of soup I had at Shiogama Bible last Sunday, and it is one of my favorite Japanese meals. Everyone there wanted to know more about me, and they were really fascinated at how much I weigh and that I am an average height in America (about 6'1").

After lunch I got on a train and went to Ueno to meet Takuya and Sae. This was our "home base" last year, and I arrived 30 minutes early so I walked around for a while and saw some of the stores we went to last time. Anyway, I met those two and we headed to a place that used to be famous for their electronics. We enjoyed walking around and looking through the stores. After that we went to a shrine and then to the Tokyo Tower on the south side of Tokyo. Every place we went yesterday was a first time for Takuya and Sae as well, so we had fun just exploring. We got to Tokyo Tower, purchased our tickets, and went up. There was a great view of Tokyo, and once the sun set it was even better. Right when we were about to leave a little boy next to me yelled "Hanabi!!" Hanabi are fireworks, and we watched the fireworks show that occurred right over the Rainbow Bridge..it was great!

After that we traveled back to Ueno for supper. I told them to choose the restaurant and they chose a place that I don't remember the name of...more or less it was an egg, flour, and then a variety of choices such as pork, chicken, squid, corn, shrimp, cheese, etc. Each table had a grittle and you cooked the mix they gave you just like you would a pancake. It was very good, even the squid one! After supper I said goodbye to Sae and then boarded my train for Higashi-Tokorozawa. Takuya was nice enough to go with me to make sure I made it on the right train connection before saying goodbye and going back to his house.

I really enjoyed seeing them again, and we had a lot of fun. Takuya is moving to the U.S. soon to go to the University of Michigan for his doctorate, so I can't wait to take him around Minneapolis when he visits!

That was my day in a nutshell. I leave for Narita airport in about 30 minutes and will arrive in Minneapolis Monday night.

I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting me in every way this trip. It has been an amazing time, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I will blog a couple of times yet when I get back to the states about the deeper spiritual issues in Japan and why only about 1% of the population is Christian. I learned a lot about that on this trip, and I want to share that with you as soon as I get back to my laptop.

Anyway, specific prayer requests:
-safe trip back
-the missionaries, and perhaps more importantly the Japanese Christians...that they would be empowered to use the relationships they have built to do great things for the kingdom.


Thanks again, and see you back in the states!

Day 9...goodbye Tome, hello Tokyo

Today was more bittersweetness as I had to say goodbye to all the amazing people I met at the Tome base. This blog is mostly going to be a tribute to them, and then I will finish up with the little bit about my trip to Tokyo.

Wayne: this was the 2nd person I met, and right away I felt relaxed and comfortable around him. As I worked with him, talked with him, and worshipped with him, I came to know and love him as an amazing spiritual father figure. This man loves the tar out of you and cares about your spiritual growth immensely. I hope to meet him again sometime, and I can't wait to worship our Lord together in Heaven someday.

Mike: soft spoken man who is one of the most loving and caring men I have ever met. I learned so much from Mike about being a servant for the Kingdom. We had lots of good talks at the table, and I really enjoyed hearing about how God has worked and is working in his life. Just like Wayne, I can't wait to give Mike a giant hug in Heaven and worship the King together.

Chloe: she was the first person I met, and honestly was the answer to a prayer I had prayed that day about helping me to settle in and be comfortable. She took the time to show me around and get me settled in to an unfamiliar place. We had a lot of fun working together and joking around. I will miss Mike and Wayne picking on her and will have to try to fill their shoes when she gets back to Bethel!

Nate (from mn): great guy that was kind enough to give me one of his blankets so that I didn't freeze at night. Always friendly and willing to talk.

Nate (from nm): super funny guy who always brightened my day up, even though I don't think he realized it.

Julian: love talking to this guy. Genuine and has a great heart for the Lord. Appreciate the conversations we had, even though we didn't get to work together much.

David: this man has an amazing testimony that I will outline in a later blog. David has one of the softest hearts and always asks how I'm doing and how my day went. Some guys just have that calming demeanor about them, and David is one of them. Can't wait to see him again in Heaven!

Daike and Daniel: these two translated for us. They have a genuine passion for the Japanese people to come to know the Lord. I am so thankful for their help and helping me communicate with Okaasan.

Last but not least,
Steven (Stephen?): this man stuffed old drywall into trash bags ALL day for about 2 days...an did so with a smile in his face. I have so much respect and gratitude for his servant heart. I loved talking with him at the base and laughing with him all the time. Great man of God.

I met more people than this, and they all played a role in making my time in Tome one Of the best experiences of my life. I will thank them when we are all walking the streets of gold.

So now, on to my day. After I said my goodbyes I for a ride to the train station, which was 40 minutes away. I then bought my ticket and went to the platform. The Shinkansen is well known as the bullet train, and regularly reaches upwards of 186mph. Despite the high speed, there has never been an accident involving Shinkansen. I got off a Omiya station and remembered how hectic Tokyo train stations can get. My connecting train was hard to find because I was a special train that was borrowing another line's track for their one run per day. Luckily, the train station officers are ok with English and I pointed to the name of the station I needed to go to and they directed me to the correct train. I got in the train and it was only 3 stops until I was at the station I needed to be at (thankfully, the train maps are also in English on Tokyo trains, so I could read the map).

I got picked up at the station by Charles, a missionary with SEND, and he took me to the SEND center. It is a VERY nice place, and I have an entire studio apartment to myself...little different than the shared living space and cots I was getting used to at Tome :) I ate supper with Charles and talked a lot with him. He is a sports ministry missionary here, so we talked a lot about sports and how that opens a lot of doors to share the Gospel. He is a super friendly guy, and I will spen more time with him on Monday morning before I go to the airport.

That was my day in a nutshell. Tomorrow I have church and then get to spend the day with Takuya and Sae!!

Specific prayer requests:
-thanks for getting me here safely
-all my "family" in Tome, that God would continue to do great things through them.

Day 8...my last day at the Abe house :(

Today was a very bittersweet day. It was my last day of work since I am going back to Tokyo tomorrow. We went to the Abe house and had devotional time with Mrs. Abe-san. Chloe led it and talked about John 14:27 and how God gives us peace and comfort. Mrs. Abe-san, who I will refer to from here on out as Okaasan, seemed interested (but I must note that I have trouble reading Japanese people because they are so polite and do whatever it takes to make you happy). Anyways, she seemed interested as far as I could tell.

After that she went off to work and we got started in on what we ended on yesterday...I finished the insulation for the parts of the wall that weren't set to get bleached. Along with that, the closet with the shrine in it got demolished...oh I should mention that they took the shrine stuff out for us.., the drywall got installed in the first room, the walls got bleached, and the dirt that got left under the floor from the tsunami got removed. 

Today was slower going for us, mostly because there seemed to be a ton of little hoops to jump through in order to be able to do the main projects. I also noticed more time was spent talking while we worked, which slowed us down. I liked it, though, because I enjoy hearing about other people's lives. Wayne, our supervisor, told us a lot about his family, and I really enjoyed learning more about his background. He is one of those guys who you have trouble knowing when he is joking and serious..luckily I have had 3 years of experience with that type of personality because my defensive line coach at NWC is the same way. I describe Wayne as my 'paw' (borrowing off his southern accent) and he has been a great leader this week. He is the type of guy that will do anything for you and truly has your best interests in mind.

While I'm at it, I just want to say that I was blessed with THE BEST team. They are all awesome people who love to have fun and joke around by lovingly bashing each other...anyone that knows me knows "lovingly bashing" is right up my alley. On the ride home I was taking in all the memories I could, and I just sat and admired how everyone on the team interacted. I thanked God for giving me the best team I could have had. I will get a picture on here when I get back to the states.

So anyway, backtrack to the end of the workday. We got done cleaning up and Okaasan came home from work at 4. Since it was my last day Wayne asked if I wanted to share a special afternoon devotional. I gladly accepted and chose Habbakuk 1:5 as my verse. I talked about how God loves his children, even  if bad things happen sometimes. I then told Okaasan that I am going to miss her a lot and that I look forward to her smile every day. When she looked at me and smiled I almost lost it. But I continued that I pray for her every day and it is my greatest hope that she comes to know God..not god. I said that whenever I remember this time, I would always remember her as my okaasan. Now some background to this.. Okaasan was a new word I had literally been practicing all day so that I could call her my okaasan..when I lifted a board I said okaasan, when I cut insulation I said okaasan, you get the picture...so after all that time, this was the moment I could win her heart...aaanndddd I said "akaasan". GAHH!! Everyone laughed because they knew how much I had been practicing, but Daike, our translator fixed it for me and on we went. Ok, back to how my devotional time went.   I thanked her for the blessing it was to be able to help on her house. She told me that I need to come back and visit sometime, and she made the comment that I could sleep there...and I just now fully got the effect of that--I just connected it to the joke we had yesterday, except she was serious this time. I told her I really wanted to come back and see them in the future. The boy was standing there as well, and I told him I looked forward to seeing him golfing on tv in a few years. I thanked them and did the traditional couple hundred bows :) and then asked her for a hug..now hugging is typically not done in Japan, but Okaasan smiled and graciously gave one. After that we loaded into the van, nicknamed "the fridge", and headed back to the base. 

We had a great supper and then had a great 30 minute worship time. Afterwards I got pictures with a bunch of the great people I met at the Tome base, and then just enjoyed my last night here.

I would give anything to be able to stay here longer, but I know I can't. I have really enjoyed my time here, and hope to someday return to Tome and Ishinomaki. Tomorrow I head down to Tokyo by Shinkansen (bullet train) and will get to see the countryside. But that is tomorrows blog. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers. 

Specific prayer requests: 
- Okaasan (mrs. Abe-san) and the rest of the Abe family
- Takahashi-san..I haven't talked about him but he is involved with Samaritan's purse and loves being around us..he loves the Bible's teachings and what we live for, but he has not made that commitment. He is a fun guy who is always smiling. I will get a pic of him up too when I get back.

Day 7...house dedication and Mrs. Abe-san

Well, the day started on a good note in that I got a great night sleep. I attribute that to getting another blanket last night so I didn't wake up freezing multiple times in the night. Anyways, that's not important compared to the day's events. 

So we headed to the worksite like normal. We were assigned to the Abe house again, which I was really happy about. It was also nice to be in the same house two days in a row. We got there and took out a closet floor that had lots of mold under it. The closet was right next to their ancestor worship shrine, so we had to be extremely careful, especially when we knocked out the walls. By the time we got that done it was time for break. 

Right after break we left the house and went to the 'ground zero' area of Ishinomaki for a house dedication ceremony. This ceremony happens at every house once the carpenters are finished. As a side note, though, finished does not mean ready to move furniture into..Samaritans purse does everything but the painting and some special electric work that is done outside the drywall for free. After that they have to hire someone to completely finish it..even still, SP saves them a lot of money. 

Anyways, back to the dedication. Everyone that had worked on the house was there, along with Pastor Suzuki and his wife. We sang worship songs in Japanese and then Pastor Suzuki gave the message in John 3:16 and told the homeowner about Jesus. When he asked the man if he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart, the man said that it was all a lot right now and that he needed some time. That is totally understandable, and Pastor Suzuki is going to follow up with him. Hopefully it will sink in soon. We prayed over him and over the house, gave him a Bible and some easy to understand stuff about Christianity, took pictures, and said our goodbyes to him. He was a very nice man, and I hope he will act on his interest in what we believe in. 

It was then time for lunch, so we ate quickly. With about 2 hours less in our workday, we had a lot to get done before our day ended at 4:30. My afternoon was spent packing insulation into the walls and cavities in the floor. Over the past 2 days I have almost become more of a carpenter than a mud out person. That is totally fine with me...I really enjoy carpentry stuff. In addition to having to use math skills, doing carpentry work makes me feel like I am working with my grandpa again. There have been countless times this week where I have heard him in my head saying things like, "here, kassidy, turn the hammer this way..it will make it easier." it has been a great time to reflect on the great memories I have with my Grandpa.

Well, enough of my heartfelt moment, back to the day. We got to 4:00 and the family came home. As I said yesterday, it is a husband and wife and their 10 year old son who is a great golfer. The dad spent about 10 minutes talking with Wayne, our leader, about what types of wall he wanted and all that good stuff. Then he and the son left with the golf clubs. We finished cleaning up and then prayed with the mom. She is such an amazing lady and is so friendly. The carpenter team left in their van and us 3 mud out people were left there waiting for our ride to get there. In the meantime, we got a chance to talk to the mom a little bit (I really wish I knew enough Japanese to carry on a conversation..). When our ride was about ten minutes late we joked with her that if our ride didn't come we would just crash at her house. She laughed and eagerly nodded her head. I think she really enjoys us. 

Tomorrow is my last day at the Abe house because the carpenters don't work on Saturdays and we can't work without the carpenters there. I am sad that this week has gone so fast..I wish I could stay here for a couple months more...but I am very appreciative of the opportunity I have been given, and I have enjoyed every second.

Last thing..sorry this blog is so long today.. At sharing time tonight a Japanese girl talked about working at an elderly woman's house. She said that the lady's family doesn't stop by much and all her friends and neighbors have picked up and moved away. She expressed that she was very lonely and just needed someone to talk to, so the girl sat down and had a long conversation with her. This woman sees the joy and hope we have, and it was evident she is attracted to it..hopefully God does great things in that woman's life!

Ok, that was way too much stuff, but today was a great day.

Specific prayer requests:
- Mrs. Abe-san (we don't know her first name, and we privately call her 'okaasan' which means 'mom' because she has one of those "your mom away from home" personalities) and her family...that they would know God's love and get rid of the idols in their house
- the elderly lady that was talked about in sharing time
- the gentleman whose house was dedicated today, that people would follow up with him and he would let the holy spirit sink in

Thanks for your prayers and for enduring this extremely long blog!

Day 6: the Abe house

Today we were assigned to the Abe family's house. This house was not as structurally damaged as the previous one, as there was only about 3 feet of water in it when the wave hit, but this house's biggest problem was mold. Today was different as well in that we (the mud out crew) was working with a carpenter crew. Usually the mud out crew starts and gets everything stripped down, clean, and ready to go, and then the carpenter crew comes in and finishes the rebuilding. The reason this house is different is because the family is still living in it. This adds a special challenge because we have to do things in sections and a lot more carefully so we don't break anything. In addition, at the end of the day we have to board everything up for overnight. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself here...first I want to mention the verse God revealed to me this morning. After breakfast I grabbed my Bible and prayed, "God, what verse do I need to have in my mind today?" I then did one of those 'magic' open your Bible to a random page and read what's there deals. I had opened to 2 Corinthians 1. I only made it to verse 5 before it was clear what God wanted me to know. I sat and meditated on verses 3-5 for about 10 minutes and prayed about it. I encourage you to read it and find someone who needs to be comforted.

So then we headed to the worksite, and we started by ripping out drywall and removing the millions of drywall nails. After that we ripped out the floor and cleaning the mud and muck out from under the floor. By that time it was time to head back to the base. We made temporary floor out of plywood so that the family could still get around their house. As we were doing that the ten year old son came home from school. He was very polite but in obvious shock at the sight of 9 Americans ripping apart his house. Luckily our translator was right there and explained to him what was going on. 

His mother and father soon got home and the carpenter leader talked with them about rebuilding specifics. They were extremely nice people and continually thanked us for our work. We found out that the boy was a really good golfer, and was the best golfer in the entire Tohoku region in the 12 and under age bracket. We had a lot of fun talking with him and trying to convince him to admit that he was a better golfer than Tiger Woods...being a Japanese person, he was extremely humble and we could not coax him into it, but he laughed a lot about it. 

It was really good to meet the people we were helping. Yesterday the owner came by for 5 minutes, but I was in the back and didn't get the chance to meet him. Just to meet the people and put a face with the house was really encouraging. 

Tonight at sharing time there was a story from one of the house dedications (house was dedicated and declared finished). The Japanese pastor, Suzuki-sensei preached a message on John 3:16 and both the mother and the daughter that lived there made a decision to walk with Christ!! Hopefully they get plugged into a church and grow. Being a Christian as a Japanese native is so extremely tough here because of a number of reasons including ancestor worship, Buddhism in culture, an family pressures of staying with the family tradition. Great things are happening here, but Satan isn't letting go of his old stomping grounds easily. Much needs to be done yet, but this is a good start! 

Right now I am sitting in the commons area listening to the Japanese people sing common worship songs in their native tongue. There is something about worshiping in Japanese that makes my heart melt for the Lord...I love it!!

But that's all for now. Specific prayer requests:
-the mother and daughter who accepted Christ today
- the Abe family..that they would begin to ask about Jesus. We had a short devotional time with them this morning and a prayer time with them before we left. Hopefully it sparks some interest..

Day 五 (5..pronounced 'go')

Today was the first day of work, and it was everything I was expecting and had been waiting for! We woke up at 6am, had breakfast, and a guy shared a devotional. We then headed to Ishinomaki, about an hour commute. The Tohoku region is the major farming area
Of Japan, so there is rice field after rice field, all surrounded by hills...it reminds me a lot of NE Iowa, actually. We got into Ishinomaki, but didn't see much damage.....until we got on the other side of downtown.

Ishinomaki was arguably the hardest hit by the tsunami, and the earthquake actually sunk the town a meter or two. On the edge of town by the water, the street and area floods twice a day when high tide comes in. Once we got past downtown things changed.. Suddenly there were houses without windows, debris piles everywhere, and many blank lots where houses obviously once stood. I just stared in awe at how much devestation remains after a year of cleanup. Just down the road from the house we worked at was a massive pile of debris (by massive, think about the length of 2 football fields and as high as 2-3 full sized Cat backhoes).

We got to our house an joined 5 marines who were already there working. Our job was "mudding out", which is the process of completely gutting the house, power washing and bleaching it, and then giving it over to the carpenters once it has been completely disinfected (mold is the enemy here). Today's job was to tear down all the drywall...and it took 11 people all day to do. The house, we learned, was only 2 years old before the tsunami destroyed it. I wanted to post a picture on here, but I can't on my iPod... Anyways, the waterline was into the 2nd level, about 10 feet off the ground. The whole time I worked, I just thought about what that day must have been like, and what the homeowner's story is of that day.

After the day was done, we headed back to Tome and ate supper. After supper there was story time where people share things that happened that day. One lady shared about the daughter of the homeowners at the house she was working at. The daughter asked her about God and said she wants to know God. Another person shared how their homeowner was afraid to leave the house because she does not know what happened to her husband. He worked in the shipyard, and called her and told her to run away because the tsunami was there...then the phone went dead and that was it. The woman has 2 daughters but is afraid that if she leaves home she will either lose her daughters or miss her husband of he comes home. There are many sad stories like that, but out of those stories there are positive ones as well. One quote that describes this perfectly was something that got translated for me at the Celebration of Hope on Sunday: "if the earthquake and tsunami had never happened, there is no way I would have went to church and became a believer."

That's all for now. Oh, specific prayer requests today:
-the lady I talked about who is afraid to leave home
-the little girl that wants to know more about God

Thanks!

Day four: Tome

Well today has been eventful. I woke up bright and early, ate breakfast, and said my thank yous and goodbyes to the Barkmans and Tina. Dave then drove me 1.5 hrs north to Tome through a snow storm... They have gotten more snow in the past 3 days then Minnesota has all winter it seems! But anyway, I get to the base, find I cot and then work on meeting people. Monday is their day off so there weren't many people around. Naturally I was uncomfortable and just felt the need to read my Bible. I read a couple Psalms and prayed that i would settle in soon. Just as i was finishing my prayer, i happened to look up when a girl came in the room. She was wearing Bethel sweatpants. Lo and behold she goes to Bethel and is taking a semester off to help here. Instantly I felt more at home and we talked for about 45 minutes. I also met a guy named Wayne. Wayne is a super nice guy who loves to give you grief...my kind of guy! The more the day wend on the more people I got to know.. I met people from Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Boston, alberta, Australia, and all over. Everyone is extremely warm and friendly, and by the end of the night they were asking me to play rummy and stuff with them.

So, as I mentioned, today was on off day because they work Tuesday-Saturday. We filled the time with games and a trip into Tome to get some stuff at the hardware store. I want to talk a bit about the guy from Arkansas, because he has an AMAZING testimony, but I have to be up in 7 hours to start the first day of work (we are assigned to Ishinomaki..google it-they were hit pretty hard), so I will save his testimony for a later time.

Specific prayer requests:
-safety tomorrow
-for the churches, and especially the pastors here. They know this is possibly their only opportunity to have a revival in the part of Japan that has been historically the most unresponsive to the Gospel. The pastors are putting in extremely long hours everyday.

Thanks again so much!! Sorry for typos...I type these on my iPod touch and my fat fingers hit a lot of wrong letters that autocorrect won't fix (or thinks I'm trying to spell a completely different word).

Day 3: Shiogama Church

The highlight of the day by far was visiting Shiogama Bible Baptist Church. It is a good sized church by Japanese standards (which is about 25 people), and everyone was extremely friendly. The service was great and the message was awesome. It was on matthew 16:13-19. Although the entire service was in Japanese, Dave translated the sermon for me and there were several things I learned that I had never thought of. One of the main things was when it talks about the gates of Hades. Ootimo-sensei (the pastor) said that gates are for protection...and hades needs protection from the army of God. He said that we as Christians (the church) need to put on the full armor of God and join together to attack Satan. I had never thought of it that way...I had always thought of Satan attacking us to get Christians to surrender to him, but really it is God's army attacking Satan to get his people to surrender to God.

The rest of the day we spent at the celebration of hope, where I met a lady that graduated from Northwestern...small world! I didn't see the elderly man in the wheelchair today, which made me sad, but from what I could piece together, a lady sitting I few chairs down gave her life to Christ! I looked over and we made unexpected eye contact. I did what any foreigner does in unsure situations, I smiled and bowed. She did the same, and I hope she saw my joy for her.

Tomorrow as I said I go up to Tome to start rebuilding. I am unsure of the Internet situation there, so if I don't blog that's why. If so, the next blog will be Saturday night (wee hours of Saturday morning for you).

Prayer requests:
-safety tomorrow
-Shiogama b.b. church
-elderly guy in wheelchair

Thank you SO much!

Day two: food, fellowship, and Franklin Graham

Konban-wa! (good evening/night). As I'm laying in bed I'm amazed at how blessed I am to be here. I was wide awake it about 6:30 this morning, spent some time with God, and ate breakfast with the Barkmans and Tina (a Japan missionary from Taiwan). At 2:30 we headed to the Miyagi Sports Stadium for the Celebration of Hope event. There were probably at least 10,000 people there, probably 40% of whom were not Christians. The event started off with about 3 hours of music from all genres...there was traditional Japanese style and Japanese drumming all the way to American country/western all the way to Kirk Franklin. The whole service was in Japanese but that was ok with me...I am trying to listen to all the Japanese I can so it slows down for me and hopefully will let me learn it easier.

So after the music it was Graham's turn to speak. He spoke on the prodigal son story (one of my favorite Bible passages) and gave the invitation to know the Lord and be forgiven. While many Japanese people walked out during the message, a lot came to the front and prayed for forgiveness. Now, I will be the first to tell you that I do not like at all alter calls in their current, typical form..first, people are often coaxed into it by someone. Two, they get a false sense of what it means to be a believer. And third, and most important, too often when the people leave, they are never discipled and soon are back into their old life. It's not their fault either, it's the believers. If is like planting a seed but not watering it or caring for it and then being surprised when it doesn't grow.. Jesus commanded us to make DESCIPLES (note: converts is not used). An alter call is a good first step in 'planting the seed' but believers then need to tenderly nurture them so they grow.

Ok, off my tangent and back on track. So there was an elderly man in a wheelchair right in front of us, and he seemed very interested in what was being said. He started out as simply an observer, but the more time went on he soon started clapping to the beat of the music and such. When graham gave the invitation to come down, the girl with him asked him a question obviously something like 'do you want to go down?' he nodded and away they went. I was so filled with joy for this man that my eyes started to water. He eventually got down there but then only stayed for about 5 seconds. I have no idea why he left, but it left me praying for him. I won't know until heaven whether or not he is saved, but I pray with all my heart he works it out with God soon.

In your prayers, please pray for 2 things. 1) pray for the elderly man in the wheelchair..I hope to see him in heaven and be able to talk to him. 2) for the Japanese believers here, that they would not squander this opportunity. Pray that they would be focused on making DESCIPLES, not converting people.

Sorry if there are typos..I'm on a touch screen with big fingers and super heavy eyelids...

Day one...planes, planes, and more planes

Well, thanks to the Big Man I am safe and sound at Dave's house (missionary guy here). I almost didn't get here, but more on that later. The day started off on about 2 1/2 hours of sleep before spending 3 1/2 hours at the Minneapolis airport waiting for my flight (I caught a ride from a guy that works there and he started work at 4:30 am).

So anyways, I hop on the flight to Chicago...uneventful, which is nice. Got to O'Hare and found my next flight. Since this flight was with a Japanese airline, there were mostly Japanese people there. I sat and watched them interact and forgot how much fun it was to watch their manurisms :) if you have never watched Japanese people before, there is LOTS of bowing...and I mean lots. The best is when they are talking on the phone and still bow just out of habit! It makes me smile :)

So finally the time comes for our massive 777 to take off and I'm sitting next to this super cute 2 year old girl, with her mom on the other side. I thought to myself that this could get torturous if she suddenly gets crabby...after all, a 13 hour flight is not something God designed 2 year olds to do! Long story short, this girl was the best behaved kid I have EVER seen, and that's no exaggeration! She didn't cry or get ornery a single time, and actually spent over half the flight sleeping on her mom's lap. The rest of the time her and I filled with games of peek-a-boo and who could make the funniest face. I may or may not have considered kidnapping her and taking her home with me...haha just kidding...but seriously :)

Well, we landed at Narita in Tokyo and I go through immigration and customs with only a minor hangup (apparently when I write a Tokyo address and my bag has a tag for Sendai it raises red flags). I changed my money over to yen and made my way to my last flight. Now, remember how I said I almost didn't make it?

They announce over the speaker that the flight will depart on time, but there was a good chance that the plane would have to turn around and come back due to a snow storm in Sendai. Instantly I started planning out in my head what I would do if that happened, and let's just say that mixed with being up for about 24 hours wasn't too fun. Regardless, we got on our little puddle jumper plane and off we went...actually I have to mention that our taxi to the runway was so long that I fit in TWO naps...if I hadnt been the only one who spoke English on the plane I would have blurted out "are we drivin to sendai now or what?!" anyways...that's what happens when I am tired. So we finally decided to fly there and I passed out before we even reached our altitude. I woke up on the decent and come to find out we must have had to hang out in the air for a bit while they plowed the runway. Even still, I can't believe the plane didn't swerve out of control when we hit the runway...it was a slushy snowy mess. But we made it so I'm happy.

I then met Dave and he drove us to his house where he got a hot bath going for me...best part of the day by far! So here I am...it's a little after 10pm friday night here...for you folks back home it is 7am Friday morning. So to you, ohayou (good morning...probably spelled wrong)!

I will hopefully throw another post up tomorrow night.

Isn't it funny...

Isn't it funny how God will reveal certain scripture at just the right time for what you are going through? Well, yesterday I finished everything I had to do for school, so today (Wednesday) is devoted solely for getting ready for my trip tomorrow. Needless to say, in packing and making sure I have everything, I started to get nervous. I have been so busy that I haven't had time to get nervous, but today it was starting to set in. On top of that, one of the Pastors I am connected with in Japan posted a tweet (if you don't know twitter, it's like a facebook status) about a 5.6 earthquake they had just got. Now, call me crazy, but I am actually looking forward to feeling a small earthquake. However, I have no idea what God has planned, and I have to be ok with the fact that if it's in God's plans for another big one, there is nothing I can do to stop it. So anyways, those things were getting my sort of worked up...

Then I check my email.

I get a daily Bible verse in my email, and today's was Psalm 16:1-2:

Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

 David took the words right out of my mouth! It was incredibly comforting to read those words, and I just sat and meditated on them for a little bit. It reminded me that God will always do what's best for me, even if sometimes it's not all daisies and roses. It's the same as when I make my basketball girls condition or do a hard drill in practice..it's not fun at all for them, but I know it is what's best for them.

So anyways, take comfort in that today, that God is a refuge. He makes it VERY clear in the scriptures that He is always there for you and will never give his children second best.

Hard to believe that in exactly 20 hours I will be on the plane....!

I will do my best to blog throughout the trip, but I am unsure of how much time and/or internet access I will have. If I am able to, I will blog as much as possible, but if it doesn't work out that I can, just continue to pray for the work God has set out for me to do :)

Schedule

It is hard to believe that in 167 hours (as of when I'm writing this) I will be touching down in Japan...it's still surreal! I have been so busy the past couple weeks that it hasn't even had time to sink in, but then there are times where I am able to think about it, and a huge rush of emotions hit me. That nervous/excited/scared/thankful rush will only get stronger as the 167 hours tick away, but that's ok with me...It reminds me that God is the one in control, not me!

One of the biggest times so far that those feelings have hit was when the Japan base sent me my finalized schedule for my trip today. While I am not going to include details for safety's sake, here is a general framework of my schedule:

Thursday, 3/1--Fly out of Minneapolis bright and early
Friday 3/2 (Japan time...night of 3/1 in MN)--arrive in Sendai and meet with Dave, a missionary with SEND
Saturday 3/3 & Sunday 3/4--Attend the Samaritan's Purse/Franklin Graham event with Dave...this is a big celebration that will be full of relationship building with believers and non-believers alike.
Monday 3/5-Saturday 3/10-- Serve the people of the Tohoku region by gutting houses and/or rebuilding houses... I will board the Shinkansen (bullet train) Saturday evening and go back to Tokyo, where I will meet Anne Marie, my coordinator.
Sunday 3/11-- Go to church with missionaries from SEND and debrief..after that I get to spend the rest of the day hanging out with Sae and Takuya!!!!! I am so excited to see them again and hang out around Tokyo!
Monday 3/12-- Breakfast and meet with the head SEND person in Japan.. board a train for Narita Airport around 2pm. That evening I depart Japan and arrive back in the states (which is at nearly the same time as when I left...12 hour flight with a 14 hour time change).

Thank you for your continued prayers...God has great things planned! I should have internet access the first few days while I'm with Dave, but then after that I have no idea...we don't even know which area of Tohoku I will be at; it will be a game-time decision depending on where the greatest need is. That's ok though, the unknown is great because it forces me to give up control and give it over to God (where it belongs).

Smells, songs, and random rambling

Do you ever get random smells that remind you of a special memory? They say smell is your most powerful sense, and many memories are based around smell. I bet you can think back to mom's homemade cookies fresh out of the oven..it's not the golden brown look of the cookies you remember first, it's the aroma. Anyways, I say all that to say this: I got one of those "smell memories" this morning. It didn't take any brain effort to figure out what it reminded me of either..it was the smell of Japan. Ok, so Japan doesn't have a nationwide smell to it, but this smell was the air of Misakiguchi and MMBS. It was the smell of the breeze coming off of Sagami Bay and then it was the smell of the dining room with Japanese breakfast waiting for us on the table.

So with the great memory in my mind, I got ready for what had to be a great day. I get to chapel and then we sing "How Great Is Our God", another thing that always instantly turns my thoughts to Japan. The reason for that is because we sang that song at Grace Tokyo the Sunday after the earthquake...while the ground shook beneath us. It really pointed out to me how great our God truly is! Also, worshipping in another language is amazing because, if you are an analytic thinker like me, you subconsciously find yourself analyzing the words rather than worshipping with everything you have. When the words are in a foreign language, you can't analyze the lyrics; you just get to worship your heart out!

I said in the title that this blog entry would be pretty random, but it got me that much more excited for 13 days from now! I still can't believe I'm going..maybe it will finally sink in when I touch down in Sendai..

110% Funded

"14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. 17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen." --Philippians 4:14-20 (NIV)

I am now completely funded. Not only that, but I am a couple hundred dollars over. This excess is good for a couple reasons: 1) It will cover any unforeseen expenses with the trip, and 2) I can use it for ministry costs outside of the construction aspect of the trip.

I have received cash from some people that has gone into my personal mission account. Before God surprised me with all of this blessing, I was going to use it to pay for the balance of my trip. Now that I don't have a balance to pay, I have thought a lot about what I should do with this money. After a lot of thinking and prayer, I am going to use 100% of the money received to do random acts of kindness for the people I meet and form relationships with and buy some Christian materials that are in Japanese to give to people I form relationships with.

Thank you to everyone who was so generous, even in the tough economic times. Also, thank you to the people who realized and accepted their role as a prayer warrior. Your role in God's plan is just, if not more, important than the financial people. Without God and prayer, this trip will be meaningless. So thank you for the prayer :)

The plane tickets were purchased last Friday, and I am pleased with my flight times. I will receive my trip schedule either today or tomorrow, so that will be fun to know what I will be doing. An additional blessing is that the Japan Missions Coordinator actually planned my schedule so that I could spend the day (and possibly the night) with Takuya and Sae (Sae just during the day). It is things like that that I can look back and see God's plan through that stressful time in late December when the trip just wasn't coming together.

When I get the schedule I will post it on here.

Until then,

"どうか、主イエス・キリストの祝福が、あなたがたの霊と共にありますように。" --ピリピ人への手紙 4:23 (JLB)

"The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen." --Philippians 4:23 (NIV)

Praise God!

"What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open."    --Revelation 3:7b

This has been my guiding verse for this trip, from the first thought in August until now. I knew if I was going to be able to go back to Japan, it would be solely because God had opened a door that I could not shut. Likewise, I knew if I didn't go, it was because God had closed a door that I could not open.

As I said in a previous blog, I was taking a huge leap a month ago when I committed to SEND. I had never raised support before, and, honestly, I doubted God many times. I doubted that I would be able to raise that much money in that short of time. Around $2,800 in 4 weeks? Sounded highly unlikely to me.

Well, as of yesterday, my trip is 89% funded!! I want to thank everyone who has answered the financial call. The massive amount of generosity has left me in shock, honestly. As I looked at the donation report update yesterday, I had one of those moments where God could have been saying, "Told ya so..ya never believe me!" if he had wanted to.

So, I have 11% of my budget to raise in about a month. The plane tickets are getting purchased this week (That is when it will hit me that I'm actually going!). Regardless, please continue to pray for the work God has planned for me in March. There are a lot of lost and hurting people in Japan right now. In addition, Japan's already high suicide rate normally is increasing even more due to 1) the disaster, 2) it is winter time, which brings more depression, and 3) They don't have Jesus to turn to for hope and peace.

Please pray for the people of Japan that I will come into contact with first and foremost. Secondarily, please pray for both me and my mom. For me, pray for safety. I will be rebuilding homes, and there are some accidents that can happen in construction. Also, there are still quite a few earthquakes happening in Japan still. From last Wednesday until now there have been 16 earthquakes (most of them around a 5.0), and the chance of another large quake is always there. For my mom, just pray for her sanity :) She is a mom, and she is going to be a little short on sleep during the time that I am over there. Pray that she turns to God for peace and comfort and that she has peace knowing that I am in God's hands and He will protect me if that is his will.

There is a website that shows every single recorded earthquake/aftershock beginning the morning of March 11. It is a really cool website, and you can adjust it to a particular day and stuff. check it out! http://www.japanquakemap.com/

Ok, sorry for the long blog, but had a lot to get out there!

Because of Him,
Kassidy

God at work...1 Corinthians 3:6-9

"6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building." --1 Corinthians 3:6-9 (NIV)

Boy this passage fits this blog post perfectly. Before I get to the point of this entry I have to give some background information. So, as I have said before, last time I was in Japan, we got the chance to take Sae to church for the first time. She is not a Christian but was curious to see what it was like. After the service at Grace Tokyo Church, she said she enjoyed it and said it was very different than what she expected it to be ("It was happy. I wasn't expecting that"). Zach, one of the NWC students on the trip with me, gave her his Bible, and ever since we got back some of us have been working with her little by little over facebook to guide her through parts of the Bible. I was happy to learn that around Christmas time she traveled to Nagasaki and intentionally sought out a church while she was there. Apparently Nagasaki is the start of the Catholic church in Japan, so there is a massive church there. She happened to visit during the Christmas program mass, and she said that she enjoyed it.

Fast forward to yesterday. I log into facebook and see that Sae had written a status. Usually they are about science stuff (she is a biology student), but this one was different. This is what it said (direct copy and paste):

i saw a movie "chocolat". i really moved young priest's instruction at last scene.

I want to talk about Christ's humanity, I mean how he lived his life on earth: his kindness, his tolerance. We must measure our goodness, not by what we don't do, what we deny ourselves, what we resist, or who we exclude. Instead, we should measure ourselves by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include.

What does this mean? I don't know for sure...God does though. I do know this--God is doing something in Sae's heart. While I may never know if Sae accepts Christ into her life or not, I know that the seed has been planted in her heart. We are trying to water it as much as possible, but like Paul says, only God can make it grow.

In your prayers today, please pray for Sae, that the seed in her would grow and that she would get connected back with Grace Tokyo (or any church) so that she can be surrounded by believers. In a country where only 1% of the people are Christians, becoming a Christian is relatively unheard of. However, through the work of churches like Grace Tokyo and Christian organizations like SEND, Jesus' name is becoming more and more familiar to the Japanese people (Praise God!). God is great, and His love for the lost is so incredible. My prayer is that Sae sees that and crumbles at the feet of Jesus :)

Video from SEND International

Here are two videos to describe what I will be a part of in March. The first is produced by Samaritan's Purse and the second is by SEND International. I am going through SEND, but they are partnering with Samaritan's Purse for this project, so I will also in a way be with Samaritan's Purse, if that makes sense. While both of these videos were from October, there is still obviously a lot to be done--rebuilding, absolutely, but also emotional healing.

Donations Update

The paperwork finally got processed and I have received the donation information. I don't want to put SEND's information on here in case it falls into the wrong hands, so if you do not receive a support letter next week (Week of January 16) and you want one, comment on here or send me an email if you know it and I will get one out to you.

Thanks again!

Endless Blessings

"19 God is not human, that he should lie,
   not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
   Does he promise and not fulfill?
20 I have received a command to bless;
   he has blessed, and I cannot change it."  --Numbers 23:19-20 (NIV)

I came across this passage today, and it describes the past 4 days perfectly. In getting all of the application paperwork complete, SEND needed a copy of the photo page of my passport for obvious reasons. Long story short, I searched literally everywhere for this passport. Along with it, my social security card was also no where to be found. So here I'm thinking, "Great, not only do I have one more thing to worry about with this trip, including an extra $200 for a new passport (expedited), I now have allowed another Kassidy Cook to enter the United States system and trash my name." I struggled to sleep for two days while I searched and thought of any and all places these things could be. Meanwhile, Mom was at home checking the house as well. Nothing. I was in constant prayer with God for at least the passport to show up. Yes the SS card is very important, but at least if I have to replace it it's free.

Well, Monday night I get done with basketball practice and check my phone to see that Mom has left a voicemail. I tried not to get my hopes up, but as soon as I heard her go "HEY! I have good news for you!" I almost fell onto my knees on the sidewalk outside of the school. I kept my feet, but I thanked God the entire way home for answering my prayer. He kept it missing long enough for me to realize I need Him to help me and then he answered me.

God has a promise for me. He called me to Japan, and I keep forgetting that He will provide a way. I have a control issue in our relationship, and it's things like this that he really works to get me to give up control. If you haven't done so today, take some time and thank God for the blessings he has provided you and the promises he keeps. It may not seem like he is keeping them at the moment, but take this passage from Numbers to heart and be comforted in knowing he will fulfill them when His timing is perfect.

Donations

Thanks to a few of God's servants, I have already begun to get the question, "Where do I send donations?" First, to those people, thank you SOO much! You are truly a blessing! Now, there are two different routes here. If you want the donation to be tax-deductible I would tell you to hold on for a week or so. Right now my application is being processed (even though I have been in contact with the lady that does the application processing and we already have a tentative schedule down) so as of now I do not have an account for funds set up. When the application goes through I will have a fund that you can send the donations to SEND and they will give you a receipt. I will post that here as soon as I know it.

The second option is if you don't want/care if the donation to be tax-deductible, in which case you can send me the donation and I will get it where it needs to go. If you want my address just comment to this post.

Either way is totally fine. Most will want to send it to SEND, so in that case, please hold on for a week or so and I will update you as soon as I know more.

Thank you all SO much. You are truly a blessing!!

Because of Him,
Kassidy

Change of Plans

Wow have things changed in the past couple weeks!! Long story short, I realized I was bucking God and His plan for me and was instead trying to do it myself. I had an opportunity to rebuild houses around Sendai with SEND International. However, that trip would have been more structured and also would have cost more. I sort of bucked it for a few weeks until I realized that that was the door God was opening (Revelation 3:7b) and I was standing there trying to open a shut door. So, even though I most likely won't get to spend time with Sae and Takuya and I have a week less to raise a couple hundred dollars more, I am filling out my application to make it official and thus begins the wild ride to raise between $2,500-$3,000 before mid-February...Gotta trust God to provide... My biggest fear is that the funds will not come through and I will have just put myself in an EXTREMELY bad position for school next fall. Everything I am earning this year is going to have to go to Northwestern next year so I can finish my degree, and if I have to pay a large chunk of this trip (more than probably $500) I will not be in good shape for school.

That is why this trip planning has been so stressful; I am taking a huge leap here knowing I have the chance of not being able to pay for school next year. However, with that in my head, I feel God calling me to go back. It is a passion I have honestly tried to push aside and convince myself that it's not the right time. Then I have a quiet time and it is clear that this is the perfect time for me for a few reasons:
1) This is likely my last spring break..Next year I will probably have an internship spring semester.
2) It will look GREAT on my application for the JET Programme (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program..basically a government funded program where English speakers teach English in Japan for between 1-5 years). The JET Programme is very selective (around 70% get rejected) and the more culture experience I have in Japan, the better. My teaching experience is good; I need more culture experience.
3) Japan is at a key fork in their road right now. My generation of Japanese are very open to the Gospel--Something that traditionally has not been with older generations. With the younger generation looking for something more, and then the events of March 11, 2011, there are thousands, perhaps millions, of Japanese who are in need of hope and of a place to rest (rest that is found in Matthew 11:28).

So here I go, I feel like a little kid trying to learn how to ride a bike. There is a chance I will fall and get scraped up financially and I get scared out of my mind when my head gets consumed with that thought, but then I look back and realize my Father has a hold of the seat and is running with me keeping me steady. Unlike learning to ride a bike, though, I will never get to the point where I will be safe saying "Let go Daddy!" And I'm okay with that :)

So if you could pray for me during these next few months, I would be ever so grateful. It is going to be crazy.