TO THAILAND AND BEYOND!

tomorrow we leave for our Asia STINT Midyear Conference in sunny, lovely, wonderful THAILAND.

i can't even express how excited i am. not only for warm weather, beach, riding elephants, ziplining through rainforest and holding baby tigers, but to hang out with STINTers from all over Asia for a week, hear their stories, encourage one another and let God grow our vision for Asia. our conference is from January 22-28th, then the 28th- february 4th the Tokyo team will be helping at an orphanage in Chang Mai, then spending a couple days in Bangkok and Pataya, riding elephants and enjoying some much needed R&R. please be praying for our safety and for God to really grow us and speak to us these next 2 weeks.

i can't believe we're leaving tomorrow. because that means i've come to almost the halfway point of my STINT year. and that's just weird. i've been here 4 months already? everything seems so normal, yet still enjoyable. perhaps i'm still in the "honeymoon phase"? or perhaps i adjust to things easily. either way, this year has seemed to go by very quickly.

i've already begun to think about coming back for another year. it's just that ministry here in Japan is such a slow process, and i've met so many amazing people that i want to continue to grow relationships with and share more about God's love with them. also, with 4 re-STINTers on our team, i've realized the importance of having semi-experienced people on the team. i would be completely lost without the knowledge and wisdom of our re-STINTers Ariel, Lyndsey, Mike and AJ. it also seems like every time i come to Japan then go back to the States, i feel like my work is unfinished here. that there is still so much to do. like the song goes, "Greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city...." of course, the song is talking about God, not me, but i know God has awesome plans for Tokyo and Japan, and if He lets me, i want to be a part of it in any way i can. please be praying for wisdom and discernment for my plans next year- i need to decide by the end of February whether i will re-STINT, as well as if i decide to go to Dallas Theological Seminary in the fall (i deferred a year to come to Japan). or God might have something totally different in mind for me. only He knows at this point.

so. january. we didn't really know what to expect with ministry because january is basically Study Month for the students because their finals are at the end of january- beginning of february. and college students ACTUALLY STUDY in Japan. weird, right? our finals week at USC was the time that i actually hung out with people who i hadn't seen all semester. (i did study some too, i swear) anyway, we were a bit worried that not many students would be able to meet with us this month because of all their papers and exams; however, in the past two weeks i've been able to meet up with students almost constantly. there were a couple times where i had no appointments, but even during those times i was still able to meet some new students which was awesome.

HIGHLIGHTS OF JANUARY:
- so i was hanging out w/ my friend Claudine in the SILS (School of International Liberal Studies) lounge, and a friend of hers (Miko) came over to say hi, met me, then immediately pulled me over to her table and introduced me to 3 of her friends (Yuuri, Natalie and Manami). since then, i've been able to hang out with those 4 girls on 3 separate occasions, and get into some great conversations about God and worldviews with them.
- shared the gospel with Jane and Tao through The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Jane became a Christian, and since then has already brought 2 friends to church
- got to share the Gospel in two different ways with Iphie
- had 2 amazing conversations with Misaki, a girl from Hitotsubashi, about good vs. evil, absolute truth, our need for God and God's love for all of us
- January 14th was Mitsuyori, a combined East and West Student Impact meeting that happens once a month, where all our students from all over Tokyo come together for prayer, worship and fellowship. it was so cool to see all of our students come together and see how God's working in this city
- January 16th i hung out with my language partner Manami for 5 hours! and.....she came to church with me! i've been trying to bring her to church since i arrived in Japan and so i was so excited that she came with me!
- January 18th i was able to meet with Mai, a girl i met on Summer Project -- we met for coffee, caught up on life, and i got to share with her why i'm in Japan and how God called me here. we're going to meet up again when i get back from Thailand
- January 20th was crazy but awesome. met with Aya for lunch and she brought a new friend for us to meet, Saiko, who is really into dance and musicals and wants to come to Holy Spirit! so does Aya actually! praise God! that afternoon i hung out with Miko, Natalie, Yuuri and Manami and talked about their views of God/gods. and the effect our views of a Creator have on our lives and purpose in life.
- Saori: so i met Saori at a Paddy (Waseda English Club) meeting. when i introduced myself to her, she was like "so i had noticed you earlier and i like your character." that was kind of awesome to hear. so we started talking and it was just really fun, so we planned to meet and hang out again on the 20th. since i lost my cell phone almost 2 weeks ago, i've had to schedule almost all my appointments through Facebook- i never thought i'd say this, but i am so thankful for Facebook. without it, i wouldn't have been able to meet up with so many students in the past couple weeks. anyway, we'd been messaging where/ when we'd meet. right before i left for campus yesterday, she messaged me saying "let's meet at the Shinjuku station south exit at 6 pm." in my rush i forgot to respond and confirm. so i get to Shinjuku at 6 and wait an hour. she doesn't show up. i don't have a phone, so i'm thinking "God, what should i do?" so i saw a girl near me and asked if she spoke English. she said yes. i asked if she had an iphone. she said yes. i explained my situation of how i could only contact my friend through Facebook, so this random stranger let me use her iphone- i send Saori a message saying "hey i'm here where are you?" but before i could wait for a reply the girl had to leave (and take her phone of course). so i waited some more. then i saw someone else with an iphone and asked them the same thing. she had replied saying "oh i thought you weren't going since you didn't reply. i will leave now and get there at 8," but before i could reply the person had to leave and take their phone so i couldn't reply (again...) so i waited some more. then i asked someone else with an iphone if i could use it. (i got very good at saying in Japanese: "excuse me, my friend is coming here but i do not have a cell phone, do you have an iphone? do you have Facebook? may i message my friend?" it all sounded really awkward but they understood, and the awkwardness probably made them feel sorry for me...) she had sent another message saying "are you not there anymore?" i replied as fast as i could saying "no i am i am!" then i returned the phone and waited some more. then unexpectedly 2 Student Impact students saw me and came over to wait with me, which was very nice of them. it got to be about 8:40 pm, and they'd waited with me about 20-30 minutes, and i said "i think i'm going to go home- i give up. i can't do anything else." JUST THEN, i heard "KIMI!" and Saori was there! THEN we hung out at Starbucks and i was able to share exactly why i was in Japan, what Student Impact does and why, the whole gospel, and my whole testimony. she's not only interested in learning more about Student Impact, she wants to come to Free (our gospel choir)! it was such an encouraging, amazing time- i think perhaps God was teaching me a) patience, b) how to pray desperately for 2 1/2 hours and c) that just in case i was getting too comfortable relying on Facebook, i would be reminded of my need for relying on God.
- today myself, Kat and Esther had lunch with Iphie and were able to share a lot about God as our Father, and we got to talk a lot about our views of homosexuality, sin, and sex, and bring a ton of the gospel and our testimonies into the conversation. after that, Michelle, Lyndsey and i had coffee with Jane and her friend Puppet, and Michelle was able to go through the gospel in great detail with Puppet.

God has blessed us so much this month! please be praying for all these students- for their hearts to be opened and for us to not lose contact with them while they are on Spring Break for 2 months!

ON TO THAILAND!