can you tell i'm excited?
tuesday we still had no idea when we would be back. so we spent the day not worrying and had a team day at a theme park called Kyoto Studio Park where everything was set in the Edo period and samurai and ninjas walked around and it was awesome!
here are some pictures:
wednesday our leaders told us that potentially we would be able to return to Tokyo Friday, but it was not yet finalized.
thursday we got the news that we would be able to return to Tokyo the following day. it was so exciting.
speaking of exciting, thursday lyndsey and i had the opportunity to go to Nara and hang out with our friend from Waseda, Kanae. Nara is her hometown and is only about an hour from Kyoto. we haven't seen her since January so it was so awesome to finally hang out with her again. in January she mentioned that she would like to do Bible study with us, so i asked her again if that was still something she'd like to do. she said yes and also wants to start coming to church with us! she even wants to bring her friend Yui along too! it was so encouraging! she showed us around and took us to Nara's famous temple, where there are literally hundreds of deer just hanging out all around the area. we got to feed them and IT WAS AWESOME. here are some pictures:
Kyoto was fun, but we all really missed Tokyo. and our apartments. and our beds. friday was our first night to sleep in our beds in 3 weeks because of Change Conference and then the 2 weeks of evacuation. it's really nice to be home. but in Kyoto, we were able to escape some of the earthquake/tsunami aftermath. it's a lot more real here. and from the news, things aren't getting that much better. we're hoping to be able to go to Sendai to help within the next couple weeks. unfortunately, a lot of the relief organizations themselves aren't even sure how to go about relief efforts due to the magnitude of the situation. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR JAPAN. prayer has power. if Jesus Christ is in us, He promises us that we have HIS power- his power to heal, to work miracles. when you pray, are you praying THAT your prayers MIGHT make a difference, or are you praying KNOWING your prayers DO make a difference?
as of now, 11,800 people are dead in the Tohoku region, and over 15,000 are still missing THREE WEEKS AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE/TSUNAMI. over 200,000 have lost their homes. you've seen the pictures on the news. the destruction is unbelievable. only God can rebuild this nation. only God can give them hope.
but you can make a difference. your prayers matter. if you are looking for a place to give, please go to
www.crashjapan.com
http://churcheshelpingchurches.org
www.worldvision.org
i've even conveniently linked them for you so you don't have to go through the effort of copying it into your browser.
Student Impact has challenged its students and staff to pray for Japan at 2:46 pm (Japan Time) every day. i challenge you to do the same. set an alarm on your phone. write it on your hand. but PLEASE PRAY.
even if it's 2:46 pm YOUR time, all prayers have power. if you want to pray at 2:46 pm Japan time, that would be 10:46 pm PST, 12:46 am Central time and 1:46 am EST.
"The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth." ~ Psalm 145:18
"'Have faith in God,' Jesus answered. 'I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, "Go, throw yourself into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." ~ Mark 11:22-24
SO good. God is infinitely powerful, and the fact that He makes His dwelling in us, and that we get to be in Him, is pretty mind-blowing! Thanks for the call to pray in POWER, Kimiyo. So excited for you guys! And so excited for what the Lord has for us in Japan this summer!
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