DEBRIEFED

last week we had our debrief as Tokyo STINT Team 2010-2011. we went to Nikko, a little place in the mountains a couple hours away from Tokyo. we were there Wednesday - Saturday, and it was really just a time of relaxation, reflection and team meetings where we could come together one last time for things like celebrating what God's done this year, clear up anything still weighing on peoples' hearts, and encouraging each other in how we've blessed the team.

the first 2 days i was really sick so that was tough but we weren't too busy so i got some time to rest. it was really weird being there though. it was fun, but it was 3 days of wrapping up a crazy year. we all changed so much, grew so much, learned so much, experienced so much...this year has seriously been the most incredible, life-changing, challenging, heart-breaking, joyful year of my life. how do you wrap that up in 3 days? how do you say everything you want to say to your teammates in just one meeting? how do you process every blessing the Lord has provided us in just one night? impossible. or as the Japanese say, "muri muri muri."

we wrote a letter to our future selves with some things we want to remember. there's a lot i want to grow in next year, especially prayer, spending more time reading the Bible, being more intentional loving my teammates, and following up better with students. there are also specific things i want to do next year that i didn't get to do this year, such as prayer walking in Asakusa (famous for shrines and temples), visiting Hiroshima, and establishing a homeless ministry in a park near Waseda University. it was definitely weird to really start thinking about next year though. debriefing was a big transition period for me as i started to wrap up relationships with this team and starting thinking about next year's team. next year's team is going to be SO different. obviously there will be different people, but this year we had 5 guys and 5 girls, and 3 were from KCCC. next year we have no KCCC, and there are 7 girls and 2 guys. the dynamic will just be completely different. i'm really excited about my team next year though- there's 2 people who were on my summer project, another theatre major from Texas (crazy, yeah?) a girl who grew up in Tokyo, and almost all of them have been on summer projects in Japan so they are at least a bit familiar with things. but yeah. i feel like i'm in limbo right now as i try and cherish these last moments with my current team and begin to establish relationships with my new team over email and facebook. i'll introduce them later. for now, here are some pictures from debriefing:

sticky notes with all the things God's done this year (there were a lot more but wouldn't fit in the picture) all of us in front of the stickies -- we stayed at a traditional Japanese inn (called a ryokan) and got to wear yukatas all the time! it was awesome! Kegon no Taki Waterfall in Nikko with one of our debriefing coaches, Tommy in front of the Toshogu Shrine monkeys- they are the "Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil, See no Evil" monkeys all of us plus Cayla and Tommy, our debrief coaches, after our last dinner i love this team so much! one last team picture with our STINT tshirts