TRUCK!!!!!!! And other things...

ATTENTION, WORLD: I now have my very own trucky truck!

It took driving all over the island and visiting a couple sketchy places/people before I could find my beautiful yellow submarine, but I finally found it. He is my Walker Texas Ranger, Jr. (or Junior for short), a 2001 Ford Ranger with a pretty legit sound system. I'm so blessed to finally have transportation- it was a bit of a challenge always asking for rides from people.

Repping the USC colors. Isn't he pretty???

Now I also have a way to start scoping out potential new housing locations. My potential roommate fell through but I have a couple other possibilities so please pray God would make my whole housing situation fall into place and that He would provide an awesome home for us to open up to students, etc. 

Spent most of this week preparing for this upcoming week- the first week of classes, and our first week of CRU events. Every day we will be on campus tabling, and every night we will have an event to meet students. Please be praying for God's hand to be in everything- there are still so many details to be worked out! 

I also went surfing a few times, and ate hula pie, a coco puff, and a guava for the first time. Starting tomorrow- no more sweets. Everything is just so good here!!!

Duke's OceanFest 2013

Hula Pie. OMG. 

I am so excited for everything God has in store for this week, but also a bit nervous. We are praying for a freshman class of 80 students, and that God would grow our movement to 300!!! Please pray with us!

In the Islands...

"Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands." ~ Isaiah 42:12 

When I first saw this verse at a little church in Hilo, Hawaii, I knew it would have a major significance on me and on these islands. At the time, I had no idea that it would become my theme verse for my time in Hawaii, or carry with me as I begin my time as a Cru staff member on Oahu. But this is our goal and hope of this year- that truly every person in these islands would feel the presence of God, experience the saving power of Jesus Christ and proclaim his praise in the islands. 

Last week my staff team and I spent 4 days of 9 to 5 intense planning for the school year. We established roles, we mapped out a schedule, and we began planning events such as our freshman welcome week and fall retreat. It was also the most time we'd ever spent with each other, so it was great to bond and get to know each other on a deeper level. I'm really looking forward to this year- every person is fully committed to the ministry and seeing God's plans become a reality, and every person is fully committed to the team and each other. We all agreed that unity, harmony, communication and healthy working relationships were imperative for our success as a ministry this year. I believe that we are all unified in our vision for the ministry, and I truly love my staff team already. 

This next week is going to be a busy time of preparation for the freshmen welcome week- we have an event every night of the week, but I'm really excited to jump back into ministry. I'm also excited to see how the Lord will grow the ministry this year- it was really sweet to hear Jamie talk about our present reality as a ministry and the goals last year's staff team dreamed of for this year. We are praying for big things- for example, we are praying that God would grow our ministry from 80 students to 250 students this year. We are also praying that our movement would be centered around prayer and discipleship, and that the Lord would raise up student leaders so our movement would become student-led instead of staff-led. Please be praying with us for our students, for the new freshmen class, and for our movement! 

Some pictures from last week: 

Sunset from our Staff Planning location

Some of my favorite moments from last week were simply standing on the balcony enjoying the beauty of God's creation 

The boys worn out from a long day of planning

Hawaii monk seal momma and her baby at a beach near our Staff Planning location

Hoooo Brah.

After a very long day of traveling starting at 4:30 am Texas time and almost missing my flight in LA, I finally arrived Wednesday afternoon at Honolulu International Airport. 

One of the interns and part of my new staff team, Steven, picked me up and we got thai food, my first meal in Hawaii. My long time friend and Cru big brother, Gen, joined us. It was great to hang with them again- but for the first time, not as a visitor to Oahu, but a new resident. After we ate, Steven drove me to Aunty Kamilla's and Uncle Steve's house, my new home (for now until I find my own place). It's nestled between the mountains of Pololo Valley, and from their lanai I can see the sunset over the ocean. It's wonderful. I've got a room and bathroom annex on the bottom floor, spacious and comfy. They have two wonderful dogs, Hui and Hana, who have taken a liking to me. And Aunty and Uncle are some of the most hospitable people I've ever met. It's been the perfect place to adjust to Hawaii. They know everyone and are more than willing to help me with whatever I need. It couldn't be better. My first night after getting organized, Steven and Gen picked me up and we went to Bubbie's, the best ice cream and mochi on the island. There I reunited with some of the Cru students and met Andy, another one of the new interns. 

Thursday I met a potential roommate over crepes, then Gen and I went to lunch/Starbucks to get work done and start looking on Craigslist for a truck and an apartment. Later that night we all went out again to Shokudo, a place famous for their honey toast. Oh I've missed honey toast. I'll have to be careful to not go there too often. Friday I spent most of the day on the lanai hanging out and getting work done, then Andy, Steven and I drove to Spitting Cave and watched the sunset and got dinner. Spitting Cave is by far my favorite place on the island for now. It's possible I'll find somewhere I like even more, but for now this is it. Saturday I woke up at 5 am to go surfing with Uncle Steve, who has gone surfing with the same gang for decades. Even though the waves were small, I was really proud of myself- it's the first time I've been since I blew out my knee over a year ago, and I was able to stand up and ride out every wave except the first two. Even Uncle said he was surprised how good I was, so that was exciting. Afterward we all went and ate breakfast at Rainbow Drive-In, a super famous local place, where I met the rest of the gang and the owners of Rainbow. After that, Uncle and I went to look at a couple trucks (no luck), then I had a mini-USC reunion with Gen and our mutual friend Justin and his wife over some acai bowls at Jewel or Juice- my first acai bowl ever. After that, Gen and I went to Walls in Waikiki for a Cru BBQ and I reunited with several of the UH students I'd met in April and met some new ones. After that, Uncle Steve picked me up and we went to Uncle Hubert's house, who owns the surf rental/lessons shop by Canoes in Waikiki. Basically spent the rest of the night getting to know Uncle's surfer gang and eating amazing amazing pupus, poke, sashimi, salmon, and everything else under the sun, not including the 5 or 6 desserts they had. 

Even though it hasn't even been a week, I feel like I've already experienced more of true Hawaii than most people do in months or even years. It's been a really great week so far, and made me excited to explore more of the island and meet more people. It's almost easy to think I've lived here for awhile already, but I've already been told by several people I need to work on my Hawaiian pidgin, so that's been humbling. No matter how much I think I've learned, Steven will probably always make fun of the way I say "hooo brah." Oh well. One step at a time. 

Tomorrow we start 4 days of staff planning for the new year. It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm super stoked to get started, and to just have some good bonding time with my new staff team. 

Dear Lord, give us wisdom, creativity, joy, patience, and love during this week of planning, and may your will be done here in these islands and the world! 

Here are some pictures from the past week- enjoy!

My new room 

Sunset from my new house

My first breakfast of delicious crepes

Sunset over Diamond Head

First acai bowl- delicious!

Cru BBQ on the beach

Some of the deliciousness from dinner at Uncle Hubert's 

Hawaii Here I Come

For the past four years, this blog has been devoted to experiences in Japan as I've participated in Summer Projects and interned with Cru.

That changes in less than a week. Six days, actually. In six days, I move to Honolulu, Hawaii to be a missionary there with Cru.

When I decided to become a full-time staff member with Cru, the goal was to ideally be back in Japan as soon as possible; however, as anyone knows who has read my blog, or read about Japan in general, the country is an extremely difficult ministry location. People call it a "missionary graveyard." While my goal is to change that, I know that I am not yet fully equipped to do such a thing. I need training and experience as a new staff person before I just jump into ministry in a "hard soil" location. Cru asked me to consider spending my first two years on staff in the States first to prepare me for Japan ministry. And where better to equip me for Japanese ministry than the place with the highest Japanese population in the States? Hawaii.

Now I'm sure you are thinking, "Wow you're really going to be suffering for the Gospel in Hawaii." Or you're just confused and are wondering "Why would you go to Hawaii to do missions in the first place?"

First of all, Hawaii actually is only about 10-15% Christian, even though it's a part of America. It is still very much it's own culture and identity. And while it's known as one of the most beautiful places in the world, sometimes the places that look the most like paradise on the outside are in reality the darkest on the inside. Hawaii is saturated with drugs, alcohol, prostitution and suicide. Hawaii is in desperate need of the Gospel and the love of Christ.

While it may not be the most obvious place for missions, Hawaii is an extremely strategic ministry location. It is such a conglomeration of different people groups and ethnicities- almost 80% of the Hawaiian population is Asian or Asian-American. That is why we call Hawaii the Gateway to the Pacific, because we believe that if we can reach Hawaii, we can reach the rest of the Pacific and Asia.  

I will be helping lead the CRU movement at the University of Hawaii, a campus of over 20,000 students. The CRU movement in Hawaii has tripled from 30 students to 90 just this past year, and so they desperately need more staff to meet the needs of the ministry. CRU's founder, Dr. Bill Bright, had a saying- "Win the campus today, win the world tomorrow." I believe if we can reach the University of Hawaii, we can truly reach the rest of the Pacific Islands and all of Asia. At the University of Hawaii, I will not only be sharing the Gospel with students, but training and equipping them to share their faith with their friends, communities, and the rest of the world. 

Now i know that when we think living missionally, we usually think helping people in poorer places.  But while doing humanitarian aid in third world countries definitely shows people God's love, we also need to be teaching this generation where that love comes from.  In an age where drugs, alcohol, sex and everything else under the sun is a daily part of life, we need to be sharing with students the one thing that truly satisfies- the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And after we've shared it with them, we need to teach them how to share it with others. Because the Gospel is not meant to be kept for ourselves. 

Jesus commands us to GO and make disciples of all nations - and I know that God is going to use Hawaii to do just that. 

If you're interested in receiving my monthly prayer letter email updates, feel free to leave your email in the comments and I'll add you to the list! 

Decision of a Lifetime

Exactly one year ago today,
I decided to surrender my future to God and join full-time staff with Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ).
I decided to become a "career missionary."

Exactly one year ago, I was at my last Cru weekly meeting in Tokyo before heading back to the States. All summer, God had been showing me hints of the brokenness of the Japanese people, the need in Japan, but also how open they were becoming to the Gospel. For example, Japan has the highest suicide rate in the world. While I lived in Japan, every day I would see train delays on the tv screens in the trains from "passenger injuries." Every day I'd see the delays for other trains. But last summer, it was almost every day that my own trains would be delayed. I'd be the one sitting on the train or on the platform for 1-2 hours, waiting. And I'd look around me and realize that no one cared that someone had just lost their life. To everyone else, it was just a daily inconvenience that their train was delayed because someone had jumped on the tracks. And I said, "God, this should never be normal. This should never be something we get used to, that's just a daily part of life- that someone was so devoid of hope or love or joy that they threw away their life in front of a train."

And God nudged me and said, "You're right. What are you going to do about it?"
And I realized I have this message of love and hope and joy, and that I need to be sharing it with every person who God puts in my path.

But God was also working in the hearts of Japanese students. Students I'd almost given up on would ask ME to take them to church. Students would ask about Jesus and the Gospel. I was able to buy my friend her first Bible. And at the last Cru weekly meeting, God showed me very clearly that He was changing the spiritual atmosphere of Japan.

We were talking about the Holy Spirit, and I was sharing about how the Spirit had brought me to Japan 5 times, after originally never giving Japan much thought. And all the sudden I heard myself saying, "You know, I also used to say I'd never work for Cru, but now I've realized I have the best job in the world, and I just can't think of anything better." And then I started crying. In front of everyone. It was awkward. I sat down and my friend nudged me, "Were you expecting to say that?" he asked. "Heck no!" I replied. The Spirit was definitely moving in my heart.

Then a Japanese girl stood up. "Today was my first time to come here, and I want to become a Christian," she said. We all looked around in shock- that NEVER happens in Japan! It was so exciting, and God nudged me and said, "Hey look what I'm doing in this country."

Then we began worship in Japanese. My Japanese is not particularly good enough to understand the songs, but I sing along anyway. We sang this one song called "Anata no mina wo hometataeru," and as I was singing, I started crying again. "Ok this is ridiculous," I thought. "I don't even know what I'm singing!" But since I was crying, I figured it was probably important, so I pulled a girl aside and said "Ok what am I singing?" She said, "Oh it says 'Lord, remake my heart, I want to be your hands and feet in the world, I want to shine your light..."

...........yeah.

After a sign like that, I knew that God was calling me to be His hands and feet and shine His light to the nations, and I decided to join full-time staff with Cru.

I came home August 2nd, went to my first training in Orlando in September, then began the long year of raising financial support, with a month of training in January and 3 seminary classes in between.

It's been a long journey to get here, and I think my whole experience with Cru has been reluctant, but amazing. My friend Gen had to yell at me to get me to go on my first Summer Project to Japan. God had to slap me in the face with STINT. But last summer, it was like God was saying "Kimi, it's your choice, but this summer I'm going to show you all the reasons why YOU WANT to join staff."

And goodness knows He did.

Remembering 3.11.11, Two Years Later

I honestly am not sure if I can write anything better than what I wrote one year ago, today, as I reflected on the Japan earthquake/tsunami of March 11, 2011.

It was the scariest five minutes of my life, crouched between my bed and my desk with my pillow over my head as if that might protect me somehow from any falling debris, desperately praying to God to make it stop and that I would live. God did protect me, but over 20,000 others died that day. As I sit here on my sofa in my cozy house in Dallas, TX, it hardly seems real that it was two years ago. Two years seems so long ago, and yet so recent. So much has changed in two years, and yet so little.

Japan needs our prayers no less than they did two years ago. "Pray For Japan" is not just a catch phrase or a hashtag or something to make into a cool artsy design. It's a promise, it's a call, it's a warning, it's a mission, it's a battle cry- for all of us. After the earthquake, I set an alarm on my phone to 2:46 pm, the time of the earthquake, so I could pray for Japan every day at that time. Some time ago I stopped doing that- I am shamed to admit that I honestly do not know why. But I am committing to start that again today, and for anyone else who wants to join me, I ask that you'd also set an alarm to remind yourself to pray a quick prayer every day for Japan and it's people. They are still so broken- physically, emotionally and spiritually, and need our prayers now more than ever.

Continue to #PrayForJapan.

Here is my blog post from a year ago- no less relevant, and perhaps even more so today:


"One year ago today, at 2:46 pm Japan Standard Time, a 9.0 earthquake struck of the coast of Japan, instigating a 130 ft tsunami that devastated the coast. Over 20,000 people lost their lives, and over 110,000 lost their homes. I will never forget the feeling of a 5 minute earthquake, and thinking I might not live. I will never forget desperately praying to God to make it stop. I will never forget seeing image after image of the tsunami destruction. I will never forget driving through Tohoku one month later and seeing the devastation without end. Mile after mile, hour after hour, never-ending debris, twisted cars and toppled ships. I will never forget staying at the evacuation center and playing with children who lost their families, and cleaning out homes filled with mud. And I will never forget standing alongside Japanese believers at church that Sunday, singing "Everlasting God," "How Great is Our God," and "You are God" and crying...Here is an excerpt from my blog after that church service:

"I looked around and saw and saw a room filled with Japanese Christians, singing of hope, love, and of a God greater than earthquakes, greater than tsunamis, and greater than our fears. Needless to say, it was a moving moment, and I cried all during worship. Our pastor reminded us that while we are such frail beings, the Truth tells us we have no need to fear, because we are held in the hands of the Almighty God of the Universe. Hebrews 12:25-29 reminds us that we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and to that hope and truth we must cling to during times such as this."

I want to thank you for all of your love and support during that time of fear and uncertainty immediately after the earthquake and during the nuclear crisis. Those were dark days, filled with huge aftershocks and fear that we may be sent home due to nuclear meltdowns. Your prayers and words of hope and encouragement were such blessings to all of us. While we may never understand why the disaster happened, I know that the Lord continues to work in Japan. Last week, Franklin Graham spoke to over 12,000 people in Tohoku, and over 400 people accepted Christ. Join with me in celebrating our new brothers and sisters, and continuing to pray for the millions of Japanese still without hope. I ask you to never forget the Tohoku Triple Disaster of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant. Please take some time to pray for Japan today as they remember all that was lost.

Here is some footage I took in Tohoku about a month after the earthquake. While thankfully it no longer looks so bad, it will take many, many years to rebuild. Please feel free to share this with others- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71jy-kTVzWQ

May the Lord bless you today and remind you that He "is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling...The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." - Psalm 46:1-3, 7

がんばろう、日本。私たちはあなたの為に祈りを。"わすれないで、we fight together."

Summer in Tokyo

it seems that i have a lot of catching up to do. my apologies.

in my previous post, i talked a bit about my first couple weeks back in Japan for the summer. June sped by much quicker than i anticipated, and it seemed like before we knew it, the PSW A Summer Project team was having their goodbye party and packing up. they left an awesome legacy though- i was so proud of them, not only because they were led by 3 students who had never even been to Japan before, but because they arrived in Japan in the middle of much transition within JCCC and had to muddle their way through ministry without much extra assistance. but they persevered and were rewarded- 2 Japanese girls accepted Christ at their farewell party, and the team was imperative in creating "Let's Talk Waseda" - a weekly English lunchtime with JCru staff and students at Waseda University. a few of the students are already considering STINT in Japan, and my friend Devin from Hilo is currently applying to intern at UH Hilo in the fall. they were such an encouragement to me, and i was so blessed to meet and work with every single one of them.

this summer, i celebrated my birthday in Japan for the first time. in some ways, my 24th birthday seemed not very exciting- 24 has no big milestone attached to it, other than it's one year away from 25, which just makes me feel old. but it turned out to be a day full of surprises and joys- i woke up on June 29th to my old roommate Christina fixing chocolate chip pancakes in my apartment (a tradition we began back in October). i then met two old friends, Kaori and Yuki, for lunch at Waseda, and they surprised me with a huge chocolate birthday cake. then that evening after campus time, i met Christina and my USC friend Brandon (who had come to Tokyo for the weekend) for dinner, and they surprised me by taking me to Sweets Paradise, an all you can eat sweets buffet. so basically i had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, chocolate cake for lunch, and more cake for dinner. it was kind of wonderful. the next day the Summer Project team left, and so i saw them off and moved to Tachikawa, my home for July. i stayed with a Japanese couple from Yukiko's (one of the JCCC staff) church, and when i arrived i was greeted with yet another birthday cake. all in all, it was a wonderful birthday weekend.

in my next post, i will share about July, but for now, enjoy some pictures from June:

"Let's Talk" Waseda  

PSW A Summer Project's Farewell Party 

Birthday glasses and pancakes from my former roommate Christina

surprise birthday cake from Kaori (center) and Yuki (right) 

Hanging out with Brandon after Sweets Paradise