"Where You Lead Me"

I've been listening to some music by MercyMe of late, particularly the album, Undone. I listened to it a lot on my first mission trip back in 2004 so it has sentimental value for me, but the lyrics are very mission focused anyway so its good to listen to. God has used it, and many other things, to challenge me over the last week. Having been here basically 2 months now has got me thinking a little more about the long term future beyond this year. I was mulling over whether I thought I could leave Sydney permanently and live in Japan long term, leaving behind everything I know, and all my friends I love dearly. I'm still not sure whether I could do it or not, but God challenged me to realise that its about following Him and His plan, not my own. In the words of MercyMe, "where You lead me, I will follow". Now, this doesn't mean I've decided I'm leaving Sydney forever, because I honestly don't know where God is leading me yet. But I have to be prepared to be wherever God wants me, whether that be Nagoya, Sydney, Madagascar or Florida.

Another song that has been getting some airplay by MercyMe is Caught Up In The Middle, one of my favourite songs. The chorus says "I believe your Spirit is alive and on the move, I want to be caught up in the middle of You. I want to be a part of what I know You're gonna do, I want to be caught up in the middle of You." God is working in Nagoya, He is impacting people's hearts and drawing them closer to Himself and we can see it. This past week has been really good in developing relationships with people we've met. I've got a friend coming to Church next weekend, I've got appointments with a few different people this coming week and people are interested in what we're doing. Its exciting to be a part of it!

A Most Bizarre Day

Today was shaping up to be a fairly standard day at AGU, but it wasn't to be. We had our normal devotion time before campus ministry started, then I went with Masa to meet up with my new friend, Taisuke, for lunch. After lunch, Taisuke invited me to come along to his next class - Australian Studies. I figured it couldn't hurt so I went along, and suddenly I was the resident expert in the class. There were two students giving presentations, and I was called upon to make the final comment on the topic after each presentation, which was interesting. Then they had a time just to ask me some general questions about Australia, finishing in asking my opinion of whaling in Japan - a controversial topic at the best of times, let alone in a Japanese classroom. The students asked me to come back to give my thoughts, experience and knowledge each week after the presentations. Still unsure of how often I'll go, but it could certainly be an interesting experience.

Roller coasters - Part 2

Well, I didn't expect to be writing this post so soon after the previous post sharing my struggles, but then again, looking back, it shouldn't surprise me that God is working and encouraging me in the midst of frustration. In a mere 3 days, since that post, God has encouraged my heart no end!

Thursday I went to AGU, unsure of what to expect, but as I met with Masa (the Japanese staff I'd be with that day) I felt challenged to pray a prayer of boldness. I prayed that we would look back on that day and be able to say "That was a day God worked" - and sure enough, He did. I didn't see 5 people choose to follow Jesus, or anything amazing like that, but I did see Him work and I did see Him encourage me as well. Masa and I decided to buy some lunch from the convenience store and find some people to sit with outside. The wind had picked up a bit, and I think people had opted to sit inside for the most part. We kept wandering, and eventually found ourselves as the soccer field. Masa spotted a guy he recognised in a group of guys who looked like they'd just finished a game of soccer, so we decided to go over and talk to them first before eating. They were all studying international culture, and a few of them studied English. I got talking to one in particularly and learnt that his seminar elective was on Australian Education and he really wanted to visit Australia. He then said he was planning to be an English teacher, but had no-one to practice English on, so we exchanged numbers and we're going to meet up again. He also lives quite close to me which is helpful too. This is the first time that I've felt confident that a relationship has been established with someone at AGU. There's been good conversations, but this one I know for sure will continue.

Then Friday came around and while ministry on campus was nothing special, it was still a good day. Saw a few old friends which was good and had some good hanging out time. Then Friday night was our monthly Friday Night Live event, where invite students to perform, whether singing, magic, demonstration, whatever. Japanese often feel that their culture doesn't allow them this kind of outlet, so its helpful when they get a chance to do things like that. And its a fantastic relationship building event as well as we talk, hang out, and discuss some of the performances with Christian content. Last night I got talking to a group of 5 friends of one our students at Gaidai, and we bonded really well. They are all studying English so enjoyed the English practice, and we're going to meet up again this week. One of them in particular, Miki, was quite. He had been to Australia and New Zealand before and went to Church a number of times while he was there. And then to cap off an already brilliant night and week, I noticed that my housemate, George, was in a deep conversation with Jody (my supervisor), Mai (on of our Christian students) and one of Mai's friends, Aya. That conversation lead to Mai and Jody sharing the Good News of Jesus with Aya, and Aya decided that she wanted to follow Jesus. Praise God for a new sister in the family of Jesus!

Roller coasters

It's been an interesting week or so since my last update. I've had a few ups and downs, but that's all part of the roller coaster ride of life with God. Life isn't always rosy and run, but I know that when I've got God by my side it will be worth it. I got a little frustrated at my inability to communicate the other day at Aichi Gakuin University (AGU), where the English level is very low and I was with Takeshi, the staff guy who doesn't speak English. I've always had an inner frustration that I still can't hold conversations, and I still can't understand what people are saying, but it hadn't affected me this much before. I think I'd started to realise that this wasn't a short term thing that would end soon, but I had another 9 months or struggling with language. But I've been reminded time and time again that its not all about language, but its all about love - just as Christ loved us, so too we are called to love. So I can build relationships and serve students I meet without completely understanding or being able to communicate with them 100%.
And then there's the ups where we have amazing conversations with people we meet. We met a first year guy the other week at Gaidai and when George, my teammate, gave this first year guy his phone number and email, the guy commented with a big smile that this was the first gaijin (foreign) friend who's info he had. Then there was the guy at AGU who upon introducing us to his friends who'd just arrived, told them that we were his friends that he'd met today. Its times like these that make the struggles worthwhile - when we can see God slowly drawing people to Himself.

A Golden Week

I sit on the verge of three days of nothing, due to the wonders that are Japanese public holidays - three of them in a row! I've got a to-do list, but I suspect that I will still have plenty of time doing nothing. My roommate, George, has gone to Tokyo to visit his brother who has just had his first child this past Thursday. So I don't even have him to hang out with. Fortunately, God is always with me and so I plan to spend a bit of time with Him. Today the sermon in Church encouraged and challenged me to ensure God is Lord over ever aspect of my life. My life should not be a matter of priorities with God as the top, followed by family or friends or work of whatever, but rather God should be Lord intimately involved in my family, in my friendships, in my work, in whatever I do, rather than a separate thing. So my aim for the next couple of days will be to involve God in all I do: in my resting, in my watching a movie, in my cleaning, in my housework. I want to do it all with God by my side, not waiting in another room for me to come back to Him when I'm free.

Officially Gaijin

Today myself, George and Cecilia headed on down to the Nagakute City Office to collect our Gaijin cards. We are now officially registered as residents on Nagakute City in Nagoya and have the card to prove it. Now we don't have to remember how to write our address in Japanese characters anymore, because its on our cards. Nor do we have to carry our passports everywhere as identification. And we can now register for places that give discounts for living in Nagakute, like the Nagakute Onsen and the Irigaike Gym (just around the corner from our house).

On another note, the weather has totally changed again. Its back down to 16-17 degrees (about 60-62F for those that way inclined) and the wind is absolutely biting! It hurt my hands when I was riding home this afternoon. So glad its getting back into the 20s the rest of the week (68F+). Hopefully it stays that way.

Yesterday at Church the sermon was on something so simple, yet so central to the Christian message and it really hit home: God loves you. Sounds simple, sounds cliche even, but its the truth of the Gospel. Everything points back to this simple fact: God loves you. Why did God create you - because He wanted to show His love to you. Why did God give us instructions on how to live? Because He loves us and knows what's best for us. Why did God send Jesus to die on the cross? Because of His love for us. But here's the best bit: God didn't love us because we were worthy of it, or because we'd done alright thus far, or because we loved Him first. No - Paul tells us in Romans 5 that God demonstrates His love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us. We were God's enemies, walking away from Him and not wanting anything to do with Him, yet when we were furthest from Him, He made the most costly sacrifice to fix the gap between us. I can tell people God loves them easily - but do I truly feel God's love in my life? Do I truly appreciate the enormity of what God did for me? Sometimes I don't, but I need to

Week 1

So our first week of actual ministry is over and it was a good first week all in all. Wednesday we still weren't allowed to go to Gaidai, so I met up with Takeshi (staff) and Tetsu (student) for Bible Study at a local cafe, then hung out with Tetsu after that. Last time I was in Nagoya, Tetsu wasn't a Christian, so it was very cool to see the amazing change God has made in his life since then. He was so open and honest about his faith, his struggles and challenges. It was great to see how God has been working in his life and the leaps and bounds he's made. It was certainly a very refreshing afternoon.

Thursday we were back at AGU, for another few hours of pure Japanese. It was good though, as we met two guys who were more than happy to chat with us and we ended up spending an hour and a half with them, talking about all sorts of things, from baseball and soccer, to rap music, and overseas trips. And we ended up playing a little baseball with them which was a lot of fun.

Friday we finally made it to Gaidai! Caught up with some old friends, met some new ones, all in all a very good day. And we had no issues with the admin which was a double bonus.