1st Update From Japan

Hello from Japan!

First off, thank you all so much for helping me get to be a part of this trip, and just covering my team and I with your prayers!

So a brief recap of what has happened so far:

1.     Arrived to Hope International University in California on the 21^st, where we had 3 days of solid training. Spent a lot of time listening to great speakers, interacting with and getting to know my team, and spending time in prayer and worship of God.

2.     We flew to California on May 24^th, arriving in Japan at around 7 pm on the 25^th. Unfortunately, our staff leaders on the Japan side messed up our arrival date, so no one was there to pick us up and take us to the apartments. However, we got a hold of one of the staff members and he was able to meet us at the station where are apartments are located. Also, luckily, I knew how to navigate the trains a little bit in Japan, so I was able to lead our team to the correct station. Praise God they already had our apartments ready for the 25^th, or we would have been staying who knows where that night!

3.     As of now, we just finished our 3^rd day of training here in Japan, learning about what we will be doing and getting a short testimony ready for sharing.

What will we be doing? I don’t know all the details yet, but I know that we will be spending a lot of time at Waseda University, and ICU (International Christian University) high school.
For the high school, there are already several events planned, so praise God for that! We will be getting to go into several different classroom settings and share our testimonies and have opportunities to befriend some students. Now, even though it’s called a Christian school, apparently, there are actually very, very few Christian students, so most of the students we meet will not know anything about Jesus Christ. They have also planned a concert event featuring a Christian rap artist called Young Kirk who is apparently fairly famous in Japan. Also, they are hoping to have us help them throw a barbeque for the students we befriend while we are there.
As far as the college goes, we still don’t really know much of what we will be doing, but I assume we will simply be going to the cafeteria to try to meet some students and start meaningful conversations with them.

Me time:

I’ve already seen God drawing me closer to Himself through this time. Between getting to know new people, working on my testimony, and being forced to spend time in the word and in prayer has just brought me to a place of dependence on His grace. Working on my testimony has been a really good experience for me, as it has forced me to look back on my life and I’ve been able to see and remember the numerous ways that God has blessed me and guided my path to lead me to where I am today. As we go through life, we also think that things just happen randomly, but I think that really, God has preordained every step, and that each part of our lives has purpose and meaning. We definitely don’t see it in the moment, but when we look back, we can see how every choice and every moment has changed our lives and caused us to end up on the path that we are on now. This actually gives me great joy and peace, because it means that there is really nothing to fear or worry about even when times seem hard. Yes, the pain is real, and yes the hurt is deep, but God hasn’t abandoned you or put you in that place just for spite. He uses hard times to teach and to mold us into people that can do great things. The me of 3 or 4 years ago would never have come on a mission trip to Japan. Yet since I went though so many ups and downs, tests and trials, I’ve been changed to the point where I am happy and excited to be here. I am praying fervently, that God would continue to give me a love for the Japanese people, and that He would use our team to bring Japanese students into His kingdom.

Praise God for His mercy and faithfulness. I praise God for each of you who have been a part of my life, even if the only interaction we had was that you read a letter of mine and felt compelled to support me on my journey. Thank you so much!

Please continue to pray for our time here, that we would be salt and light, and that we would be able to love the students we meet as Christ loved us. Pray that He would fill us with his Spirit, and that our words would speak to the hearts of the Japanese in ways that our usual empty words never would. Praise for divine appointments and awesome friendships, and for real fruit from this 5 weeks trip here in Tokyo.

Your brother in Christ,

Ben

Support Raising Update

Yes- I'm going back to Japan on a mission trip. This of course means that I need to raise support in order to make it there. For those of you that have already agreed to support me, I just wanted to thank you, and to let you know how that has been going. I am now just around halfway to my goal of $5,800. Thank you all so much for helping me get to this point! Please continue to check in to keep up with how things continue to go and keep the Japanese people in your prayers! 

Thoughts about support raising: I really don't enjoy support raising at all. It's difficult having to ask other people to support me financially so that I can go do something I want to do. Yet I can't make it to Japan on my own-- I need other people to help me get there. As I do my best to raise support anyway, I see the beauty of the church--the church that centers around Christ. I couldn't support myself, but God has placed all my supporters (you) in just the right place to be able to send me. It is a perfect illustration of what Paul talks about in I Corinthians saying, "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.... If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.... If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you has a part of it." (I Corinthians 12: 14, 19-20, 26-27). 

I could never do this on my own. Only thanks to your prayers and support could I ever have the privilege of serving Christ in Japan. Whatever joys or griefs take place in Japan, you all will share in that. Any miracles witnessed, any saved souls, any new friends and relationships will all be thanks to you. 

So despite my dislike of asking people for help, I realize God is calling me to go, and God is calling you to send me. Thank you again for being faithful to God's calling in your life, and pray that I may continue to walk faithfully on the path God has set for me.