This totally made my day!
Every Tuesday I co lead an English Bible study with a few girls from Toyo University. None of them are Christian and when we started this Bible study I think they mainly came so they could practice their English. We’ve been meeting for about a month now and after our study before Meika went off to class she gave me this small card! I was sooo happy I almost cried. God is totally moving. =) Please continue to be praying for Japan!!
Blessings,
Lynds
I’m so so sorry for not updating in sooooo long. Our apartment lost Internet for the last two weeks, but we’re all set up again!!
Hmm..so a lot has happened since the last time I’ve written (for example it’s gotten SUPER cold!! I’ve already had to bust out my winter coat and it hailed the other night). Rather then writing a super long post I think I’m just going to pick a few things from the past couple of weeks. However, first off I just want to start off by saying THANKS for all of the prayers and encouragement. I really appreciate it and am feeling the love from back home. =)
FREE
I’m not sure if I have mentioned this or not, but I joined one of Student Impact’s special interest ministries, the gospel choir called FREE. I’ve never sung in a choir before…but it is SO MUCH FUN! We’ll be performing at the huge SI Christmas Concert here in Tokyo as well as a couple other outreaches in Nagoya and Yokohama.
One thing that is really surprising and a bit ironic is how popular gospel music is in Japan. Not only do many students enjoy listening to gospel music, but a lot of the universities here in Tokyo will have their own gospel choir. Sophia University, one of the campuses that we minister at has a huge choir of 120 students, yet I’ve heard that only 1 student in that choir is a christian. It really breaks my heart to know that despite the popularity and the number of students who sing in these gospel choirs, they have no idea what the meaning is behind these songs or who the God is that they are singing to.
gospel choir practice
But like I said I really enjoy being a part of FREE. It’s been neat going over lyrics with the students and being able to help them find meaning in these songs. I think about half of the FREE gospel choir knows the Lord, so it is a wonderful opportunity to ministry opportunity. One thing that is soooo encouraging is a number of the Japanese students that are christian in the choir came to know the Lord through this ministry. Please please please be praying for the others students.
Halloween
Halloween was a little bit different this year as it really isn’t a holiday that they celebrate in Japan. However, over the past few years it has gotten a little more popular. At our Friday Midtown Impact Meeting (large group/fellowship meeting) everyone dressed up and my wonderful roomie Maria spoke on Fear. I also lead worship that night and taught everyone the dance moves to “Waves of Mercy.”
Toad, Peach, and Yoshi from MarioKART
Yurika dressed up as Rilakuma...this was my favorite costume of the night
Festivals
October is also the month of Fall festivals at all of the different Universities. It’s 3 days of food, dance and music performances, contests and days off of school for students. Ayaka, one of the students who comes to SI’s English Lunch was crowned Miss Toyo!!! It was pretty awesome. I was also able to see my good friend, Yurika’s dance performances at ICU.
With Jess and Kei in front of the HUGE ICU festival sign
Waiting for Yurika's dance performances to begin
YURIKA!!! She was amazinggg
Yurika was the main choreographer in this dance. At the beginning of the dance shes the one with the short hair in the left front of the stage.
At these festivals we also started passing out Christmas CD’s that were created by some of the staff in SI. Every year they make a Christmas CD which has different Japanese artists that will perform at the big Christmas Concert in December. On the CD there are also other features like a gospel presentation. We were also able to do a lot of sharing of the Gospel with different students. Please be praying for these seeds that were sowed.
Prayer Requests
- With the weather really cold and dry, my eczema has gotten pretty bad. It’s never really been too bad, but the last few weeks it’s been the worst it’s ever been in a long time.
- Prayer for the preparations for the Christmas Concert
- As the holidays approach, the suicide rates also increase here in Japan. Almost every day there is a delay on the trains because of a suicide.
- Pray for the salvation of the Japanese.
Blessings,
Lynds
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Whitney, whom I LOVE and is currently a first time intern for Epic, had this song on her blog a few weeks ago and this past week it has really been a wonderful reminder of His unfailing LOVE. Thanks Whit for the song!! =)
Your Love NEVER Fails – Chris Quilala
Verse 1:
Nothing can separate
Even if I ran away
Your love never fails
I know I still make mistakes, but
You have new mercy for me everyday
Your love never fails
Chorus:
You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There may be pain in the night
But joy comes in the morning
And when the oceans rage
I don’t have to be afraid
Because I know that you love me
And your love never fails
Verse 2:
The wind is strong and the water’s deep, but
I’m not alone here in these open seas
Cause your love never fails
The chasm was far too wide
I never thought I’d reach the other side
But your love never fails
Bridge: You make all things, work together for my good
Being so far away it’s so easy for me to hide behind a happy blog or spiritual monthly newsletter. And I think I have been doing that. I’m not saying that things have not been going well here and my blog has been full of lies, because I am loving it here and God truly is working and moving. There are truly a countless amount of things to praise Him for everyday. But I think this update I want to share some of my recent struggles, which is not easy for me to do, especially on something so public. But here we go…
The beginning of this past week was pretty tough for me. Usually things do not get to me and it is easy for me to just brush them off and just keep on going. However, I think over the past couple of weeks my frustrations have been building and this past week I was really feeling the weight of it all. Being one who enjoys to talk and blab I was really getting frustrated with not being able to communicate. It’s tough especially during staff meetings. I am so thankful for translation, but it’s hard being a step behind everyone else and it also makes it hard to be a part of the meeting. Or with some students or staff I want to talk with I cannot fully express or communicate what is on my heart. Very often I have to simplify or water down what I want to say just so it can be understood. I think at times I was even beginning to doubt why God would bring me to a country where I can’t really speak the language.
But the Lord, who is ever so patient with His daughter, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love; never overlooks a moment to teach me and help me grow.
Middle of last week, after sending out a very frustrated email to a few close girls for prayer, the Lord began to speak and to heal. He brought me back to His calling for me to come to Japan in the first place. Reminding me that YES, He does want me here despite my inability to speak Japanese. He was reminding me that whatever I can give He will and can use. That it is not going to be MY words that bring about a change but HIS power working in me and through me. I was so focused on what I can or cannot do that I was completely forgetting that what HE can do is BY FARRR so much greater than anything I could ever think of or imagine.
So yes, the problem of not being able to fully speak Japanese still exists. It would be great if tomorrow I could wake up and fluently speak Japanese, however I would completely miss out on a wonderful moment of being able to grow closer to Him and to experience God’s love and grace. So even though it is a struggle and a battle I will have to face everyday in ministry and in everyday life, I am glad and rejoice I have this challenge before me. In 2 Corinthians 12: 9 & 10 Paul writes, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Prayer Requests
- That I would continue to fully and wholly rely on the strength and power of the Lord.
- I would delight in the joy of the Gospel and continue to be transformed by His love and grace.
- The people of Japan would know that He is the ONE, TRUE, AND LIVING GOD. That they may know, believe, and be saved by His love and grace.
Praying for and missing all of you! =)
Blessings,
Lynds
"I know I still make mistakes, but You have new mercy for me everyday Your love never fails"
This week has been a pretty full and exciting week. So much happened this week, I’m not quite sure where to start. I’m also a bit tired and running low on the creative juices…so a smile will have to do for a title…haha. hmmm…ok well we’ll just start with Monday and go from there.
Monday
Every Monday we have our East Tokyo Staff Meetings. The usually start around 10:30 and last til about 2 or 3. I have volunteered to be the English note taker for our meetings. It was SO fun and I realize how much I miss being in school. haha. After our meeting Q-Sang (East side Team Leader) took us to an AMAZING Korean restaurant. It was soo good.
After that I found a cute cafe called “Precious Moments” and did some reading, journaling and administrative work.
Later that evening I had a roommate meeting and I will say once again how blessed I am by Maria and Lillian. God really has provided such wonderful sisters to live with. By living with both Maria and Lillian, I am also picking up some Chinese because Maria is Chinese American and Lillian is from Taiwan. So far I have learned how to say I love you, fight on, and how to count to 10. My goal is to come home trilingual!!
Tuesday
Tuesday was a day of prayer and fasting as it was the World Wide Day of Prayer! From 9-3ish we were able to come together as a Tokyo staff and worship, fast, and pray for different areas of the world. So good.
Wednesday
This was my first day to step foot on the wonderful Toyo University!! This was one of my campuses when I came to Japan last summer for the AWESOME Epic Tokyo Summer Project so it has a very special place in my heart.
Mr. Toyo (at the top of th water thing) greeting me and all who enter at Toyo's entrance
The Toyo Cafeteria
This upcoming semester I will be at Toyo on Tuesday’s and Fridays. Tuesday I will be leading a small women’s Bible Study in English and also helping out in 3 English Communication classes. On Friday I will be helping to lead the English Lunchtime. But today, since it was our first day at Toyo we did a prayer walk all over campus and had a short meeting to discuss how we were going to be ministry here.
After the meeting we were done for the day, but I was able to meet up with students that I met last year. I was able to see Takako, Eriko, Yoshiko, and Liliko!!! I was SO happy to see them and it was so wonderful to follow up with them and see how they were doing.
In the evening I took the train to Mitaka and went to my first Gospel Choir Practice. “Free,” which is the name of the Gospel Choir and “Holy Spirit,” the name of the dance group are special interests ministries of Student Impact. It’s really neat because these are ministries where we will invite students to be a part of and through these ministries MANY students have come to know the Lord!! So praise God and I pray that He will continue to use these ministries to draw students to Him.
After “Free,” Maria, Lillian, and I spent the night at Jess Tekawa’s apartment. It was so much fun and she has such a cute little apartment! I love Jess and sleepovers! =D
Thursday
What I didn’t mention was that up til Thursday it has been raining for about 4 days straight, ALL day and ALL night. Thursday was the day that I survived my VERY FIRST TYPHOON!!! haha…it was actually not that bad. Well I guess because the typhoon passed over Tokyo through the night so by morning it was just extremely windy. However, after the typhoon passed it blew away all the clouds and rain and it was SO beautiful!!!
Look at that sky!! SO BEAUTIFUL!!
Thursday was also the day of our first finance meeting as well as some wonderful Stint Team Time.
Friday
Friday was our first official day of ministry at Toyo University where we had our first English Lunch! SO many students came and I was able to have some really wonderful conversations with a number of students.
After Toyo I went home to practice and pray for worship..then I was off to our Midtown Impact large group meeting. It was a wonderful time of worship, testimonies, getting into His Word, and fellowship. God is soooo good and its really amazing to see how He is already working.
ALSO thanks SOOO much for your prayers for my teammate Robin! He finished His support and arrived in Japan on Friday! YAY Praise God! Our entire Stint team is now all here!
Saturday
Saturday was another admin day and I was also able to have two awesome VChat dates with Kristin Akiyama and my old roomie Steph. It was SO good talking to both of them. I miss them both SOO much.
In the evening, the Caughlin family (staffers of JCCC) graciously invited all the new JCCC interns over to their house for a wonderful homecooked meal! They made us homemade lasagna, garlic bread, salad with croutons, brownies, and a couple other staffers (Omar and Jennifer) made minestrone soup and homemade yogurt!
Back row: Ariel, AJ, Robin, Mike and Evan. Front row: Matt, Nobu (Japanese intern), Maria, Lillian (Taiwanese intern) and me
Sunday
Today I went to church and then I was able to meet up with my friend Izumi, a student that I met last year at Tsuda college while on Summer Project here in Tokyo. It was SO good to see her again and catch up with her. We were able to talk, shop all over Kichijoji and get dessert at this cute little dessert/cafe called Lemon Drops.
Cute little Izumi with her pumpkin mousse pie at Lemon Drops!
Wow…that was long. hahah. I think I might need to post more than once a week. hahah. But yes, that was the cliffnotes version of my week. I’m sorry that it was a bit surfacy and not too detailed, but I hope that despite the depth of my week in this post you were still able to see that God is Good and God is working…because He totally is!! He never ever with holds His love and blessings. So before I close I want to challenge you to reflect on your own week and see how God has been good to you and how is God actively working in your own life.
Some prayer requests…
1. That I would continue to draw near to the Lord and be transformed by His amazing love and saving grace everyday.
2. Prayer that “ouf of His glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:16-19
3. Prayer for the Japanese people..that they would come to know Him and be saved by Him.
Love you and miss you all! Oh and one last thing….GO DODGERS!! =)
Blessings,
Lynds
My roommates and I are finally settled into our apartment. It’s really come together very nicely and has become quite cozy. However we do seem to have a little Gokiburi problem…gokiburi = cockroach = NO BUENO. We’ve spotted 4 total and killed 2. Right now we have all these little gokiburi traps all over the kitchen…but I don’t think they are working. We actually saw one crawl into the trap…and slowly started to make its way out. It would’ve escaped but we sprayed it with the kitchen cleaner and Maria smashed it with a bottle. hahah.
the gokiburi attempting to escape!
the smushed gokiburi
So other than the little gokiburi problem in our apartment things are wonderful. hahah.
This past week school started on campus for the Universities in Tokyo. I had the opportunity to attend the English Lunch at Dokkyo Univeristy and I prayer walked at Sophia and Waseda University. And I must say it was an awesome time and I’m so excited to see what the Lord is going to be doing. This year the ministry at Waseda will be mainly Stint run with English lunch time and Bible studies. There isn’t too much established yet, so please pray that the Lord guides are time on this campus as we start things up again. At both Dokkyo and Sophia the English lunch is pretty established and a lot of students come out. What is really neat is Sophia University’s Bible Study and English lunch time is student led. There are 3 really solid girls who run all of the ministry gatherings and really really want to proclaim Jesus to their campus. It was really awesome talking with them and being able to see how the Lord has been working over the past few years at their campus. Please be praying that the Lord continues to fill and guide Yuko, Ayako, and Aya as they lead the times at Sophia University. Right now they are all either graduating soon or going to study abroad for a year so please pray that in the next year God raises up new leaders to continue the work that they have started at Sophia.
This past Friday we also had our very first Student Impact meeting of the semester. We had worship, a testimony, a message, small group discussion/sharing, and we closed with worship. This first meeting was for student leaders and those who are already Christian. It was mainly a meeting focused to pray for the campuses this semester and encourage the students to get ready for another year. That they might boldy share their faith and invite other students out to English lunch, Bible Study, and the large group meeting.
Already things are starting to pick up and get pretty busy. Please be praying for strength and energy and that I might fully look to the Lord to sustain me and guide me.
Ohh so exciting news. Next week I have the opportunity to lead worship for the large group Student Impact meeting! I’m really excited and never thought that I’d have an opportunity to serve in this way. So I will have LIllian my roommie singing the Japanese parts of the song and I’ll be singing the English and leading the time of worship. I’m so excited! I also learned a Japanese worship song today. =)
Ok sooo..it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything I’ve eaten so here you go!
the nice man making my TAKOYAKI!!
SOOOO GOOD!!!
This little Takoyaki stand is right next to Waseda University. I’m seriously going to stop by here after every time on campus.
Maguro don! SOOO GOOOD!! =D
Jiko, one of the other JCCC interns took us to one of this favorite restaurants after church today. The restaurant was called Baku Baku, which describes the sound you make when you eat….or something like that. hahah. But yess this was his favorite dish and probably one of the best things I’ve eaten so far as well.
ALSOO just wanted to wish MATTY a HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY! Love ya and miss you!!
Blessings,
Lynds
His love IS strong.
[Just as a heads up...this post is REALLY long. =) ]
I have now been in Japan for 19 days. It’s still a little hard for me to believe. I never thought that I would be here in Japan doing long term missions. A year and a half ago I never imagined I’d be here. But I AM here. And as I am, I feel so honored that He would want to use me. For I am in SO many ways SO incompetent. Yet, despite all the areas that I fall short, He is there to catch me, He gives me grace, He provides in ALL ways, and He never ceases to hold back His love. A love that sustains. A love that saves.
This is one of my all time favorite songs. And recently, God has been using this song to instill truth in me and to fight off ALL worries, fears, or doubts that cross my mind. Not only does this song have multiple plays on my itunes, but twice this week, when I started to feel anxious, my teammate, Maria, having no idea what’s running through my brain, randomly began to sing, “Your love is STRONG.”
Heavenly Father, you always amaze me
Let your kingdom come in my world and in my life
Give me the food I need to live through today
And forgive me as I forgive the people that wrong me
Lead me far from temptation
Deliver me from the evil one
I look out the window the birds are composing
Not a note is out of tune or out of place
I walk to the meadow and stare at the flowers
Better dressed than any girl on her wedding day
So why do I worry?
Why do I freak out?
God knows what I need
You know what I need
Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong
The kingdom of the heavens is now advancing
Invade my heart, invade this broken town
The kingdom of the Heavens is buried treasure
Would you sell yourself to buy the one you’ve found?
Two things you told me
That you are strong
And you love me
Yes, you love me
Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong
Our God in Heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Above all names
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us today our daily bread
Forgive us weary sinners
Keep us far away from our vices
And deliver us from these prisons
Yup, I love this song. hahah. If you want to come back and read the rest of this post later that’s fine, I won’t be offended (also I’ll never know), because I’m not done and I have more on my mind. So this might be kind of long. Howeverrrr, if you have time, you can hear me ramble on a bit more. =)
Praises and Victories!
God healed my shower!!! hahaha. Yess He did! So a couple posts ago, I was being ungrateful and complaining about our BOILING HOT shower. Well we took a break from it for a couple days as we had the Toyo University sleepover and then we spent the night at another teammates apartment. But after returning from our two nights away it worked perfectly!!! We were SOOO happy!
This past Sunday I had the opportunity to visit a church in Tokyo called New Hope. For a county who has so few Christians it was SOO encouraging to be surrounded by Japanese people who love the Lord and are so passionate and expressive in their worship for Him. I cried multiple times during the service.
Today I had the opportunity to spend most of the day with a couple of my teammates and with a few students from Sophia University (one of the campuses I’ll be ministering at weekly). Aya who is a strong believer and a student leader in Student Impact invited us to go shopping in Ginza and wanted to introduce us to her friend Sarina, who is a first year student at Sophia and currently not a believer. It was SO much fun as Aya and Sarina took as around, and we talked, shopped and ate. Three of my favorite things in life. hahaha. But over dinner, God really led the conversation as Sarina started to ask more questions about Christianity and what we thought about how there really is no religion in Japan. Aya was also able to share part of her testimony and it sounded like the Lord has really slowly been revealing Himself to Sarina. She still has a lot of questions but is very interested and open. Please please be keeping Sarina in pray as we will continue to meet up with her at Sophia University.
Aya, Maria, Sarina, and I having fun in Ginza
I am also SO thankful for Maria and Lillian, my two wonderful roommates! God has truly blessed me with two amazing sisters. Gahhhh I LOVE them!
Lillian and Maria...my beautiful roomies! =)
Prayer Requests
- The Universities start school tomorrow! Please be praying over the school year that the Gospel will be proclaimed, God will change hearts and save lives, and that He will be exalted and glorified in everything we say and do.
- Continued prayer for Robin, my teammate who is still in the US trying to finish up His support!
- Friday will be our very first Student Impact Meeting of the school year.
- Please pray for students like Sarina, who are seeking and open.
- Pray that I would continue to completely surrender myself daily and look to the Lord for strength and power in everything. That I would be “joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.” – Romans 12:12
In His LOVE,
Lynds
Toyo University Sleepover!
In my last blog entry, I mentioned that we were planning on having a sleepover with students from Toyo University as a kickoff event before the semester starts back up. Thank you so much for your prayers because it was soo much fun. Around 10 students showed up and they were a very lively and energetic bunch. Most of them were first year English conversation majors and have been coming out to Student Impact meetings in the first half of the semester. It was an awesome time of fellowship, sharing, and really getting to know the students better. We played a number of different games, ate dinner, dessert, shared about ourselves and summer vacation.
Mami, Misaki, Asuka, and Meichan
Yuka, Eriko, Yurika, and Maria (my apt mate and fellow Stinter)
Here are also a couple videos of the CRAZY/AWESOME games that the students taught me and what the inside of the JCCC Student Center looks like.
This is the Kani Kani game (crab game)..there is also another variation of this game where they say WANI WANI (crocodile). Its a lot like dibby dibby dip or the bunny game.
The second game they taught me is a mix of a name/number/concentration type of game. Alsooo pretty ridiculous. This one took me SO long to get.
“YO, check it out yo!” hahahah sorry I love that line.
I had some really good conversations with some of these students and found that a couple of these students are already believers. However, most of them are still not saved. Toyo University is one of the campuses I will be ministering at so I will be meeting up with a lot of them once again. Please be praying for these students! That the Lord would be working through these friendships and would transform their hearts so they may be saved and know the love and joy of our Heavenly Father.
I also have a praise as one student came to Christ last night through the West Tokyo team’s outreach event!! Woohoo!! If you could also keep her in your prayers that would be wonderful!!! Hopefully this is the first of many students to come to know the Lord this year. =)
My second praise is that one of my fellow teammates finished His support and will be arriving next Monday!! Thank you so much for praying for Him!! However, I still have one more teammate, Robin, still trying to finish and raise His support. Please continue to keep Him in prayer so that our full team could be here in Japan.
Last but not least KOENJI!!
Last year when I came to Japan for summer project we stayed in Koenji! I LOVE Koenji..it has a VERY special place in my heart.
George Patches III's soft cream shack!
My FAVORITE soft cream place in Koenji! I think we ate soft cream here almost everyday last year summer. It was wonderful visiting once again and the same guy who we called George still worked there!!!
Blessings,
Lynds
Hmm…so this might turn into a food blog pretty soon..hah. But like I said in the last update, I’ve been eating VERY well. Yesterday was the first day I had sushi and it was UMAI (delicious)!! In Iidabashi there are soo many wonderful restaurants and Maria and I found this cute little Kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) place. Here are some pictures to make you salivate…
our awesome sushi chefs
my fav
Last night we were also able to welcome Mike Chan (one of my teammates) and Jessica Tekawa (long term international campus staff for SI Tokyo) who just arrived in Tokyo. Now 6 out of 8 of us are here. It’s so nice and we praise God that He brought Mike here. He brings so much energy and life to our team. Please be in prayer for my other 2 teammates who are still currently in the States trying to finish up support. We are praying for Robin’s arrival this Thursday and Matt’s arrival on Friday. Today was Mike’s birthday so to celebrate we went to Shinjuku for all you can eat Shabu Shabu! Once again…totemo UMAI!
Maria and I with our MEAT!
L to R: Ariel, me, Maria, Mike, AJ, and Evan
It’s been so wonderful getting to know each team member. We are all pretty different and bring a unique dynamic to the team, but our heart to make God’s name GREAT in Japan is the same. Please continue to pray for team unity, love for each other, and grace for each as we grow to become a Stint family.
Last but not least, setting in. I finally was able to unpack my suitcases and put them in the back of my closet (yay!). It’s been exciting moving into a new place and starting to organize and decorate. My room is almost done. Maria and I were also blessed as our team leader, Q-Sang gave us a grand tour of Iidabashi (the area we live). He showed us where everything was including where to go shop for the best deals and where his favorite places to eat. Yes, I love my new place..but there are also a lot of kinks we gotta figure out about this place. For example, the dreaded shower…So here in our apt we kind of have an older model shower. The first night we didn’t have gas, so we had ice cold showers…oooh man, NOT fun, however we survived. The next day the gas man came and I was looking forward to that nice warm shower. Unfortunately, because we have an older model shower there is only one temperature and that temperature is BOILING HOT when we turn the water on. I thought my skin was going to melt away. So basically I’d turn the water off for a minute..then turn it on and shower for 7.68 seconds before the water warmed up and got too hot to use and repeat that cycle til I am clean. Gahh we’re going to have to figure this out.
Ok..anyways I’m done complaining. But I have one last prayer request as of right now. In my last email I mentioned that universities don’t start up until October 1st so until then we are basically just planning, praying, and putting on pre ministry events. Well please be praying for tomorrow night as we have our first pre ministry event. We’re having a SLUMBER PARTY with students from Toyo University. I’m really looking forward to it and starting to get to know students. We’ll be sharing a meal, watching a movie, breaking into small groups, and getting to know each other. Please be praying for opportunities for spiritual conversations, that the Lord leads and guides our time, and that we are able to have lots of fun as we fellowship with one another.
Ok sorry this is getting long. But thanks so much for your prayers!! May the Lord continue to bless you and may His love and grace sustain you in everything you do!
I’ll leave you with this recent purchase of mine. It is also the second best invention after poo drops.
its a butt pillow!!!!
So unlike America we don’t really have couches in the living room or chairs around the dinner table. Instead there is a lot of sitting on the ground…and my little oshiri (bottom) has not been enjoying all the ground sitting. But I found this!!! It’s cute AND functional!!
Miss you all!
Love,
Lynds
This past week from Tuesday to Friday I attended the Student Impact (SI) Tokyo all staff retreat at Okutama Bible Chalet. It was a wonderful time of vision casting, planning, prayer, worship, and team building/fellowship. It was also just a really good time of rest and time with the Lord in His creation as the retreat was in the outskirts of Tokyo. TOTEMO KIREI DESU (SOO BEAUTIFUL).
My favorite part of this retreat was just getting to know the other staff. The SI Tokyo staff are one big family and they lovingly accepted the new Stinters into their family. This was definitely an answered prayer. It was so encouraging to see their passion and love for the Lord. Many of them have been on staff with SI for a number of years and they have diligently and faithfully continued to pray and reach out to the Japanese. I love them all!!
the amazing SI Tokyo staff and my new family here in Japan
for a team building activity we had to make an 8 stroke kanji...we did Kuni..the Kanji for country
As for ministry stuff…I’m really excited to start. The Universities don’t start until October 1st so we still have some time to settle in, prep and prepare for the semester to begin. If you could please be praying for me as I have to decide by August 28th which schools I am going to be serving on. There are 6 different campuses which include Tokyo Uni, Toyo Uni, Sophia, Waseda, a nursing school (sorry can’t remember the name) or ICU high school which is a fairly new ministry. So if you could please be praying for wisdom and the Lord’s guidance as I decide this next week.
Yesterday I also moved into my new apartment!! It’s so nice to finally be able to move in and settle into my new home and there’s a small park right across the street! Our apartment is located in Iidabashi which is pretty close to all the different university campuses I’ll be serving at. I’ll put more pictures up later once we’re a little more settled in.
Iidabashi
hahah...my apartment complex is orange..=)
This morning I had the opportunity to go exploring with Maria (the other amazing girl on my team) and we found THE most AMAZING street!! There are sooo many different shops and restaurants. We found a kaiten zushi place (conveyor belt sushi), an Okonomiyaki place, curry, many ramen shops, and a lot more! I’m SO excited to eat. So far I’ve been eating VERY well here. =)
the lady making my Okonomiyaki
my Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima style...yumm
Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support so far. I really appreciate all the emails and messages. I feel so loved and am so thankful for YOU! The Lord has definitely been answering so many of your prayers. I think upon arriving I was really missing home and feeling a bit lonely. But the Lord has continually been reminding me of His love for me. That He is always with me and has provided an amazing family for me here in Tokyo. Both the SI Tokyo staff as well as my team have been very encouraging and it’s been so much fun getting to know them so far. I’m so excited to see what the Lord is going to do through us this upcoming year.
Some more prayer requests
- Wisdom and guidance as I decide which universities to serve at
- Continual unity among staff and my Stint teammates
- Continual prayer for the people of Japan! That they would hear, believe, and fall in love with our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Lastly I’ll leave you with this…..
COOLISH!! So yummy...and they have a new coffee flavor!! My fav =)
Blessings,
Lynds
Song of the moment…I Will Exalt You by Brooke Fraser…so amazing.
Verse 1:
I will exalt You
I will exalt You
I will exalt You
You are my God
Chorus:
My hiding place My safe refuge
My treasure Lord You are
My friend and King Anointed One
Most Holy.
Verse 2:
Because You’re with me
Because You’re with me
Because You’re with me
I will not fear
Blessings,
Lynds
