Interests:orchestras, street performers, costumes, atmosphere, photo booths, the gospel, fruits and vegetables Occupation:Engineering Industry:Entertainment
ok. i know what you're thinking. it's been a while.
i agree. maybe too long.
i think i don't know what it looks like to NOT be busy. and i'm sad about that. it's hard for me to figure out how to do what i want to do with my life and still be content in this transition. i have ideas with what to do with my life...photography would be nice. and covering weddings would be nice. and i'd get to work with people, which i'm good at. and i'd get to be creative, which i need. and i'd get to make people happy, which would make me feel good. but i just wonder how to get there. i thought a door would be opening, and it hasn't yet. so am i supposed to try a new door? or wait patiently for this one?
and in the meantime, i'm working too much. maybe it wouldn't stress me out so much if it was all at one place. i love the coffee shop where i'm working mornings. but i thought to myself, why not get a holiday job at a creative retail store, wouldn't that be fun? try it out since i'm not working too many hours at the coffee shop. well. i haven't started at the retail job yet, but when i told them i wanted to only work 20 hours, they made it 40. and i'm getting more hours serving coffee too. so that's stressing me out. and on top of that i feel like i need to do more wedding planning. and now, no time. honestly stuff with our wedding has just been working out thanks to the grace of God, and i trust that it will continue to do so. i think i just put too much pressure on myself.
so i guess what i'm trying to say is. i feel crowded. and i want to relax. and why am i not good at relaxing? that bugs, too.
maybe i just needed to vent. i'm doing ok. don't worry. be happy.
xoxoxoxoxooooxox and watch the muppet christmas carol while you are at it, emily jayne
so, a lot has happened in the past 3 months. here's a recap, chronologically.
aaron surprised me by showing up in japan to propose. i am engaged. i went to south korea for a global missions conference. i pack up and leave tokyo for good. engagement party. sightseeing in san fransisco. mike and elizabeth wed in san diego. hawaiian vacation. various minor emotional breakdowns attempting to transition back to life in america. saw 4 potential apartments. applied for one. the Lord provides! for a new home. signed a lease on an apartment in northern california. hired a wedding coordinator. tried on wedding dresses. 60,000 mile car service and new tires. wrote my first resume. applied for my first real job. realized that resume was a piece of junk. was not surprised that potential employer never called back. packed up every worldly possession from my childhood home. drove a uhaul from torrance to mountain view. moved into fabulous new apartment with fabulous new roommate and old friend amy ann darling. realized i had WAY too many worldly possessions. had minor breakdowns trying to eliminate said worldly possessions.
i'm still in the midst of moving madness. if i haven't responded to your email from last month, you now know why.
After a long month of English lunches, parties, picnics and more, we’ve had the opportunity to meet A LOT of new freshmen students at universities all over Tokyo. I have enjoyed working on teams with the Japanese and International staff, and it’s been encouraging being able to facilitate relationships between new students and the long term staff members who will be around for a lot longer than I will. I have also had an opportunity to work more with some of the student leaders on various campuses and I’ve been thankful to get to know them better and encourage them for all the hard work they do to share Jesus’ love on their campus. But the best thing has been seeing fruit from the relationships we have been building. Yuko, a first year student at Toyo University, has been coming to our English lunch for the past month and our other activities pretty regularly. She is open and bubbly and laughs a lot. Usually she brings some of her classmates, but this week she came to English lunch alone, a few hours after we had started (students come and go during their lunch break, and some, like Yuko, usually come, go to class, come back, etc…) when we were mostly wrapping things up. We weren’t expecting anymore students that afternoon, so me, my teammate Kelly, and a Japanese staff lady named Naomi, had a chance to talk with Yuko for a long time. She told us that since she had started coming to Student Impact activities, she had become more interested in religion, and so Naomi asked if she wanted to know about the basic message of the Bible, and Yuko quickly said yes. As Naomi shared with Yuko how she could know God personally, Yuko asked a lot of questions to really make me believe she was getting it: Why did God create us in his image? What was man’s relationship with God like before sin? And when did you decide to accept Christ? It blew me away how engaged she was in spiritual things…I had never guessed in all my conversations with her that she was interested. After talking through the concepts of sin, God’s provision for sin in Jesus Christ, and what our response should be, she told us that the prayer at the end of the booklet (the prayer to accept Christ) represented the desire of her heart, but that since it was the first time she had heard the gospel, she wanted to learn more. Naomi and Yuko will start studying the Bible together, and I am continually praising God for the work he is doing in Yuko’s heart to bring her from darkness to light. Please pray that as Yuko studies the Bible, God enables her to understand the depth of his love for her as his child. Please pray for the students we have been building relationships with this past month, that we would have opportunities to go deeper with them, love them sacrificially, and be able to share the hope that is available to them in Jesus.
As my time in Japan starts to wind down our schedule continues to pick up speed. Last week my team went to Sapporo, Hokkaido to partner with a missionary who wants to start at student movement at Hokkaido University. Richard works with OMF (the Overseas Missionary Fellowship) and we spent the week advertising for an English party we held mid-week and helping him get a feel of what students are interested in on campus. It was refreshing to be out of the busy city and I was encouraged by the ministry OMF has in Hokkaido planting churches and reaching out to the community in Sapporo. The day after we returned from Hokkaido Student Impact threw an Inter-University Fiesta in Yoyogi Park. Almost 120 students arrived for a potluck lunch, games and fun in the park. It was really fun. I made three batches of brownies (some girls asked me if it was chocolate cake) and they went fast. I was excited to see many of the students we have met at English lunch come to the Fiesta and bring friends, and seem excited about upcoming events and hanging out more with us. Next week the famous scientist Dr. Hugh Ross, who has written a lot of books on Intelligent Design in the universe, will come to lecture, and so we have spent this past week promoting it to students, all of whom are only taught evolution in school, and do not know that there is real evidence for a Creator. Please pray that as students come they would be challenged to consider what it means to have been created by an all-powerful God and what that could mean for their own lives. Two days after Dr. Hugh Ross comes to Tokyo, our first summer missions team from California comes to Tokyo. Please pray that these students would trust God for amazing things during their time here (they stay until June 29th) and that they would be open to coming back to Japan in the future as a STINTer or International Campus staff. June 29th our team leaves for a worldwide conference in Pusan, Korea, hosted by Korea Campus Crusade for Christ. 20,000 students from all over the world will attend to be challenged about what it means to live for God on their campus, and beyond. It will be hectic leading up to the conference, and I come home soon after we get back. Please pray that I would make the most of my time left here but not go crazy trying to do to everything… and pray that I can get all of my things home! My suitcases are going to be heavy…
I am excited to write again next month to tell you all the ways that God has moved in my own life this year as a result of being in this country. I know already that I have much to be thankful for. God has been providing for my every need, and I hope you are encouraged to know that you are a big way that God has provided! I cannot tell you thank you enough for allowing God to use you to bring me to this place.
gratitude, love and more love, emily
p.s. for faces to go with the names, and a better idea of what i've really been doing, check out the album, it's a hefty one...)
Today during our English lunch at Tokyo University, it started to thunder and pour magnificently outside. Luckily, we were indoors. A few hours later on my way home from campus it had turned sunny and clear, so I decided to cut through the park on the way to my apartment. There was new green everywhere, and it smelled so fresh that I could almost taste it. I was struck by how beautiful and refreshing it was to be outdoors, because most people were in work or school the park was relatively empty and incredibly peaceful. It was a strange experience, almost my first time feeling really refreshed outdoors in Tokyo. Usually upon leaving my apartment, I’m confronted by bikers speeding down the narrow and already crowded sidewalks where I’m trying to walk; I’m on edge as buses get uncomfortably close to the curb of the sidewalk; I’m harassed by storefront employees handing out the newest advertisement and yelling for my attention; I’m jostled by commuters running and bumping me to rush into the next leaving train; I’m smashed between various kinds of people on the express trains…in general, Tokyo is not known to be a place of rest. And yet as I walked through the park today and the damp dirt squished under my tennis shoes, I was reminded that just like the rain and the sun, the city and the green, this year and this country is full of contrasts, joys and heartaches. Everything looks so good in this culture; everyone has a smiling face, while thousands of people jump in front of trains every year. I have met some of the most caring and loving individuals during my time here, and at the same time I get stares, scowls, and angry eyes from people when I stand on the wrong side of the escalator or take up to much room walking on the sidewalk. Sometimes I can’t understand the darkness of this nation and how there is still such bright light- especially among Japanese Christians here: I am continually amazed by their hearts and their willingness to serve and reach out to their friends and their university. I am blown away by the Japanese staff I serve with; their hearts to love and speak truth to others continually inspires me. This past month has had many ups and downs, meeting students on many campuses has been fun and rewarding but at times it is exhausting. It can be discouraging when they don’t seem open to spiritual things or even hanging out more than 30 minutes during their lunch break. And then there are rare students like one we met today. At our lunchtime we met a second year student named Koji, and he was telling us that he is interested in philosophy and religion, and we talked about absolute truth and whether or not God exists. I was saying that no matter how much logic I can give him scientifically that God exists, the most true thing I’ve ever known is God’s healing power in my own heart. Koji wanted to know how I’ve experienced God, and to be able to express it to him was a joy, when it’s been a challenging month and a half, meeting many new students and having the same conversation (what’s your major? Where’s your hometown? ) over and over again. this past week we had a party in a local park and we invited students from 12 different universities to eat lunch and play games. We had 110 students arrive and we are finally beginning to see students willing to get involved with us- joining summer trips and at our gospel choir practice last night, we had at least 15 new students attend. I was encouraged by two new friends, Aya and Honami, both unbelievers, but who are trying to find a way to come to our conference in Korea in June, where over 20,000 Christian students from around the world will worship together and hear various speakers talk about what it means to live for Jesus. We explained all that the conference was going to be like, and Aya responded, “…that sounds good.” Please pray that God would make it possible for these girls to come with us, even though the conference registration deadline has passed and many flights are already booked.
The start of April signals the beginning of two things: the new academic year (shinkan) for Japanese university, the busiest time of my year here in Tokyo.
(yusuke runs us through the plan for shinkan)
In reality though, things started to pick up a lot at the end of March, as we were planning and preparing to do publicity for Student Impact events around Tokyo. Student Impact held their annual Spring Retreat for all the student leaders who have a vision to reach their own campus for Jesus. It is designed to train them how to share their faith, how to use their individual passion and talent to glorify God, and to find encouragement from bonding with other students on other campuses. There were about 20 students total from many different universities; some of them are the only Christians on their campus.
During the retreat, they took some time to brainstorm together things they want to improve about Student Impact. They also were encouraged to think about what unique passion or talent God has given them, and they were challenged to find a way to use that to make God known on their campus.
Toshi is passionate about helping children in third world countries and is going to start a branch of “Greatest Gift” Ministries at Gakushuinn. Yurika has a passion and talent to dance and is starting a dance ministry to perform at weekly student impact meetings and on her campus. Fumi wants to start an English conversation weekly meeting. It was so encouraging to hear these students and staff dream about what they want to do to make God's love known in their own country. We ended our few days together at The Sizzler.
Nobu was so busy hanging out with other students, he forgot to sleep at night. he takes a little nap in The Sizzler.
(me and yurika love The Sizzler!)
Now, in America (hereby referred to only as "Sizzler"), Sizzler’s gotten a little sketch these past few years, but I just want to make clear that The Sizzler in Japan (which will hereby be referred to as "The Sizzler") is a quality, tasty establishment. The Sizzler was quite a treat.
My sweet friend Mayumi graduated from Rikkyo University at the end of March, and me and some of the other girls on the team were able to attend her graduation and support her. Mayumi has an incredible story about how God has spoken into her life and really saved her from a lot of despair. She reminds me of the reality of how spiritually dark it is in Japan, but how bright God's light shines in that darkness, specifically, in her own life. Her faith inspires me.
(Rikkyo cheerleaders)
The Sakura (cherry blossoms) ...and parties under the sakura all happened at the end of March too. It's a seasonal tradition to have picnics under the Sakura trees, and during this time every inch of the ground gets covered by big blue tarps and lots of food and alcohol. Our team had a fun time picnic-ing with the rest of Tokyo.
(performers at koganei park festivities)
(our team, minus daniel)
The Student Impact staff divided our STINT team up into smaller teams that are combined with Japanese staff and International Campus Staff (long term staff from other countries).
(my shinkan team)
shinkan madness
(every club is promoting their activities for freshman)
The strategy for promoting Student Impact has been to go into freshman classes before they start (all the students are really punctual and all the professors are late...) and make announcements about International Lunches, Inter-University parties, and other Student Impact events.
This has been going well and we've had a lot of freshman show up for our International lunchtimes and get excited about upcoming events. It's been really energizing to have interested students come to us instead of trying to hunt them down ourselves with flyers, and freshman students are really excited to be friends with foreigners, so sometimes I feel like a bit of a celebrity...
But really, it's been amazing to be working alongside the Japanese staff here, and get to be an encouragement to them in their ministry with the students. They are full of faith and they really motivate me to work hard even during this busy season.
(Toyo University International Lunchtime: Part 1. These students left for class after an hour or so.)
(Toyo University International Lunchtime: Part 2. These students came, left for class, came back after class, left, came back AGAIN. they couldn't get enough of us...)
(maybe it's cause we keep em laughing...)
Personally... it's been a challenging season to continue to find my strength and motivation from the Lord. We go to a different campus every day, each almost an hour away. And we're trying to get to campus by first period at 8:30am. So I'm waking up at 6 am, and let me tell you, mornings are a challenging time of day. Then at night we have different things like team times and Student Impact meetings.
(student impact meeting on thursday nights)
I've loved working hard on campus and it's been really fun, but it's exhausting. I've really been learning to depend of Jesus for every need. Please pray that I would wise in taking times to rest and finding my energy in the Lord as well. Pray that our team would love each other well and encourage one another daily, and that freshman students would see Jesus' love in our team's love for them and for each other. Pray that many in Japan would have open hearts to Jesus' message of love and hope for their lives.
Please pray that we would be able to have 3 strong freshman contacts for each Student Impact staff and student leader for each campus we are on. Pray that we would be able to reach many of the 150,000 new freshman students in Tokyo! It's crazy but our God is crazier.
Thank you for all you do and all you mean in my life. Your support means so much.
