6/16/10-6/17/10 (Briefing)

(sorry for not posting earlier, I had to find out the internet connection stuff)
6/16/10
Today was my first day at briefing, and it started off pretty awkwardly. After I said goodbye to my parents in the parking lot, I proceeded to the registration area. I then noticed the international project leaders gathered in front of the entrance, so I thought that I was totally late. So I continued walking until I was behind this tree and acted like I was calling someone. Luckily one of them saw me and came to get me. I had apologized for being late, but it turns out that they had just gotten there 5 minutes before me, so I was really relieved. Pretty much the rest of the day was hanging out with the 3 project directors for Japan. Their names are Kerby (Project Director), Whitney (Project Director), and Chris (Operations Director). This was my first time meeting these three, and I was honestly hoping that Kerby would be a little chubby with a pink shirt, but he’s actually tall and normal sized. Oh well. They’re all really cool and I’m very excited about this trip! Can’t wait till the rest of the team arrives tomorrow!

6/17/10
I can’t remember the last time I went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 8am. For the past few weeks I’ve been going to bed around 4am, but it’s nice to sleep like a normal person. So for about half the day, a handful of others and myself were wondering if we could skip the session tonight to watch the Laker game. (I missed the whole game, but got text messages from people telling me the score). From about noon till 5pm, we were just waiting for the rest of our team to arrive. When everyone arrived, we all ate dinner together. It was so awesome to finally meet everyone, and everyone is so cool! Praise God! After dinner, we had a large group session with all the EPIC teams going out on missions. It was more of a welcoming time where people got to share where they were coming from and personal testimony’s. After the session, we were all split up into our teams for team bonding, so I ran outside to call someone about the Laker game. I caught the last 25 seconds and I can honestly say that I was jumping up and down when I heard that the Lakers won! Anyways, our team bonding time was a really blessed time. We had a couple games and then we shared about ourselves. Everyone shared how they made the decision to go to Japan. It still hasn’t hit me that I’m going to be spending 5-6 weeks in Japan again, but at the same time I’m so excited to see how God is going to work within all of us. I’m also really excited to see how God is going to change us. I wish I can just hop on the next plane to Japan! One thing that we’re praying about is the support. After tallying all the checks, as a team we’re down $5400. When I heard this, my human instincts told me that we might not be able to raise that money within 2 days. I know that God will provide, but it’s hard not to be doubtful. Project hasn’t technically started yet, and it seems like God is already challenging me to realize that God can do the impossible. Even upon typing this, I’m feeling a sense of comfort that the support will be raised. God is so awesome, and I know that He is listening to our prayers during this time.