7/27/10- Last Japan blog post =[

Yes, unfortunately this will be my last blog entry for my time here in Japan. Even though it's only a blog entry, I'm getting kind of choked up just typing this. I'll make it short and sweet so I don't break down and cry during the middle of this entry.

Today we had time with the Lord from 9-10:45am. I spent my time just roaming around Osaka and found a place to sit and read the Bible. From around 10:45-2pm we had a team meeting discussing the issues that might come up while we're back in America. It was a good time to just prepare ourselves for what's to come within the next couple of days, weeks, and months. There was a lot of things to discuss, and by the end of it, I think that people were more aware of what challenges they may face whether its at school or at home.

After our meeting, the team took a trip to the Osaka Aquarium! The aquarium in Osaka is said to be the second largest Aquarium in the world (don't quote me on that). Even though I went to the aquarium last year, it was still fun to walk around and look at the different marine life. There were other things that made this trip special as well. After our time at the aquarium, a group of us headed towards Umeda to see a really tall building and go to the top (I forgot what it was called, but it was super scary at the top). We watched the sunset while at the top of the building, then went to a nearby mall to walk around and eat dinner.

I think I'm in denial about leaving Japan. It's so hard for me to actually say goodbye to this culture and country. I know that God has made me Japanese for a reason and at the same time I know that God has definitely placed Japan on my heart for a reason. This country is such a beautiful place with wonderful people, and they deserve to know the good news about Jesus Christ. Although Japan is technologically advanced, there's so much pressure and suffering within this country. I know for a fact that God loves these people, and He will always be there for them.

7/26/10- First day of debrief in OSAKA!

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I just flat out forgot to blog. And since I have a 6 hour memory span, I shall just write about today.

I woke up extra early (around 7am) to do some laundry for the next couple of days since I figured there wouldn't be any local laundry mats in Osaka/Tokyo. It was nice just waking up early and not being rushed by other people to use the sink. The morning weather in Kyoto was humid as usual, but it was just another beautiful day that was blessed by God. We basically cleaned the house out from 9-11, then headed to Osaka for our debrief.

We took the bus to Osaka, which took about 1 1/2 hours. In America, that would be considered a long trip to me, but since our team has so much fun together, time just flew by. Once we got to the hotel, we unpacked and had lunch. We then had a meeting for about 2 hours just going over things that we might experience when we go back home. After our meeting we headed over to a city called Namba (I might have spelled that wrong). Osaka compared to Kyoto is almost like night and day. You can compare Kyoto to a leisure world type of environment, and you can compare Osaka to a Los Angeles type of world. The atmosphere and weather were just completely different, and it honestly felt like we were in a different country.

For dinner, we went to this place where you can make your own Okonomiyaki (A Japanese type of pancake). It was so good! After a good time of fellowship, we headed back to the hotel, and that's where I'am right now! I've never been in a hotel like this, because all of our rooms are single room. You literally walk in and there's a bed. And that's it. But it's nice to have a quiet room to just sit and relax. It still hasn't hit me that we'll be leaving in a couple of days. Please pray that I won't cry like a baby when we head to the airport.

7/24/10- Kyoto station day

I tried sleeping in all day, but failed because I woke up at 11am and couldn't fall back asleep. So I tagged along with most of the team for a day at Kyoto station!

I've been to Kyoto stations many times, but today was especially exciting because I discovered some new shops that i've never been to. We stayed there for a good 4 hours just walking around, then walked to a nearby mall called Ieon. I didn't expect to get anything since I didn't have too much per diem left over, but then we went to a Gap and they had a sale on jeans. The original price was $44, but it was on sale for $9!!!!!!!!!!! (Of course I had to get a pair)

Overall, today was kind of tiring but it was a good time to just spend with the team. Please pray for the health of our team, because some people are feeling under the weather. It's most likely due to the weather change and constantly going from hot/humid weather into a cold airconditioned room. I can feel a little fatigued when I'm in the hot sun, but I feel fine for now. I still can't believe that today was our last saturday in Japan, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

7/23/10- Last day on Campus =[

It still hasn't hit me that today was our last day on campus. I almost don't want to blog because I don't want to accept the fact that we're almost done with project. But because I love all of you, I will blog what happened today.

Today at campus, I had lunch by myself for the first time. Although I looked like a loner, it was a good time for me to prepare for the goodbye's that I'd be saying to our contacts. I was able to process a lot of what God has been doing through our team and in Kyoto. At around 2pm, I went to the student store (next to Tully's) to buy Sato a card. Once I got a table, it seemed like everyone that we met at Kyodai came to our table! We literally had to get the table next to us because there were so many people hanging out. Sato came around 2:30ish and we had a great time just hanging out. He said that he was still unsure if he wanted to fully believe in Christianity. I know that it isn't in my power to try and convict him, so I just decided to leave it up to God. I gave him the card/gift and he was so surprised. He really liked my gift to him, so he gave me one of his accessories, which was a cross necklace! Although I wanted him to keep it so that he would continue to seek God, I couldn't reject it because that would've been very rude for me not to take it.

We basically hung out with all of our contacts till about 4:30. We decided that we were going to go to Shijo and eat sushi as a team to celebrate. But it was so cool because most of our contacts wanted to come with us, so they came with us. I'm so thankful for the time that we got to spend with them while we were at the sushi place. After dinner, we all went to take pirikura pictures (those small picture stickers).

When it was time to leave, it was hard for me to say bye to Sato because I had gotten close to him over the past week and a half. I really wish that I could have gotten to know him better, but I'm not questioning God's plan. I'm so thankful to have met Sato, and I pray that God will grow the seed that was planted in his heart. Sato is a very caring, gentle, intelligent person and I hope that God will be evident in his life. I told Sato to create a facebook so that we could keep in touch, so he'll be making one in the next few days. I still can't believe that we're officially done with campus ministry, but I could totally see how God has been moving within the campuses of Doshisha and Kyodai over these past 5 weeks. I'm so in love with God, and all my praise goes to Him.

I guess from now till the day we leave for American, we'll be processing all that God has done. I'm dreading the day that we leave for home, because a huge part of my heart will be left in Japan again. Please pray that the transition from Japan life to American life will be smooth.

7/22/10- Good Soil

Bleh, I always forget what happened in the morning so I'm just going to fast forward to lunch.
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For lunch today, Jared, Carrie and I went to the Italian Cafe to meet up with a couple of contacts. We were split up because we couldn't move tables together, so it was just Jared, one of Jared's contacts and I. Jared's contact was actually born in Gardena and grew up there until about elementary school. So most of the conversation was about Gardena and the things that Shun (Jared's contact) remembered. He's actually just doing research at Kyodai, so he's really busy most of the time. It was pretty cool just chatting with him because he speaks like a native English speaker.

After lunch, we went to Tully's to initiate with more people. I approached this guy sitting by himself near our table. He was reading a book about Anne Frank, so I asked him if he was interested in the Holocaust and he said yes. He told me that he wanted to learn about the Holocaust because he doesn't want history to repeat itself. After about 15 minutes we got onto the topic of love. I then told him that I was a Christian, but he immediately cut me off and said "really?". I thought I had offended him, but then he looked through his backpack and pulled out a Bible and a daily devotional! I was so shocked! We then talked about Christianity and Evangelism in Japan and how difficult it is for him to share the Gospel with Japanese people. I was so encouraged by this man, and I flat out told him that he has given me hope for the people in Japan. I said a few encouraging words to him and told him that I would pray for him and his ministry. What's even crazier is that he attends the same Church that our team has been attending on Sunday's. He only attends the Japanese service in the morning which explains why I haven't seen him there. It took me a while to process what happened, but I realized that meeting a genuine Japanese Christian has given me hope. If you look at it from a statistical standpoint, the guy I met was in the category of the "less than 1 percent" Christians in Japan. How cool is that?

At night, our team had an outreach event at a community center near Kyodai. There was a good turnout of student contacts that attended! We watched a short film called "Good Soil" and discussed it afterwards. It was pretty interesting hearing the perspectives from the Japanese students. I'm not sure if the film provoked any questions about Christianity, but it was interesting to all the students.

Tomorrow is our last day of ministry on campus. It literally feels like I've only been here for a week, but at the same time I miss everyone at home so much. Please pray for our team and that the seeds that we've planted will be taken care of by God.

7/21/10- An earthquake woke me up today.

Yes, there was an earthquake in Japan this morning. I'm still not sure exactly where the center of the earthquake was, but it must have been pretty far from Kyoto because it was kind of weak. It happened around 6am, and all I remember was the house was moving slowly. I knew it was an earthquake, but since I'm so used to earthquakes I just laid there and expected it to get bigger. It stopped after a few seconds, so I just looked at my clock and went back to bed for another 2 hours.

I led this morning's Bible study on John 8:1-11. This is actually my favorite passage from the Bible, and you know who taught it to me? That's right, Wayne Katayama (I guess I have learned something from him). It was a really blessed time, and the Holy Spirit was moving throughout the meeting. I think I'm getting more comfortable in leading large group discussions, which is so awesome because that's one of my worst fears. I actually enjoyed preparing for the Bible Study, which is shocking because I thought that I would hate it. Of course I need more guidance and knowledge in the Bible, but God has provided me with people who can teach me those things.

Today was especially hot! I think it hit about 90 degrees with the humidity. I decided not to take my backpack because I knew my back would just get drenched with sweat. It was actually refreshing not having to carry my backpack around, but there were some times where I freaked out because I thought I lost it. Anyways, campus time was especially sad for me today because today was the last day that I could meet with Moto. We met up around 3pm and went to an Italian cafe to get some parfait. I knew that Moto wasn't too open to hearing the Gospel, so I didn't want to force it upon him. Instead, we just talked about life and deep things. He told me that he really likes talking with me because it gives him the opportunity to practice his English, but more importantly because he enjoys just hanging out with me. I almost choked up when he said that. When he had to get going, I was able to take a picture with him. Even though I didn't get to meet up with him as much as I wanted, it was still hard for me to say bye to him. I pray that God will soften his heart and that one day he'll be open to hearing the Gospel. Here's a picture of us (sorry I look so sweaty, it felt like it was 24857234897 degrees)

7/20/10- I'm so sweaty.

Remember how I said that last week was nothing but rain? Yeah, this week has been nothing but SCORCHING HOT HUMID HEAT! I literally start sweating once I exit an air conditioned room. If there's no breeze, it feels like I'm in an oven. There's my venting for the day.

Today on campus went by fairly quickly. I met up with Kerby for lunch to plan out the Bible study that I'll be leading tomorrow for our team. I'm somewhat nervous, but I've been praying that God will relieve my nervousness and calm my heart. After lunch I met up with Jared to go sharing. We got rejected basically every time, so that was pretty discouraging, but we kept going. With about 30 minutes left, we headed towards the cafeteria to just sit down. On our way there, I spotted a guy that I talked to in the previous week at an International Relations meeting. He was actually happy to see me and he joined us in the cafeteria. We only had about 15 minutes to talk to him, but he's a genuinely cool guy to talk with and I really wish that I could have met him earlier in our trip. But I know that God had His reasons, so I won't question it. We asked him if he wanted to go to our last outreach event on Thursday, and he said yes so that was pretty exciting.

On Tuesday nights the girls and guys split up into men's and women's time. I helped lead again today for mens time and it went very well in my opinion. We first had an activity at the river which was super awesome because the water was nice and cold. The only freaky thing was that there was a river snack about 3 feet long that swam up next to us. It eventually swam upstream, but I think I shrieked like a little girl when I saw it (Let's remember not to judge). After the river, we had dinner at this katsu restaurant. I'm very excited because I usually get hungery late at night, but after eating that katsu, I'm pretty sure I won't be hungry until tomorrow afternoon.

Overall, today was super hot but it was super productive. Time is winding down, but if I were to leave for home right now, I would have no regrets. God has taught me so much on this trip, and I can't wait to use the things that I've learned on this trip back at home. Be prepared Anaheim, Shawn version 2.0 is coming home in less than a week!

7/19/10- KYOSHISHA TEAM UNITE!

I learn something new everyday. For example, today was a holiday for all public schools so Kyodai didn't have any classes. Today's holiday is called "sea day". I have no idea what it's for, but hey, we have a holiday in America where cars and mattresses are sold at half price. This holiday is called President's day.

Anyways, Doshisha is a private school so they had a regular school day. So the Kyodai team partnered with the Doshisha team to form THE KYOSHISHA TEAM! It was so cool doing ministry with people on the Doshisha team for a day. I was partnered up with Chris for the first two hours, and we talked to this one guy (I forgot his name) who was somewhat open to hearing the Gospel. He believes that there is a God, but he doesn't know which religion is right. I really didn't know how to respond to his opinion, but we encouraged him to keep seeking truth. After our encounter with him, we prayed that God would reveal himself to him in some way.

At around 2:30 our team regathered to make new pairs. I was paired with Whitney and we went to this cafe. We approached a guy and a girl sitting together on a couch and did soularium with them. The girl's name was Fumika and the guys name was Kazu. They were both Commerce majors and both very friendly! Our conversation was very surface based, but eventually we got to sharing the Gospel to them. To our surprise, Fumika went to a Christian High School and studied the Bible, but didn't believe it. And Kazu stayed in a church in LA while he was training for the LA marathon. They were both exposed to the Gospel already, so we invited them to a Bible study later in the week at Doshisha. And they were both open to going! Praise God!

Today's time on campus was filled with divine appointments by God. Even though we were only at Doshisha for one day, it encouraged me to go back to Kyodai and spread more of God's love.

7/18/10- Church Day!

Today was a super relaxing day for most of the team. We had our usual Sunday morning cleanup, but instead of going out exploring, most of our team stayed home and just rested until about 5pm. The Doshisha team went to some sort of English conversation meeting, and the Kyodai team went to Church. Today's church service was led by the senior pastor which was really cool, but he only spoke Japanese so we had to have a translator. The message was about Daniel being faithful even though he was in an environment where he wasn't surrounded by a community of Christians. And although the message was good, the whole time I kept thinking about my sister back in California. (I know she's reading this so I'm going to embarrass her)

My sister (Cyndi) has ALWAYS been the smartest and coolest in the family. (I was always the best looking. I love being humble) Growing up, Cyndi was basically my second mom. She would act regular towards my other two brothers, but she would show extra love and care towards me. I remember this one time when my parents went to Vegas and left my sister in charge of the house. I was about 5 or 6 at the time, but I wanted to act like a grown up so I said that I would be fine. After a few hours, I started to cry because I had already missed them. I remember just sitting there feeling helpless because I didn't have my parent's around. Then I remember being held by my sister and being told that she was there for me. I felt so comforted and loved, but I was still crying. So my sister took me to blockbuster and rented a video game for me. I instantly stopped crying for the entire night. Although my relationship with my sister hasn't been the greatest in the past few years, it's lightyears better than it was before. I give all the glory to God, because it was Him who made me realize that my family is so important. I'm so thankful to have such a beautiful/wonderful/amazing person in my life. I know that God loves her so much, and He'll always be there for her just like how shes always been there for me. I love you Cyndi, and I'm praying for you =]

7/17/10- My crocks destroyed my feet.

This morning felt so nice because I slept from 11:30pm to 10:30am! The only thing that ruined my morning was that I may have peed a little in my pants while I was sleeping, so I had to change my boxers. Too graphic? I'm sorry to the 12 people reading my blog.

Today was such a beautiful, yet hot day. Our team was split up for the whole day because some people went to watch the Gion parade, and some people went to Arashiyama/Shijo. The people who went to Gion had to wake up super early, but from what I heard they had a good time. I went to Arashiyama and Shijo in my crocks. For those of you who don't know what crocks are, they're the unstylish slip-ons that everyone makes fun of, except in Japan because Japanese people have a weird sense of style (for the record, I didn't buy them, a person from my team bought them for me). I thought my crocks were going to be comfortable without socks. WRONG. I now have two blisters that cause insurmountable pain whenever I'm wearing those crocks. Anyways, Arashiyama was gorgeous, but since it had been raining this past week, the river, which is normally clear, was brown and looked like milk tea. We went to this good ramen place and had lunch there. After lunch, we explored some stores for about an hour, then headed to Shijo to explore some more shops. I need to stop being a fatty and buying so much food. Although the weather was SUPER hot during the day, the night was so pleasant.

I completely forgot to mention this to everyone, but I wanted to thank each and every person reading my blog for their support and prayers. I appreciate it so much! I would buy you all a little something from Kyoto, but like I said before, I'm a fatty that can't control his urges to buy food.

7/16/10- GION FESTIVAL!

This morning was a bit different because I led a small devotional on Luke 11:1-13. I was a bit nervous because leading a small group like this is one of my weaknesses, but the Holy Spirit totally led the group. It was a cool time because everyone was involved in the discussion, and I got to share about what happened with Sato yesterday. After our morning meeting, we headed over to campus thinking that it wasn't going to rain (but of course there was a thunderstorm later in the day). Campus time was slow compared to yesterday, so not that much happened. After campus time we went to the Gion festival. It's basically a Japanese block party with lots of food. I spent about $15 just on food, so I need to budget my per diem for the next two days. The atmosphere was pretty amazing, and seeing all the women in their traditional dresses was awesome. I wonder why there wasn't too many guys dressed up. Oh well. It seemed like everyone in Japan was on that long stretch of road because it was so crowded. The only thing bad about the festival was this long hotdog on a stick that I bought. I thought it was going to be good, but it didn't have any flavor and I had too much mustard on it. PLUS I paid 400 yen for it, when I saw the same thing being sold for 200 yen. Honestly, I was mad. Very mad. But overall, the festival was a fun time to just walk around and enjoy a traditional Japanese party.

7/15/10 -The first day I put a title.

Sorry I accidentally just posted the date on the previous post.

Today's campus time was the most productive campus time this week. I met up with two of my contacts, Moto and Sato. I met up with Moto for lunch and we talked about a lot of deep things. I asked him if he had any stereotypes about Americans, and if Japanese people had any stereotypes with other Japanese people. I also asked him what he thought love was. All of his answers were pretty interesting because they were from the viewpoint of a native Japanese person. It even got deep enough for me to bring up the Gospel. I talked about God's love and how it's perfect, but it was kind of hard for him to understand. I was a bit sad because he said that it's hard for him to fully understand religions in general. After about 2 hours of just talking, he had to go study. I was so drained by that conversation because I had expected Moto to be more open to the Gospel. Then at 3pm I met up with Sato. It was cool because Sato had texted me and asked ME if I wanted to meet up. I hadn't seen Sato in 2 weeks, so I thought he just forgot about me. When I met up with him, it was cool just catching up. And since I knew that Sato was interested in Christianity, I just brought it up randomly without feeling awkward. Our team was given some manga books that explained the Gospel. So I gave him one and went through it with him. To my surprise, he understood almost everything! The only thing he didn't know about was Jesus, so I explained to him that Jesus died for our sins. At the end, I asked him if he understood everything and he said yes! Then I asked him if I could pray for him right there, and he said yes! Praise God! So I said a short prayer asking God to watch over Sato and bless his life. It was the first time that I've ever prayed for someone like this, and all I could say was that it was all God. After the prayer I asked Sato if he wanted to accept Christ into his life right now, but he said not yet. I asked him if he would ever want Jesus in his life and he said probably! That's better than no! It took me a couple of hours to process everything that just happened, but God is so good. While I was processing, I was just thinking about how small and insignificant I am and how much I need God in my life. All I can do right now is lift up Sato and Moto to God and let Him do the rest. There's literally no words that can describe how I'm feeling right now.

7/15/10

7/14/10

Today was a pretty normal day on campus, so I'm going to write about tonight.

Tonight we had an outreach event at our house. We had about eight students from Kyodai and Doshisha combined join us for a night of Mexican food and American English slang--a truly American/Southern Californian evening. We broke up into groups and explained various slang... for example, how to properly use the words/phrases: "bling-bling," "f'sho," "own," and "story of my life." Needless to say, I was a pretty bomb teacher. The students seemed to have an awesome time just chillin' with us.

It was really great to get to know some of the students--some this is their second event! Surprise jargon attack: SWEET! God's doing amazing things here and I know much of it is His answer to your prayers. Yup, all three of you. So, thanks for your prayers and please keep it up... F.T.W.

7/13/10 (The real 7/13)

My hair is getting pretty long. Oh well.

Today started off with the usual rain. It's been raining so much lately, but I actually don't mind it too much because it's not as humid when it rains. I only have a problem with the rain when it pours. Like it did today. BOO! Anywho, today on campus I tried to meet up with my contacts, but none of them could meet. So instead of sulking, I prepared for the mens time that I was supposed to lead. I was pretty nervous the whole day because I'm not too confident in my leading skills, but God was totally there and the meeting was totally led by the Holy Spirit. The whole meeting went really smoothly, and every guy opened up a little more. I was so relieved because I thought that the meeting would be a disaster. We got home pretty early, so I was able to shower and get ready for bed before 10pm! That might not sound that cool, but it is! I actually do have a prayer request to those who are reading this, and it's for my neck. I guess I slept kind of funny or something, but my neck has been sore the whole day. It feels like I can crack my neck and it'll go away, but it's been lingering. Hopefully it'll get better within the next few days. I miss everyone at home, and I can't wait to show you how I've assimilated to the Japanese culture! (Examples: Man-pris and crocks)

7/12/10

Today I woke up to the sound of rain, again. It seems like it's been raining for the past few days, but at least the humidity is down! We had our morning as usual, then we had about 2 hours to spend time with the Lord. Since it was raining pretty hard, I decided to do my quiet time in my room. I read another passage in Luke (I don't have my Bible around me right now), and it talked about how Jesus told his disciples how to pray. But one passage that really spoke out to me said something like this, "Ask and it will be given, seek and it will be found, knock and the door will be opened." This passage really encouraged me because it gave me hope for all the contacts that we've met so far on this trip. My human instincts keeps telling me that 5 weeks isn't enough, and that it's almost impossible to get into a deep relationship with any of the students. But after reading this passage, God showed me that He can do the impossible and all I have to do is have faith and ask. I'm also reminded of a quote by Billy Graham saying, "It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict, it's God's job to judge, and it's our job to love." Basically, I was reminded that the best way to show God's love to the Japanese student's is not by using words, but through my actions. I've learned this from my life at home. Since my family doesn't know God, it's hard for them to understand what God's love is by using words. So instead of trying to force it upon them, I just try to show them the same love that God has shown me.

Campus time was super amazing because Kerby and I (The project director) were able to share the Gospel to these two guys that we sat next to at lunch. Their English wasn't too good, but we were still able to share with them. After about an hour of talking, we left the cafeteria to meet up with the rest of the team. From that point time went really fast, and as soon as we noticed, it was time for us to leave campus. After campus we went to my favorite ramen place that has a very thick ramen broth. I could literally eat there every single day of my life, but then I'd only live for about 4 years. As soon as dinner was over, we headed to a Karaoke place for our team bonding time. We spent a good 2 hours there and had a blast. God has been so real to me in the conversations that I have with my contacts as well as my teamates. Although the weekends are nice and relaxing, being on campus and doing God's work has been so exciting to me during this trip. I'm falling in love with God more and more each and every day. All I can do is praise God for what he's doing in my life right now.

7/11/10

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY.
Sunday's have started to become very interesting days. We usually start off the day by cleaning up the house, then going around Kyoto before church. While cleaning the house today, someone realized that there were A LOT of maggots in the shower room. Apparently they all crawled in through the window because it was open. I have never seen a maggot in my life, so when I peaked into the shower, I didn't notice anything until someone pointed out all the small yellow things crawling around. Not only were they in the shower, but they were outside of the house around that one window. It was pretty disgusting, but we managed to get rid of all the ones in the shower. After our morning cleanup, a group of us went to see the Manga Museum. I really didn't expect anything since I don't read Manga, but it was actually pretty cool. The museum had artwork displays of different artists over a span of 40 years or so. I could actually see myself getting into some of the Manga comics, but a little part of me doesn't want to because I'd really have no life (I don't have one right now so that would make it even worse). After our Museum expedition, we headed over to church and was a little late. The lady giving the message talked about how God loves us and just wants to be with us. It was a very basic sermon, but it would have been perfect for our contacts who don't have a personal relationship with God. After church we went to Shijo to have dinner and look around at Uniqlo (Uniqlo is the Japanese equivalent of Gap in America). Overall, today was a really fun day even though we didn't do too much. I've also found my new favorite drink from the convenience store. It's this grape water and it has a lot of Japanese writing on it so I can't read it. But there is this little part of English that says, "A new style of refreshment, perfect for today's health conscious generation." For all I know, there could be some addictive drugs in this drink and I wouldn't know about it. BUT IT'S SO GOOOD!

7/10/10

We just got back from Nara. Sorry for the no posts for the past few days, nobody brought their laptops because we weren't sure if there was going to be internet or not. I'll try to recap from friday.

-Friday-
We didn't go to campus on friday because we went straight to Nara after our morning meeting. It was a pretty rainy day, and all I can remember right now was that our train was an hour and a half long. Once we got to our hotel room, we pretty much just hung out until dinner. The hotel served us a traditional style Japanese dinner, which was very, interesting. It was pretty hard to distinguish what we were eating, so I just closed my eyes and ate. After dinner, we explored a little bit of Nara (aka, walked down the street to the convenience store). We had a late meeting in which we talked about our team norms and cleared the air. It was a good time to just express any frustrations and get things off our chest. The meeting concluded around 10pm, and we all went to bed.

-today-
We woke up to a traditional Japanese breakfast. There was salmon, miso, pineapple, raw eggs, and orange juice. It was interesting, just like dinner. After breakfast, we had a team meeting and we talked about our contacts. The meeting was kind of rushed because we had to check out of the hotel around 11am. After our meeting we went to Nara park! The deer at this park were super aggressive and weren't shy around humans. In fact, when people buy deer crackers at the little kiosks, the deer would flock around the person and harass them until they're fed. Yep, it happened to me. It was super strange because the male deers have long antlers, and they're not afraid to use them. I can testify to this. We basically spent the whole day at the park. We ate lunch and visited the HUGE buddha statue. That was pretty much it, then we traveled back to Kyoto.

There's only about 9 more days on campus, so time is beginning to be an issue. But I know that God will still do amazing things within these next 2 weeks. Please pray that our team will finish strong and that our strength and stamina will be restored. It hasn't felt like we've been here for 3 weeks, but this is coming from the guy who would like to live here for a while.

7/8/10

Campus time was amazing! I was able to meet with Moto for lunch and catch up with him. He was sick for the past 2 days, which is why he couldn't meet up with me. So I was somewhat relieved because I thought he was just trying to avoid me. We talked for about an hour then he had to go study. What a smart kid. After lunch, Carrie, Jared, Michael and I headed over to Tully's to meet some new contacts. I approached some guys, and got rejected by both of them. As a group, we talked about our frustrations in ministry. It was crazy because Michael was expressing his frustrations about meeting people, then literally 5 minutes later he talked to this guy next to our table and had a great conversation with him. We were all praising God for this divine appointment! It was so encouraging to see God work so fast. Once it was 4:30, we went to this international relations club meeting and met so many new people. It was a real blessing to meet so many energetic people at once. At around 7, we met up with a couple of people outside and talked for a while. I met this guy from Nara who is super interested in American Culture, so we talked about a lot of things. He's a really cool guy and understands a lot of slang words. Before I knew it, we were talking for about an hour! I asked if he wanted to meet up again for lunch next week and he was excited. It seems like God always ends the last day of the week with a bang. We're not going to campus tomorrow because we're having our midproject retreat at Nara from Friday afternoon to Saturday night. I'm excited to just relax and retreat for a day, and I'm praying that God will restore us all through this retreat.

7/7/10

In the morning, we had our weekly bible study which started off the day. We read the passage in Luke about Mary and Martha, and how we could relate to Martha about being performance driven. For me personally, I could relate very well to this passage. I really think my view of God has been affected by my physical father and how I was raised. As a kid growing up, I played a lot of basketball, and I was semi-decent. My Dad would always come to my games and be my biggest supporter, as well as my biggest critic. I knew that he always loved me, but at times it felt like I had to perform well in order for him to show his love. If I didn't play well, then he wouldn't show it as much. But if I played a great game, he would show me. In his aspect, I sometimes feel like I have to perform in glorifying God at all times. I know that God loves me regardless, but it's hard to shake that mental aspect. Especially since it was ingrained in my head as I was growing up.

The weather today was windy and rainy, so it was kind of hard to approach people because they were in a rush to get out of the rain. We had lunch with two student's from the English circle at this Italian restaurant on campus. I almost cried because I didn't have shoyu ramen for lunch, and instead I had this garlic pasta with a tad bit too much mushrooms. Don't get me wrong, it was actually kind of good, but it wasn't SHOYU RAMEN. After lunch I tried to meet up with Moto, but he couldn't hang out so I was kind of bummed. Campus time was somewhat short because we went out to this sushi place. It was 90 yen per plate, so of course we had to go! I only ate 6 plates, and 90% of them were tuna. Mmmm, tuna. After dinner, we had a bowling outreach event near the sushi place. Seven contacts came out, so praise God! It was a cool time of fellowship and having fun. We were the loudest group hands down. I love these types of events because it's a good time to talk to other people's contacts in a community setting where it's less threatening. Looking back at last year, the contacts that participated in our outreach event's were the student's that we got closest with. After about 2 games, we said our goodbye's and headed home. I was trying to think back at what happened two days ago, and it was so hard for me to remember. Since we're pretty much settled into Kyoto, it seems like we're in cruise control, and all the days are blending together. I've already learned a lot about myself on this trip, and other aspects in my walk with God.

7/6/10

Honestly, I forgot what we did in the morning today, so I'm just going to skip to campus time.
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At campus, the first thing we did (as usual) was go to the English circle for about 45 minutes. I talked to a couple of students and they told me some interesting tourist spots that I should visit. The English circle usually has an agenda of topics that we talk about in groups, so it's kind of hard to bring up the gospel. After the English meeting, we went to lunch where we met up with one of Jared's contact. It was pretty fun because we played some card games and were pretty loud. Yay for being American. We then proceeded to the cafe that we've been hanging out at for the past couple of days. I waited for one of my contacts to respond to the 4 text messages I sent to him, but he didn't respond. This marks the first time in my life where I've been stood up by a guy. But Jared's contact hung out with us the whole time and we talked about philosophy with him (since that was his major). After campus, we went back home to get ready for Mens/Women's time. To our surprise, we all went out to this Ninja themed restaurant and it was AMAZING! Everything was Ninja'd out, but our waiter was a Ninja in training. We only ordered desserts, which were delicious! But since we were doing our mens/womens time we took a long time, and they kind of got upset. It was such a cool experience to witness Ninja's serving us sweets. It kind of makes me want to walk around in my Ninja suit in America. But in all seriousness, God is doing some crazy things in Kyoto. I'm so blessed to be a part of it.

7/5/10

Cockroach's have invaded our house. I was trying to figure out what cockroach's do on this earth. And then I realized that I have nothing to do on this earth. Cockroach's are my enemy, and my foot is a cockroach's enemy. So an enemy of my enemy is my friend. But I'am my worst enemy, so the friend of my enemy is my enemy.

Anways. Today was a pretty normal day. I had to wake up at 7:20 am for a leaders meeting which was pretty normal. Then we had our quiet time, but I wanted to meet up with Jared and Vince so we talked at the laundry mat. It was a really blessed time, and I'm very thankful for that opportunity to catch up with them. After our quiet times we went straight to campus. There I spoke truth, grace, and politics with Moto--a student I met earlier. Though he didn't accept Christ today, he's willing to meet up again. In all my long, illustrious life, I never would have guessed I would ever talk politics with a Japanese student. But then again, I never thought I would drink milk tea (boo to lactose intolerance), to which Moto introduced me and which I drank...twice...today. Pray for my roommates.

Tonight we had community time with our team, where we essentially shared all of our deepest, darkest secrets, and the ideal place to be introduced to a special someone--you know, the important stuff. In all seriousness, it was cool to get to know each other better. I love our team. They make the day begin.

7/4/10

So I just realized that i wrote the wrong day for my last blog entry. One thousand apologies.

Today was Sunday, and a group of us went to this place with a thousand orange gates. It's an iconic place in Kyoto so I was super excited to go visit since I didn't see this place last year. The only thing that sucked was that we went straight to church after, so I was sweaty and tired for the 5pm english service. The English service was pretty cool, but I kept dozing off because I was a little tired. After service, our team went to Kyoto station to have dinner. I had okonomiyaki with takoyaki. It was soo goood! After dinner we caught the train back home. Even though it seemed like a quick day, it was cool to see a side of Kyoto that I've never been to. I'm pretty excited to go back to campus tomorrow, but I'm not excited about waking up tomorrow morning. Gah.

7/13/10

TODAY WAS SO RAINY!
We were able to sleep in today since it's our free day. I woke up around 10am to the sound of rain. Our team pretty much split up today because different people were meeting with different contacts. I didn't have any plans for today, so I just followed people around. I was able to do laundry at around noon, but I had to walk to the laundry place in the rain. While I was there, this old Japanese lady was there too and she started talking to me. I had no idea what she was talking about. I'm pretty sure she was asking me a question, but all I did was smile and nod. After laundry, a group of us went to Nijo then Shijo. Nijo has a huge arcade and Shijo has a lot of shopping centers. At Shijo, we went to this all you can eat dessert place called Sweets Paradise. We payed 1500 yen (about $15), and it was so totally not worth it. I'm not the biggest food critic, but this place was kind of overrated. There wasn't too many desserts, and not all of them were super good. After the disappointing desserts, we went home to just relax. It was a really relaxing day, but still kind of tiring because we had to travel through the rain. I wore my awesome man-pris the whole day, and felt totally judged. Story of my life. Even though I didn't do too much today, it was a really fun day =]

7/2/10

Okay I finally got the date right. For some reason I was always a day ahead. Oh well. A thousand apologies to the 10 people reading my blog =].

Where do I start? Today was so AMAZING! When we got to campus it was raining pretty hard, so it was kind of discouraging. We went straight to the English circle once we got to campus, and stayed there until about 1pm. The time spent there was really short because all the students had to go to class at 1. So right after that, we went to lunch. I had Shoyu Ramen, again. It was delicious (Or as the Japanese say, Derricious) After lunch we walked to a small coffee shop to do some more Solarium. We had found a table where we laid out all the pictures so it was pretty cool. We then we out to find people who would do Solarium with us. Everyone found a few people who spoke pretty good English, but I kept getting rejected. After about 30 minutes I walked back to the table. Honestly, I was emotionally beat up. I talked to Jared while we were in the bathroom expressing how I felt. I told him that I thought it was so awesome how people were meeting students that spoke pretty good English, but I haven't really met anyone besides Sato. Jared told me that I shouldn't worry, and that God will provide that with me and that I just had to be patient. I agreed, but still felt a little discouraged. We then went to get some coffee, and I had noticed a guy sitting next to our table all alone. I vividly remember asking God for the courage to approach him, then I went to talk to him. Once I approached him, I asked if spoke any English, and I was half expecting him to say "just a little", but he said "Yes." I was so shocked that once he said yes, I automatically said "Oh its okay if you only speak a little." Then I realized that he actually said "yes" and not "just a little." I then invited him over to our table. Long story short, we talked for a good 2 hours! His English was so good! Praise God for listening to my prayer and responding so quickly! During the whole conversation that I had with Motto (that's his name) I was just thanking God and giving Him so much praise for this divine appointment! He said that he was hoping to meet a native English speaker so that he could practice his English, so I asked him if he wanted to practice with me for the whole month, and he said yes! God is SO GOOD! So I got his contact information and I'll be meeting with him on Monday! GAH I'M SO HAPPY! He's such a cool and funny guy! So after the 2 hours were over, we all went to dinner. We stayed on campus because we were going to attend the English circle meeting at 6pm. At the English circle, we basically just talked with students and played pictionary. It was a really blessed time to just interact with the students. I'm still amazed at the work God did today! It's moments like today which reminds me of how real God is. People could argue that it was all a coincidence that I met Motto after expressing how I felt, but I fully and honestly believe that it was all God who planned everything out. Essentially, it's like looking at a big picture through a narrow straw. I never know what God's plan is, but I know that I can trust God in everything that happens. God is so real, and His love for me is almost impossible to grasp.

7/2/10

Ramen is the best food ever made.

Today we started off the day with worship and prayer. It was a good time to just reflect and meditate on what God has done this past week. Kerby and I went to campus a little later because we talked about my role on this team. I'll be leading a men's time and a Bible study within the next couple of weeks, so I'm kinda excited about that. While on campus, we talked to this one guy that we met at the English Circle. We did a Solarium with him, which is an Evangelism too. In Solarium, there are a bunch of random pictures, and you have the person pick 3 pictures which represents his/her life. We did it as a group and it was a pretty cool time. It's very interesting to see hear their response because most of the time it's very deep, and not just "oh I like this picture because it's pretty." Camus time went really fast today, and once we were done we headed back to the house. I shared my testimony today, and totally cried. I really didn't want to cry, but once I started talking about my Dad the floodgates just opened. I love my Dad and family so much, and I just pray that one day they'll all come to know Jesus like I know Him. Obviously it's not up to me to convict them, so all I can do is show them the same love that God show's me every single day regardless of my flaws.

I've been eating shoyu ramen for lunch every single day this week. You would think that I would get tired of eating noodles, but NO! If I were to have one last meal, I would have ramen as my course meal and the ramen broth as my drink. Instead of a bowl of rice, I'd have a smaller bowl of ramen. And for dessert, yep you guessed it, chocolate =].