Our team has been in South Korea for the last week at CM2007. It has been a great and very busy time. My computer died mid week and we didn't have Internet connection at the hotel. I hope to be able to write more now that we are at a new hotel and we have access to the Internet.

I am excited that in 2 days I will be back in the United States! It has been such an amazing summer. I can't wait to have more time to sit down and add more to these blogs! Thank you for taking the time to read them... there is more to come!

:)

Oh... the website for CM2007 is www.cm2007.net

Rikkyo

So tomorrow.. well in 11 hours my team will be on Rikkyo for the last time. It is a little saddening but exciting at the same time. Last week we were asked not to return to the campus. Apparently the University's administration called JCCC (Japan Campus Crusade for Christ) and requested that we no longer held our lunch meetings. Our team is taking this as a good sign of the work the Lord is doing at Rikkyo. Two weeks ago our team saw six students pray to receive Christ in one day!!! I look forward to seeing what tomorrow has in store!

Tonight after women's time I was able to try on a beautiful kimono. All of the ladies looked so beautiful and amazing! There is a great story behind the kimonos and the incredible woman who lent them to us. When I get all the details about it I will be sure to post them.

Bible Study - Who is John?

Yesterday at Sophia I was able to have lunch with Maria and some of my favorite girls! :) After lunch I had a Bible study with Nami. She is most genuine and loving person I know in Japan. I met Nami at an English lunch the second week we were here. Her Aunt is a Catholic nun and she is really interested in religion. I was feeling so sick the day that I met her. I didn't want to be at school that day and I didn't want to take the time to get to know her. Luckily, I did and she is amazing! God allows perfection in our weakness and that day I was able to share the Good News with Nami. Praise the Lord! I now have a new sister in Christ! :) She was so eager to say the prayer, talk to God, and become a Christian. I actually doubted her interest and questioned if she was sure that was what she wanted four times before I prayed with her. Nami is our 'woman at the well' and inspiration to our team. She continues to ask questions about the Bible and its meaning. She also brings new friends with her every time we meet. She is a great friend and a huge blessing in my life.

We are currently studying the book of John. Yesterday I asked her to read the first chapter and then we would talk about it. I was reading along side her in my Bible, finished, looked over and found her already in chapter three! She loves reading. Please pray that Nami would continue to have such an incredible desire to know the Lord.

During our Bible study Nami asked me who John was. She knew that he wasn't Christ - in fact she point to the scripture where it was stated that he wasn't Christ. So her question then to me was: "John is not Christ. If he is not Christ then who is he?" Her innocence is so sincere and touching. I am looking forward to meeting her again for lunch and studying John 1-5.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

In His Love,
Sarah

A Month Ago...

So it was only a month ago when I was sitting in Irvine, California wondering if I was going to get on the plane bound for Japan. I was $2,500.00 short of my support goal the day before we left. To make the day better it was my 24th birthday. Yep, my golden birthday. I was turning 24 on the 24th. Shortly after lunch I was called into a meeting where we discussed the reality in the possibility of not going on the trip.

It was hard to face this reality but I knew that if I was meant to go on the trip then support would come in. I am the type of person who has everything planned far in advance. So not knowing with mere hours till take off was personal test. Within the hour following my meeting God provided $1,500 from friends and their family. I was able to leave a personal check for the remaining $1,000.00 and jump on a plane to Japan! Amazing! Yes, I am still raising support. My Grandma and her friends are collecting cans to help with the support amount. They are such an amazing blessing to me! So if you know anyone who would like to support my mission project please let me know. You could also send your cans to my Grandma! ;)

Our team arrived to briefing short $15,000.00 of support goal. In a matter of three days we were able to raise the need amount! God is so good!!

Thank you for your prayers and support! You are in my heart and prayers!

Mid Project Retreat

Well its been awhile since my last post... we have been busy. We took the weekend off and went on a vacation! It was so nice! Now that we are back at the apartment it feels as though we live here. I live in Tokyo! Wow!

I plan on posting more soon... :) Please keep us in your prayers. Thank you! I miss you!

New Hope

On Sunday we went to New Hope International Fellowship Tokyo which is located down the street from the ochanomizu station. The church is a church plant from Hawaii. It seems to be doing really well here in Tokyo. They have three centers, two services, and a Christian bookstore. The place is always crowded but it is on the small side. There seems to be about 150 people at the service we attend. The crowd seems to be spilt between the Japanese and missionaries. The entire service including worship is in English and Japanese. I love the worship! It is amazing to attempt singing songs I know in another language. It was also really moving to hear Nami singing next to me!

This past Sunday’s message was that of “yearning to be connected” which was given based on Psalm 42. The three main points are:

1. Remember how the good times with God were.
2. Remember specific experiences of God’s intervention in your life.
3. Choose to praise God in spite the feelings of depression.

One of the things that was said that I liked was “you tend forget the moments worth remembering and remember the moments that should be forgotten.” They were talking about dwelling on negatives thoughts and also how people tend to notice the ‘absence’ of God rather the times when He has clearly provided.

So that was Church! :) Nami and her friend Yuria came with me. It was awesome. It was their first time to church!!! :) Nami is the new believer from last week that I was able to share with. I haven’t been able to share with Yuria but I hope to tomorrow when we have lunch. After church a large group of us (well in Japan it is large… myself, Aya, Megan, Nami, Yuria, Maria, David, and two guys from New Hope) went to get lunch. We found this amazing Hawaiian restaurant!!! It was the most expensive hamburger of my life but it was worth every yen! :)

Sophia... homework please!

Sophia, Sophia...

Sophia is my favorite campus! Well I can't really say that since I do love my time spent on Rikkyo. So with that it is currently a tie between the two campuses. :) Most of my time is spent at Sophia University and most of that time is spent in the cafeteria or at English lunches eating. I find myself always eating and talking... I think it is great! The girls at Sophia are so friendly. They love to take goofy pictures and talk about pretty much any and every thing.

The campus at Sophia is rather small and lacks any grass area. The campus was founded on Catholic beliefs and has a chapel located in the heart of campus. (Fun fact: Both Rikkyo and Sophia have chapels located on campus.) I have included the links to both Universities if you would like to find out more information. The websites contain a lot of great information... don't worry it is in English. :)

So tomorrow (Monday) we are back on campus at Sophia. It should be a great day! We have a couple of lunch dates planned and then in the afternoon we are visiting an English class. The class is English Adv. 2 which is the highest level of English offered. It is that class that compares Narnia to the Bible. It is an intense course! We were able to go last week and meet the students. Their homework for the week was to prepare questions for us when we return tomorrow. Here are just some of the sample questions:

• How does God communicate with us through the Bible? Can you give any examples from your personal experiences?
• The Bible challenges us to rely on God's wisdom rather than ours. Why is that? How has the Bible helped you in your decision-making?
• Why did God send His Son into the World?
• How can a conscientious person become a follower of Christ, when the history of Christianity seems to be stained by sin, wars, excesses and divisions?
• How can one get to know God personally?
• Religion gives me an impression of many rules and limits of personal freedoms. Is Christianity any different? How?

So umm yeah... WOW! Those are just some of the questions. Part of me can't wait to see how the class will go and which questions will be asked but the other part of me is really nervous.

Please pray that my team would be able to answer these questions in Truth and that we have the confidence to openly discuss all answers in the classroom setting. Also please pray for the students that they would be eager and willing to hear what we have to say.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. I miss you and love you. You are in my prayers! :)

Sharing the Love...

So on Tuesday nights we have Men's' and Women's' time. It is something that I look forward to every week. I love being with all the girls! We had just finished up at the most precious coffee shop (it is literally called precious coffee moments) and returned to our apartments to find gifts left from the guys.

During the Men's' and Women's' time the guys made each of the ladies acrostics and left them with a bouquet of flowers. It was so thoughtful! The guys were able to break in the window of Kristin, Christina, Heather and Maria's room to leave them inside. Luckily for our apartment we don't have a front window, so ours were left besides the door.

We then decided to thank the guys by buying them Hi-chew (yummy candy) and ice cream. Then in super stealth style (not at all) we went to each of the guys apartments. We had so much fun!

I am so blessed by each and every member of this team!

Please keep us in your prayers!

I hope to post many more stories later on today!

The Bookstore

Team 2 at the bookstore, Sophia University

Here's the team at the bookstore. We went to buy the Chronicles of Narnia for an English class we were visiting this afternoon.

The class is studying the parallels between Naria and the Bible! It is an awesome class! A little intense for English as a second lanuage... heck it is a little intense for me! It was awesome! We were sitting in classroom with 35 other students in Japan learning about the Truth of creation! Wow... can you believe it? On a campus where we have to be some what hush-hush about Bible Studies and Christian groups we could have a class that studies the Bible openly! :) Praise the Lord!

Team Players

Meet the team...

Sorry I didn't get the chance to post this earlier.

Currently I am in Japan with 16 amazing people. We were all brought together to share the truth about Jesus to the students of Japan. The team is made up of 2 leaders and 15 students. The students are broken down in to three groups. Each group is responsible for two universities. So in total we have been assigned to six different campuses of the 170 in Tokyo! Our campuses are Sophia, Rikkyo, Waseda, Gakshuin, Tokyo, and Toyo. Each person is serving in a role of leadership for the summer in addition to their group.

I am leading a group along side Steve to Sophia and Rikkyo. We haven't been able to go on campus at Rikkyo due to a campus closure, the result of a measles outbreak. I look forward to posting more later about our campuses!

Please keep us in your prayers and thank for your continued support!

Raised Voices

So apparently last night our neighbors didn't appreciate our time of worship! We were down stairs in the family room singing when there was a knock at the door. Two police officers nicely (well I think it was nicely... everything was in Japanese... but it sounded nice) requested a passport. Gen said they were shocked when they heard that there was 17 people in the one apartment! Steve gave them his passport and we were issued a noise violation. Steve was smiling from ear to ear... he was so excited to be written up!

So with voice raised we sung with joy to Jesus... until the police came... then we prayed :)

One week down

One week down and five to go! It was so nice to have a Saturday off. A small group of us went to the palace and then on a river boat cruise. In all I took some 400 photos! I will have to post the link so everyone can look at them!

This afternoon we went to a Church service at New Hope. It was so amazing to sing worship in Japanese. (the words were posted so we could attempt at singing along) :) It was truly amazing. I couldn't stop smiling as I looked around the room at everyone. God is so good! He has continued to bless my team. :)

I look forward to writing more and giving more details about the trip. I am off to cook dinner... for the first time in our apartment!

Thank you to everyone who continues to support us and keep us in their prayers! Thank you!

Welcome

Welcome to Tokyo, please leave your shoes at the door! :) Guess which pair are mine! 17 pairs of shoes at the door make one nice pile!

We have 5 amazing apartments here in Koenji. Our is on the third floor. I am rooming with Cherie and Megan. It is so great! Our apartment has so much room! It is over ten times bigger than the apartment I stayed in during spring break! I am still getting use to sleeping on the floor... I miss my bed back home. We have two rooms, a kitchen, dining area, bathroom and shower room. It is really cute and feels like home to us.

Tomorrow I plan on exploring Koenji. Hopefully I will find a place to do some laundry. :)

Good night to everyone! I miss you and I am thinking about you!

Japan... One week down

Tomorrow will make one week that our team has been in Japan. It feels as though it has been so much longer! Each day feels like one week to me. We have so much going on each day that at times it can be over whelming!... but with that being said I should also mention that I love it here!

I have been on the Sophia University campus every day this week. I love the school... it helps that they have the same colors as USC :) It is a really small campus located in yotsuya which is about 20 minutes from our apartment. We were supposed to be on Rikkyo University's campus this week but the school was closed due to an outbreak of measles! A little crazy if you ask me! The girls at our school are the nicest girls I have ever met. They are all so cute and welcoming. I smile every time I see them!

Well I am off to the last meeting of the night! Tomorrow is a free day... I hope to post more then!

Most importantly... I am here... in Japan that is... and I am safe! :)
Although my favorite niece and nephew couldnt fit with all my stuff...

The End of Times...

So Wednesday night there was a huge and I mean huge storm moving through Austin! Apparently the city my parents live in was colored purple on the weather map... I guess this is a big deal and somehow shows just how intense the storm was. I, however missed most of the storm. It hard started to rain when I left the house and when I returned the storm was just ending.

The lightening though!!! Oh my!!! It was crazy! So cool. I don't think I have ever seen anything like it before. The entire sky lit up with each flash!!! Cars actually stopped because of the brightness and then continued driving! Of course... it was the one night that I left my camera at home. I would have had such amazing photos... but for now you will just have to take my word on it... at least till the next storm comes! :)

I went to check out a new small group Bible study which is why I missed the storm. While the high powered winds and lightening were raging on outside I was indoors discussing the end of times and the book of Revelations. I know... what a topic to start in on your first time at small group! In all honesty... I really enjoyed it and had a good time (still I'm a little bummed that I miss the light show). I thought of Shyla a lot and the 'left behind' series. It was just two nights before my small group that Shyla and I were talking about sermons on the book of Revelations. I love how everything always works out and comes together! I still miss my group from 'SC - they just can't be replaced but I am glad that there numerous groups here in Texas to check out. I'm going to go check out the singles group for Hill Country Bible on Sunday night... that should be fun... there has to be others who are my age and not married... I am determined to find them!

Support and God moments

It has only been five days since I flew back to Los Angeles from Texas and it that short amount of time I feel as though my life as been on a roller coaster. No, it isn't necessarily bad... just unexpected.

Support for my mission trip this summer has started to come in! :) Slowly but surely. For awhile I felt as though I wasn't meant to be on the team going to Japan. I hadn't received any support. But then I got an email and a call telling me that support was on the way. Praise the Lord! I still feel overwhelmed with the amount I still need to raise... but at least there is a start! While I was on the plane home I sat next to this great guy. He is looking to be a youth pastor and was visiting the church that I was visiting as well... small world? I don't think so! God is so good and has such great plans! (The key is letting Him be in control!) Anyways... as we left the plane the young man handed me a hundred dollar bill to be used for my trip for Japan!!! Can you believe that? I was speechless! Wow! It was the first support I had received, truly received! God works in ways you never even imagine and for that as well as many other reasons I am so thankful! Thank you to everyone who continues to support my summer project. I still have a lot to go but I know that if I am meant to be there than God will continue to provide the means.

I feel as though I have been on an emotional roller coaster. I don't really want to say goodbye to Carlsbad and yet at the same time I am excited to be moving to Texas. There were people and things still in California that I thought I was no longer attached to... but I am finding out that I still am - at least a small part of my heart is. Moving kinda sucks and then it doesn't... what ride!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

I wrote this earlier... but I didnt want to pay for the connection at the airport...

Happy Birthday Dad!

What a great day so far! I was late leaving for the airport plus I had to stop to get my Dad’s present. I know… you’re thinking there is nothing like waiting till the last minute… but in my defense I was getting him Del Taco (they don’t have them in Texas) and that is a gift that is much better when it is purchased close to the time of consumption! So all three suitcases and a curbside check-in later I find myself with plenty of time to kill at the LAX airport. That is a good thing considering they changed our gate and it looks like it will be changing again soon.

Well last night was awesome! I went to the Campus Crusade for Christ meeting CRU 727. Last night was testimony night and three students shared how God is working in their lives. It was so cool to see how each speaker had a different story yet similar struggles – trusting God and giving it all to him! I think for some time I kept hearing testimonies where the person speaking had experienced struggles and had come to God and now their life was better for it. It appeared that was the end of the story and all that they would share – this pattern of it was hard and ugly but then I trusted God and now all is better. Is that the truth?Yes, it is better but is all better? I never connected with that. Yes, it was bad and ugly and now I have turned to God – but it is in no way all better. It is still hard for me. Moments in my life are still ugly (I know and trust that they will give way to something better). My life is the whole rose - thorns and all. I still struggle with completely trusting God. Last night it was a relief to hear that I am not alone in my imperfections. I was to a point where I felt like people kept mentioning to me that all my experiences, the hurts and joys, would add to my testimony and no offense I don’t want to wait to tell it I want to tell it now. I know that there is so much room for growth in my life and I am just thankful that I have been given this chance.

Oh another GREAT note!!! My friend Shyla was offered a Stint position in Japan for next year! I am so excited for her! I can’t wait to hear all that Japan has to offer her and all that she has to offer Japan. I think that I am going to hide things in Japan for her to find! Umm that might prove to be difficult but fun none the less! I am so happy for her and extremely thankful for her friendship.

People watching at the airport is incredibly interesting. There are so many differences among the crowd! It reminds me of the opening scene of Love Actually. Okay Boarding Call… I’m leaving on a jet plane…

Firsts

Okay... so I now have a blog! I thought about re-opening my myspace account and then thought twice... instead I have this! With all of the change happening in my life I felt a good way of keeping in contact and letting people know what was going on is through this blog!

So here is my first post :)

I am currently at USC and I fly out to Texas for my Dad's birthday tomorrow. It should be a lot of fun. My Grandparents are also back visiting and my cousin will be coming down from Dallas. I can't wait to see everyone.

As for other news... I am in the process of raising support for my trip to Japan this summer with Campus Crusade for Christ! If you would like to offer support just let me know. I am excited to see how it will all work out. :)

Okay... over and out!