Making my Way Downtown

A month and a half in and I can scarcely believe it! Its been an eventful time, but as always I will give you the abridged version followed by some more detailed for those who like to read. Just a quick note to those who do take the time to respond: I do read them even if I don't always respond. Know I see and hear you and am sending all my loving hugs right back at you!

So without further ado, an update:

• I was able to register myself for Japanese classes, my first 2 week intensive set to start this upcoming Monday, June 6th! After that I will be attending Naganuma Language school for 2 years.

• We successfully had Field Forum- first Field Forum woohoo!- at a place called Okutama Bible Chalet. I had a wonderful time meeting and bonding with everyone, learning the ropes, and just simply enjoying the presence and work of God in and among the Japan teams.

• I had some successful, and not so successful adventures navigating the public transport system on my own long distance.

• I finally, FINALLY, moved into my apartment in Kiyose, Tokyo on May21st! You can find my new official address at the bottom of the page. With everything arriving, getting put up, arranged, decorated and settled, it is beginning to feel more and more like a home. So blessed for God's provision of this place (nickname to be decided), the things provided in it, and for the small dedication we had for it to God's Kingdom.

• BIG praise report: The Nelsons' arrived (though not quite in the timing they had hoped for due to covid) well and in good spirits. The Kanto region workers were able to celebrate and greet them together before setting them off to Sendai!

• I have been able to visit and revisit a few more churches to get a greater idea of the climate and relationships of this region.

• I was officially assigned to a home church for the duration of my two years of language study- Kawaguchi Church, filled with wonderful people!

• Finally God really spoke to me during our time out at Field Forum. More on that below!

Some Prayer Requests:

• Pray for a good start to my language study on June 6th! For my brain to be able to soak it all in and learn what I need to, retain it, and put it to good practice.

• Please Continue to pray for the Nelsons as they take their time to adjust to Japan, learn the language, get their house set up along with all of their odds and ends.

• Prayers for getting all the final pieces in place before diving into study.

• Pray for friendships to be made at school, in my community, at church or wherever God would have me. I have friends waiting for me in the future as I am waiting to meet them!

• As always, pray for the hearts of the Japanese and God to be preparing them for his work. God will do some mighty work here. He hasn't planted workers and seeds here for decades without cause and reason!

A special Thanks!

For those who are faithfully giving or have given to MyMinistry over the past year and well beyond- Thank you. Being on the ground here, it has allowed me to get the things I need to live off of, buy food, travel here and there, set up a home for the first time, put all the odds and ends together, have an apartment, have schooling lined up and unworried about how things will get paid or work out, visit churches, and in the future more yet to come. God's call to work through you in this way has helped to lay a part of my foundation here in Japan and I am ever and always grateful. So I wanted to take some extra space and time to give you a shout out, a deep bow, and honor you for listening to God's work through you. Thank you!

Story Time!

So this past month has been hard to accurately sum up with everything being new and exciting. There have been trips downtown, Field Forum, meeting so many new people, moving into my apartment, buying more things I forgot and then realizing that I also need some other everyday item, preparing for language school and putting what Japanese I already have into practice. I am sure I am forgetting some big things, but what I can summarize is that he has kept me in the waiting, but it hasn't been without a plethora of things to do or get done. I have regularly gotten to enjoy exploring the city with some nearby Alliance Fam: Hazel and Don, Julie Harris her friend (now mine as well hehehe) Cathy, the Kindervarters, the Nelsons, Rachel, and all on my own. It has been a riot getting adjusted to some things that have become quite normal for some but are yet foreign to me. The advanced welcoming committee of women at field forum decided to celebrate together by going to the Onsen (Public natural spring baths). It is quite a place to get to know someone, but now I absolutely love it. It was a fairly quick adjustment for me and could hardly say no to the opportunity of joining Julie and Cathy for another Onsen trip thereafter.

On the weekly I have been able to make a trip downtown, learn how to navigate the trains, be on time one time and incredibly late the next due to mistakes on my part in directions. These trips have varied from taking a language placement test, to visiting the Evangeline and David Kindervarter in their ministries, to meeting up with Hazel and the Nelsons to explore Odaiba, to going to church in various places and make a successful return trip. It has been a pretty steep learning curve as my phone connection was out of service for over a week at one point so I had to go with God's good grace and the confidence that those who have gone before me survived even without google maps so I could too (newfound enlightenment has been achieved with how spoiled we are). My bravery cost me only 2 points of getting lost or on the wrong bus, both times ending in torrential downpours. It was quite humorous, but these little exploration and navigation challenges led me to some interesting encounters with a few random people: one woman was trying to convert me to a rather militant sect of Buddhism at the higashitokorozawa station. She was quite adamant to take me to her "church" but I had places to be, but we did maintain an interesting talk for a few minutes. Another time I bit the stairs at a park and this elder came up to see if I was okay only to proceed to try and sell me her wares. I caved. If anyone is in need of a paper origami girl, I have 3. She called it her "lucky day to meet me" and we chatted for a good long while, or at least, I sloppily chatted while she kept patiently playing the guessing game with half of the things I was trying to say. I can't wait for the day when I have the words to tell her it wasn't just a "lucky" day.

Intermittent with these larger adventures, I have had my time of small ones. I had my first flat tire riding around on my bike after taking a curb. Flat tires are a punk (pun intended you see as in Japanese a flat tire is "Panku" short for "puncture" I believe). With that I learned how to get it fixed fairly quickly. Another great outing was no farther than the next apartment over. I learned it is common courtesy to bring your neighbors an "aisatsu", a "nice to meet you" gift of greetings. Rachel Schaeffer accompanied me on this challenge and coached me the whole way through from what I needed to say, to how to say it right and present them their gift. It was quite a cute moment as she kept reminding me of the steps in front of my new neighbors who seemed quite amused as we went along. I have yet to meet my other neighbor as no good time has been a time to knock on their door with someone home as of yet, but I am determined. I will find them and deliver an aisatsu if it kills me (not to be dramatic, but I am taking this as a personal challenge at this point).

Life has been filled with some wild and fun experiences this past month, but it was also been filled with refreshment. Simply being at field forum allowed me to reunite to see the Kropps for the first time since I had come to Japan in 2014 as an intern. It was food for my soul to see them again and see how much their kids had grown up! Between old friends and new, it was good to bond with everyone there and then some. I had a wonderful chat with one of the staff there, a man named Kotani-san who shared his life story with me during one of out quiet times and share a part of mine. It was the perfect time to really dive in and get to learn about the field, the teams therein, and how everybody functions together and individually. Field forum seemed to be a wonderful time of refreshment for everyone there, new and seasoned.

As for this newbie, God really took the time to speak to me clearly at Field Forum. It seems odd to say but it was almost like a reignition of myself, as if he had washed a part of my mind that had simply been burnt out after all this waiting. Sure, a big part of me wanted to just hit the ground running, join in a language class as fast as possible, or in the words of my family "Get back to work" (all jokes intended) but there was something sweet in the patience and Christ wasn't about to let me miss it: his still small voice, his heart for the nations in the nightly prayer gatherings, his yolk easy, his burden made light, and suddenly there was that reminder coming back to hit me yet again: the call to abide in him. It seems so counterintuitive sometimes. We all want to get to work for God's Kingdom, yet it is the King himself who put the apostles in an airBnB for a month (the upper room) telling them to wait on the Holy Spirit to fill them before HIS work can begin. That was the reminder: abide in me, and I in you. Through Christ I am given the means to complete the tasks set before me. Not on my own. So... he makes me wait, though he does very well to spare me any boredom in the meanwhile, that is for sure!

And finally, as promised, my address:

First in English, then in Japanese. You may need to write the Japanese for the building name either way. (El Fare B) (エル　。ファーレ　B）

204-0021

Tokyo-to, Kiyose-Shi, Nakakiyoto

5-54-1 , El Fare B 302

204-0021

東京都、清瀬市、中清戸

5丁目54-1 エル．ファーレB 302

Love you all my darlings~

Big hugs!

J