Oita to Tokyo to Yokohama!
Let’s start with answered prayers 🙂 On the last newsletter, I asked for prayer for opportunities to pray for people and to share the gospel boldy, for open hearts in Tokyo, and for health for our team! We had a few weeks of no big sicknesses on our team! We’ve been bolder in praying for people and talking about Jesus! I am really proud of my team and myself for growing in these areas. So thank you for your prayers- they matter!
We ended our time in Oita with ministry, church, house church, and a monkey mountain visit. The monkeys were a little scary! I loved our nights with the YWAM Oita team and being with kids. One night, I was sitting, listening to conversations, and a young girl brought a book to me to read to her. I ended up with three kids on my lap and a Japanese man on my side (he was learning English). It was such a sweet moment and I felt like my nana because I always loved when she would read a book to me and my sister! We read books for a long time together.
One evening, we split into two smaller groups for ministry. Each group prayed about what to do. My group decided to do something with thankfulness. We made a sign that says “what are you thankful for?” We walked through the train station/mall/ movie theater for a few hours to meet people, talk with them, and have them write on the paper. One of our favorite moments of this ministry was at the movie theater where we talked to a teenage boy (and his friends). We really didn’t talk about anything deep and he was so happy- he kept saying “I am so happy, I am so happy.” This reminded me that don’t have to go deep to share the love of Jesus. You can treat a person with respect, care, and genuine interest to show the love of Jesus. I did this sign ministry in the red light district in Tijuana and it was fun to do it in another country. I saw how my confidence in conversation has grown since doing it in Mexcio. We finished out time in Oita going to the international church, a Japanese church, and giving out free hugs one last time at the train station. We loved Oita and our kind host, Grace!
Before church on Sunday morning, we had to send our big luggage to Tokyo in the mail. On Monday morning, we had a long day of train travel. We even went on a bullet train. I felt like I was in a movie – it was so fast and smooth. When we got to Tokyo, the church we stayed at was only five minutes from the station. And no hills!!! What a change. The church was a small, 5 story building. This church had the sweetest Japanese pastor and family.
Our time in Tokyo was busy and distracting, but God was there and God met me in new ways. Many missionaries told us there was a spirit of distraction in Tokyo and I didn’t know what they meant until I got there. I had to really train myself to engage with the places, people, and environments that I was in with a kingdom mindset. Otherwise, I was just another tourist. I have been praying for more faith, and this was a place that I needed to engage in faith. We did a lot of prayer walks and I started getting discouraged that “all we were doing was praying.” And then I thought, what is a better way to grow in faith than to pray. God met me here and my perspective began changing every time I prayed. One evening, we walked through this crowded tourist place and I was so amazed and distracted by all the things to see. When we walked back through it, we did a prayer walk. With just a switch in mindset, I walked the same exact path and saw things in a whole new way. I saw real people, lives, joy, needs and problems. I had a kingdom mindest. A quick cahnge in
Fun Fact: Karaoke is really big in Japan! We rented the fanciest karaoke room that I have ever seen near the red light district. (I have actually never seen a karaoke room, but this place was fancy). We worshipped in the karaoke room before going out for a prayer walk in the red light district. This red light district was a little different compared to the other ones I have been to because it is mixed in with a family entertainment area. Weird. There was a temple with a satanic snake and dragons in the middle of the district. There was also a giganitc godzilla looking down on the district. Just one big, dark place. But, prayer matters. Prayer is needed. I got a vision of the street being lit up with bright footsteps. Everywhere we stepped, there was light. We were bringing the kingdom of God to this place. We were bringing the light with our prayers. Kingdom mindset. There was one little Christian coffee shop in the district and I was really encouraged to see that! What a blessing.
There is really tall building that looks out to the city in all directions. We went up to the top floor to pray over the city. I had some encouraging art cards that I made to give out to people when I felt like it was right. An older lady smiled at me and I knew I had to give her a card. She loved it and was so excited to show her family. It was beautiful to see a very simple act of kindness change someone’s day.
We did hug ministry at the famous Shibuya crossing. We hugged people from all over the world here! When we went back a second time, we found one young Japanese man, that we hugged two days ago, holding his own “free hugs” sign by himself. Wow! It is really not common for Japanese people to show physical affection, so this was a big deal. And he was alone! We had great conversations with people here and one man gave his life to Christ! I love seeing my teammates talk to people and create relationships. I want to be as curious and genuine in my conversations as some of my teammates- they inspire me!
On Sunday (Jan 12), we went to the church service at the church we were staying at. Our team sang a worship song in English and Spanish and Connor shared a testimony. After the service, there was an evangelism semiar that I stayed for and I loved it! I was so encouraged and reminded that I am simply loving people, sharing why I trust Jesus, and invitinig them into the familly of God.
The biggest temple in Tokyo was so beautiful! We went there to do photo ministry. The day we went was special becuase it was the “Coming of Age Day.” This is a day to celebrate those becoming adults. This meant everyone was dressed up traditionally – lots of Kimonos! We comlimented people, took cool pictures of them with their traditional outfits with beautiful backgrounds, printed the photos and wrote encouraging words on the back of the photos. It was a really joyful time! This was the first time it really felt like I was “in” Japan with all the traditional things.
Free Hugs
Some days, we went to a nearby park to give free photos, play sports with people, worship, and create friendships. One afternoon, when we were worshipping in the park, I felt like the Holy Spirit was prompting me to talk to a person sitting alone at a picnic table. I had no idea what the person looked like because thier head was down with a big hood. Old? Young? Grumpy? I was going back and forth asking myself if that’s the Holy Spirit prompting me. It was quiet, clear, and peaceful. But I was convicing myself that maybe it wasn’t the Holy Spirit. My leader, William, chose me as his partner and he had us go to the person. Thankfully, he made us go because I was not brave enough. The person was a young man from China who travelled here on his own. He randomly found this park because he was bored. We played a card game with him and I was able to share about Jesus. William gave him a drawing of Jesus with no face and the boy said his friends had been having dreams of Jesus with no face. So cool! He said he was going to talk to his friends about this. We got to pray for him and show him how we pray to God. He joined our team for dinner that night and it was really beautiful to see how our team worked together and loved this friend. Everyone took turns talking with him and making him feel included. I felt like we were really united in this.
Now ( as of 1/16/25), we have been in Yokohama! We left quickly on Thursday morning to get to Yokohama early so we could go to park ministry. We traveled and jumped right into ministry. This park was giant, some of our team played soccer or basketball, some did prayer walks, some went to the skate park, and etc. For some reason, I felt like drawing. I drew a picture of a Shiba Inu becuase this is a really, really common dog breed in Japan. I felt like I wanted to draw a tan and white Shiba Inu. There was a dog park nearby with LOTS of dogs so I planned to walk and find the right colored Shiba Inu. I went for the walk to the dog park. There was probably 30 dogs. No Shiba Inu. They are usually everywhere!! I had peace though, becuase I knew I needed to draw that dog and maybe I wasn’t going to see the dog here. This was the same feeling that I had the day before with the Holy Spirit and the young guy in the park. I stopped my dog searching and joined a group playing a game in the field. When I deciced to go back to my dog search, I announced that I was leaving and then Liz, my teammate, saw my white and tan Shiba Inu walking in the middle of our field! I got my drawing and headed to the dog with Dorothee ( I also felt like I was supposed to be with her). It was a mother and daughter with the dog. The daughter was homeschooled and taught herself English and she was really good at it! They loved the drawing and the message written on the back. It was even more special that there was only one Shiba Inu that day and it was the correct color I was looking for. I shared that with them and they seemed really encouraged and loved. What are the odds that there was no Shiba Inu in this big dog park in Japan. Go God!
We will keep it at that for now! I have about 10 days left in Japan and then one week in Mexico for debrief week! Thanks for reading 🙂
