Do WORK!

FINALLY Saturday!!! free day ^___^ My first week here was the longest week of my life. But this week went by in a blink of an eye! At the same time, it's only been 2 weeks here so far. I am finally adjusting to living in Japan! I know my all time favorite phrases to get me around: 

"Shisukani shinasai"=shut up
"Toilet doko desu ka?"= where is the bathroom?
"Itgu"= let's go
"Doko ni iku no?"= where are we going?
"Onaka suita"= I'm hungry
 "Sotski"=liar
 "Tsukareta"=I'm tired
 "Wakaranai"= I don't know
 "Daijobu?"= are you okay?

Ok honestly, I looked back at my notes for some words, but I have improved way more than the 1st day!!! Week 2 was definitely more challenging than the first. I am being worked here! Even though it's exhausting sometimes, I already feel God chiseling away my fatty laziness and making me fit for His kingdom. Waking up for morning prayer and staying awake for the whole thing has been a waging war with my flesh. Through this whole process, I have realized more and more of my lack of discipline back at home. I read the Bible or prayed whenever it was convenient and comfortable. Sometimes, I wouldn't set aside any time for the Lord.
It hit me this past Wednesday when I went over a lesson called, "Priorities in Life!", in a disciple book with Justin, Chelsea, and Mire.

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him tdeny himself and utake up his cross vdaily and follow me.

In Luke 9:23, Jesus commanded that anyone who wanted to be His disciple must sacrifice all the selfish desires of himself and take up his cross daily. The cross back in Jesus time meant sacrifice or death. Taking up our cross daily simply means that we must DIE to ourselves every single day. We give our whole lives to God. We make Him a priority. How? We seek Him daily through reading His Word and praying. We set aside a time for the Lord because He's worth it. We commit to our responsibilities with joy because it's all for the glory of God. I've heard this numerous of times. "Read the Bible and pray~!" And I'm pretty sure many of you already know wassup. But how many of us actually DO it every day AND with the right heart? If we want to be followers of Christ, we MUST read His Word and pray daily. Through the Word and prayer, we are able to lift up our burdens and selfish desires to God, dying to ourselves and living for Christ. I know a lot of us get lazy doing it, but without it, it's impossible to be a follower of Christ.

I have been adjusting to sleeping and waking up early almost every day of the week to spend time with the Lord, but my heart sometimes isn't in the right place. Yesterday was the most tired I have been to morning prayer. I was even knocking out while we were singing worship songs standing up O__O. The one thing on my mind: CAN'T WAIT TILL 8 AM TO FINISH AND GO SLEEP! And also, yesterday was the most difficult day of ministry. I just wanted to eat, then go back home. I was supposed to meet up with 2 girls I met last week at Kandai, but I failed miserably. I searched for them "everywhere", then I realized I lost my small make up bag, so I ran miles to find it. FAILED, so I came back, finally found the girls, but it was time for them to go to class. Little did I know that they were eating RIGht In FrONT OF US the WHOLE time, but I was so oblivious!!!! AND I found my bag in my back pack ^___^' Why did I have such a clumsy day yesterday? b/c I am clumsy and my heart was in the wrong place. It's easy to get distracted here. Even though there's a lot of work to do, I'm living so comfortably with internet access, great food, air conditioning-- Japan's got it all. My experiences in the mission field have only been in 3rd world countries where we labor and toil all day, building houses and getting dirty. At times, I forget I'm on a mission trip. But this morning I went into deep thought and reminded myself that we're ALL on a mission. Pastor Katsuya was born and raised in Japan, but he is also on a mission here in Japan- to win souls for God's kingdom. Japan needs Jesus. We are all called to make disciples. I pray that I would work my butt off and strive for this mission every day.

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Pastor Katsuya's mother gave me a birthday present!! :') SO sweeet of her!!! A kimono, baggy , card, and $$!!!! So thankful :) 

CHURCH FOOD IS BOMB!!!! It's a tomato based sauce similar to curry with onions and beef ^___^

I babysat on Sunday. This is Luna! SHe's 1/2 Brazilian 1/2 Japanese. She usually has no expression, but I got her to smile hehe she's adorable!!!




This is Motohi!!! He's the cutest little boy ever. Dancing to Gee by SNSD <3

OTAH....did it again

LOL presents I found on my phone

Masahiro's turn...

Some J-House people cooked yakisoba for my birthday :') we had a FEAST!!!

Shoko surprised me and brought me so many goodies!! I told her I needed some oatmeal and moisturizer, so she bought all these things for me :') so thoughtful of her!

Kimi-chan!! My ev partnaaa :)

LOL Masamune, one of our SPEAK students knits a scarf during our session. so cute hahahah 

Stephen Kim.

Mimi invited us to eat dinner at her place!!! So sweet of her <3

Mimi is AMAZING! She is fluent in Japanese and has such a beautiful heart! 

Chelsea~ us noobies stickin' together

Ran into Mr. KFC on the way lifesize lolz

On our way to Kongaku again~ Kimiko<3


This is how we do ministry. lol Nia is bold.

Babysitting again for Wednesday Power Worship! But I had it so easy. Pastor Katsuya's crazy kids knocked out during worship hahaha

HAHA shoko slept over again and we did face masks...heh we so kawai

Mina is SOO cute I can't believe she's not married yet. She bought me a belated birthday present :')

Ministry at Kandai. We met Thomas and Satoshi yesterday! They were so funny and cute!!! They promised to come to J-House so hope to see them more often :)