Day 8: Saturday

Breakfast was a good kickstart to the rest of the day: Joanna whipped up some fabulous French toast and I even snagged a nap between breakfast and departure. We went back to the Yogen (Prophecy) Cafe and did an all day seminar of sorts. I taught in the first one on Treasure Hunts and after a break, we had a second session and I did a prophetic art piece. We had a lovely dinner of Japanese pizza (which is wayyy different than American pizza but great in its own way). One had corn and mustard on it, but somehow was delicious!!

After dinner, we went out to Shibuya (a major downtown shopping area, the place that is usually in movies filmed in/about Tokyo) and had our own treasure hunts. One of the team saw a back healing! Another ministered to a girl who was depressed because of conflict with her mother. That team also had two members that separately got the word for "red dreadlocks" (which is crazy random enough) and then found him! He got a hug and therefore a shock. (The Japanese are not a very affectionate people for the most part). Two of the girls stayed back for intercession and they found a treasure and got to pray for her connections in Tokyo; she was a believer. My team activated a few Japanese in the concept of treasure hunt and we approached four or five people in our hour of time.

Tomorrow is our last day for ministry and our team received a lot of invitations for Sunday morning. We are splitting into three groups and then will meet up for a barbecue in the afternoon with a family that is one of our main contacts. Joanna and I are stoked to go with Donna and Dea back to Tokyo Bible Church where we got to hang with the children on Wednesday. Monday will be our shopping day and then Tuesday we head out. My emotions are mixed; I very much miss home (my pillow especially) yet the thought of leaving this nation is difficult too. I just have to trust that Jesus will use my little seeds to His great purpose.

Tokyo: Days 1 & 2

So we flew out of Redding at 9 am Pacific time on Saturday, April 5th and here in Japan it's now 9:20pm on Sunday, April 6th. That means I've been up for almost forty hours, minus a few power naps, ranging from 5-45 minutes. I'm about to go crash and attempt to get at least 11 hours sleep, but I had to say "konnichiwa" and Japan is amazing! We got here just before sunset and I caught a glimpse of the beautiful cherry blossoms! We're catching the tail-end of the season, but just enough to enjoy it thoroughly.

We had a couple hour layover in San Francisco so I made a few quick phone calls before we had a team-prophecy session. The plane ride was long, but I made the most of the 10.5 hours and worked on my teaching on prophecy, began reading for my next homework-book, slept some, and watched a bit of the sequel to National Treasure. Once we landed in Tokyo-Narita Airport, I got my first passport stamp, discovered bidets in the bathroom, and coddled little Nava (Donn and Dia's year-old daughter) as she gazed with her wide, sleepy blue-eyes at the foreign surroundings. I've taken a few pictures and I'll attempt to share some tomorrow (we'll see what time looks like). After an hour-and-a-half train ride, we took a ten minute walk to our hostel, dropped our stuff, and ran for a bite of food at the local YWAM base. The rice-mix was great, but I have to admit the seaweed was a bit much.

Well, I'm off for a bit of sleep!
祝福 (Blessings!)