Patti's Highlights, thoughts, and praise.

The 2 weeks in Japan went by so quickly. On Monday, the day before we were to come home, I was talking with Matt as we made our way to do a little sightseeing in Tokyo, and we agreed that we had experienced so much that it seemed like we had been in Japan much longer than 2 weeks, and yet, it was hard to believe that already the day to return home was fast approaching. It is difficult to pick 3 highlights, but here is my attempt.

First of all, I was truly blessed to see the transformation that occured in each one of us, as we were open to be used by God and took the risk of stretching ourselves to experience and do some things that we normally wouldn't. We knew little of each other when we first got together. We grew to know more about each other as we trained and had team building times in preparation for this Mission Trip. Living together only brought us closer, we worked together like clockwork, we laughed together until there were tears (I found out what a sense of humor each one had), and we intentionally cared for each other. We saw answers to prayer that grew our faith. A surprise answer to prayer, was our accomodations. Because of circumstances with housing not coming through for one of the Missionary family that was staying at the SEND Center, we were not all able to stay together. But, on the weekend, the housing opened up for the Missionary family, so they moved out of their apt. at the SEND Center, and the 3 of us that were staying off campus was able to move in so that we were all together. God provides! And these rooms were much nicer than I dreamed of. God provides abundantly! Another transformation that I observed was that some of us came out of our shells to be more bold for Christ than we ever have been.

Secondly, the prayer walks that Richard Nakamura took us on, grew my heart to connect with the people of Japan and gave me a real burden for them. Richard gave us information on the spiritual status of Japan and gave explanations of the origin of many traditions and the strongholds that are keeping many people of Japan in bondage. I realized not just in my head, but in my heart, that I can be a part of the work that the Christian Missionaries are doing, by being committed to praying for God to make a way for the light to be seen, and that many would feel hope by experiencing the love and grace of Jesus. Committed to praying for the Missionaries and for workers to come to help them. Committed to praying for the strongholds to be broken. Committed to praying for harmony of the churches that exist in Japan. Committed to praying for the growth of the church.

Thirdly, the children that attended the VBS touched my heart. I just want to share with you about a 1st grade girl, Kei, who listened so intently to the story of the Paralyzed Man from Mark 2. When I asked the question, "When Jesus first saw the Paralyzed Man, what did he do for him?" she raised her hand up high and quietly said, "He healed his heart by forgiving him." It thrilled my heart, as I thought that this was a hard question for such a young group. But she had gotten it! Sugoi!

There are so many people to thank, who helped us to be able to communicate the gospel and share God's Word, and who gave a helping hand with the crafts and games. We could not have accomplished what we did without Richard's, Chieko's, and Jon's translations. It made it so much more fun with Alicia, Brandon, Amy, Elisabeth, and Eliott helping. Arigato! (hey--that's the extent of my Japanese--so sad, I want to work on this.)

Blessings, Patti