First week in the first country under our belts.

Questions thus far:

Why is God SO good?

What have we done to deserve such an amazing experience?

WHY IS JAPAN SO FAR IN THE FUTURE?

Expectations: I didn't have any in terms of what I thought life would be like - I left American soil believing that I had an open mind and that God would create something awesome for each of our months.

It turns out expectations exist even in unconscious realms of our minds and I continued to put Christian concepts in "boxes." Ministry being at the top of that list.

Having heard stories of people who had done the World Race previously, I molded the unimaginable into what their ministries looked like, or how they were described to me; thinking I would be doing God's work through children and through grunt work but loosely holding onto these ideas, really only letting them form to grasp onto some kind of understanding blah blah blah

BUT GOD

ALWAYS

EXCEEDS

ANY EXPECTATIONS 

WE CREATE

We all have places in the world that have been on our hearts for some inexplicable reason that we just YEARN to see (Or at least for the sake of this section I'll assume that about everyone ever) and Japan is mine. 

Part of my testimony revolves around Japan so, naturally, I've been waiting for this moment impatiently since April.

During our Training Camp in October, we were told that this would be our shortest stay in a country and to expect no more than a couple weeks. Cost of living here is pretty high in comparison to other parts of Southeast Asia - not compliant with our World Race budget.

God said "No way. We can do better."

So, last minute, this opportunity came up to partner with a missionary running a cafe in Ishinomaki, Miyagi in Tohoku, Japan. And we decided to trust the Lord with our funding. 

Not only are we in Japan for the full month, our entire squad of 14 + our 5 leaders were able to stay in the same location leading to what is known as All Squad month.

Right now, I'm typing this blog post in J's Cafe, the site of our main ministry as jazz plays in the background and my some of my squad sit around me doing the same.

Ishinomaki had around 3,100 deaths in the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami - this town is still in repair and holds so much promise but so much pain. 

My next blog is in the works for more on what God has been doing.

Welcome to Japan!