Week #6

The school year is all finished up at CCSI! Though it was always incredibly busy, I'll really miss seeing all the students every day. Though I don't know what opportunities will open up for me in the future, I feel more and more convinced that I want to return to Japan in the following years.
  With the last week of school came spirit week, or in this case, "Holy Spirit Week." Along with games and activities in the afternoon, we held a devo after lunch and memorized verses pertaining to the Holy Spirit and its work in our lives. I was put in charge of picking the memory verses and lead one of the devotions, which I found very enjoyable. I also lead the morning devotional a few days earlier on the topic of our Identity in Christ.
  Now we interns have about a week of rest and planning time before jumping on the coming English camps. We will be holding one of them at Honda Chapel (the church next to the school), and for the other, we will be traveling to Nagoya for three days.

Thank you for all your prayers. I see more and more clearly how God is revealing my (frequent) moments of selfishness and sin. Where I previously felt helpless to fight against these sins I am now comforted as I remember God's strength poured into me through your prayers. As for learning Japanese, I feel that in the past week I have made noticeable progress in the ability to practice with people. The biggest hurdle for me is fear of making mistakes. But this fear is really just a hidden form of pride and I won't make any progress if I am never willing to make mistakes and learn from them. I am really encouraged however when I interact with the Japanese people in the church who are avidly learning English. They aren't hindered by embarrassment and learn by practicing and making mistakes. I'd appreciate prayer for more confidence and a greater drive to study and practice myself.

Here are some things I'd appreciate prayer for this week:

1) The drive to pray
2) The drive to practice Japanese
3) God's strength to serve my teammates better
4) That I would savor my time here
5) That I would have the opportunity to come back

I am sincerely thankful for your prayers. God is teaching me more and more the power of prayer.


Park gnomes...?


Spirit week day #2: Harry Potter themed 






Memory verses in English and Japanese 




Last day of school teacher's lunch 









Unimo mall with friends 





Babysitting/trying on kimono/eating amazing homemade Japanese food for free 


Making 餃子 "gyōza," (fried crescent-shaped dumplings stuffed with minced meat and veggies) (best food I've ever put in my mouth) 




Trying on kimono for the first time 











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 4 & 5

Image
I'm tempted to make an excuse for being so late in writing another update... Busyness likely played a part, but laziness was the root. I apologize for taking so long!  The past two weeks have been packed with events as the school year is wrapping up here at CCSI. I am trying to deny the fact that my time here is already more than half way up.  These past two weeks have had plenty of ups and downs. Thankfully, more ups than downs, and God is training my stubborn heart through the downs. :)  I've especially enjoyed the privilege of getting to participate in the Alive International church (held at the chapel next to the school) praise band for the past couple weeks. It's  amazing to play alongside incredibly talented musicians, but even more so to see a  multicultural family united in worshipping God. The community I've witnessed in CCSI and the churches that meet at Honda is really unique and beautiful; a sanctuary in a place I might otherwise feel isolated. I'm s...
Read more

Back in the States!

Image
Back in the States! Note: I would like to apologize for not posting the last several weeks of my internship. I kinda fell off the wagon as things got really busy the last couple weeks. I just arrived safely home yesterday back in D.C. and reconnected with family in Annapolis.  7/28/17 I am now on the very last stretch of my internship here. I am astounded at how fast it's gone by. I return to Chiba today and on Monday my internship will officially end, though I will be spending a week with friends before leaving the country.   Right now, I am gearing up for the last of four days serving in Nagoya. The team here is a group of amazingly talented people who are all using their gifts to serve the purpose of the gospel. We are helping them wrap up their annual music/vbs camp called Kids Gospel. I love this style of ministry as it's a great way to expose kids to the gospel for the first time and connect families to the church. Every day the campers have been practic...
Read more