'Manda's Adventure in Japan!: April 2009

Matthew 9 verses 35 through 38 says,

"Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

God is doing things constantly. He is sending people out, and people are obeying.
God is sending me out too, and i ask for your prayers. There is an opportunity to head out to Daejeon, in South Korea (which the school just visited last week) to help out at the church there.
There are also opportunities to go to mainland Japan and minister, but i am not 100% certain yet where God wants me. But i think it is in Korea, so i am taking a step towards that door.
Please pray:
-To be in tune with His Spirit
-For clear guidance on where to go
-for safety, and diligence in serving Him and living for Him
-That all exspenses for school next semester (my last one!) and tickets would be paid (which they will, God is rich)
-for my family, to be safe and drawn closer to Jesus while i am gone

I can feel your prayers guys, they are heard. Do not be discouraged, God is in control.
God is good, and is doing many, great and good things. Praise Him.

-'manda (forever grateful of your prayers)

This past weekend, we went on our camping trip to Tonaki, the island off the coast of Okinawa, Japan. We got back all safe and sound, and had buckets of fun.

The first group of students/inturns set out on Friday morning. Me, Amber, Rusty, Joel, Eder, and Leon set out the next morning (we all had ministry that we didn't want to cancel on friday night).

Us being cool on the boat ride.

the shore of Okinawa as we pulled out of the docks.

We got tired (the boat ride was 2 hours), and rested on the floor up top.
There is a tatami room downstairs for sleeping (so cool ahaha) but it was full.

who's that back there...?

we lost a few along the way...

Eder mourning the loss.

Tonaki Jima(island).

getting in closer.

wave breakers. the sky is wonderful there.

Lookit' that little boat!

as we got closer, you can see right to the bottom of the water. (you can kind of see the rocks in this picture.) When there isn't any sand being kicked up by the boat or by people walking in it, its so, so clear.

Our boat coming in! Kume Line!

who are all those people on the shore?

Our entourage(i asked Amber how to spell that, and then found out it was wrong on dictionary.com) of friends! Awaiting our coming! (how nice, we didn't think we would be greeted so warmly!)

One of the girl tents (they all look so happy).

We did a two day VBS (vacation Bible study) for the kids on the island. We had a ton of them come, which was amazing because we were only counting on 3 or 4. They all enjoyed the games and activities we had for them. The theme was "detectives", and they went to three different places and met "characters" (aka-Rusty, Tom Cotton, and Dean) who told them clues for the person that they were trying to find (which was Jesus).

The kids are creating there "detective notebooks".

the kids meeting "John the Baptist".

Meeting "Nicodemus". (unfortunatly, i don't have any photos of the kids meeting Pilate (aka Rusty), i was leading one of the groups of children through the course.

The second day, we put on a play for the kids. We did three scenes (everyone had a part), which were Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Jesus brought before Pilate, then beaten, and the disciples and the two Mary's at the tomb (ressurection). The kids really enjoyed themselves, they told us that they were happy when they watched the play.

(This is one from the rehearsal, Rusty is the donkey, Izak Jesus ahaha)

A lot of children raised their hands to have Jesus be their friend and Lord. Keep them in your prayers, that the world may not take away their preciouse gift.

Pray for these kids, they all got up to ask Jesus to be in their heart and be their friend.

During our free time we sat down and worshipped God and got into the Word. It was a blessing, for us it was a retreat while also being a mission trip. we studied on the person of the Holy Spirit. God moved there.

Multi tasking.

There was also a "Family Mart" on the Island, which was actually in someone's house!

(That's it behind Tamiko, Ina, and Kelsie)

Towards the end of our trip, we had a huge rain storm come in. It was a little bit scary, but was loads of fun at the same time. We sand praise songs while holding up the walls of our tents againts the wind! We really learned to say "this is the day that the Lord has made, i will rejoice and be glad in it". As a Christian, its pretty neat to see God working a character and attitude about your heart and spirit to take whatever comes at us. The storm didn't dampen our spirits at all, even though we got wet and were cold.

Me and Tamiko holding up the side of our collapsing tent againts the wind. It was freaky, but funny at the same time. We had alot of fun.

Melissa looks all wet...Tamiko had her board shorts on, just in case.

But we then had a brilliant idea.

First, let loose the crabs we captured.

TA-DAH! Fire in a rice pot!

God provided ways to be warm.

Sufficient for many student's warmth.
I like Megan's face in this one.

After weathering the storm for an evening and a night, we headed home to Okinawa.

It was pretty great to see the island, it was so beautiful. It was also sad to see the state of the people there though. Only one Christian, and no church for Him to fellowship in. God, sustain Your servant there, be with Izulu.

The group gathered for a last shot to head home (Tommy said this was the biggest group they had ever taken out there, and we were even short a few people who left early).