Why missions?
Why Japan?
Why now?
Well, I guess to fully answer these I will have to go back to when I was a young child. I became a follower of Jesus Christ at the early age of five during a Sunday School lesson. I was led through what is commonly called the 'Sinner's Prayer' in which I told Jesus how I was sorry for my sinful actions, that I knew He had died for me to take away my punishment, and then asked Him to come into my life and save me from my sin. My Christian walk had begun. I had always been raised in a God-fearing home, regularly attended church and was involved in ministry. My first exposure to missions that I can at all remember was when a missionary named Natalie Beck spoke in front of our Sunday School. As a side note, Natalie Beck is a missionary to Japan, but thinking back I can't consciously peg that as my reason for choosing Japan. A few years later, I was able to go on my first mission trip to the Dominican Republic through our church puppet team. It was a fantastic experience in which I saw God work through our team to not only reach the lost, but to bring me to a point where I began to really take my faith seriously for the first time. Two years later, I went to the DR for a second time and had a very similar personal growth experience. Around this time I began to involve myself in other ministries even outside of my local church. After some much-needed pressure from my mother and from my friend and mentor, Steven Tini, I was roped into working for Child Evangelism Fellowship as a Summer Missionary. During the training, I felt an urge to go into foreign missions. It was the strongest conviction I have ever felt. I prayed to God and devoted my life to serve Him in a cross-cultural setting. It was about half a year or so later when I would feel a calling to go to Japan. This seemed very out of place seeing as I had thought that my field would be in the Dominican Republic, a place with which I had become familiar and attached. However, with the prodding of the Spirit, I knew that this was His will and that it would probably not be a good idea to ignore it. See Jonah for details. For the next five-ish years I studied off and on about Japanese language, culture and ministry. I was even able to sit down and have lunch with Natalie Beck as well as two other missionaries to Japan and talk with them about ministry. With each passing day, I somehow feel more driven to realize this goal. After coming to Moody Bible Institute, I found a multitude of ministry opportunities. But which one should I focus on? It struck me that I really didn't know what I would do when I got to Japan, I only knew that I was to go there! This sudden uncertainty really took its toll on me and I even began to loose sleep over it. After a long talk with Steven Tini where I vented on him about how anxious I was about everything, he simply asked me why I didn't just go this summer. 'Huh. That's probably a good idea. I think I'll look into that...' So I prayed about it and it seemed like this is what God is leading me towards at this time. With the encouragement of my family, friends and especially my girlfriend, Sandi Dalton, I scheduled a trip through World Venture's partner, Delta Ministries International.
And that about brings us up to the present! Currently I'm in Altoona, PA working to pay off quite a support bill. I still have a good bit of it left to pay off and only until the 16th to do it, so if you plan on sending any support, please send it in as soon as possible. Also if you remember, please pray for me being spiritually prepared for this trip. It will be a long, intense five weeks with minimal outside contact in a completely new place. The Enemy would probably love to use this to my disadvantage. I want to thank you all for your support and encouragement. More posts yet to come!
Japanese phrase today is:
ใใกใใ
Mo-chi-ro-n
See translation below
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