Preparations

Have you ever had that anxious feeling you get when you look at the calendar and you see that something is not as far away as you had previously thought? I just checked my calendar and saw that I will begin my journey to Japan in twenty-one days from now... wow! What an incredibly amazing and intimidating thought! I am so amped to serve and learn, but I almost wish that I had a few more weeks to get things in order before I go. I honestly don't think there is really enough time in the world to adequately prepare for something like this. There is so much uncertainty and possibility that comes with just traveling to another country, being immersed in another culture and serving in ministry that the best thing I can do to prepare is to simply trust in God's sovereignty. Only through trusting Him have I made it this far--and He hasn't let me down yet! I'm just so excited to see what He has in store for this internship and how He will use what I've been learning in my classes and life experiences to continue to shape me into the man He had declared me to be before the foundations of the Earth were laid. These are exciting times and I am so glad to be able to share them with you folks who have been beside me, praying for me and cheering me on! I thank you all for your support!

Now, a few things have changed and new information has come to me regarding the internship itself. My trip is pushed back three days, so I will now be leaving on the 20th of May and will arrive back in the States on the 15th of July. During this time, I will spend the first ten days in the Tōkyō area, working with my missionary friend from World Venture, Kevin Laverman and other missionaries in the area. Then, I will be traveling north to Fukushima City in the Fukushima Prefecture for the remainder of the trip. If this name sounds familiar to you, it is the same prefecture where one of Japan's nuclear facilities had a meltdown during the 3/11 earthquake/tsunami disaster. I will be working with Hokushin Calvary Church and other local churches in the area. To all of my friends in the Tōkyō area, if you want to meet up at some point, let me know and I'll see what I can work out! I'd love to see all of you, but I'm unsure of my schedule's finer details, but I will definitely try to keep some room open to connect with you! I'll try to keep details as up to date as possible throughout my trip but as for now, this is most of what I know.

As for support, many of you have been so generous and have blessed me tremendously with support both in prayer and monetary contributions. Truly, God has placed in my life Christian folk of the highest calibre who will no doubt take great share in heavenly rewards! Currently, we have raised about $2,450.00 as of last Friday! Praise God! That is nearly 60% of our goal of $5,333.31 (the goal has gone down due to cheaper air rates)! The remaining support needed is $2183.32. I am more than confident that we will be able to reach this goal. God has called me to this field and will not abandon me to fend for myself. His provision will come and He will glorify His name in wondorous ways in the process! If you have thought about joining me in ministry by supporting me in this trip, please pray to know if you are called to do so. The deadline for support is quickly approaching, so if you have decided to give support, please don't wait any longer! Send a check made payable to DELTA Ministries to the following address:

DELTA Ministries International
1400 NE 136th Ave Suite 201
Vancouver, WA 98684

Please do not send the check to me, it will only delay when the support comes in.

Please know that all monetary contributions are income tax deductible! Here is a link to the response form for you to fill out and send in with the check so that you will be able to have it count towards tax-stuff. <http://pdfsr.com/pdf/austin-parker-rc.pdf> if you follow this link, it will bring you to a page that has the response form displayed. Scroll down, and on the right-side column there is a button that you must click that says "Download to Computer". Once it is downloaded, print it, fill it out and send it in the envelope with the check.

If you would, be praying for God to use this trip to teach me so that I will be prepared for full-time service in the not-too-distant future. Finals are also coming up for me here at Moody Bible Institute and I would greatly appreciate prayer for that as well!

If you have any prayer request for me, please feel free to Email me at austin.parker@moody.edu and I will make it a point to pray for you consistently. I want this to be partnered effort where we support each other in prayer. I don't want to merely be on the receiving end. I truly care about you people.

That's all for now!

Japanese for the day:
あなたの髪型が好き。
Anata no kamigata ga suki.
Translation:
I like your hairstyle.

I have been hearing this from my Japanese friends after I recently cut my hair in preparation for Japan. I guess it looks okay.

I also recently cut my thumb with a knife and had to get stitches. It looks less-okay.