First days in Chiba

So I’m not coming home.

Sorry family and friends, the Japanese way of life is way too cool to ever leave. They are so efficient and so clean it’s incredible. Their 7/11 gas stations have the most amazing Japanese food for very reasonable prices, and I was able to have coffee at least 3 times today. I think I’ve found where I belong. I got to take a great bike ride on these paths that run through parks and all around the suburbs. They are so beautiful and loaded with little children walking to school or moms walking their dogs; the Japanese are very active people. I sat in on some English classes today that I will be teaching for the next two weeks, had some orientation training and dinner, and then played Settlers with some very awesome people. I am so thankful to be here. Fortunately, I got plenty of sleep last night, almost 10 hours, so I’m hoping my jet lag won’t be too terrible. I didn’t get too sleep much on the flight over here, but I did have a nice long chat with an Air Force F-16 pilot, so that was lots of fun. We have team dinner tomorrow and then college ministry on Thursdays, so tons of new things to look forward to. God is definitely at work here, I can’t wait to see his Kingdom advanced more and more. Everyone has been so welcoming, so friendly, and so polite. I am overwhelmed by their kindness and hospitality. The language thing is definitely an issue, but I’m going to try my best to learn at least the essential phrases as soon as possible. It’s a complicated language with many layers, and I look forward to familiarizing myself with it as best I can in two months. Thanks again for your prayers, keep ‘em coming! 

The time has come

So I’m sitting in the Tampa airport waiting for my connecting flight to DC, and then it’s off to Tokyo. That’s still crazy to me. I can’t believe I’m actually leaving. The past week at home has been such a whirlwind with the arrival of my grandma, cousin, and aunts, my baby sister’s graduation and graduation party, and my brother’s new puppy, Hank who is the cutest 9 week old chocolate lab in the world, and I’m entirely obsessed with him. Go visit him if you can, you'll immediately fall in love. But all these milestones have kept my mind occupied, so I haven’t really had time to reflect on my upcoming endeavor, but with my bags packed and boarding pass in hand, it finally feels real. I am so incredibly blessed. I have no idea what the Lord has in store for me, but in a short, 17 hour plane ride, I’m about to find out. Jet-lagged, carrying way too much luggage and completely inept in Japanese I will arrive, ready to serve and ready to learn. I’m sure I’m going to offend some people, and I’m fairly certain I will do most things incorrectly, but I can’t wait. With a solid hour of sleep under my belt, I’m hoping I do a lot of sleeping on this upcoming plane ride, but that’s never really an issue for me. Thankfully, I can sleep almost anywhere. I will try to keep y’all updated as best I can. I really appreciate your prayers! See you in a couple months :) 

A fair warning...

I am entirely not interesting enough to have a blog.

It’s just the truth. I pretty much do the same thing every day. Not in a bad way, of course; I love my daily routine. I’m just fairly certain no one would want to read about my daily trips to Wal-Mart and my nightly visits to the library. I know I wouldn’t. Plus, I never really saw myself as the kind of person to jump on the bandwagon and start spilling my guts over the internet for complete strangers to read. I am probably the last person you would expect to have one of these things, seeing as the whole sharing your thoughts and feelings with a lot of people is not really my cup of tea. So it’s a good thing that is not what this is. At all. At least that is not what I’m intending it to be. My goal is to share with all those who supported me and who are praying for me the work that God will be doing in Japan this summer. For those of you who don’t know, I am (Lord-willing) spending the next two months as a Mission to the World intern in Chiba, Japan. Essentially, I will be doing whatever they ask of me, whether it be teaching English, hanging out with college students, or babysitting preschoolers; I honestly have no idea. Those are all just minor details in my mind. I am simply going with an open mind and a willing heart to serve in whichever way God sees fit. I pray that I will come back changed, not just with a few more Japanese phrases under my belt and a deeper love for sushi, but I pray that God would soften my heart and use little old me to advance his kingdom. I only have a few days left to raise the remainder of my support, and I’m trusting that it will all come in, and I’ll be able to leave at the end of May as planned. Please keep my in your thoughts and prayers, and I’ll keep y’all updated!

But really quickly, before I begin this journey into the dark, scary, unknown world of blogging, I must say a few cautionary words. I am by no means a writer. Not even close. It is not my gift at all, and I detest it probably more than anything in this world. With that said, if my writing becomes tainted with run-ons, comma splices, and misspellings, my deepest apologies. I’ll do my best, but I make no promises as to the elegance of the material presented, as I will be focusing mainly on the quality of the content. Also, I will try to put up pictures as often as possible because I hear they are worth a thousand words, and that sounds pretty good to me. Thank y’all so much for all of your support; I appreciate you more than you could ever know :)