Gone With the Old: In With the New (2 Corinthians 5:17)

This week has been really impacting. Not due to Valentines day however. :p I was actually spoken to by a much greater love than any human here on Earth can give me. He saved me life, and died for yours. Jesus. =] I suppose I should give you a little bit of insight before I go off telling you about what he said to me.

Well, about a year ago and a half ago I randomly (emphasis on the word randomly) acquired a new found love for Japan and the Japanese language and people. So I decided..I want to learn Japanese. I found myself listening to Japanese music and even singing before I knew basic grammar. I've actually come pretty far, but I still have oh so much to learn.

However, this entire time, I had -NO- earthly idea why I was so interested in such a hard language.

Any who, I went to a summer camp with my youth group (612 students in CCPSL) a couple of months after that. Chris Tomlin was our worship leader there for the entire week. As I was in Gods' presence and singing to him, I found myself translating the lyrics of the songs to Japanese. I was simply dumbfounded that I was able to do such a thing. Unfortunately, I started to realize that people were starting to get distracted because I was "messing up the words." So I had to stop for the time being. However, after a particular song, Chris gave a verse of scripture. I believe it was Matthew 28:18-20: (18: And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20: "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.) After that being said, he began to sing one of his songs in multiple different languages. I said "How is that not God?"

So here I am about a year later...まだ　日本語を勉強する (Still studying Japanese). But now, I also have an interest in Korean. I know how to read and write in Korean, but unfortunately my grammar and speaking are not so good quite yet.

So about less than a week ago, my mother was searching online for a calvary chapel in Ecuador. My family on her side resides there and it would be awesome if they had a calvary to go to. Out of curiosity I decided, I wonder if there's a calvary in Japan? Sure enough, I find one in Okinawa. Calvary Chapel Ginowan. I clicked on their website and saw all of the neat things that they have going on over in Okinawa. They even had a nifty little video showing how 95% of Japan doesn't even know who Jesus is. I decided to E-mail the pastor to give him my encouragement and support. A couple of days later, I get an e-mail with an invitation to Okinawa during the summer on a program called SOS Japan!

I had just recently given up a trip to Vienna, Austria due to lack of money. The trip was $6,000 for 1 week there. I simply decided that it wasn't worth it. This trip to Okinawa however, turns out to be only $900 (besides airfare, so about $2,000 in total) for -5 WEEKS IN OKINAWA JAPAN-!! The moment I saw the information I practically hurt myself as I fell to the floor in prayer.

After about a day with all of this new information, my mother decides to google Calvary Chapel Korea...and I was totally amazed with what I found. I found pictures with the same people from Calvary Chapel Ginowan with this calvary in Korea!!!! I was so surprised to accidentally stumble upon people that were friends with each other from different countries in the world and that all had the same purpose. It's just too much for me to handle, I had to write it (or type it) all down, which is why I made this Blog. Hopefully I'll be able to use this blog as a tool to see what God can do in my life with it.