Then the Lord said to me, “Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?”
And I replied, “I see a branch from an almond tree.”
And the Lord said, “That’s right, and it means that I am watching, and I will certainly carry out all my plans.”
- Jeremiah 1:11-12

Evergreen Chapel - Naruse-dai, Machida-shi - Tokyo, Japan

Orientation is winding down to a close for some of us. Tuesday, Sensei taught us about Japanese culture during our morning session. After that, we joined Joy in the J.O.Y.(Jesus, Others, Yourself) Club classroom. This is where Joy teaches English to over 76 students in Machida, in groups of 8 or less. She taught us a lot about teaching English to children and fun things we could do with our classes. All the summer workers, except for me and Robert, will be working in English learning classrooms at churches across Japan. After morning sessions, we had lunch. My first real Japanese meal! It was so good. We all ate together, then went exploring before we went to our J.O.Y. Club assignments. We went to some convenient stores and just walked around the neighborhood a little. Liz and I worked with the youngest class, and then the whole team helped with the Jr. High class before dinner. They were so sweet! It was a lot of fun and Joy is just amazing with her students. She's so full of energy and excitement, the kids just love her. Dinner was great, Sensei has definitely been spoiling us! Also, we were joined at dinner by Fujimoto Sensei from Nagoya. He bought us some watermelon, which was so nice! Watermelon is kind of expensive here - so, it was very nice of him to buy us some. We definitely ate it up, then played some ping pong and Uno before bed. I couldn't help but think that it was a little ironic that I was halfway across the world and still watching boys play ping pong...I guess some things never change!

Thursday, we started sessions with Susan. We learned more about the culture and about our positions as short-term missionaries and as teachers. It is exciting and kind of scary at the same time. I will be here with Susan and Robert, but the rest of crew go to their assignments on their own. They will all have the guidance and direction of their host pastors, but I know its a little unnerving to not really know what's going to be expectd just yet. God will be with them and be their strength though! A woman from the church cooked us lunch(she also made us tempura to go with our noodles on the first day!). She is so sweet. She has really gone out of her way to show this kindness to us, and we have definitely been grateful. She's a wonderful cook. Other things we tried that afternoon, rice balls with fish eggs(kinda salty, but pretty good) and C.C. Lemon! C.C. Lemon is a lemonade drink and it's really good. After lunch, we finished the orienation manual with Susan, went to the super market down the street, then went back to help with J.O.Y. Club. Also, Sarah started packing to leave for Nagoya. We found out earlier in the day the Fujimoto Sensei was the pastor at Sarah's host church. We all ate dinner together again, Sensei's awesome cooking, had a few arm wrestling matches then played some more Uno while we waited for Sarah's pastor to come pick her up for the four hour drive to Nagoya. It going to be hard to let each other go...

And today is my last day in Machida at Evergreen Chapel. It's hard to believe I've only been here for a little over two days. I've learned so much here and I've had so much fun getting to know people and this church. It's encouraging to be around people who are called to a similar purpose - who all share the same heart for Japan and its people. It is also comforting to be around each other, but I think we all know God called us here not only to minister but to stretch us as well and build our trust and faith in Him like never before. So, today Robert and I will pack our bags and head to the other side of the city with Susan!

Which is exciting. I get to work with Chi Alpha...in JAPAN! It's amazing. Next week I'll get to go to the University of Tokyo and Waseda University for Bible study. We'll get to spend a lot of time on these two campuses. I can't even wait...I just believe God is going to do some pretty amazing things during our time here.

Again, thank you so much for praying for me and for reading this! I'll keep you updated!