Picture Time

Alisha, Miho, Me, and Tadi at the Imperial Palace after our 3 hours prayer walk!


Me at the Imperial Palace



Tokyo




My futon bed that I will be sleeping on much of the time in Japan





My first meal in Japan - Japanese curry, much better than Indian curry!

Why is the food cold and the drinks hot!

That is one of the many questions I ask myself as I sit down to a meal in Japan. During the summer many of the Japanese dishes are served cold. Well, I tend to like my food HOT. The hotter the better. But in Japan, I may not get that!

I have been in Ofuna, which is where my church is located, since Friday. It is a beautiful city that is built in the mountains. I am staying with a woman who attends the church, Ito San (Mrs. Ito). She is very gracious! She has opened her lovely home to me for a week. She has prepared a lot for me and she even let me call home! I was thrilled and so was my family.

Sunday was my first church service at Shonan Nozomi (my church). The people were very excited to meet me! They greeted me with open arms and tried their best to speak English to me (which is more than I can say about my Japanese!). Yamanaka sen se, the pastor, prepared for me, too. He had all of the songs for me in English so I could sing along and he recorded the message for me in English on his iPod so I could listen to it while he spoke in Japanese. During Sunday school a translator joined my class to help me follow along with everything. I have been asked to join the youth class. Regularly, there are 2 boys and 2 girls. They seem to be great kids. They all come from Christian homes. After church, there was a welcome party for me. The food was all very good. Everyone introduced themselves, but I do not remember many of their names. At least, I may remember what kids go with what parents. All in all, it was a good day.

Yesterday (Monday) I went to Kamakura City with Ito san and her sister. It was about 30 minutes away by train. We walked much of the time once we got there. Kamakura is a popular destination for tourists and it is famous for its shires, temples, and the Big Buddha. It was very nice town and looked like a good place to go shopping. We also visited the ocean. It was very windy and cool, but it was pretty. It was good to get out, but a very tiring day. There is not much planned for the next couple of days so I hope to relax and prepare for camps. I am going to be a helper at the Junior English camp and a teacher at the Adult English camps. They begin in 2 weeks and they are both at Okutama Bible Chalet.

Please continue to pray for me as I continue to adjust to Japan and everything that is new. It is has not been an easy transition, but God has a plan so I just need to keep the faith.

Love,
Amanda

In JAPAN!

Hello! I am sorry it took me a while to blog from Japan, but I have been pretty busy getting settled in and recovering from the flight. However, I made it perfectly fine and everything is going fantastic. Tuesday (the day I arrived) I rested most of the day. Wednesday I was able to stay in the house and me and the other two girls who are going through orientation with me went through some information to prepare us for our time in Japan. Today we went to the Imperial Palace in the center of Tokyo and did a prayer walk for all of areas in Japan and then we went to the oncen (public baths with hot tubs) and ate sushi. Today was very tiring, but it was all good experiences.

I am staying with the SEND short-term coordinator and his family. He and his wife have 5 amazing kids and their house is wonderful. They have provided for us very well. The two other people going through orientation at the same time are Miho and Tariho. Miho is very Japan and she is going to Bible college in Canada. She is here for a six week internship for her school. Tariho is from Michigan and is also attending Bible college in Canada (a different one than Miho) and is here for 6 months like me! We are all at different churches, but we should be able to keep in contact while we are all in Japan.

Tomorrow we are going to hand out tracks at different shrines and temples and then head to the
SEND Center here in Japan. We will spend the night at the Center than head to Okutama Bible Chalet for the SEND family conference. We will be there until the end of the week.

Thank you so much for your love and support! Keep praying!

Love, Amanda

On my way to California!

Hello! Well I finally left Missouri last night about 9:00 PM, only 2 hours late. Unfortaneatly, I missed my connecting flight in Denver and had to spend the night in the airport! What a night! I will be lucky if this is the only time I will be in an airport overnight with all of the traveling I will be doing in the next 6 months. I should be boarding my plane to Sacramento in about 30 mintues and then on my way to see Jacinda! I am excited to spend time with her.

My flight are final for next week! I am leaving Sacramento at about 8:oo AM on Monday, June 22nd and should arrive in Tokyo about 12 hours later (but really it will be about 26 hours later because of the time change!). That will be a fast day. I am looking forward to the next week and what it holds.

Again, thank you for all of your support (prayer and financial). I will update once I am in California about how it is going and more about the last few days.

Long time, No blog!

Hello Blog Followers! I hope this finds you all well. The past few weeks have flown by and I cannot even begin to describe them! God has blessed me time and time again. I will leave for Japan on June 22nd from Sacramento, CA. I will fly to LA and then a 12 hour flight to Tokyo. I will be leaving for CA on June 16th to visit my friend, Jacinda. I am excited to see her and spend time in California. Then, off to Japan to serve my Jesus. When I arrive in Japan, I will stay a few days with a missionary family and then head to Okutama Bible Chalet (the Bible camp) to attend the SEND Family Conference. This conference is a yearly event where all of the missionary families in Japan can get together. That will be a great experience to get a good idea of what is done in Japan. Then, I will travel to Yokohama to start my work at Shonan Nozomi Christ Church. I will spend a few weeks at the camp during the summer, but I will mainly be at the church.

God has provided ALL of the funds for the trip. I knew that HE was the only one who could do it and HE pulled through BIG time. My benefit sale on Saturday could not have went better. I was able to raise (with the help from family) $2200!! I wish I could share with each and every one of you how God has confirmed this call again and again in my life. I thank each and every one of you for your generous giving, but most of all your PRAYERS! I know that I am lifted up by a lot of people and without the prayers nothing would have been possible. Thank you for believing in me, but most of all believing in God's Mission!

I will blog before I leave for CA, and then from CA! Pics to come. LOVE, MANDY

6 Weeks and Counting!

So I have a pretty good feeling that this is going to be a great week! The past weekend was eventful, but good. I went home for Mother's Day, however, a storm hit southern Missouri and caused widespread damage so my parents were without power (like most others!). so that always adds a bit of adventure. But the power came on not TOO long after and the weekend turned into a good one. I hope and pray that my mom had a good day! It is always excited when all the kids and grandkids are in the house.

This week is finals, but for me it is really just A FINAL. I am very lucky this semester and I only have one real final! So by 10:00 on Wednesday, I will be done with school. I picked up my cap and gown this afternoon so everything is ready to go!

On the missions front things are quickly approaching! I have a love offering on Sunday at my home church. I also have two more churches lined up to speak at. On June 6th there is a benefit yard sale/bake sale at Simmons Baptist Church in between Houston and Cabool. All the proceedings will go to my trip so that will be a busy day and week leading up to it! Also my family is planning a going away party (and birthday and graduation) on June 7th at Bado Community Church. It will be a day to celebrate with friends and family.

I will be leaving for Japan on June 22nd. My roommates and I are moving out of our apartment on May 24th so I will be living at several different places for several weeks! Before I leave for Japan, I am going to fly to California to visit one of my best friends that will be living there. So I will be leaving Missouri on June 16th, but not the country until June 22nd. So the next 6 weeks are going to BUSY, BUSY! Hope I get everything done! :)