I’ve been trying to get my support letters out and as long as I don’t think too long about it, then I don’t worry too much about having enough money for my term over there.  But here are a couple encouragements I received yesterday and this morning:

  A man came in to the office to get some banking done.  Remember, I haven’t mentioned anything to my manager yet about leaving.  This man saw my “Congratulations on Graduating” card and asked about my college and what my degree was in, and then asked what I was planning to do with it.  I told him, generalities like, “the mission field, maybe Asia, in language-based ministry.”  I went on to take care of his transaction and when it was over, he looked up and asked, “So what are you doing with it now?”  I was confused about what he meant, and then I realized he was talking about my degree.  He said that having a job, and eating, it’s easy to be distracted from the purpose.  He asked if I was focused on my goal.  I felt like a deer in headlights.  I looked down at my manager, and then up at him, grabbed one of my business cards and wrote on the back that I’m leaving for Japan in a month.  Then I told him that if he wanted any more information that he should use my email address.  He said that he understood and that he’d add me to his prayer list. 

  Then, I was talking with my eldest sister.  She was telling me how my 8 yr old nephew, Jason, has been figuring out my going to Japan for a year.  She was telling him how I’m raising support and going to need money and whatnot.  He left her and returned with 75 cents.  I almost cried when she told me.  And then she added that he kept the dollar her had because he wanted to buy a pop at daycare.  🙂  Such a cute kid!

  This morning, I was listening to another of Francis Chan’s sermons.  It’s entitled “Grace and Works”.  The part that I was listening to was an interview he had with Heather Mercer, one of the girls kidnapped and imprisoned in Afghanistan several years ago by the Taleban, for sharing the Gospel.  She was held for 3 and a half months before being rescued by US Special Ops.  One thing stuck out to me in her interview.  She said, “There was a season for telling our story.  But there came a point when I was afraid that it would be all that God would ever do with me.  I didn’t want to tell the same story for the rest of my life.  God is continuing to work.”  Now she is working on a special project in the north of Iraq.  Like her, I don’t want China to be my only story.  God is continuing to do things in my life, and my life’s not over.  So long as He keeps me alive, my story will keep going.  That is an exciting thought for me.  God is continually writing in the book of my life, and my next chapter is titled, “Japan or Bust!”

I’m going!!   I’m getting my stuff together for applying for the visa, and my date of departure is really dependent on when that is approved.  But it’s looking like it’ll be the Monday after Easter!   Eeekkk!!!  Crrrrazzy!!  Now, I have a mess of things to get together, but I know that God will help everything go smoothly.  Ah!  I’m sooo excited…it definitely hasn’t sunk in yet.  Thanks for your prayers, I still need them!

I’ve been trying to think of how to describe what all has transpired over the last week…and I believe that the word “whirlwind” fits the best.  You’ll have to excuse me for my grammar tonight because I have been watching the BBC production of “Pride & Prejudice” and it always puts a spin on my talking for at least the rest of the night, sometimes even into my dreams.  🙂  Last week, I received notice of a position available with a church in Japan for an English teacher.  For some time, I think I have given up all hope, really, of being able to leave the US (let alone Cincinnati) for a very long time to pursue my calling into the mission field. 

When I graduated high school, almost all agencies that I could have wanted to work with required that I have some sort of bachelor’s degree.  So, I went to college and graduated, only to find out that almost all agencies that I could have wanted to work with now frowned on owing money of any sort.  So, I had nailed myself down to a job that I don’t reeeeally care for (selling people things that supposedly bring security…yet I know in my heart never could) for several years at least while I whittled away at my school debt…which is not enormous, but a sum, nonetheless.  More than Mr. Darcy makes in a year, though…I assure you.

But, then, this opportunity comes up, and for some reason, I saw for the first time how little I really have here to hold me down.  Yes, I have a job, my family is here, most of my friends and support system…but honestly, in the world of communication that we live in today, would it be all that distanced by being a mere halfway around the globe?  And so, with some other messages from God that seem to be pointing at my going to Japan, if not just confirmation that I should be willing to go, I have started seeking how to liquidate my life here in the States as much a possible.  And really, it’s not going to take all that much. 

At the same time, emotionally, I’m so torn at the thought of leaving my family, my friends, my church, the kids in my church…they are sooo precious to me.  Especially the kids at church, when they don’t really have that understanding of surrender to God in these circumstances…it’s hard for them to understand why I would want to leave them like this…to look in their faces.  Of course, it encourages me that the time I’ve been spending investing in their lives and a relationship with them has been successful…it hurts thinking not to have them in my life each week. 

I’m going to be hearing finality on my going or not sometime in the beginning of this week.  When that happens, I will let everyone know.  But until then, I better get to sleep!  Later!!

Hey! 

  I wanted to get this information out for a prayer request for me.  I could really use y’all praying with me on this one.  I was put in touch with a job opportunity to teach English in southwest Japan for a year.  The biggest “issue” with this position is that I would have to know in the next month if I’m going to do it and then leave at the beginning of April.  Here’s the information on it that I have so far:

TEACHER NEEDED

Position: English-teaching missionary

Contract: one year contact starting from April 2008.

Requirements: Single lady, a highly-recommended, mature Christian, involved in her local church whom would be willing to sponsor her and provide her with prayer and some financial support (see “Needed:” section below), teaching experience of both children and adults, a love for people of other cultures (a missions heart).

Benefits: 100,000 yen monthly salary (exception: August summer vacation; however, part-time private lessons are a possibility), two weeks paid vacation, two days off each week, low cost (46,500 yen per month) dorm room in church building where classes are held, assistance in acquiring visa.

Needed: 50 praying friends, roundtrip airplane ticket (approx. US$1400) and health insurance with international coverage.

CLICK HERE for more information at the ministry website