Hot in Kuala Lumpur

Hi everyone,

I'm currently sitting at a cafe called Old Malaysia Kopitiam in Kuala Lumpur Airport waiting for my connecting flight to Tokyo. I just got off an 8 hour flight and have another 8 hour flight to go - yay :-s For some reason as I was scouring for the cheapest ticket, it didn't occur to me that Malaysia is NOT AT ALL on the way to Tokyo. It's like going from Kogarah to Manly via Parramatta. Oh well, at least I got to try a Nonya Laksa at the airport!

It doesn't help that I'm wearing waterproof, hiking-grade ugg boots lined with sheepskin and it's about 30 degrees here (they don't seem to be as generous with their airconditioning as Singapore or Hong Kong, even in the airport).

I will arrive in Tokyo at 7:15 tomorrow morning, catch a bus from Narita Airport to Haneda Airport, to catch a domestic flight to Sapporo at 11:00.

My flight's boarding in 5 minutes so better go!

Write again soon,

Tracy

The first morning

Ohayo :) I am typing this post after a brilliant sleep, refreshing and awesome! Praise God for the rest he allows :) please pray for health for the teams and for the sick in japan - just this morning, my 2 brothers Harry and Alen who are on exchange in japan this year, have told me that they are currently sick! This cold weather means business!! I woke up not quite used to the time difference, (which is 2hours behind australia) and i have a beautiful window in our room that streams natural light :) Waking up around 7am (9 in Sydney), I was reading Hebrews 6 this morning and it made me think about encouraging others and being encouraged to not just become Christians but to constantly be growing in a way that brings glory to God, which in turn should bring joy to us as we grow towards Him! Chapter 6 warns us against falling away, that anyone who does fall away after tasting the goodness of the word of God, shared in the holy Spirit and tasted the heavenly gift after being enlightened will be like someone who crucified christ again. Hebrews uses the analogy of land that produces thorns and thistles will be burnt. I think that in japan on this short term mission, it's not that we are looking to convert people, because that is God's work.. Rather it'll be a time of learning about God's work in japan, making contacts and living as witnesses here :) A while ago, sam and I went to visit a missionary couple, David and Robynne who had been in japan for a long time but had returned to Sydney. They taught us quite a few things about Japanese etiquette (like not eating until the second time your host offered you the food so you dont appear too eager - which made is paranoid about eating food at their house :P) but the two things I remember the most, when sam asked how we might prepare for short term mission was when David said: - living the Christian life is the same everywhere - resisting sin etc.. The devil knows wherever you are and changing your postcode won't change that - we are always tempted to answer with our own opinion but we should make sure that our bibles are always open and we refer to it and answer from there. If possible, try to ask the Japanese person you are talking with to read the equivalent verse aloud (from the bilingual bible) In terms of how I'm feeling.. I'm feeling a lot better since yesterday. Thanks for all your prayers! :) I couldn't really hold down food before we arrived in japan which was horrible.. But now it's more the emotional anticipation, a bit of uncertainty and excitement that's filling me! Hebrews 4:15-16 says: for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. It is such a comfort to know that Jesus knows exactly how I feel because he's been through all this before! Please pray for us as we spend team time together before the mission actually starts (we had to fly in early because flights from hk-Sapporo arent available every day) and that we can be united in spirit and in our love for christ, that we encourage each other throughout this time :) Carson even suggested that we do 5am prayer meetings! :P

We're in Hokkaido!! :)

Here's the email I wrote just a little while ago to thank you all SO much for the encouraging messages and all the prayer support you've so generously loved us with leading up to and during the mission! It was a tough flight but praise God that He's kept us safe!



Here are also some photos I took today :)

As I type this email, I'm sitting in the bedroom that we've been generously provided with in the OMF Sapporo Guesthouse. The missionaries who we have met and have welcomed us here have been so gracious in their love and provision despite us being complete strangers, it's truly amazing that I have family here on the other side of the world because of who we are in Christ! Many of them have been serving in Japan for 18 - 30 years!

We'll be staying here for the next few days during orientation as we learn more about Japanese culture and everything before we leave for Omagari (another town just outside of Sapporo).

Some things that another missionary here from Germany, Karin told us tonight over dinner was that:

• for many Japanese students, there isn't the need to ask why they're living anymore - it's more just living for the day, or, when they lose their security in their job or fail in their studies they don't have anything to go back to anymore, and so the suicide rates are quite high here :(
  
• as there is a great group mentality in Japan, when some of them become Christians they leave one group and join another (the 'Christian' group) and the churches here are used to being a minority so often they don't want to stick out so much
• being a pastor in Japan is not socially accepted - so if people become pastors they give up their career (also because it doesn't pay well) - someone on the street most likely wont know what a pastor does
• the Japanese people have been a bit more open to internationality but for a while parents would tell their children NOT to have any religion at all because of the Sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway
• that you can't just bring in change - it's all about trust and having someone people trust invite you into the group

Praise God for:

• His provision and guidance in bringing us!
• the hospitable missionaries here who are so willing to serve with all their hearts and all their strength
• the love and care within the team that God has blessed us with
  

Please pray:

• for the people of Japan, for their eyes to be opened to God's love and His sovereignty
  
• that He will protect us from the work of Satan and that we will be prayerfully focused on God's word throughout the mission
• for more pastors and leaders to be raised up from Japan to lead and run the churches here
  
• for more students in the Hokkaido Bible Institute (which has about 6 people atm)
• that our team leader will arrive safely on Tuesday

Thanks guys for your constant partnership in the gospel :) Off to sleep now! :D gooodnight!

PS: oops, forgot my camera's data cable and the external harddrive at home! I'll ask someone else for their photos tomorrow :)

ima, nippon ni imasu!

That's right, I am now in Japan!

After spending a week in Hong Kong, it feels a bit strange to be here in Japan... especially since prep for it has been going on for a while now, so being here finally does seem somewhat surreal! It has been an emotional ride this past week, from feeling excited to feeling a bit sad about leaving Sydney for a two months, to feeling happy to see relatives in Hong Kong, to feeling more weak and scared as Japan mission approaches, to feeling excited yet again for what God has planned for the month ahead!

I must praise God for being so good, loving and gracious already! There are things in life that we sometimes take for granted, for example, being able to land in Hong Kong and Japan safely and getting through immigration and customs without any trouble. For me, I always see them as things that could go terribly wrong, but they didn't and I really saw God's protection and answer to each of my little prayers along the way. So praise God =D
(And it could have gone somewhat wrong...as I forgot to jot down the address of the OMF Hokkaido Centre in my notebook and they required an address of some sort on the custom/immigration forms...)

I also want to praise and thank God that Cerise got here a day before me, I was at one point going to be the first one here, which would not have been as nice because it's always nice to have someone from the team there already and look out for each other hehe

And a big big praise to God for the encouragement and love that Karin has already shown to both of us! She drove all the way out to the bus stop to meet us and didn't complain when there was a bit of a mix-up. She also took the initiative to make sure that Cerise and I would be able to stay in the same place for the night (because we are supposedly allocated at different places) so that we could accompany one another. Such kindness and hospitability has already been such an encouragement to me and urge me to show love and kindness in all situations, reflecting Jesus' love.

I seriously can't wait to see what is ahead of each one of us, may God work through all things and all people! Though to be honest, I do still feel a bit daunted, weak and scared, so please do pray for strength from God through the Spirit for each one of us, that we will not give up trusting God and His power in our moments of weakness. Also, a friend of mine wrote something that brought comfort and encouragement and I hope God will continue to remind us all of it through it all: Faithfulness first, success secondary.

=)

On a side note, Karin took Cerise and I to an onsen tonight... it was so relaxing! Being in an outdoor onsen was what I dreamt about during the stressful times of uni..hehe

Konnichiwa!

It was my first day waking up in Sapporo today. It was a beautiful day, the sun was out so I decided to take advantage of it and go exploring. My tour guide, the other girl staying at the guest house, took me to Moerenuma Park. The entire park is considered to be a sculpture. It was nice to ride around on the bike and look at God's beautiful creation.

We had ramen tonight for dinner - it was oyshi! After that we got to go to an onsen. The onsen seemed to be in a bit of a random location, next to a 7-eleven! But it was sooo nice sitting outside in a 40 degree bath! We went into the 7-eleven afterwards to get an ice-cream!

I still can't really believe I'm here, but I'm so excited to be here! Praise God for really looking after me in my travels getting here and for keeping me in good health. Pray for the other team members as they fly here from Sydney - their plane left Sydney tonight! Pray that we will learn things during our orientation (which starts in a few days) that will help us understand how to better serve the Japanese people too.

Looking forward to going to church tomorrow and seeing more sights around central Sapporo!

Less than 24 hours to go...

before I am on a plane to Japan! It finally feels real now that work is over. I am really thankful to be able to meet the deadline for work today. Feeling tired but blessed!

Just wrote this email to ppl I know...

Dear family, friends and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ,

So back in Jan/Feb this year, I went to this mission conference organised by Reachout and I was really inspired to go on a mission trip myself! When the opportunity came to go on a mission trip to Japan in April, I jumped at the opportunity. Japan is a country I really wanted to go since high school and I was really curious to learn what God is doing there after a long term missionary from Japan, Sarah Piper, came to the church to share with us back in Feb. Tomorrow night, I will be getting on a plane to visit Sarah in Sapporo, Japan. :)

A lot of people have asked what I will be doing there!

Purpose of the trip

OMF (mission organisation) is sending a team of three including myself to serve in the fmZERO (OMF spelt backwards) ministry for three weeks (30/11 to 22/12). Basically, this is a pretty new ministry that aims to bring the gospel to uni students. Having heard the gospel presented to me when I was a uni student myself, I am keen to share with many young people about God’s love. :)

The team of 3 consists of Sam, Clare and me. We only just met each other this year.

Some of the things we will be doing: building friendships with the students, sharing with them our faith, teach them about Australia, English, Bible studies, helping Sarah & Karin (another long term missionary), organising events, observing the Japanese churches, praying, cooking..lists goes on.

Two big events are already being planned.

1) Australian Outreach Night – 7^th Dec

2) Christmas Night – 21^st Dec.

About Japan

Christians are a minority in Japan making up only 1% of the population. Surprisingly, Japanese people are the second largest unreached people group in the world. Japanese culture and traditions meant that many follow Shintoism and Buddhism. Many practice ancestor worship. Status is one of the most important things in their culture, too.

Japan is a country of great beauty too and the Japanese people in need of knowing our creator – the God of the whole world.

Journey

I would really like to share with you about this trip and would really love to have you pray with us. Or perhaps, you may be encouraged to go on a mission trip yourself one day. Opportunities are plentiful! :)

I don’t really know whether I will have the chance to write emails much when I am over there.

The team have a blog. Here’s the link

http://daikondiaries.blogspot.com/

You can follow us. There is another team also going to Sapporo who will also write in this blog.

Prayer points

* Praise God for all the sharings at people’s houses and the NS church over the past few weeks. It had been really awesome to pray together for Japan! I was personally really encouraged.

* Praise God for the newly formed fmZERO ministry. That God would use this ministry to bring people to him.

* Pray for opportunities to connect with students on a “deeper” level and for students – the curiosity to hear, learn, know the creator and Jesus.

* For Sam, Clare and I to work well together as a team. That God would use us as a blessing to the students. Praise him for the opportunity to serve there and teaching us as we prepare for this trip.

* For Sarah and Karin, the long term missionaries – for strength and wisdom – they are very busy people. They are holding their first ever orientation course for the Japan OMF teams next Wed.

* God’s protection re: Safety and health. Sapporo is heaps cold!

* For me personally, praise God for this final week of preparation. Work was really hectic and I was really thankful that all work was 90% done by 7pm this evening.

I better get back to the mundane task of packing soon.

In him,

Ada

Farewells

About 2 days before a most of us leave!

Cerise has already left for Japan today, praying that she got there safely :)

It feels quite surreal that we're going so soon, but also so eye-opening and comforting to be taught by God during this time leading up to it.

We thank you guys so much for supporting us and praying for us at home and in your churches and please continue to pray for the Lord's harvest in Japan & for more workers to be sent!

I thank God especially for the prayerful brothers and sisters and gospel partners He's blessed me with, people who offer to pray for and support us, even people whom I don't normally talk to at church. In the past couple of weeks, FCG (our uni bible study group), our whole evening congregation and Extreme (our  youth group) prayed for us and as Nat says, the unity of the church was so encouraging and I am so blessed to be missionary partners with you guys! Thanks also to my lovely youth for the plane letters and your prayers. :)



Today I got time to catch up with a few of my closest friends before I go -  Alli, Nat, Nicole + Danny - and really thanking God for the things He's taught me through you guys, whether it be humility and teachability, kindness and honesty, loving others with Christ-like love or learning how to serve others in creative and awesome ways.. and to my family too, thanks for loving me patiently despite how fail I am, equipping me (thanks for the English  toJapanese dictionary =P) (and for telling me about your own mission experiences, the spiritual attacks we'll face and Nicole, for keeping me accountable!

With my final exam on Saturday hours before we fly, I do feel sort of nervous but I know that everything is in His control and that He's provided so much and so many people to help me :) A massive thanks to John, Kevin and all the girls I study law with for your love and care and diligence :)

Prepping progress: 30%

Study progress: 10%

Praise God for

• blessing us with this opportunity to almost finish final preparations and being able to serve Him in Japan
• His providence in blessing us with aids and people around us to encourage us, and for His material provision in helping us to go

Please pray for

• the conflict in North + South Korea (which I heard may get Japan involved..)
• the conflict between the Chinese and the Japanese that has been going on for quite a while this year to be resolved
• health as the weather will change from extremely hot temperatures in Sydney to snowy Japan
• for prayerfully dependent and humble hearts as we go and that we can be open to being taught by God while we are there
• for servant hearts that focus not on the work but on the Master who has sent us out, that we can trust in Him and look to His love to show us how to love the lost, loving the churches there and loving the team - that we can be united in Christ :) 

Thanks!! :D 

The Omagari Team

We had our final prep session last night at Cerise's place. So far we have Minties, Vegemite, an Aussie flag, Aussie cups, a cork hat, and if anyone has a blow up boxing kangaroo we'd love to borrow it!

Please pray for Cerise and Shirley who still have exams to go, and Grace who has an assignment to submit before leaving!

Team FMZero!!!!

Wow can't believe there's only about.... a week or so to go!!! I'm leaving on Monday so it seems even closer. To be honest, the closer to mission it is, the less excited I feel and instead, I feel more afraid >.< But today, I've been reminded by a friend that God is in control, He will give us strength and will be there with us every step of the way! For it is His works that we're doing!

So that really pushed me to write an email to all my friends asking for prayers! Also, I am so convicted that this is not just our work but it is a partnership with other brothers and sisters in Christ in the body!!! ^^

Anyway, I thought I'd post some of the content of my email here, because we haven't really talked about what the FMZero team is going to be doing and the prayers needed:

I’ll be going with Sam Chui (WSCCC) and Ada Ng (NSCCCS) through an organization called OMF to support two missionaries, Sarah Piper and Karin Storzinger, in their ministry called FMZero.

What is FMZero?
It is a university ministry aimed at evangelizing to students mainly from, but not limited to, Hokkaido University through building relationships with them. Sarah, Karin and others do this by holding English classes for Japanese students who might be interested in learning English. They also attend some of the club activities that the university has in order to get to know students better.

Why are we going?
Statistically speaking, only 1% of the population is Christians. Many of them follow Buddhism and Shintoism, as these have been the influential religions in Japanese histories. A common saying in Japan is, ‘We live as Shintoists, but die as Buddhists.’ Culturally speaking, Japanese people are heavily influenced and pressured by society’s expectations of them, so they work very hard to get into famous educational institutions for a secure career path. Status being one of the most important things in their culture, some people who might not reach the expectations of others might feel like failures and shut themselves off from the world (hikikomori). As you can see, there is a great need for them to hear the gospel, know Jesus’ love and know that there is so much more to life.

What will we be doing?
We will be helping Sarah and Karin with some of the English classes, as well as holding an Australian themed Evangelistic event and Christmas event. Our main aim is to befriend the students that we’ll meet, invite them to the events and show them Jesus’ love through our relationships with them.

Why am I letting you know about all these?
We don’t want to go on mission without doing it with other brothers and sisters in Christ, as this is not an individual effort, but a team-effort by the body of Christ! We ourselves are just weak beings and would really appreciate and need your thoughts and prayers while we’re on this trip. Also, in the end, it is God’s power, might and strength that will work in people’s hearts, so it would be awesome if many, many, many prayers could be lifted up to Him!

So it would be awesome if you could please pray that:
God will give us opportunities to connect with the students on a personal level and that He will work in their hearts to receive Jesus
Many students will come to the events and God will use it to draw people to Him
Give Sarah and Karin strength as they continue with this ministry – they are very busy people!
Sam, Ada and I will work well together as a team, that we will be able to keep showing each other love and grace throughout the trip
At all times, we will continually look to God for strength and rely on Him, remembering that it is His works that we are doing
Safety and health – it is going to be VERY cold there!

That is all from me for now!

Clare

Pray for Japan!

It's about 1 week to go before we all leave Sydney for Sapporo! For me, I'm feeling excited but also feeling a bit stressed. My To Do list is so long but I know that God is in control. I was reading this website earlier

http://jesuslovesjapan.com/japan/why-missions-to-japan

Some interesting facts (cut & paste from the website) on the needs of Japan and how much the Japanese people need to hear the love of Jesus in a spiritually dark city.

“JAPANESE ARE THE SECOND LARGEST UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUP IN THE WORLD”

• There are about 7,800 protestant churches in Japan and the average church size is 35 people… that is one church for every 16,000 people.

• There are only about 270,000 people attending Christians in Japan, thats one Christian for every 477 people in Japan

• Nearly 80% of Japanese pastors are in their 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s with there not being many Japanese Christian men to replace them. In 15 years many Japanese churches will have no pastor

• Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. More than 30,000 people have committed suicide each year for the past 11 years (about a 100 people a day or one every 15 minutes)

• Japan has 183,000 known cult groups registered with the government and is known by some as the cult capital of the world

• Abortion is the most common form of birth control

• Japan is the #1 provider of child pornography

• Shinto & Buddhist world views prevail

Keep praying for Japan! :)

Menu for Australian outreach. YUM!

bread + butter pudding (I've never tried it but it looks yummy!)

classic vegemite on toast

lamingtons YUMMO! :D

so colourful and fruity. :) pavlova!

Japanese Religion

Hi guys :)

Just wanted to share what I read last night about Japanese religion; please keep Japan in your prayers. NB all information comes from, and all credit for this information goes to OMF's prayer guide (it's REALLY good!) 31 Days of Prayer for Japan. :)



PLEASE PRAY:

• for wisdom and power to God's workers in Japan to share the gospel in a way that is able to be understood by the Japanese culturally but is faithful to the bible
• for the Japanese, that they will come to know Christ as the only One who is sufficient for them

JAPANESE RELIGION
Stats after the war show that for every 100 Japanese:

• 80 claim they are Buddhists, 
• 70 claim to be Shintoists and 
• 25 claim to belong to a 'new religion'
  (that adds up to more than 100! :O).

Some facts:

• the Japanese word for religion only arose in the late 1800s after interaction with the Western world
• for the Japanese, their word for  'religion'  is more a cultural way of life than a 'religion' as such - it's not so much the truths behind Buddhism, Shinto that matter but it's just HOW you look after the dead, how you grow up (with the age ceremonies), blessings at certain points of your life, Christian weddings etc. - more functional in parts than necessarily as wholeful truths
• many don't see an issue with being part/practising more than one religion because they don't see them as necessarily clashing because of different advantages @ different points of life

 

Hmm, thoughts of Credo's Easter Mission this year springs to mind..

NB: information has been paraphrased but happy to remove if there are copyright issues. :) thanks!

Team photo!

orange - FMZero team with KGK :)
yellow - Omagari team with Omagari Church :)


NB: the radishes were to cover the coke bottles.. 

A Note About the Template..

You may have all noticed the HUGE gift box on the blog. I was trying to look up some themes which were about Christmas (when we're going) and some snow (to reflect the place we're going to - Omagari where it snows heavily!)

However, the gift box is because during our mission we'll be doing a skit called 'The Gift' and it's about how different people respond to the gift of the gospel, the gift of grace.

Some people are too busy doing things in their lives, and when the postie knocks on their door, they're too busy to answer and they just ignore it.

Some people don't think they're good enough that anyone would want to give them a gift, so they reject it.

Some people accept it but they're too busy doing something else (in the skit, they're watching TV), so they just put it aside somewhere to look at when there's nothing else better to do.

Some people are REALLY excited to get it, they wave it around when they get it BUT they don't open it; they just adoringly stare and stare at it with a HUGE grin on their face and they put it where everyone can see it, and when they get sad, they take it out and look at it from time to time.
 (This is the part I'm playing, hehe!)

so beautiful... but it remains unopened.

While the last person is really happy to get it, and they open it and inside they find the most BEAUTIFUL gift ever (the gift of salvation into an intimate relationship with God) and they are so overjoyed to get it. All of their neighbours come to see what it is and wish they got something like that too :)

not to be comical, but it's a powerful gift!

It's a really cute and meaningful skit that will probably be used as an opener for the Christmas message :) Many thanks to Cerise for suggesting it.

Really excited about it, please pray that:

• God will use it to challenge people in terms of how THEY receive Christ and the true reason why Christmas is celebrated by Christians, especially when Christmas in Japan is only a commercial concept from the West.
• our team will be able to practise and coordinate with each other because it's quite an animated and enthusiastic skit! 

the postman will knock on each person's door, delivering the gift.

What will your response be?

D-10 I am the Clutterbrain

Hi everyone!

Can't believe there's only 10 days to go until mission.. it's crazy!

PRAISE

• for God's gracious guidance throughout mission preparations and most preparations are underway and the lessons He has taught me about being one with His Son, prayer and being missional
• for the support from my church and Christian family for God's work in Australia and overseas
• for the sharing session last week @ FCG and how we were able to all pray together
• that even though I have non Christian parents, they have been quite supportive in terms of providing for me financially and in preparing to go

PRAY

• for the Target Asia OMF meeting this Saturday where each group will share about the mission for 15-20 minutes, even though I won't be there because I have an exam during that time :( 
• that despite having 2 more exams and not having much time to recover before the flight after the last one, that I'll still keep my eyes focused on God during this time and that my heart will place Him as my priority despite the stress, that I'll trust in His sovereignty and plans even when it seems unlikely to happen
• for harmony within my family as I won't see them for a month, and that God will teach me how to love them

chilly weather up ahead! :D

more to come! :)

Sharing with our uni bible study group..

Just roughly pulled together a powerpoint for a sharing session we're having with our university bible study group on Friday :)

God has been really gracious with the provision of a week in between for study for each of the 3 final exams I'm about to take, the last one ending on the day I leave for Japan! Hallelujah :D

Reading the Manders' prayer letter for this month, it's made me realise how often I desire to see fruit quickly in God's ministry at my home church or youthgroup after a few months and it's been really humbling to see how the Manders are patient and trusting in God's perfect timing in His plans and His work in His people.

I keep thinking back to the sermon on Sunday about being involved in mission everyday that crosses lines and it really made me see that moving forward for God meant 'constantly being on our knees' in prayer, relying on Him and not our own strength :) we only need to hold out the gospel, for Romans 1:16-7 says:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. ¹⁷ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Our churches in Sydney are so blessed. We have a strong pastoral team at church, godly and committed members and most importantly, we have the faithful, supreme and loving God who tells us, just as He told Moses, not to fear because He is here and will always be here. :)

Team Blog!!

The name is still open to change :)
Much thanks to tracy for the suggestion :D

Other names suggested include Okra Okura, Kurisumasu in Nippon, "Mugen no kamata made" - which apparently means "To infinity and beyond!" like Buzz Lightyear!! :-p, ???