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