INTO THE WORLD

     Japan has been so amazing during this winter season. Oddly the Japanese love the Christmas season. The decorations are everywhere and the city feels so magical. Because of their love for the season, it is a great opportunity to have events at the church to draw new people in. We had a Christmas party with the young adults where we ate dinner, decorated cookies, and played dirty Santa. It was a great turn out and we had so much fun with our new friends that came. This party drew in new people and great conversations. One man asked us some good questions about why we celebrated Christmas and how it was different from how other people celebrated the holidays. This gave us a great opportunity to share the true reason for Christmas and the gospel! Many sat in and listened to our conversation, captivated by the discussion.      Our time in Japan has been filled with several conversations like these, with people who admit to being unbelievers, but still want to learn and hang out with us

Happy Late Thanksgiving!  We are so happy we were able to spend Thanksgiving in Japan. It has been so fun continuing to build friendships with the missionaries at Hope Alive. On Thanksgiving day everyone came together and we met many missionaries from around Tokyo, most of whom we had not yet met. We had traditional Thanksgiving dishes which was amazing, my favorite being the broccoli and cheese casserole. I usually would not be so exited about the broccoli and cheese casserole, but it was the best I have ever eaten in my entire 28 years on earth. Also, the missionaries who usually make the turkey were not here this year and none of the other people felt confident to make one. They solved this problem by getting Emily (she is 26 and has cooking experience) to make it! At one point I found Brandon and Emily laughing historically not knowing if it was cooked or how to cut it. Despite all the challenges they faced the Turkey came out great.  We have been having a wonderful time here in To

Hello from Japan!            We have been absolutely loving our time here in Japan. We have made some new friends and are really enjoying Hope Alive. The young adults ministry had a picnic at the park on Saturday and it was a blast! We had spike ball, volleyball, and a special dog friend who joined us. It was a perfect day of   fellowship and fun.             Brandon and I were asked to speak during the giving portion of the service this week. Brandon did a great job, I love getting to watch him on stage teaching God's word.                 Every Thursday we go out and hold up these signs to draw people into the church! We wave at them and say "hello" hoping that someone will make eye contact and engage with us. It's funny because some people just keep their heads down and don't acknowledge our existence and some are excited to talk with us because their English is good. There is also the middle ground who is shy, but once they look our direction we ask " how

       Konichiwa! We have finally made it to Japan after many months of praying! We are so thankful that God opened the door and that we arrived safely yesterday morning! We had a LONG 24 hours as we left the airport in Vietnam at 1am and arrived in Japan at 7:30 am. Once we arrived we took some time in the airport to figure out the currency and the train system( still trying to learn the trains) and got some Starbucks as we were running off of 3 hours of sleep!       We got our train pass cards and we went on our way to meet the pastor of Hope Alive Church.  We got to the church and were immediately welcomed by friendly faces. We spent some time hearing about the church and meeting some of the interns and staff members. We are so excited to be here and it was such a relief to be welcomed by all of these wonderful people.       Later that day we got back on the train to get to our basement apartment. We actually did not know where we were going to stay as Tokyo is a huge area. Heath, t

       Hello everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the nice fall weather! We are definetly a bit jealous, but we have had a wonderful time here in Vietnam. We started our trip in Ho Chi Minh City and it was there that we met with our new friend! We immediately felt a great connection and were able to discuss and learn many things about him and the work he is doing in this new place. The next day, the day of rest, we had a great day meeting lots of other new friends and later sharing a bowl of pho together. We also got to try all of their Vietnamese snacks! Later that evening we were invited to go to a lady's shop where they have a  group of kids come and sing songs and learn. We had a great time sharing with them, and they seem hungry for more. They were are so cute and sweet! The next couple of days we went to several college campuses with our friend to meet people and tell them about a new English class they could join. Where hopefully college students would grow closer together