Youth With A Mission

As I mentioned in the last post, we are now staying in Tokyo with a team from YWAM.  We have been here for three days now, and I feel I should explain to you all what we've been doing and what YWAM is all about.  The YWAM team is made of about 14 amazing people of age 19-21.  They're in the outreach phase of a six month Discipleship Training School that first involved a teaching session in Toronto before traveling here to Tokyo and later to Thailand.  We have met up with them about three weeks into their outreach stay in Tokyo in the same week that their trip organizer is visiting to teach and check up on the group.  The organizer, Anderson, is currently working on his Master's degree in Philosophy.  As you can imagine, his teachings are very deep and difficult to process, but he is not afraid to approach parts of The Bible that others shy away from. It has been a great experience learning from him.

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Big Update 12/22-12/26

We want to keep you all updated with what we have been doing and experiencing here in Japan, so I am going to write up a big post here. It has been a few days since I have been able to find time to write anything, so I am about to write A LOT, and my thoughts might be a bit jumbled, so you have to excuse me.

We spent our first few days in Yokohama, which is nearby and similar in scope to Tokyo. We stayed with the Hwang family, who have lived in Yokohama as missionaries for six years. The general scale of Yokohama is absolutely amazing. Every building is built vertically rather than laterally. It is uncommon to see a building that is just two stories or even one story tall. There are always hundreds of people walking down each and every street. The people in this area utilize and depend on technology so much. The electronics stores are more massive than anything I have ever seen in the United States. To understand the size, imagine one floor of your average Macy's or Nordstrom, then multiply that by eight to ten floors. Every storefront has a neon sign or billboard screen that all combine to create a cacophony of lights. Even the little things utilize technology to the fullest. For example, if you want to get a cup of water or tea at a rest stop, you only have to press two buttons: on the automatic paper cup dispenser and an automatic water and tea dispenser.

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From Tohoku to Tokyo

Hey guys,

Sorry it has been a while since we were last able to post but we have had some technical (internet availability) problems.

Today, we traveled from Shiogama to Tokyo and are now together with a YWAM group. Much thanks for all the continued prayer and support! A special shout out of thanks and prayer goes out to Scott, our gracious driver and his family who we were lucky to finally meet today.

Prayer Requests:
* Scott and his family.
* Continued prayer for the people of Tohoku.
* This YWAM training. Since it was a last minute change, we don't really know what we
are getting into.

- Jon

A picture of Mt. Fuji as we drove into Tokyo

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EDIT: The pictures should be up now, sorry about the delay. Captions for the pictures will come up soon too. Merry Christmas!　メリークリスマス！

We uploaded some new photos of our first few days, click the thumbnail to check out the album.

Japan Mission Trip

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The beginning

Jon and I uploaded a new video with some footage from our first few days:
EDIT: Re-uploaded in HD

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Yo! We finally made it to JAPAN! We're super excited to see what God has in store for us and for this great nation... but first, we're gonna pass out a bit after a loooonng day of travel.

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Time to pack...

Started gathering together the supplies and omiyage (gifts) for our Japan trip, we're off on Monday morning, meeting at the airport at 4am! This is only the neat portion of the pile. It keeps growing and it doesn't include any clothing or other essentials! Glad to be traveling with strong men!

So thankful for all of the encouragement, support and prayers we have received. We do not feel like we're going into this alone...

A big thank you to Linda, Pat & Betsy for their help with making the 100 stockings we'll be filling and taking to Japan. You don't know what a blessing you are to me, without you I would still be cutting and sewing away!

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