Tuesday, June 16, 2009

twenty = 20

6/16

Well today was a great day off :) I woke up at about 10:30 and hung out for a little while with a few girls that had half a day off :) Then you can already guess I laid back down for awhile! I got up eventually and started helping cleaning the apartment a little bit for the little kiddos breakfast here in the morning. I was able to catch up today on my blogs and emails and journals and all the fun stuff! I literally hung out in the cave all day and finally after a shower and getting dressed I finally left at about 6 pm! Amazing right? lol I went to Wal-Mart and bought me 3500 yen in groceries to last for the next 12 to 15 days! I got me some cereal, milk, ice cream, snacks, yogurt, apple juice, sushi, rice, 2 loaves of bread, lunch meat, dumplings, and coke :) Gotta love the goodies at the apartment :) I came back and hung out with the girls and caught up on their days! We had accountability with the girls tonight and I got to talk to my group of girls and connect. My partners are Kelcey and Kat and we are slowly opening up to each other :) After accountability group time we came up to the journeywomen's apartment and are painting our nails and watching a chick flick together :) We are watching Maid in Manhattan right now actually and it is great :) I realized today I am not digesting enough of God's word as I need to and should so this week I am really going to focus on digesting what I read instead of just reading through scriptures like I feel like I do at times.

PR:
-Wyoming friend's mission work this summer
-Girls accountability with each other
-Digesting the word
-Starting out tomorrow strong for the week
-Distribution starts tomorrow all week!

haley :D

monday - day 19!

6/15

MONDAY = MEETINGS :)

So today is all intern orientation day and so it was a fun day of meetings :) But I love it and all of it is about the BOTTOM LINE and making his name known in this NATION! So I got to sleep in like always on Mondays and I enjoyed my sleep! Katrina and I are always the last ones to get out of bed, but that is okay :) We started our Wigtake meeting a 2:15 with our journeymen leader and I loved it :) Distribution is going well with all the leaders and our campus ministry is really starting to pick up. We were able to share prayer requests with the other wigtakes and I would like to share with you some of them.

WG PR:
-new campus, pray for opportunities
-encouragement and motivation doing distribution time
-new contacts and the opportunities that are there
-new believers, pray that they follow through in baptism
-5ME is slow for some stations and needs encouragement

So there are some personal prayer requests form wigtakes leaders and I appreciate those of you reading through this and praying over myself and the other interns here in Tokyo this summer. Anyway after the meeting today we had some amazing worship time and for those of you that really know me - know that I love to sing :) I don't care what it sounds like because I am singing to my Father and that is all that matters to me :) Anyways we sang some awesome lyrics to songs and then we did an amazing song of our own. It is something that really touched me today in worship. We just sang out to our God and prayed to him through songs what was on our hearts. I have never had such an amazing touching feeling in worship time like this. I loved it and would love to share with anyone who would like to hear and or know more about what I am talking about! We also got the results to our personality tests back today and were able to get in our teams and learn about each other and special ways to help deal with each other. I must say I learned a lot form this activity about myself and my teammates! We had fellowship time tonight and invited some other M's to our dinner! we had sandwiches which were amazing and some yummy chicken flavored chips! I love the randomness of our Monday night meals! Oh course all the interns sat around and we got to know each a little more through question games and testimony sharing! It is so much fun to sit and play silly games. God just allows us to really pour our hearts out to one another during these Monday night fellowships :D We had a small short prayer and worship time tonight that we are going to start doing more often hopefully. We all like to Korean style pray and just get everything off our hearts at once and then worship together as a team of interns! I love the 30 friends and bros/sis' in Christ! Oh yea and last night I forgot to share about having a movie night upstairs with one of the M families! We watched transformers one together because Wednesday transformers 2 comes out in Japan! hahah before it does in the USA and we are going to all go and watch it together :)

PR:
-unity among interns
-M's and their families and the work they do here!
-new teams this week and their strength for this week
-fellowship time together that we learn and grow in Christ together
-my day off is tomorrow - RESTFUL day.

hay-hay

...day...eighteen..

6/14

It is SUNDAY which means the one day all the interns get to join together at one ministry site and have fun spreading HIS name! So we are at our ministry park today and had worship this morning with all the interns, all the M's and their families, and all of our volunteer teams! Right now we have the Kansas Nebraska Super Summer team, the University of Mobile team, the Jim Russell team, and the FBC Newnan choir team! We have been so blessed this summer with volunteers and our summer will continue to send us more volunteers! Our bible study today was over Acts 5:1-11 and I was leading two interns. two Kansas Nebraska girls and myself through it. I feel like we all were able to take something out of the bible study and truly apply it to our lives. God has continued to show me things everyday! I love being so close to him and his people and pray that even when I go home and not directly connected to those working to further his kingdom that I will still be able to live a life like this! I have so many ideas to work with at WBU and can not wait to return for the fall semester and volleyball season! SO EXCITED, but God is using me here right now this summer and that is what I am staying focused on :) Anyway I was able to sit down and talk to a few of our volunteer girls here and just invest in them a little bit! I also can not wait to invest in my two precious high school girl interns that will join Brian and rachel and I soon! Today, like every Sunday is park evangelism day at our whole team's park! I enjoyed reading a lot and being able to catch up on my own things before going out. I love being able to prepare my heart and go to HIM before starting my day! I got to read a little more in my book - Screwtape Letters- and I still highly recommend it to everyone :) Today our team went out and did several different ministry areas. We had groups playing soccer (FAVORITE), painting faces, riding bikes (sweet!), and playing frisbee. We invited our friends here to join us at the park and just have fun! I was taking pictures today of the different teams and group activities! Katrina my good friend was able to see one of her contacts today and it was such a BLESSING! She is almost there are ready to receive Christ, she cried over her sins last night! God is speaking!!! PTL :D There was a Bible study at the park today with one of the interns and the contact asked JC into his heart!!! Also there was a BS with an older man tonight and my teammate Brian. we met this older man and I have told you a little about him before. He has a christian friend, Mr. X he had been learning about the bible from! Well this older man prayed to receive Christ tonight and we are praying that Mr. X will come out of hiding as a Japanese christian! After the park fun and awesome fruitful bible studies Katrina, Dustin and I went to eat some amazing food :) I ate some eel tonight and it was AWESOME! I love trying all the new foods here in Tokyo!

...prayers
-The two new believers today! pray for their hearts and that they will follow through in baptism
-Mr. x and his hidden christian identity
-Interns leading the bible studies! wisdom and understanding of the culture
-The opportunities at WBU in the fall
-A friend of mine is working in Wyoming this summer and is seeing God's amazing work there! Many youth age kids have come to know Christ! Please pray for these hearts as well and their families!

haley michelle
galations 6:9

SEVENteen :D

6-13-09

Today I actually got to meet my team that didn't show up last night! They ended up coming in about one hour after I had left their hostel and they got my message so that was good! The new team is a group of 4 men ranging in age form 25 to about 65 and they are great! We started orientation this morning with them at 9 am and things went great from there. We were able to sit with them, Jeff a M here, Brain and I and train them in our mission work and our vision for Tokyo this summer. The leader of this team was actually a M here in Japan 11 years ago and he was here for 12 years! How awesome is it that God has placed him here again this summer! Anyway after our meetings this morning we went ahead and ate some yummy food and found them a friendship party site for Friday night! We decided on Friday night at Shakey's for the party! We started off their week with 5ME and they loved it! One of the guys, actually the oldest one was so good at it! He just has a sweet amazing gentle smile and the Japanese people seemed to love him! the team was able to invite 3 or 4 people to dinner tonight at a different station! After 5ME we headed to our park! This sis the first time our team has been to our park because each Saturday we have been assigned something different to do. So we were all excited to go to the park for the first time and I love our new park! There are so many things to do at our park and this makes me happy! As we walked into the area there were so many merchants and little activities going on that we decided to tour the whole park before doing anything. The tour actually took our entire time and that was okay because now we know for next Saturday what we can do! There was a man painted white doing what you would see in NY. Different posing positions for long periods of time and just making money off his focus and ability to hold the pose. There was this awesome yoyo man that would throw his thing so high in the air and catch it and keep it going. There was the little face figure artists that draw your face and then cartoon your body. there was a violinist playing beautiful music which was so awesome. Probably only my family would know this but I use to play the violin so I was so amazed at this guy! Anyway Rachel and I decided that we were going to do face painting at our park this coming Saturday for FREE and see how it turns out. There are also paddle boats in the shape of swans for rent and I thought it was SO CUTE! I will do it sometime this summer :) We are praying about this face painting ministry and will update you guys on how it turns out. Anyway after touring the park and thinking about ideas for our ministry area there we headed to meet our new friends for dinner at the station. The 3 or 4 people that were invited didn't show up, but it is okay! The NC team was not discouraged and we went ahead and had some dinner at the station! Chinese dumplings = amazing :)

PR:
-New NC team and their obedience to come work this summer
-Strength to go throughout the long weeks they will have here with us
-Our team as we lead these 4 men throughout their time here
-New contacts at our university and train station
-swine flu at our university
-Interns and our love toward each other :D

haley michelle

day 16 :D

6/12/09
Well today I had half a day off in order to be ON CALL to pick up my new team! So at about 2 today I was suppose to be ready to pick up me team. Well today before two, Katrina my good friend here had her day off, so we went shopping for a little bit before I headed to pick up the team! So we went to Harajuku and enjoyed the day together shopping at a station I hadn't been to yet! They have some fun crazy used clothing stores and some awesome souvenir shops! h and by the way... I don't really know what people want as souvenirs so if you would like to offer me a hint and or tip to good souvenirs let me know! So I was suppose to get a call at about 2 to go get my new team, but I never did. So in order to save some money and time I stayed at this station and hung out with Katrina until I received my call! It never came, but I will get to that eventually :) Anyway so we ended up prayer walking a little bit in the area and just watching people and learning a little about the culture. There was a new store - Forever 21 that just opened up in the area. It was crazy to see the lines of people waiting to get it. There was security and guards around the doors, blew my mind. Anyways from what I understood, since Tokyo is a status and materialistic based city, the people want to bu the new clothes before others get them. I was able to spend some time praying over these people and the new store. We ate lunch at one of our usual places at the new station and our waiter was precious :) I just love Japanese people and even though I don't understand it, I know God is going to eventually make it clear to me one day! Well so it gets about 5:30 pm and I ha yet to receive my call, so I decided to just go ahead and make my way to wear the team would be staying. I thought perhaps the new team found their way to their hostel and ended up not needing us to get them there. Well so I go to the hostel where they have reservations and they had yet to show up. It wasn't a big deal and i wasn't too worried because the new team coming in is from NC and their leader was a M here for 12 years. So what is there to worry about!? Anyways I had a friendship party to attend at 6, just ended up showing up late since my team had yet to arrive! So i went to the final CBU party at TGIFridays! It was so expensive but it was such a great turnout for the CBU team! they have made many contacts while being here in Tokyo and have helped all of the interns out SO MUCH! There was around 35 to 40 friends at their party! God has continued to bless our team with many contacts! After dinner we all split into groups and I went with some of the girls that wanted to shop in Shibuya. We headed to a few stores and after everything these girls wanted was sold out, we headed back! We ended up at an ice cream parlor waiting for one group that was taking forever - but - hey God is in control! when the team came back they were able to share with us that the two guys they were with asked Jesus into their hearts! PTL!!! Also at one of the other train stations a female was saved as well! God is great and continues to bless Tokyo!

requests-
-pray for these new believers and their hearts
-CBU team leaves tomorrow morning for Yokahama
-new contacts from friendship party and becoming involved with an intern
-our team and the new team that hasn't shown up yet!

haley :D

Friday, June 12, 2009

DAY FIFTEEN :)

I am caught up on my blogs and you guys should be proud!

Today was an early morning... I had to leave my apartment at 7:45 this morning to head to the international hostel in order to pick up the newest team that has arrived. They are a high school choir of 43 students from Georgia! It was a lot of students to handle that is for sure and with them being in high school... that was an experience! I had a great day though :) Let me tell you all about it though! So we picked them up this morning pretty early and with so many students not ready to leave, we actually were one hour late from leaving! When they finally got ready one of the interns and I led them to Hibiya park which neither one of us had been to! The team had a scheduled concert at noon today and it went amazing! It had been raining all morning and I have to say I was a little worried about people showing up... Anyway yesterday they passed out flyers during the day telling people about their concert and many came! There was about 50 people there and it was such an amazing sight to see these precious Japanese people enjoy this high school choir singing to them! It was a fun sight and Christ really blessed the choir with an audience! I was in tears when one of the elementary teachers brought her entire class into the seating area! I wish you could have seen this sight. To watch that teacher guide her students into their seats and have them sit there quietly listening to this worship music blew my mind! I was in tears and loved the fact the this teacher was so bold and so strong in her faith that she brought her students out of the classroom to this concert! I am such a cry baby :) It hurts me to know that all of those precious babies are lost in the darkness and the many gods of Japan. It hurts me. So after the concert we went ahead and ate at a restaurant in Ginza so that the team wouldn't be hungry when we went to the temple. So for the second time this summer I went to the largest temple in Tokyo and Christ continues to break my heart for these people. To see these gods and these statues and these fortunes and all the fake unrealistic things in the markets... it hurts. We led the large team through the temple and though they didn't get to spend much time touring it because of lack of time, I was able to really sit there and pray for these people. To watch these people bow down, so sad. Well the team had a bus to pick them up at 5 pm to head to their new hostel where they will stay for the next two weeks. When I returned to the cave i heard such amazing news!!! A male and a female were saved during the day! Also at night interns have bible studies with those interested and during the bible studies TWO females were saved :D How amazing is HE!!! Then right before I decided to go to bed, Brian my teammate came home from hanging out with one of his contacts... and she asked Christ into her heart! How amazing and i am so excited to start a bible study with her and Brian! our God is doing some amazing work here in Japan!

PR:
-5 new believers throughout the day today!
-Japanese people at the temple...
-New 43 man team/choir from Georgia
-CBU's last friendship party tomorrow night
-Bible studies that are going on!

haley michelle

Thursday, June 11, 2009

4 - TEEN! :)

This is my last catch up blog :)

This is for Wednesday June 10th!

Today I had my favorite team today :) The Cali choir was with me today and it was an amazing day and I can't wait to tell you!!! Okay so here I go!.. We started out an hour later today which was great to sleep a little extra! We were at Seikei University today and we started out prayer walking :) Always preparing the ground for God's work! So in one of my last blogs I mentioned a suicide last week in the library, so I focused my prayer around this area today and the hearts of the students here. We met for lunch at noon and went off and met new people! I met two girls with Brian who he had previously met before and we had a great talk! She is interested in learning more and is an English major! Well we had a class to go to at 12:45 with our second christian FACULTY member!!! Let me just say this is a huge blessing to our campus and potentially to the students! We went into the classroom and were blessed to have a Hawaiian group doing the hula to SHOUT TO THE LORD!!! I didn't expect this at all and I was so excited and overwhelmed by it! So the CBU choir and the Hawaiians switched back and forth singing and dancing for my JESUS! :D I had an opportunity to share with a guy about the Gospel and he was interested but because of lack of faith and culture he said he wanted to stop talking about it. Please pray for his precious heart. So we were in class till they kicked us out... well basically they had a case of swine flu in the school and have closed the campus for a week! I know I would be excited had it been me in school! So we were getting ready to leave and two CBU girls were still talking to two of the Japanese students... They were deep in conversation and asked me to come over! The girls were praying and asking Jesus into their hearts! How amamamamamamazzzzing is that! Let me just say there were tears in my eyes and I couldn't speak! please pray for these new sisters in Christ! WOO HOO! So we had to leave because of the swine flu, so the CBU team and I headed to our train station! Well the team decided they would sing 3 songs and then go talk to people and then break and then continue this process from 3 to 6...! It went amazing! We didn't do 5ME today because the cops asked us to leave during FBS last time we were at the station. So it was going great and we were able to hand out many tracts and gospels to those who were wanting more and asking questions. So it was about 5 and the team was getting tired but they stayed strong and chose to do one more round of 3 songs! Well guess what God was working in two men's hearts and they asked JESUS into their hearts! How amazing is HIS work today... :D So after this we invited our new friends to dinner and we went down in the town. We stopped by the 100 yen store and I was able to get some groceries! The CBU team leaves on Friday so we went ahead and scheduled their friendship party. I will see them Friday night for the last time and have enjoyed seeing God use their group and our team to further HIS kingdom!

Prayer requests:
-Both female students who accepted Christ!
-Both males who accepted Christ at the train station!
-The preparation for the Bible studies, one is starting tomorrow :D
-The CBU team and their obedience - praise HIM!
-I have a new team of 43 students tomorrow.... FUN!

Haley Michelle