Why Japan?

It's been confirmed that I am going to Japan on outreach and will be based in Tokyo which is super exciting! Very looking forward to sushi! It'll be so weird spending Christmas, New Years, my birthday and Valentines Day in Tokyo though!

Anyway, I just thought I’d share a funny story about how I felt God calling me to Japan out of the choices of places we could have gone.. Before coming to Hawaii, I actually applied to the Japan Focus DTS but it got cancelled last minute so I changed to Asia Pacific, and there just so happened to be a Japan option. Then they were sharing about Japan having less than 1% Christians, which really got my heart burning.

So, when they told us our outreach options, I was praying about where to go and just felt a passion for the Japanese people, but I guess I still wasn’t 100% sure, so Shinae (the girl I came with) and I were praying for confirmation because she thought she had seen a Yen sign in her mind during her prayers. The cool thing is that she didn’t know it was a Yen sign at the time. Anyway, so we were praying for confirmation and she didn’t get anything but I felt like God was asking me why I was asking Him again when He had already told us where to go. And I was sharing that with her, and I randomly said to her, you know, sometimes when I was a teenager, I used to just flick the Bible open at a random place and see where it landed. So I did that without really thinking and scanned the page really quickly. Then my eyes fell on a certain verse:

Amos 4:1
“Listen to me, you fat cows”

HILARIOUS! Hahaha.. ok so my Bible translation is quite “freely” translated, but we just fell about laughing.. maybe God has a really funny sense of humour on the same level of mine! Either way, I thought it was hilarious and so something I would say... anyway, point is, Tokyo here I come! =)

So on a slightly more serious point, I would really appreciate prayer for the Japanese nation – that their hearts will be open to receive because they are quite a lonely and loveless nation full of strange things. So just to pray that God will prepare their hearts and ours for the team that are going! Also please pray for the team as we prepare because it is mostly made up of 18 year olds and I have a feeling God will ask me and a few other slightly older people to step up and take the lead..

Other prayer requests I would really appreciate are just for me to be able to fully focus on Him with no distractions and to really set aside more time to spend with Him everyday because even though I’m in Hawaii, I still find myself busy allll the time!

Thanks so much guys and stay in touch!!! =)

Biblemania!

Every time I write on this blog, I feel a bit overwhelmed that so much has happened that I don’t know what to include and what not to include!

The last few weeks have continued to be amazing – I am still learning so so so much! I don’t even know where to begin, but God is convicting me of so many things. In particular, I have discovered a new passion growing for intercession – praying for others, the nations, and I think for me personally, it is beginning with my family.

Secondly, God has put in me this burning passion for the truth in His Word. If I’m being honest, in London, I really didn’t have it. I barely picked up my Bible except on Sundays, but here, I am loving it and really trying to soak myself in it! I don’t know how I found it boring before – it is SO interesting!!

This sounds incredibly sad, but a few of my friends found that the Bible Studies led by the school were aimed at new believers and we had such a hunger to go deeper that we set up our own Bible Study on Saturday nights. They are being held in a young pastor couple’s room, and it is so amazing to see such a young couple (she is the same age as me, 23) so on fire! They are so wise beyond their years and really leading Godly lives, which inspires me so much!

Anyway, the first Bible Study that they held, we left so refreshed and it was just what I had been looking for, but it lasted 2 hours solid so we were like wow, that was long, we should make it shorter next time! And then the week after, it went on for FOUR hours!!!! Crazy right?! Everyone was so engaged and mesmerised by the beauty of the Bible being so simple yet so deep that we didn’t even notice the time fly by! So I will see how long it lasts next week haha! But it’s definitely something to challenge us at DCG! ;)

It was a really Spirit-filled week last week too, and it has been so great to be able to witness God’s gifts. It has been insane – like one of the older men in my class has worn a hearing aid for 8 years, and then last week they prayed healing over him, he took his hearing aid out and he could hear better than his wife all of a sudden! Crazy but soo amazing! God is so overwhelmingly awesome!

Other than the intense stuff, I have also been bumming and relaxing on the beautiful beaches Hawaii has to offer (photos making their way to facebook soon!).. we went cliff jumping, and I got to see a volcano! Actually, the entire island is basically a volcano, but I was really bummed that the day we went, the lava wasn’t flowing, so hopefully I can go back again at some point! Also managed to sneak into the Hilton here which is so huge you need a train to go around it.. lounged around in their massive pool complete with water slide, waterfall (see photo below!) and hot tubs.. finally made me feel like I was on holiday.. made me happy (some things just never change ay?) hehehehe =)

God is forever faithful!

This blog is long overdue but I still wanted to just quickly share about how truly faithful God is and how He is the great Provider!

Nearly two weeks ago, I was really seeking the Lord but at the same time, struggling with a lot of distractions, which I was finding hard to give up. But God gave me some verses telling me to stop being distracted and that if I give up these things to Him, then He will bless me hundredfold. So I wrote this down in my notebook, only half believing, and still struggling to give these things up to God completely. But that afternoon, I decided to follow Him and give them up while I am here so that I could fully focus on Him, and even though it wasn't easy, I knew I had done the right thing.

This was all in the time when I was still owing outreach fees to be able to go on mission in Japan. So anyway, after a while of feeling sorry for myself, I randomly check my bank account that very night, not expecting anything to have come through since I hadn't paid anything in! And it was at that exact point of me feeling like I wasn't sure if I had done the right thing, that I found that a big sum of money had been paid into my bank account.. with a note saying "Jesus blesses you". Even though I knew who it was from, the timing was impeccable and it was God's way of saying "I told you I would keep my promises!". I felt so blessed! I was able to pay my fees and be faithful by helping out others with their fees.. So praise God for His obedient servants who have been so generous in their giving to me, but praise God even more for being forever faithful and for blessing us beyond our expectations when we obey! All glory to Him! =)

After three weeks in Hawaii..

Obviously I'm not very good at this blogging thing as it seems like it has been ages since I last updated you all on what has been happening - sorry!

It has been so busy here.. the fun of just going to the beach has started to die down and the reality of being on a course has started to settle in! My days start as early as 6am (for MANDATORY aerobics twice a week - can you believe the cheek?! haha) to the latest at 8am.. so no sleep-ins for me! And often, we have evening talks, so my day is often fully packed all the way through to 9, 10pm! I even get homework and have just handed in a big fat book report =) but hey, as they say, education never ends huh?!

However, it has been an amazing experience thus far - it really does leave me in awe of how real and loving God is. I am so appreciative of being able to worship God everyday in such beautiful surroundings! Oh man, I wish I could share with you guys all the things I'm learning here - God is teaching me so many things it blows me away and I can barely keep up!

We have had lectures on things like the true meaning of worship, the nature of God, intercession, how to hear the voice of God.. and all these things that I thought I knew all about before, but God is definitely challenging me from a new perspective..

I have also had the opportunity to hear amazing testimonies and recognise the power it has (Rev 12:11).. from missionaries being imprisoned in Iran and China to my fellow classmates being obedient to God's call to bring their families here to do the Discipleship Training School (DTS) and selling up their houses, cars and whole lives to follow Him.. so inspirational.. especially when they are people like you and me, and you see how God has blessed them so much more in their obedience!

God has been working so much here - I have seen so many manifestations of the Spirit it's crazy! Like the girl who I came with, Shinae, was praying the other day, and when she looked down at her hands, they were covered in gold dust. She thought it must have been something off the floor, so she tried to wipe it off on her trousers, but the more she wiped, the more gold dust that came.. Praise God! Wow.. But we serve a great God, so how can we not expect great things?! =)

Oh, and another cool thing that happened this weekend was that the YWAMers went to volunteer as security in the big Iron Man competition in town on Saturday.. the athletes are insane. They first swim 2.4 miles, then cycle 112 miles and then run 26 miles. They were fainting all over the place.. but so many people finished it - including loads of like 60 year olds! Best part though was at the afterparty.. do you remember seeing the video of the father doing the iron man triathlon with his quadriplegic son? They were there! It was so touching to see them... wow.. now that's love!

Anyway, I would love if you guys could pray for me for a few things (if you guys are still reading!):
- pray that God would continue to reveal Himself to me and be more and more real to me everyday, that I can hear His voice clearly, and be obedient to His will. I am also waiting on God to confirm with me where He wants me to go on outreach: to Japan (or Singapore and Malaysia).
- pray that I can trust that He will continue to be the great Provider, including for the first instalment of my outreach/mission fees which are due next week.
- pray that He will continue to look after loved ones back home.

Thank you all so much for your support and prayers - I miss you!

I promise promise my next blog will be SHORT(er)! =)

Aloha!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my first blog!

I know I haven't been in touch with most of you since I left, but I finally have some time to set up a blog so that you guys all know what I am up to!

Firstly, thank you for all your messages! It has been so lovely to know that people haven't forgotten who I am (yet...!) and have kept me in their thoughts and prayers! Thank you.. I will do my best to reply personally as soon as I can!

It seems like such a long time ago that I left, but it's only been a week and a half.. but at the same time, it's gone really quickly..! Before I left, I was feeling an overload of emotions - I was excited, nervous, scared, sad to leave family and friends.. so many things, but I knew that this was what God wanted me to do, so I was trying to prepare myself as best as I could despite the spiritual attacks I shared with some of you guys about.. plus, I was going to Hawaii - God could have sent me to a lot worse places!!!

Despite everything that was going on in my preparations to go, God was already showing how great He is.. Even though I worked the whole of summer, I still don't have quite enough finances to fund the whole 5 months and before I left, I was praying for provision, and God really is good - He has blessed me with people, some of whom don't even know me, who have given generously to me, and I am so thankful to Him. I was surprised but it was just another reminder of how God is the great Provider. I am still continually praying for provision but I trust that if you ask, you shall receive!

I don't want to ramble on too long cos people will switch off, but the 25hour flight was a KILLER. I was gone after about 10 hours... and the last 15 was awful!! I was sooo thankful when I finally got there! But hey, it was sooo worth it.. Hawaii is beautiful! =) The sky is stunning and palm trees make me happy! However, it has been quite humid, which has given me a constant "glow" (ladies never sweat) hahaha

As you can see, I have already started checking out the local beaches.. am rapidly turning into a filipino.. and I even bought my own snorkelling gear, which obviously automatically makes me a pro snorkeller.. it was pretty cool swimming with turtles and Nemo.. and I've met some great great people so hopefully we will do more activities like spearfishing, doing the lava trail up the volcano....

I've been here a week now - classes started properly this week and it's great - even though I'm in a classroom, it's so different learning about what you are passionate about - it's like Easter Camp.. for 5 months.. and by the beach! Perfect! It's been amazing that people have already started having encounters with the Holy Spirit - even just in class! I'm really being challenged by the teachings and I am really starting to hear God's voice speaking to me, so I'm looking forward to sharing with you all what I've learnt =)

Anyway, I really wish you guys were all here so we could all grow together.. ah well! =) Sorry this first blog was quite long.. promise the next one will be more compact.. but the photos will be up on facebook really soon.. I already have 2 albums worth - so I apologise for anyone who gets annoyed at my snap happiness! Look after each other back at home.. I miss and love you all! Keep in touch, keep me in your prayers, and let me know what is happening back in sunny sunny London ;)