Japan! Konichiwa!

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I last posted, but I did not want to put up a new post until we were more settled in Chiba. I am currently in Narashino-shi, Chiba. It is on the southern, more eastern side of Japan. We are staying at Narashino church,  it has a very small congregation, which is not surprising because only 2% of Japan is christian. But because of that, you know that the christians you are meeting are serious about their faith because it is very much not normal to be a christian. It is very hard in Japanese culture to be "not normal" because it is very obvious if you are. Everyone follows the crowd here, and if you don't, your basically an outcast. Which could be a good thing if being a christian was the normal thing.
I love it here so much, we are staying on the fourth floor of the church and the family that runs the church live on the first floor. They all speak english, so that is such a blessing. They do all the translating for us and make it easier for us to understand the culture. The couple, Masako and Cyril have three boys; Joshua, Danny, and Mikey. They are such a great family.
Sorry this is all so scattered, just bear with me.
Japanese lessons in the mornings  are amazing, it has helped so much, and the eldest son, Joshua, has been teaching me more on the side. It is quite a challenge learning this language, because it is nothing like english and even has a different alphabet. Actually, Japanese has three alphabets so it gets even more confusing. But I am making some progress, I can read most of the first alphabet, and I am now moving on to learning the second one. I want to learn the alphabet before I learn anything more because they say it is much easier to learn Japanese, in Japanese, if that makes sense.
The ministry we have been doing is challenging and sometimes quite frustrating, but God is good and I know He called us here for a reason. So far we have been passing out tracks on the streets and caroling and really getting to know and serve the members of the church. There is so  much rejection in passing out tracks, but I believe God can use anything to draw people, so if passing out tracks brings people to Christ, then I will pass out tracks until my hands freeze off. Oh, yeah and it is very cold here, and normally i would not mind, but there is no central heating here except in stores. So you are cold all the time, unless you are getting groceries. But God is good, because when in my weakness He is made strong. We have recently met a young man named Kai, who seems to be seeking (we only know this because he speaks some english) and came to the church Christmas service yesterday and then spent the rest of the day with us. Please pray for him to be greatly impacted and feel very loved by us and ultimately fall in love with Christ. I believe God has a calling on his life and if we came here just to show Kai who this mighty Savior is, then it is all worth it.
We have two more weeks here in Chiba and then we head up north to Ishinomaki in the Tohoku region, where the tsunami primarily hit. It is supposed to be much colder up there and have much more devastation and poverty. Please pray for our transition and the health of our team, because at least one of us is always ill since we stepped on the plane to Japan. I believe God is going to do great things \here. This is His country and He wants to bring it back to Himself.
I love you all and hope you have a great time celebrating Jesus' birthday on the 25th!
Naturally,
Demi-san

Japan! Konichiwa!

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I last posted, but I did not want to put up a new post until we were more settled in Chiba. I am currently in Narashino-shi, Chiba. It is on the southern, more eastern side of Japan. We are staying at Narashino church,  it has a very small congregation, which is not surprising because only 2% of Japan is christian. But because of that, you know that the christians you are meeting are serious about their faith because it is very much not normal to be a christian. It is very hard in Japanese culture to be "not normal" because it is very obvious if you are. Everyone follows the crowd here, and if you don't, your basically an outcast. Which could be a good thing if being a christian was the normal thing.
I love it here so much, we are staying on the fourth floor of the church and the family that runs the church live on the first floor. They all speak english, so that is such a blessing. They do all the translating for us and make it easier for us to understand the culture. The couple, Masako and Cyril have three boys; Joshua, Danny, and Mikey. They are such a great family.
Sorry this is all so scattered, just bear with me.
Japanese lessons in the mornings  are amazing, it has helped so much, and the eldest son, Joshua, has been teaching me more on the side. It is quite a challenge learning this language, because it is nothing like english and even has a different alphabet. Actually, Japanese has three alphabets so it gets even more confusing. But I am making some progress, I can read most of the first alphabet, and I am now moving on to learning the second one. I want to learn the alphabet before I learn anything more because they say it is much easier to learn Japanese, in Japanese, if that makes sense.
The ministry we have been doing is challenging and sometimes quite frustrating, but God is good and I know He called us here for a reason. So far we have been passing out tracks on the streets and caroling and really getting to know and serve the members of the church. There is so  much rejection in passing out tracks, but I believe God can use anything to draw people, so if passing out tracks brings people to Christ, then I will pass out tracks until my hands freeze off. Oh, yeah and it is very cold here, and normally i would not mind, but there is no central heating here except in stores. So you are cold all the time, unless you are getting groceries. But God is good, because when in my weakness He is made strong. We have recently met a young man named Kai, who seems to be seeking (we only know this because he speaks some english) and came to the church Christmas service yesterday and then spent the rest of the day with us. Please pray for him to be greatly impacted and feel very loved by us and ultimately fall in love with Christ. I believe God has a calling on his life and if we came here just to show Kai who this mighty Savior is, then it is all worth it.
We have two more weeks here in Chiba and then we head up north to Ishinomaki in the Tohoku region, where the tsunami primarily hit. It is supposed to be much colder up there and have much more devastation and poverty. Please pray for our transition and the health of our team, because at least one of us is always ill since we stepped on the plane to Japan. I believe God is going to do great things \here. This is His country and He wants to bring it back to Himself.
I love you all and hope you have a great time celebrating Jesus' birthday on the 25th!
Naturally,
Demi-san

Taking Off

And so the day approaches...Tuesday, early  morning I board the plane to Honolulu airport and then to Japan from there. It is so strange to be saying goodbye to these people that I am still getting to know. And as we are leaving others are arriving from their outreaches, I get to see a glimpse of what I will be experiencing when I arrive back here in Kona three months from now for a week of debrief. It is causing me to desire closer and more intimate friendships, which is perfect because that is exactly what I will be experiencing for the next three months ;)
I just found out that we will be having Japanese lessons every morning for the first month from one our lovely hosts, how sweet it is of her to be taking out time of her schedual just so that we can get around more easily. I am so excited, I love learning languages. She teaches ESL so we will also be helping her with that during the day and doing other things to help her church. I have no more details other than those, but I will post them as soon as I get more.
God is so good, I find my stability in Christ so I have no fear of change or of what is to come. It really puts me at ease to know that I know the Creator of the world and He knows me, i have no reason to worry. What an honor, yeah? (<<<had to throw in a little hawaiian) This week I have been talking to some friends about the fact that we are untouchable as christians, because our treasure is not in this world. This means nothing can really affect us! what an awesome thing! hahaha
This fires up my heart to live a life of no fear.
I love you all and miss you so much, but on the mission field is where my heart thrives.
I will have no phone for the next three months so please email or facebook to get ahold of me ;)
naturally,
demetria