Final Count

GRAND FINALE TOTAL for PSW A TOKYO:
Total Count: 301
Spiritual Conversation: 135
Gospel Presentations: 52
New Brothers and Sisters in Christ: 9

Last Day on Campus

Day 30: Last day on campus and it was good but sad. We met up with the stinters in the morning and got to see the Epic team again! Afterward, had lunch with Maki and it was such as blessing!!!! She has taught me what it means to really love somebody so much that all you want for them is to enter into His kingdom! Her mom made me a homemade bento!!!! And it was just an awesome time of conversing and getting to share the KGP and who God really is! We kinda ran out of time but she hears it all and receives it and is just at a place where she knows our heart and love for her and is just sitting with it and processing through it now. Maki has helped me understand what it means to really love someone so much that all you want is to see them enter into His Kingdom and to experience God's love! There was just a sense of peace and desire for her to enter into this family and I am excited to take that home with me! Continue to pray that God would touch her heart in radical ways even though we are leaving Tokyo tomorrow. She is a lifelong friend and I can't wait to continue our friendship! Then took Suguru to honey toast where it was just a good time of hanging out and connecting one last time before we leave. He was one of the first students I met at Waseda, so getting to end it with him was really special too! Then did some last minute shopping at Waseda and headed back to the apartments to do stats! Yahoooooo! We then had our celebration night and got to encourage each of the 10 students! It has been an amazing summer with each of them and they are all truly walking out of this summer different than how they came in! We enter our retreat tomorrow and will be without internet until I get back to California so look out for that check-in when I get in!!! THANKS SOOOOO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT!!! <3

Finishing Well

Day 28 and 29: Well down to our last couple days... super sad... Tuesday we went on campus and I got to finish up and say goodbye to a few girls that Dylan and I had met. It was sooooo good and I wish I had more time with them! In the afternoon, had some really good discipleship time! That afternoon headed back with Gen a little early to finish prep for our team training where we got to look at spiritual gifts. It was really cool! That night, hung out with Debbie and headed out to Ikebukuro where we got some really, really cool Mickey Mouse shirts specific to Japan as well as this stuffed animal I had been looking for for my cousins and soon to be nephew (and Chris). :) Then we headed home and went to the train station to welcome in the Epic Summer Project team!!! It was sooooooo fun and exciting to meet them and to reconnect with some old students!!! So excited for them!!!


Today, it was our last admin day... we finalized everything for our celebration night Thursday as well as mostly everything for our end of project retreat starting on Friday. It really is almost over... :( Had some good coffee time with Lyndsey and then headed back to take a short nap and work on some last minute things. We had our last family night tonight too so the community team planned for us to go to a movie where we watched Pirates of the Caribbean. Then headed back to Koenji where I actually ate some sushi! :) Now, it's back in the apartment and getting ready to hit the sack. Please pray for our last day on campus tomorrow... pray that closing up would go well and just for my two dates, that He would really show up and take me out of everything and that His glory would shine!!! I would love nothing more than to see these two individuals come to know Him and enter into personal relationship with Him!!! Thanks so much for tracking with me!!! Love you guys!!

Last week :(

Day 27: Today is Monday... AHHHHH we are getting on a plane in exactly a week... =( We started our last week on campus and man it was good! I met with Lillian for lunch this afternoon and got to introduce new believer follow up with her and talk to her about discipleship and what that means. She said she is sad we are leaving and wishes that she could find that here in Japan and plug in with student impact, so please please please pray for her as she continues to learn what it means to live in relationship with God and to find a community of other believers who can walk and guide her! I got to give her a He>I bracelet and share what that means and even how to look up John 3:30! Saying bye to her will be really hard... after that, had some dtime with Abi Arakawa and then with Cherise Osaki and just encouraged by both of them and the steps of faith they are taking as they trust the Lord in some hard things. What a privilege to walk with them and to see how God is really working IN and THROUGH them in different ways. I am so proud of them and all the students on our team!!! God is awesome! This afternoon Debbie and Abi got to meet again with Maki and please, please, please keep praying. She has been with us since the first week of campus and has really become a part of our group. We want so bad for her to put her life into His hands before we leave but we trust Him and anticipate seeing someone in our group lead her into His kingdom!!! God has opened up a part of my heart to her and in ways that I don't understand. I really desire and want her to enter into our family and know that if I don't get to share that with her before I leave, I will regret that so pray even for just opportunities for me to share with her the impact she has had on our team and that there are a group of people who want to live and spend eternity with her! Thanks for praying!!! Also, had a great dinner with Steven Artia and just got to hear his heart and what God has been doing in his life as well. It has been awesome to see him step out in faith and trust God! We are keeping our eyes focused on the Lord and seeking Him!!! Excited to see you guys soon!! Love you all!!!

The more I seek you, the more I find you.
The more I find you, the more I love you
I wanna sit at your feet, drink from the cup in your hand.
Lay back against you and breath, feel your heart beat
This love is so deep, it's more than I can stand.
I melt in your peace, it's overwhelming ♥

One day behind

Day 25 & 26: Yesterday, Saturday, was our last free Saturday on project... TIME IS FLYING BY TOO QUICKLY!!! We spent the day at Tokyo Disneyland and it was sooo fun! The weather stunk and it was crowded but it was an amazing day! Maki, Lillian, Hideo, and Paul (a core student from the UH movement) met us there and honestly, spending the day with them was awesome!! It was cool that it was our day off and yet, we got to invite some really special friends to come with us! My favorites of the day would definitely have to be "One Man's Dream" (a show) and Mickey's Philharmagic (4D show) as well as Winnie the Pooh! Now, I love Disneyland in Cali, but there are some things we should learn from the Japanese! :)

Sunday, this morning, had an awesome meeting with Ryan Ito and Abi Arakawa. They have done a phenomenal job leading the campus team and just seeing that this week is going to be hard not just for them but for the team as we begin to wind down and finish well and bring closure to the amazing people God has crossed our paths with... from there, came back, took a short nap, grabbed lunch, and then headed to church. Maki and Jan as well as another student Steven Arita and Cherise Osaki met came to church too! Praise God! I found myself just praying soooooo hard that His love would touch their hearts someway today in service and that he would meet them wherever they were at. Such an awesome thing that they came today!!! We sang Kari Jobe's You are Good and it was just a reminder of just how good He is and that I want these people to know that on a personal level! Continue to pray for them too and for us as we share Him with them this week. My heart wants so much for them to be a part of this family of God!!!! Afterward, grabbed coffee with Lyndsey and Yurika and just had some good, needed connection time before our team meeting. Been having headaches again so please pray for those... :T Otherwise, team meeting went really well.

Please be praying for our team this week as we finish well. Please pray for team unity! Pray that we would be able to get the closure we need before heading out and that ultimately, we would continue to be compelled by Christ's love in everything we do. Pray for Gen and I as we lead and again, that we would be completely surrendered and dependent on what He has! Today was the first day I really began to get sad about leaving and having to say goodbye to all the new friends we've met... knowing that it will always seem like we need more time. Pray for our team retreat this weekend that it would be restful and a time of celebrating what the Lord has done! Crazy it's coming to an end... thanks for all your prayers!!!

girl stinters! love these girls and a highlight to my summer being able to meet them

maki and jan came to church with us today... continue to pray that they would come to know Him

Productive Admin Day

Day 24: Crazy that we were planning our route back to the airport already to head back to California. We spent the day planning out our last week and our end of project retreat! It's crazy how fast this has all gone by. We got to celebrate our slaying the giants week today after all the students got back and it was soooo cool! As a team, we wanted to trust the Lord for 85 gospel presentations and we got 55! We even saw 5 more people come to Christ this week (4 today)!!!! CHEEEEEE HUUUUUUUUU!!! So much that God is doing!!! Then tonight was a free night so Debbie, Gen, James, and our friend Casper went to the movies to see X-Men which was awesome. Time for bed and an early start tomorrow to Tokyo Disneyland for our last free day!!! Good Night!

Jesus comes before the mission

Day 23: WOW!!! Today was one of those days... for a lot of our team it was just a hard day of fatigue right from the beginning but also just discouragement and spiritual attacks. We started with prayer this morning and then headed into our quiet times. I got to chat with my bestie for a lil while. Chris Leininger, thank you for finally answering my chat....:)  this morning was sooooooooooo needed for me! Afterward, we headed to campus and I had great discipleship times with Cherise Osaki and Bethany N.. In between there, I met up with Gen and at the same time, we both were feeling that our team needed to just stop and really look at what we we've been doing. We felt like a lot of our team, including ourselves, have been finding our highs and lows dependent on how the ministry was going each day. As leaders, we could tell that the doing part of ministry was becoming more important then the finding joy in Jesus which is the first L, Loving the Lord, of what summer projects are all about. We decided to pull everyone off of campus, which was a really hard decision in light of our slaying the giants week, to bring them back to campus and really have them understand that we cannot put the mission and the ministry before our relationship with the Lord. We gave them an hour or so to just go and lay aside all ministry related business and just refocus on why they were here this summer and what God wanted to do IN each of us rather than just through each of us. It was much needed and seemed like our students really got to work through some things. Then tonight was women's time and sad that it was our last but got to do more life maps and just really see how the Lord is using each women here on this team. Praying that they would experience and embrace their own brokenness so that they can experience healing, breakthrough, and greater intimacy with God! Thank you for your prayers!!!