Saturday nite...YES I KNOW THE DAY TODAY!!! PTL!!!

Hey everyone this blog probably won't be that long because I had typed a whole thing out, and the firefox internet I was using just crashed and I didn't have time to save anything!! ARGH!! I apologize but hope you will understand!! But here are a few thoughts/experiences I have had about today....hope you will enjoy!!


Today was an awesome day, well this whole week has been a good week, but a week of transition, transition from busy-busy city Tokyo live, to Asahikawa, where there are more trees than people....I jokingly say that though because everything here is MUCH MUCH more spread out than in Tokyo/subarb area and the houses AND streets look much more like they do back home in America....but this week I had Fukumori sensei's son come and help with translation, and get me around places in town here...and BOY did I need the help....please pray for me, as next week I will not have any to interpret, but will have to work harder to understand Fukumori sensei and his wife and what they want me to do....I only know about 10 words that I can pronounce and use correctly....I also realize it is important to make sure Fukumori sensei's wife is well taken care of...and realized this week that she makes a lot of the decisions around the house, and always keeps track of the checkbook, and it's interesting to me because the Fukumori family does not go out to eat....I have not been out to eat since I came here seven days ago...which is fine by me, because let me just tell you Fukumori sensei's wife cooks HUGE meals....FOR EVERY MEAL!!!! and the bad thing is, is that almost all the food is really good...except for the soy products......so I will not go hungry by ANY means....Mrs. Fukumori cooks almost a 5 course meal, for every meal!! and I am the permanent professional dishwarsher....for every lunch and every dinner, everyday of the week until I leave!!

So today was interesting because I was able to go to a Bakery store, that was in a person's house...and all the bread was homemade...the onion cheese bread was SO AMAZING and SO FRESH!!!! I didn't realize how much I missed bread!! Then we went to a cake store....where there pretty amazing cakes, chocolate, mouses, pies, and even cheesecake!!! YUM!! Also today I taught an English class, and also had a kids class, I didn't realize how much little tyke's LOVE balloons!! :) I also realize the people here LOVE to look at pictures!! :)

The Fukumori family I am staying with is pretty AMAZING!!! Fukumori sensei has 5 children that are older....either in college or married....and it is pretty cool that their 2 daughters travel home every single weekend with gas being over 6 US dollars/gallon to go to church and help out with worship, and with the children's church!!! A lot of Americans to go church when they are young, but once they get to college they quit going all together...more Americans need to be dedicated to a local church like their family!!!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers if you read this....That by far is the most coolest thing anyone could do for me!!! I truly am having a fun time here....but realize there are people hurting and dying and need to know who Jesus is, and how much He loves each and every one of us!! Also pray that I continue to be disciplined in reading my bible and praying everyday....it was really cool to vacuum the other day downstairs, where the old church used to be....and I had heard earlier people getting up and moving things outside...but didn't realize til I went downstairs that the pastor and his wife were getting up early to pray....and I went downstairs to vacuum, and found the little pillows they had used to sit on while they prayed!!! Pretty cool!!! I just want the church here to grow...I want seeds to be planted, and lives to be changed, but all for GOD'S GLORY!!! Jesus give me strength!!!

WOW...What day is it again???!!!

Hey everyone!! Hope your day is going well!!! Mine is...or still is, since is like 11:30 and I should be sleeping now, but I really can't!!! I dunno I just feel like I need to write. Lots of thoughts in my head are floating around!!! AAAHHH!! DANGER DANGER....well ok just kidding....

but as I was going to bed, which I usually do pray before I go to bed, and talk with Jesus ya know...it helps me sleep....I felt His presence...and just was talking with God and just realizing how many people in this town of 200,000 people or more do not know Jesus.....I realized my heart breaks for those people. Because they are really missing out, PLUS they are headed to Hell if they don't know Jesus. We have to do something....we have to open our mouths....Jesus said in Mathew 28:19 and 20. NLT version....

"Therefore go, and make disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you, and be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age"....

There are so many people all over the world, all over our town, that need to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ!!! and I heard Jesus say to me in my bed tonite that I am to Tell others about Jesus, wherever I go, whatever I do.....I feel that is my calling, THAT is what I want to do with my life, everyday that I life!! That's me!!! Lord USE ME!!! COMPLETELY!!!

The Lord has kind of confirmed a lot of things for me that past few years.....I asked God if I was to go to Japan this summer....He would have to provide!! and not only He did....but I have hundreds of dollars more than I asked for......Everything in my life, pails in comparison to what Jesus has and who he is in my life!! With Jesus I have all that I need.....even though when I get back to Urbana I do not have a job, and do not know what I will be doing, or where I will be living for sure yet....but I know there is a God who will supply for ALL of my needs!! AMEN!!! I KNOW THIS.....according to his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus!!! Phillippeans 4:19 DUDE....can I just tell everyone how COOL and AWESOME GOD IS!!! I love me some JESUS 4-SHO!!! JESUS IS MY HOME DAWG.....and nothing can beat it!!!! PRAISE THE LORD, O MY SOUL PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!

ok I have to sleep now....I still am confused on my days of the week it is here in Japan too!!! JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!!!! OH YEAH.....and get this....I got to eat macaroni today!!! SO AWESOME!!!! :) I love the Fukomori family!!!!!!!

IN JAPAN

WOW! It's hard to believe i'm in Japan, and yet I've been here 11 days already.....I just can't help but think of how many people have given and sacrificed and prayed for me while I was preparing and getting ready and am now here....it's just so cool to me....i just can't really even explain it....it leaves me speechless, and very humbled and honored to be here, to be able to share God's love with people!!!

I feel though I did everything right today passing out flyers, both early this morning and for an 1 and 1/2 this afternoon....but I can do everything wrong to, by not spending time with God everyday, talking with Him, and reading His Holy Scriptures...I have decided I have to be disciplined this summer....in a lot of things and areas in my life......no only spiritually, but physically and financially, and emotionally too....God wants me as a whole person, not a person with holes....and that takes discipline and sacrifice.

Jesus may you get the glory and the honor and all the praise from me this summer as I work here in Asahikawa, Hokido....Lord I just want your Word to go forth, pure, simple, child-like....because you said the kingdom of God is like child....We are all your children...Lord help me to understand the pastor here, and my I encourage him and his family!!! To God Be All The Glory!!! FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER AND EVER!!! AMEN!!!

oh yes and may I just add...that while I was going today to pass out flyers, for all you read this and care....I was going past a hospital clinic, and was putting flyers on people's cars, and this older guy came out and said in plain english...."Are you Crystal"?? and I was like WHAT.....HOW DOES THIS GUY KNOW MY NAME!!! AAHH! SCARY...just a little....and so I said yes and that I was teaching English here....ok so fastforward like 8 minutes and I am a block down the road, and here comes a white van....with this SAME GUY and 2 other people......and they all roll down their window...."ARE YOU CRYSTAL" OH BOY...I'm thinking!!! HOW DO THEY KNOW ME!!! but i started talking to them...they wanted to know where I was from in America and what I was doing here, and if I liked World Cup...and told me America won their game, and so did Japan....they asked me what I did back in America....so it was cool in the end....i asked if any of them were doctors and one guy said he was....and then they drove off!!! WOAH!!! like cool, but like scare too!!! but I guess with 4,000 flyers around town people would see my face and be like, I know her, I suppose......I dunno.....kind of CRAZY though!!! I was shaking in my boots for like 10 seconds when it happened, it felt so....surreal!!!!! AAAHH!!!.....but I'm excited to teach English tomorrow!!! I really want this church to be blessed by my teaching...so if anyone reads this can you pray for me??!!! and also pray for pastor Fukomori and his family too!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!!!

PEACE AND BLESSINGS!!!! :)

June 14th The next day

So I probably should of started blogging from the day I left, which I will try harder to now, because it helps me to write things down on paper :) Today was a good day...Pastor Fukamori sense's son came today, and he will be here for a week to help translate!! PRAISE THE LORD!! the more I understand the little Japanese I know....the more confusing it is!!! They read two different ways...traditional which is up and down and from left to right....or more modern way is the way we Americans read...right to left.....so anyway....I talked with April and Lisa Monroy on skype today which was by far the COOLEST thing EVER!!! it was just cool to see familiar faces!!!! AAAHHH!! I worked on my English classes which will start on Wednesday....and also passed out about 150 flyers with information about me teaching English to people around town...and will do the same tomorrow morning!! The food here is good...they eat a lot of tofu, which is ok, not my favorite....but they eat a LOT of vegetables...which is probably why people are so healthy here!!! people walk or ride their bike everywhere here...but the roads here are much wider, and more people drive here....because the towns in Hokido are spread out....no subway/or trains....only buses. I did get to be by myself today to which was cool....I went to like a gas station/convenience store and bought my first coke here in hokido...and let me just tell you it tasted like HEAVEN!!!! they drink tea here at every meal, with no sugar, which takes some getting used to, but it's not too bad....things here in Hokido are definitely cheaper than Tokyo...which is understandable....ok to really to explain things I need to take some pictures to give everyone an idea of just what this house looks like, because it reminds me of the small houses they probably built back in the early 1900's. Their house is all on the second floor....and they have a seperate room for the toilet, and seperate room for the sink...(actually the sink is not really separate from anything...it is only separated by a curtain.....and the bath is separate and quite interesting.....the Japanese people like to soak and take LONG HOT baths....now let me tell you it is HOT....well it's pretty much boiling water in a tub that you jump into!!! because the pastor here at the church doesn't have the shower hooked up....it's all baths, or bucket baths, because the water really is too hot for me!!!! YIKES!! I don't want my skin to fall off just yet!!! ok so that about explains most things here....there truly is BEAUTIFUL landscape here....and mountains in the background....which I feel like this place could be put in Colorado and be fine except for the language and food!!! :) the pastor here is also really really cool because yesterday at church he got down with the teens and started playing the bass guitar!!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! Pray for me!!! I hope the church gets a lot of people for English classes!! I'm hoping for 20 people!!! I love and miss you all!!!!! In Jesus' name!!!! AMEN!!

June 13th 2010 From Hokido, Japan

WOW!! I have officially been in Japan 6 days...the time has flown by, but hasn't...if that makes any sense...the days seem really long like they take a week...but when you look back it's like a week flashes by!! my experience so far has been....interesting to say the least!!! LORDY LORDY!!! but it has been good as well!! Hokido is definitely different from Tokyo...lots of farming here...they call Hokido the breadbasket of Japan...I have seen so many rice fields...so I believe it!! but my heart is still in Tokyo somewhat...where there are so many people, looking searching....I see on the bus and train so many lost people...on the elevator, in shops...but I'm reminded of what Pastor Ricky and Pastor Grogan have said...we have to show people around the world, wherever we are at, that they matter to Jesus, who paid a price for them already, whether they know it or not....I couldn't help but see people searching....but it is hard here in Japan as Pastor Yoshi Urchimura said....how do you talk to someone in Japan, not out of poverty...Japan is SOO affluent....I saw more people in business suits than ever in my lifetime...probably enough suits to fill three malls the size of champaign marketplace mall for sure!!! so they're not so poor...and what about religion....ummm....I will finish this later I need to go to bed.....I have to remember...I am not here for myself...but working for Jesus.... God is good!!! ALL the time!! and ALL the time...God is good!!!

CHRISTIAN LIFE EXPERIENCES

I don't think the Christian life is meant to be lived out, just in church or just on Sundays, but the Christian life is just that....LIFE.......things happen, we get upset, sad, mad, happy, but the more I realize that I don't ever have to live my life alone the more my life has meaning, and direction....I wonder if a person can ever get too much of God??!!!

I was thinking about life: a bunch of everyday experiences, that make life fun and interesting....but we need as Christians to think about how we experience GOD in our everyday life too....but that is part of the problem....a lot of people, myself included lack experiences, or maybe lack the willingness to try to experience something new, to "step out in faith"....It's like this...you can tell a child all day long how to tie their shoe, but until they experience tying their shoe for themselves it will never be a reality for them ever!! so...until we experience God, all we can do is live our Christian life vicariously through someone else like telling someone about Mint Chocolate chip ice cream but never giving them any.....I used to think this.... "oh that's great for them, that's exactly what God made them for....but what about me??" sometimes I think it's a lack of faith or trust....not trusting or "experiencing" the plan God has made for you and me, God knows... HE KNOWS what he is doing....and HE who began a good work in us, will carry it out until the day of completion... (I think I need that verse posted somewhere where I can read it every morning for 6 months straight!)


Another Thought-Sidenote-about Christian Life Experiences

I just want to say since going to Stone Creek my life has never been the same...it's like my heartbeat, my walk is different...it's like I really do want to find out what God is all about and what He wants me to do with my life....It's like I'm on this journey, this walk with God...and I never want it to stop!!! I never want things to get old to me, or stop having the child-like wonder, like a little preschooler when you tell them Santa Claus is coming to their own house, and they stay awake all night to see what presents they received from Santa. Lord may serving you never get old, or boring!!! Lord I love You, I choose You, Your mercies are new EVERY morning!!!!

Life and Stuff #1

So this blog/post is just about what I've been thinking while driving my car...(believe it or not a lot of crazy conversations between God and I have taken place in the car!!)

I was just thinking today, what a big lie it is that people think the Christian Life is all nice and easy: and just full of peaches and cream, with maraschino cherries on top. DUDE!! the Christian life wasn't meant to make life so you never have any hard times, or never have any bad things happen....but it DOES make it where there will always be Jesus to be there with us when the storms and bad things in life come around. It says in the bible, in John Chapter 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in ME you will have peace....In this world you WILL have trouble, BUT take heart for I have overcome the world!!"

We will never have to go through the storms of life by ourselves if we have Jesus. I know for me when life gets crazy that's when I lean on Jesus who is always there: Jesus is like my safety net for when I fall! Today was one of those days when I just needed Jesus plain and simple! It was like I needed Jesus, so much like I needed to take a breath of air. Jesus will give you peace when the world will leave you high and dry, and empty! Jesus is my comfort, He's my go to man, with the right plan, who's related to Stan! :) Jesus will never leave me, and I will never have to live life on my own again! WOW! talk about taking the pressure off...Dude I need to be reminded that Jesus has the whole picture, like the whole world in his hands....which hurts my brain to think about how big Jesus must be, (especially late at night!!) so if Jesus has the whole world, He's got me and my ideas, dreams, jobs and future life all figured out! All I have to do it just live it out, but WITH Him helping me!!

When I became a Christian I gave up my old way of life to pursue this life with Jesus, wherever it takes me, and whatever I do!!! I'm whole hoggin it for Jesus!!!! :) hee-hee-hee!!!!