Finishing off week two!

The Team

in Shinjuku

Thursday July 8

Christine and I got to hang out with our new friend Ayumi! It was really nice and just refreshing. Ayumi introduced us to two of her friends Yuto and Maria. It was really cool just building friendships and getting to know them better. I think one of the cool things, is that in Japanese culture, you don't really "go deep" in conversations; and one thing Christine and I like to do is "go deep." After eating lunch with the three of them, Christine and I spent most of out time with Ayumi and Mariet at the university park (which was this gorgeous Japanese garden). It was funny because we asked them questions they they didn't even know about each other, so it actually seemed like Ayumi and Mariet got to grow closer together at the same time we got to just enter into their lives.

Friday July 9

Dean and I met some cool guys and got to talk with them for a while learn more japanese culture, religion, and share with them how Jesus has impacted our lives. I think it's a little funny when we get to meet new Japanese students and just share life together, because I feel like a lot of Japanese people just don't really share much or think to much about life. So when I meet them and am like "Tell me your life story" they're really shocked, but put up with it because I'm just an American. Maybe I am a sucker for stories, but I just love hearing people's stories. So for all you guys back at the States, I'd love to hear yours.

Saturday July 10

So Saturday is our "sabbath." It is just a time for us individually as people to get away, relax, and spend time with God. Some of us went to kichioji park to spend time with the Lord and just explore. Jordan, Sarah, Stephanie, Ada and I all took the train to Kichioji and kinda just split up to have time with Jesus. It was kind of difficult at first because the mosquitos were relentless and would not stop attacking me. Eventually, I found Ada again and we went to this coffee shop so we had our "quiet time" (time with Jesus) there. I had this really good ice coffee with vanilla ice cream in it, like so good. So all you back home should really try creating something like it. I started reading Death by Love, by Pastor Mark Driscoll. It is a gnarly book. It's a book about real people, their real problems, and how Jesus is their victory in whatever deal of life they're in. It's essentially a collection of letter Pastor Driscoll has written to these people and friends who are apart of his church, and followed up by some solid theology in normal people terms.

After my little coffee date with Jesus, Ada and I we're leaving to meet up with the other people on our team we saw this crazy guy that made a goofy out of balloons and a pikachu. So insane, and there was like a crowd of 20 of us playing rock paper scissors in Japanese (so Ada and I had no idea what was going on) but somehow Ada ended up winning the Goofy ballon animal... Check out this picture of Ada with Goofy.

Sunday July 11

Our team went back to Tokyo Baptist Church and then straight up went to the best Ramen place ever... located in the heart of Shibuya (aka.. shi BOOYA). I took the chopsticks with me after we left haha. Got to hang out with Christine and we did a little exploring searching for the great Moleskin Journals. So much fun.