Monday, August 1, 2011

Sayonara Time is the Hardest Time

Today was spent in the company of the wonderful team from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania as we explored the city and visited some of my favorite places.  We went to Harajuku and walked Takeshita Street, ate lunch at a kaiten zushi restaurant, shopped at the Oriental Bazaar, had delicious crepes, saw the Shibuya crossing, took pictures at the Hachiko statue, walked through the Meiji Jingu park, and made it all home safely!  Whew! 

I really enjoyed showing them my favorite spots in Tokyo today and had some nostalgic moments as I remembered the good times I've had there in these past two months.  Wednesday is my last day here and it will be a short one since I leave around noon for Narita airport.  God has been so good to me these last few days in Japan and I can say that I have been blessed beyond reason or measure to have been here so long. 

Now I am packing and my heart is breaking a little more each time I place something in my bag.  I don't want to leave.  I never want to leave.  But God is calling me home right now for a time until His plans are revealed for me to return here again.  Everyone keeps asking me "when will you come back?" and I always answer "as soon as God lets me."  I'm attached to this country now more than I ever have been to another place, people, or city.  God has truly placed me here for a season to prepare me for a lifetime of ministry in this place and I can't think of a better plan for my life.  I will cry rivers on the plane, no doubt, but I have comfort in the knowledge that I will come back and it will be for a much longer season than the short 2 month period I was here.  If anything, I can trust in the fact that if God got me here once, he can do it again!  All in His plan and His timing. 

So, I'd love to tell you of the last few days.  Like how we've seen 3 new people come to Christ since I last posted, how the Lord has brought a team of worshipers from Pennsylvania to usher in the sound of hope to this city, or how I've been swept up in a trillion emotions over leaving and yet seeing a hundred lovely faces in my mind that all hold good memories for me.  I can't wait to return to see them again.  Some will be older, some will be taller, some will be farther away, but every one of them will always be near to my heart. All of these stories I'd love to tell you, but they're going to have to wait until I return home and continue to recount all of the amazing adventures God has allowed me to experience here in Japan.  Please continue to read this blog if you could spare a few minutes and never stop praying for Japan.  We need your continued support and blessing in this country like never before!  God is definitely starting to do something new and we can't quite see it yet.  But one day, the day will come when we look back on these moments and say, "Wow!  Way back then, God was completely setting us up for the awesome things He's doing now!" 

Next time I post will be back in the states, but I hope you will continue to pray for me and God's leading as we discover the path for my life.  Also, keep praying for those devastated by the earthquake.  They need your help, but above all, they need the Lord's help.  Thank you and I pray each of you have received a little bit of a blessing from reading my posts all the time I was in Japan.  You are faithful readers, each and every one of you and I admire you for that.  Arigatou gozamiasu.

Mata ne!