As the title rightly implies, I will be traveling once more to Japan on my second mission trip there. For those of you who remember, I went last year at about this time, and I was greatly blessed to see how Christians in a different culture perceive the faith.

This is a trip into the third world, but not in the way that you first think. Japan is a first world nation, materially; however, spiritually they are third world. Japan is the least Christian nation in the world, and this year we are actually traveling to one of the least churched areas in Japan, Sendai, a location that was severely affected by the tsunami. Even though it has been about two years, many people are still in temporary housing or shelters, and probably will be the rest of their lives.

Japan is also an intense area of spiritual warfare, so please be praying for our team! We cannot wait to go June 26th, and I am looking forward to seeing my friends over there and encouraging them to continue growing in their walk with The Lord!

See you all after I get back from Japan, as part of preparing for the upcoming trip involves a month-long fast. I am too thin to fast from food, so I am giving up all electronics unnecessary for communicating with the team and others involved. Have a great month!!!

心から (from my heart)

Novadar Mimetes

I hope it goes well! I'll pray.

That's awesome, Novadar. I'll be praying!

Wonderful. I hope it goes well. God bless you!

It's so neat to see everyone so willing to help out on missions!

Wow, Japan! That's so cool! I hope your electronic fast leaves your refreshed. May the hearts of the Japanese people be open to the love of God. You are an instrument of the Lord. Surely He will use you to fulfill wonderful things. : )

God bless!

~Calen

I'll be praying for you! I hope you have an encouraging time blessing others, and being blessed in return. Safe travels!

Eat lots of good food for me whilst you are there!!!

How was your trip??

The trip was AMAZING!!!

The best part for me was being able to final go to one of the areas affected by the tsunami two years ago and help with relief. Ever since I saw it on the news when I was still living in Oregon, I wanted to go and help, but I wasn't able to do it, and then when I went on the first mission trip it wasn't on the agenda (not sure, but maybe our church leadership thought the area might be too dangerous for the high schoolers on the trip). Even though it's been so long, there is still a lot of work to be done. I'm thinking about staying longer after or before the next mission trip to work up in Ishinomaki.

It was also really great to be able to see my friends in Yokohama and in Saitama. This week the pastor from Saitama and his wife are both here visiting in Hawaii, so I've been able to talk with them a little bit. I can't wait for the next trip!!! I need to study Japanese, but I'm taking Biblical Greek this year at the Bible College, so I've taken a bit of a break from learning any other languages...

Welcome back, Novadar! I'm glad it went well.

Welcome back!

Welcome back!

Ever since I read Sienna's book 'Red Sun Blue Earth' I've been interested and wondering about that situation...how things are now, you know. I'm not surprised that areas haven't recovered yet. That is awesome that you were able to help out....

It is much better than it was even last year, but there is still much work to do. People are starting to move back into areas that haven't been inhabited since the tragedy, but there are many places like the place we worked, where the grounds haven't even been cleaned since the wave.

I'm thinking about staying longer than the team next year (it depends on whether or not a very close friend of mine goes or not, I kind of need to meet her family and this coming summer be the only chance I get for a while), so that I can help more in that area and build a better relationship with the other churches in the areas we visit which weren't affected...

Interesting. * thoughtful * What are the main kinds of work that you do to help?

I wish, often, that I was in a position to help places like that.... But I guess I'll just pray, and do my best where I am, since I'm not. It's so great that you have done this!

This trip we visited a building owned by Samaritan's Purse, called Ishinomaki Christian Center. We did a lot of clean up for their property, getting rid of huge piles of wood and garbage, as well as weeding around their mission team tent (huge 50 person tent) and building a walkway from it to the main building. We also built a makeshift awning (rope, 2x4's, iron stakes, and a tarp) for their back patio. Then we raked through their yard and did more yard work for homeowners in the area. It was really amazing to hear about the Nozomi Project, a local ministry which takes broken pottery and makes it into Jewelry. Every bright colored fragment of pottery that we found while raking up the area went to them. It was heartbreaking and yet amazing at the same time.

The best part about helping the ICC was hearing about their mission. Before the tsunami, there were only 6 churches in the city, and they all worked on their own. Now there are 15 of them, and they work together to reach the city! The ICC focuses on keeping them working together, and they host mission teams from multiple denominations. To be able to clean up their grounds (they said we did more work than any mission team previously!) so that they wouldn't have to spend their own time and manpower doing the work, was really amazing!

Sorry the post was so long, I really really love talking about it! :')

Lol, and I still haven't quite figured out the whole embed URL thing...

You mean making a word in the text a link?

If so:

[url]www.(randomwebsitenamehere).com](desired word)[/url]

You separate the link word with brackets. : )

Hope that helps!

~Calen

Lol, thank you! I'll probably forget again...