Fourth Week!

Hello, everyone! 
It's crazy how we only have ONE more week here—then we are off to the beach to debrief until we leave on July 9! Thank you for following along with me through these posts about all God is doing in Japan and what I get to be a part of in His greater plan for the entire world!

As per usual, God is continuing to teach me so much. This week, I have specifically been reflecting on this idea of "living on mission" and how I get to live on mission for God in each "pocket" of my life! I don't have to be overseas or in a specific place to glorify Him with my life. Learning to slow down, sit still, and let His gentle Spirit guide my feet has been something God has allowed me to experience this week—and for the rest of my life!! 

I have been able to go deep with God and be grateful for all He has done in my time here and for what He hasn't done while I have been here. It is so easy for me to have faith in who He says He is when I see Him so clearly. Still, I was reflecting last night on the "what if I didn't meet a single friend who wanted to learn more about Christianity?' (which has been the case for many people on the team here)—would I still see God for who He is? The answer is I am not sure. After the Lord brought this to my attention, it has made me see how easy it is for my faith to be shaken in a broken world. I have been reflecting on Psalm 23, which talks a lot about how we get to praise Him no matter where we are as children of God. In the valley of death or on the mountaintop near Him. It makes me think just how broken I am and how He is so loving and gracious enough to still love me through my brokenness, even when I don't always trust in who He says He is or what He will do. This has made me see God as so much greater than I often think of Him, and how I am so undeserving of His love. 

"   he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
4 
Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me."
Psalm 23: 3-4 

Some prayer points for this next week:
+ For Wakana and Nigisa to come to know Jesus 
+ For Daeun to stay connected to the churches here and stand firm in her faith
+ For Mako to have boldness in sharing her faith and standing firm in her faith, that she would be held in God's hand and feel His comfort and peace in Japanese culture
+ For the team's well-being, everyone has been getting severely sick
+ For our hearts to long for a deep relationship with God
+ That we would take all we have learned while being here back into America and allow God to use us in America
+ For my patience and being slow to anger with the team


Some fun updates:
  • They have karaoke bars here, which are where you can rent out rooms for a certain amount of time and do karaoke.
  • I got stuck on the second floor of a building and had to run down the escalator the wrong way- it was so humbling
  • Went to this place called Team Labs, which is like an interactive museum—it was the most interesting place, there were parts where your feet were completely submerged in liquid, and other times where you were walking on cushions 
  • The team ate at this place on the water that reminded me so much of Glaveston- felt like a little piece of home—and I got to make my own guacamole there
  • There are so many burger places here—they have perfected burgers almost better than America, I would go as far as to say
  • It has been ridiculously hot here, but you can't really wear pants, so we are conditioned to this heat!!!
  • The "thrift stores here are not cheap, they are more expensive than actual stores
  • We were trying to go watch the movie "National Treasure" in the theaters here, and we thought it was playing, but ended up buying tickets to a movie that was entirely in JAPANESE and was NOT anything like the original movie. I am not sure why we thought they would be playing a movie that CAME OUT IN 2004 and that is ABOUT AMERICA (we tried staying but had no idea what was happening, and the movie was 3 hours long)
  • Jackson and Ryan went to a Japanese play that had no English at all and sat in the front row- yet had no idea what was happening until after it ended
  • We celebrated Tate's first birthday on June 25! 
  • Last night, we had a pretty big STUMO event with our Japanese friends called "Echo." It was really fun, and I saw a vision for the community here in Japan! 
  • Ended up finishing Hunger Games series!!
  • We had a Thunder watch party with one of our Japanese friends who is a big Thunder fan!!

With love, 
Mia <3


Team labs water area- Belle and Elly!


Team labs forest area!

At the karaoke bar!

Tate's first birthday party!

One of the rooms at Team Labs where you could run across these bouncy balls

Thunder watch party!

Homemade guacamole


Jackson and Elly at Team Labs!

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