JAPAN Day 8

Ohhhh today was a good day!

Jess and I had breakfast in the roof in the lovely sunshine with some prayer and worship! Love me some Jesus time.
And then met with the American team staying near us and walked to where our meeting place is in Yokohama.

Our first day of Shine. Meeting the team of people from all over the world here for shine. People from Brazil, America, Canada, Australia,  France, Japan and more! Was awesome to learn more about the country and culture and how our outreach will look. We mostly did some worship and prayer for the week to come! We prayed for the different generations, and the generation that is rising up. Less then 1% of people here are Christian. So it is such a blessing to be apart of the revival here and pray for this nation, as God seeks to reach them!

After prayer and worship we had lunch. We went to this traditional Japanese place. Where we actually had to take off our shoes to sit down. Yay for traditions and no shoes! Was yumm too. And Chris willingly ate fish, RAW fish, which is a big deal! And he actually kind of liked it!

We then went on a prayer walk around Yokohama, praying with everyone for the areas we are going to be doing outreach over the next week.

 The team, praying over the area where the revival happened 500 years ago.

 Praying over Yokohama stadium. Where a man had a vision of the stadium being full of people worshipping Jesus.

 This photo is more then it comes across. There is actually a mirror wall on the left of Tay.

 The team praying together.

Tay face. 

 This is Pam. She is from America, so full of love and Joy! Her and Jess are modelling the shirts we will be wearing for Shine Japan this week!

We then kept walking praying over the city of Yokohama. We met a few people along the way! Everyone is so open to hearing about God.  This is Dayne and Sarah from America 'hi-fiving' a group of Japanese girls here in Yokohama. They also got to pray for them! 

We also got given umbrellas for out reach. Gets peoples attention!  Another example of Kate not liking photos :) she is behind the other umbrella.

 Another random fact. In Japan, they push multiple children around in trolleys, we found this quite humorous!

After our prayer walk and day with the Shine team, we had dinner and drinks on our rooftop again. Great day all up!  Chris has a new nick name of "buns" as he has at least 2 pork buns a day, and probably has around 3 a day! He is a little obsessed. I also woke up feeling sick in my throat but after prayer and some Japanese medicine (which was rather gross) I am feeling much better! 

Thanks Jesus.  

Keep praying for us as week continue to love on the people here, serve and pray! We are expecting big things, as our God is AWESOME! 

bye for now! 

JAPAN Day 7

Hello again from Japan. Today was our 7th day here! One week has flown. I knew it would too. Only a couple more weeks left here!

Japan (especially the cities, as I am yet to see the rural side of Japan) has really made me appreciate Australia. We have so much freedom at home. 

Such a different culture! 

Here in Japan 100 people commit suicide a week. When I said it is spiritually dark here, I meant it. It's pretty crazy to think how many people don't have hope! 

This is why we came here. To be some light in the cultures darkness. For the past week, I have struggled to feel God here in the way I would in Australia. There is a spiritual blockage here! And I guess the enemy is also trying to make me fear him. I can defiantly see the brokenness of this country after spending only 1 week here.   So keep praying that God will continue to use us in bigger ways, and that our strength comes from Him! 

This morning started with coffee after a good sleep in. We walked down to our local Starbucks and got breakfast on the way through in China town. 

We then headed to the local church. On the way we passed the river. Most of the waters here are FULL of jelly fish. So no swimming for us!

 Church was at New Hope Yokohama.

 Which is humorous for me have been attending New Hope in Australia for the past 11 years. Was cool to see a church in Japan!

New Hope was a great church here in Yokohama. They did happen to play planet shakers song, so we could sing along to that. And the service was in English and Japanese translated. So we could understand it too. Yay!

It is also a Hawaiian church, and has a sister church in Hawaii. And they had a couple performing a Hawaiian worship song and dance. Was rather cute... or Kawaiiii (which is 'cute' in Japanese). But we also met the couple from New Hope church in Hawaii. 

Was awesome to be in community and worship with people who love Jesus, and refreshing to feel home in His presence!  We had a good message about "Shining Gods light" too. Which is basically what One Week To Shine is all about, and why we are here! 

After church we then headed into Tokyo to Tokyo Union Church for our first prayer meeting/worship session for one week to shine. Was awesome to praise God and be in His house with people from around the world, all come for Shine. Although by the second song we were all tired from standing up! Gives you an indication on how much we have walked.

 Kaiitehh and this awesome tunnel we found near the church.

A part of Tokyo at night. Its so overwhelmingly big this place! And so many people, but the lights all look amazing. 

Other then that it was a pretty easy day. After the shine meeting Kate, Chris, Jess and I then went out for dinner with Tay and Nao to yet another amazing Japanese place. The food is still amazing here. I have a feeling that won't change. 

On the way home we bumped into the team from America here for Shine. They are staying in the same village as us. So it was awesome to meet them before we start the week!

We are pretty pumped to see what God does over the next week! Keen to share the Gospel and the love of Jesus to this nation. I'm sure we will all have great testimonies! 

Peace friends! 

JAPAN Day 6

Well, I can't believe we have had our 6th day here. So crazy! I'm glad I am blogging, because otherwise I would of forgotten half of the things we have done.

Today was another sun shining day.  Jess and I started the day with worship and time with God up on the roof. Great place to do it! We also met Jean who is from Canada, had great chats with her. She is here for an internship.

 We then went down the street to get a few things.   Was pretty impressed with finding Mario gum. Was fitting to our adventures today!

Today Chris decided we were all  subscribed to his quote book. Which is him. He is the quote book! Lets just say we got fun facts throughout the day!  Was pretty entertaining.

We went down to the Red Brick Warehouse again. And discovered a  festival was on down there. We had a look around for a bit. And Kate decided 11am  was a great time for a beer! Why not I say!

We then went to Tokyo! 

Kate and Chris hadn't yet experienced the colours and craziness of Japan yet. So we were excited to show them places. And go back to the same place we had an amazing lunch the other day! 

Defiantly smashed that one guys. Well done! I love that you can have a feast for around 8 aussie bucks. 

We then walked through to Cat street. This is where Tay took us the other day, we thought Chris and Kate would enjoy a good tour.  No cats on the street, but it had some good coffee! 

From coffee to cats. Because we found Cat Man. A man who sits on the foot path with his 6 cats in his pram. They all look pretty doped up. But this made my day! 

We then walked to "takeshita street" which is basically take-shit street. But its full of wonderful japanese goodness! Including crepes and harajuku girls! 

They were the best! 

We then discovered more of Japans hidden treasures. After catching a train.. we found a nice little lake and had a good session of paddling around it. Cost 300 yen... and we may have had more fun doing that then Disneyland! 

 From the lake we walked to another part of the city of Tokyo (massive place) called Akiabara. Kate was excited go here! This included Mario and other games... it was a nerd world. Japan has everything! 

Other then all those adventures, we are all still subscribed to Chris's fun facts. Not that we have a choice. Jess had a better nights sleep, as we all did! And the sickness is  going! So thank you for all your prayers! God is good. We are pretty wrecked after our 6th day walking around! But happy to be full of dumplings and rice. So so good! We learnt more Japanese words today too. How to say "excuse me" and "I'm sorry". This helps us a lot! 

One Week To Shine starts tomorrow. Which we are super excited to get into after spending time exploring and learning the culture over here! Yay! Bring on the next week :) 

 That is all for now.

 Peaceee 

JAPAN Day 5

Heeyro from Japan!

Jess and I prayed last night. We have both been feeling pretty spiritually shut off over here. As much as God has been showing us, providing for us and teaching us things. And after praying we realised it is because we both fear the darkness over here. It is such a spiritually dark place. So prayer for strength would be awesome! Also, Jess has come down with a cold. She was feeling average yesterday... and we thought it was the polluted air in Japan. But it has resulted in a cold. So prayer for Jess would be awesome... as she hasn't been sleeping super well.
But despite the lack of sleep and sickness...

Today we went to DISNEYLAND!
Although it took us 3 hours to get there... and about 6 trains later. We also find that a lot of students want to practice their English on us.

But we finally made it to Disneyland. Which is way over populated. The rides were not so good. And everyone spends way to much money on mickey mouse ears!
 But it was fun to see.
Chris stated the fact that everyone basically is idolising Walt Disney! Which is true *laughs* ohhh goodness. More comments could be made! Mostly by Chris. Eheh
But ill just post some photos for you all to see.

 Ticket to get in.

 Walt Disney

Before the Starwars ride.

 Lunch in Disneyland.

 Photo with the castle.

We got home in an hour, which was excellent. Much better then the 3 it took us. Such tourists! We plan on eating some good food and having drinks on our rooftop again.
Worship and some prayer as well. Defiantly need Gods strength whilst we are here. Hope the 10 degrees at home is treating you well.
Peace

JAPAN Day 4

Another good day in Japan!
Jess and I headed into Tokyo again on the train after having breakfast in China Town.
The sun was shining again. Yeah buddy!

There we met Tay! Yay for a familiar face.
Was kind of surreal seing someone we knew. But he is pretty much a local so he showed us round for a few hours.
First... WE HAD GOOD COFFEE! Yay for something that tastes amazing!! Best part about it was that it was on Cat street. Meow!

We then ventured around the streets of Shibuya Tokyo. There was so much colour! Was awesome to see the quieter parts of Tokyo.

We then went to Nao's (Tays girlfriends) Muma cafe for lunch. Was so Yum! Plus another great coffee!

Jess and I the ventured back to Yokohama on a 1 hour train ride. Felt like a lot longer... but that's probably because we were excited to see Chris and Kate... who arrived in Japan today!!! Yay for friends! 

We then got to show them around China Town before finishing the day with having dinner and drinks on our rooftop! 

Until tomorrow! we are all a bit excited for DISNEYLAND tomorrow!!!

And I'm rather excited about having  a pillow tonight. Lucky we found a cupboard full of extra things! We take so much for granted. Night friends!

xx Kath