Twitterpated

I have a confession. After coming back from Japan, I had become too comfortable and too lazy. I had all this free time and yet I was not spending any of it with my Beloved. I could feel the distance growing between the Lord and myself and I was disgusted by it. I tried making excuses that it was normal to have this happen after such a growing time in Japan, but excuses weren't going to change my situation. I knew that I needed, wanted, and craved time with the Lord and to actually do it, I would need some accountability. I asked someone close to me to hold me accountable and make sure that I got up in the morning and have a date with Jesus! That first quiet time was amazing and I questioned why I ever stopped having this time. After about a week and a half of not specifically spending time with the Lord, I want to share with you what the Lord told me in that first time with Him!
I woke up that morning and immediately heard God tell me, "Read Hosea." Knowing what Hosea was about, I already knew what God was going to tell me. I was excited!
For those of you not familiar with the book of Hosea, the first three chapters are about the man, Hosea. God tells him to marry and unconditionally love a prostitute and to have children with her. Hosea does just this. Gomer, the prostitute, marries Hosea but continues to seek love and passion from other men. She turns her back on Hosea. But, Hosea still loves her and in the end redeems her!

Hosea 3:1 says, "And the Lord said to me, 'Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loved the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins."

These last two weeks, I have sought love and pleasure from other things mainly food, my computer, and the T.V. But even in this time of turning my back on God, He still loved me! He still pursued me, and He still called me His beloved! During the quiet time, I was put in awe by His love!

I want to love God the way He loves me! After, reading through Hosea, I opened up the book I am currently ready by Jamie Zumwalt called Simple Obsession: Enjoying the Tender Heart of God. The chapter I was on was called Head over Feet and not surprisingly, the chapter talked about Hosea and being passionately in love with God. (Don't you love it when God brings up the same themes when you are not expecting it?) The book talked about the word "Twitterpated" from the movie Bambi. The author defined it as being passionately in love with another person to the point that only they exist. That person becomes our simple obsession. I do not want to be like Gomer and seek love from other things (although I know I always will becuase I am a sinner.)
I yearn to be twitterpated with God because He is twitterpated with me!

Hosea 2:19, 20 "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in loving kindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord."

Courtney

The Last Days

As promised, here is a post about the last few days I had in Japan.
These days almost seem surreal and went by really fast. It still has not hit me that I had to say goodbye to all my friends in Japan and that I am back in America.
That final Friday was our last day on the Gaidai campus. We had a farewell picnic and many of our friends from the campus came including the two new believers from the night before. Two girls who work full time with Campus Crusade in Japan came too. We spent the time hanging out, taking pictures, and really just sharing our hearts with these people before we left. Our new sisters and the CRU staff exchanged information and made plans to start a Bible study together, PRAISE THE LORD! The students then had to go back to class and that was the last of our outreach.
That night was our women's dinner for our team, but we invited many of our Japanese friends as well as CRU staff to come. It was a great night but sad at the same time. We all exchanged gifts for each other and said our final goodbyes. The month went by so fast and I could hardly believe that it was time for goodbye.
The following day, we cleaned our apartments and locked up for the final time. We weren't leaving back to the states until Monday, but we were leaving Tokyo and heading to small town called Atame that is near the sea for a two day relax before leaving Japan. It was really fun and a great time for our team to bond.
Monday, we left Atame and took a three hour train ride to the airport with all our luggage (what an experience) and then took the 11 hour plane ride back to L.A. The trip was over. We spent a few days in L.A doing debrief which was designed for us to process all that we had done, encourage each other, and get readjusted back into America. Then it was time to say goodbye to the team which was pretty sad as we had all grown close in the five weeks we spent together. Before I knew it, I was heading to Alaska.
The good news; The Lord is good and faithful! He is always with me and His plan does not cease, so I look forward to what is ahead of me and rejoice in the fact the He has control of everything!

In Christ,

Courtney

Pictures!


Prayer Hug with my team!


Sharing my testimony at the Outreach


Farewell Picnic at Gaidai!


Doing the Lifehouse Everything Skit at our outreach


Our team at Disney Sea on one of our days off!


Sweating at the Train Station after hours of travel with our luggage!



Chillin on my futon in my room.


My team the Last Night of Debrief!

Home in Alaska!

It has been over week since my last post and a lot has happened. I was not able to update due to having no Internet access. I want to first let you all know that I am now home in Alaska! I have not been home in the summer for over two years and it is wonderful. I forgot how beautiful Alaska is in the summer!
I also wanted to thank all of you for all of your support and prayers in getting me to Japan and while I was in Japan. I will give you a post in few days about all that happened in the last three days in Japan and all that happened at debrief. God did incredible things in that short amount of time and I am in awe of His limitless power. I will also put up many pictures of the trip but you can also check my facebook page for a many more!
There is one thing that I want to share with you that has been on my heart. Even though I am home from Japan, I am not home from the mission field. I often get caught up in thinking that I have to go somewhere different from where I live to be a missionary, but that is not the case. True, there are unreached people groups that have never heard the Gospel and as Christians, we need to be going to those that need to hear, but there are also people who have not heard the Gospel in my own hometown or who's hearts were closed when they heard it the first time. I need to be looking at the places around me and ask the Lord to highlight people who I need to share with. I then need to share with them, just like I did in Japan, by trusting the Lord that He will move in the hearts of the those I am talking to.
So, my adventure is not over and will never be over! Therefore, I ask for your continued prayers as I go on to the next journey of my life and continue to share the Greatest news ever told. I will continue to update you (hopefully weekly) on all the amazing, crazy, and beautiful things God is doing in my life.
I also ask that you pray for my two best friends, Lauren and Caroline. Lauren has been in Ivory Coast, Africa, sharing the Gospel and is there for another two weeks.
Caroline just got back from sharing the Gospel in East Asia and, like me, is adjusting to life back in America and has a desire to share the Gospel here as well.

I want to leave you with Colossians 3:1-4

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Till His kingdom comes,

Courtney

Two New Sisters!!!!

Glory to God in the Highest! Emmanuel!

Last night's outreach was incredible! God truly worked through our weakness and inefficiencies! His will was done and He was glorified! Our outreach was called the American Farewell Party since we are leaving on Monday. Many new students came to the outreach. We started the outreach by having some of our team members share what they will miss most about Japan. We then performed our Lifehouse Everything skit and it brought some students to tears. After that, I got up in front of everyone and shared my testimony, and my friend, Yukiko, translated. I was pretty nervous and my voice was still not fully back, but the Lord spoke through me and got the message that I wanted to share across. The main message was about the ultimate, never ending, unconditional love from Jesus Christ that can not be experienced from another human being. I talked about how even in my sin, shame, and guilt, God loves me. No matter what I have done in the past, where I am at now, or what I will do in the future, God loves me. I then told all the students that they too can experience this incredible love. I ended with sharing 1 John4:16 "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
After my testimony, my roommate, Casey, came up and played the guitar and sang a song. Then the Japanese staff surprised us by singing us a song to say thanks and gave us all gifts. It was very moving and quite sad.
We then proceeded to break up in small groups to talk about the skit and my testimony and use this time to share the Gospel.I was in a group with my team member, Katherine Anne, Yukiko (the staff member who translated for me) and two girls names Yumi and Shiori from the Gai Dai campus. Katherine Anne had met Yumi for the first time on Tuesday when they got "randomly" paired up to play badminton together. Katherine Anne invited her to our party and she brought her friend, Shiori, who we had never met before.
While talking to the girls, I really felt the presence of the Holy spirit and I knew they would both decide to come to know Jesus that night. During my testimony, Katherine Anne also heard God tell her to be ready to pray the prayer with someone tonight. After having a long spiritual conversation with both of them, the time came to share the Gospel. Yukiko asked me to go through the Knowing God Personally booklet and that she would translate when needed. The Lord really spoke through me and at the end I asked them if they understood everything. They not only told me they understood it but that they also believed it and WANTED IT!!! They were able to tell the Gospel back to us and clearly had a good understanding of it. Yumi also told us that she saw how I had an English bible and Yukiko had a Japanese bible and how that showed her how God is for ALL PEOPLE! WOW! That blew my mind! They wanted to pray the prayer right theew to accept Jesus in their hearts. So Katherine Anne, Yukiko, and I prayed with them. We then did follow up and rejoiced with them for being our new sisters!!! They were so joyful! The Lord truly blessed me with allowing me to be a harvester in these two girls' lives.
Today, we had our final picnic on the Gai Dai campus and both Yumi and Shiori showed up. Both had already started reading the bible as soon as they had returned to their homes after the party. Yukiko and another staff member, Fumi, came to out picnic to specifically become closer friends with these two girls since Katherine Anne and I are leaving. Yumi and Shiori asked for Yukiko's and Fumi's contact information and were excited to start a Bible Study with them! PRAISE THE LORD!
Tonight we are having one last dinner at our apartments and we have invited many of our Japanese friends to come, so please be praying that in these last hours of ministry that God be glorified and we continue to pour out love and be bold!

Thanks for all of your prayers! They truly are Powerful!

Till His kingdom comes,

Courtney

Pictures of the Outreach coming soon! I was just so excited to share this story that I couldn't wait for pics!

Prayers Please!

Hello my wonderful friends, family, and supporters!

I am writing to specifically ask for your prayers. We have only two days of ministry left and we are fully expectant for God to do wonderful things! But because of this, I know Satan will be attacking even more. Today, I woke up really sick. I had a headache, sore throat, chills, and fatigue. I went on campus but I had to leave early to go sleep and try to get well. I was not the only team member that was feeling ill either. I am filling a little better now but I still have a sore throat and I am losing my voice. Tomorrow, I will be sharing my testimony at our final big outreach, so I will need a voice to speak and I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak through me! I know that God is my healer and when I am weak, He is strong! Please pray for healing, and that He still uses me in my time of sickness. Pray that I turn to Him and in this time look to Him for comfort and rest and spend time in His word and presence.
A lot of the team has also just been feeling tired and are ready to go home. So please pray that they finish strong and don't get complacent or comfortable. Pray that we speak with boldness and authority the Jesus has given us, sharing the most incredible love anyone can experience. Pray against any fear that is in any of us! For I know that "perfect love casts out all fear!" Pray that the burden for the people of Japan grows in our hearts! Pray that we can see the friends that we have made here as our brothers and sisters in heaven. Pray that we can unconditionally love them knowing He first loved us.
Pray for our outreach tomorrow! Pray that the words of God are spoken and that people come to know Him!
Finally, pray that God's will be done and that He is glorified through it all! That He is lifted high and that we keep our eyes set on Him!

I will follow the Lamb wherever He goes!

Till His Kingdom comes,

Courtney

Just Pictures!

I thought I would have a post of just pictures since I have been lacking in them! Enjoy!

Court


I'm having a great time!


All of us in front of the Imperial Palace!


Katherine Anne and I in front of the Imperial Palace! A friend put the hat on me to make me look goofy!


Eating at Denny's in Tokyo!


Introducing the outreach with my translator!


Sharing the Gospel at our outreach!


Chilling at Team Meeting!


Learning how to swing dance after Church!


The girls at the Gai Dai picnic!


A group of us at the Gai Dai picture!

Praises to God in the Highest!

Konichiwa!

I know the longer the mission trip has been happening, the less I have posted, and I apologize. God is still continuing to do AMAZING things in our relationship building and random evangelism, but there is one thing I do find a little bit difficult. I feel like there is not much to update you on because nothing more has been happening with the Japanese students I have become friends with. I have already shared the Gospel with them and my testimony and continue to pour love into them and they are still really open, but none of them had wanted to make the step into actually accepting Jesus. However, I do know that it does take time and I may not see the fruits. The concept of Christianity is so new to them, that they need more time to process what is being said to them. So I will continue pouring into them knowing that God is faithful and has an incredible plan for the Japanese. AND some incredible things are STILL happening here so I will give you an update on those.

Tuesday: On the Gaidai campus. I had lunch with Ayaka and some other students. Then a girl that Katherine Ann has been getting to know, invited us to go play badminton her. We thought it was going to be a nice chill game with a few people, but a wonderful opportunity opened instead. We ended up going into her gym class (which was in a building we were told never to go into) and played with a class of about fifty students! Their professor was completely fine with us being there and he had us introduce ourselves to the entire class when we were finished! Praise the Lord! We ended up meeting a bunch more students. I met a girl named Rina who was a person of peace and she really wanted to get to know me better. I got to share part of my testimony with her and invite her to our huge outreach on Thursday. She came and brought three friends with her!

Wednesday: On the Hitostubashi campus. Had lunch with Emily, her friend Ing, Seira! I got to have spiritual conversation with Ing and she was really cool. She is a practicing Buddhist and was able to give me some insight into her religion. Seira ended up staying a long time after lunch and Humi (a CCC Japanese staff) and I got to share the Gospel with her and I shared my testimony with her. She was incredibly moved and open. She said that she had never thought about these things before and was going to go to the Library to check out a bible, but we had one, so we were able to give it to her to keep. She was so grateful.
Thursday: On the Hitsostubashi campus again for Business English lunch, which I led. We decided to do soularium (which is a survey that uses pictures and opens up for spiritual conversations) I did soularium with Omar and Shun. Shun continues to be open and learning more and more about God.
Thursday night was our big outreach. This is what all of us have been inviting Japanese students to for the last three weeks. Another girl on the team and I were in charge of planning it. WE decided to get enough food for 60-70 people. There were over 100 people at the outreach and we actually ran out food! Praise God for bringing Japanese students. There were probably around 75 students who were not Christians and had probably not heard the Gospel! Among these students were Ayaka, Bond, Shun, and Rina. We performed our Lifehouse- Everything skit and many of the students were really moved. We broke up into small groups after that and discussed the skit. Through these discussions, many of us got to share the Gospel and PRAISE THE LORD, one girl named Nao came to know the LORD!! The whole trip was worth that one girl and we still have another outreach to do this Thursday!
Friday: We had a picnic at Gaidai and many of our same friends came! We played a hilarious game called zip bong and had a great time just hanging out outside. After, our team had an awesome prayer walk! We prayed that the Holy Spirit start raining down on the Gaidai campus and literally 30 seconds later, it started to physically rain! It was beautiful!
Saturday: A group of us went to Asakasa with some of our Gaidai friends to see a temple and do some shopping. It was a fun day! Our Japanese friends then took us to Denny's :) for a family meal! We thought it was pretty funny that we ate there in Japan, but fortunately the menu is nothing like the one in America!

Thank you all so much for the prayers! I can't believe I only have a week left! I hope to be able to talk to many of you once I am back in the states! I have been in awe of all the amazing things God has done here but humbled at the same time. There is a great need for more missionaries here and all over the world and the burden in my heart for long term missions has continued to grow while I am here.

One of my favorite Passages!
Philippians 2:1-11
2:1 "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

In Christ,

Courtney

Practicing our Skit for the outreach!



Students at the Outreach watching Blake share his Testimony!



Team B and our Friends from Hitostubashi at the Discover Friends Party!


Having fun at Asakasa!