July 12, 2023

こんにちはみんあさん！ I hope everyone is doing well. I have been in Japan for the past six weeks and my adventure is quickly coming to a close. My flight back home is this Friday and honestly, as much as I adore Japan and cherish the time I’ve spent here, I’m ready to go home and be with my family and friends again. During my time here, I was presented with so many lessons that I can say I have successfully learned. The first was my hesitation in sharing my faith. When I first arrived, it seemed as though I was the only one who was a Christian, and that wasn’t too far from the mark. There was one more person who followed Christ, but I was always nervous in bringing up my faith because I didn’t want to deter people from me. How foolish I was. I never denied being a Christian and I did mention it a few times, but they were all done so in a timid manner. I finally spoke about it to one of my classmates, and then another, and I was finally able to be bold enough to put Jesus forth as my one sole purpose. My timidity in sharing my faith completely vanished after visiting a shrine where I began to participate in the rituals, where you bow at the gate, and as I did it I had told Jesus that He was the only one I bowed to, but that excuse did not cut my mistake. I felt so much spiritual oppression from all sides, and being there made me really upset. All I wanted was to leave. But I got through it, and I didn’t participate in another ritual.

As much as I want to kick myself in the shin for even participating in the beginning (out of obligation, more or less), I do believe it was important that I felt the spiritual hostility in the air. So after that day, my boldness in my faith grew exponentially, and I am never going back to being hesitant. Another lesson I’ve learned is to trust in where God wants you to be. I recently had what was supposed to be a four hour trip that turned into eight hours, but I didn’t panic and I just followed the directions and I got to my destination at the perfect time to watch a spectacular sunset.

There were so many more lessons in between, but to sum everything up, God taught me how to be bold and strong in Him. I talked about Him with my classmates, the people living in the dorms I lived in for a while, and my cousin, and all were willing to listen. Be bold, people will either listen or reject you, but the decision is up to them. Don’t be the reason they miss out on hearing about Christ, that’s what I had to learn. I’m more or less just jotting down my thoughts right now, but if you’ve found yourself facing any sort of hesitation in speaking out about faith, then I hope my accounts help you find your voice, as I found mine. I was always bold in my writing, but now I’m bold in my speaking, and that is a major milestone for me. And another thing, don’t judge a person who does not follow Christ. Always be loving and kind towards them. My peers did not follow Christ, but I still found strong and wonderful friendships with them, and I adore the people I got to call my classmates and now my friends. Christ doesn’t want us to be separated from people because they don’t follow Him, but He also doesn’t want us to be pulled into their flow. So become bold, and be a pillar for those friends. Show them how Christ works in your life, and maybe one day they will recognize Him in their lives as well.

Anyways, exciting things! I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, but I’m working on yet another new book. This one is based in Japan and the place I am staying now is where it is most definitely going to be set. I find it so exciting that I get to walk the same streets that my character will be walking. I got to live in my book for a short period of time, which is so surreal considering everything I have written so far has been world-building. I don’t have to make up the names for places anymore! I am so excited for this book, I am going to be incorporating a lot of spiritual, Christian, and Japanese mythology themes into the story. I hope everyone will be able to enjoy it! I look forward to being home, but I will definitely be coming back to Japan one day. Who knows, maybe it’ll be to promote a book. We’ll see!

God bless to everyone, and I’ll be writing to y’all again (at some point)!

BTW, this blog is raw because I didn't feel like reading it over. So if you get confused at any point because I was being scatterbrained, I deeply apologize. Thanks for reading!