Brace for Impact: Summer Impact Japan 2012

I'll be honest, I still really miss Japan. I will be forever changed by the summer I spent in Utsunomiya, and hope to return again one day. One of my prayers since returning to America has been for unique opportunities to continue investing in my Japanese friends, to equip and send others to Japan, and to serve in any way I am able while in the States. One such opportunity presented itself when I was asked to write a short article for the Japan Navigator staff to send out in a newsletter. 

One of the Japanese staff wrote back to me,

"Thank you for writing article about your SIJ story for our Japan Navigators newsletter. I am so glad that you and Utsu students had a wonderful summer. I too had many good memories with SIJers when I was a student. Thank you for your investment to young Japanese lives."

It was an investment I'll never forget and never regret. I thought I would share what I wrote:

When I knew I would be spending my summer in Japan as a part of SIJ, I began researching the history, culture and customs of this country. No amount of research could prepare me for my experience, because it was the people I met and the friendships that were formed that made this the most incredible summer of my life.

I was overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness, the mutual respect and service I encountered in Japan; no one made me feel like a foreigner or treated me like I didn’t belong. I had been looking forward to sharing the Gospel and my testimony with these new Japanese friends, hoping to share with them who God is. One friend wrote to me at the end of SIJ: “Thank you for teaching me a lot about the Bible and Jesus.” Another, “This summer was so good for me. I learned God’s love is great and I understand that friends are so wonderful!”

On top of this, I was also able to learn new qualities of God through the Japanese people; they are organized, creative, relational, selfless and detailed.  God revealed to me new depths of His character through the people I came to love and serve; I had no idea that Summer Impact Japan meant that I was the one who would be impacted.

You too can impact Japanese lives, and you will most certainly be impacted in the process. Pray about being a part of SIJ 2013!!! Message me if you have any questions!