Hello, everyone! Sorry about the update delay! After a wonderful month of cool rain and decent temps, it's now a whooping 90 degrees with 80% humidity! I've been sweating out waterfalls for the past two days. Oh, Portland year-round rain... How I miss thee...
Speaking of a few days ago, me and some of my teammates decided to go on a strict diet called Whole30, in which the idea is to only eat whole foods consisting of fruits, veggies, and (thankfully) meat for 30 days straight. No grains, sugar, dairy, beans, etc... So all the wondrous things I normally consume is completely off the table. My body is already screaming out for pasta, bread and chocolate. Prayer is needed. However, having recently turned 30, it's come to my attention that my metabolism is not quite as quick as it used to be, therefore I need to think more about my health and how much I consume. Dunno if I'll do the entire 30 days, but I'll be on it as long as I can!
Here's the link to the diet program: https://whole30.com/
A few weeks ago, when we had our guest from the UK for the week, we went to a historical site in Sendai that even I hadn't visited yet: The Zuihōden, a mausoleum created for Date Masamune and his descendants.
The tomb above is Date's, where inside it is a statue of himself. The doors are opened only once a year, in which the statue can be seen to the public. Funny enough, we also found this notification on a table with prayer papers nearby:
Funny enough, Tanabata is a summer festival which celebrates two star deities, Orihime and Hikoboshi, which originated from Chinese lore. I guess you could say that this sign is encouraging you to "wish upon a star"...? Moving on.
A particularly sad part of our trip here were these tombstone along both sides of the main tomb, with an inscription explaining what they were (Click on the far right side of the picture to pull up the next pic):
It pains me to read about these loyal retainers, who committed suicide as a response to the death of their leader. It's an interesting comparison: these men honored their dead lord through the act of taking their own lives. But Jesus' disciples and friends honored their once dead and now alive Lord through the act of living out their lives for Him. I truly pray that one day, the people of Japan will see honor in Jesus' ministry, death, resurrection, and power in a way that they'll understand and gladly accept with open arms. Amen.
One final note: On September 10th - 13th, there's a big yearly YWAM Japan conference near Mt. Fuji, where all the YWAM bases around the country gather together to have fellowship, worship, and talk about ministry and plans for evangelizing to the Japanese. It's a $300 fee, which includes travel, food, and accommodations at the convention center. It's a lot of money, but for the first year of YWAM Sendai being in operation, it'll be good for all of us to go together to represent ourselves and our new base! Please prayfully consider giving a one time donation, so I may accompany my teammates to the YWAM convention.
Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support as I continue my ministry here in Japan!
Romans 12: 1
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship."
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