I’m scrolling through lists from a time past. The preparation, the store trips, the stress, the excitement, the unknowns. So many unknowns.
Notes and journal pages filled with preparation. Two years ago, in the middle of preparing for training camp and the World Race.
And now I’m back there, back preparing. Praying, lists, shopping and a new addition… rehearsal.
We’ve got our schedules filled up with hours of rehearsal, squeezed around already busy lives, preparing our dances for Japan. It’s so different than the Race, in every possible way.
Two years ago while preparing for the Race, I had no idea who I would be living with. I had no idea who the people were that would end up changing my life completely. I had seen lots of pictures and read every blog I could get my fingers on to figure out what these people were like. Would we get along? What were the personalities going to be like on my team? Was I going to be the only introvert in a sea of extroverts??! I had no clue. It wasn’t until training camp happened that I calmed down, realized we were all the same. Broken people who had been redeemed and called. We would live together, love together, hurt together. Those people found a place in my heart that I didn’t know existed, they called me to greatness time and time again. Through tears and laughs, too much rice and ridiculously long bus rides, strangers became family.
This time, it’s so different. My team going to Japan is filled with people that I’ve known for years, many years. I met Tiffany Case when I was 8, Katrina White when I was probably about 13. Abby Case I’ve known since she was a whee little one, and we’ve been adventurers together ever since. I knew Breanne Lane first as my friend’s little sister, then a student, then a friend herself. Emmye Wright has a similar story. Though I’ve known her a long time, only recently have I had the privilege of seeing deeper and deeper into her heart.
So there we have it. Tiffany, Katrina, Abby, Breanne and Emmye. Not one of them have I known for less than 5 years, all of them I consider my friends. I’m so blessed.
Our ministry is different too, way different. No African slums or 12 hour bus rides with rain streaming down the inside of our window. There won’t be many rats to fight away, or hours of hiking in order to get to our ministry location. This time there will be stages, lights and music. Costumes and ballet studios. But the heart is still the same. Reaching broken people is still the goal. Heaven to earth, Kingdom come, is still the reason.
I’m shopping again, but it’s different. Instead of shopping for a backpack that I can fit my life into for a year, I’m shopping for a suitcase with four wheels. The kind you can push around easily with one finger, so it can roll through the Shinkansen without disturbing anyone.
From incredibly overcrowded busses in Africa, to high speed bullet trains in Japan. Bucket showers to Onsens.
I think I’m going through missionary culture shock just thinking about it.
In these moments of preparing for something that right now, is completely outside my understanding of what a missions trip looks like, I find myself going back to the beginning. Going back to the heart, the reasons for me going. I go back to my Father. He is the reason I’m going. It’s not my friends, it’s not just dance, it’s Him. It’s Him, in all of who He is, that is my motivation for going, whether that going is to an African hut or a Japanese Buddhist temple. His heartbeat of love is what motivates me. The medium for sharing that love is about as different as you can get. The reason is the same.
The reason I’m going, is that there are roughly one hundred and twenty five million people living in Japan, who don’t know Jesus Christ as their savior (OMF Japan). The reason I’m going is because Jesus commanded to make disciples of ALL nations, the rich ones and the poor ones. I’m blessed to be going with my friends, but that’s not my motivation. My motivation is using dance as a tool of outreach. My motivation is obediently following where He called me to go, to do and say what he has me do and say.
I’m going to love, same as last time. Jesus has a lot to do in me to break off expectation until I leave, what it looks like to love in the nations. It’s going to be so different and I know I’ve got some lessons to learn in front of me, but the heart is the same. His heartbeat, is the same.
Go. Love.
Below is a video I put together, highlighting CMA’s trip to Japan last summer. As you watch the video, the primary message you will hear is one of following Jesus. Its’ our greatest choice, to choose to follow Him. I’m choosing to follow Him as he calls me to Japan this July.
In order to get to Japan, I have to raise $2,500.00. This money will cover all my costs for a month of traveling and ministering through dance outreaches in Japan. After watching the video, would your prayerfully consider donating to this trip? I only ask you to give if the Lord is leading you to, if he starts tugging on your heart. Obedience is always the best option, for both you and me.
I’m also asking for your prayers. For preparing and planning, but most of all for the Lord to bring His Kingdom in Japan. Through our hands, feet and words, we want to see the Lord bring a mighty rushing wind of His presence, His heartbeat, to the land of Japan. If you would like to donate online, you can click here. Or you are able to send a check payable to CMA Japan, with my name in the memo, to:
CMA
PO Box 631939
Littleton, CO 80163
I’m so thankful for all the support I have from so many of you. Thank you for your giving over the years. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement. They are incredibly appreciated and I simply wouldn’t be where I am today without them! While watching the video, I pray that the Lord would be speaking to you where you are today, wherever he has called you. Know that His love wants to pour into you and fill you up to overflowing.
