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| Hello!
I'm so sorry I haven't been able to update in awhile. Being our last week in Tokyo, things have been extremely busy.
Schedule of events for this week
Monday (yesterday) - Team excursion to Disney Sea
Tuesday (today) - last day at Toyo Universtiy
Wednesday - last day at Tsuda University
Thursday - leave for debriefing at the base of Mt. Fuji
Friday - debriefing
Saturday - leave Japan
Sunday - Arrive in La (Matty, please don't forget to pick me up)
Before we left for campus this morning, we had the opportunity to visit the top of the Metropolitan Building in Shinjuku, which is one of the biggest prefectures within Tokyo. From the top of the building, you can see all of Tokyo. It's pretty amazing how huge this city is. While I was up there I couldn't help but think of the millions of people in Japan who do not know Christ. Less than 1%...less than 1% kept whirling around in my head. However, as I started to pray over the city God reminded me of the song God of this City, which we meditated over this morning. The lyrics are below.
"You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You Are
For there is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
Chorus
Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things are still to come
And greater things are still to be done here
Verse 2:
You're the Lord of Creation
The Creator of all things
You're the King above all Kings
You Are
You're the strength in our weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness
You Are
Chorus 2:
Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things are still to come
And greater things are still to be done here
I love this song and through this song, God really reminded me that He is control. Yes, there are millions of people out there that do not know Him, yet He is all powerful and He loves each and everyone of them. I strongly feel that God IS going to change that 1%. Already I have seen so many faithful Japanese servants of the Lord. I've worshiped beside them at New Hope church, I've witnessed the JCCC hard at work, and I've met so many faithful students while on campus. These faithful Japanese servants give me hope and I am excited to see how their passion and faith will change the lives of so many Japanese. "Greater things are yet to come...Greater things are still to be done in this city..."
After spending some time in Shinjuku, we were off to campus. It was a wonderful day, yet because it was my last day on campus, it was also a very difficult day. I was really nice to be able to talk with and meet with my closest friends at Toyo. However, it's always so hard to say goodbye. I tried really hard not to, but I left Toyo University in tears. Coming to Japan I knew I was going to make friends and be ministering to students on campus, but I never thought I would be able to build such close bonds with people I can barely hold a conversation with. God really gave me a heart to LOVE these students. Although I was unable to lead or witness first hand someone coming to Christ, I did as the Lord commanded and loved His people. I was able to share the Gospel and share how much He loved them. Although I may never be able to see the fruits of my labor, I have faith that the Lord will water these seeds and grow them. I have faith that He will send others to finish where we left off so that one day I will see them again and be able to worship beside them in heaven. Please continue to pray for these students.
 view from the top of the Metropolitan Building in Shinjuku Greater things are yet to come...
 English lunch at Toyo Eriko and Kazumi
Tomorrow we will be debriefing with the JCCC staff and than going to the campus of our choice. I do not know why but I felt there is still work to be done at Tsuda. Last Friday right before I left Tsuda I was able to talk to a couple of girls briefly. Although we only talked for about 5 minutes, I was quickly able to connect with one of the girls named Izumi and we will be meeting up again tomorrow. Please pray that God will speak through me and that I will "fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel." All my other teammates will be on a different campus so I do not really have a plan, other than meeting with Izumi. Please pray that God will lead me and direct me. That I will be ready to listen and than respond to His leading.
 Last Saturday I saw Wicked in Japanese...simply AMAZING
Once again, thank you for all your prayers and support. I will be seeing you in less than a week!
In Christ,
Lyndsey
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| I know I just updated yesterday, but one of my friends from Tsuda University came to Christ tonight! Praise God!!!!
Please continue to keep Japan in your prayers!
Love,
Lyndsey
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| Greetings from Tokyo!
Hello and I just want to continue to thank you for all your prayers. I really appreciate it and I just wanted to affirm you that God is answering prayers and working in some mighty ways already!
So Monday was a day of rest of our team. So during my half day with the Lord I decided to go visit a park in Kichijoji. It was soooo beautiful and so wonderful to just get away from the city and sit in his creation.
 Kichijoji Park The HUGEnormous spider at Kichijoji ParkThe past few days (yesterday - Tuesday and Today - Wednesday) have been really exciting. Yesterday we had the opportunity of sitting in on one of the English conversation classes at Toyo University. It was a really wonderful opportunity and what was even more amazing was that the teacher was a Christian. He is a Japanese American from Hawaii and was involved in a campus ministry during his time at UH so he knew all about Epic Campus Crusade and was encouraged by our Missions Trip. While in class, each of my team members were to lead a small Q&A session with a small group of 3-4 students. The students would ask us a number of different questions about ourselves and we would either respond or ask them questions. It was a really wonderful opportunity to meet a number of students and we were also able to share a part of our lives with them as they asked us different questions. However, what was most touching was at the end of the class, the teacher had us line up at the front and he explained to the students that even though we just met we all had one very important thing in common. He explained to the students that yes, we are all Asian Americans but what connects us is that we are all Christians. He explained to the students that we were here in Japan to tell them that God loves them and that we also care so much for them. When he shared this I was completely blown away. I don't even know if he was supposed to say this in front of the class, but he did. He is a superior figure to these students and he just opened a number of doors for our team as we continue to get to know students on the campus of Toyo University. He is not only an English teacher in Japan, but is serving the Lord and is planting seeds into the hearts of his students. Today, I also was able to have my first spiritual conversation with two girls. Today during lunch I met up with Yuki, who was a student in the English Conversation class from yesterday and her friend Miyuki. Our conversation started out with just a lot of "get to know you" stuff but the Lord really moved through our conversation and opened doors for me to share more about Christianity. In Japan, I noticed that many young students will wear cross necklaces without knowing the significance behind this symbol, and Yuki was one of them. I talked a little about how it was a Christian symbol, however our conversation quickly led elsewhere, seeing how they looked a little uneasy. Yet later in our conversation Christmas casually came up and we were talking about the differences between the way Americans and Japanese celebrate Christmas. Slowly they started to ask more Christmas and I ended up sharing with them the Christmas story of how Jesus was born. This led to more questions and the topic of the Bible. What was interesting was that Yuki shared that her English teacher very often has mentioned the Bible and has encouraged them to read it if they get a chance. So already she was interested. I asked her if she had ever seen one and she said no. So, I pulled my Bible out and very quickly Yuki and MIyuki showed much interest and were really fascinated. As they flipped through my Bible they noticed a lot of things highlighted and I shared with them how the highlighted words were versus that were very close to my heart and verses that God has touched me with. After talking about the Bible for a little bit I gave each of them the 4 Spiritual Laws booklet. They scanned it quickly however the bell rang and they had to leave for class. So I wasn't able to share the complete Gospel with them. However, please keep them in your prayers because we will meet up again next week. Hopefully I can pick up right where we left off and share the Gospel with both of them. =) 
Yoshiko, Jessica (my teammate and roommate), Lilika and myself eating lunch at Toyo
Squished on the train
Some things to keep in prayer - That God would soften Yuki and Miyuki's hearts and that God would use me to share the Gospel with these girls - We will be having an outreach event this Saturday and inviting students to join us by going to a Tokyo Giants Baseball game. - Please pray for my teammate Grace as she is starting to get sick. Pray for healing, strength, and energy as well as the health of the rest of the team. Thank you so much for your prayers. I'm sorry for rambling on and on but I was just so excited as to how God is working I wanted to share all the little details. I love you all! ~ Lyndsey | | |
| Konnichiwa!
Thank you so much for your prayers for our first outreach event this past Friday. It went really well and there were over 100 people that came. It was an evening full of body worship, games, testimonies, slide shows, food and tears of joy as students heard the Gospel and accepted Christ into their lives as their Lord and Savior.
 At the outreach event with my teammate Jessica and my two friends Eriko and Akiko from Toyo UniversityThis past Friday we had our first visit to Tsuda University, a women's college in Tokyo. Tsuda was a beautiful campus as it is located more in the outskirts of Tokyo. At first we had trouble getting into the University because security is pretty tight. But after waiting for about half an hour and after some prayer they allowed us to go in. Once inside it was really nice. The campus is really cute and very old fashioned. We first had an English lunch with different students and later met up with the CCC Taiwan team. They have been ministering on campus all week so they gave us an update and we later had a group prayer which was really nice. Later that day we broke up into pairs and tried to meet students. My teammate Grace and I wandered into the cafeteria and quickly bonded with 3 girls, Aki, Saki, and Shiori. It was really nice talking to them and we were even able to bring up the Lord in our conversation. None of them were believers, but please pray for them as we will meet up with them again next Friday. I'm really excited about ministering on the campus of Tsuda and a few of us have really received strong words of encouragement from the Lord about this campus. However, we will only be on the campus if Tsuda once a week, but I'm excited to see what the Lord is going to do. Saturday was a really wonderful day as it was our day off. In the morning I had the opportunity to go play some pick up basketball at a park in Harajuku with some of the guys on the team and my friend Kelly who is a Stinter here in Japan. It was a so nice to exercise and play..however it was soooo hot and humid. At the park there was one other girl playing basketball and I had the opportunity to talk with her a little bit. Her name is Mariko and we were really able to connect. Hopefully I will continue to be able to see her at the park and get to know her better. Today (Sunday) we had the morning free so I had a really wonderful few hours of a much needed "Lyndsey time". I found a really cute shop and was able to just sit and read, journal, reflect and relax. It was so nice. Later we went to church and two girls that I met at the outreach event came! Since they didn't have a church my teammate, Carolin and I invited them to New Hope. Naomi is a Christian however the other girl Mai is seeking and interested but not yet a Christian. Both of them really enjoyed it and Mai told me she cried during the opening set of worship. Please continue to keep Mai in your prayers as she continues to question and seek.  Goofing off with my teammate Wilson in front of one of the public bathrooms in Koenji  Shibuya...the craziest shopping center in Tokyo with the BEST shopping and the BEST sushi
 Me and Jess copying the statue
TOYO UNIVERSTIY
  A view of Toyo from the Roof Garden...the fountain at the entrance of the school
 More of Toyo
 The cafeteria at ToyoPrayer Praises:
- The outreach event went really well and lives were saved! YAY!
- The team is bonding REALLY well =)
- Lauren arrived safely in Tokyo today and our full team is finally here!
- I've had the opportunity to make some really wonderful friends on the different campuses.
Prayer Requests:
- God will continue to protect us and keep us healthy
- The team will continue to bond, encourage, sharpen, and love each other.
- We will continue to build and strengthen relationships with the students we have met.
- The Lord will provide strength, guard our hearts, and protect us against the evil one, especially when we are tired and weary from our long days on campus
- Sensitivity to the leading of the Lord as we minister on campus
- That He will give me boldness as I share my faith with the students. Prayer that He speaks through me as communication is very difficult with the students
- That lives will be saved here in Japan.
Thanks so much for your prayers. I love you all and really appreciate it!
Love,
Lyndsey
p.s. I'm going to see Wicked in Japanese here in Tokyo!!!! Sooooo excited!
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