Post on 02-Apr-2018
7/27/2019 Japan Trip Update Newsletter
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2013 T R I P U P D A T E
Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you for taking aninterest in my Japan trip and my life! It
is because of your love and support of
me that you are receiving this trip
update on Japan. My trip to Japan lasted
20 days from July 13 through August
1st. The first week of the trip I stayed at
the Tamaki house. Their son Tama hadstayed at the our house at Easter.
During this week of homestay, I had the
opportunity to sightsee in Tokyo and
spend time with the Tamaki family.
Sightseeing included Japanese history,
gardens, public bath, and eating out. The
Tamaki family was very kind to me and
made me feel at home! I am so verythankful to them.
One of my favorite parts ofthe homestay week was visiting with
three of the Japanese students that had
homestay experiences at my house.
Homestay and English Camp Experience
JAPANESE GARDEN (LEFT)--MY
HOST FATHER AND I AT THE
IMPERIAL PALACE
TAMAKI FAMILY AND I AT A
JAPANESE RESTAURANT FIREWORKS ENGLISH CLASS
LUKE S JAPAN TRIP
7/27/2019 Japan Trip Update Newsletter
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Additionally, I thoroughly enjoyed
seeing the beautiful Japanese gardens
and visiting Tamas college English classat Waseda University.
After the week of sightseeing, Iheaded off to English camp in the Mt.
Fuji area. During this week a few
Americans, many Japanese teachers, and
a few Japanese teens completed three
English camps with about 100 Japanese
kids. These kids had a wide range of
ages from early Elementary to Junior
High. During English camp the kidslearned about the history and
geography of the USA. In learning this
information, the kids, with the help of
the teachers, would complete a 90
second skit (this was my favorite part
of camp). Additionally, the kids enjoyed
playing around the camp, campfire,BBQ, swimming at Lake Yamanaka, a
fashion show, singing some Christian
songs, and eating lots of good food.
The camp took place at TorchBearers Christian camp. The director
Steve Frentz and his wife Jen do an
excellent job at running the facility.
Steve said that although the camp has
many different aspects to it (including a
Bible camp), his goal is to share Christwith the community. He also said that
he is always looking for staff to help at
the camp (during the English camp, two
staff members were from Pennsylvania).
Additionally, right now Steve is looking
for prayers for his family as they have
only been directors for one year and it
is hard to have family time with all the
busyness of camp.
In this last part of the letter,
English Camp
PAST EXC HANGE
STUDENT GO
SWIMMING AT LAKE
YAMANAKA
CAMPFIRE
FUN AT ENGLI SH CA MP
VISIT WITH PAST
EXCHANGE STUDENTS: SHU,
LUKE, DIKE, AND TAMA
(LEFT TO RIGHT)
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SIGHTSEEING
I would like to share about my current ideas for my future. In
visiting Japan I learned that my true interest is to get to know
the people with the hope, of course, of sharing Jesus.
However, it was hard to get to know the people in Japan as I
did not know Japanese. So, currently my plan is to learn
Japanese with the hope of returning to Japan for a possible
two year mission experience after college (four years at
Kentucky Christian University for a major in Nursing and
Bible). However, this plan is impossible for me to do without
Gods help. Without God, there is no possible way for me to
learn Japanese (as I strongly dislike studying language). Yet, if
this is Gods plan for me, He will give me the endurance to
learn this language which is so very different from English.
My friend had asked me, Why Japan? Why notanother country where they speak English or a language that
is easier to understand? In asking God about this, I believe
He told me that His plan for me is Japan because it is so
hard. In it being so hard, I am going to have to give Him all
the glory for whatever ministry I do in Japan. If I did ministry
in the states or another country I picked, I would think I did
it on my own strength and it would be difficult for God to
bless it.
However, this is all just hypothetical and subject tochange. Yet, I wanted to share with you what I think God is
currently planning. I would appreciate your prayers for the
future that I would be following Gods plan and not my plan.
The future...
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HOST BROTHER TAMA
AND HIS FAMILYS DOG
(KOHAKU)