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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

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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)