Greetings! We've been
back for a couple of days, and as I (Drew) combat jet lag and the inevitable head
cold, I've spent time processing through our trip and reflecting on the things
I've learned. Here are some thoughts I
wanted to share with you all:
1) Japan has stolen my heart.
This was unexpected, to say the least; I've been on missions before, and
I've been impacted before, but nothing quite like this. There was something incredibly refreshing
about the people we met there; everyone was so welcoming and genuinely wanted
to connect. Even among the general
population, there was a level of respect afforded to everyone which I've never
seen (this was put into sharp focus after getting yelled at by an irate LA driver yesterday). Whether for a week, a month, a
year or more, whether as a tourist, a teacher or missionary, I plan on coming
back.
2) Long term missions isn't as scary of a thought anymore. Last year, coming back from Haiti, I was
confronted with a frightening question:
would I be open to the idea of going somewhere long term on missions? To be honest, it was something I didn't want
to think about; I'm not someone who seeks adventure or change, and thinking
about being away from everything and everyone I've known was extremely
unsettling. However, after seeing
families like Seima's and Sean's (another mission family we met there) being
obedient to the calling, it is no longer as daunting of a prospect (and has
become more of a legitimate possibility).
I know there are many things that have to happen in order for me to
actually go, but the idea of going somewhere for an extended period of time is
something I'm a little more comfortable with.
3) I focus far too much on my weaknesses than my
strengths. I hate failing. Like, really hate it. I tend to avoid any activity that might lead
to me not succeeding. In Japan, I was surrounded by it; I couldn't speak the
language, I'm not used to working with small kids, and I dealt with physical
issues throughout the week . However,
something Wilson and I talked about really stuck with me throughout the trip
(and even back here in LA). He had
mentioned hearing a quote from one of our pastors which goes something like
this: if we focus on our weaknesses, we
can improve them to the point where we might not fail as much, but in order to
truly thrive we need to focus on the strengths and gifts God has given us.
I love this, because oftentimes in our society, I feel like
we tend to try to 'not fail' rather than succeed… to hedge our bets and play it
safe rather than take a risk for a greater goal. In addition, when our weaknesses shine
through, we give room for God to show us His grace and power (as stated in 2
Corinthians 12:9). I'm not saying that
we should just be terrible people so God will be super strong, but I am saying
that, if you are anything like me, you don't want any weaknesses, oftentimes
focusing on removing them far more than developing your strengths, which leaves
us all slightly above mediocre at everything (and good at nothing). If we as a church focused on how we can serve
vs. how we can't, if we chose to accept our shortcomings and let God work through them, how different would our communities look?
As you can see, lots of rambling thoughts up in my
head. Thank you to everyone for your
prayers and your support. This trip has
been such an incredible blessing and challenge, and I hope that every one of
you will have a similar experience somewhere, someday. Tokyo, until next time... Nos vemos.
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