The Kingdom of Heaven is like…

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”
Matthew 13:44

God gave me this verse before I left the States, and he keeps speaking it to me over and over here, in this new country.

As I continue to settle here, God keeps telling me to “go sell all I have.” My attachment to home country, my obsession with my friends, my desire to be close to family, my ability to function as a normal and literate member of society, my false idea that I can somehow control my own future. Go sell it all, and buy the one thing, the one being, who is worth everything.

I was listening to one of my favorite professor’s radio interview the other day, and he reminded me again that the choice to follow Jesus entails a complete surrender, a surrender that is effective every second of my life, and demands that every inch of my heart and every ounce of my will belong to Him. I don't call the shots anymore.

God is challenging me to surrender the last pieces of my heart that I have kept from Him. The piece of me that wants to have an out if the calling has placed on my life doesn’t turn out to be so “fun.” The fear that I am going to be alone, and lonely in this country. He wants it all on the table. But! He is worth it. Jesus is the treasure.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
Matt. 13:45-46

And it was worth it.

With all that to say, I am starting to get settled here!

Students:
I have been teaching for a few weeks now, and love my job! I love the students and love being a part of their lives, even though there are 1,300+ of them and I have no hope of ever remembering all their names. I’m making progress though!

Teachers:
I’ve also been bonding really well with the teachers I work with, both the English teachers and the other teachers. This past week Thursday was a national holiday and the school nurse from one of my junior highs that I hadn’t been to in two weeks called to invite me to a barbecue with her friends. She ended up coming over to my apartment afterward and we talked about life and God and dreams and issues that students have for more than 4 hours. She’s 25, so were pretty close in age, and I have a feeling we will be good friends. J I go out to dinner with one of my other teachers at least once a week. I’m becoming very good friends with the vice principal at one of my schools.

Small Group:
I’ve got a small group of Japanese girls in their 20s that meets at my apartment once a week. Its really difficult to meet cause we have to try to find a different night each week when people are off work, so it ranges from two to three of us, although there are quite a few others that want to come. They are all Christians, but some of them can’t go to church because of work. One of my girlies’ dads is a pastor, but some drama went down and the church, and he ended up leaving. Two of my girls are from that church, and haven’t been to any church in over half a year. Needless to say, they are at various places in their walk with God. Most of them are dating non-Christian boys (which is not surprising when the church in this country is 90% female). I would greatly appreciate your prayers for my girls! That the Lord would heal their wounded hearts and pour His love out on them in a way that they can understand and receive it. Also, if you could pray for wisdom for me, that I would be able to gently encourage them and lead them deeper into His heart. And if you could pray for my language ability, that would be great! It’s kinda tricky trying to talk about some of these things with my lack of vocab and illiteracy. But God has been gracious to me so far, and we have been able to talk about some deep stuff and pray for one another.

Church:
I finally settled on a church. It’s tiny (like 15-20) and super stoked to have me! The pastor and his family are really excited about introducing me to a lot of the community members and making opportunities for me to share God’s love with the people here.

Friends:
I still love my coworkers very much! And am building some friendships with Japanese girls in the community I have met in various ways. Today I went to a little coffee shop up in the mountains with a Japanese friend, and then we walked around and looked at a temple. She was actually the one that wanted to talk about religion, and we got to share our beliefs with each other. The temple was a place where you are supposedly able to ask a god for something you want after you walk around a certain rock 100 times. I got to tell her about how I can talk to God whenever, and He hears me because of Jesus. She was surprised that I could talk to God without being in a church building!
I had a three-day weekend last weekend, so I went to Tokyo and got to meet a ton of Japanese friends and international student friends from when I was on study abroad in 2007. It was sooooooo good! It felt like being home. And when I got back to Mie, it also felt like coming home in a way. I think that the trip was a really good choice to remind myself that I am not in a completely new country, and that God has been establishing me here and preparing me for this since before I came to this country my first time when I was 16.
I also made a new friend who has been a missionary here for a few years and just started studying at Tokyo Christian University (TCU). Long story sort: he is my German friend from TCU in 2007’s German friend from high school’s American husband’s little brother’s YWAM teammate… and we just ran into each other randomly at TCU’s cafeteria. It's the first time I met someone who could really understand all my experiences in this country. We’re both pretty thankful to have a friend to vent to and be encouraged by that actually understands why we are here, as well the intricacies of being an American, Japanese speaking Christian with a heart for the gospel, youth and the Japanese church.

Oh, there is so much more I could say!! But I am already on page three… so I’ll stop for your sake.

Please keep me in your prayers! I need wisdom, language ability, and stability of soul to keep moving onward and upward in my own life and in my interactions with the beautiful people in this country. Thanks for partnering with me on the journey!

PS I’m not allowed to post any pictures of my students online because of Japanese gov. privacy regulation, but I am totally allowed to e-mail them, so if you want to see, send me your email address! brown.k.michelle@gmail.com