March: Spring Break Continues

We got to take a ferry ride up river.

Here is most of our group. The girl in front is Maasa, our team translator. To the right of her is our team leader, Daniel. The man in the back is our faculty member - Dr. Compton. As you can see, Josh always enjoys adding spark to the group. Josh helped with leading worship. To the very left, Greg - helped with finances as a business major as well as with communication between the President of LeTourneau, Dr. Lundsford, and our group - since he was the student body president. To the right of him is Josh Lubbers, he took charge of the team's money as well as worship. Dr. Compton met with ;eaders from two universities while we got tours of the campuses. Behind Dan and Josh, John - he journalled about the events leading up to the trip and during our time in Japan. John also got to share his testimony with the high school youth group which was very powerful. Another team member, Chuck is missing from the picture. Both him and I were "fill in" people that helped with whatever was needed. I (Emily) ended up helping with worship, cooking, hosting our group for a meal before we took off for Japan....We all got to share devotionals during our weekly meetings as well as each day on the trip. It was neat hearing about the Lord's work in each team member's life as well as seeing the events unfolding through a different perspective.

Check out the crazy train routes! With help, over time we began to figure it out. A little difficult with most of it in Japanese....I could get used to public transportation though.

Guess whose tongue that is! My husband's! All of the guys decided to eat an octopus leg - doesn't it just look yummy. Josh was pretty brave and tried all of the odd Japanese food and interesting seafood. I opted to just hear and watch, not taste.

We gave my husband, Josh Lyon, and the other Josh on the team, Josh Lubbers, a bad time since both had last names that started with "L" and both were from Texas...so at times, it was difficult for people to distinguish who they were talking to. They enjoyed leading worship together though.

March: Japan Here We Come!

Now, Japan is one of those events in our lives that we can look back to and testify without a doubt how God is our sole Provider. He is so faithful to us and continues to guide us despite our lack of understanding. In previous posts, I have mentioned the possibility of going to Japan for Spring Break - yet what about the money? the passports? the faculty member that's required to be a part of our group? the contacts in Japan? the lodging and transportation? the cost of food? What will we do each day? How should we prepare? What about he language barrier? And so the questions went on in each of our minds as Satan threw at us the reasons why this trip was simply impossible for us college students.

Yet, as we prayed and met together week after week during January and February. Our faith grew stronger. And more so, God began to answer our prayers. A LeTourneau faculty member agreed to join our group; passports came in for all members that needed one; support money began to arrive from family and friends and anonymous people; plans began to form of what we could do while in Japan and who we could stay with; we had time for a brief lesson in the language, culture, and religion as well as instruction on how to present LeTourneau University to the schools we would be visiting.....the praises just continued on and on! God raised over $20,000!!!! We even had $ to give donations to both of the missionaries who housed us. God even blessed us with some money for some souveniors. I'm telling you....God is SO GOOD and SO ABLE TO PROVIDE for HIS PEOPLE!

I think this trip resulted because there was a great need in Japan, God's people were willing to go, God's people were trusting and believing in God, and God's people used the power of prayer and fasting....and God is faithful to answer and provide for His people and is so ready to reach those in need.

The first picture is of Josh on the plane in Dallas. We got to bring a drum to use for worship which is in his hands. This would be his first international flight! A very long flight!

Here we are in Japan. Just a little tired as we make our 2 hour trip by train to the missionary's home near Tokyo.

Look at this two-way street! Yup! We walked from the house to the train station everyday for the first half of the trip. Considering we had to walk back as well, we walked that distance (40min) 2-4 times. So we got our exercise in!

This last picture is overlooking part of Tokyo city from a skyscraper - like on the 50th floor. This is just a view of one sliver of the city - it just goes on and on as far as you can see, which ever way you look. I'm impressed with how well the Japanese use space - no yards around the homes/apartments, just gardens; the top of buildings are sometimes used for helicopter landing pads or even golf courses; some play grounds were located under bridges. They are pretty creative and innovative people.