With the school year ending, my week became more open and I gave myself time to rest and celebrate the past 8 months with slower walking [I say slower because you can’t quite take the Hong Kong walking pace out of me so easily] and fast rollercoasters (literally not figuratively). In May, I got to rest and focus on discipling and spending time with people in our church. I went on retreats and I got to meet with family on my dad’s side that I hadn’t seen in over 10 years which was very special and I can’t wait to share more about it with you.
May Montage
I should warn you that the clip of the rainbow is unusually long…just hang on.
Latte Art Progress
Let’s start with something fun…I started volunteering at our church’s cafe in January as a barista and doing latte art has been such a joy. Let me reel you in my progress.
A Large Portion of the Village that Raised Me
Some of my mentors and dear friends from Hong Kong came to Japan and I got to visit them. It is always a treat. They have been huge supporters ever since I was a teen. The Navarros—
One on Ones
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Leader’s retreat
I officially got ordained as a missionary with the church I am with and got to join the leaders retreat. We went to Osaka! I had never been there before but I have always longed to visit because that is where my dad is from. I also know that I have some relatives residing there so I made it a mission to connect with them even if I haven’t seen them in over 10 years.
For our leader’s retreat we got to go to Universal Studio Japan which was such a treat. Something about myself is that I love amusement parks and rollercoasters so I had a lot of fun! I also got to share the Gospel and my testimony with some local Japanese people and foreigners while waiting in line which was so special.
We got to connect with some amazing pastors in Okinawa, too. Pastors Toshiki and Leslie Morikawa of Enjoy Church. If you get the chance to visit them, please do, they are wonderful human beings.
Oh and I really enjoy Onsen!
In Japan, onsen (温泉) are hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them.
Here are some pictures of the retreat:
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Family and friend reunion
When our retreat ended, I said my '“see you later”s to my team and continued on the next adventure into more unknown. I travelled an hour from Osaka to Hyogo to stay at a friend’s place. Now, these friends are friends I met during ministry school in the States. Their names are Hanna and Mariya Hosomi and they are Japanese and it was a divine connection that God would place Hanna, the ONLY Japanese student in that year (since it was the year COVID broke out) in the same revival group in my 1st year of BSSM. I connected with her and met her sister who was doing 2nd year that same year. I shared my heart for Japan and that I felt God had called me to go one day and how I have family that I have been very disconnected from still living in Japan. They had told me that they would love to come and visit my family here should I ever see them and that they would help translate my conversation. 3 years later, I got to see them and stay with their wonderful family. I also got to try hula dancing for the first time .
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Additionally, after 3 years, they kept their promise to come visit my relatives with me and help translate our conversation. It was such a special moment, I bursted into tears when I saw my great aunt, uncle, aunt and his daughter. I have met my great aunt but it has been a very long time ago. I only had one day with them because my friends had work and I had to return to Tokyo for mine a well. But, it was sweet, we caught up over sushi and laughed and called my Otosan (dad).
Thank you Jesus. It was quite an emotional moment for me. I am so grateful. I can’t wait to see them again. I had never met my grandparents before because my dad was sent to an orphanage but I learned just a little bit about them and my family history. I shared with them what I was doing in Japan and I shared the Gospel with them and prayed for them before I had to catch the Shinkansen home. As I left their house, I was met with a beautiful sunset. It’s precious, I arrived with a rainbow in the sky and am leaving with a beautiful sunset. Thank you Lord for blessing this trip to visit my family.
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Church retreat
One of our alumni’s family has so kindly gifted our year a little church retreat up in the mountains in a place called Naeba which was a blessing. We got to gather together as a class and spend time together in fellowship.
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Announcement
Hong Kong Missions Trip 2024
Like last summer when God placed in my heart to bring a team to bring back to my hometown for a missions trip, I am so happy to share that we are going again! We are so grateful for friends, families and strangers who sowed into our missions. Thank you. You came with us in spirit and got to bless so many people. If you would like to sow into this trip, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. You can read about out trip from last year here:
Hong Kong x Philippines Missions Trip 2023
More pictures:
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Wow, this was a lengthy one. I hope you have been blessed. I would like to send out other stuff, too. Like revelations, prayers… there have been stuff brewing in my conversations with God. Anyways, my readers and friends, thank you for reading
Lights On,
HIKARU