Ministry Report: April
I wonder where time is disappearing these days?
Before we know it, we're already in May.
In the first half of April, I went to Osaka and Okinawa!
Osaka
I visited Ishibashi Christian Church in Ikeda City.
I sang mainly original songs and shared my testimony.
It was my first time visiting Ishibashi Christian Church; the building was beautiful. Although you can't see it in the photo, there is a gathering space in the back, and there were about 230 people that came to visit that day (that is a lot of people for a church event in Japan!). My father gave a message too which is always inspiring for me.
A girl who got to know me through my work in music messaged me after the concert. She lived nearby, and when she got a flyer in her mailbox with my face on it she was so surprised and came to church for the first time! She said she was too embarrassed (?) to talk to me, but these are the moments I am thankful to God for. God really knows what He's doing, don't you think? 😉
I still haven't figured out the formula for being a person who stands infront of people and sings for the glory of God. It's such a weird thing to do when it's not worship leading.. how do I do this expressively without making it about myself? There's something about being a female singer that makes it challenging to me. Ultimately you cannot control how other people see you or what they think as a result of what you're doing, so at the least what I can do is to be sincere, enjoy it, try to learn from every step and pray every step of the way as I move forward. I'm looking forward to learning from God as I explore different ways to express His glory.
Okinawa trip
After Osaka we went to Okinawa.
I learned a lot during the 5 days I was in Oki with my dad.
On the day we arrived, we did a concert at Koza Baptist Church with THE Reiko Uehara, who is a great friend of my dad's and my favorite Christian singer.
Koza Baptist Church is an international church and the place had a similar atmosphere to the chapel of the Bible school I attended in Hawaii. It felt like I was in the states.
After Reiko-san's songs I sang for a while then my father gave the message. I was happy to see so many people raising their hands and praying to believe Jesus.
Traveling with my father was a great learning experience.
Besides my father and I, there were also older brothers who traveled with my father and supported us.
Every day we did devotions together, sang and prayed together. I learned a lot from watching my father share about how to do devotions, and giving opportunity for each of the team members to lead the devotional time. My dad was "preaching" from morning till night, in meetings, in the car, at meals, at church, and afterwards lol. He does not have an on/off switch! He is living it. Ministry is not something you do but rather how you live. Everything is ministry. You live it, breathe it, walk it. I saw him do that, and I feel like there's been a shift in me.
My throat was not in the best condition, unfortunately. If I were to describe it, it would be like I had been swimming in my swimming clothes before but now I have to swim in baggy long sleeves, long pants, and boots. It's painful, but I've decided to simply do the best I can for as long as God calls me to.
It's tough when you can't do the things you used to do. If things were going smoothly and then suddenly a problem occurs, you might think, "Why did this happen?'" or "If only this problem didn't happen," or "I can't do this anymore." Sometimes it feels hopeless. But a tough situation could be a great opportunity. Accept the reality rather than endlessly grumbling. Rely on God. Being able to rely on God is a blessing.
Ultimate happiness in life is not having the things we want. It's walking with God. There really is no greater joy than that.
I want to sing freely without feeling any pain. It's very painful not being able to do that. But my situation lead me to cling to God. And in it I feel comfort. I feel His hand upholding me. It was through this experience that I realized that walking with God every day is even better than being able to sing freely. Nothing compares to it. I got to learn this through trial and for that I am so grateful. If my experience could be used to draw other people's eyes towards God I would be so grateful. Please be praying for me so that I could continue to do that wherever I go.
New Song
On May 18th, a new song called "Kinou mo kyou mo (Yesterday, Today)", will be released on music platforms!
If you pre-save it on Spotify, you'll be able to listen to it immediately after it's released aand it increases the chance to reach more people (or so I've been told) so be sure to check out the link:
Thank you for reading, I hope you have a wonderful da!
Love,
Lauren
Commentaires