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| Lovely Christina (: |
Hey everybody, I have made it safely to Japan (Praise the Lord)! I had some excitement along the way, but the Lord brought me through customs & got me here in Japan safely. I am so excited to be here & I already am enjoying it more than I ever thought I would! What a blessing it is that the Lord has given us the opportunity to see His world despite distance & language barriers. When I arrived I was welcomed by such a loving & wonderful new friend of mine, Christina. She is from Florida & she is here on an internship; I have spent most of my time here being her shadow (thank you Christina!) & I feel so blessed to have her in my life. In such a short amount of time God has been blessing me with new friends, both Japanese & fellow missionaries from the U.S. They all have been so wonderful to me & incredibly helpful with me being the new kid :). My directors Tim & Christine are so loving & I couldn't have asked the Lord for better leaders to work under, as well as Mark (the FUSE Pastor).
Japan is beautiful & I have really been enjoying getting to know the culture. Despite not being able to read the labels in grocery stores & such, the food is really good too! The little children here are absolutely adorable & I can't help, but giggle every time I see their smiling faces. I am beginning to pick up on some Japanese too which is exciting, although I'm terrible at it, but by the grace of God I will learn it! Things are most definitely different here, but I adore/embrace the interesting differences. . .God is so cool in creating such unique people & cultures!
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| about to ride the train |
I have been meeting such wonderful Japanese people & I am amazed by their friendliness; for me it has been such great inspiration & a wonderful example of welcoming others. Tonight we all rode the train to Shinyurigaoka to do street band/outreach & as I was sitting on the train I gazed at the Japanese people & I felt a deep love for them. Of course I love them as people & I have been loving this opportunity to get to know them & their culture, but it was different than that. . .it was like I had received a (super tiny) fraction-of-a-taste of God's love for them. I am so excited to be here & I cannot believe that God chose me. . .I am so undeserving of this, but I praise Him & I pray that He receives all glory.
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| Jeremy & Phil; fellow missionaries |
So something I haven't really shared with many, many people is a couple weeks ago my knee became swollen & it was painful to walk on it (I had done nothing to hurt it so I thought it to be rather odd). Well after a couple days it went away & I thought nothing of it. . .four days later the swelling reappeared & it was worse than before & even more painful. My mom took me to the doctor & they drained my knee to test the fluid. After the procedure, the swelling went down & I could walk on my knee again. My tests came back negative for arthritis (praise God), but they sent me in for an MRI. The next day I went to an orthopedic (there is a dense something lining my knee cap, causing my knee to swell up )& he gave me two options. . .to have an arthroscopy/surgery (to see what was going on inside my knee, which would push back my leaving for Japan 3-6 weeks) or to go ahead & leave for Japan as planned & take a ton of medication with me to help with the swelling. What option do you think I chose?! Duh, of course I came to Japan. I had to really think about it though & I believed I was going to get through this no matter where I was.
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| view out my window |
The swelling never returned until the day I flew to Japan. My knee was extremely swollen & I was in a lot of pain the entire trip. Just today the swelling has gone down quite a bit & I'm not in that much pain anymore; I can actually bend my leg. E-mailing back & forth with my mom, I was told that the Dr. had said I tested positive for auto-immune inflammatory disease. I'm not sure what it means exactly, all I know is that I am a little frustrated because my knee has been a real pain in the bum thus far (I have been kept from walking long distances) & I'm tired of it.
Despite my frustration, the Lord has been blessing me with prayer warriors, both in the U.S. & here in Japan. Here in Japan we have been praying against it & believing that I am healed of this. I also declare that this will no longer be a hindrance, it no longer effects me because I am healed in the name of Jesus Christ! Please be praying that no matter what happens that the Lord will receive all the glory from & through this (I am clinging to Job 13:15). THANK YOU to everybody who has been & is still praying for me! I can feel your prayers & I deeply, deeply appreciate you & your prayers. I am so thankful to have a Father that hears prayers & has a heart for healing us of our pain, emotionally & physically. Once again I want to thank you all for your support, prayers, & thoughts :) Also, please be praying for my friend Benjamin Denogean & his wife Jolyn as they are continuing to raise support for their trip to Japan, as well as safe travels to Japan next week! Can't wait to see them!
I love & miss you all!
Love,
Abigail
"I love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress & my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield & the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, & I am saved from my enemies."
- Psalm 18:1-3
If you or if you know anybody who would like to support me while I am here in Japan, go to:
&:
This past year has been another powerful year of God's abounding faithfulness & love. Jesus became & has been & forever will by my comfort in times of sorrow, my peace in times of chaos, my understanding in times of confusion, my rock in times I cannot stand, my refuge in times of storms, my provider in times of lacking, my faithful love in times I am not faithful. . .my best friend. Throughout this year I have seen Him in every area of my life, but of course, I do have my few favorites, ha ha!
I am so grateful for every moment this past year & I wish I could truly express how thankful I am for the people who have impacted my life, especially within this year. I give Him all glory for every moment, even my worst moments. I pray He continues to receive all glory in & through everything in the year 2012.
In 2012, may there be less of me & more of Him; may my life bring Him all praise for He is worthy! May He & His kingdom be exalted & lifted high above all. He was faithful in 2011, & I cannot begin to fathom how much more faithful He is in 2012. I pray that your New Year is blessed & I cannot wait to see what He has in store for you this year :) Thank you for sharing your life & friendship with me!
