Overview:

This summer I will be serving as a missions intern at a local church in Shukugawa, Japan for 80 days. I will be doing outreach with college-aged Japanese natives, since English-speakers have an easier time forming surface level relationships that lead to Gospel conversations with native speakers. I am primarily asking for people to join me in prayer for the lost in Japan and also asking for some financial support to help with living expenses in a foreign country since the internship is unpaid.

About the Church and Ministry: 

Shukugawa Bible Church was founded by missionaries in 1970 and now is fully run by native believers and pastors. The church offers English-Speaking classes during the week to help minister to those who would not be interested in attending a church service; over 25% of members of the church were reached by the Gospel through these classes. Unfortunately, all of the college students in the church are graduating this year, so I will be working with the church to do outreach in the neighboring colleges. With Japan's aging population, the Japanese church needs a new generation of believers and pastors, so this is the primary ministry that the Church wants me to help with. 

About me:

As a sophomore mechanical engineering major at Liberty University, I wanted to be able to use my degree in a way that would enable me to work overseas and use my engineering job as a way to reach unbelievers in countries with a small population of believers. This past August I joined the Japanese language club at Liberty. One of my professors, a former bi-vocational missionary to Japan, recommended it, and I quickly fell in love with the Japanese language and culture. So I began to look at mission's opportunities in Japan. A fellow engineer who had interned the previous year at Shukugawa recommended that I consider serving at Shukugawa Bible Church. I met with the Church online and felt that this is where God was calling me to spend this upcoming summer. I look forward to seeing how God uses this opportunity and to see if overseas missions is where I am being called to.

Prayer:

• Pray that God would prepare the hearts of those in Japan, and that they would overall be receptive to the Word.

• Pray that God would continue to help me in my learning of Japanese ahead of this summer.

• Pray that the travel and time overseas would go well, since this will be my first trip alone overseas.