Asian Internship 2013: Starting A New Journey!

You know who I am?

The person who was crying all day. Yes I am .. (you know)

Last Friday (30.Aug.2013) was the final day of the internship.

We started the day with devotion as usual, and Inggried shared the story of Philippians 1:6.

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

As she shared, God never stop His good work until the day of Christ Jesus and... we all are going back to each of our place, but it's not the end but just the start of our brand new journey! This is the start of His good work in our lives. Aren't you excited? I am very excited!

You know I have very hard time writing English. It takes so much time for me to write just a sentence sometimes...

So, the last day was for review of whole four weeks of internship. We had to think a lot looking back these four weeks what God had done for us and write over 5 pages IN ENGLISH!!!! It was so challenging for me and in fact I was writing WHOLE DAY. Writing, writing and writing.... and after finishing the review paper, I realized that I was put on the blog duty too!!!! It was just too much for me... sob, sob.......

Thanks to this reviewing time, I could look back what God has done for us over four weeks, what was big challenge for me, how I have been changed, and also what I can do after I go back to Japan. It was very nice time to think deeply and set everything in order in my head.

I had many challenges throughout this internship. The biggest challenge for me is to admit that I need to read Bible and acquire His word deeply in me more and more. It was hard for me to admit it, but through seeing other interns who are very passionate in scriptures, it was challenging to keep up with them, but also I was very encouraged to move on to read Bible more and more in my daily life.

Jesus says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"(Matt 22:37).

I noticed that I haven't tried hard to love the Lord with my mind so much. Bible also says that "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (John 17:3) Since I want to love God more, not only by my heart and soul but also by my mind, I want to know Him more through scripture. I want to try spend more time to read Bible to deeply experience His word.

One of the things I learned in this internship is to be a witness, wherever I go and through whatever I do. Before I come here, I had an idea in the corner of my head that only someone who has specific calling can be a witness, but actually God already called everybody to be a witness. This was my huge turning point. I was expecting (and I believe many of us did) that God will show me His specific calling through this internship, but actually God showed me that we all already have called by Him to be witnesses.

I still do not know HOW I can be a witness specifically. However, I'm sure that God is calling me to be a witness through everything I do. Before I understood this, I denied everything I wanted to do, for instance, studying abroad, studying studying creation science, and even serving full time with EE, because I thought that I need to hear clear God's voice and I should not move on to other things before I hear it clearly.

But I learned that given something means something is required through morning devotion (Matt 25; The Parable of the Bags of Gold). I thought that my desire is also given by God. It is not always true, but I noticed that I have to trust Him and step out!! Now my attitude towards God's calling is completely different. Now I want to try to be more responsible to His calling. I want to move on and make action. I believe that if my desire is not His calling, He will close that gate. Now I have clearer vision to be a witness. This internship changed me completely.

I have to admit that I have been frustrated several times because of my English skills. I was frustrated because I felt that I was missing something very important and could not tell 100% what I wanted to say. Every time I face my weakness, God always encouraged me through other interns. By their kindness, encouragement and prayer. I could get up and look forward again.

"Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me"

Acts 26:16

Through all of these experiences I have learned and gained so much that now I have confidence to be a witness all the time. Now we are all going back home to different places to fulfill the task of witnesses which is sharing gospel. I want to see and hear that each one of us sharing gospel in each places. I am looking forward to hear report back from them again and also I want to give them my report.

I just want to say thank all the interns, leaders, local staffs, donors, and all of you, and more than anyone, my loving Lord! I thank God for leading me to this internship.

I gained a lot in this internship. I really recommend you to join or encourage someone to participate. It's going to be life changing experience.