Depression

I was asked by my good friend, "What Satan get you 'down' with, and how do you usually turn back to God?" and as I was replying to him, I thought, "It would be good to post it up on my blog too, to encourage those who are reading." So this post is the answer to that question.

Before I was saved, I got "hooked on" to pornography. I stumbled upon it by accident. But due to that incident, I got curious about it and started to look up on it. And even though after I receive Jesus as my personal Savior, I still had the problem with it.

I am not proud of it. But most of the time when I get "down" is because of pornography (not necessary just that). Satan will come towards me and wave that "bait" into my face, and losing to temptation, I bite into it. And after I notice what I have done, my heart starts to sink. And here come Satan, whispering into my ear, "See, you fell for my trap again. God didn't really save you. You're no good. You fall and get up, and fall and get up, same thing over and over. You're an annoyance to God. He's (God) is angry with you for falling again."

And those thoughts just keep on coming and than I start to think, "He's (Satan) right. I'm annoying God. I'm a pain in the butt to Him."

"God, I'm annoying you. So why don't you just take my life away, and be done with? I'm not important. Just end it!"

When I'm down, Satan comes and accuses me, and my flesh comes and tell me to give up.

But God comes in and speaks to my heart, "It's okay, I'm right here beside you. I want to help you when you fall down. It's no big deal. Don't give up, I have a plan ahead of you. Keep on enduring it, for the way will get difficult. I love you, and I don't want to lose you."

God encourages me.

I'm not perfect, and I stumble. I get 'down' easy, and want to give up. But you know what, God does not want me to give up. He has a greater plan ahead of my life.

But I can't do it alone, for Satan will keep on coming back, using the same old trick. But since God saved me, and guided me to Bible College, one thing that I learned the most is the discerning of God's voice. How? By having a morning devotion. God speaks to me through His word (Bible), but also directly into my heart, and through others. If I was not able to discern God's voice through these difficult times, I probably would not be here updating this blog (or even alive). God is gracious and merciful. His love is abundant.

And to those who are reading this post, I would like to encourage you guys too that God encourages and not discourages. He wants you to come back into His loving arms, not away from it. But the road is tough, and you might stumble. But remember, God is always there beside you, lending his hands so you can get back up.

But it is still up to you to accept His loving help, or be prideful and get up yourself.

Here is two Scriptures that came to my head as I was writing this:

Joshua 1:9

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Rob and Rika's wedding (part 2)

But anyways, at the wedding I had a great time, just seeing Rob and Rika getting together.

And this is my third wedding that I have attended (first was Andrew&Kayo, second was Natsuki&Paul). And here is some photos.

The ceremony was very beautiful.

Than there is some random picture that I took with friends.

Rob and Rika's wedding (part 1)

Yesterday was Rob and Rika's wedding. I have known Rob for about three years or so, and it was just amazing to see God bring a wonderful lady into his life, Rika.

I first met Rob at my school (New Life Academy), where he taught the Bible during chapel time. Than after a while he was the substitute teacher for the teachers, and also a BASEBALL PLAYER.

He first joined a team called "Samurai Naha", but the team just suddenly split due to the coach going to Taiwan. From there he still pursued after playing baseball in Okinawa and thus joined a team "Aniya". However, this team also did not last long, so I helped Rob searched for a different team, and this team was called "Tele-Clinic". However, due to the contract that Rob signed with "Samurai Naha", he was not able to play for that team, unless he got out of it.

So Rob had to track down the team captain of "Samurai Naha", and get his approval of resigning from the team, before he could join "Tele-Clinic". And through God's grace, he was able to get off from the team to join with "Tele-Clinic". But God has something more planned for him. And that plan was for Rob to join the team in Wakayama Prefecture, "Kishuu Rangers".

So me and Rob went up to Wakayama for the trial, if he could join or not. (I went as a translator) And it was during January of 2009! And he was able to join with the team! But sadly, Rob had to move to Wakayama...But God is good, he came back to Okinawa, but because he was kicked out from the team...But the only reason that God allowed Rob to be kicked out from the "Kishuu Rangers", was for him to join the best team in Okinawa, "Enagic"!

So from up to that point, where Rob joined with "Aniya" to "Enagic", I have been like his "manager".

My Testimony

I was born in November 20, 1989 in Ishigaki Island (tiny island south of Okinawa). However, when I was three years old, my father and mother divorced, and my mother took me and my older sister. Due to the divorce, we moved to Okinawa, which where my mom was originally from.

When I was about nine years old, my mom started to date a military man who was stationed in Okinawa. One day, my mom told us that she was going to the states with her boyfriend (the military man), and she would be back in about a month or so. So during that time me and my older sister lived with my grandmother.

But when my mother came back from the states, she told us that she got married with the military man, and that we would have to move to the states with her, or go back to live with my father who was still living in Ishigaki Island. So we ended up moving to the states, and this happened when I was in the third grade.

Every thing changed for me when I moved to the states: languages, culture, friends, etc. It was difficult at first for the change, but I enjoyed my time.

Since there was no Japanese school that I could go, I was "forced" to enter into a public elementary school, starting from the third grade. My classmates were very friendly, and the teachers were very patient with me. I attended my third grade and fourth grade at Bobier elementary school (which is located in California, maybe in San Diego area?). But because of my step-dad's job, we needed to move to a different location, so I attended my fifth grade at a different school. Than for my sixth grade, once again we needed to move, and we moved to 29 Palms. In 29 Palms, I attended sixth through eighth grade.

Going back a little bit, when I was in third grade, my mother did not want me and my older sister to forget Japanese, so she hired a Japanese college student to teach us Japanese. And this Japanese college student came and taught us Japanese from the Bible. This was my first encounter with the Bible. First of all, she started from the book of Genesis. Back than, I thought the stories that she was teaching us from was just a fictional story, but now I know that it is true. But because she was a college student, she needed to go back and finish her classes, so it did not last long.

And when we moved to 29 Palms, my step-dad had a friend who attended church. I think it was during an Easter that my step-dad's friend invited us to the church. My mom did not approve of going to church, but my step-dad told her that this is the first and the last time that we would go to the church, just to see how it's like. So we went to the church that following Sunday. This was my first encounter with the church, and from what I remember and the impression that I got was that there was a lot of African-Americans there, and they sing passionately. I did not fully understand the "church thing" so me and my sister just sat with my mom and step-dad in the service.

Now during my end of my Jr. High, something happened to my family. I do not know the exact detail, but it happened between my older sister and my step-dad. Due to the incident, we moved back to Okinawa in the summer of 2004.

Upon coming back to Okinawa, I was unable to attend Japanese public school because the level of writing and reading and understanding Japanese was low. So my mother put me into a International school, where I could learn more of English rather than Japanese (for she did not want me to forget English). So I ended up going to New Life Academy. New Life Academy is a Christian International school, and because of that I was exposed to the Bible. But I did not believe in what the Bible have to say, but I only studied through it for the grade.

At New Life Academy, I met my best friend, Timothy Musashi Stafford. We became good and close friends (one reason is that there was few students at the school, when I first met Timothy including myself and Timothy, there was only 5 guys and 7 girls). And Timothy was a Christian. He invited me if I wanted to come to his church and hang with him on Sunday. I said yes, only to hang with him. I was not interested in church at that time. Timothy kept on inviting me to his church and I went with him 80% of the time. But I was not saved.

During my senior year in High school, during chapel time, the Calvary Chapel Bible College students came to teach. And one day they opened up a Wednesday after-school Youth club at the school. And because Timothy went, I went along with him to the club. Because it was my senior year, I was planning to go to the University of Western Australia to study zoology. And as I went to the Wednesday after-school program, I met an Australian. His name is Thomas Edward John Cotton. And because he was an Australian, I became friend with him.

After I graduated from High school, I was unable to attend the University. This was because I was too late to turn in my application. So I had to wait about half a year in order to go. While I was not doing anything during that time, I started to work part time job to earn money. At the same time, Tom (Thomas's nickname) asked me if I would like to teach Japanese to him. I said sure, and in return Tom taught me how to play the guitar. (I kinda knew how to play the guitar, because Timothy taught me little bit of it during high school, but I wanted to improve on playing).

So as I taught Tom Japanese, I also started to attend the youth group at Calvary Chapel Ginowan and also their Sunday services. (again, to hang with Tom, did not go to seek God). But one day I asked Tom about faith, God, and other things. And Tom told me to read 1 John in the Bible for the answer. At the end of the day, as I went back to my house, I did not have any intention of reading the Bible. However, there was nothing good on T.V. and playing video game was not fun at the time, so I literally had nothing to do. So I ended up reading the Bible. (Praise the Lord!).

In 1 John, I read about the love of God, and it spoke to my heart. And upon finish reading 1 John, I prayed to God to save me. (I also was embarrassed to go to the church and announce that I was saved too, so I prayed at the house). And from that day on, God has been working on my heart. That was June of 2008.

In August, Pastor Tommy asked me if I would like to attend Bible college part time, because I still had three to four month left before I go to Australia. So I asked my mom about attending it, and she did not care about it much if I attended or not. So, I decided to attend.

It was a big change for me to attend the Bible College here in Okinawa, surrounded by many foreigners, but God was with me the whole time. and through God's grace, I was able to finish all four semester of Bible college and graduate.

I met many people, and looking back, I see the hand of God moving in my life. I don't know what God has stored in for me next, but I know that God will carry me.

The only thing that I am still learning from him is faith, to take the step of faith for him and not fearing what will be there in the future. All I need is just to be obedient.

Busy

Well, this semester of Bible College (Spring Semester of 2011), I'm teaching the Gospel of Luke, only in Japanese. This class has been awesome as God is teaching me new thing from His word and seeing the students growing in my class.

And God has given me another opportunity to take over Rob's Japanese class for a short term, while he gets ready for the wedding (which is tomorrow!), and I also am teaching Asa (Pastor Tommy's youngest son) Kanji (1st through 3rd grade) and math (multiplication, division, and word problems). And I also work part time at a pizza parlor Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights.

It sounds like I have a lot to do, but God is gracious and has given me time to study. So again, it looks like a lot, but it's all in God's hand.

So as I was faithful in the small things, God has entrusted me with greater things.

Matthew 25:23

""His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' " (NKJV)

Earthquakes and Tsunami

Well, there has been a big earthquake and tsunami that happened in main land area (Japan). There are still some aftershocks and many deaths are being confirmed. Also there are people who are still missing, and there are rescue people who has been sent.

So if you are reading this blog, please pray for Japan. That the rescuers will find the people who might be under some rubbles, and that the people who are needing help would get it. And through all of this that God's name will be glorified. I know it might sound difficult to praise God when all of this misery is happening, but it is all in God's hand, in His control.

God's mercy is still being poured out to us, but the important thing that we can do is to tell the people of the end days. The incident that is happening right now, it is nothing compare to the things that will occur in the last days.

But please pray for the salvation of the Japanese people, and for the people who are there helping out.

First of all...

Well, to get started on this blog posting...I graduated Bible College in May of 2010, just last year. I was blessed to go to Murrietta (the main campus, located in California) and attend the graduation ceremony.

God have been doing a faithful work in my life throughout the whole four semester here in Okinawa. Even though, I was scared to step out in faith to go to the main campus, God still used me here in Okinawa.

After I graduated, I was blessed to have the opportunity to teach the Gospel of Mark the semester after I graduated here in Okinawa campus, all in Japanese. It was my first time teaching (without the translation), and it was a huge step for me.

And after a that semester, right now, the spring semester of 2011, I am currently teaching the Gospel of Luke all in Japanese again. It is a blessing to study through it, and also to teach it at the same time.

There are still struggles in my life (mostly depression...), but God has blessed me with great friends and family in Christ.

I am still studying, and want to keep on going for the Lord. And if you are reading this, please pray for me, for guidance.

But for now, that is about it, and I will try to continue to update it as much as possible (AMAP?).

I'm BACK!

Thought I just might come back and start this blog thing again.

For the longest time, I did not wanted to a blog cause I was doing similar thing as e3, but rather than not posting anything up, it would be best to just share what is on my mind, as God continue to guide my life