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.
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.
