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It has been a really wonderful past couple of months. Easter was especially beautiful this year, although maybe I think that because I’m not sure how many I’ll have left to be with family here in Canada. Pastoral ministry has taken on a different tone as well, as I prepare my volunteers to be seeing me less as I take on more and more missions-related duties.
A highlight of these last few months has been my conversations with Yuri Nakano. Yuri has been serving in Japan for many years now with the NAB, and I am so excited to work with her more closely in the near future. We had conversations about personality types, self discipline on the mission field, and God’s provision in all circumstances. Speaking with her has been such a joy and encouragement. I already feel so welcome to join the NAB missionary team in Japan! We said goodbye in late April before her flight back to Japan. She has moved cities on that side of the world and will be spending much of her time emptying her storage units and setting up her new home. Please pray for her as she completes a lot of paperwork and other moving-related tasks.
In March, I attended the High School Youth Retreat at Camp Caroline with my youth group. While I was there, Yuri so kindly took a video of me to Detroit to present to a missions conference she was attending. I am so grateful to Yuri for coming alongside me and doing whatever she can to help me get to Japan. It was such a privilege to make my very first video as a missionary! After seeing so many videos from ministers around the world, I finally got to make one of my own. It was one of those moments where I stopped and realized I was living out God’s promises.
I was so excited for the video, but I am no videographer. The day Yuri asked me, it worked out that I was visiting my friend later that day. I knew she and her husband had a good eye for video, so I asked her to give me a hand that afternoon. I was expecting her to lend me a tripod to put my phone on, but she is not that kind of person. When I walked into her well-decorated apartment, I saw what is in the picture below: a camera bigger than my head, a magnetic microphone to attach to my lapel, and the perfect lighting! They helped me create a gorgeous video that you can watch on my Instagram – @life.of.lindseyl.
Behind the scenes making a video at my friend’s apartment with all their fancy equipment.
It is moments like these that make me tear up – moments when I realize how God has formed a community around me to support me, help me, and send me onto the mission field. Friends and family who put in their all so that I can be obedient in God’s calling on my life. I am so grateful for Anita and her husband, Nati, to be the example I get to mention here, but they are not the only ones. I am so grateful for Yuri for taking along my video and for countless people in the NAB who have encouraged me and have shared my name and story wherever they go. God has certainly provided me with all that I need.
Something I have to look forward to is that I have been invited to fly to Japan for a week in June! It has come up in talks with the NAB that I should travel to Japan to meet with local ministers and organizations to discuss my role in ministering to the Japanese populace. This trip will primarily be a discerning/visioning trip where I can pray with my future coworkers and discuss my giftings and abilities in ministry. I feel this is an important step in my preparation to do missions in Japan.
Many people have asked me if I have ever been to Japan before, and the truth is I haven’t. This visioning trip will be my first time ever stepping foot on Japanese soil. It may sound totally weird to be called to a place you have never been before. That can produce a lot of doubt in a lot of people. I have never doubted my calling to missions or my calling to Japan. I do not need to smell the ramen to know it will taste good. I do not need to meet the people to know I will love them.
Our faith as Christians is not measured by how much foreknowledge and evidence we have. If that were the case, we wouldn’t call it faith. It will be a great privilege to go to Japan to see the people and smell the ramen. I’m blessed that I have a job that will let me take the time off to go. But I will go to bring clarity to what God has placed on my heart years ago. I will go to get a taste of what is yet to come.
So, I thank all of you. Thank you for your words of excitement and encouragement. Thank you for sharing my videos and my testimony. Thank you for pulling out all of your camera equipment so I could film a 45-second video. Most of all, thank you for your prayers and putting me in the hands of a living God.