bringing in the New Year

Here's a taste of Urbana. What an amazing time this was to bring in the New Year in praise and adoration of God and His power to turn our lives around!


I wish you could see the view that I had up in the nosebleed seats. Thousands of digital cameras were on to capture this moment. Glad I found this one!

It's a 2 minute clip of the New Year's countdown. Towards the end, you can see just how big 22,000 people is.
Enjoy!

more urbana photos

We gathered together the first night for some
yummy BBQ and talk about our hopes for Urbana.

The next day, we all put together our exhibit display.

The finished product and a satisfied team.

One of the meals served to the delegates was a corn porridge for the purpose of sharing in the experience of those around the world who don't have the excess amount of food that we have in the US.

This is what I spent a lot of my time doing: sharing my passion for Japan and Jesus with other people. We're praying that at least 10 people

will come to Japan as CPAs (church planting associates)

from this Urbana.

St. Louis is known as the gateway to the west. If you stand on the other side (from our Asian Access home office in San Dimas, CA) it's the gateway to the East. ;) dorky, but true!

Come to Japan!!!

urbana photos

Me and Kari

Do notice that Kari is really cool because she has an I-Pod. Now that I have a laptop...hmmm.

I'm beginning to notice a theme in my pictures...

My mouth is often WIDE open!!!

me and Peter sporting our A2 wear

Our fearless leaders in a psychedelic trance.

Seriously, the lighting is way weird.

At least I'm not the only with this mouth problem!

Robert and Angela

Isn't this inviting? You know you wanna...

Of course, the classic Japanese pose...

post Urbana post

whew! What a whirlwind! Did this Urbana thing actually happen?

I take a while to process things, so I don't know how coherent these thoughts will be. But, it's worth a try...

I ended up staying in the hotel with my A2 family which was a HUGE blessing. This gave me the opportunity to not only pick on Robert more, but to bond with all the CPAs, Emi, Peter, and Jeff. Especially Emi, who was my roomie for the week... "It's 6:20 a.m. , my friend."

It was a mixture for disaster for an introvert like me: little sleep, TONS of people (22,000!!!), talking to strangers, snacking 24-7. Still, my soul soaked up the times of studying Ephesians in the morning and worshiping so loudly that my voice was cracking and I didn't care who heard me! I find myself singing those songs over and over in my head.

One of the most memorable lessons that I packed up and brought back to Wheaton came from a conversation I had with someone who stopped by our Asian Access booth. A young woman from Mexico came by and asked about our mission. I told her about the need for missionaries in Japan. She was shocked to hear that there are fewer than 1% of Japanese Christians in Japan. She wanted to hear more and to receive information from us. She told me that her church in Mexico may be interested in sending a team to Japan with J-Teams. It was my turn to be shocked. I know that the face of missions has changed; I've read books and heard speakers talk about this. "The U.S. to the Rest" is no longer the typical model. There are more missionaries being sent from Brazil than the U.S. Even though I've heard this before, I've never had anyone standing in front of me telling me that this was true. She is a Mexican missionary and God is using her for His good purposes.

There were a lot of people that don't look like me at Urbana. A lot of people that don't dress like me. A lot of people that don't speak my language.

And still, there we were, in one voice, singing in Korean, Spanish, French and English. Worshiping the One God who loves a broken world and wants all of us to have a hand in extending His healing love!

What a joy!