2021 in Review. Merry Christmas! Thank you for your support this year!

Year in Review. Merry Christmas and Hello!

Thanksgiving dinner. Yum!

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, and pray you are safe and well as we celebrate the joy and wonder of Jesus' birth.

When I first sat down to write this update, I had great news, that Japan was relaxing their entry ban and I was working on the last paperwork before applying for my visa, looking at going in February, 2022. Monday, November 29, I woke up to news that the new variant has, yet again, put everything on hold. Japan has re-tightened their borders in an effort to keep it out, and only God knows how long it will be before those are relaxed.

In the absence of a positive update on that situation, here is an update on my life in the meantime! 

Missions Conference and Support

     In July, my home church had a Mission's Conference, with a special event on Sunday, and training and fellowship throughout the week. The event on Sunday included a sermon with a mission emphasis, and displays placed throughout the building to acquaint attendees with the countries and ministries of missionaries sent by, or endorsed by, my home church. This was a wonderful opportunity to share my heart for Japan with new people, and to update those who have supported and prayed for me. Through this event, I gained many new supporters and prayer warriors!  

My table at the missions conference at my home church this summer.
I got to share my heart for Japan with lots of new people!

Through the missions conference and other face-to-face meetings, my travel and set-up costs have been fully funded! Praise the Lord for His provision through His people! Now, I am beginning to raise the monthly support that is so key to keeping me there long-term, as I am solely support-based through the generosity of believers like you. While every dollar helps, and I am beyond grateful for any one-time gifts, the gifts that make the most long-term impact in helping me spread His Kingdom is a monthly donation. This provides for things like groceries, gas in my car to broaden my ministry area, ministry supplies, language tutoring so I can communicate and minister more effectively, and utilities in the apartment provided by the church.

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Faithful in the Waiting, Blooming Where I am Planted

My sweet nephew!

    During this period of waiting, I have continued to help my parents take care of my nephew a few days a week while his parents are at work! During the school year, I substitute teach once or twice a week, mostly in middle school band. These have both been of great benefit, as I gain experience as a teacher and an aunt, and have enjoyed getting to see my nephew growing in these first months of his life. The hardest part of eventually moving to Japan will be not being here in person to watch him grow up, and being apart from my family for a long time for the first time. One comfort is the wonder of technology to text, call, and video-chat as often as we like. Pray for peace in this separation, whenever it comes, and that I will not feel too homesick, especially as restrictions will most likely still keep my family from visiting me or I them.

    One thing the Lord has taught me during this waiting is to trust that His plan is perfect, and as long as I seek and follow His will for my future instead of my own, I will be exactly where He wants me, whether here, there, or anywhere. I asked Him many times if He wanted me somewhere else besides Japan, and any door I tried to open to other places refused to open. I held, and continue to hold, Japan with open hands, not grasping it firmly, refusing to give it up, but willing to go there or stay here. It is like when some ask, "How long are you going to stay in Japan?" and my answer is, "Until He takes me somewhere else," I learned that I am still here until He takes me there. I learned more about being useful wherever I am, even when at home, blooming where I am planted. The sermon yesterday even addressed this! Even if you are somewhere for a week, bloom while you are there. Might we all live this way, willing to be useful for His Kingdom where we are, to go wherever He leads, to do whatever He asks, for however long He wills, ready to go when He calls.

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PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for God's comfort at this further delay after the hope from the relaxed regulations. There are several teams, including myself, who have been waiting so long and were working on the last paperwork to finally go, and are now being kept from that mission field. Pray we are all able to find how God would have us bloom as we stay planted where we are for the foreseeable future. 

• Pray as I continue raising support, as I will be relying solely on the support from people like you for monthly living and ministry expenses once I am there. Pray that God would especially provide monthly supporters that make it possible to stay there long-term as a missionary.

• Pray as I face the reality of staying here for the foreseeable future, that I could look forward with hope and excitement for whatever God has for me. Pray that I can feel His love, especially during this holiday season, as we celebrate the reason for the season, the perfect Christmas gift, the Son who came as a baby, to save us from our sins.

• Pray for each other. Pray for the person who reads this next, only God knows who that is, that they will feel God's presence in their day today and know He cares for them. As Paul urges the Ephesians, be "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3).

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Him,

Amanda

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If you feel led to partner with me financially, just click here, or go to cten.org/missionary/amandagriffin/ and click donate, or mail a check to "Commission to Every Nation, P.O. Box 291307, Kerrville, TX 78029-1307" and include a separate note stating that you are supporting Amanda Griffin. 

Welcome to Ishinomaki!

Welcome to my new blog! 

As you can see, I have reposted by writing from Texan In Nagoya so that you can see how God was working in me in 2020. As I am no longer going to Nagoya, I decided I should start fresh with a new blog that can follow all my adventures in Japan, not just where I live. 

Ishinomaki is in the Miyagi prefecture, about 90 minutes North of Tokyo by bullet train. The capital of Miyagi is Sendai, about 20 minutes southeast of Ishinomaki. Ishinomaki is a coastal town, and was one of the main cities most severely damaged by the Great Tohoku Tsunami of March 11, 2011. 

My new job is at Be One Academy, teaching the junior and senior high school students of local missionaries at Be One. These missionaries were called to Ishinomaki after God burdened their hearts for the people of the area affected by the tsunami. In addition to teaching these students during the day, I will also be part of the Be One ministry team, doing local outreach and mission work, being part of and leading Bible studies and the musical portion of Sunday services. 

Right now, I am in the process of applying for my Certificate of Eligibility, which is one required document when applying for a visa. Once all documents are submitted, it will take 4-6 weeks before it will be sent, then I can apply for my visa. One thing we are praying for is that borders will be open enough to let me in. The difference between my previous visa, Instructor, and my current visa, Religious, is that there was a special allowance for teachers at international schools because, to ban them from entering was to deprive students at international schools of their right to receive education. That was a very specific allowance, which was an answer to prayer for my visa at the time. We are praying for such a specific allowance with this visa, as well. With the Olympics going forward this summer in Tokyo, they have allowed Olympic-related travelers to enter, but no tourists. Our hope is that everything will go smoothly and there will be no rise in number of cases as participants arrive in the country and that the government is encouraged by this to open the borders or make this allowance so I can move to Japan at the end of the summer. 

During the time between when my contract in Nagoya ended and I was hired by Be One, at first, I was very distraught. I despaired of ever going to Japan, and I felt a total lack of purpose. There were days I didn't know why I should get out of bed. I know God had a plan for me, and He has my best in mind, but I couldn't understand why He would take this away from me after being so close to finally going. I knew I couldn't do nothing forever, and I started looking into other schools and organizations in Japan, but not without first resting. Last year was stressful and crazy for everyone, but I also had spent a majority of the year studying and preparing and packing to be ready the moment I got my visa, so it was extremely disappointing to have all that preparation and time go to waste. At least I know what and how to pack, though!

I thought I trusted God entirely before, and I still did, but this forced me to trust Him in a different way. I had to trust that He really really really knew what He was doing, and that there were reasons that this was not the place for me after all, or maybe I wasn't best for that place, but that there was something that seemed to fit my calling even better than ICAN. He taught me to be at peace with, and even enjoy  wherever I am and whatever my situation is. I learned to keep seeking His will and jiggling the handle of each door to see which one opened. 

I learned the importance of James 4:13-15, where James reminds us that only God knows and holds the future, and in all plans we make, we must say "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that" (v. 15). When I would tell people about the job in Nagoya, I spoke with confidence that it would happen, as it was clearly provided by the Lord. My mother would always add "Lord willing" when she talked about it, (y'all, my mom is so wise. If she ever says or suggests something, listen.) but I did not want to think about the possibility of not actually being able to go. Boy, did I learn my lesson. Now, I remember that God can give opportunities and guide you but also take things away, as Job said, "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21)

There were also good things that came about by remaining at home for this year. I was here to comfort my family when my uncle passed away, I was able to be a part of my friend's wedding, and I was able to be here for when my nephew was born; all things that I would have missed out on if I had already been in Japan. Even though my nephew is not a month old yet, I have gotten to spend so much quality time with him already, holding him, feeding him, singing to him, learning how to handle a newborn. I cherish this time, and will be sad when I do have to leave him. I have also been able to take part in a ladies Bible study my church offers to learn how to live out Titus 2. Only God knows what else I will get to be a part of while I wait on Him for each next step.

Since I had already given up my position teaching music locally last year, I could not go back to that, but I had been hired as a substitute teacher in the district before I had that job, so it was as easy to begin that again as asking them to reactivate me as a substitute. I have had so many wonderful and educational experiences by being a sub and filling in many different subjects and grade levels. One placement lasted three weeks, and I got to learn how to teach band. One placement had only a few students and we spent most of the time in a deep theological discussion, with plenty of time to share what I believe and why with a student who preferred to sit on the theological fence, also exposing the other students to the truth of the Gospel. I thank God that I have had these opportunities to be a witness for Him with a freedom that a full-time teacher would have difficulty feeling. 

Whether Japan ever opens or not, whether I can ever move to Japan or not, no matter what happens in the future, I know I can trust God in every step and that every turn brings me closer to Him. If the Lord wills, I will be a bright light in the darkness no matter where I am, for as long as I live. 

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Him,
Amanda