A word from Spice…
Greetings to all,
Well, we are here in Japan. After a 13 hour flight we finally landed in Okinawa at 11:30 am and were pretty much zombies the rest of the day. We stayed the night at the Shogun Inn on Kadena Air Force Base. The next day we made our way to the seaport and boarded a ferry for a sixty minute ride to Tokashiki Island. Surprisingly, no one got seasick. The island reminds me of Hawaii in that it is very tropical and green.
We made our way to the camp and went through “orientation” with the Japanese staff who oversees the facility. That meeting is when the concept of culture shock entered my brain. The Japanese do things a little different than we do in the States. It has been funny and sometimes frustrating when our cultures “clash”. After that we spent a couple of days setting up for camp and recuperating from the jet lag that had plagued us all. On Monday the kiddies arrived and the program began.
These students and leaders have been really awesome. I am amazed to see how excited they are about Hume being here. The spiritual demographic of the students is really varied. There are a lot of kids who are believers, which is evidenced by their fruit. There are also some kids who don’t know the Lord. It has been sweet to see how invested these counselors are in their kids. On decision night they (the counselors) spent about 45 minutes praying for them (their students). The response that night was powerful. Many of the students who were having a rough time here stayed behind and got real with God.
I am stoked to be a part of what God is doing here in the lives of these military kids. The fact that I can’t change the hearts of some of these students is frustrating sometimes. But, I know that God is the One who changes hearts. He will work in the way that He wants, not how I think it should happen.
All of this to say that God is using the ministry of Hume Lake here on this island over 5000 miles from the United States. Thanks for all your support.
- JUSTIN SPICER