Surviving in Japan
0 comments // Categories: Links // Thursday September 2nd, 2010
One of our JCF-ers, Ashley Thompson, has shared a link to her site that newbies (and old) can find pretty helpful! It has a lot of useful info and how-to’s that can make adjusting to Japan life easier. Go click it! ^_^ Prayer and Encouragement News
0 comments // Categories: JCF News //
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Prefecture Prayer Meetings on Skype The prayer and encouragement team will be using JCF Candlelight Prayer Schedule (google document) to sign up for prayer times during the week to pray for other JCF Jets on skype. Prefectures with no regional rep or small numbers of JCF members could join a neighboring prefecture’s prayer meeting. The focus of these prayer meetings would be to lift up any needs/requests of your kens. My hope is that these prefecture prayer meetings will be a source of encouragement and unity. Prayer Partners Another idea is to create male to male and female to female prayer partners within your prefecture. Accountability and encouragement would be the focus of the prayer partners. Partners would be able to share personal requests, struggles and praises with each other. Guardian Angels Living in Japan and growing in your faith can be difficult for many people. To encourage one another, I would like to start something called Guardian Angels this year among the JCF Jet community. Interested members would be paired up at random to encourage one another throughout the year. Each person would write their full name, contact information (email & address in Japan), hobbies/interests and special dates i.e. birthday and spiritual birthday. This information would then be sent to his/her partner. Partners should try to send their Guardian Angel some form of encouragement at least once a month whether its through an email, card, package etc..Be Creative! So please contact me… • If you or anyone else in your area is interested in joining the prayer team monthly meetings • If you or anyone else in your area is interested in being a Guardian Angel. In Christ, Kristin Hanaoka ~kristinhanaoka@gmail.com~My JET story – Joylene Medom
2 comments // Categories: Sharing // Wednesday September 1st, 2010
The one question that all us have faced/are facing is – Why did you come to JET? At first I’d launch into a detailed story of why but, as I realized that this question was going to be asked many, many times by people who won’t always have the time or interest to listen to your whole story and share their own answer, I shortened it to “Well, I love Japanese mangas and dramas and I just really wanted to come here!”. Real short and simple. So here I get to elaborate! ^_^ I never, ever, EVER thought of Japan as a place I’d want to visit, let alone live in, before. One lazy summer day in 2007, I borrowed a comic that I thought would be a simple, one-time read – Naruto. It wasn’t. I loved it and was drawn into its crazy, fascinating world. This wasn’t good because I was at a bible school in the States, living on campus. I would read past curfew, between classes, before and after work…it was pretty bad. It didn’t help that after Naruto, I craved for more which led me to shojo manga. I even registered on a site that allows you to keep track of all the mangas you’ve completed, are currently reading, and want to in the future. In a little over a year, I completed 50 mangas, was reading 80, and had 51 on my wishlist. And mangas can be LONG. What got me about mangas was that they were more than an Archies or Batman comic (that could just be me though). I felt they said so much about the beliefs and traditions of Japan. I started reading up on Japan’s youth culture, social behavior, social problems, etc. As part of our Missions class, I chose to do my study on Japan. I began to have a strong desire to come to Japan and interact with the young people. I found, and I don’t think I’m alone in this, that there is so much suppressed and hidden behind this culture of polite, quiet obedience to authority. And I really believed (still do) that this sudden love and passion for this place came from the Lord and would’ve come somehow even if I’d never read Naruto. There was simply no other explanation for the intensity of what I felt for Japan. So I shared this with my family and friends, prayed and waited. I knew the Lord was leading me to Japan but I didn’t see how. I heard that most people got to Japan by teaching English so I started looking into the online Professional TEFL Certificate offered by the TEFL Institute, Chicago (I had returned to India by this time). A family friend, after asking what I felt the Lord was leading me to next, said he’d take care of the costs for the certificate – one door opened by the Lord. 2 months later, after completing the course, I started working as a guest lecturer for ESL students at my former university. Again, another gracious opening by the Lord though I don’t think I did my best in that.
It was now the beginning of March ’08 and I was growing anxious and doubtful of what the Lord’s will for me was. Applying for jobs in Japan while in India didn’t go anywhere since they prefer those with American/Canadian/UK passports. I came across the JET program while surfing the net. I held out on applying for it for 2 -3 weeks – reason being that the Embassy of Japan said there was only ONE seat available that year. There were hundreds of applicants in Delhi alone and this was open to the whole of India… I figured it was impossible. A very close mentor though, kept pushing me so finally, literally the night before the deadline ( 5:30 p.m. 31st March) I sat down, wrote my statement of purpose, collected the other required documents, rushed around the next day for whatever else was needed (forgot what) and submitted my application at the embassy 30 minutes before it closed. I am a very last-minute person. ^_^
To make a long story short, He opened a mega door. In the end, 3 of us were chosen. I cried when I heard I was accepted. I was very, very moody during the 2 months of waiting though. But wow – what a humbling experience.
And it still is. I’m now in my 3rd year and though it’s been difficult adjusting to such a different environment – especially the lack of English service and having only 1 other Christian ALT in this city, the Lord is faithful! I still struggle and many times I doubt my coming has made any difference at all, especially in the lives of people around me but –I’m holding fast to a Lord who is so, so good, gracious and redeeming. And I won’t leave till He moves me like He did when He brought me here. ^_^