Blessed to be a Blessing—Mission Trip To Japan

Every year, Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) sends out mission teams to bring the gospel to students all over the world. Late in December 2005, I signed up to go on a mission trip with SCCC.

My team consisted of 11 students from NTU, NUS and SMU and 2 staff from Campus Crusade. We were originally headed for South Africa, but early this year, by God’s intervention, we were redirected to minister in Tokyo, Japan.

Initially, it was difficult for me to feel any sense of burden for the people in Japan. Japan had never been on my list of places to go for a mission trip, and I had absolutely no command of the Japanese language. By God’s grace, as I read up on the country and shared with others about the mission trip, I began to see the need for the Japanese people to know God personally.

Each of us in the team had to raise a total amount of $3000 each for our daily allowances, transport and ministry expenses. My faith was stretched as I started support raising. I saw God’s hand of provision as different people responded to our support letters, and was also encouraged as many responded to commit to pray for my team as we prepared to go to Japan.

While we were in Japan, my team ministered in 2 campuses, Hitotsubashi University and Tsuda Women’s College. A day of ministry on campus included lunch time meetings with students and random witnessing in the school cafeteria. We were able to communicate to the students in English, and along the way, I managed to pick up some Japanese as well. Many of the students we spoke to were interested and willing to find out more about Christianity, and a large number of them heard the gospel for the first time in their lives. As a team, we were thankful for the favour that God had given to us with the students there.

Personally, I learnt how to seize every opportunity that came my way to share Christ with the students that God brought my way. Essentially, every conversation with a student is an opportunity for the gospel to be shared. There were many times when tiredness set in, but being mindful of the purpose for which God had sent us to Japan helped me to remain focused on what I had to do.

One major struggle that I had during the first week in Japan was having to deal with the unfamiliarity of the place. Despite wanting to be a missionary someday, I found myself telling God, ‘Please, DON’T EVER send me to a foreign land for long-term missions! It is too much for me to bear.’ As I struggled and pressed on, my heart was changed to one of surrender to God as I found that His grace was indeed sufficient to bring me through to cope with the challenges of living in Japan each day.

A total of 5 students came to know the Lord through random witnessing and the evangelistic parties that we had planned, and they are currently being discipled by the CCC staff in Japan.

Up to today, I still don’t understand why the door to South Africa was closed, and perhaps I never will. God’s ways are often higher than ours, and I’ve found that it is simply enough to trust His leading and to allow Him to use us wherever we are. Looking back at how God had used us to reach the students in Japan, I realize that as we gave our service to Him, we were blessed in many more ways so that we could use His blessings to bless the people even more. Of course, the greatest blessing we all have is the personal relationship that we have with Jesus Christ our Saviour, and it has been commanded that we should bring this wonderful news to those who have yet to hear it.