When I was five or six, I used to spend a lot of time doing these puzzle books (I'm surprised to find they're still around!) my mom had ordered for me. They were called Top Secret and every month I would get a new one. The point of them was to solve all the little puzzles in the book, and each puzzle would give you a little piece of the answer at the end of the book.
Each book was set in a different country, and so along with the puzzle book you would get another little book, maybe 30 pages or so, about the country of the month. They would usually have general statistics (population, capital, languages spoken) and would outline some of the history and culture. In the back, there was a little section with some words and phrases in the language of that country - usually just hello, goodbye, the numbers up to 10, and a couple other things.
My favorite book was always Japan. The other books I would go through once while I was doing the puzzles and then abandon, but the Japan book I read over and over. I'm not sure why I was so fascinated by it. This was before Pokemon ever came to the US, before I even realized that the Mario and Zelda games I loved were originally from Japan. I'm white as a cracker and, while I went to a fairly diverse school in Seattle, didn't have any Japanese friends. So I have no idea where exactly this intense fascination with Japan came from (though now I can guess!), but it was - and is - there.
I never really thought much about it. It was just part of who I was, the same way as being a fast reader or loving the snow or being an INFP was. During my short, doomed time in college, I took a Japanese history class as well as a couple quarters of Japanese. I was planning on doing a study abroad there, but when I dropped out of school that was obviously off the table. (It was the one thing I regretted about dropping out, actually - that I wouldn't have that opportunity anymore.)
At the beginning of the summer I was talking to my boyfriend. I don't remember the conversation we were having, but for whatever reason I made an offhanded comment about how I would love to be able to live in Japan for a year or so.
"Have you ever thought about maybe serving as a missionary there for a year?" he asked me.
"Well, no," I replied, slightly surprised. "I guess I haven't." We'd had some discussions in the past about the possibility that maybe God wanted to use my interest in Japan, but the idea of missions had never really come up. Now that it had, though, I couldn't stop thinking about it. As soon as I got home I hopped online and started searching for mission opportunities in Japan (I've found several year-long programs, for the record, though I don't know which one - if any! - I will ultimately end up doing.) I really wasn't exactly sure about it at this point, though - I didn't know if this was something God was actually calling me to do or if it was just something that I wanted for myself because I liked the idea of it.
Several weeks later, I was minding my own business, listening to a podcast that taught Japanese. One of the hosts mentioned that if anyone was interested in Japanese culture, he had been listening to a good podcast recently, and mentioned that it was particularly good if you were Christian or interested in doing missions work in Japan (the podcast he was talking about is done by and about a group of missionaries in Japan). Well, you could've about knocked me over with a feather at this point, and I felt like God said, "You wanted a confirmation? Well, here you go."
I don't know how it's going to happen. I'm broke, and I can't find a job. I don't have rich relatives looking to send me to the other side of the world. Looking at it from a practical point of view, it definitely seems impossible. About all I have going for me is that I already have a passport so I wouldn't need to get one, but it takes a lot more than a passport to get to Japan. But I know that it's not really up to me to get to Japan. It's up to God to get me there. I'll do everything I can, and God will do the rest.
I don't know when it's going to happen. I know when I would like it to happen! But I am also very aware that God's timing is not always my timing, and that His timing is perfect whereas mine is human. It's entirely possible that I won't go to Japan until I'm 50! (I don't think that will be the case, but if it was there would be a good reason for it, I'm sure.) It's equally as possible that I could be in Japan by the end of the year. I just have to trust that I will be in Japan when I am supposed to.
Originally, I was going to start this blog after I was already in Japan. (I was also originally going to call it "Japan Bound," but that was taken, so I went with "Nihon Bound" instead - in case anyone reading this isn't aware, Nihon is what the Japanese call their country.) However, I realized that the process of preparing and praying and waiting on God's provision is a journey in and of itself, and for that reason I decided that now is as good a time as any to start chronicling the adventure. After all, who says adventures only happen in faraway places?
-Megan
