letter fifteen.

"I think a lot of Japanese people would believe in Jesus if they had a chance to hear about Him, but many have not." -my new Japanese friend who is not yet a Christian.
Last night we had a Halloween party at our apartment. This was no ordinary party, oh let me tell you.. we had professional Japanese pumpkin carvers, spicy fried chicken cartilage, and a visit from princess Hitomi.
It was a great time to meet new friends and catch up with some old ones. After we carved jack, Daniel San and Junko shared the pumpkin parable, which turned out to be a cool way to share about God's love for us. Junko shared two verses about Christ's light to go along with it.

When Jesus spoke again to the people he said, "I am the light of the world. Who ever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

My favorite part of the whole night was seeing our Japanese Christian friends sharing their faith, and being totally excited to do so. I'm tellin you, Jesus was all up in this party!
After the party was done I just sat in my kitchen with ol' jack and reflected on the night with the Lord. I love doing that- being in the room of a party or a big event after everyone leaves. I kinda just sit and replay what happened- sort of a weird time lapse flashing in my head.
My friend, well pretty much brother, Tilden is stationed in Iraq now. For those of you who don't know him, let me share an amazing story with you. When I first met Tilden he was this "too cool for school" buddah necklace wearin' kinda guy that wanted nothing to do with Jesus. After about four years of being good friends with him, he came to know Jesus (almost three years ago now) and life as he knew it was never the same. He now works as the Navy Chaplin pastor's assistant. This boy is on fire for Jesus and can't stop sharing with every one he knows about how his life changed. He told me recently "Audrey, I feel more alive than ever!"

I was thinking last night, I am SOooo blessed to have seen lives of family, friends from back home, and new friends here in Japan changed drastically because of the love of a savior that is simply out of this world. I was so excited about God that I wanted to run up to the top of my roof and dance at 2 am. But alas, the window was locked.

Praise to him who is capturing the hearts of his chosen pumpkins.