Lifted Vision Ministry

Greetings to all! I pray that the Lord be with you! Lately there have been a lot of new subscribers to my blog and I feel it necessary to share my story for the first time and/or remind those who know me well of what I am exactly doing in Japan and how Lifted Vision Ministry all began! For those of you who know me, you know I was specifically called to be a missionary by the voice of God 8 years ago, but many of my new subscribers have yet to hear my story. That being said, please allow me to humbly present to you the “origins story” of how I became a missionary and the unique work that I am called to do here in Japan.
Let’s dive in, shall we? : )
Ever since I was a child I knew I wanted to share the love of Christ with those around me. Growing up in a Christian household, my parents told me about Jesus, gave me a Bible and took me to Sunday school. I remember believing in Christ in 1st grade after my father and I said the salvation prayer together at my bedside, as we would pray every night together. What really stood out to me was when my parents told me, “we love you so much, but there is someone who loves you even more than us. This person gave their life for you. His name is Jesus and He loves you so much, even more than we ever could.” It was at that moment that I loved Jesus too and wanted to know more about this person who loved me so much. Although I was only in 1st grade I could understand how much my parents loved me and the concept that God loved me even more. From that point on, I avidly read my children’s Bible and grew up well, but since my family stopped going to church when I was in 2nd grade, I ultimately lacked Christian community and outside Christian influence growing up. Despite that, I desperately always wanted to tell everyone I encountered about the grace of God and how He loved me and how He loved them too because He died for them. I believe God commissioned me to be a missionary even since before birth since I’ve always been unashamed of the gospel and known it to be the truth for as long as I can remember. By His grace, I’ve always been evangelistic and loved sharing the love and truth of Jesus with others.
Due to having a burden and sense of duty to share with those not only in America but all around the world as Jesus commanded us in Mark 16:15, I decided to go on my first mission trip with Word of Life Bible Institute in 2015. It was there that the Lord led me to Asia (the Philippines) and gave me my missionary assignment. During morning devotions, by myself, around 7am, amongst the deep forest of the Philippines, I clearly heard the voice of the Lord tell me, “You will come back to Asia and share the gospel with the lost there.” I knew then, that the Lord wanted me to come back to Asia and He truly grew my heart for Asian people at that time and through serving during that mission trip. Due to the Missionary training headquarters of Word of Life being in Japan, I always figured I would end up there one day. That is when my interest in Japan truly began. However, my interest in Asian culture started when I was much younger than that.
My father influenced my love for Asian culture from a young age- watching Shaolin, Wu-tang and Samurai movies together since before I can remember. My father and I often bonded over these movies and well brewed tea- which was always a joy for me. From there, my older brother also influenced me greatly due to his love of Japanese manga, anime and video games. I always admired my older brother and involved myself in whatever he did because I always looked up to him as his younger sister. It was together we started watching anime in Japanese with subtitles (around age 12). I feel as if I always grew up with the Japanese language surrounding me due to my father and brother consuming Japanese entertainment. For example, hearing it in movies, sumo wrestling matches and also anime, as we always watched them in their original language with subtitles.
After I heard the Lord tell me I would go to Asia to be a missionary, I decided to start studying the Japanese language on my own. It was a surreal experience because every single time I started studying Japanese, I felt the Lord tell me, “this is what I want you to do. This is my plan for you.” I thought I was going crazy. Me? Learn Japanese? I had never even met a Japanese person in my life, studied a foreign language, let alone been to their country at all. Why would I study a language of a people I’ve never met or visited? Yet every time I studied the language, I felt the Lord urge me, “this is what you are meant to be doing.” So, I taught myself basic Japanese and decided to go on a solo vision trip to Japan in 2019 to see what the Lord had in store for me there. I mean, if I’m learning Japanese, that must mean He wants me to communicate with Japanese people right? It was then that I organized my very first and very own mission trip to Japan, reaching out the The Vineyard Churches of NY and was eventually sent to co-labor with the Vineyard Churches in Japan for one month; and they received me so well.
To figure out where in Japan I should go to, I just looked up online where the, “greatest needs” in Japan were. That’s when I found Nishinari. “The Biggest Slum in All of Japan.” I found a news article that shook me to the core about the people in this small vicinity with such great and high level needs. It was then that I clearly knew my mission- I was sent to share the gospel with them. I connected with my church, got permission, advice and the approval of my local church and then my global church; and was set to be received by three Christian churches in Japan.
During my one month stay there, I gave out origami gospel tracts that I handmade and told everyone about Jesus. It was then I heard the Lord say to me, “you will come back and make a place for the people here. It will be a church and it will glorify me.” I then set out to figure out how to obtain a visa to live and work in Japan as a missionary. Then just 2 months later, COVID-19 hit the world and I was stuck in America for a grueling 2 years. My soul ached to share the gospel and I wanted to do whatever it took to get back to Japan to share what the Lord put on my heart. However, restrictions were strict and it was near impossible at that time. I at first applied for many English teaching positions as most foreigners do, but was denied all of them despite having credentials and many years of experience as an ESL teacher. Later, I discovered that that was not God’s plan for me in Japan. Through seeking the Lord and much prayer, He revealed to me that the first step of the mission is to learn the language in a real way. That would also be my “foot in the door” to entering the country; since obtaining a, “religious activities” visa is extremely hard; requiring proof from both a sending American church and receiving Japanese church; which I didn’t have at that time. It was then that I applied to the most prestigious language school closest to Nishinari and got in without a hitch; it was effortless to say the least and absolutely God’s plan.
After the restrictions lifted, I was able to go back to Japan to fulfill the original calling that the Lord had put on my heart- to share the gospel with each and everyone in Nishinari.
It is until this day that I am actively pursuing this mission work in Japan. I left for Japan in July 2022, so it has been one year that I have been ministering and learning the language formally in order to better minister to the disadvantaged here in Japan. Although my schooling and studying takes up a lot of time due to the amount of work I am assigned there, it has been a blessing and I have by the grace of God gone from a beginner level to an Intermediate II level. There is only one level above me that would indicate that I have reached fully fluency. If I should pass my next two classes, I will have reached “Japanese fluency” by the National Standard and then will be released from schooling to wholly devote myself to the mission work, Lord willing, He provides a Missionary Working Visa for me (which I am earnestly praying for). The great news is that I have been able to host many outreach events, coordinate mission trips for YWAM and other churches to come to Nishinari to serve them, served on the Children’s Ministry at my local church, collaborated with many local churches to do outreach events and I have spent one year doing outreach to Nishinarians solo as well with my original “handmade origami tract and care package” way (please see my past blog posts over the year to see the work that I have been able to do by God’s grace alone).
In this past year I have learned so much about the culture in Japan and feel like I have a better understanding of their lifestyle as Paul and Ezekiel also sought to do when entering a new land and being commissioned to speak to a specific population (1 Cor 9:9, Ezekiel 3).
After I complete the Japanese language school and if I am able to by the grace of God obtain a Missionary Working Visa, my entire day can be used to build the church in Nishinari that the Lord has commissioned me to plant. However, the Lord is showing me that this is my life-time mission and that we are going one-step at a time. The first step has been to enter the country, learn the culture and the language, which will undoubtedly help me better minister and communicate effectively with government officials about planting the church in the future. However I have been blessed to have the opportunity to do many outreach events and the Lord has blessed this ministry with many salvations already.
So there you have it! A little bit of my background, calling and heart for the people here in Japan and how it all started 🙂 I pray that the Lord will give me the strength, support and meet the needs of those in Nishinari for many, many years to come! Thank you so much for reading!

God Bless you!

“To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
-1 Cor 9:22 & 23-