CCSI Blog #1 - Arrival

Hello everyone!

I am grateful to say that through your prayers and God's grace, I safely came to Japan yesterday and spent my first full day at Covenant Community School International (CCSI) today! When I returned to the States after my first Japan vision trip last year, I never imagined that I would come back a year later and be at CCSI. As I woke up this morning and went into CCSI, I was filled with awe that I am here and that the Lord has graciously brought me here. My morning started off with a time of reading Isaiah 45: 1-13 with the CCSI interns and principal. As I was reading through this portion of Isaiah 45, I was truly reminded of how powerful and sovereign God is over my life and how He is in control of everything. During our time of sharing on Isaiah 45, the others had similar thoughts as me, and it was truly encouraging to reflect on how good our God is. We then went into a time of prayer, where we each chose a CCSI student to pray for before the start of the school day and prayed for them out loud. Being able to pray for and intercede for a student was such a privilege and an encouragement to see how good God has been and will be over their life, even in a country that is so spiritually dark, as God has placed this student in such a loving and Christ-centered Christian community. Following this time of scripture reading and prayer was a time of worship and devotional from one of the students, as she shared about what gentleness means in the bible and how Christ has shown gentleness as well as how we are to show gentleness. It was truly a blessing to start the morning off with scripture, prayer, and worship.

Moving forward, the rest of my first day at CCSI was simple. After worship, I went to observe some classes of 6th and 7th graders who I will be substitute teaching next week. I was filled with joy as the students made an effort to get to know me with such vibrant energy and as I saw them studying diligently but also helping each other in their studies with such excitement. Once I finished observing the classes, I got to spend some time with some of the teachers and interns through having different conversations, and it was such a blessing to see the genuine joy they reflected as they interacted together. Overall, on a very simple first day back, I have been encouraged to witness the strong sense of community that the teachers and students have in Christ. In the days ahead of me at CCSI, I am excited about what else God will reveal to me and how He will lead me!

Jooeun