My blog is live!

After many months of waiting, it's official: I'm going to Japan! Here's a clipping from the official letter of acceptance:

Earlier this week, I received this confirmation message from the Japanese government via the Japanese embassy in Australia. And so with this turn of a new chapter, comes a new route of expression from me. Hopefully this blog will serve both me and my readers well, over the subsequent years as I prepare to commence my studies in Japan.

Although what you see now is determination to accept the scholarship, and excited at the prospect, this expression of my emotional isn't even remotely close to articulating my long, indecisive and vacillating journey from application to acceptance over the past 8 months. I'll detail what the process was like in a later post. At this moment, I must mention how surreal it feels for my life to be opened to this utterly new direction through a single brief, one-page letter.

I have a couple of intentions in mind for what I will be using this blog for. I hope to use this space as an avenue of keeping my family, my friends and my church back in Australia updated regularly on what I've been up to in Japan. I'll periodically post prayer points, and it would be a great encouragement if you pray for me while I'm in Japan, and let me know that you've done so, because I anticipate that it will be tough to stay firm in my faith a Christian in Japan (as well as all the other Christians there). I also hope to document my time in Japan for my own record, so I can remember the people, places and experiences from the duration of my scholarship so I can look back at what God has taught me and how He's shaped me overseas. And of course, if there are others who chance upon my site who don't fit into the above categories, you are more than welcome to read what interests you and to leave a comment.

Most of my posts will centre on my education and ministry in Japan. There are many facets to both those categories. I'll be talking more in depth about what I see my purpose in committing to a 5 year scholarship to be in a vlog to be recorded in the near future.

For the moment though, what I'll need to focus on is getting into a habit of blogging, and just making sure these things happen! Pray that I'll be able to stay disciplined in maintaining this blog for many months (and years!) to come, for the benefit of those who support me in prayer back home. If you prefer to receive my prayer points each month via email summarised in one prayer newsletter, you can sign up at http://eepurl.com/u0Q8b.