I realized sometime in early February that, since moving to Japan, I had not listened to any new contemporary Christian music (in English). A marked difference from my life back home, when regularly going to church, small group, and assisting with youth ministry meant that I was mostly up to…

There’s a Korean expression that I recently picked up from BTS’s V LIVE livestream, uttered randomly by the group’s leader RM: “꽃샘추위”. Literally translated it means something like “the cold envies the flowers”, and relates to how, when winter is about to end and spring is just starting, winter becomes…

When it comes to sharing about twisty emotions like grief, sadness, regret, loneliness, I prefer sharing them in writing rather than verbalizing them in a conversation or recorded video. Both ways are equally valid and authentic, but when it comes to mentally translating from physical and emotional feelings to intelligible…

Like the sudden shock of an earthquake, shifts in your mental and emotional health can be drastic and startling. When one day you feel fine and full of vigor, despite knowing what challenges lie ahead. You’re tired but feel like you still have enough energy and compassion in you to…

WE DID IT! In less than four days, we reached our fundraising goal. Moreover, in the following days, we SURPASSED the goal, accumulating a final total of $3060 (€2587) from 24 donors. The original goal of €2000 will be allocated as I described before (detailed in the pie chart below). Your support and…

We’ve moved up an additional 40% and are now just over $700 away from reaching our goal!! A lot of credit goes to my mom, who has been sharing about her experience volunteering here a couple of weeks ago. …

In just 24 hours, we have reached 31% of our goal amount for the GoFundMe campaign! From here on out, I’ll be posting daily about the specific activities that this campaign is assisting. …

This post will be in two parts. Part 1 is what I wrote after a week had elapsed back at Eleonas, but never posted. Part 2 is what I have…

Let me tell you a story. The year is 2017. It’s summer. The story is set at UC Berkeley. The program is Y-PLAN TOMODACHI. 100 students from Tohoku, Japan are about to arrive. One of their instructors, a 23-year old non-Japanese woman, is nervous. She has only just recently returned…