A Letter To Japan

Dear Japan,

You don't know me yet; we've never seen each other but I hope that someday we can meet face to face. Despite that, I feel like I've known you for a very long time. To me you are a Shin'ainaru yujin (dear friend). I feel that we have a connection, something unseen and hardly felt but it is there just the same, and it is pulling us together. I never would have guessed that I would  end up loving Japan. When I was a little girl, I often day dreamed I would travel in my imagination to faraway places filled with wonder and adventure. Who knew that one day I would find the same wonder and adventure in Japan, a place so far away? It never entered my mind.

Japan, in some ways I know you better than I know myself. I see you in many different ways. I see you as an ancient place filled with a rich culture and heritage, a place that has walked through hard times and become even stronger because of them, a place filled with mystery just waiting to be explored. I also see you as a land filled with beautiful people, skillfully made by a loving creator. Each person is unique in his or her own special way and each one is very dear to my heart even though I've never met them. I can tell that each Japanese person has a wonderful purpose in life; each one was made for a reason. Japan is a place that was built on generations of people who worked hard for a better future. Millions of people over thousands of years. And yet God still loves every single one of those people; he guided their steps and knew exactly how their lives would impact the world.

It is my hope that someday I can stand face to face with one of these beautiful people and tell them just how much God loves them. I want to see joy and hope ignite in a Japanese heart as they hear that they don't have to fight for a happy life, that all they have to know is that a wonderful savior came down from heaven to save them. Dear Japan, you have no idea how much I long to bring you this good news. It breaks my heart to see all the sadness and fear in you simply because no one has reached out to you. If God will let me some day, I will see your misty coastline, I will set foot on the land that I've prayed for for so long, and perhaps, through me, God can add a few more hearts to his eternity.

I love you, Japan, and I hope to see you soon.

Rachel