Each year, International Ministry partners with volunteers across the United States and Puerto Rico, supporting both newcomers and seasoned participants for cross-cultural short-term mission. In November 2025, one such volunteer, Charity from Judson Church in San Bernardino, California, answered the call to serve in Japan. Continue reading to learn more about Charity and to hear her reflections on her recent short-term mission trip to Japan.

Charity’s Reflections 

For 51 years, I have faithfully written letters to a pen-pal in Japan.  As we got married and had kids, the letters became more sporadic.  Then they dwindled to only at Christmas.  But we kept them going each year, still curious about each other’s lives and committed to keep the relationship going.  As 2025 began, I felt God gently nudging me that this was finally the year to go to Japan.  I couldn’t imagine how, as I also began caring full-time for my 96-year old mom.  But as the months went by, God opened the doors for me to not only visit my pen-pal in Osaka, but also to form a team to go to visit with Gordon and Lee Ann Hwang in Rifu and offer our help.

In November, Judson Church in San Bernardino, California sent a team of 8 people to put our testimonies and our hands and feet to work alongside the faithful servants of God at Oasis Chapel.  We basically made ourselves available to cook meals for gatherings planned by Lee Ann where we met and enjoyed the fellowship of Christians and non-Christians alike.  We did two one-day work projects, one in a stand of bamboo trees where already cut trees needed to be cut and split and put into a trench to decompose naturally.  The other project was laying fresh composted earth over the ground in a pear orchard.  We worked hard, we ate hard, and we developed relationships we hope will last a very long time.  One on occasion, we did an art project with senior ladies and some of the English Café members (both Christians and non-Christians).  We shared two-word testimonies which amount to showing a placard with who we were without Christ on one side and who we have become with Christ on the other side.  This activity was somewhat shocking to them, but also sparked great conversations.  We have heard since returning, that the English Café did their own version of this activity at their Christmas party and found it was a highlight of their time finding a way to share their simple testimony with non-Christians.  Everyone in our group was excited to form these new relationships, and we felt God had moved to use us personally in meaningful ways we will long remember.  We hope for a time we can return and continue to come alongside these brothers and sisters in Christ.

The beauty of short-term mission work, I believe, is learning about new cultures and finding how God has uniquely gifted you to fit into sharing the gospel in those contexts.  We aren’t all ready to build houses, or preach for hundreds or thousands of people, but all of us have something to bring to the table.  For me, it was the gift of presence, conversation (with the help of translation and hand motions), encouragement and the sharing of my personal testimony in few words.  Anything we bring to the table, God can use to impact people, often in ways we never imagine.  When I felt inspired to use two-word testimonies, I had no idea that would be one of the things that sparked the new friends to believe they could share their own testimonies in powerful, but simple, unthreatening ways.  I love to see who I am on a mission trip when my heart is open to God’s leading in unhindered ways.  May my heart be more open in the U.S. to do the same.

The Invitation

I share Charity’s story in hopes to convey that God is at work everywhere and the invitation is open for us to respond to. Is God calling you? Do you feel a stirring in your heart for cross-cultural mission? Are you sensing a nudge to step out in faith, but unsure where to begin?

Whether your answer is a confident yes or a hesitant maybe, we invite you to reach out. My team and I would be honored to walk alongside you as you discern God’s calling in your life. Reach out to us today at volunteers@internationalminstries.org