God, above all, saves me from losing myself. He is my Maker and He knows me more than anybody else in this world. He even knows me more than I know myself. Because He knows my past, present, and future, I give Him all the authority to mold me to the person He destined me to be. When I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, I realized that the purpose of life is actually not just to travel the world, to take photos, to write, to quit a job, to meet people, to fall in love, to get a new job, to get rich, to face dangerous things, and so forth. It dawned on me that the greatest purpose of life is actually to get to know the One who made me.. you.. us. Because if we all know Him, He will guide us in finding ourselves and living our full potential, and the rest will unfold in front of our eyes and into our hands.
Despite all the things I do to save myself, one thing that still makes me lose it is fear. At church today, I was reminded about breaking down walls of fear. We sometimes allow fear to build walls between us and our dreams. If this happens, then we will really end up not reaching our dreams. We will result to daydreamers, zoning out in the world and not taking action. I began imagining this occuring in my life. I do not want it for I want my dreams aligned with God's plans to flourish.

To answer the question, "What will you do if you have all the time and the money in the world?" today, I am still saying that I want to travel the world, be a philanthropist, and get trained and learn different things. But I want to do it all for God. You see, the purpose of pursuing our dreams becomes more meaningful when they are aligned with God's purpose in our lives. When we are doing the things we love for Him, then dreams are not just dreams. They become realities. Work is not just work. It becomes an activity in our days that we look forward to and find joy in.

This year, I plan to get out of my comfort zone and face the unknown. Who knows what will happen when I do this? Financial crisis? Less socials? No travel? Endless search for things? Whatever. I am only sure that I will not be alone. And this time, I will make sure that there will be no zoning out or caving in. But stepping up, standing strong, and crossing over. Attraversiamo.

Skate away.

At Erik's favorite place lol

Next stop: Asakusa Temple (In Celebration of Health & Sports Day)

[Pardon me for the photo edits for I am currently experimenting with the photos in my blog. Instead of uploading photos in big sizes, I decided to edit and save them in 700 px width only. Also, I am trying to find which preset I will stick with. Message or comment if you have any suggestions.]

Write away
even though nobody is

reading them. 

But always write 
for the 

Greater Good.

While we were having a quick breakfast at McDonald's, Daddy taught me how to go to Yokohama. I felt he was kind of nervous about me traveling to a major interchange railway station all by myself. So I was not quite surprised when there was suddenly a change of plans. He decided to accompany me there. Since he had a few hours to spare before he attended the ceremony, riding the train and alighting at the station with me would not be a big problem for him. Still, I thought to myself, "Wow. He must really be nervous." So the two of us ended up going to Yokohama.


I am glad Daddy came along with me because what he said about the Yokohama station was true. There were many different exits: North, South, East, and West gates. There are also central North and South gates and South East and South West gates. Complicated best describes this station.

We were supposed to meet Erik at the North gate. However, Dad and I exited at the Central North gate. I was bad at explaining directions to people though if I have a map, I could navigate through it alone. However, I did not have a map of the station. And the station was totally confusing me and my Dad. So we had to rely on Erik and help him find us. I kept on hearing Dad said, "North. Central North. North. Central North." After an exchange of texts and calls for around 30 minutes, Erik found us. Whew. We had to make sure if there are central exits next time.

Dad rode the train back to Tokyo. Erik and I went to the Yokohama NTT East booth to claim the Free Wi-Fi card for tourists. However, I forgot to get my passport from my Dad's bag. So we were not able to claim anything. We entered the ticket gates again and rode the train to Kannai station. From Kannai station, we walked a few blocks toward Yokohama Grace Bible Church (YGBC). It was a beautiful day to walk outside for the weather was not too hot and not too cold. Just right.

When we arrived, the service has not started yet. Erik wrote our names and handed me my name to stick on my shirt. We went in and waited for a few minutes before the service started.


Amazingly, I worshipped God in a different language. The worship songs were all familiar to me because they were also sang in Victory QC back home. Because the lyrics of the song in Japanese were flashed on the screen, I was able to sing them in Japanese language. I did not wholly understand the words. But because I knew the lyrics in English, I was able to sing it heartily. The songs looked and sounded beautiful in whichever language they were written and sung. Praise God!

The series was entitled Mission which is somewhat related to Victory's series Viral. From what the pastor has said, I typed down some sentences in my phone:

I am worth the price of God. I am priceless.

I have value. 

The love of God compels me. (2 Corinthians 5:14) 

Single women: You are God's princesses. You have value.

The pastor also raised some important points to single men in the church. He said that single men should get their act together and never play games with women. They should mature and grow.. for the women are already ready. I agreed to that. But I also wanted to add: Women should also mature and grow.. for the men are getting ready. As much as I wanted to say that women mature faster than men, I do not want to forget that women also have a role to play in this pursuit of love. Yes, men will pursue and prove their love. But women will need to blossom and grow maturely in order to be worthy of that. I, too could not help but squirm a little in my seat.

After the service, I received a Welcome Kit that included a USB, blue sign pen, and a Gospel of John booklet in Japanese. I could not understand the booklet at all. Lol. I also needed to fill up the YGBC Welcome Card. Erik introduced me to Pastor James who happened to know Pastor Henry, the husband of my coaching group leader ate Rache. Small world. I also met some of Erik's good friends. Some were Filipinos working in Japan for a couple of years too.



Since we were both really hungry, eating sushi was not an option. It was a must! We went to Minato Mirai first, hoping we could find a good place to eat. However, we ended up going back to... I totally forgot the name of the mall and even the sushi restaurant where we dined. All I had were these pictures for the remembrance of how good the sushi was. And how difficult to eat some of them using chopsticks. I could not help but laugh at myself. ((:<

Good meal. <3

After going to church and eating lunch, our adventure in Tokyo has just begun. I was beginning to know more and more about Japan then and enjoying every bit of it. The 'Path to Tokyo Tower' is coming next. (: