I've decided to take a step into faith and now I'm going to blog about what the Lord is doing in my life.

A little bit about me.

Name- Daniel, but my family calls me DJ. You may think I'm missing a period between the D and J but I'm not. The J in my name stands for absolutely nothing. My Dad's name is Daniel too, but our middle names are different so I'm not a junior. Though my mom didn't want to call me Daniel, so DJ it is haha.

Age- 21, I just turned 21 April 5th. I was born in 1988 in the small lake town of Geneva, Ohio in the Northeastern part of Ohio near Lake Erie.

Job- ET3 Navy, the Lord currently has me as an Electronics Technician Third Class in the U.S. Navy. My heart's desire is to preach in Japan and be a missionary after I get out in 2013, I believe the Lord has given me my heart to reach the lost people in Japan and I'm excited at the work He is doing in me.

Backstory- How did the Lord bring about the passion for the Japanese people you ask? Let me tell you :D Living in Ohio when I was younger, my mother was friends with a Japanese lady by the name of Makiko, we called her Micky. It was always a joy when she and her kids were around. My childhood wasn't so good and I latched onto the good things to survive. I thank the Lord for the blessing she was to our family. I adored her so much!

When I was going into third grade, my mother by that time was legally separated and was raising my 2 sisters and I as a single mother. She was taking courses through Kent State University and we moved to Kent, Ohio. There we lived on the campus apartments and there the Lord placed me into an environment that was rich with cultures from all over the world. From 3rd to 5th grade I was raised up around people from all over. My best friend was a kid named Sunny who was Korean, I wish I could find him again today as he was pretty cool.

Going into 6th grade my mom had remarried and we moved to Everett, Washington, my stepdad was in the Navy and had orders to Port Operations there. When I got to WA, I was pretty miserable. I no longer was around my friends and the things that kept my mind off the bad stuff were no longer there. My mother kept us in Church but I was bitter. For the first 3 years in Everett I was not a happy camper. When I got into highschool I became more depressed. Things progressed worse, the stuff that happened to me when I was younger kept piercing my mind. As time progressed my heart was hardened towards the Lord and I became a a bitter person. I stopped going to Church all the time by the end of Sophomore year and dived deep into online games to escape from reality. By 11th grade I was disassociating myself with those around me. The breaking point was the girl whom I dated in 11th grade was moving towards a more and more physical relationship and that sparked memories of things that happened when I was a kid. I started avoiding her and then we broke up. I thought I was okay then, but I wasn't my past seemed to have caught up with me. I couldn't run away anymore.

Finally I got to a point where I was about to explode, I couldn't keep it in any longer so I wrote a letter to my mother about the things that had happened that she did not know about. She got me into counseling, it helped a little but not really. I took some medication but that didn't help. I was at the end of my rope. I couldn't continue on any longer in the life I was living. I had been angry with God. I did not want to believe He existed because if He did then why was I suffering?

My mother invited me back to Church to listen to a missionary by the name of Steve Manning. Our church had been supporting him for quite sometime. At first I was going to decline her offer and go do my weekly missions and quests in Final Fantasy XI Online. But something that night was different and I felt like I should go to see what exactly my mother was talking about. So I went and while listening to Him I heard a message that spoke Truth to my heart. That God wants a relationship with me and He sent His Son Jesus to reconcile us to Him. Oct 3 2006 I dedicated my life to the Lord and trusted Jesus as my savior. God had opened my heart to see and hear a message that made me realize that there is only meaning in life in Christ Jesus.

Since then I've been a work in progress and I looked back at my past and I saw where the Lord was with me. I had been angry at him for the stuff that happened but I now saw all that he had done. And through the bad times, the light that Miko was, the Lord has shown me that through her we were greatly blessed. And that has given me a passion for the Japanese people.

I am being led by God. I want to walk by faith, step by step everyday with Him. The call to me when I awake, "DJ, I'm going to meet with people today. Do you want to come along?" And my response back to Him is, "Yes Lord, I will follow after you".

I pray that my life and God's walk with me be a testimony to the love of Jesus to whoever is reading.