How God Led Allana to Japan
May 2025
“Japan will be in your future, you’re going to go there someday.”
That’s what Allana felt like God was telling her, even from a young age. Early on, her family became friends with a Japanese family who had just moved to the US. As the two families grew closer, their relationship flourished, and Allana became more interested in Japanese culture. That’s when she learned that less than 1% of people living in Japan know Jesus. As God gave Allana His heart for Japan, she decided to study Japanese as her foreign language in high school. In 2012 she continued following God’s lead and went to Japan for the first time to help with tsunami disaster relief. In 2016 she went back on a mission trip called the World Race where they ministered in the Osaka area. Shortly after that, she returned to Osaka and spent an additional three months with her World Race ministry partners, helping at their English school. With each trip, Allana could feel God’s call growing stronger and stronger. Eventually, God gave her the desire to live on mission there long-term. As she started taking steps towards that goal, God led her to go back to school and get a degree in biblical and cultural studies at Eternity Bible College. After graduating in 2023, she went to Japan with Encompass, where God confirmed her calling even further.
Now that she’s graduated, her multi-year journey of preparation is finally coming to a close—she’s moving to Japan in 2026 where she’ll join our Osaka team! We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome her to our team in Osaka. Her gentle, quiet spirit fits right in with Japanese culture, which will be a huge asset to our Osaka team. She says, “Japanese culture is reserved, quiet, and nice—just like me! And that’s really helpful in knowing how to relate with them.” Japanese people typically don’t give much thought to spiritual matters, but Allana’s gentleness has allowed her to bring up spiritual matters with Japanese peers in a way that is comfortable, non-invasive, and fruitful. It’s clear that God has been leading Allana up to this moment for her entire life—and we can’t wait to see how He plans to work through her there. As she surrenders her life to God and invests in Japan, you can participate by partnering with her financially.
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