As a highly organized person, Emily Crosby ’18, an English major, had her life planned out — until she participated in an exchange program between Concordia University Irvine and Urawa Lutheran School in Japan. She fell in love with the Land of the Rising Sun and recounted her journey of moving there in a top-prize-winning entry in Concordia University Irvine’s Great Commission Showcase.
“I had never visited Asia or given much thought to traveling there,” Crosby recalls.
She grew up in a family of six in Sacramento, and was homeschooled before coming to Concordia University Irvine.
She competed on Concordia University Irvine’s nationally-ranked speech team and earned several speaker awards and recognitions. She also enjoyed serving as a campus tour guide, “meeting prospective families and encouraging students as they faced the massive decision of what to do after high school,” she says.
Attending Concordia gave me the opportunity to develop my skills as a writer and to have profound conversations with some of the most brilliant men and women I have met.
“Attending Concordia gave me the opportunity to develop my skills as a writer and to have profound conversations with some of the most brilliant men and women I have met,” Crosby says. “For me, school was typically a grand adventure.”
But her plan to go straight into teaching English was interrupted by Concordia University Irvine’s exchange program and her immersive, 15-day visit to Japan in 2017. The trip put her into close contact with teachers and students at Urawa, with whom Concordia University Irvine has a long and fruitful relationship, allowing Crosby to see the people’s deep humanity and the “terrible spiritual darkness that shrouds Japan,” as she later wrote in her Showcase entry.
She observed that ancient culture “prevents the Japanese from pursuing a way of life that differs from their own, for a change in religion means an entirely different life,” she wrote. “Ancestor worship, family events, table manners—nearly every aspect of their lives is connected to their religion and the fulfillment of its requirements. Abandoning their gods means abandoning their identity, including their often-tight-knit family.”
Visiting a new culture can impact someone deeply, and requires thoughtful examination.
Gripped by the spiritual need and opportunity in Japan, Crosby felt her heart pulled toward the Far East. She recounted her deeply-felt Urawa experience in the Great Commission Showcase as a way to process it and share with others. Her entry was titled, “From Land of the Rising Sun to Land of the Risen Son: Ministry and Service in Japan.”
“Visiting a new culture can impact someone deeply, and requires thoughtful examination,” she says of her reason for participating.
The Showcase is open to all Christian undergraduate students who have participated in a university-sponsored mission project or short-term mission trip. Crosby worked with a faculty mentor and wrote a substantial reflection-and-research paper including cultural and economic factors about the field, anticipated challenges, and deeper examination of her own faith. She also participated, as do all entrants, in the poster session, and as a finalist she gave a ten-minute oral presentation before judges.
As the winner of the showcase, Crosby received a cash prize of $1,000 and a matching reward of $1,000 for the non-profit ministry of her choosing, which was Urawa.
I had a solid five-year plan until I was called back to Japan.
Today, Crosby lives in Japan and teaches at Urawa. When asked about her career goals, she laughs “because I had a solid five-year plan until I was called back to Japan,” she says. She sees herself teaching English in the U.S. sometime down the road and applying for graduate school to study literature after finishing her commitment at Urawa.
For now, “I absolutely love living in Japan,” she writes from across the Pacific. “The most wonderful thing so far is the orderliness. The city is clean, drivers are respectful and protective of cyclists [like Crosby], there are specific sidewalks for pedestrians vs. bicycles, and the streets are laid out in an orderly fashion that is easy even for a foreigner to follow. And of course, it’s beautiful. Even the biggest city is rife with cherry trees and incredible architecture. I never get bored of looking around.”