What is Rain of Cranes?

Konnichiwa! Hello and welcome to the Rain of Cranes Project!

As many of you know, I am extremely passionate about Japan. I have been very blessed to have spent a couple of weeks in Tokyo for the past two summers as part of my church's short-term missions program. My church is sending another team to Tokyo this summer, and though I won't be joining them, I want to do everything I can to help and support them stateside.

Possibly the greatest challenge Japan-bound teams face is fundraising. Believe me when I say it's more stressful than just about every other part of the trip.  With the cost of airline tickets, supplies, and so on, the trip has always had a pretty hefty pricetag-and it's growing. This year, each team member needs to raise almost $3,000 each.

Inspired by a popular Japanese legend, I am folding 1,000 paper cranes and selling them for a dollar each to help the team raise funds. I am getting (and greatly appreciating) help from some of my wonderful dorm mates! I have dubbed this project "Rain of Cranes" A) because it sounds cool, and B) it literally looks like it's been raining cranes in my dorm room. You can read more about the legend of 1,000 cranes here.

Though there's a lot of hard work involved with preparing for the trip, I can say from experience that it is WELL worth it! It's an incredibly emotional and spiritual experience all around. Not only do the people of Japan, who normally don't hold faith of any kind as a priority, get to hear the gospel, but those who are going will have their faith completely remodeled. It's truly life-changing.