Naomi’s Journey to College in Japan

Our original plan was to have our kids go to college in the US. Take that as our prejudiced view of education. We had done a few college visits last summer. With Naomi’s preference for being close to her family, her desire to study nursing, and the importance of her relationship with Jesus, she had chosen SPU as the school she wanted to get in to. As she contemplated and prayed through her college plans, her priority was always to take care of her relationship with Jesus.

Sometime in the following year, her math tutor suggested that she could pass the entrance exam for a Japanese college. We knew nothing about the entrance exam process. We had never considered it. Naomi prayed about it and she sensed God was directing her to studying in Japan. She began to look at the colleges in Japan.

Japanese students begin studying for their college entrance exams from their second year (junior year) of high school. Most students take special classes in “cram school,” juku, in addition to their regular schooling. Most Japanese people consider it impossible to pass an entrance exam to a good school without this preparation. Well, Naomi didn’t start thinking about studying in Japan until the end of her junior year. She had missed some important curriculum choices for Japanese college prep because she didn’t need those classes for US colleges.

When Naomi went to look for a college in Japan, her first choice was a nursing school in English. There are no English nursing programs available! Then Naomi went to an “open campus” at a Japanese nursing school associated with a hospital where they provide services in Japanese and English. She really liked it. She met a bilingual Japanese student who encouraged her. She felt God was leading her to this school. This became her first choice.

This school and hospital are Christian. One of our Soshin teachers found out this was Naomi’s first choice.  She called the school to see if Naomi could get in on recommendation instead of going through the exam system. The answer was “No.”

Usually, people choose more than one college to apply to. And in the US, it doesn’t cost too much to apply to a few colleges. Naomi said she wanted to sign up for 3 entrance exams. OK. But what is that look on her face? She tells me each entrance exam is $400. The first concrete hurdle we had to make a faith decision on was to take only 2 entrance exams. Naomi was shaken. “’Everyone’ takes at least 3 exams, usually 5-10. It looks bad if you only take 2. What if I don’t pass . . .”

God will open the door if this is His will. We have to trust Him. Did you hear Him calling you to nursing? Yes. Then, we can trust He will accomplish His will.

Naomi continued her math and Japanese tutoring. She fretted about the parts of the entrance exams she thought she might not do well on. We prayed and so many other people prayed for her.

Her exams happened to be scheduled about a week apart. She took the first exam. Everything went well. She got to the testing location early, and finished feeling positive about the test. It was her first choice. The second school is a tougher school to get in to. It is larger and highly respected. Naomi wasn’t considering going there at all.

Not accepted! Naomi was shocked and then devastated. It was difficult to have a positive attitude for the second exam. She knew that this second exam would be harder. We had to do some serious praying. Gordon activated our prayer chain.

The second entrance exam was in a freak snowstorm. Yokohama had not had so much snowfall in 15 years. Gordon accompanied her to this exam, too but this time waited around for her to finish. It was a good thing that she had someone to come home with. The trains were delayed. When they made it to our station, there were no buses running that they could see. They walked home from the station and passed 6 busses with chains stuck on the hill to our house.

Many people were praying. Especially Japanese people who knew the odds of Naomi passing this next test after failing an “easier” entrance exam was not in her favor. She Passed! Out of 580 students, 180 passed. But now, she must go for an entrance interview.

The day of the interview it snowed again. The snow was more than Yokohama had seen in 45 years. Thankfully Gordon and Naomi made it in time for the interview. They planned to be there 1 hour in advance and made it 5 minutes before the interview. Whew. Naomi was afraid a panel of 5-8 people would interview her. But she was pleasantly surprised to find 3 older women with smiling faces interviewing her. God had told Gordon, Naomi will have at least one kind interviewer. So, he told Naomi, look for that person. One of the women says, “Are you nervous? Just take a deep breath. It is OK. (kind smile)” She was able to relax. After four questions and less than five minutes, she was done.

It was hard to wait those 6 days before finding out if she got accepted.

God knew that He wanted Naomi to go to this bigger university. If she had passed that first exam and been accepted into that college, she would not have tried to get in to this larger, prestigious school. Out of 180 interviewed, only 115 are chosen. We learned empathy and sympathy for the Japanese students and families who undergo this trial. We experienced their heartache and hope.

She’s accepted!

God is faithful. Naomi continued to attend church, small group and BSF while she was studying. She studied, but she had to rely on God to accomplish His will. We know that it is God who accomplished this. It is God’s gift. Jesus says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33 NIV) “Odds against you?” With God on your side, you are the “Odds-on favorite!”

This is the hope we want others to know in Japan.

May the Lord continue to richly bless you!

 

Lee Ann (and Gordon) Hwang