God's timing.

So, God is really cool. He always has the best timing ever.

Today I stayed home, mainly to rest, and get some emotional healing. This is from things I've had since I was way little. Things I've believed about myself. Like I am not beautiful. I have no value if I am not useful. If people saw the real me, they would run away.

All these things have shaped my life, how I live it, how I react to things.

The book I was talking about before talks about these things.

So today, I just wanted to spend some time with God and listen to who He said I was. I took some time to rest, take a nap, read some things, and just spend the day with God. It's been nice and refreshing.
So, I just got up from my nap, and when I looked, I had a letter. This is the reason I am going to write now.

This girl has been my friend since jr. high school. She is the most loyal person I know. She is also one of the most injured people by life I know. If I had been through the things she has, I would have shut down long ago. but she keeps going. And she can still love the people around her. That's amazing.

What amazes me the most is that she loves me. I know I have not been a good friend to her. It's easy to say that I live so far away, and the things here take my time. But she always forgives me. She is always ready to have a close relationship with me.

I guess because she has always been there, it's so easy to take her for granted. To not realize the value of someone who is so familiar.
So today I got a letter from her. She must have wrote this letter last week, but I got it today.

In this letter were all the words I needed to hear. She told me that she loved me and that I was a beautiful person. She wrote five pages to me.

I think this is maybe the first time my heart has let me hear the things she has been telling me all these years. I don't know if I have ever really listened before when a girl friend told me I was beautiful or important. Somehow, I felt it didn't count, because they were my friends, of course, they HAD to say those things. Right? I mean that's what friends do.

So the words had no meaning for me. They never reached my heart. I never really heard them.

But today, for the first time. My heart heard them. My heart heard all the words that all my dear and wonderful friends have been telling me.

So I want to tell you too. I know I could have written you a letter, but I wanted you to know, in a public way, that I thank you so much for being my friend. Thank you so much for telling me over and over again the things I needed to hear. Thank you for always forgiving me. Thank you for always loving me. I can't believe I've been blind for so long! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So, here are some more pictures! I love you. I love you today more than I ever have before. Thank you. I love you.

Random pictures.

So, I was looking through some of the pictures on my computer, and I found some pictures that had been sent to me from friends here. I realized that I normally only put up picures that I have taken, so here are some pictures that include me in them. Most of them are from my first year here, so I've changed a bit since then...



So yeah. This week has been amazingly long, yet way too short. Long as in I feel emotonally drained. Although, I am feeling much better. And too short as in I feel like I never have enough time to get everything done and Wham! it's already the end of the week. And I'm left a bit dazed wondering where in the world the week went to.

Today I'm taking a bit of a break. I decided to not go to the ususal prayer meeting today. Instead of waking up early and traveling, I am going to stay at home and have some personal time with God. I think I really need it. Maybe I might be able to get some laundry done as well. But already, just not having to wake up to an alarm and get on a train has made a world of difference.

I've been reading this book this week. It's called "Captivating" by John and Staci Eldridge. It's a good book. If you have ever heard of "Wild at Heart" it's by the same author and his wife.. It's a book about being a woman, and what that means. Why women get hurt, and what their reactions are. And what the heart of every woman wants... I read this book a year ago, and it didn't do so much for me. It was the wrong timing. But I picked it up again this week, and Bam! it hit home and it hit hard. It's a good book.

Anyway, think of the pictures as kind of a "doorprize". I hope you have a nice week!

Weekend huh?

Wow, it's already the weekend again, isn't it? Time flies. I can't believe June is already almost over.

This week marked the halfway point for this sememster. Only 10 more weeks to go! Of teaching that is.

Today has been a busy day. I went to prayer meeting in Tokyo this morning, and then left in time to come back for "Cooking in English."

I taught about 11 students how to cook Hamburger Gravy in English. It went pretty well. And everyone were good cooks! It was really good. After we made banana splits.

I have a bit of a break before I head out again, back to Tokyo to meet a friend and listen to the band. I'll probably take a nap before I go. Hmmmm... naps... good.... ;-)



So, funny thing about being from West Texas and then coming to Japan. So in West Texas, we've been living in a drout for how long? 5, 10 years? Not sure. Just seems normal to me to live in a drought. But we never rationed water or anything like that. Just lived with it. No rain. No problem. (well, not for those of us who weren't farmers...) Although we did pray in church every Sunday for rain. haha.

So here in Japan, "rainy season" has started. But this year, there is not enough rain. (It's only rained like twice in the past two weeks I guess. Something like that. My memory is terrible.) But, there HAS been rain. (I know in Texas we go for months and months without rain!!!) But already my students are freaking out. Saying that if there isn't more rain soon, they'll start having to ration water. Yeah, I guess things are different in Japan. Different land, more people. I guess it's a bigger problem. But it's still hard to imagine rationing water when the ground is still wet!!! Some things I may never get used to.

Anyway. The picture is something I made. It's the first 3 verses of Psalm 19. It's a beautiful psalm. But it's in Japanese (that's why you can't read it.) I made it to give to friends and stuff. I just need to find a printer that works now. Or get around to making mine work. I'm way too lazy.

So that's the long and short of today. I'm tired so I think it's nap time!

Oh the randomness!

So here are a few more pictures from right before the live (I arrived early because I didn't know where the place was and I had to meet people to show me how to get there.)

The first picture is two of the fan-girls. How cute!



Second picture is strange I know. But there is a reason! So this guy bought this iced drink at the coffee shop. It is really like a cookies and cream slushie type thing. (there is crushed up ice in the mix instead of ice cream) But everyone was kinda freaked out by the color! He kept telling everyone that even though the color was funny, it tasted really good. I was a bit confused, (the color seemed normal to me.) But then he explained that this was a very unusual color for a drink in Japan. (I'm not sure why... I've seen ice cream that color...) But everyone pretty much had the same reaction. You had to convince them all to try it. It was a rather funny difference in culture.

Then we have the "littlest fan." One of the girls was giving this kitten to another girl. The exchanged happened at the live house. I was surprised that the kitten was allowed in the building! But there was apparently no problem! She was definately a popular attraction! Her name is "Sora" which means sky. I took this picture, and the little boy thought it was great, because of the "sparkles." That's another point of Japanese culture. They like sparkles and cute things! The last picture is people peering in at the cat.

Overdue update

Sorry! I really do always mean to update, but when I have time, it seems like I'm just too tired or I have other things that need to be done (like praying...) So anyway... Here's the latest update.

We had a BAPTISM! Horray! He has been coming to our church for a long time, and he finally got Baptized on Pentecost! It was great! I even had three of my students come to watch. They said they were very moved by it. I hoping to be able to see some of them get baptized too soon!


Life has been keeping me busy. I guess that's true for everyone though. I've finally adjusted to my new schedule and I'm not so tired all the time anymore, so that is really good news. Now I just have to learn to continue to manage my time better. Haha.

I recently had the chance to go to Trash Box Jam's live. This was the first time I'd been able to go to their live (this was their third one.) I was so excited! Here are a few pictures. Mako is hiding and practicing before the performance.

The next picture you can see Mako and Sing. Sing is wearing a Texas shirt! He found it at a recycle shop somewhere. How cool is that? :-D

Anyway, the live was great. My camera has finally crashed (it died that night), so I borrowed one of the other girl's cameras. But she hasn't given me the pictures yet. I'll put them up on the website as soon as I get them. Some were pretty good. (although, I know that no one is quite as interested in them as I am. hahaha.)

So I'm not sure if there will be a lot more pictures on the blog. Maybe old ones that I haven't used yet... Don't know. Of course there is always my cell phone, but those aren't great quality pictures. But I guess you have to take what you can get.

I don't know when I'll have the chance to get a new camera. There are always things that I need to buy and stuff. Oh well.

Anyway. I'm doing good. Sorry, this is a kinda short update. But I love you!