Shinjuku.

Last Monday I went to Shinjuku (a really busy part of Tokyo. There are business areas and shopping too. Very exciting.) with a friend. We went to eat at one of the few decent Mexican food restaurants in Japan. (she ate Mexican food, I improvised my own meal. Haha) It was a nice time. It's been a while since I'd been in Shinjuku. I like the place. Monday was really nice weather too, and I took some pictures of the buildings and the sky. It's kinda fun. So I decided to share.

Two pictures are of the first Krispy Kreme's in Japan. It's really popular, and it always has huge lines. Can you imagine, standing in line for over 40 minutes for donuts? It's the minimum wait time there I think. Somehow, I just don't think they are worth it. haha. When it first opened, the lines were even longer. Over 2 hours!

Gingerbread House

Last weekend was Gingerbread House. This is one of my Children's Outreach events. They come on a Saturday and play games, have some snacks, and then they hear a Bible story. I want them to get some exposure to the Bible, and have good memories of being at a church. Jenae, one of the missionaries who lives in Tokyo, came and helped out. She's really good with kids. And Fumi took some pictures for me. I do this event at least twice a year now. Here are some pictures!

いい天気だよね！

Wow, today is one of those really nice, beautiful days, that make you happy to be alive. It's wonderful.

Today I went to my student's house. His wife makes crafts from old kimono. She's really good, and today she was having a gallery of sorts at her home. So I went with another student from the class to go see it. It was nice. Afterwards we went to lunch.

On the drive, we saw many beautiful flowers and it was just a beautiful day in general. The temp is just perfect! I saw a beautiful walkway lined with blooming dogwoods that I woud like to go back and walk along sometime. Unfortunately, starting tomorrow it's going to be rainy for a while. Maybe I'll be able to make it next week.

So my first class today is a class of gardeners. We talked about flowers the whole time. We saw some beautiful pictures and heard good stories. One student brought me some bluebonnet plants. I had given seeds last year as souviners from Texas. They are just starting to bloom, so now I have my own bluebonnet plants for in front of my house! Horray!

After class we went out to my house to check out the flowers there. I don't actually garden at all, one of the church members who likes to garden, but lives in an apartment takes care of it for me. It's a happy situation for both of us! We spent about half an hour of our Bible study time looking at flowers. But it was really good. When we went back inside, instead of reading our scheduled text (we are in 2 Samuel, David, war, etc) I decided to change it up. (the change was just too big!) So we read Psalm 19 instead. I really love the description of God's handiwork and the beauty and awe it inspires. It was a good way to share a different aspect of God's character.

Then I walked to get my "lunch". It was such a nice day, I ate cold ramen for the first time this year! Horray! I also bought some little ice cream snacks to eat. Ahhh... such a nice day... I'm happy.

These are pictures of flowers around my house and church.

Pictures!

Well, here are the pictures from my trip to America. I finally finished editing all of them and uploaded them to the web so I can post the slideshow now.



In other news, I just got back today from my second visit to the dentist. The good news is that I haven't had to had anesthesia either time and neither time hurt. This time was even cheaper than last time. I am so far satisfied with my trips to the dentist. I still don't know exactly what my problem is, but the dentist took out my filling (the problem was in a tooth that was already filled) and then somehow applied medication to the tooth. Then put in temporary fillings. He put in more medicine today. It looks like I'll have one more visit next week for medication, and then the week after that should end up with a permanent filling put back in. That's a whole month of dentist visits! wow!

Moving on to more interesting things... Work is going well. I have 23 classes this year (plus 5 Bible studies) and 63 students (plus 8 or so who only come to Sunday Bible class, the number changes every week though.) I'm a little busier than last year, but I don't have to go to meetings in Tokyo anymore, so that helps out a bit. And this week I was able to start studying the Bible again with my pastor. We do it in English and Japanese, so it's a good chance for me to study Japanese a bit more, and learn some of those "Christian words" in Japanese. During the fall it's just too busy to do it, but spring is a little more relaxed.

This weekend I went to a birthday party for two girls I know. It was quite the event. We went to an Arabian themed restaurant. It was really elaborate. I wish I had pictures, but my camera was out of batteries. There were 12 or 13 people in the end. It was fun. I got to walk home with Sensei too. We had a nice conversation. Speaking of Sensei... It's been really exciting lately. One of the members of my church here has become a fan of the band, and she made friends with Sensei. It's been really good. She even brought him to church week before last! As we were walking home he told me he is going to come back to church. (he draws people's faces, and he did that for the Sunday School Kids, and I think he's going to come back and do it again maybe. But then afterwards, he stays for church.) I wasn't sure what he thought of church, but he said it was interesting and not bad. So I'm glad he didn't have a bad experience. And some of the church members recognized him from when he played with the band. This is really super exciting for me! God is good.

It finally feels like spring is here. It's great. Not just weather wise, but in general. I feel like a lot of relationships that had been in "winter mode" are now in "spring mode", growing and opening up again. It's wonderful how God uses seasons of our life.

I'm learning more and more how to deal with tiredness and such in my life. Hopefully soon I'll be able to do more with my time (like keeping my house clean, and e-mailing more people.)

Well, I think this is good for today. Hopefully soon I'll try to put up the pictures I took on my trip to Hakone. Those are some fun pictures too.

Finally done with travel

Wow. It was a bit of a crazy spring break for me. Two trips packed into a small space. But it was good. I am back safely from my trip to America. I meant to post sooner, but as soon as I got back, I was busy again. I was so busy in fact that the jet lag couldn't even kick in until Monday. Haha.

The big news is how much God continues to bless and provide for me. I am now the proud owner of a new laptop. Not only that, it's another VAIO, which I love. My wonderful church in America, who so generously supports me, raised enough money to replace my poor dying laptop with a new one. Buying it was quite the adventure, but now everything seems to be fine again. I am always so blessed by that church and everyone there. I am so thankful for all the support.

So now, I have no excuse for not updating as often. I have to figure out a bit of the fun things you can do with the new Vista, and finish transferring some files, but hopefully I'll be back at 100% in no time. Of course, that's assuming I have time. Haha. My teaching schedule went up again this year. I am now the proud teacher of 23 classes a week, and 63 students.

Hmmm... Anyway, my trip to Hakone, Odawara and Yokohama with Aya went really well. I'll put up some pictures once I get them on this computer. It was a really great time. I think it was the first time I have ever been on a "road trip" with a friend. We were a good match. We both like very similar things (like samurai and ninjas...) and she was very patient with my inability to communicate past the level of an intelligent 5 year old. haha. But she's good with kids, so that probably had a lot to do with it. Haha.

My trip to Texas was also good. By that time I was pretty exhausted from travel and work, but I did manage to get some sleep in there. The biggest shock for me was to go from living alone to sharing a house with six other people! My brother came down with his family to visit while I was there. I had the unique problem of having jet lag, waking up every night, and not being able to move from my bed because I had two sleeping children (very cute sleeping children I might add) in my room, and my brother and his wife were in the living room. Next time it might be better for me to sleep in the living room so I can at least get up and move around during the night. hahaha.
There wasn't nearly enough time though. I just barely missed one of my friends who made it back to Texas the day I left. But I was totally a bum and I didn't contact anyone else. Sorry! I was super tired and there just wasn't a lot of time.

Well, I think that is all for this update. Today I have to go to the dentist again. fun. It seems there is something wrong with one of my teeth. I have no idea what the problem is as the name of the condition was given to me in Japanese and it's not in any dictionary I have access to for now. I think I might be having a root canal, but I'm not sure. I think the root, or nerve or something inside my tooth is dying, and leaking out or something. Anyway, he has to drill and remove it, but I guess it's gonna take three visits to get it done. Not happy about that. Actually, I just really hate the local anesthesia. And I have to teach with that stuff in my mouth! Fun stuff. Ah the joys of medical problems in a foreign language. You learn a lot of trust. haha. At least the insurance is good.

Well, ok, because I need to go to the dentist, I need to stop writing now and get ready to go. I will try to put up some more pictures soon. The first two pictures are on my way to America, sunrise in the plane and a beautiful sunset that God blessed me with once I got home. The last two are from the bus I was riding home in Tokyo.

Keeping up

So, turned out the cold I had was much worse than I thought it was. Last week, I ended up loosing my voice for a whole day, and in danger of loosing it for most of the week. Very sad. Even now, I'm still wating for my voice to get back to normal. I'd like to be able to sing again!

In random news, I found out from a student a theory of why medicine is so weak in Japan. Apparently the government is very strict about what kind of medicications they allow into Japan. If there are even small side effects, it's not likely to be allowed in. So, much of the medicine is weak. That, and difference in physique.

So the good news is that I'm finished with all my classes but one. I still teach this Friday. This means, since today is Monday, I don't have class for three days, and then I come back to teach one day. This left me with a really strange spring vacation. The solution? A short trip with one of my friends. Starting tomorrow, I'm going on a three day trip with a Japanese friend. This will be fun and exciting for me. This might be my first "road trip" with a friend. And it might be my longest time spent only in Japanese. We'll see how long I manage to last! Haha. Please look forward to the awesome pictures I'm sure to take!

This spring break, like most spring breaks, looks like it's going to stay pretty busy. This week is my mini-trip. Then come back, teach for one day, then Easter, one day off (probably spent packing) then it's off to America for a quick trip. There's a lot I need to pack into that trip too. I just hope I get some time to rest in there too. Travel can be fun, but it's certainly not restful for me. But, I'm looking forward to it.

Anyway, here are some random pictures. First is a nice sunset in front of the church. Second is one of my students with his head in his bag. Yeah, I don't know why his head is in his bag. Last picture is of my house on one of the days it snowed this year.

Ok, I guess that's all for now. I'll try to post when I get back from my first trip. If not, it'll be when I get back from America.

Just another update.

Just in case you were wondering about these things, (which I'm sure you are not) this is my 192nd post. This means in 8 more posts, I'll reach 200! How exciting is that?

Anyway, I finally uploaded a bunch of pictures from my cell phone to the computer, AND I figured out how to get Picasa working right again. (my computer has been such a pain lately...) So I have some fun pictures for you today.

First picture, look closely at the fine print. This is a sign of an English school near my house. I wonder how many people notice this?? what do you mean "or children?" You mean I have to choose between having Useful English and having children? What if I want both? haha. Actually, I'm pretty sure the "f" in "for" just faded away. But it's still pretty funny.


This second picture is of a fun drink you can make yourself at the local family resturant. I go there a lot with students. You get this drink by first putting in orange juice, and then adding some sweetener. Then you pour in over the top, hot, freshly brewed rose hip tea. That's what gives it the nice color. But it's better to drink if you actually mix it up first. It's fun to make and look at, but the tea still makes it a little too bitter for me.

In other news, I've officially come down with a cold. Probably because my body is finally relaxing after almost an entire month of stress and tension. I just hope it doesn't get too bad. I really hate colds in Japan. It's super hard to find decent over the counter medicine. Japanese medicine seems weaker than American medicine, and even in America, I often have to take the strongest dosage of the medicine. So, I feel like taking medicine does almost nothing here. A lot of people go to the "hospital" when they have colds. "Hospitals" in Japan are more like clinics than Hospitals. Or rather, a combination of the two. But there's just something in me that rebels against going to the hospital for a silly cold. After all, it'll eventually go away on it's own.

In slightly related news, did you know? I have never once missed a day of work for being sick while working in Japan. (I did miss Japanese class a few times back in orientation though...)

And in other fun news, it looks like I'll be able to visit America again this year at the end of this month. I should be home for only about 10 days this year. My spring break is a bit short this year for various reasons. And my summer is already booked. Hope to see you when I am in America!

Survived the big event!

So this Sunday was the big event, Open House. I had actually been planning this event pretty far in advance. (over a month, this is huge for me!) As I'm not a big fan of the normal layout for Open House, I decided to spice things up, Amber-style.

There was actually two open houses, one for kids (started at 1:00) and one for adults (started at 3). The kids one we made projects of things we studied about in class to show to the parents. And then we performed songs from class. The returnee's also did a dramatic reading of the book "You are Special" by Max Lucado. Yang Sensei gave a message about the book too.

But the big event was the Adult Open House. Usually the adults give speeches. But I'm not a fan of speeches, so I changed it this year. We loosely based the theme on a popular TV game show that airs at the end of every year. Since it sounds very similar to my name translated in Japanese, I decided to make an English version of the game. "Kohaku."

Each of my classes had to think of a short English game, make the rules, and do all the preparations for the game. This way every class participated even if they couldn't come. There were 9 games in all, but we only had time for 7. All the participants (my adult students, plus two families of returnees, plus 4 Trash Box Jam staff members) were divided into two teams, Blue team and Silver team. At the end of every game, the members of Trash Box Jam (who were serving as judges for the event) would vote to see which team got the point for the game. It was a great result that ended in a tie. I was happy. The games were followed by Trash Box Jam playing for them, and then a small party. I think it went off really well.

So now, I'm rather happy to be finished with the planning and stress. And I'm satisfied with the results. It was a good event. And there was also another message in Japanese after the band played so the band members (and around 10 or so fans,) plus students got to hear a Christian message. This was the third time I was able to include the band in my events. So far it seems to be getting positive responses, and it's what I'm passionate about. I really love having a job where I am free to work with my passions. God is good. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :-D

Here's a slide show from the adult event. (Thanks to Yoshiko for taking all the pictures for me, except the band ones at the end.)

Basking in Blessings

Well, it's exciting, I'm finally figuring out how to operate blogger in English again, AND to get out of the html editing mode. Man, that was crazy.

Anyway. Here's a quick update. Spring Retreat was good. Real good actually. God really provided everything I needed. I was a bit surprised this year, because ususally watching the people return back to America doesn't impact me so much. I get over goodbyes pretty quickly. Probably because I treat it about the same way I treat stagefright, which is that I just don't deal with it. Anyway, this is the first group that I have both watched come and go. I was actually there to pick them up from the air port (and take pictures, which they weren't so appreciative of...). I have watched how they have changed in Japan, and how they have changed Japan. It's amazing. So it's going to be strange to watch 4 out of 5 leave in March.


It had kinda snuck up on me too, that they had changed me as well. That's amazing. And I guess that's what forming a community does. The impact on each other is so much greater.

Anyway. Here are some pictures from the weekend. Every Spring Retreat is always held in Tokyo, because of the special events and such for the returning volunteers. So there are a couple of pictures of Tokyo tower. I think this is still the closest I've come to the actual tower. Someday I'd like to actually visit the tower.

Then there's a picture of us at Karaoke. It was a great time, and thanks to this game thing at the begining, we were able to win 50% off of our time. I really like Karaoke. It was a ton of fun.

Final picture is of me at the band concert last Sat. It was really good. Tomorrow is my last big event of the school year, Open House. It's gonna be a long, long day. Today is practice time with the kids. I realized yesterday, that I had forgotten to ask anyone to help me with the practice, so it's probably going to be me and almost 30 kids. Haha. Fun stuff. Hopefully it will go allright.

Ok, that's all for now. I need to get ready for the kids.

yeah, this is gonna be totally random.

So yeah, it's been a little while since I have posted. The funny thing is, I am constantly thinking of things to write about and I take a ton of pictures to put here. I just usually can't sit down to actually write and put up pictures. Yeah, I'm a bum. So here's an update.

Tomorrow begins Spring Retreat. We have two mandatory retreats for the missionaries in our program every year, Spring and Fall. Fall is more retreat style, where we get to go off location and have a bit of rest, and spiritual nourishment. But Spring Retreat is always in Tokyo. This is the time when we do our farewell ceremonies for the missionaries who are leaving in March.

Spring Retreat can be a very stressful and difficult time emotionally. There are a lot of dynamics involved when you bring all the missionaries together. Usually it's good, but sometimes it's hard. But mostly, I've discovered that I tend to go into "reverse culture shock" when I'm around large groups of Americans. I get really stressed out by the loudness, and the large group atmosphere. But this year, I think maybe it will be ok. I think it's mainly the thinking about it before it happens that stresses me out. Actually, I really do love my fellow missionaries. I just usually prefer to be with them in smaller groups. I don't function well in large groups actually. I need one on one time with people to feel like I've really connected. Well, two or three people at a time is fine too.

Lately I've been running on overload. There has been a whole lot to think about. Preparations for the next school year (school starts in April in Japan), preparations for my next event (which, stupid me, decided to make it more fun and exciting, thus increasing my stress in preparing for it! Haha. But I'm getting excited now. I think it's going to be really fun!), preparations for Spring Retreat, plus my regular schedule, throw in a birthday and a shopping trip and I'm wiped out.

That brings me to my next topic. Here's a quiz for you. (no cheating and looking ahead at all the pictures. What do you think this is? Check out the first picture.


Well, what ever you are guessing... You are wrong. Try the next picture.



Still haven't guessed? (now I'm guessing...)
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By now I'm sure you have figured it out. It's a restroom! Yeah, go figure. Japan has some of the best restrooms in the world. They are super high tech. They have fun sounds that play so you aren't embarrassed by the sounds you make, heated seats, automatic flushing, and a ton of other fun gadgets. It's really amazing. And of course right along side of that is the squatty potty, (sorry, forgot to take a picture of that stall...)

Anyway, I found this while out shopping with some friends. We were all impressed by the niceness of the restroom. (they laughed at me for taking pictures.)


Here is a picture of the girls I was with in one of the famous areas of Tokyo, Asakusa. Actually, this is the next story I wanted to tell. Let me tell you about craziness.

So these are girls I hang out with when I go to see the band. One girl I walk home with every weekend. Well, it turns out that we both have a love of beads. She likes making things from beads and I like crafts of all kinds. So she knew of this great shop for beads in Tokyo. So I asked her to take me there sometime. After a great deal of scheduling (and putting it off for about 2 or 3 months) we finally set the date for last Monday. Two other girls were invited to join us. So we met at 10:30 AM. A little early for me on my day off, but hey, it was only a little shopping right? I figured at the latest, I should be back home by about 7 for a nice leisurely evening. That's what I thought...

So, it turns out, they really like being out. I guess. I got home at about midnight (and they were still going after that.) I was really tired. I didn't know shopping took so much energy. We ate twice together, and even walked(after shopping half the day, also all walking) to a famous temple in Tokyo. (At the end there are some pictures from the temple. It was just getting dark, so the gate and a famous 5 story pagoda were lit up to make for some nice pictures. I took them with my cell phone, but they turned out pretty good.) It was quite a long and tiring day for my day off.



Next picture is of a scarf I made for Mako's birthday. I made it in about 9 hours on Sat. We had his birthday party on Sunday. This was the first time I had been able to attend his party, since his birthday is usually the same weekend as Spring Retreat, I can't get away in time. So it was nice to be able to go. He was really happy with the scarf, and I was happy, because he opened it and put it on right then. (He is a band member, so there were a lot of girls giving him presents and he didn't have the time to open all the presents. But he did open mine, so I was lucky with my timing.) So there are a couple of pictures of Mako and his "muffler" (as they commonly call scarves here.)


In other news... I had a great Bible study today. On most days I have a Bible Study directly following my first adult class of the day. This class is all newer students who have never studied the Bible before. So we have been covering the very basic stuff. We just started reading from the Bible about two weeks ago. We are reading in Genesis about creation. Today was the fall.

But it was really good. My students were really confused for most of the class (about several things.) But in the end, they could get the main idea, but there were still a few things they couldn't piece together. So I told them we would re-read the same passage next week. But just as they were about to leave, as they were talking about what they were confused about, the right question was asked to put everything into place. It is what I like to call a "naruhodo" moment. ("naruhodo" means something like, "I see" or "I get it now." Think, "eureka") So it was wonderful when my students could finally get the point. "Ah! God did that because He loves us!" I was so happy. It was so wonderful to hear them say that (esp about "the fall" since that story is hard to see where God's love is...)

I'm really thankful that God is blessing my students. I know it's not what I'm doing (I'm sure I'm more confusing half the time than helpful, and I know I go over their heads most of the time). It's all God. It's wonderful. God has been doing good things with that class. Praise God.

Ok. That's all for now. Tomorrow is Spring Retreat, so I should probably get some sleep, and finish my last minute preparations.

It's official.

So it's finally official. I will be working at my current site one more year.

I kinda guessed for a while, but nothing was "official" until a meeting today where the NRK (Japan Lutheran Church) approved the suggestions of our director. One more year. My students will be happy.

But, this should be my last year. After this, I'm definately going to need a new job. One that pays money. Students loans are looming over my head too closely for comfort lately. There's only so long I can put off paying them, as much as I'd like to continue working here.

This year wasn't nearly as nerve wracking as last year though. So that's good.

Here's to another year! 今年もよろしくお願いします。

Adventures in... You name it!

Wow. It's been a bit busy lately. Snow, hair color, birthdays (not mine), deadlines and more.

Anyway. So lately I've been doing a lot of thinking, praying and internal processing. I've come to some good conclusions about the reasons for a lot of my behavior and choices. A whole lot of it boils down to pride. I have a whole lot of it. I never realized how much pride I had before, because it's not the real obvious kind (well, at least to me...) But it's there and it has been guiding many aspects of my life for a long time.

Well, I've decided that I don't want to stay a prideful person. I want to start changing myself, or rather, opening myself up to be changed by God. So, little by little, God is making some changes in my heart. It's becoming a little softer and a little more open. The funny thing is, inner and outer are very connected. So when I start making changes on the inside, it often shows up on the outside too. But in my case, it has shown up in strange ways. Haha.

So, this year, I have once again started using Make-up. My students (and virtually any Japanese person I know) think this is a wonderful idea. I have been highly encouraged to keep up with this. I've managed to wear make-up for 3 weeks now. We'll see how long I can keep it up.

Also, I ended up (in a rather round about way) getting my hair dyed for the first time ever. Now I'm a lazy person, and I tend to be cheap, two very good reasons for me to not dye my hair. But I was bullied (eh, I mean, convinced!, really, no bullying involved!!!) by some American co-missionaries to dye my hair two weeks ago after prayer. It was a rather amusing experience. I had mentioned that in Japan my hair had gotten very dark and rather dull (but curly, and I like curly!!) so if there would ever be a time when I would seriously consider hair dye, it might be in Japan. They thought this was a great idea, and despite all my protests, they pooled some money, dragged me to the store, bought the dye, and we dyed my hair that very afternoon. I was a bit shocked, but it was fun. So now I have a bit lighter hair color now. I'll have to look to see if I can find some before pictures, but they might be hard to find.

Here are some pictures of the process. (I wanted to put them last, but I can't seem to navigate right now in this version of blogger. The page is also all in Japanese, so sorry, I was going to make it more interesting with comments and such, but oh well. You will notice that there is one shot where I look amazingly like a sumo wrestler crocheting! Haha. Also, my mother would be happy to know that the girls took to calling my braid a "rat's tail" in the process. Since that is what my mom calls it, I'm sure she will be happy. But no, I'm not going to cut it.)

Another day.

Well, you should be pleased to know I'm feeling better. Still tired, but not as tired as before. It's good.

Yesterday was the first time I got to meet with the band this year. They were absent for two weeks. Sing had a pretty bad cold, and it looks like they were having problems with the amps too. So I learned how much I depend on them to help me through the week. This is my major social outlet. All the other missionaries live at least an hour away, so I have no friends who are close by. So when the band doesn't play, I find myself very lonely. Haha. But it was a good break for thinking and stuff.

Anyway, yesterday I was really happy to see everyone again. I think I need some new hobbies. Haha.

On a side note, I finally got around to editing some pictures. I took another class trip this fall. Here's the link to the album. Some really nice nature pictures there. Enjoy!

Standing

I'm tired. Not so much physically, but emotionally; spiritually. It's not so much that there is one thing wrong. I've just been doing the same things for a long time. It wears you down a bit. This is the longest job I have ever had. This might quite possibly be the longest time I have ever done anything. If you think about it, before I was always in school. Something changed every year. Then I started changing/moving starting in Jr. High. So basically, since Jr. High I have not been in the same place for more than 3 1/2 years. Even then, things were changing because I was in school. So. This is definitely my first long term experience.

Don't get me wrong. I still very much love Japan. I'm so glad to be here. But I'm winding down. Last year around this time, I was praying to stay in the same job for one more year. I thought I could do this forever. This year I'm wondering if it really was a good idea to stay another year. Well, I don't really doubt that so much. But I do wonder what I'm going to look like at the end.

It kinda feels like there is a huge lead rock in the pit of my soul. It just sits there. For now I can still stand and function. But sooner or later I'll cave into the pressure it puts on me.

So I'm waiting. I'm waiting for God to show me what to do next. I keep thinking about my future. What will I do after this? Return to America? Stay in Japan? What kind of job can I do after this? How should I be preparing for my future now?

So many questions. But I keep hearing one answer. Stand. huh? Stand? Yeah, stand. I think my job right now is to stand. I know I can't control my future. That is God's territory. I don't sweat the big stuff. Heck, I probably rarely sweat the small stuff. (the stuff in the middle worries me sometimes though...) So for now, I'm standing where God has placed me, waiting to see what happens next. If I fall down because I am tired, or the weight pulls me down, my job is to stand up again. Just stand.

I guess if anything this is my new theme for now. Stand.

Sorry, I guess this post was kind of cryptic and weird. I don't usually write things like this here, but that's where I am tonight. Tired, but relying on my stubbornness not to fall. Actually, I prefer honest representation anyway. Life here is not always wonderful. But I wouldn't choose any other way. Even if I'm not quite sure what the heck I'm doing.

Tonight reminds me of how young and inexperienced I am. I really have no idea what I'm doing. I'm making things up as I go along. But it's all the quick fix type of things. I'm good at that. But the lasting, long term stuff. Man. That's where you need quality. And that's where I'm lacking a whole lot.

Pray for me. It's not a crisis or anything. But I'm tired and afraid of falling. Sometimes I know we have to fall. I'm ok with that, as long as I'm falling into the arms of my God. So please pray for me as I stand and wait. Wait for the arms of my Savior to wrap around me and restore me. Yes, I'm definitely looking forward to the restoration. That will be nice.

The truth about Ramen and other important revelations.

Haha. The title sounds really important doesn't it? Well, it's not really, but we can pretend for a little while.

Anyway. Today I am working late to write a report on my year for the annual church meeting. I'm not terribly excited about writing reports (thankfully I can write it in English and someone else translates for me) but one thing it does do is shows me what I've done with my year.

Sometimes I sit and think, what is it exactly that I do here? Sometimes it's hard to find an answer. Even though I know I feel really busy, sometimes I wonder if it's really true. You know, I could just be a huge wuss or something. Many times I have no idea how to answer the question of what I do. So, with the help of last year's calendar (I have a horrible memory), I finally completed a list of all the major things I did last year. I was kinda surprised at how long it was. So, I decided to share with you a part of my report. This is all the major events of last year:

• Regular teaching and preparation (8 adult classes, 13 children’s classes, 4 Bible Studies)
• Sunday English Bible Study (around 6 regular students)
• One English School event per month
• Coffee House (2)
• Gingerbread House (2)
• English Cooking House
• English School Open House
• Movie event (Passion of the Christ)
• English worship
• Halloween Fair
• Thanksgiving meal
• Christmas Party
• Served as Assistant Director to VYM
• Attended weekly meetings with VYM director
• Attended weekly prayer meetings in Iidabashi
• Co-led August English Prayer Retreat (VYM)
• Attended Japanese classes
• Attended monthly leadership meetings for VYM
• Attended Sunday School Children’s Camp
• Attended monthly English worship (Kanto area)
• Visited my family in America for two weeks (March)
• Attended Kanto Area Youth Group meetings (3 times)
• Helped with Yoshiko’s Summer English camp
• Attended Discover Tokyo Day
• Went on a class trip to Ikaho
• Attended Trash Box Jam street lives and events (weekly)
• Visited Niigata to support co-missionaries there
• Started designing new fliers for the outside sign to make the school more attractive to new students

This year I'm planning on going to Kyoto in March with one of the girls I met at the band. This will probably be the closest thing I've had to a road trip ever. (we are going by train.) It will be very exciting because she doesn't speak English. This will be a wonderful chance to get to know her and share with her about me. Please pray for the preparation of this trip. I'm a little nervous, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Anyway. I guess you might be wondering about the ramen comment in the title. haha. I was eating some instant ramen tonight as I worked. It was good. But suddenly I was thinking of how my views of ramen had changed since coming to Japan.

When I lived in America, I don't think I ever paid more than like 30 cents for ramen. (I don't know, how much is cup ramen now days? 1 dollar?) Anyway, ramen is super cheap food in America. I had a roommate once who lived off of the stuff. I prefer to fry it up and eat it. But I never ate too much ramen in America. So I was shocked in Japan the first time I saw a whole restaurant devoted to ramen. And, to top it off, some of the ramen was like 8 bucks! Who pays that much for ramen?!? I mean, really? It's ramen! right? Wrong. That stuff you eat in America is nothing compared to real ramen. I mean, this stuff is good. Esp in winter. It keeps you warm for a long time. (I had to get used to making noise when you eat it, because of chopsticks, but other than that) There are so many varieties of ramen. Different types of noodles, different types of soups, different types of toppings. It's amazing. Ramen is great. And even instant ramen is way better here than in America. It's also a bit more expensive (cheapest I can get is like 88yen) but it's still good. It's good when you want a cheap meal to fill you up on a cold night. So today, knowing I have little time to eat (it's Wed, my busiest day) I bought some instant ramen from 7/11. This meant I had to pay close to a dollar fifty for it. (My American mind thinks this is really expensive for ramen. My Japanese mind thinks this is really cheap for a whole meal.) This was the first time I've tried this brand. It was really good. I don't eat ramen very often, it could be easy to get tired of it, but when I do, I'm usually happy with the results. Yes, very good ramen. It was a really big bowel too. So I'm happy to be filled up for so little. (I really am full!)

Anyway, no pictures because I'm still at the church, but you did get an update and a random conversation about ramen. Can't ask for much more than that right? (come on, humor me...)

I do still promise more pictures and a video of my kids singing Away in a Manger soon. (we'll see if my computer can handle the video editing software yet...)

Blessings!

(another random revelation: I can use spell check on this computer, which is suprising because it's still in Japanese. But apparently, spellcheck doesn't think ramen is a word! It showed a lot of spelling errors this time. I was surprised. I thought ramen would be in the dictionary by now... Haha)

Happy New Year!

Well, it's a bit late, but Happy New Year. I managed to catch a cold for New Years and today is the first day it's finally finished. I actually started back to work last Friday, but it was a bit early for most of my students, so today will be my first full day back in the swing of things.

Today I finally managed to send out my newsletter. Newsletters are hard to write. They stress me out sometimes. But it's finished and sent.

Not much has happened since the last post. I'm still trying to get my computer to work the correct way, so I'm still not able to access some of my pictures, but I will put some new ones up soon. For now, these are some pictures back from summer that I've never put up.

First is of one of my kids events. This year we changed from me telling a Bible story in English and having it translated, to just telling the story in Japanese. It's much easier this way!

In Japam, trains are a big thing. I use trains every week. They are ususally quite convient. I really only miss having a car when I want to do a whole lot of shopping at once. I've had to learn you can only buy what you can carry in most cases. (sometimes there's shipping options...)

Anyway, near my house we have this cute little thing that's not quite a train. It's a shuttle. It's much smaller than normal trains and runs up pretty high off the ground. So here are some pictures of the train coming at the main station.


And a random frustration... Because I live in Japan, a lot of my webpages default to the Japanese version. For e-mail this is ususally ok, because after I sign in, it usually takes me back to English. But lately, I can't get the blog out of Japanese! This is annoying because there is no spell check in the Japanese version. But if I don't try to do too much, I can still post with realitivly few problems.

Anyway, the good news is that I'm back to feeling better. The past few weeks weren't very fun. Possibly because I was sick and that makes me grumpy. But I'm feeling much more cheerful today. The sun is out, things are looking like they will all work out. It's good. Like a sun rise after a long night.

Ah, one more fun thing. I got to see the sun setting behind Mt. Fuji this week! It was really pretty. On clear days you can sometimes see Mt. Fuji from Tokyo. But ususally there's too much haze and stuff. But in winter and esp New Years, the sky's clear up. (New Years is because many of the buisness are shut down, so there's less pollution) There's not a good place where I live to see Fuji, but sometimes when I ride the trains I'll pass by a clear area and can catch a glimpse. That happened to me on Saturday. It was a nice bonus to my day! I was gonna take a picture, but my cell phone couldn't pick it up. Sorry!

Ok, that's all for now. Time to get ready for teaching!

Not quite dead!

Wow. I really have to appologize. It's been a super busy fall with lots of surprises thrown in. (Like my computer suffering a mental breakdown...)

Lets see. I had a birthday. It was good. Because of my schedule, I kinda ended up celebrating for almost two weeks straight. Haha. Then started the long haul of big events, meetings and celebrations.

Halloween is a big event for my school here. This year we tried to do a more "Harvest Festival" style with booths and stuff. It went pretty well, and next year I hope it can get a bit bigger. That was followed by Thanksgiving, (with barely enough time to prepare another big event). This year I tried a pot luck thanksgiving. There weren't as many people, but I think it went well for the first time.

Somewhere in there was also Fall Retreat. This is one of the two yearly meetings where all the missionaries come together. It's fun, but it's stressful as well. Good news is this year we went to the beach! It was really great.

Then came super big event. Christmas. Wow. This year I had a big Christmas event. I spent three weeks teaching all my kids classes to sing "Away in a Manger." This song is not so well known in Japan, but I thought it would be good to introduce it. They sang at the event. It was really super cute. I'll post a video of them singing it later. Then the drama class performed an English Christmas drama. There was carol singing and a message. Then we played some games and of course a present exchange. Now, here is some important info. I wanted to reach a large variety of people, so this was "family style" so my kids came and so did the adults. (this way parents can also hear the Christmas message) But the big addition this year was... Trash Box Jam! Yep, the band came and played at the end of the party. This was amazing! I thought maybe we would have 50 or 60 people. (my events average 20-30 for a good event, although I have gotten up to 50 before.) But somewhere between 80-90 people came!!! I was shocked. Some of the fans from the band came, and this was the first time in a church or in a sancuary for some of them. And this was the first Church Christmas event for most. It was a great chance for the seed of God's word to be planted in them. I was really really excited. I was also really exausted. haha. But it was all worth it.

I'm always so amazed at God's grace. I know there are so many things I fail at. So many things I can be doing better. But God continues to amaze me with His awesome love and grace. Especially at this time of year, when I'm reflecting on what has happened. It's so easy for me to be negative and find all the faults in myself and what I did wrong in the past year. But more and more I can see all the things that God has done instead. It's amazing. It's good to put things in the proper perspective. Or at least a closer perspetive. I guess it's like being a character in a book. When I was a kid (and maybe even still now) I'd imagine I was a character in a book. Of course, I always thought I was a main character. The book was about me. But recently, I'm realizing how the book is not about me. I'm not the main character. At most I can be a supporting character. Maybe the friend who doesn't understand everything that's going on, but still follows and supports the main character. (ok, maybe that is more stereotypical of manga and anime...) When I first realized that, I was a bit sad. Yeah, everyone wants to be the main character. But really, the main character is Jesus. It's amazing that I even get to be included in the story! The more I can let go of my pride and desire to be reconized or in the spotlight, the more I can enjoy watching what God is doing around me. eh, I hope that made sense to someone other than me. Hahaha.

Anyway. Those are my thoughts for now. There are still things to do, but hopefully things will calm down in January. I'll be sure to post more pictures later.