This upcoming Christmas will be very different than any normal Christmas. My first start to the Christmas season is having my good friend, Ryan, coming and visiting for a week here in Utsunomiya. He will arrive on the 18th and leave on the 25th. I am excited to be able to spend time with him and catch up on life together and to pray and spend time in the word together.
On Friday December 21 is the BEST Club Christmas party. We will have two guests sharing about Christmas. Whitney, a summer friend from 2006, is visiting for one week and Ryan will be sharing. Please pray that this will be an enlightening time for the students to see more of who Jesus is and why he came to earth.
On Saturday the 22 to Monday the 24th, Ryan and I will head to Motomiya and I will visit a friend whose parents own a campground in the mountains. We will check it out and see if it is a place that the BEST Club might be able to use in the future.
On Christmas Ryan will fly back to America and I will leave with Ruth Ann and Keith to head to Karuizawa, Nagano for a 3 day retreat with the mid-termers that are in Japan. We will return home on the 28th.
On the 29th Keith, Keiichi, and I will leave for the Kansai area which is in Keiichi's hometown of Kobe. During the next week we will visit Osaka, Kyoto, and Himeji's Castle. We will make Mochi at his grandmother's house and do various other things like stopping at Costco (Yeah! Some American food). We will then return on January 6, just in time for the school semester to resume from winter break.
Pretty soon, I will have very little time to check email or respond to things that are happening. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and take time to remember that our Creator, Almighty, Powerful God became a baby on the earth to deliver us from the domain of darkness and transfer us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Thank You
As I sit hear typing this post, I give thanks to God for all of you who have been praying with me and for me here in Japan. My heart feels blessed right now. Thank you for praying for the seven students this last week with us here. I am looking forward to what God is going to do in the hearts and lives of these students.
I also give thanks for all of you who are financially supporting me in being here. It is a blessing knowing that God has used you to provide for me in Japan. It is hard to believe that 7 months has already passed since being here as it has only felt like 2 or 3.
I also wanted to let you know about my Japanese test I took in early December. I will not find out my score until the middle of February but I am pretty confident that I passed the test. Thank you for your prayers.
For those of you expecting a Christmas letter with my prayer card it will probably be a very belated Christmas letter. I have almost finished the prayer card and then need to organize the mailing from the states. Please be patient and I hope that the letter will find you soon.
I also give thanks for all of you who are financially supporting me in being here. It is a blessing knowing that God has used you to provide for me in Japan. It is hard to believe that 7 months has already passed since being here as it has only felt like 2 or 3.
I also wanted to let you know about my Japanese test I took in early December. I will not find out my score until the middle of February but I am pretty confident that I passed the test. Thank you for your prayers.
For those of you expecting a Christmas letter with my prayer card it will probably be a very belated Christmas letter. I have almost finished the prayer card and then need to organize the mailing from the states. Please be patient and I hope that the letter will find you soon.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
The Time Has Come
The thing that I have been waiting for has finally arrived. For 3 months I have been waiting and studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). Keith and I will head down to Oyama tomorrow morning to take the entry level test (Level 4). So they estimate that you will need to know around 800 words and 100 Kanji. There are three sections to the test: writing & reading, listening, and grammar & vocabulary.
Sadly, we won't find out our actual grade until February so it will be a long time before I can let you know how we did. Please pray for us to have clear minds and to remember what we have studied. If we do well, it will make our teacher happy and a happy teacher is a good teacher!
My goal is to try and take the level 3 test in December of next year, 2008. In order to do that, I would need to double my vocabulary to 1500 words and know about 300 Kanji. がんばります。
お休みなさい。
Sadly, we won't find out our actual grade until February so it will be a long time before I can let you know how we did. Please pray for us to have clear minds and to remember what we have studied. If we do well, it will make our teacher happy and a happy teacher is a good teacher!
My goal is to try and take the level 3 test in December of next year, 2008. In order to do that, I would need to double my vocabulary to 1500 words and know about 300 Kanji. がんばります。
お休みなさい。
Monday, November 26, 2007
Bandai Sports Camp
This last weekend the BEST Club took a trip up to the Bandai Mountains where we had our fall Sports Camp. We had about 30 students and staff come from Utsunomiya and about 10 students and staff come from Shizuoka University. When we arrived there was about 3 inches of snow on the ground which ruined our outside sports that we wanted to play on Saturday.
On Friday afternoon, we had our Bible Discussion, then Dinner, and free time sports in the gym where we played Volleyball and Basketball. On Saturday morning we started our tournament and played Volleyball and Basketball. We then ate lunch and had free time in the afternoon because we could not use the gym due to another group that was there. During our free time, Bryan, Keith, Tsubasa, Miura, Akun, and I went driving around the huge Lake of Inawashiro. We stopped and fed ducks with the other Japanese tourists. It was an amazing site to see a couple hundred ducks huddled together trying to get bread from the people. We even were able to feed them out of our hands. Don't worry, no one was bit. The most amusing part was giving one duck a huge chunk of bread because it could not eat it quickly. As a result, all the other ducks would attack it trying to get the bread from its mouth. We also saw a handicapped duck with only one leg. It seemed to get picked on a lot and wasn't able to eat much. So the 6 of us fed the handicapped duck and huddled around it so that the other ducks couldn't eat its bread.
We then continued to drive around the lake to find out that the road didn't actually go around the lake. But in the distance we saw a huge Buddha, so we drove up and stopped to take a look. It turns out that it was a 57 meter statue of Mama Buddha holding baby Buddha when he was born. So once again a familiar song popped into by head about Big Mama Buddha. We went inside and climbed up to the top to see out of the window. It was a beautiful view as it was a pretty clear day and snow on the mountains surrounding us. Looking at the Buddha made me remember once again of the Israelites placing their statues on the highest places so that you could see them from far away. Well, this one looked over a city in the flat land in the mountains. It is amazing to me to be able to go with students as most of them respect it but show no signs of worship. To them it is something of the culture but not necessarily something they truly believe.
We then had dinner and played some indoor soccer on Saturday night. On Sunday morning we played Dodgeball, Japanese style, to wrap up the tournament. Sadly, we weren't able to play outdoor soccer, softball, or our final relay race because of the snow. In the end it was a fun weekend and a great experience with some of the students.
On Friday afternoon, we had our Bible Discussion, then Dinner, and free time sports in the gym where we played Volleyball and Basketball. On Saturday morning we started our tournament and played Volleyball and Basketball. We then ate lunch and had free time in the afternoon because we could not use the gym due to another group that was there. During our free time, Bryan, Keith, Tsubasa, Miura, Akun, and I went driving around the huge Lake of Inawashiro. We stopped and fed ducks with the other Japanese tourists. It was an amazing site to see a couple hundred ducks huddled together trying to get bread from the people. We even were able to feed them out of our hands. Don't worry, no one was bit. The most amusing part was giving one duck a huge chunk of bread because it could not eat it quickly. As a result, all the other ducks would attack it trying to get the bread from its mouth. We also saw a handicapped duck with only one leg. It seemed to get picked on a lot and wasn't able to eat much. So the 6 of us fed the handicapped duck and huddled around it so that the other ducks couldn't eat its bread.
We then continued to drive around the lake to find out that the road didn't actually go around the lake. But in the distance we saw a huge Buddha, so we drove up and stopped to take a look. It turns out that it was a 57 meter statue of Mama Buddha holding baby Buddha when he was born. So once again a familiar song popped into by head about Big Mama Buddha. We went inside and climbed up to the top to see out of the window. It was a beautiful view as it was a pretty clear day and snow on the mountains surrounding us. Looking at the Buddha made me remember once again of the Israelites placing their statues on the highest places so that you could see them from far away. Well, this one looked over a city in the flat land in the mountains. It is amazing to me to be able to go with students as most of them respect it but show no signs of worship. To them it is something of the culture but not necessarily something they truly believe.
We then had dinner and played some indoor soccer on Saturday night. On Sunday morning we played Dodgeball, Japanese style, to wrap up the tournament. Sadly, we weren't able to play outdoor soccer, softball, or our final relay race because of the snow. In the end it was a fun weekend and a great experience with some of the students.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Deer Season
As I type this post, it is about 40 minutes into daylight of opening day of gun season in Wisconsin. Most people ask the question, "What will you miss about home while you are in Japan?" Maybe, the number one answer is deer season. Over the past day I have been telling students all about deer season.
I went down to Tsukuba today with my roommate, Yoichi, and Mori and E-chan. On the way back home, I kept telling them what would be happening right now at the farm. Examples: 1) Right now, Tom, my stepdad is probably up making coffee and fueling the fire while everyone else sleeps for another 40 minutes. 2) Everyone is probably up right now since it is opening morning and starting to drink coffee and eat breakfast. 3) Right now, the people that either have a far away stand or those who need to go on top of the hill are leaving the house. In fact, they are probably on the hill driving up to the top right now. 4) Hey Keiichi, guess what? Right now, is the first 5 minutes of light for deer season. You can probably hear the first shots being taken in the distance.
Things like this make me realize how much I miss deer camp and things like this either frighten the students or make them interested. I love telling deer stories. They are always amazed that we butcher the deer ourselves. Good luck to the crew hunting this year. I miss you guys and gals and hope you have a record year even though the Skyscraper will sadly sit empty.
A few memories of the past.
I went down to Tsukuba today with my roommate, Yoichi, and Mori and E-chan. On the way back home, I kept telling them what would be happening right now at the farm. Examples: 1) Right now, Tom, my stepdad is probably up making coffee and fueling the fire while everyone else sleeps for another 40 minutes. 2) Everyone is probably up right now since it is opening morning and starting to drink coffee and eat breakfast. 3) Right now, the people that either have a far away stand or those who need to go on top of the hill are leaving the house. In fact, they are probably on the hill driving up to the top right now. 4) Hey Keiichi, guess what? Right now, is the first 5 minutes of light for deer season. You can probably hear the first shots being taken in the distance.
Things like this make me realize how much I miss deer camp and things like this either frighten the students or make them interested. I love telling deer stories. They are always amazed that we butcher the deer ourselves. Good luck to the crew hunting this year. I miss you guys and gals and hope you have a record year even though the Skyscraper will sadly sit empty.
A few memories of the past.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
The Need for Laborers
As I was sitting in the cafeteria this morning, I was reminded about the need for laborers to share the good news about Christ in Japan. As each person walked past the window outside, I thought to myself, "Will they every hear the good news about Christ and if they do will they ever come to an understanding of the gospel to believe?" A couple weeks ago I was riding my bike and as I pasted by each house I thought, "The family in this house has probably never heard about Christ." "They have probably never seen a Bible or even thought about studying the Bible."
I tell people I live in a smaller city in Japan. Well, compared to Tokyo it is a small city of 450,000 people. According to the Joshua Project for 2007, they estimate that 1.5% of Japanese are adherent to the gospel. In the city of Utsunomiya, if you knew 200 people there might be the possibility that 3 of them are Christians.
There is a great need for laborers in Japan and this weekend we are having our Young Laborers Conference. Believing staff and students will be joining together from the different campuses for this upcoming Friday through Sunday. This is a time where the believing students from around Japan can come and encourage each other and learn from God's Word together.
Please pray that this will be an uplifting time for the believers as some of them have graduated and live in the work world and are struggling with having the time to grow closer to God as the demands of work are far higher than in America.
Please pray also for future laborers to be brought forth. When Christ looked upon the crowd he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Please join us in this prayer.
ONE other thing. Please visit the website http://summerimpactjapan.com
There is a video that was made by the staff in Tokyo about Japan and the need which can be found at the bottom of the website. I would love for youth groups and college ministries to see this video and to spread the word about the need in Japan.
I tell people I live in a smaller city in Japan. Well, compared to Tokyo it is a small city of 450,000 people. According to the Joshua Project for 2007, they estimate that 1.5% of Japanese are adherent to the gospel. In the city of Utsunomiya, if you knew 200 people there might be the possibility that 3 of them are Christians.
There is a great need for laborers in Japan and this weekend we are having our Young Laborers Conference. Believing staff and students will be joining together from the different campuses for this upcoming Friday through Sunday. This is a time where the believing students from around Japan can come and encourage each other and learn from God's Word together.
Please pray that this will be an uplifting time for the believers as some of them have graduated and live in the work world and are struggling with having the time to grow closer to God as the demands of work are far higher than in America.
Please pray also for future laborers to be brought forth. When Christ looked upon the crowd he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Please join us in this prayer.
ONE other thing. Please visit the website http://summerimpactjapan.com
There is a video that was made by the staff in Tokyo about Japan and the need which can be found at the bottom of the website. I would love for youth groups and college ministries to see this video and to spread the word about the need in Japan.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
PS - New link for Videos
On the right you can see my link for Pictures and now for videos. I am using the website Godtube.com for my videos because they are very protective about what gets on the website and every video is watched before entering the site. This way I feel a lot better about recommending you to watch my videos without the possibility of coming across inappropriate material.
Happy Halloween or Hallow's Eve
I teach English class on Tuesday nights in downtown Utsunomiya to around 20 adults. I thought I would make this week a bit more fun since Halloween was the next day and dress up for class. I mentioned it to the students and a couple of them said they would dress up also. Well, sadly, they didn't but I still did. I found a wonderful Santa costume which was way to small for me but I was able to make it work. Below is a picture of Tomo and I.
One thing I enjoy is making people laugh and have a good time. It was very funny to see the smiles and compliments I received from the office workers in the building and from the students in the class because a Japanese person would probably never have done what I did. One of the students requests was for me to teach them about the origin of Halloween and what Halloween is like in America. After researching I learned some fascinating things about Halloween and the Jack O'Lantern and had a wonderful time trying to explain it in English. As part of the class we decided we would have a Halloween party afterwards and go to Karaoke. So during class I taught them the Monster Mash. We listened to the song and then read the lyrics and I explained what they meant. I thought if they had any Halloween songs in Karaoke, they would probably have this one. Sadly, they didn't but we had a wonderful time with the Santa costume and eating candy while we sang.
One thing I enjoy is making people laugh and have a good time. It was very funny to see the smiles and compliments I received from the office workers in the building and from the students in the class because a Japanese person would probably never have done what I did. One of the students requests was for me to teach them about the origin of Halloween and what Halloween is like in America. After researching I learned some fascinating things about Halloween and the Jack O'Lantern and had a wonderful time trying to explain it in English. As part of the class we decided we would have a Halloween party afterwards and go to Karaoke. So during class I taught them the Monster Mash. We listened to the song and then read the lyrics and I explained what they meant. I thought if they had any Halloween songs in Karaoke, they would probably have this one. Sadly, they didn't but we had a wonderful time with the Santa costume and eating candy while we sang.
Winter in Japan?
Since coming back from the States on our trip, I have learned a lot about Japan and ministry. One thing that I have learned about Japan is....it actually gets cold here! My previous times in coming to Japan have been the months of June and July. I arrived this time in the middle of May and returned to America for our trip in September. Since coming back in October we had a couple weeks that were rather cool but the last few days have warmed back up.
Let me set the scene for you. I live in a house that has one air conditioner in one room which broke during August. Well, turns out houses don't only have central air but they don't have central heating. I never thought about this until I started waking up in the mornings cold and would have to wear slippers and a sweatshirt to stay warm. My room is also a corner room of the house. Two walls face the outside and the one wall is single pane glass on two sliding doors to go outside. The third wall is the entry way which doesn't stay warm because the door is always opened and their is no insulation on the door as their are many little gaps where you can see outside. My fourth wall is the staircase. I soon started thinking, what do they use for heat in the winter. My first thought was electric heaters but I soon found out they use kerosene gas heaters. Using electric heaters is too expensive. Since I have asked, I have heard some horror stories about safety in using a kerosene heater. A slight adjustment from central heating.
Then my mode of transportation is bicycle. Most people I know stop riding their bikes in the winter and start driving. Well, that doesn't happen here so much. Everyone still uses their bikes throughout the winter for transportation. So I need to learn how to stay warm on a bicycle as it becomes colder and one of the keys is layers. Japanese dress in layers. Even during summer they always have at least two shirts on at one time. Now in the winter they start to wear more. My first reaction was, why don't they just wear one big sweater? I soon found the reason. Depending on where you go depends on the temperature inside. So, nice restuarants and shopping places have central heating but if you go to houses some can be warm and others freezing cold. If you took my advice, you where one big sweater on your bicycle to stay warm but you end up in a building with heat which you then end up sweating in because it is so hot. It is a nice system wearing the layers, because if you get hot take one shirt off, if cold, put one shirt on.
One special treat is that they always wear scarfs. Thanks to a couple nice friends of mine I have a wonderful bright orange scarf to wear on the cold days.
If you come to Japan in the winter, here is some advice. Wear layers, bring a scarf, bring warm slippers, and be ready to haul a kerosene heater with you from room to room in the house.
Let me set the scene for you. I live in a house that has one air conditioner in one room which broke during August. Well, turns out houses don't only have central air but they don't have central heating. I never thought about this until I started waking up in the mornings cold and would have to wear slippers and a sweatshirt to stay warm. My room is also a corner room of the house. Two walls face the outside and the one wall is single pane glass on two sliding doors to go outside. The third wall is the entry way which doesn't stay warm because the door is always opened and their is no insulation on the door as their are many little gaps where you can see outside. My fourth wall is the staircase. I soon started thinking, what do they use for heat in the winter. My first thought was electric heaters but I soon found out they use kerosene gas heaters. Using electric heaters is too expensive. Since I have asked, I have heard some horror stories about safety in using a kerosene heater. A slight adjustment from central heating.
Then my mode of transportation is bicycle. Most people I know stop riding their bikes in the winter and start driving. Well, that doesn't happen here so much. Everyone still uses their bikes throughout the winter for transportation. So I need to learn how to stay warm on a bicycle as it becomes colder and one of the keys is layers. Japanese dress in layers. Even during summer they always have at least two shirts on at one time. Now in the winter they start to wear more. My first reaction was, why don't they just wear one big sweater? I soon found the reason. Depending on where you go depends on the temperature inside. So, nice restuarants and shopping places have central heating but if you go to houses some can be warm and others freezing cold. If you took my advice, you where one big sweater on your bicycle to stay warm but you end up in a building with heat which you then end up sweating in because it is so hot. It is a nice system wearing the layers, because if you get hot take one shirt off, if cold, put one shirt on.
One special treat is that they always wear scarfs. Thanks to a couple nice friends of mine I have a wonderful bright orange scarf to wear on the cold days.
If you come to Japan in the winter, here is some advice. Wear layers, bring a scarf, bring warm slippers, and be ready to haul a kerosene heater with you from room to room in the house.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
America Trip Pictures
I am still alive for those of you wondering. I have updated my pictures with some from the America trip. I thought you didn't want to see all 5,800 pictures taken by students so I posted about 150 to help summarize our trip. I hope to have an email update sent out in the next couple days as a lot has happened and there has been a lot of praising since we have returned.
Quick summary of the biggest highlight: Mori has accepted Christ as his Savior and Lord and it is encouraging to see Christ become his Lord more and more each day in his life. Look forward to the email update to find out more about his story and if you don't get my email updates let me know and I can add you to my list. Thank you all for your support and encouragement.
Quick summary of the biggest highlight: Mori has accepted Christ as his Savior and Lord and it is encouraging to see Christ become his Lord more and more each day in his life. Look forward to the email update to find out more about his story and if you don't get my email updates let me know and I can add you to my list. Thank you all for your support and encouragement.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
SAN DIEGO
We all arrived on Friday afternoon into San Diego without to much trouble. Tsuji and Mori were both stopped at customs and had to go into a room for more special questioning. Turns out they both didn't fill something out right on their cards.
We had a wonderful pizza party with the homestay families Friday night and the students loved playing with all of the kids. Today we went to the beach, which was beautiful, had some Mexican food since we are only a few miles from the border, and went to a San Diego Padres baseball game. The game was exciting as they played LA Dodgers who are both in the playoff race. Stadium was packed and Mike Cameron of the Padres hit a GRAND SLAM! What an amazing thing to see in person and it being the students first baseball game.
Right now, we are all very tired but no one seems to be struggling with jetlag which is great news. Adios and I will try to do a better update in a few days.
We had a wonderful pizza party with the homestay families Friday night and the students loved playing with all of the kids. Today we went to the beach, which was beautiful, had some Mexican food since we are only a few miles from the border, and went to a San Diego Padres baseball game. The game was exciting as they played LA Dodgers who are both in the playoff race. Stadium was packed and Mike Cameron of the Padres hit a GRAND SLAM! What an amazing thing to see in person and it being the students first baseball game.
Right now, we are all very tired but no one seems to be struggling with jetlag which is great news. Adios and I will try to do a better update in a few days.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Narita Roadtrip!
So on Wednesday morning at 3:30am Keith, Marikit, and I headed off to Narita for an early morning roadtrip. Marikit is from the Philippines and received a scholarship to come to Japan for 4 years to attend Utsunomiya University. She purchased a plane ticket back to the Philippines that left at 9:45am. One problem with such an early flight is that the trains don't get you to the airport in time in the morning and the bus had no more tickets available.
Thus, we embarked on what we thought would be a 5 and half hour roadtrip down to Narita and back. So our instructions provided to us went something like this: Head out of town on 123 until you see a giant whale. At the giant whale fish tale to the right. Now make sure you stay on this road until you meet the giant shell. (Bring your translator with you so you can understand him). After receiving instructions, say thank you, and make sure you don't touch his pearl. Head down until you see a Sunkus where the Pirates hang out. You will eventually find a river. Cross it. Then look for the rescue airplanes and you will soon be there.
Well, we also got some road numbers but that was the gist of it. [For those of you who are familiar with the love eye of Hoag, eat your heart out. My love eye has flames shooting out of it. Don't ask how that happened. I don't know.] But Marikit gave us some Philippine snacks. The one in my hand interpreted into something like "My Dead Ancestors." I don't know. I didn't ask questions but it wasn't too bad.
We then stopped near Mt. Tsukuba for a picture. As you can tell it was cloudy and not very helpful for seeing the mountain but the rice fields looked great. They are a wonderful cushioning for when you get karate chopped.
After a few hours and two unintentional detours we made it to the airport after a quick restroom break at the nearby hotel. Who needs a gas station when there are hotels everywhere.
Our way back took a bit longer. Maybe because of our three accidental detours and one intentional detour and of course traffic was a lot worse during rush hour. Below is the tallest Buddha in the world at 120m (396ft). That's taller than a football field! It weighs 2220 tons and was completed in 1992. From head to toe it stands 100m and 20m for the pedestal. The Statue of Liberty from head to toe is only 40m.
For some reason I am reminded of a song. (Big Buddha, Big Buddha, Big Buddha, Oh yeah, Big Buddha. Big Buddha number 1...)
We eventually made it home without much help to the Japanese road system. For some reason most Japanese roads are not straight. It is rare to find roads that go North and South or East and West. Most curve all around and often take turns. An example would be our main road of travel we took called 408. There were about 7 places where you had to take turns to stay on it and usually you got one warning sign that you had to turn right or left to stay on it. Well, needless to say, we missed a few of those signs but we had a great time anyways.
Thus, we embarked on what we thought would be a 5 and half hour roadtrip down to Narita and back. So our instructions provided to us went something like this: Head out of town on 123 until you see a giant whale. At the giant whale fish tale to the right. Now make sure you stay on this road until you meet the giant shell. (Bring your translator with you so you can understand him). After receiving instructions, say thank you, and make sure you don't touch his pearl. Head down until you see a Sunkus where the Pirates hang out. You will eventually find a river. Cross it. Then look for the rescue airplanes and you will soon be there.
Well, we also got some road numbers but that was the gist of it. [For those of you who are familiar with the love eye of Hoag, eat your heart out. My love eye has flames shooting out of it. Don't ask how that happened. I don't know.] But Marikit gave us some Philippine snacks. The one in my hand interpreted into something like "My Dead Ancestors." I don't know. I didn't ask questions but it wasn't too bad.
We then stopped near Mt. Tsukuba for a picture. As you can tell it was cloudy and not very helpful for seeing the mountain but the rice fields looked great. They are a wonderful cushioning for when you get karate chopped.
After a few hours and two unintentional detours we made it to the airport after a quick restroom break at the nearby hotel. Who needs a gas station when there are hotels everywhere.
Our way back took a bit longer. Maybe because of our three accidental detours and one intentional detour and of course traffic was a lot worse during rush hour. Below is the tallest Buddha in the world at 120m (396ft). That's taller than a football field! It weighs 2220 tons and was completed in 1992. From head to toe it stands 100m and 20m for the pedestal. The Statue of Liberty from head to toe is only 40m.
For some reason I am reminded of a song. (Big Buddha, Big Buddha, Big Buddha, Oh yeah, Big Buddha. Big Buddha number 1...)
We eventually made it home without much help to the Japanese road system. For some reason most Japanese roads are not straight. It is rare to find roads that go North and South or East and West. Most curve all around and often take turns. An example would be our main road of travel we took called 408. There were about 7 places where you had to take turns to stay on it and usually you got one warning sign that you had to turn right or left to stay on it. Well, needless to say, we missed a few of those signs but we had a great time anyways.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
More Pictures
I put up some more pictures from Nikko to Fireworks. 7 new albums of various things from this summer.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
USA Trip Preparations
Over the past few days we have been preparing for the USA trip coming up in a couple of weeks. I can't believe that it is so soon. I am also amazed at how much work goes into the trip to make things move smoothly. I am extremely thankful for all the work that Bryan, Keith, and Ruth Ann have put into this trip. I am also thankful for the Homestay families in their generosity and kindness for having us stay with them in San Diego and DC.
We still have to work on finishing our 7 Bible Discussions for this trip. We have our topics and themes done and are meeting again tomorrow morning to discuss the passages we have found. Please pray for us that God will guide us into what Scriptures to use and what questions to ask during the discussion times. Also, because the discussions are getting done very late this year we are not able to do student skits before them to act out the lesson of the passage. Please pray for the students to be awake and alert for the discussions as it is very easy to be tired as we do so many things during the 17 days.
On a different note, I now understand why my teacher would always use the comparison that August is the hottest month here. The past two weeks have been crazy hot. I wouldn't mind it so much if I had this same temperature in America but in America houses have central air conditioning. Here in Japan, central air is a foreign concept in housing. Our house has one air conditioner in the living room which never gets used because it cost a lot of money to use them. But since it has been so hot this last week and having meetings in my house I decided to use it. Well, sadly the air conditioner only made it on Monday. Turned it on Tuesday for our meeting and no more cold air. Guess it needs to get recharged. But I have to say, its kind of fun sweating 24/7. It definitely makes me enjoy the luxuries more.
If you have any questions about what is going on, feel free to ask. I plan to send out a schedule of my time in the states in September and would love to spend time with you.
We still have to work on finishing our 7 Bible Discussions for this trip. We have our topics and themes done and are meeting again tomorrow morning to discuss the passages we have found. Please pray for us that God will guide us into what Scriptures to use and what questions to ask during the discussion times. Also, because the discussions are getting done very late this year we are not able to do student skits before them to act out the lesson of the passage. Please pray for the students to be awake and alert for the discussions as it is very easy to be tired as we do so many things during the 17 days.
On a different note, I now understand why my teacher would always use the comparison that August is the hottest month here. The past two weeks have been crazy hot. I wouldn't mind it so much if I had this same temperature in America but in America houses have central air conditioning. Here in Japan, central air is a foreign concept in housing. Our house has one air conditioner in the living room which never gets used because it cost a lot of money to use them. But since it has been so hot this last week and having meetings in my house I decided to use it. Well, sadly the air conditioner only made it on Monday. Turned it on Tuesday for our meeting and no more cold air. Guess it needs to get recharged. But I have to say, its kind of fun sweating 24/7. It definitely makes me enjoy the luxuries more.
If you have any questions about what is going on, feel free to ask. I plan to send out a schedule of my time in the states in September and would love to spend time with you.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Picture
Quick note about the picture to the right. We took a day trip to Tokyo last Monday with some students. The picture was taken in Asakusa.
Caption: No, Alan. That is not a drinking fountain.
There is nothing like drinking holy water at a Buddhist temple.
Stupid Gaijin.
Caption: No, Alan. That is not a drinking fountain.
There is nothing like drinking holy water at a Buddhist temple.
Stupid Gaijin.
Sun, Fireworks, Volley, Water
What do these four things have in common? My last two days. On Saturday morning about 25 of us went out to the Pacific Ocean and then afterwards went and watched Fireworks. There were definitely a few things that make me laugh about the day and a couple things that I just don't get. Let's start with the few things that make me laugh.
First: Buying a snow cone! Why do you ask is this my number one? The cup to hold the snow cone was about the size of a small ice cream bowl. Now imagine seeing the largest snow cone in the world sitting on top of an ice cream bowl. That is what I tried to eat. The snow cone ended up being about the size of a kids soccer ball. Now add to this picture a 95 degree day on the beach. The ice was melting at an incredible rate but there is nowhere for it to melt because the small bowl that I am holding can't hold very much water. I think I only ate about half of it because the other half ended up on the ground because of it melting so fast.
Second: Sunburn! So I did not think to bring suntan lotion with me to the beach but on the way I saw some in a convenience store but since it was so expensive, I thought to myself, "I bet someone else will bring some that I can use." Out of the 22 students that came, not one of them brought suntan lotion!! I guess this is a yearly ritual where they all go out to the beach and get burned. So my bald head is no longer white but has a nice red shine to it. So I was told I looked like an octopus (tako) and also like a baby (akachan). That may need a little explaining. The word for baby doesn't seem to make much sense. Aka is red and chan is like a nickname you add to a persons name. So babies look red, I guess, in Japan so the name is akachan for baby. So tonight I was able to introduce myself as, 私はたこのあかちゃんです。(Watashi wa tako no akachan desu. I am an octopuses baby.) And I do look like one to.
Third: Volleyball! We had a volleyball tournament today. We had a freshman team, 2 sophomore teams, junior, and senior team. Besides being sunburned, 95 degrees, and playing volleyball it was a blast. I played on the second sophomore team and we went 4-0. Victors. The hardest team there was definitely the seniors which was an exciting battle as it was the most aggressive game I have ever seen. The sophomores really wanted to beat there elders and the seniors did not want to lose to the youngin's. People were diving all over the place but we snuck it out in the third game to win the best of 3.
Finally: Water! We had the farewell party tonight for James and Lauren and we will head down to Tokyo tomorrow morning. After our party we had a huge water fight. It starts nice and slow with water balloons but then everyone starts filling up 2 liter bottles with water and havoc breaks lose. I am glad to say there were no casualties, at least human casualties. By the end we had to say goodbye to one girls contact. It was sad. I guess the phrase, "No man left behind" doesn't apply to contacts.
Well, off to some much needed sleep as I will be in Tokyo for the next two days. Oyasumi Nasai. お休みなさい。
First: Buying a snow cone! Why do you ask is this my number one? The cup to hold the snow cone was about the size of a small ice cream bowl. Now imagine seeing the largest snow cone in the world sitting on top of an ice cream bowl. That is what I tried to eat. The snow cone ended up being about the size of a kids soccer ball. Now add to this picture a 95 degree day on the beach. The ice was melting at an incredible rate but there is nowhere for it to melt because the small bowl that I am holding can't hold very much water. I think I only ate about half of it because the other half ended up on the ground because of it melting so fast.
Second: Sunburn! So I did not think to bring suntan lotion with me to the beach but on the way I saw some in a convenience store but since it was so expensive, I thought to myself, "I bet someone else will bring some that I can use." Out of the 22 students that came, not one of them brought suntan lotion!! I guess this is a yearly ritual where they all go out to the beach and get burned. So my bald head is no longer white but has a nice red shine to it. So I was told I looked like an octopus (tako) and also like a baby (akachan). That may need a little explaining. The word for baby doesn't seem to make much sense. Aka is red and chan is like a nickname you add to a persons name. So babies look red, I guess, in Japan so the name is akachan for baby. So tonight I was able to introduce myself as, 私はたこのあかちゃんです。(Watashi wa tako no akachan desu. I am an octopuses baby.) And I do look like one to.
Third: Volleyball! We had a volleyball tournament today. We had a freshman team, 2 sophomore teams, junior, and senior team. Besides being sunburned, 95 degrees, and playing volleyball it was a blast. I played on the second sophomore team and we went 4-0. Victors. The hardest team there was definitely the seniors which was an exciting battle as it was the most aggressive game I have ever seen. The sophomores really wanted to beat there elders and the seniors did not want to lose to the youngin's. People were diving all over the place but we snuck it out in the third game to win the best of 3.
Finally: Water! We had the farewell party tonight for James and Lauren and we will head down to Tokyo tomorrow morning. After our party we had a huge water fight. It starts nice and slow with water balloons but then everyone starts filling up 2 liter bottles with water and havoc breaks lose. I am glad to say there were no casualties, at least human casualties. By the end we had to say goodbye to one girls contact. It was sad. I guess the phrase, "No man left behind" doesn't apply to contacts.
Well, off to some much needed sleep as I will be in Tokyo for the next two days. Oyasumi Nasai. お休みなさい。
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Where's your hair?
I know some of you might be asking this question if you have seen some pictures of me. Well, let me try to explain in short roundabout way.
I told a couple students about my crazy beard designs that I did at college and that if anyone comes up with a great idea let me know. So it turns out Teppei instantly had a great idea. This last Friday for our after BEST was learning how to country line dance. I thought this would be a great time to try out the beard design since everyone was going to dress up. We cut the design into the beard but it ended up not looking quite right so we cut the design off. This left me with half a beard or also called Half beard. I then decided to cut off the opposite side of my hair. So Friday night I had a checkered pattern across my face and head. Maybe sometime soon I will get pictures for you to see.
The next day I then buzzed of the rest of the hair. Then my roommates on Sunday thought I should shave my head. So I did. If I am buzzed, why not go all the way down. The students have been shocked each time they see me as they shout びっくりした (bikkurishita) which means, "I'm surprised!" Then after the astonishment is over they come and rub my head.
I am curious though. I have had many different results about people thinking I look older and younger, better or worse. I am curious to know what you think.
I told a couple students about my crazy beard designs that I did at college and that if anyone comes up with a great idea let me know. So it turns out Teppei instantly had a great idea. This last Friday for our after BEST was learning how to country line dance. I thought this would be a great time to try out the beard design since everyone was going to dress up. We cut the design into the beard but it ended up not looking quite right so we cut the design off. This left me with half a beard or also called Half beard. I then decided to cut off the opposite side of my hair. So Friday night I had a checkered pattern across my face and head. Maybe sometime soon I will get pictures for you to see.
The next day I then buzzed of the rest of the hair. Then my roommates on Sunday thought I should shave my head. So I did. If I am buzzed, why not go all the way down. The students have been shocked each time they see me as they shout びっくりした (bikkurishita) which means, "I'm surprised!" Then after the astonishment is over they come and rub my head.
I am curious though. I have had many different results about people thinking I look older and younger, better or worse. I am curious to know what you think.
Monday, July 23, 2007
I'm Fluent!?!?
I finished my two months of language school today! It's time to party because I am fluent in Japanese! Wait a minute.... I thought when I finished language school I would be fluent and have no problem with conversations. I wish.
Even though I have learned a lot of Japanese in the last two months, I have also come to realize how hard it is to become fluent in another language, especially a language that does not come from the latin base. The more you learn in a language, the more you realize you don't know. Even though my language school is done, I will still be meeting with a tutor once or twice a week to continue my language learning.
Please continue to pray for me to be faithful in studying Japanese. As my focus is about to shift more into ministry it will become easy to stay stagnant with where I am right now in Japanese. One of my goals in language is coming up this December. Keith and I will be taking the first of four language tests held by the government for proficiency. I am about where I need to be to take the test right now, so the next fews months will probably be spent establishing and reviewing what I know and then continue a little further to make sure I am ready for the first test.
Summer break is coming up starting in August so all of the students are diligently studying right now as over the next two weeks they will be taking their finals. Also the summer friends will be returning to America in two weeks so pray that there final time with students will be good and deep in conversations.
Also, the America trip is coming up from August 31-September 16. We have 9 students going. 4 girls and 5 guys. Please pray for us in the time of preparation for the trip and for the Bible Discussions as we prepare them also.
Even though I have learned a lot of Japanese in the last two months, I have also come to realize how hard it is to become fluent in another language, especially a language that does not come from the latin base. The more you learn in a language, the more you realize you don't know. Even though my language school is done, I will still be meeting with a tutor once or twice a week to continue my language learning.
Please continue to pray for me to be faithful in studying Japanese. As my focus is about to shift more into ministry it will become easy to stay stagnant with where I am right now in Japanese. One of my goals in language is coming up this December. Keith and I will be taking the first of four language tests held by the government for proficiency. I am about where I need to be to take the test right now, so the next fews months will probably be spent establishing and reviewing what I know and then continue a little further to make sure I am ready for the first test.
Summer break is coming up starting in August so all of the students are diligently studying right now as over the next two weeks they will be taking their finals. Also the summer friends will be returning to America in two weeks so pray that there final time with students will be good and deep in conversations.
Also, the America trip is coming up from August 31-September 16. We have 9 students going. 4 girls and 5 guys. Please pray for us in the time of preparation for the trip and for the Bible Discussions as we prepare them also.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Typhoon, Earthquake...?
How does it go? First comes the typhoon, then comes the earthquake, then comes fire from heaven? or is it then comes mommy with the baby carriage?
Either way, Japan has had a rough past few days. They had one of the strongest typhoons to hit Japan in a while during this last Friday and Saturday and now a 6.8 earthquake in Niigata. So for those of you wondering, I am fine. Niigata is about 100 miles northwest of Utsunomiya. Even though we are 100 miles away we still felt the earthquake.
I was sitting in my room, since it was a national holiday and no school, when my room started shaking. I didn't think much of it since it wasn't very big or long. I then heard my roommate turn on the television and I was amazed at the size and damage it did.
I think this is the second earthquake that I know I have felt. There have been a couple others that I have felt like I was shaking but it is so weak, it was hard to tell. It is easy to tell when your furniture starts moving around. The first quake I felt when I first arrived was early in the morning. It woke me up and I was lying on bed thinking to myself I feel like I am vibrating. I then put on my glasses and noticed my closet doors flinging back and forth. I thought, "Hmm, this must be an earthquake" and went right back to sleep. Don't count on me to be a fast mover while I am asleep. My sister, Missy, can testify. I was in the hospital overnight one time with her and I was asleep. I guess she started gagging on some water while she was lying in bed. The nurses came in and helped her and she was fine. The next morning she told me about what happened. I vaguely remember waking up and seeing nurses in the room and thought it must be a nightly checkup and went back to sleep. I am the greatest brother anyone could ever have!
In short, earthquake; I'm alive; not hurt.
Either way, Japan has had a rough past few days. They had one of the strongest typhoons to hit Japan in a while during this last Friday and Saturday and now a 6.8 earthquake in Niigata. So for those of you wondering, I am fine. Niigata is about 100 miles northwest of Utsunomiya. Even though we are 100 miles away we still felt the earthquake.
I was sitting in my room, since it was a national holiday and no school, when my room started shaking. I didn't think much of it since it wasn't very big or long. I then heard my roommate turn on the television and I was amazed at the size and damage it did.
I think this is the second earthquake that I know I have felt. There have been a couple others that I have felt like I was shaking but it is so weak, it was hard to tell. It is easy to tell when your furniture starts moving around. The first quake I felt when I first arrived was early in the morning. It woke me up and I was lying on bed thinking to myself I feel like I am vibrating. I then put on my glasses and noticed my closet doors flinging back and forth. I thought, "Hmm, this must be an earthquake" and went right back to sleep. Don't count on me to be a fast mover while I am asleep. My sister, Missy, can testify. I was in the hospital overnight one time with her and I was asleep. I guess she started gagging on some water while she was lying in bed. The nurses came in and helped her and she was fine. The next morning she told me about what happened. I vaguely remember waking up and seeing nurses in the room and thought it must be a nightly checkup and went back to sleep. I am the greatest brother anyone could ever have!
In short, earthquake; I'm alive; not hurt.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Picture Update
Hey I finally got some pictures from other people. Here are the new folders.
Updated Kodomo No Mori Camp
Sendai Camp
Freshman Party
Sophomore Party
Random folder
Tokyo Disney
Enjoy
Updated Kodomo No Mori Camp
Sendai Camp
Freshman Party
Sophomore Party
Random folder
Tokyo Disney
Enjoy
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Tokyo Disneyland Fieldtrip?
My school, Saint Marys Japanese School "セントメリー日本語学校", decided they would take a field trip for whoever wanted to go from the students. The price was unbeatable as it only cost 4000 yen which is currently around $35. A normal ticket price is 5800 plus a train ticket round trip would be about 4000. That is looking at $85-90 going on my own compared to $35 going with them.
We had about 90 students go and we traveled on 2 buses down to the Magic Kingdom. I have to say that was probably one of the funnest things I have done since being here. It required no planning and no responsibility. Are your ready for a joke? What do you get when you put together 1 Korean, 1 American, 1 Thai, 1 Japanese, and 2 Taiwanese? A great time at Tokyo Disneyland. (Ok, so it really wasn't a joke but this was my group). We had 5 countries represented in our group.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a movie star? Well I got another dose of it there. Here are 90 students and I know about 15 from my class. I think I was asked to be in about 50 pictures because I was tall and an American. All in a days work for movie stars like myself. I really enjoy times when people see me and ask to take a picture with me. I have no idea who they are. For example, at Nikko, a Father and a son wanted their picture taken, so I took it. The father then asked for a picture of me and his son. It is very weird to think that I am in these peoples photo albums that I will never see. I can hear them now, "Oh, theres that tall gaijin we took a picture with."
We ended up watching 2 of the 3 parades while we were there. Turns out Stitch from Lilo and Stitch is the hot item in Japan right now. I am not sure what America's is but Stitch was everywhere. They even had a theme of "Find Stitch" where they put him on various rides and places and you were suppose to find him. The first parade was about Stitch and Aloha. The second parade reminded me of Buff and Hoag. I saw all of the princesses in the second parade and Mary Poppins. "Ben, Ben, where are you?" She seemed much more comfortable in the parade then she did amongst people. Oh the memories that came back to me.
We did a lot of things I had not done before. We went on Mark Twains steamboat, Jungle cruise, and we even went canoing. I felt like a complete child again remembering so many things from my past. After it all, I am extremely glad I went. I will be collecting pictures from classmates on Monday and Tuesday and will burn them DVD's. This way I know that I will have some pictures to put up for you on the web.
We had about 90 students go and we traveled on 2 buses down to the Magic Kingdom. I have to say that was probably one of the funnest things I have done since being here. It required no planning and no responsibility. Are your ready for a joke? What do you get when you put together 1 Korean, 1 American, 1 Thai, 1 Japanese, and 2 Taiwanese? A great time at Tokyo Disneyland. (Ok, so it really wasn't a joke but this was my group). We had 5 countries represented in our group.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a movie star? Well I got another dose of it there. Here are 90 students and I know about 15 from my class. I think I was asked to be in about 50 pictures because I was tall and an American. All in a days work for movie stars like myself. I really enjoy times when people see me and ask to take a picture with me. I have no idea who they are. For example, at Nikko, a Father and a son wanted their picture taken, so I took it. The father then asked for a picture of me and his son. It is very weird to think that I am in these peoples photo albums that I will never see. I can hear them now, "Oh, theres that tall gaijin we took a picture with."
We ended up watching 2 of the 3 parades while we were there. Turns out Stitch from Lilo and Stitch is the hot item in Japan right now. I am not sure what America's is but Stitch was everywhere. They even had a theme of "Find Stitch" where they put him on various rides and places and you were suppose to find him. The first parade was about Stitch and Aloha. The second parade reminded me of Buff and Hoag. I saw all of the princesses in the second parade and Mary Poppins. "Ben, Ben, where are you?" She seemed much more comfortable in the parade then she did amongst people. Oh the memories that came back to me.
We did a lot of things I had not done before. We went on Mark Twains steamboat, Jungle cruise, and we even went canoing. I felt like a complete child again remembering so many things from my past. After it all, I am extremely glad I went. I will be collecting pictures from classmates on Monday and Tuesday and will burn them DVD's. This way I know that I will have some pictures to put up for you on the web.
A sick Sophomore Party
Last weekend, we had our Sophomore Party at Omnibus, the name of the girls house. The week before I would like to title, "Whose not Sick." So Keith became sick after the Nikko camp, then I joined him about 2 days after, then James joined me about 2 days after. So here is the Sophomore party with Keith feeling pretty good, myself having my first good day, and James feeling terrible. Turns out about half the students who came were not feeling good either. But despite the ill feeling of half our group we had a great party.
We ate American style Fajitas, which was absolutely amazing. As I type about it, my mouth is starting to drool wishing I could eat some right now. After eating we watched The Mask of Zorro. This fulfilled our evening of a Mexican or Spanish theme for our party.
The party went very well and I was able to see and spend some time with guys that I had not seen in a while, except at sports. This weekend was going to be a variety of different things. Lauren was going to go to a home stay with a student but became sick. We are still thinking about having a guys night, tonight and about 12 students went to Shizuoka BEST for their weekend sports camp. So a variety of things going on this weekend.
The outlook for this week: Japanese test on Monday, Kanji test on Friday, planning for a Tokyo trip, the Juniors party this upcoming weekend, and of course language, language, language.
We ate American style Fajitas, which was absolutely amazing. As I type about it, my mouth is starting to drool wishing I could eat some right now. After eating we watched The Mask of Zorro. This fulfilled our evening of a Mexican or Spanish theme for our party.
The party went very well and I was able to see and spend some time with guys that I had not seen in a while, except at sports. This weekend was going to be a variety of different things. Lauren was going to go to a home stay with a student but became sick. We are still thinking about having a guys night, tonight and about 12 students went to Shizuoka BEST for their weekend sports camp. So a variety of things going on this weekend.
The outlook for this week: Japanese test on Monday, Kanji test on Friday, planning for a Tokyo trip, the Juniors party this upcoming weekend, and of course language, language, language.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Nikko and Camping Trip
So this last Saturday and Sunday was a complete blast with the Tokyo BEST club. We started off heading to Nikko on Saturday morning. We went and visited the Toshogu shrine and saw the sleeping cat, the original hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys, the tomb of one of the strongest samurai, as well as look at and walk into some of the shrine buildings.
Every time I go and visit a temple or a shrine, it saddens my heart to see the people perform rituals or to throw money into a bin, say a prayer, and then expect the spirits to hear them and answer it. They come before things made by human hands in places made by human hands and pray before their gods. An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold. They seek out skillful craftsmen to setup an idol that will not totter or move or fall over. They use the same piece of wood to make an idol that has to be nailed down and they burn the other half of the wood for warmth and for cooking. It burdens my heart to see them expect something to happen as a result of worshiping something they have made. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!
We then returned back to Utsunomiya and camped out at the Kinugawa river. We had an American style barbecue where we grilled hot dogs and had chips with salsa. We had a fire building contest to see who could build a fire up to the rope the fastest and burn it. We also had some Japanese style s'mores where we roasted marshmallows and used Choco Digestive biscuits as our graham cracker and chocolate. We then did some late night swimming in the river where our group, thanks to Lauren, had a shampooing. She brought some shampoo with her and we cleaned up in the river with some idiotic pictures taken. We had some campfire Karaoke in Japanese and in English.
Some students stayed awake the whole night but I went to sleep about midnight and woke up at 5am as the sun comes up in Japan about 4am and sets around 7pm. We then made some hard boiled eggs and coffee over our campfire at 6am. Then we just relaxed and some people played games, a couple of us tried spear fishing but to no success, and a view funny pranks were pulled. We packed up camp and went for a Utsunomiya gyoza lunch, as almost every city in Japan is famous for something so we took the Tokyo students to a gyoza lunch in downtown Utsu. They then returned home afterwards.
One of my highlights was seeing a believer from Utsu sharing from God's Word with a nonbeliever from Tokyo at the campfire. The Tokyo student is a senior and I know that they have been praying for him to come to know Christ. It is amazing to be able to witness a Japanese believer share from his heart and from God's Word to want to see another student come to know Christ.
Every time I go and visit a temple or a shrine, it saddens my heart to see the people perform rituals or to throw money into a bin, say a prayer, and then expect the spirits to hear them and answer it. They come before things made by human hands in places made by human hands and pray before their gods. An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold. They seek out skillful craftsmen to setup an idol that will not totter or move or fall over. They use the same piece of wood to make an idol that has to be nailed down and they burn the other half of the wood for warmth and for cooking. It burdens my heart to see them expect something to happen as a result of worshiping something they have made. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!
We then returned back to Utsunomiya and camped out at the Kinugawa river. We had an American style barbecue where we grilled hot dogs and had chips with salsa. We had a fire building contest to see who could build a fire up to the rope the fastest and burn it. We also had some Japanese style s'mores where we roasted marshmallows and used Choco Digestive biscuits as our graham cracker and chocolate. We then did some late night swimming in the river where our group, thanks to Lauren, had a shampooing. She brought some shampoo with her and we cleaned up in the river with some idiotic pictures taken. We had some campfire Karaoke in Japanese and in English.
Some students stayed awake the whole night but I went to sleep about midnight and woke up at 5am as the sun comes up in Japan about 4am and sets around 7pm. We then made some hard boiled eggs and coffee over our campfire at 6am. Then we just relaxed and some people played games, a couple of us tried spear fishing but to no success, and a view funny pranks were pulled. We packed up camp and went for a Utsunomiya gyoza lunch, as almost every city in Japan is famous for something so we took the Tokyo students to a gyoza lunch in downtown Utsu. They then returned home afterwards.
One of my highlights was seeing a believer from Utsu sharing from God's Word with a nonbeliever from Tokyo at the campfire. The Tokyo student is a senior and I know that they have been praying for him to come to know Christ. It is amazing to be able to witness a Japanese believer share from his heart and from God's Word to want to see another student come to know Christ.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Freshman Party
This last Saturday we had our Freshman party. While the summer friends are here we will try to have a party for each class. The party was announced a little late so we only had 1 guy and 4 girls that could come. Either way we still had a lot of fun.
We had a gyoza party followed by some games and a little Karaoke afterwards. We most definitely had fun making gyoza from scratch. Gyoza is similar to a small dumpling with meat, green onion, cabbage, egg, and soy inside. There are different kinds of gyoza but I think this contains the average gyoza. So in a gyoza party usually there are some prank gyoza placed into the mix of the normal gyoza. We made about 120 gyoza and probably had 20 prank gyoza, which is a lot! We had some with mochi, cheese, natto (fermented soybeans, yuck), natto and chocolate, orange, kimchi (fermented cabbage), banana and chocolate. Many pranks and how could I forget the old traditional sour plums inside a gyoza.
Afterwards we went to Karaoke with two students for two hours. We had a special guest join us as Sarah is visiting for a couple weeks. She was here for two years and left in April of '06. I have most definitely missed Karaoke and I also realized how much I missed singing it with my former team members. For those of you wondering, I didn't accidentally pick any questionable songs. If you don't believe me you can email Keith, but I won't give you his email. So a little after 1am we finished our Freshman party.
This upcoming weekend some of us at Utsu will be joining Tokyo BEST and going to Nikko on Saturday and then coming back to Utsu and will camp out and barbecue on the river. Please pray that our friendships will deepen during this time as growing in common experience with students is always helpful in being able to relate to them better.
We had a gyoza party followed by some games and a little Karaoke afterwards. We most definitely had fun making gyoza from scratch. Gyoza is similar to a small dumpling with meat, green onion, cabbage, egg, and soy inside. There are different kinds of gyoza but I think this contains the average gyoza. So in a gyoza party usually there are some prank gyoza placed into the mix of the normal gyoza. We made about 120 gyoza and probably had 20 prank gyoza, which is a lot! We had some with mochi, cheese, natto (fermented soybeans, yuck), natto and chocolate, orange, kimchi (fermented cabbage), banana and chocolate. Many pranks and how could I forget the old traditional sour plums inside a gyoza.
Afterwards we went to Karaoke with two students for two hours. We had a special guest join us as Sarah is visiting for a couple weeks. She was here for two years and left in April of '06. I have most definitely missed Karaoke and I also realized how much I missed singing it with my former team members. For those of you wondering, I didn't accidentally pick any questionable songs. If you don't believe me you can email Keith, but I won't give you his email. So a little after 1am we finished our Freshman party.
This upcoming weekend some of us at Utsu will be joining Tokyo BEST and going to Nikko on Saturday and then coming back to Utsu and will camp out and barbecue on the river. Please pray that our friendships will deepen during this time as growing in common experience with students is always helpful in being able to relate to them better.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Pepsi Ice Cucumber part II
For all of you hoping to try this new wonderful drink, it doesn't seem to be going to happen or at least stay in Japan. During the After Best tonight, Keith bought the drink and said it did taste like cucumber but didn't taste very good. So he started to pass it around to students. Turns out none of them like the drink at all. Maybe it will work in America but it seems to be a failure so far in Japan, at least in the small amount of people I know in Utsu.
Profile Picture
In case you were wondering, the profile picture to the right is of Kechan and myself. I took this picture before going up to Sendai. She is officially the shortest Japanese person that I know, so I wanted to take a picture so that you could have an idea of what the 12 spies thought when they were in Canaan and saw the land of the giants. The students also think it is very funny during sports time when we play basketball. We always start our game with a jump ball and if Kechan is on the other team, they match her up with me for the jump ball. So a little fun as I come from the land of the giants.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Pepsi Ice Cucumber
Today, my Mother told me that she heard about a new promotion for Pepsi that just came out in Japan and only in Japan as a trial test. So when I was at the grocery store, I happened to see this new item and purchased a bottle. Pepsi Ice Cucumber. I am not sure why they named it Cucumber. I realize it is green in chemical color but it must be their way to try to convince Japanese that it is healthier for them to drink.
So I tried this drink and found out that it was very similar to another Pepsi product called Sierra Mist. In fact it is so close, I would like to call it Green colored Sierra Mist with a hint of, I guess cucumber to slightly change the taste.
Besides that, I am continuing to chug along through language school. I feel like I have been able to stay up with the class and keep at their pace but I definitely am still slow at listening to Japanese speech. I will often hear a word or phrase that I don't recognize in a sentence and try to think what it is and by the time I realize that I don't know it or forgot it, I have missed the next 2 sentences. So listening is extremely hard and I am still pretty slow at speaking what I want to say but I can definitely read things faster and understand things quicker. Please pray for me that I may be able to understand better in my listening and that I would be able to speak quicker the things that I have learned so far. I still have just over one month of language left before I stop attending school full time for it. My last day at school is July 23.
My hope when I finish is to be able to take the first Japanese test of 4 for fluency. The first test is so much vocabulary and 100 Kanji. Then within the next 6 months to 1 year, I would like to be able to take the second test which is more vocabulary and 300 Kanji. The final two test are probably not possible for me to even take a shot at. As the 3rd test I would have to know 1000 Kanji and the 4th test to become, I guess, completely literate is to know 2000 Kanji. Whew!
I am finally getting into the swing of things for studying a little better as my mind is adjusting to being back at school again. The one thing that has continued to encourage me while studying Japanese is realizing that I am not studying it just so I can speak Japanese. I am studying Japanese so that I can share the good news of Christ to Japanese in their own heart language. This is what gives me the energy to continue to study. That God has blessed me and chosen me to study another language so that He can use me to reach the nations and peoples with His great news!
So I tried this drink and found out that it was very similar to another Pepsi product called Sierra Mist. In fact it is so close, I would like to call it Green colored Sierra Mist with a hint of, I guess cucumber to slightly change the taste.
Besides that, I am continuing to chug along through language school. I feel like I have been able to stay up with the class and keep at their pace but I definitely am still slow at listening to Japanese speech. I will often hear a word or phrase that I don't recognize in a sentence and try to think what it is and by the time I realize that I don't know it or forgot it, I have missed the next 2 sentences. So listening is extremely hard and I am still pretty slow at speaking what I want to say but I can definitely read things faster and understand things quicker. Please pray for me that I may be able to understand better in my listening and that I would be able to speak quicker the things that I have learned so far. I still have just over one month of language left before I stop attending school full time for it. My last day at school is July 23.
My hope when I finish is to be able to take the first Japanese test of 4 for fluency. The first test is so much vocabulary and 100 Kanji. Then within the next 6 months to 1 year, I would like to be able to take the second test which is more vocabulary and 300 Kanji. The final two test are probably not possible for me to even take a shot at. As the 3rd test I would have to know 1000 Kanji and the 4th test to become, I guess, completely literate is to know 2000 Kanji. Whew!
I am finally getting into the swing of things for studying a little better as my mind is adjusting to being back at school again. The one thing that has continued to encourage me while studying Japanese is realizing that I am not studying it just so I can speak Japanese. I am studying Japanese so that I can share the good news of Christ to Japanese in their own heart language. This is what gives me the energy to continue to study. That God has blessed me and chosen me to study another language so that He can use me to reach the nations and peoples with His great news!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sendai Camp Report
Thank you all for your prayers about Sendai Camp as it was a great time and good weather. The weather forecast was for rain the entire weekend but praise God as it only rained at night and our days were beautiful.
We arrived in Sendai at midnight on Friday. We left shortly after six, and if it were a group of Americans, we probably would have been there by 9:30pm. But as I have started to figure out, Japanese take there time in traveling. We drove about an hours distance and stopped and at dinner which was planned. About an hour and a half later we left there and drove to the interchange at Sendai and stopped to make sure all 9 of our cars were together. After about 25 minutes there we drove through Sendai for about an hour until we all reached the Seven Eleven and we then finally made it to our destination.
I have always considered myself a pretty patient person but I have definitely been stretched over the matter of patience since I have been here. Whenever I go somewhere, it has always been about getting there but to the Japanese it is much more about relationships than getting there quickly. So, for example, on Friday nights when our Bible Discussion groups try to decide where to eat it usually takes about 30 minutes before we finally leave. During this 30 minutes they are enjoying talking with each other and every once in a while someone will ask where someone else wants to go but since they are always concerned about what other people think no ever decides because that is being to outright and may appear rather selfish. Another example is that the students can't imagine being in a car for longer than an hour and a half with out taking a 20 minute stretch break. These things are completely different than the American mindset as we would call them non-decisive and slow but where they actually show more love to each other by being very unselfish and by desiring to get to know each other better.
Back to Sendai. I stayed up till 3:00am before I went to bed and got up at 7:00am. We ate breakfast and had a breakfast partner. My breakfast partner was Mariya who was a freshman interested in going on the camping trip but doesn't seem to have much interest in the Bible right now. After breakfast we started our work projects, which I was blessed to use the most amazing weed whacker ever invented. In America, the average line trimmer is exactly as it sounds. It has line trim on the end to cut the grass. In Japan, the average line trimmer has a circular saw blade on the end and can cut down small trees. By far cooler and a little more dangerous. So my group of 5 guys went and cut down and cleared out trails for the campground. We then had a Japanese barbecue out on the beach for lunch and a watermelon smashing contest as our dessert. Then as usual some swimming and throwing people into the Pacific Ocean for fun. We then had our dinner and Bible Discussion and then I went to bed exhausted at midnight while most students stayed up till 3 or 4.
On Sunday we cleaned up and drove up to Matsushima and had lunch and a little site seeing and then returned home back to Utsu. There are many pictures of our trip and they are being collected by one person and then distributed back out on a DVD. So I will have pictures probably in a couple of weeks to put in my photo album.
We arrived in Sendai at midnight on Friday. We left shortly after six, and if it were a group of Americans, we probably would have been there by 9:30pm. But as I have started to figure out, Japanese take there time in traveling. We drove about an hours distance and stopped and at dinner which was planned. About an hour and a half later we left there and drove to the interchange at Sendai and stopped to make sure all 9 of our cars were together. After about 25 minutes there we drove through Sendai for about an hour until we all reached the Seven Eleven and we then finally made it to our destination.
I have always considered myself a pretty patient person but I have definitely been stretched over the matter of patience since I have been here. Whenever I go somewhere, it has always been about getting there but to the Japanese it is much more about relationships than getting there quickly. So, for example, on Friday nights when our Bible Discussion groups try to decide where to eat it usually takes about 30 minutes before we finally leave. During this 30 minutes they are enjoying talking with each other and every once in a while someone will ask where someone else wants to go but since they are always concerned about what other people think no ever decides because that is being to outright and may appear rather selfish. Another example is that the students can't imagine being in a car for longer than an hour and a half with out taking a 20 minute stretch break. These things are completely different than the American mindset as we would call them non-decisive and slow but where they actually show more love to each other by being very unselfish and by desiring to get to know each other better.
Back to Sendai. I stayed up till 3:00am before I went to bed and got up at 7:00am. We ate breakfast and had a breakfast partner. My breakfast partner was Mariya who was a freshman interested in going on the camping trip but doesn't seem to have much interest in the Bible right now. After breakfast we started our work projects, which I was blessed to use the most amazing weed whacker ever invented. In America, the average line trimmer is exactly as it sounds. It has line trim on the end to cut the grass. In Japan, the average line trimmer has a circular saw blade on the end and can cut down small trees. By far cooler and a little more dangerous. So my group of 5 guys went and cut down and cleared out trails for the campground. We then had a Japanese barbecue out on the beach for lunch and a watermelon smashing contest as our dessert. Then as usual some swimming and throwing people into the Pacific Ocean for fun. We then had our dinner and Bible Discussion and then I went to bed exhausted at midnight while most students stayed up till 3 or 4.
On Sunday we cleaned up and drove up to Matsushima and had lunch and a little site seeing and then returned home back to Utsu. There are many pictures of our trip and they are being collected by one person and then distributed back out on a DVD. So I will have pictures probably in a couple of weeks to put in my photo album.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
On TV, sort of
So our house was on television tonight. My roommate, Yoichi, works for a remodeling company and they do one infomercial a month. So they came to our house with an actress and actor and filmed here. It aired on television tonight as the house that needed to be remodeled. It was extremely funny to us as we saw our possessions on television. For instance, in the background of one scene there is a marker board that has cleaning responsibilities for the house. Here is a commercial about a married couple and there is a board that has three guys names on it for cleaning. We also have pictures on our walls from different BEST events which were on television also.
I guess this is not the first time they have filmed in our house. I told Yoichi that his company should remodel our house as a before and after project but I can't seem to get him to present it to his boss. They keep using our house because everything is old and looks terrible so why not use that as a reverse example of how great their company can remodel by using our house. I understand why he has not asked as that is not the Japanese way to do things but that would be sweet to have a newly remodeled home.
I will give news and updates about Sendai a little later. I need to get some sleep as the weekend was busy and fun. Watashi wa choto tsukaremashita. ( I am a little tired.) and have language class in the morn.
I guess this is not the first time they have filmed in our house. I told Yoichi that his company should remodel our house as a before and after project but I can't seem to get him to present it to his boss. They keep using our house because everything is old and looks terrible so why not use that as a reverse example of how great their company can remodel by using our house. I understand why he has not asked as that is not the Japanese way to do things but that would be sweet to have a newly remodeled home.
I will give news and updates about Sendai a little later. I need to get some sleep as the weekend was busy and fun. Watashi wa choto tsukaremashita. ( I am a little tired.) and have language class in the morn.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Sendai Camp
This weekend is the Sendai Camp that we have every year. One reason for its timing is to quickly set the new summer team into the BEST Club getting to know students and building common experiences. I am not sure how many students are going but I would guess maybe 25.
What will we do while we are there? We will leave Friday night and take a three hour drive up to Sendai and stay at some campgrounds on the ocean side. On Saturday we will have a work project where some students clean up the campground while other students head down to the beach for garbage cleanup. It is amazing how much garbage ends up on the beach but the neighbors love it that we come down and clean it up for them. Afterwards, we have a barbecue on the beach and fun in the ocean. We then have a Bible discussion on Saturday night. I am not sure what we are going to do on Sunday. Before we went up to Matsushima, one of the prettiest places in Japan, but I am not part of the planning team so we will do whatever they decided.
Lauren and James arrived safely to Utsunomiya on Wednesday and are hopefully adjusting well. I have not had a chance to meet them, so I will officially meet them tomorrow. Oyasumi Nasai!
What will we do while we are there? We will leave Friday night and take a three hour drive up to Sendai and stay at some campgrounds on the ocean side. On Saturday we will have a work project where some students clean up the campground while other students head down to the beach for garbage cleanup. It is amazing how much garbage ends up on the beach but the neighbors love it that we come down and clean it up for them. Afterwards, we have a barbecue on the beach and fun in the ocean. We then have a Bible discussion on Saturday night. I am not sure what we are going to do on Sunday. Before we went up to Matsushima, one of the prettiest places in Japan, but I am not part of the planning team so we will do whatever they decided.
Lauren and James arrived safely to Utsunomiya on Wednesday and are hopefully adjusting well. I have not had a chance to meet them, so I will officially meet them tomorrow. Oyasumi Nasai!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Pictures
I finally have some pictures put up. Click on the link to the right that says Alan's Photos and you can see some of them.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Fun Pictures
I realize I still do not have any pictures up yet but in my spare time I have been working on bicycles and not pictures. So I will hopefully have some time tomorrow to work on pictures but here is a little teaser of my day in downtown Utsu, which I will describe a little more in detail later.
Here is my language school that I go to Monday through Friday. It is actually the backside of this building as you can see the second part.
Here are some delightful pigeons as I rode along the river. (This is specifically for you Monica and no I did not kill any of them and I did not try to touch them either.)
If you do not understand this sign, I will hopefully explain it in more detail tomorrow. Enjoy!
Here is my language school that I go to Monday through Friday. It is actually the backside of this building as you can see the second part.
Here are some delightful pigeons as I rode along the river. (This is specifically for you Monica and no I did not kill any of them and I did not try to touch them either.)
If you do not understand this sign, I will hopefully explain it in more detail tomorrow. Enjoy!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Bikes, Bikes, and more Bikes
I was blessed to have this last Monday through Thursday off from language school. For some reason the language school takes off one week each month and it was this last week. So in the meantime I received the two bikes for the summer team coming this year and spent sometime fixing them up. The two summer friends coming are college students from the University of Texas. Lauren and James, so I will refer to their bikes in such a manner.
Lauren's bike was in pretty good condition. I replaced the grips because they were very sticky and partially melted and I put a better front tire on her bike. We also put on a bell, because in Japan, bells are always important or at least come in handy often.
James's bike on the other hand was a whole lot worse. It was a former three speed with the three speed broken. In total on Jame's bike we replaced the grips, the brake handles, the front and back brake line, the front brake caliper, a new front tire, a new lock, and a reflector. By far I had a lot more fun on his bike being able to practically replace almost all the parts on a bike. The cost for all the repairs was only about $50. A success in my book.
I am also fixing Yoichi's bike because the first day I rode it here, it had a flat the next morning. (For some this bike is known as 'Orange') I took the back tire off and found out the tube had been patched twice in the same spot and was leaking there again. I bought a new tube and in the process of trying to put the chain back on, I realized that I pushed the pin all the way out of the chain and ruined his chain trying to fix it. Afterwards, I realized that there is a masterlink on the chain and I didn't have to push the pin out. One new chain later and hopefully I can fix his bike soon.
Lauren and James arrived in Tokyo today and they will have orientation along with 24 other college students spending two months of there summer here in Japan. They will arrive in Utsu on this upcoming Wednesday Night. It feels a little weird being on the opposite side. I have been in there shoes twice but now I am in the reverse role. Please pray for them as they adjust to Japan and that our upcoming Sendai trip will be a good time.
The Sendai Trip is this Friday through Sunday where we head 3 hours north to Sendai with students from BEST and have a work project, a Bible Discussion, and a cookout on the beach. This is a great opportunity for Freshman to get more involved and for the summer friends to get to know some of the students right away. Please pray that our relationships with students will grow deeper in this time. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Lauren's bike was in pretty good condition. I replaced the grips because they were very sticky and partially melted and I put a better front tire on her bike. We also put on a bell, because in Japan, bells are always important or at least come in handy often.
James's bike on the other hand was a whole lot worse. It was a former three speed with the three speed broken. In total on Jame's bike we replaced the grips, the brake handles, the front and back brake line, the front brake caliper, a new front tire, a new lock, and a reflector. By far I had a lot more fun on his bike being able to practically replace almost all the parts on a bike. The cost for all the repairs was only about $50. A success in my book.
I am also fixing Yoichi's bike because the first day I rode it here, it had a flat the next morning. (For some this bike is known as 'Orange') I took the back tire off and found out the tube had been patched twice in the same spot and was leaking there again. I bought a new tube and in the process of trying to put the chain back on, I realized that I pushed the pin all the way out of the chain and ruined his chain trying to fix it. Afterwards, I realized that there is a masterlink on the chain and I didn't have to push the pin out. One new chain later and hopefully I can fix his bike soon.
Lauren and James arrived in Tokyo today and they will have orientation along with 24 other college students spending two months of there summer here in Japan. They will arrive in Utsu on this upcoming Wednesday Night. It feels a little weird being on the opposite side. I have been in there shoes twice but now I am in the reverse role. Please pray for them as they adjust to Japan and that our upcoming Sendai trip will be a good time.
The Sendai Trip is this Friday through Sunday where we head 3 hours north to Sendai with students from BEST and have a work project, a Bible Discussion, and a cookout on the beach. This is a great opportunity for Freshman to get more involved and for the summer friends to get to know some of the students right away. Please pray that our relationships with students will grow deeper in this time. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Dogs in Japan
In 2005 I remember passing by a dog store in Bell Mall here in Utsunomiya where the display dogs were wearing a tuxedo and a wedding dress. Now if that is not ridiculous, just wait to hear what I found out tonight.
I went to dinner with my roommate Yoichi and afterwards he turned on the evening news. They had a special on dog accessories. I will work my way up from the not so amazing to the 'you have to be kidding me' items.
1) The dog stores in Japan have clothing for there dogs to wear, which is not uncommon since America has started the same trend. They also have specialty food items for dogs that cost $20-30 for one dish of food. I might as well go buy a steak from the grocery store and let my dog eat it.
2) There are dog restaurants in Japan. People actually take their dogs into the restaurant, sit them in a chair next to them and the person orders food for both of them. So imagine a very nice and clean restaurant where half of the customers are dogs.
3) Birthday parties for dogs. There are also restaurants where you can invite other peoples dogs and the people sit there and let the dogs eat Birthday cakes and they sing happy birthday to the dog. If you ask me, it seems that dogs are starting to replace children.
4) The most amazing thing I saw tonight was contact lenses. That's right. Contact lenses for dogs. They go in to an optometrists and get there eyes examined, somehow, and the optometrists then puts contacts on the dogs and gives the owner replacements. Only in Japan and probably soon in the US.
I went to dinner with my roommate Yoichi and afterwards he turned on the evening news. They had a special on dog accessories. I will work my way up from the not so amazing to the 'you have to be kidding me' items.
1) The dog stores in Japan have clothing for there dogs to wear, which is not uncommon since America has started the same trend. They also have specialty food items for dogs that cost $20-30 for one dish of food. I might as well go buy a steak from the grocery store and let my dog eat it.
2) There are dog restaurants in Japan. People actually take their dogs into the restaurant, sit them in a chair next to them and the person orders food for both of them. So imagine a very nice and clean restaurant where half of the customers are dogs.
3) Birthday parties for dogs. There are also restaurants where you can invite other peoples dogs and the people sit there and let the dogs eat Birthday cakes and they sing happy birthday to the dog. If you ask me, it seems that dogs are starting to replace children.
4) The most amazing thing I saw tonight was contact lenses. That's right. Contact lenses for dogs. They go in to an optometrists and get there eyes examined, somehow, and the optometrists then puts contacts on the dogs and gives the owner replacements. Only in Japan and probably soon in the US.
Frustrated?
Over the past 4-5 days I have become frustrated little by little by so many things because ultimately it seems I can't do anything right. I will name some of them to let you have an idea.
One of those is language. Whether it be language class or talking with friends, I will say something and there response is,"I understand but it is either to formal, to informal, just doesn't sound quite right to a natural speaker." Sometimes, there are two ways to say the same thing but it always seems that I end up using the one that doesn't fit the situation quite right. I don't know.
Second would be all those small details of life that don't seem like a big deal. I will take the example of cooking. So the vegetables here are probably the cleanest vegetables I have ever seen. The carrots look spotless and the potatoes don't have a speck of dirt on them. It seems that the carrot must be peeled. The funny thing is you can't tell were you have already peeled because there is no difference but you must peel it. The potatoes also seem to be one of those things that you must peel. So I peeled the potatoes and they had those small dots where an indentation was that still had skin on it, so I thought no big deal. Wrong. No skin anywhere.
Another thing is language study has been pretty lonely during the week. I live with one staff and two former students who work about 12 hour days 6 days a week. If I see them for 10 minutes during the week, that is a lot. So it is pretty much Tomo and I but Tomo is often gone from the house during the day, so studying can be pretty boring after a while. I came to realize this week that I don't have anyone to talk to during the afternoon and evenings while studying. Not English or Japanese. On my trips here before I have always had someone close by who I could speak English with and talk to at anytime but I don't have that now.
During the last couple days God has been teaching me a lot about relying on Him. It is so easy to rely on friendships and relationships and kind of rely upon God. So during the last week, I started to feel that I couldn't do anything right which is very frustrating and humbling. Imagine going through a 3 day time period where 90% of everything you do isn't quite right and you get corrected for it and you can't speak English back to them. That is the way I have felt. Almost nothing you do is the way you are used to doing it.
But God has shown me once again that these times of trials are to help me conform into the image of Christ. Even the small little things of everyday life for when I am weak, then I am made strong. Our Awesome God who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, He who is so great and myself who is so small is right here next to me helping me see the truth in this situation. Through all these difficulties and frustrations of the past week, he has been drawing me closer to Himself and showing me his great power with one arm and his great tender care with the other.
I have some ideas of things I can do where I can meet with students and still study Japanese full-time. Please be praying for me that I will be using the Japanese that I have learned while making deeper relationships with the students.
One of those is language. Whether it be language class or talking with friends, I will say something and there response is,"I understand but it is either to formal, to informal, just doesn't sound quite right to a natural speaker." Sometimes, there are two ways to say the same thing but it always seems that I end up using the one that doesn't fit the situation quite right. I don't know.
Second would be all those small details of life that don't seem like a big deal. I will take the example of cooking. So the vegetables here are probably the cleanest vegetables I have ever seen. The carrots look spotless and the potatoes don't have a speck of dirt on them. It seems that the carrot must be peeled. The funny thing is you can't tell were you have already peeled because there is no difference but you must peel it. The potatoes also seem to be one of those things that you must peel. So I peeled the potatoes and they had those small dots where an indentation was that still had skin on it, so I thought no big deal. Wrong. No skin anywhere.
Another thing is language study has been pretty lonely during the week. I live with one staff and two former students who work about 12 hour days 6 days a week. If I see them for 10 minutes during the week, that is a lot. So it is pretty much Tomo and I but Tomo is often gone from the house during the day, so studying can be pretty boring after a while. I came to realize this week that I don't have anyone to talk to during the afternoon and evenings while studying. Not English or Japanese. On my trips here before I have always had someone close by who I could speak English with and talk to at anytime but I don't have that now.
During the last couple days God has been teaching me a lot about relying on Him. It is so easy to rely on friendships and relationships and kind of rely upon God. So during the last week, I started to feel that I couldn't do anything right which is very frustrating and humbling. Imagine going through a 3 day time period where 90% of everything you do isn't quite right and you get corrected for it and you can't speak English back to them. That is the way I have felt. Almost nothing you do is the way you are used to doing it.
But God has shown me once again that these times of trials are to help me conform into the image of Christ. Even the small little things of everyday life for when I am weak, then I am made strong. Our Awesome God who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, He who is so great and myself who is so small is right here next to me helping me see the truth in this situation. Through all these difficulties and frustrations of the past week, he has been drawing me closer to Himself and showing me his great power with one arm and his great tender care with the other.
I have some ideas of things I can do where I can meet with students and still study Japanese full-time. Please be praying for me that I will be using the Japanese that I have learned while making deeper relationships with the students.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Pictures
I realize that some of you by now are wondering where my pictures are. I am trying to figure out a good way to publish my pictures. I am open to advice. I am seeing if there is a way to directly use blogger and do so or I know you can use other websites. If you have any ideas let me know. Thank you.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Update on New Family Member
So I had a chance to talk to Tokusan tonight. I had heard that she initially told someone she had a new boyfriend as her way of saying that she is now a follower of Jesus Christ. So when I saw her tonight, I said, "I heard you have a new boyfriend." She had a huge smile on her face and pulled me aside and she told me that last night she decided to follow Jesus Christ and prayed with Gibbs, Keith, and Wachi.
When our team was here in 2005 for two months, she was a sophomore interested in the Bible and learning more. Over the last two years, people kept wondering when she would believe as she had an understanding but something kept her from believing. Through God bringing in people in different places she said that she thought she believed in Jesus but really wanted to be sure she did and last night during the SLT meeting we looked at Ephesians 1:15-19 and she wanted to have the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God. During that discussion she said she realized the only way to get to know God was to believe in Him, as she has been trying to know God completely without believing.
There is joy in heaven before the angels of God over Tokusan who is no longer lost and there is much joy here between believers.
When our team was here in 2005 for two months, she was a sophomore interested in the Bible and learning more. Over the last two years, people kept wondering when she would believe as she had an understanding but something kept her from believing. Through God bringing in people in different places she said that she thought she believed in Jesus but really wanted to be sure she did and last night during the SLT meeting we looked at Ephesians 1:15-19 and she wanted to have the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God. During that discussion she said she realized the only way to get to know God was to believe in Him, as she has been trying to know God completely without believing.
There is joy in heaven before the angels of God over Tokusan who is no longer lost and there is much joy here between believers.
Speaking of Family
So as I had just talked about our spiritual family, there is some rejoicing today for a new member. Tokusan is a new sister in Christ. She is a senior who has been one of the students leading the Freshman Bible Study.
So last night as we were at the Student Leadership Team meeting, we split up into two groups to pray at the end of our time. We both finished but the one group seemed to be just talking and it was getting late so some of us left to go home. It turns out that Tokusan officially trusted in Christ last night. Man, I wish I could have been there. I will have a chance to see her tonight at Buff's going back to America party. I look forward to hearing her story.
So last night as we were at the Student Leadership Team meeting, we split up into two groups to pray at the end of our time. We both finished but the one group seemed to be just talking and it was getting late so some of us left to go home. It turns out that Tokusan officially trusted in Christ last night. Man, I wish I could have been there. I will have a chance to see her tonight at Buff's going back to America party. I look forward to hearing her story.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
SLT - Student Leadership Team
Tonight, we had our student leadership team meeting. During the week there are Bible Discussions Monday through Thursday Night and it is exciting to see that some of the students are leading Bible Discussions. On Tuesday and Thursday night is B cubed. 5 students from BEST Club lead a Bible Discussion for Freshman and they have been having around 15 students come to their study which is totally awesome. Tonight, Wachi said that the Freshman class reminds him a lot of the way his class (currently seniors) was when they were Freshman. How encouraging to hear that as the current senior class will be missed greatly when they graduate next March. It is encouraging to meet with student believers as a group and see how God is challenging them in teaching other students the Scriptures.
On a different note, I should hopefully be able to cook some meals soon. Currently I can cook curry and rice from scratch but other than that it is either instant or boiled. On Tuesday I will be getting together with Hiroyuki and he will teach me some meals to cook. Healthy Meals! Not ones loaded with salt as a preservative. I have not been able to spend much time with students because of language so I am glad to be able to set up a time with Hiroyuki on a somewhat regular basis.
As I have continued to think more about what it means to be a Christian, I have been encouraged by the Christian family that God has put together. I listened to John Piper's Sermon from 4/29/2007 which was about being single in Christ. The title can be a little misleading as he does talk a little about singleness but he talked about spiritual generations and our spiritual family, mothers, brothers, and sisters and how God originally used generations with Israel through reproduction to how generations are now mostly through spiritual fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. I would challenge you to listen to this message as it was a phenomenal message. Click Here to go to the page.
What a blessing it is to be able to go practically anywhere in the world and be united with family. The family that will last for eternity!
On a different note, I should hopefully be able to cook some meals soon. Currently I can cook curry and rice from scratch but other than that it is either instant or boiled. On Tuesday I will be getting together with Hiroyuki and he will teach me some meals to cook. Healthy Meals! Not ones loaded with salt as a preservative. I have not been able to spend much time with students because of language so I am glad to be able to set up a time with Hiroyuki on a somewhat regular basis.
As I have continued to think more about what it means to be a Christian, I have been encouraged by the Christian family that God has put together. I listened to John Piper's Sermon from 4/29/2007 which was about being single in Christ. The title can be a little misleading as he does talk a little about singleness but he talked about spiritual generations and our spiritual family, mothers, brothers, and sisters and how God originally used generations with Israel through reproduction to how generations are now mostly through spiritual fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. I would challenge you to listen to this message as it was a phenomenal message. Click Here to go to the page.
What a blessing it is to be able to go practically anywhere in the world and be united with family. The family that will last for eternity!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
What does it mean to you to be a Christian?
Friday Night during our Bible Discussion, I was in a group with 4 freshman who have probably only had about maybe 6 Bible Discussions maybe more if they go to the Freshman Bible Study night. We looked at the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. Conversation was slower than usual because of the language barrier and because 3 of the 4 students are fairly quiet.
Near the end of the study, one of the girls asked me what it means to me to be a Christian? Simple answer, right? The question seemed to come out of nowhere. I then started to try and explain but I quickly remembered I am talking to students who don't have the background of information that I do. So then I tried to make a broader example of the Bible relating it to the Prodigal Son. I have no idea how effective it was but that simple question has really challenged me. I do not think that I have ever been asked that question. In America, people have stereotypes of what a Christian is so they have no reason to ask because they think they know. Well, here in Japan, there is not a stereotype amongst many students and she really wanted to know.
I pray that the Lord will use that time tonight to bring glory to His name. I am now challenged to come up with a 1-2 minute answer or illustration to help someone understand what it means to be a Christian. My initial reaction is, do you have an hour because I want to explain the whole Bible to you.
So if someone came up to you and said What does it mean to be a Christian, How would you answer them? Assume that they have little to no understanding of the Bible. I would love to hear some comments.
Near the end of the study, one of the girls asked me what it means to me to be a Christian? Simple answer, right? The question seemed to come out of nowhere. I then started to try and explain but I quickly remembered I am talking to students who don't have the background of information that I do. So then I tried to make a broader example of the Bible relating it to the Prodigal Son. I have no idea how effective it was but that simple question has really challenged me. I do not think that I have ever been asked that question. In America, people have stereotypes of what a Christian is so they have no reason to ask because they think they know. Well, here in Japan, there is not a stereotype amongst many students and she really wanted to know.
I pray that the Lord will use that time tonight to bring glory to His name. I am now challenged to come up with a 1-2 minute answer or illustration to help someone understand what it means to be a Christian. My initial reaction is, do you have an hour because I want to explain the whole Bible to you.
So if someone came up to you and said What does it mean to be a Christian, How would you answer them? Assume that they have little to no understanding of the Bible. I would love to hear some comments.
Friday, May 18, 2007
The First Week Owarimashita.
So my first week of language school is done. Yeah! Only 7 more to go. I can't believe that I have been here for a week. Time has flown by during this time of moving in and studying Japanese. Tonight is the first night that I will get to go to BEST Club on Friday which is the big get together each week where we play an English speaking game, then we split up into Bible Discussion groups, then eat dinner, then have After Best, which tonight is games at Omnibus(the girls house).
We currently have some special guests at Utsunomiya right now called Campus Net. Around 20 people from Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangledesh arrived last night to have a conference focusing on reaching college students for the gospel. So they are going to be looking at the BEST Club and then they will have a couple more days for there conference. So last night when they arrived we ate at Bamiyan, a chinese restaurant, and I sat with two ladies from Malaysia, one gentleman from Taiwan, and two Utsu students. During dinner I had my first chance of being an interpreter which was kind of fun. So our guests could speak English but couldn't always get the students to understand, so I got to translate. Even though it was poor translation, it was exciting to see more of a goal for learning Japanese.
On another note for those of you who are waiting for certain statistics, here are some of them. I have only hit my head 4 times on a doorway, which none of them have been hard which is pretty impressive since the doorways in my house come to my chin. I haven't made any huge language blunders, that I know of. If I have, they haven't told me. I think I have been told that I was tall everyday counting to a running total of about 1,363 times. Oh, make that 1,364 times. If there are any other curiousity questions feel free to let me know.
We currently have some special guests at Utsunomiya right now called Campus Net. Around 20 people from Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangledesh arrived last night to have a conference focusing on reaching college students for the gospel. So they are going to be looking at the BEST Club and then they will have a couple more days for there conference. So last night when they arrived we ate at Bamiyan, a chinese restaurant, and I sat with two ladies from Malaysia, one gentleman from Taiwan, and two Utsu students. During dinner I had my first chance of being an interpreter which was kind of fun. So our guests could speak English but couldn't always get the students to understand, so I got to translate. Even though it was poor translation, it was exciting to see more of a goal for learning Japanese.
On another note for those of you who are waiting for certain statistics, here are some of them. I have only hit my head 4 times on a doorway, which none of them have been hard which is pretty impressive since the doorways in my house come to my chin. I haven't made any huge language blunders, that I know of. If I have, they haven't told me. I think I have been told that I was tall everyday counting to a running total of about 1,363 times. Oh, make that 1,364 times. If there are any other curiousity questions feel free to let me know.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Language School
Monday was probably one of my busiest days so far. At 8am I met with Keith and we road our bicycles over to the Language School to see if I could sit in on a class. The only concern was the language classes started a month ago. I was hoping when I arrived I could start in a class where it was past the beginning stages but yet not to far so I would have to review my previous Japanese and also learn new Japanese at the same time.
I sat in on the class for 2 hours and I think I understood about 75-80% of it. They had just finished chapter 6 in there book. So the setup of the class is that it goes from 9am to 1pm. You have four 45 minute classes with a 15 minute break after each one and it goes from Monday to Friday. So Keith helped me get signed up for the class, which was at a perfect position to start. We then returned home about 12:45pm and then at 2pm Bryan called me up and we went out and purchased a bicycle, a desk, a chair, a cell phone, and signed up for my alien registration card. We got back about 8:30pm after all of our shopping. I then had to review for todays language class.
So today was officially my first language class. Listening and speaking Japanese for 4 hours straight is extremely tiring and very hard to stay focused but I have a great sensei who is very energetic and helpful. She does not allow any foreign language used during classtime. So I am in a class of about 18 students which most are Chinese, one Thai, one Arabic, and me the tall American. The class is very challenging because nothing is explained in English at all but this is by far the best way to learn.
During Kodomo no Mori Camp, there was the question what one word describes you best? I said Takai, which is High often used for tall. I chose this word because 80% of the BEST Club told me that when I first met them. So now I am in a new class and the same word describes me the most, Takai. I have also had some funny initial questions asked to me from fellow language students. One girl asked me if I was married. Another girl asked me how tall my girlfriend was. I have also been able to see different cultural barriers with these students at Language School because the idea of space is a bit different when talking with different people.
I still have not unpacked or setup anything in my room, so I hope to get some work done during the rest of the day.
I sat in on the class for 2 hours and I think I understood about 75-80% of it. They had just finished chapter 6 in there book. So the setup of the class is that it goes from 9am to 1pm. You have four 45 minute classes with a 15 minute break after each one and it goes from Monday to Friday. So Keith helped me get signed up for the class, which was at a perfect position to start. We then returned home about 12:45pm and then at 2pm Bryan called me up and we went out and purchased a bicycle, a desk, a chair, a cell phone, and signed up for my alien registration card. We got back about 8:30pm after all of our shopping. I then had to review for todays language class.
So today was officially my first language class. Listening and speaking Japanese for 4 hours straight is extremely tiring and very hard to stay focused but I have a great sensei who is very energetic and helpful. She does not allow any foreign language used during classtime. So I am in a class of about 18 students which most are Chinese, one Thai, one Arabic, and me the tall American. The class is very challenging because nothing is explained in English at all but this is by far the best way to learn.
During Kodomo no Mori Camp, there was the question what one word describes you best? I said Takai, which is High often used for tall. I chose this word because 80% of the BEST Club told me that when I first met them. So now I am in a new class and the same word describes me the most, Takai. I have also had some funny initial questions asked to me from fellow language students. One girl asked me if I was married. Another girl asked me how tall my girlfriend was. I have also been able to see different cultural barriers with these students at Language School because the idea of space is a bit different when talking with different people.
I still have not unpacked or setup anything in my room, so I hope to get some work done during the rest of the day.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Kodomo no Mori Camp
The camp was a success and the students who prepared it did a great job. We traveled about 30-55 minutes towards Nikko (it only took 55 minutes if you happened to be in a car that took more roads than needed. aka lost) to a camp ground. We made our own fresh curry over the campfire. Some chopped up potatoes, onions, and carrots while others worked on making six fires. We divided up into six dinner groups since we had about 58 people there.
After dinner we split into 8 groups and had a Bible Discussion on Luke 12 about the man who coveted his brothers inheritance and the rich man who built larger barns so he could eat, drink, and be merry. This is a great parable for the Japanese culture since possessions are so huge here. We then played a game in the woods where we had to find hidden plastic bowls which were numbered for points.
As I said before, most of the students stay up all night long, which I found that to be true. Since I was so tired from jet-lag I went to bed at 1am but thanks to jet-lag I could only sleep until 3:30am. I felt better then but really cold. It was a very cold night to be outside as everyone was wrapped up in blankets. When morning came around we ate breakfast and split up and talked with a breakfast partner and mine was Masaru. We then cleaned up and went to the local gymnasium where we played floor hockey for 2 hours which was a lot of fun. We had six teams so each team played 5 games. My team ended up winning with a 4-0-1 record.
Thanks to Keith I stayed awake all day and went to bed and slept for 11 hours. I know feel a lot better and I think the initial feeling of jet-lag is gone. I am about to go play outdoor basketball at 3pm. We are meeting at Beishe, one of the best grocery stores around.
After dinner we split into 8 groups and had a Bible Discussion on Luke 12 about the man who coveted his brothers inheritance and the rich man who built larger barns so he could eat, drink, and be merry. This is a great parable for the Japanese culture since possessions are so huge here. We then played a game in the woods where we had to find hidden plastic bowls which were numbered for points.
As I said before, most of the students stay up all night long, which I found that to be true. Since I was so tired from jet-lag I went to bed at 1am but thanks to jet-lag I could only sleep until 3:30am. I felt better then but really cold. It was a very cold night to be outside as everyone was wrapped up in blankets. When morning came around we ate breakfast and split up and talked with a breakfast partner and mine was Masaru. We then cleaned up and went to the local gymnasium where we played floor hockey for 2 hours which was a lot of fun. We had six teams so each team played 5 games. My team ended up winning with a 4-0-1 record.
Thanks to Keith I stayed awake all day and went to bed and slept for 11 hours. I know feel a lot better and I think the initial feeling of jet-lag is gone. I am about to go play outdoor basketball at 3pm. We are meeting at Beishe, one of the best grocery stores around.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Is This a Dream?
So I woke up this morning at 3:15 then went back to bed at 5:30 and then woke up again at 7:30am. From the time that I got on the plane I feel like I have been in one long dream. The only way I know that I am not in a dream is because I can't speak Japanese fluently or fly.
For lunch today Keith, Buff, and I went to the Seikyo (student cafeteria) for lunch and ate with Teppei. As I was walking around everything was very familiar but I felt like I was still in a dream. Now as I write I am ready for a nap. Don't you love jet-lag. For all I know, I will fall asleep and then dream that I am in Japan but hopefully realize by my superpowers that it really is a dream.
I definitely feel overwhelmed with how much stuff I need to try and do over the next week to get settled in to my new living situation. I also need to figure out what to do about starting language school here in the next week or so.
For lunch today Keith, Buff, and I went to the Seikyo (student cafeteria) for lunch and ate with Teppei. As I was walking around everything was very familiar but I felt like I was still in a dream. Now as I write I am ready for a nap. Don't you love jet-lag. For all I know, I will fall asleep and then dream that I am in Japan but hopefully realize by my superpowers that it really is a dream.
I definitely feel overwhelmed with how much stuff I need to try and do over the next week to get settled in to my new living situation. I also need to figure out what to do about starting language school here in the next week or so.
I have arrived!
I have arrived in Japan! I feel like I am dreaming right now. Is this really real? Have I finally reached Japan for 2 years?
Check-in went great with no problems. I was able to take my guitar with me on the plane. On my first flight it was able to have its own seat and then on my long flight from Chicago to Narita it flew first class. The 13 hour flight was long and miserable. I slept for maybe 1 hour. When I arrived at Narita I felt like a deer who had just been hit by a car but I was warmly welcomed by Yuta and Gibbs. We then hopped into the van and drove the backroads home to Utsumoniya. We stopped at coco ichiban which is a curry restaurant and I had my first meal back in Japan, chicken katsu curry. Oishikata. It was very delicious.
We arrived in Utsumoniya about 9pm and came to my new home at Blue Sky. I had yet another warm welcome by my new roommate Tomo, who was very kind in buying me some breakfast food, which I am about to eat at 4am this morning. There was a Bible Discussion going on when I arrived and was able to see Keith, Hiroyuki, and Yamato again and then met Hiroko and Kazuki. I went to sleep about 9:45pm and woke up about 3:15am. 5 and 1/2 hours isn't to bad considering I slept for 1 hour in the previous 26.
I look forward to this evening as we leave for Kodomo no mori camp where we will go camping tonight. When we get there we will cook out and then have a Bible Discussion along with some games. From my understanding most of the students also stay up all night long and then in the morning we will play gym hockey which sounds like a lot of fun. I believe there are 58 people going which is a huge amount so I will probably be forgetting names just as fast as I learn them. (In the end, I will just blame jet-lag if I keep forgetting peoples names).
Check-in went great with no problems. I was able to take my guitar with me on the plane. On my first flight it was able to have its own seat and then on my long flight from Chicago to Narita it flew first class. The 13 hour flight was long and miserable. I slept for maybe 1 hour. When I arrived at Narita I felt like a deer who had just been hit by a car but I was warmly welcomed by Yuta and Gibbs. We then hopped into the van and drove the backroads home to Utsumoniya. We stopped at coco ichiban which is a curry restaurant and I had my first meal back in Japan, chicken katsu curry. Oishikata. It was very delicious.
We arrived in Utsumoniya about 9pm and came to my new home at Blue Sky. I had yet another warm welcome by my new roommate Tomo, who was very kind in buying me some breakfast food, which I am about to eat at 4am this morning. There was a Bible Discussion going on when I arrived and was able to see Keith, Hiroyuki, and Yamato again and then met Hiroko and Kazuki. I went to sleep about 9:45pm and woke up about 3:15am. 5 and 1/2 hours isn't to bad considering I slept for 1 hour in the previous 26.
I look forward to this evening as we leave for Kodomo no mori camp where we will go camping tonight. When we get there we will cook out and then have a Bible Discussion along with some games. From my understanding most of the students also stay up all night long and then in the morning we will play gym hockey which sounds like a lot of fun. I believe there are 58 people going which is a huge amount so I will probably be forgetting names just as fast as I learn them. (In the end, I will just blame jet-lag if I keep forgetting peoples names).
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Check-in Time
Well, I am about to leave for the airport in about 14 minutes and you can say I am a little nervous, mostly about the check-in though. I have two packed suitcases both at the 70lb limit and my guitar which I may or may not take. That solely depends on how much they charge as extra baggage since it is over the 45" linear carry on. I also have a one-way ticket which means I will probably get cavity searched, at least extra checked.
Once I get into the airport, it should be beautiful sailing as the weather is very nice. Thank you for all your prayers and help in getting me to Japan.
Once I get into the airport, it should be beautiful sailing as the weather is very nice. Thank you for all your prayers and help in getting me to Japan.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
One More Day
It officially hit me today that I am about to leave for 2 years. After so many goodbyes I felt that I was about to leave but it was not until I started to pack my suitcases today that I realized that this was for 2 years and not 2 months.
I am almost done packing and I have a few more errands to do tomorrow before I leave on Wednesday. This evening my Mom and I went and watched Spiderman 3 in an Imax theater. I had never been to an Imax before but I was a little disappointed. The only thing that really seemed different was it was shown on a bigger screen, but overall, I think the movie was alright with a great final fight.
I am starting to get nervous and excited at the same time. In 31 hours I will wake up and head to the airport. So little time and still to much to do before I leave.
I am almost done packing and I have a few more errands to do tomorrow before I leave on Wednesday. This evening my Mom and I went and watched Spiderman 3 in an Imax theater. I had never been to an Imax before but I was a little disappointed. The only thing that really seemed different was it was shown on a bigger screen, but overall, I think the movie was alright with a great final fight.
I am starting to get nervous and excited at the same time. In 31 hours I will wake up and head to the airport. So little time and still to much to do before I leave.
Recap
Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you so much for all that you have done to help me reach my goals while fundraising. Praise God that my visa went through with no problems and I was able to get a cheap plane ticket. I wanted to let you know what will be happening now that I am leaving soon. You can quickly scan each Bold topic if it applies to you.
DEPARTURE DATE:
I am leaving on May 9, 2007 from Madison Wisconsin and am arriving in Narita airport on May 10, 2007. What will I be doing until I leave? I will be leaving Lafayette on Wednesday May 2 and head up to South Bend, IN. I will be in South Bend on Thurs, Friday, and Sunday. On Saturday I will be up in Michigan visiti ng family. I then plan to leave South Bend on Sunday afternoon to go up to Wisconsin where I will proceed to do my final packing and then fly out on Wednesday morning.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1) Language Acquisition- Language can be hard and difficult at times, especially when that is my focus for the first month. Please pray that God will humble my heart so that I will be practicing Japanese with many people and not worry about making mistakes and a fool of myself for saying the wrong things. Also for patience and perseverance that I will study hard and not want to give up.
2) Living- This involves transition to the Japanese culture like cooking, conserving energy, and many things that I probably don't realize. During my summers I have found little ways to avoid things for 2 months and will become problems if I don't learn how to do them for 2 years. Cooking is the best example as I would like to learn how to make real, actual meals at home instead of ramen and curry.
3) That God would show me 2 guys that I will b e able to be great friends with and disciple them in God's Word and that these 2 guys will become great men of faith in the country of Japan as Pastors, Teachers, Evangelists,...
4) Please pray for my goodbyes, that they will be an enjoyable time and also for my travel and safety when flying.
5) Pray that I will continue to grow deeper in love with God and His Word and that I will not be distracted from Him from all of the new circumstances of living in a new country.
6) Please pray for my fellow staff in Utsunomiya: Bryan and Renee Gibbs (3 kids), Ruth Ann Hurd, Keith Brooks, and Tomo.
Thank you very much and if you have any questions please let me know.
Alan
Thank you so much for all that you have done to help me reach my goals while fundraising. Praise God that my visa went through with no problems and I was able to get a cheap plane ticket. I wanted to let you know what will be happening now that I am leaving soon. You can quickly scan each Bold topic if it applies to you.
DEPARTURE DATE:
I am leaving on May 9, 2007 from Madison Wisconsin and am arriving in Narita airport on May 10, 2007. What will I be doing until I leave? I will be leaving Lafayette on Wednesday May 2 and head up to South Bend, IN. I will be in South Bend on Thurs, Friday, and Sunday. On Saturday I will be up in Michigan visiti ng family. I then plan to leave South Bend on Sunday afternoon to go up to Wisconsin where I will proceed to do my final packing and then fly out on Wednesday morning.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1) Language Acquisition- Language can be hard and difficult at times, especially when that is my focus for the first month. Please pray that God will humble my heart so that I will be practicing Japanese with many people and not worry about making mistakes and a fool of myself for saying the wrong things. Also for patience and perseverance that I will study hard and not want to give up.
2) Living- This involves transition to the Japanese culture like cooking, conserving energy, and many things that I probably don't realize. During my summers I have found little ways to avoid things for 2 months and will become problems if I don't learn how to do them for 2 years. Cooking is the best example as I would like to learn how to make real, actual meals at home instead of ramen and curry.
3) That God would show me 2 guys that I will b e able to be great friends with and disciple them in God's Word and that these 2 guys will become great men of faith in the country of Japan as Pastors, Teachers, Evangelists,...
4) Please pray for my goodbyes, that they will be an enjoyable time and also for my travel and safety when flying.
5) Pray that I will continue to grow deeper in love with God and His Word and that I will not be distracted from Him from all of the new circumstances of living in a new country.
6) Please pray for my fellow staff in Utsunomiya: Bryan and Renee Gibbs (3 kids), Ruth Ann Hurd, Keith Brooks, and Tomo.
Thank you very much and if you have any questions please let me know.
Alan
Friday, April 06, 2007
Visa and Ticket
I found out today that I should wait to buy my ticket until I turn in my visa application. The visa application had been in the beginning stages and then my support came in rapidly. It makes since to wait to buy the ticket because I sure don't want to waste $700 and not have a visa.
Please pray that I will receive the items I need from Japan in about a week from now. The sooner I receive the papers and information I need, the sooner I can turn in my visa.
I am currently looking to leave on Wednesday, May 9th but this is a tentative date as of right now. In the mean time I will be focusing more on my language study, heading to South Bend for Easter, coming back to speak to the Navigators on April 13th, and then I have no idea what I will be doing. I would like to go to Grand Prix this year as my former team should do very well this year. I even received a jersey for this years team, thanks to my awesome old roommate, Gordon.
Please call me if you want to find out where I am or what I will be doing. I guess you could email me too.
Please pray that I will receive the items I need from Japan in about a week from now. The sooner I receive the papers and information I need, the sooner I can turn in my visa.
I am currently looking to leave on Wednesday, May 9th but this is a tentative date as of right now. In the mean time I will be focusing more on my language study, heading to South Bend for Easter, coming back to speak to the Navigators on April 13th, and then I have no idea what I will be doing. I would like to go to Grand Prix this year as my former team should do very well this year. I even received a jersey for this years team, thanks to my awesome old roommate, Gordon.
Please call me if you want to find out where I am or what I will be doing. I guess you could email me too.
The Last 5 days
I have been absolutely blown away over what happened from Thursday Night to Tuesday Night. That 5 day time period was blessed by your prayers and blessed by God to bring my support up by 28%.
During my time of fundraising, I initially was not thankful for where God had me and how slow things were going. God continued to teach me verses about being thankful always (Eph. 5:20, I Thess. 5:18, Col. 3:17, etc). Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This does not only mean when things are good or sometimes I will give thanks but ALWAYS give thanks in all circumstances. Always means Always. God started to change my view at the end of January to be thankful that I am still here with my funding going slow.
There were things he still wanted me to do here. Examples, my fathers death, continue ministry, and to be prepared more for my time in Japan. How great are the plans of God as they are always better than our own plans.
Seeing my support go up unexplainably, except by God's timing, I realize that it is my time to start to leave for Japan. While I am still here one more month, God has more things to teach now before I go to Japan and I am thankful that he cares for me and loves me and shows me his steadfast love in the mornings and his faithfulness by night.
During my time of fundraising, I initially was not thankful for where God had me and how slow things were going. God continued to teach me verses about being thankful always (Eph. 5:20, I Thess. 5:18, Col. 3:17, etc). Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This does not only mean when things are good or sometimes I will give thanks but ALWAYS give thanks in all circumstances. Always means Always. God started to change my view at the end of January to be thankful that I am still here with my funding going slow.
There were things he still wanted me to do here. Examples, my fathers death, continue ministry, and to be prepared more for my time in Japan. How great are the plans of God as they are always better than our own plans.
Seeing my support go up unexplainably, except by God's timing, I realize that it is my time to start to leave for Japan. While I am still here one more month, God has more things to teach now before I go to Japan and I am thankful that he cares for me and loves me and shows me his steadfast love in the mornings and his faithfulness by night.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Prayer Request for Funding
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for your continued prayers and support as I am now at 67% (1839 of 2733) of my funding. I wanted to bring two prayer requests before you as I seek to raise the last $900/month.
1) As soon as I hit 90% monthly, I will be able to purchase my plane ticket to go to
2) I am also praying that God will bring 6 people or churches to support me for $100/month out of my last $900/month left to raise. Will you partner in this prayer with me?
Thank you so much for your prayers as I have been encouraged by those of you praying for me.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
March 6 update
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you very much for your prayers and support as my funding continues to increase. God has been continuing to teach me and prepare me during this time of fundraising.
I want to share a blessing with you that happened in the middle of February. A gentleman, who met with me and discipled me for two years while I was at Purdue, came into town for Faith Baptist Biblical Counseling Training Conference. I met up with him on Sunday night and he challenged me to see if there was anyway for me to attend this conference. I told him that the conference was full and that I needed to have signed up a while ago. With his perseverance, he talked to one of my pastors and found out that there was an opening because his relative was not able to attend as he planned to. As a result I was able to sit in during the week on Monday through Friday and participate in 33 amazing hours of Biblical teaching. The thing that I love so much about Biblical Counseling is that it shows me practical ways to help people Biblically which as a result helps me evaluate myself and grow spiritually.
God’s Word is all-sufficient and is able to help us in our everyday problems. And for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, we know that all things work together for good so that we may be conformed into the image of His Son.
My support is currently at 62% (1708 of 2733) monthly and 100% one-time. If you have been thinking about sending a gift or commitment in and I have not contacted you, please do so or give me a call.
Prayer:
1) I am planning on going to
2) Please pray for my phone calling, as I am not able to meet with everyone in person. Ask for boldness and perseverance to make these calls.
Thank you for your prayers and may God bless you,
Alan
Saturday, January 20, 2007
January 19 update
Dear Friends and Family,
I am excited to say that my one-time amount is now at 100% ($10,022 of $10,022) and my monthly is at 41% ($1123 of $2733). I am excited to see that my one-time cost has been raised and I think you all for your help and blessing in reaching that mark. Does that mean that I can’t accept one-time gifts anymore? No! What will happen is now that my one-time category is full, each time I receive a one-time gift it will be divided by 24 months and placed in the monthly category.
I wanted to remind all of you that as soon as my monthly reaches 90% I will be able to purchase a plane ticket to go to
Please pray with me that God will bring in my monthly support soon because the break in the Japanese school year is from February to March and school starts a new year in April. I would love to be able to arrive in February and start my language study before the new school year begins in April.
Praise! I received a phone call from a missionary in Japan this last week who was looking to see if I wanted to teach an English class to adults on Tuesday nights. I have been desiring to teach English while I was there so that I could pay off my monthly school loans. After talking with her, I found out that I could teach 2 hours a week, a total of 8 hours a month and be able to pay off my monthly school loans. Praise God for providing answers to prayer requests.
Also, please pray for my phone calling this next week. I am trying to set up appointments in South Bend for this next weekend as well as I am trying to contact everyone that I have sent a letter to by the end of this week.
Thank you very much for your prayers and support.
God Bless,
Alan
P.S.- I wanted to let you know there has been a small change to my budget. There has been a 1% increase in my budget which will go to the Navigators. This is to try and help the Ethnic ministries in the
Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Friday, January 12, 2007
Dad's Funeral Information
Thank you all for your prayers and support. I wanted to let you know that the obituary will not go into the South Bend Tribune until Friday. My Dad's funeral is going to be on Monday at 6pm for the viewing and 7pm for the memorial service. We were not able to have it on Saturday or Sunday. The location will be at Emmanuel Baptist Bible Church in Niles, MI. Niles is an adjoining city with South Bend.
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