So I took my driver's test today and broke our campus streak. I failed! Today there were 28 people who took the test and all 28 people failed. No one passed the test!
It was an interesting experience but I wish I would have passed. My driving seemed to be fine but I have a couple things to make sure I do next time and I will probably pass. At the end of the time he tells you about things to improve in your driving.
1) I had one stop line that he said I went over. If I was a betting man, I would have wagered him on it and gotten out of the car. At most the tip of the bumper was above the white stop line.
2) He said I forgot one turn signal. I don't remember missing a turn signal but he said I did.
These were the only things he corrected me on and I failed. I couldn't figure it out.
After about an hour I realized one thing he didn't tell me. When I left the car I did not turn it off. I left it running for the next person. That is probably what made me fail. Not turning off the car before the next person did their test drive. In 9 years of driving I have never accidentally left my car running. I then realized that I never started the car. The previous 2 drivers using the car had never turned it off either and the person doing the grading never turned it off for the next driver. Major Note to Self: Make sure the car is off before I start the next test and make sure to turn it back off at the end of my test.
Well, next Thursday is round 2. Please pray for clarity of mind for me on the 24 of April.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Driving Test
So tomorrow morning I will be heading to the Japanese Driving Center to take the driver's test for my Japanese license. I have been using my International Driver's License since I arrived in Japan. It sadly expires on April 30 in which I can no longer drive unless I have a Japanese license.
Needless to say, the odds are great in failing the test your first time. Some people have taken the test 3 times and a friend from language school took it 7 times. Recently, the staff have been passing it on the first time in Utsunomiya, thanks to Ruth Ann's great instructions about the course.
Please pray for me as my next few weeks are very busy and I will also be moving to a new ministry house. I would like to pass the test the first time as it consumes my day from 8:30-5:00pm as it is an all day test even though you sit and wait for most of that time. If you happen to be awake around 12am-3am on Thursday morning please pray that I will pass the test.
Needless to say, the odds are great in failing the test your first time. Some people have taken the test 3 times and a friend from language school took it 7 times. Recently, the staff have been passing it on the first time in Utsunomiya, thanks to Ruth Ann's great instructions about the course.
Please pray for me as my next few weeks are very busy and I will also be moving to a new ministry house. I would like to pass the test the first time as it consumes my day from 8:30-5:00pm as it is an all day test even though you sit and wait for most of that time. If you happen to be awake around 12am-3am on Thursday morning please pray that I will pass the test.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
New School Year, New Home
We will be doing our Freshman recruiting on April 9,10 this year and then have or first Friday BEST on the 11th. But before that gets started there will be a couple other things happening.
On April 2,3 I will be heading down to Shizuoka with Bryan and a few students to investigate our Hokkaido trip for this upcoming August. This will be my first time to go to Shizuoka and hopefully will be my first time to see all of Mount Fuji at one time. I have indeed climbed the mountain but have still never seen the mountain in person. Every time it has been cloudy, dark, or rainy when I have had a chance to see it.
Today, we have a temporary staff joining us for one month. Brian Buffington is going to visit us during the month of April and help with recruiting and the new school year. It will be exciting to see him and work beside him again.
Then at the end of April I will be moving into a different house. (Yeah!) We have rented a newer house and a much larger house. My 3 roommates and I will be moving into a new house which is almost double the size of our current house, it has a huge garden, and it will be a great house for student activity because 3 of the bedrooms can open into one room which recreates a great meeting place. We will probably get 1 more roommate and have 5 of us living in an 8 bedroom house for the same rental price per person. I can't wait to move but I have to be patient until April 27 when we can start moving into the house.
On April 2,3 I will be heading down to Shizuoka with Bryan and a few students to investigate our Hokkaido trip for this upcoming August. This will be my first time to go to Shizuoka and hopefully will be my first time to see all of Mount Fuji at one time. I have indeed climbed the mountain but have still never seen the mountain in person. Every time it has been cloudy, dark, or rainy when I have had a chance to see it.
Today, we have a temporary staff joining us for one month. Brian Buffington is going to visit us during the month of April and help with recruiting and the new school year. It will be exciting to see him and work beside him again.
Then at the end of April I will be moving into a different house. (Yeah!) We have rented a newer house and a much larger house. My 3 roommates and I will be moving into a new house which is almost double the size of our current house, it has a huge garden, and it will be a great house for student activity because 3 of the bedrooms can open into one room which recreates a great meeting place. We will probably get 1 more roommate and have 5 of us living in an 8 bedroom house for the same rental price per person. I can't wait to move but I have to be patient until April 27 when we can start moving into the house.
Japan Bible Home
I am back in Utsunomiya and I am alive. I spent two wonderful and difficult weeks in the middle of nowhere in Gunma at Japan Bible Home. God had led me to take two weeks alone with only my Bible. No other books that I could turn to and no computer to run to. I put some pictures up of two hikes that I took while I was there.
It was absolutely gorgeous. I arrived and they had about 2 meters of snow in the flat land. While I was there it was very sunny and warm and the snow melted a lot.
We are planning to take a BEST Club trip up there in the beginning of June just after the summer team arrives. We will do some hiking, canoing, and then canoe to an area where we will set up camp for the night.
Since arriving back in Utsunomiya, things have been very busy. I have had a two day lull here now and finally feel like I am caught up on some things but it will keep getting busier with the new school year starting in a week and a half.
It was absolutely gorgeous. I arrived and they had about 2 meters of snow in the flat land. While I was there it was very sunny and warm and the snow melted a lot.
We are planning to take a BEST Club trip up there in the beginning of June just after the summer team arrives. We will do some hiking, canoing, and then canoe to an area where we will set up camp for the night.
Since arriving back in Utsunomiya, things have been very busy. I have had a two day lull here now and finally feel like I am caught up on some things but it will keep getting busier with the new school year starting in a week and a half.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Ski Camp
When I hear the word ski I often think, "Hmm, I wonder what that is like." I grew up in the flatlands of Indiana and never went anywhere to ski before. Now that I live in a country that is 85% mountainous, everybody ski's.
We had our annual ski trip to Bandai from this last Tuesday through Friday. The plan was to arrive on Tuesday, ski on Wednesday and Thursday, and then you had the choice of skiing again on Friday, sightseeing, or returning home. Because I had my English class on Tuesday night, I left for ski camp on Wednesday. I took the train from Utsunomiya to Koriyama and was waiting for my final connection when a Japanese person asked me if I understood the announcement. I initially thought he was just being kind, so I said, "Yes." I then started looking around and all of the Japanese had concerned looks on their face. So then I humbly chased the man down and asked him what was happening. He told me the train was delayed because of strong winds and snow and it was stopped about 30 minutes away in Inawashiro, the city I was heading for. So I headed inside the station and waited and found out that they had no idea when the train would be able to come.
After about an hour I received a phone call from Joanna, Tokyo staff, who was coming to snowboard for one day with our group. She was also in Koriyama waiting for her next train which was an hour after mine and clearly neither had arrived. So we went inside and had a drink in Tully's coffee shop. Thankfully, Tomo drove to Koriyama to pick us up as the trains were canceled for the night.
Then Thursday morning arrived. My first day snowboarding ever (I decided to snowboard because almost everybody in the group snowboarded). So what happens, the group takes me up the first ski slope with absolutely no experience. There was no bunny hill experience for Alan. It took me about an hour to learn how to stand up on the snowboard without falling and to start to move down the hill. Finally, thanks to Tomo's great patience and instruction I made it down to the bottom of the first ski slope.
I then went inside to change into a larger boot and came outside and didn't see anyone I knew so I decided to go on the same lift and continue to practice. As I entered the lift I realized, this looks a little different. Sure enough, I got onto lift number 3 and not number 2. I then went up to the top of a much more difficult hill all by myself. Thanks to God I made it down the hill in about 8 minutes with only two falls. I then met everyone for lunch and afterwards a newer lift had opened that was closed in the morning because of the wind and snow. So we all went up this new lift which was the most difficult that they had open that day. On a easy, medium, hard, and expert hill setting, there is nothing like taking the hard on your second and harder on your third trip up the lift.
We reached the top to realize that the winds were howling with white out conditions. I couldn't even see the sides of the path. I made it down, somehow, without any problems and then decided to go back on the easier slope so that I could practice snowboarding instead of plowing snow the whole way down the mountain to reduce my speed.
By the time the day was over, I enjoyed my snowboarding experience and was unable to move any muscles in my body. The next day I went with Ruth Ann, Teppei, Yamao, and Emi to go sightseeing. We visited Hideyo Noguchi's museum, a famous Japanese doctor who is on the 1000 yen bill, fed the ducks, and visited Mother Buddha in the snow. It was absolutely gorgeous to see the scenery in perfect untouched snow.
Hopefully, I will have the pictures up in the next couple days from ski camp. I have put my crazy hair cut pictures online for your enjoyment. I have had so many remarks and laughs from random people as I also wore my dyed hair to ski camp.
We had our annual ski trip to Bandai from this last Tuesday through Friday. The plan was to arrive on Tuesday, ski on Wednesday and Thursday, and then you had the choice of skiing again on Friday, sightseeing, or returning home. Because I had my English class on Tuesday night, I left for ski camp on Wednesday. I took the train from Utsunomiya to Koriyama and was waiting for my final connection when a Japanese person asked me if I understood the announcement. I initially thought he was just being kind, so I said, "Yes." I then started looking around and all of the Japanese had concerned looks on their face. So then I humbly chased the man down and asked him what was happening. He told me the train was delayed because of strong winds and snow and it was stopped about 30 minutes away in Inawashiro, the city I was heading for. So I headed inside the station and waited and found out that they had no idea when the train would be able to come.
After about an hour I received a phone call from Joanna, Tokyo staff, who was coming to snowboard for one day with our group. She was also in Koriyama waiting for her next train which was an hour after mine and clearly neither had arrived. So we went inside and had a drink in Tully's coffee shop. Thankfully, Tomo drove to Koriyama to pick us up as the trains were canceled for the night.
Then Thursday morning arrived. My first day snowboarding ever (I decided to snowboard because almost everybody in the group snowboarded). So what happens, the group takes me up the first ski slope with absolutely no experience. There was no bunny hill experience for Alan. It took me about an hour to learn how to stand up on the snowboard without falling and to start to move down the hill. Finally, thanks to Tomo's great patience and instruction I made it down to the bottom of the first ski slope.
I then went inside to change into a larger boot and came outside and didn't see anyone I knew so I decided to go on the same lift and continue to practice. As I entered the lift I realized, this looks a little different. Sure enough, I got onto lift number 3 and not number 2. I then went up to the top of a much more difficult hill all by myself. Thanks to God I made it down the hill in about 8 minutes with only two falls. I then met everyone for lunch and afterwards a newer lift had opened that was closed in the morning because of the wind and snow. So we all went up this new lift which was the most difficult that they had open that day. On a easy, medium, hard, and expert hill setting, there is nothing like taking the hard on your second and harder on your third trip up the lift.
We reached the top to realize that the winds were howling with white out conditions. I couldn't even see the sides of the path. I made it down, somehow, without any problems and then decided to go back on the easier slope so that I could practice snowboarding instead of plowing snow the whole way down the mountain to reduce my speed.
By the time the day was over, I enjoyed my snowboarding experience and was unable to move any muscles in my body. The next day I went with Ruth Ann, Teppei, Yamao, and Emi to go sightseeing. We visited Hideyo Noguchi's museum, a famous Japanese doctor who is on the 1000 yen bill, fed the ducks, and visited Mother Buddha in the snow. It was absolutely gorgeous to see the scenery in perfect untouched snow.
Hopefully, I will have the pictures up in the next couple days from ski camp. I have put my crazy hair cut pictures online for your enjoyment. I have had so many remarks and laughs from random people as I also wore my dyed hair to ski camp.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
"Why Alan Likes the Bible" Presentation
This Friday night I will be giving the presentation on the unity and reliability of the Scriptures. Much work has gone into this and much prayer for the Spirit to work in amazing ways in the lives of the students.
The goal of the presentation is to cast the idea into the mind of the students that the Bible is not an ordinary book and that it is reasonable to believe that the Bible is actually the word of God.
This Friday night is the last Friday Best meeting of the school year. Tests are now done and the break has now started. We titled the presentation "Why Alan Likes the Bible" so that more students would come desiring to hear my opinion compared to a random presentation. Japanese are much more interested in the person than they are directly in the facts.
An example I have heard several times about the Japanese is about a door to door vacuum salesman. This salesman is selling the best vacuum cleaner in the world. Not only can it vacuum but it can also do your laundry, ironing, and dirty dishes. And the best part is that it only cost $1. The American would instantly buy it but the Japanese would probably not buy it simply because they do not know the salesman. Relationships are very important in expressing truth to the Japanese.
Please pray that students will come and listen to how amazing the Bible is. Pray that the Spirit will be moving in there hearts to show them the truth about Christ.
The goal of the presentation is to cast the idea into the mind of the students that the Bible is not an ordinary book and that it is reasonable to believe that the Bible is actually the word of God.
This Friday night is the last Friday Best meeting of the school year. Tests are now done and the break has now started. We titled the presentation "Why Alan Likes the Bible" so that more students would come desiring to hear my opinion compared to a random presentation. Japanese are much more interested in the person than they are directly in the facts.
An example I have heard several times about the Japanese is about a door to door vacuum salesman. This salesman is selling the best vacuum cleaner in the world. Not only can it vacuum but it can also do your laundry, ironing, and dirty dishes. And the best part is that it only cost $1. The American would instantly buy it but the Japanese would probably not buy it simply because they do not know the salesman. Relationships are very important in expressing truth to the Japanese.
Please pray that students will come and listen to how amazing the Bible is. Pray that the Spirit will be moving in there hearts to show them the truth about Christ.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
We Passed!
Our test results from December came in the mail today and guess what? We passed! Keith and I both passed our Level 4 Japanese proficiency test. Now I get to look forward to going out to eat with my Japanese teacher for celebration. Some people have said that I don't look like the same person as my ID shows on my certificate. I will let you decide.
So I was really looking forward to letting my hair grow out until May but I will finally do what my Mom keeps gently reminding me to do and get it cut. This is not because she told me to but because of much more exciting news. My good friend, Ryan, is now engaged to a sweet girl named Betsy. They are currently working on the date but are maybe looking at a May wedding. That means my hair has to get cut sooner and that means that I will return to the states, Lord willing, for a week or two to attend the wedding. So within the next month you should see some crazy hair cut pictures on the web so that way my hair has time to grow back to normal for the wedding.
Today, I was greatly encouraged during our staff meeting. On Monday nights I participate in a Bible Study with 5 seniors who are all Christians now. 3 of them clearly had no background in the Bible when they came in as Freshman. And now we are studying Ephesians together and encouraging each other in the word and scripture memory. An amazing blessing for me as I am reaping what others had sown for 4 years.
On the other end I am greatly discouraged in meeting with the Freshman guys. To me our relationship seems to be going no where. They seem to not be very interested in talking to me when we eat lunch to the point where sometimes I am lucky to get a hello out of some of there mouths. But when sports comes around on Sunday they seem to be more open through having fun together. To me right now it seems hopeless. It is easy to want to give up on meeting with them. This is an example of laboring where no one else has labored before me.
I am currently seeing the great rewards of labor and the great struggle of laboring. During our staff time I was encouraged to hear other stories that were similar and how God softened there hearts to have much greater relationships with those students. Please pray that God will help me breakthrough to the hearts of the Freshman guys. In Japan, the non-communication is often more important than the verbal communication. May God bless me in persistence so that I may rejoice one day seeing these guys come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
So I was really looking forward to letting my hair grow out until May but I will finally do what my Mom keeps gently reminding me to do and get it cut. This is not because she told me to but because of much more exciting news. My good friend, Ryan, is now engaged to a sweet girl named Betsy. They are currently working on the date but are maybe looking at a May wedding. That means my hair has to get cut sooner and that means that I will return to the states, Lord willing, for a week or two to attend the wedding. So within the next month you should see some crazy hair cut pictures on the web so that way my hair has time to grow back to normal for the wedding.
Today, I was greatly encouraged during our staff meeting. On Monday nights I participate in a Bible Study with 5 seniors who are all Christians now. 3 of them clearly had no background in the Bible when they came in as Freshman. And now we are studying Ephesians together and encouraging each other in the word and scripture memory. An amazing blessing for me as I am reaping what others had sown for 4 years.
On the other end I am greatly discouraged in meeting with the Freshman guys. To me our relationship seems to be going no where. They seem to not be very interested in talking to me when we eat lunch to the point where sometimes I am lucky to get a hello out of some of there mouths. But when sports comes around on Sunday they seem to be more open through having fun together. To me right now it seems hopeless. It is easy to want to give up on meeting with them. This is an example of laboring where no one else has labored before me.
I am currently seeing the great rewards of labor and the great struggle of laboring. During our staff time I was encouraged to hear other stories that were similar and how God softened there hearts to have much greater relationships with those students. Please pray that God will help me breakthrough to the hearts of the Freshman guys. In Japan, the non-communication is often more important than the verbal communication. May God bless me in persistence so that I may rejoice one day seeing these guys come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
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