Let the rain fall

As the rain falls in Japan I cannot help but find myself in a writing mood.  I don't know what it is about the rain in Japan but it helps to clear my head, even with high School Musical 3 blaring in the background!  So, as the rain has fallen I find myself with nothing to say.  Things have happened and I can't quite place my finger on what I've told and what I haven't so I'll just reveal the highlights.  Let's see...

Recently me and my fellow missionaries began learning the Kanji used in worship.  Now I know i hate language cause it's so difficult for me but i love learning worship Kanji!!  It makes sense and i can see where it's used and actually recognize the characters!  It's so great. And i love to write it because to me it seems much more like drawing that writing.

Since i last wrote I've gotten the opportunity to hang out with more of the VYMers and get to know the ones who aren't working at center better.  Two weeks ago my friend Jenae and i went out for Ramen and let me tell you Japanese Ramen is infinitely better than American Ramen!  So good, and while we were eating Ramen and we talked for like 3 hours!!  It was great!  I can't wait to go out again and talk an uplift one another.  

That's not the only time recently that I've been blessed with great fellowship.  One Saturday i went to IKEA with Carol, Charity, and Kim and afterwards we went to Yukie's house for crepes.  Walking around the store and talking with Charity and Carol, i learned that Charity knew some of the people who i went to college with!  I'm continuously amazed at the size of the small yet massive Lutheran bubble i consider myself a part of.  anyways after this fun day of buying necessities we went to our director and friend, Yukie's house for a crepe party!  Lots of good friends and great food always make for a good time!!  

Speaking of which, last week a cheesefest was held that me and several others also attended and let me tell you cheese in Japan is amazing!  Especially this cheese fondue that i bought.....sooooo good with fresh bakery bread!

This month has brought so much stuff to update on and the next thing is the Family concert we had a weekend ago.  Now first, let me clarify.  Family in japan means anyone with whom you have a good and close relationship.  So for our family concert, church members, friends, and VYM members were invited and encouraged to play.  So several VYM members played and some church members that i didn't really know, and i played!!  I bought a guitar and have been trying to learn how to play since i got it and by the time family concert came around I've had my guitar for a week.  so i was just going to go and play the one chord that i knew and call it good.  however, me being the weird person that i am decided to start out that way and go into a song that i had prepared in advance to the surprise of all. and so I'm pretty sure i gave the worst rendition ever of Sanctuary and continued on with the night.  But it was nice to play in front of people, if horribly!

with all of the fun things that have been going on there have also been some good ministry thing working too.  One of the things that has been really uplifting to me spiritually has been the Holden evening service held at center once a month.  I love the service and the music is amazing!  It will be one thing that i take with me after my time here!  

the other things is our visit o the Ikegami church.  I'll admit to knowing very little about this church but once i got there and met a lot of the people i fell in love with it!  We had dinner and a kanji lesson/test afterwards.  And played jenga with the church members!  It was awesome!  I plan to attend this church once a month and be sure to connect with the people there because i love the work i see God doing.  

Another amazing thing that happened was Thanksgiving!  Now i know you all haven't even had thanksgiving yet but here in Japan we had one heck of a thanksgiving!!!  On Friday i skipped Japanese class to help and cook the thanksgiving dinner.  (it's a good thing i did too cause otherwise everything would still be cooking)  I got to have great conversations with Kat, Charity, and Pastor Phil.  All before the turkey was done.  Once the turkey was done...about 2 hours late i got to carry the 18lb. bird roughly two miles to it's resting place at center.  My arms didn't stop shaking the whole night.  But it was well worth it to see all of the people i had met through various things.  A woman i met on discover Tokyo day talked to me about a book i had lent her and was very grateful to see the bible in a manner she could understand in conjunction with her culture (Bible manga!!)  I also had the opportunity to talk with one of the ladies in the office, Emi, with whom i discovered a mutual love for movies!  Even though i had to run out to retrieve pots, pans, and a forgotten purse, i returned to help with clean up and have good manly moving of tales and love seats with some of the other Japanese guys i had met previously.  Yet one of my favorite moments came when two people i new from Carol and Kat's Japanese class were leaving and they specifically said goodbye to me!  Made my night!!!  

On more just general fun notes; i survived my first earth quake in Japan.  apparently there have been others but none that i actually felt until this past Saturday!!!  So kool!!  On that same day i also had udon for the first time, which is kind of a long white noodle.  The udon however, was kind of bland so next time I'm going to try it with soy sauce or something inside it.  And just two days ago i expanded my music knowledge by going to a live concert here.  The headlining band was Trash Box Jam: The Band, along with some other really good bands.  I had so much fun and since Amber is a devotee of the band i knew some of the back history which made it even kooler to hear and watch.  And there was this other girl who sounded really good too and so i bought both her and a trash box jam the band CD!  YeaH!!!  I have Japanese music!   

And most recently i had a meeting with my basic group, which is like a prayer/support group amongst the missionaries.  Only 3 of the four of could meet because our fourth and most distant member, by location and nothing else, was sick.  So Kat, Becky, and I ate dinner, watched movies and had a great time!  I cannot wait for a basic where we all get to meet and talk!  I love my group!!  Well i think that about sums up my last few weeks.  Don't worry there are always things happening to update you all one and hopefully i can be better at it in the coming weeks.

Oh yea and something super important that  forgot to tell everyone.  Since i came here i have been asking God to use me to reach the people of Japan, especially since the incident on the train several weeks ago.  Now i have been keeping with this prayer and to this day still pray God would use me to share Jesus with the people of Japan, however, he has seen fit to bless me in a totally unexpected way.  Sometime between arriving here in japan and now i have fallen head over heel for one of the other missionaries.  I don't want to use names so I'll use an animal analogy for her.  Let's use a...cat.  So anyways God places this cat in my life and as of two weeks age we started dating.  Seeing the reactions of fellow missionaries and friends has at times been overwhelming but over all a very encouraging and positive experience for me here.  I feel so filled with joy when people who know the cat tell me that i bring her to life and break her out of her shell.  It's like God is using me not only to impact the lives of the people of Japan but the other missionaries.  Now granted I've affected the cat's life much more than some others but i love that he is using me to serve the other missionaries also.  So, if you all would please pray for the cat and i, that we would keep God's purpose for our lives as our focus and encourage and strengthen one another in his name!  I thank you all for reading my endlessly tiring words and lifting up me and my fellow missionaries in prayer.  Please if you have any other prayer requests let me know and they will go on the prayer list.  Mata!

Up, Up, and Away!

It's difficult to post about the last week or so.  Not because nothing has happened but because i don't now that i can qualify the things that have happened over the past several days.  This past week i've actually had to work while in Japan.  And it's kind of the most boring part of working because all i did was attend meetings, however, with all of the people in VYM the meetings themselves weren't that bad.  As a group we litened to the things happening in Japan and the ways in which we can help, along with a shortened version of how to work with students in an EFL setting.  Beyond that we struggled together to learn about what Satan is doing here in Japan.  There were tears and stories of pain and suffering that left most if not all of our team emotionally drained.  It wasn't one of those situations you just feel bad about but the sort of thing that pulls the life out of you until you're not quite sure how anyone survived.  This is the part where i try to reinforce the need for prayer in Japan.  There is so much evil seated just beneath the surface and presented in such a polite way that it's hard for people to see, unless you're looking for it.  And in VYM we're desperately searching to bring those things into light.  The light of Christ which reveals all the brokenness an hurting so that Christ's love can destroy the lack of love and fill the people of Japan to overflowing.

Amidst all this despair there is life and it is found within each member of VYM.  This past week has brought me closer to more members than i would have thought possible.  Even with the small interactions i've had until this point this weekend gave me new friends and allies in this ongoing battle for the world.  Each day was filled with praise and love like Japan is seldom to see.  We worshiped in various ways that helped us to see Christ in ways some of us never would have thought of, and in other more well knows styles. There were great opportunities for prayer, which the Lord has used to refresh and strengthen my relationships with the other Vers.  And the sheer amount of hugs makes finding a family here in Japan a needless venture.  

In continuing on with my extensive writings about Japan i will now tell you what we did.  Pictures will be soon to follow but for now you get only words:

The beginning of the week, as i said, was full of business meetings and some extra-curricular activities, including, a movie night, karaoke, and general hang-outage.    The weekend was awesome too!  We went to a retreat center near Mt. Fuji.

The retreat place was so great, if felt like being home.  And then during the week we worshipped, talked, and just had a great time.  This weekend also brought along two firsts for me one which was great, was chopping wood.  I love the hard work and sweat involved in physically helping some one where you can see the results.  And two the not so great one was sitting in baths with other naked men. Now, now, now...let me explain.  A part of Japanese culture is something called an onsen or sento.  Basically this means baths to relax in while in your birthday suits.  Now as several members of VYM can attest to i was not so thrilled to go, but being the adventurous type that i am i went, alone mind you.  Even my roommate ditched me!!!  But i went and stayed in the onsen for over an hour.  It was nice but soooo boring, nice i was the only one in there who didn't know Japanese.  But i did it and can now say that more than likely i would probably do it again but under the same amount of creeped-outness.  There's so much that happened this weekend it's hard to pick out the specific moments to write on here but the other one, two...ok just more that come to mind are the bon-fire, gifts test, and apples to apples game.  For the bon-fire we had to make it from a lot of wet wood.  It was difficult at first but eventually we got it going.  this was the first time i had chopped wood.  i even taught one of the other members how to do it. And i think she's better at it than i am.  :(   Anyways moving on...At this bon-fire i had to instill a tradition.  When i was in Y-Min we would always make banana boats.  Feeling like this was pretty much the same things i instilled that practice here as well.  Everyone who had one seemed to really like it and so the banana boats were born.  Skipping to the apples to apples game, we had so much fun. At one point we had 15 people playing apples to apples the bible edition.  I don't think i have laughed so hard in a long time.  These people are so respectful yet, funny with their card playing.  Shockingly enough i won!  I wasn't sure i could because nearly every argument i made was shot down. It seemed like only when i wasn't talking did i get the cards....you think they're trying to tell me something?!?!?   Finally, the gifts test.  It's hard to explain exactly what this test is meant for, at least for me to explain, but as it seems i am mostly an exhorter, with servant as a follow-up an mercy closing out the top three.  The Nigata women find this fascinating!  The exhorter side of me means that i like to tell people about Christ in a way that makes sense to them.  Along with many other things.  the servant side says i like to help people out, at least i hope that's what it means, and the mercy side shows that i feel for people when they are hurting of happy.  Overall i'm really happy with how this looks.  Cindy has apparently made predictions about my life and future and i'm curious to see how correct she is when all my future comes into view.  But so far this combination of qualities is something everyone seems to like and have a much better understanding of that even i do.  

But for now that's my week.  One of the, if not the greatest, weeks of my life.  the women and BOTH Matts here are amazing servants of God.  And in serving him have continued to uplift and encourage me. I could not ask for better friends, and yet friends seems to shallow to describe what i feel towards them.  These people have become my family.  Thank you God for your blessings that are new everyday!

p.s. My roommate Matt and i have taken up the task of praying together every night and would love to pray for you.  Please if you have any prayer requests comment on this blog or e-mail them to me at hope_on_fire@hotmail.com