It has been a long time since I have blogged. So, I hope you can make it to the bottom of this entry.
We have settled into a routine here of working in the coffee shop. We spend most of our time there because the shop is open from 11am to 7pm Monday through Saturday. The coffee shop has a pretty good flow of people who come in for english conversation, and we have started developing relationships with those who come often. Last night we had a Japanese couple over for dinner that we met through the coffee shop. We also invited Jessica and Dan Sadowitz over to help us translate, which was very helpful. Michelle made chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and rice. Ikuko brought over a really good stew with meat, potatoes, and carrots. She also brought a tuna fish salad with spinich in it that was very tasty. And for dessert we had a Miykonojo specialty dessert that they brought with some hot tea. We enjoyed showing each other pictures and showing them where we lived in America on a map. They were kind enough to bring Toby a modern kimono styled outfit for a toddler. We will have Toby wear it when we get back in the states. It will knock you out!
Saturday was Toby's birthday. He is now officially 2 years old. However, if you ask Toby, "How old are you?" He will still loudly proclaim that he is "ONE!" But we are working on that. All of the missionaries' children that have befriended Toby here went out of their way to make Toby feel special on his birthday. They all brought him little presents and made him cards. I know that this made a big impression on Toby. Yesterday I realized that Toby was being really quite, which usually means that he is getting into trouble. So, I went to investigate, and he was just sitting in his room studing the birthday cards that his friends gave him. I wish you could have seen the look of concentration on his face!The Sadowitz's were kind enough to take us to Miyazaki to help us celebrate Toby's birthday. We went to a large mall there. We all got some coffee drinks from Gloria Jeans. Then, we took Toby to a huge play land in the Jusco.
I bought several T-shirts at the mall that have english on them that doesn't make any sense. English on your clothing is way "cool" over here. It doesn't matter what the words actually mean. Sometimes this can be quite funny. For example, I bought a shirt that says "CUT DIRT not budge an inch abbreviate". My other shirt says "usual, genuine, agency, whip along, odds, headway, candor, bask, PROPICIOUS MOMENT, piece of luck!"I was talking with our friend Nahoko in the coffee shop about this, and she said that when she travels she sees the same thing with Japanese Kanji. The funniest instance of this that she saw was a on a big, muscular, tough english man that she met in England. He had a Kanji tatooed on his neck because it looked cool, and he didn't know what it meant. She died laughing when she saw it becuase the Kanji meant "little sister".
We have been able to call our families with Skype. I found out that I can call my Mother-in-law's cell phone from Japan with my computer for a little over 2 cents a minute. Isn't that amazing! I couldn't believe it. I think she was a little surprised too because when we told her who it was that was calling her, she responded with, "Who is this!" Like we were someone just pretending to be her daughter and son-in-law.
Tom Carr was kind enough to share the pulpit with me. So, yesterday I preached from John 12 at their church here. I had two main points: 1) Mary didn't hold onto what she had until it was too late. What a better way to use her expensive perfume than on the Lord. 2) I talked about how Jesus is worthy of this kind of worship. I used this to talk about a lot of the things that Pastor Randy has taught me about Jesus' exaltation. I obviously preached in Enlgish, and a young Japanese woman named Izumi translated for me. From what I could tell she did a great job. I think I probably sounded better in Japanese than I did in English. I told the Church that this was my first time preaching in my socks and that I liked it very much.
This week Evan, Elsbeth and Mariah are coming to visit us for a few days. We are looking forward to seeing them and showing them around Miyakonojo a little.
In closing I have been compiling a list a of things that make me go Hmmmmm about Japan because they are the exact opposite of how we do them in America. I will share a few of them with you now. Pastor Doug trained us to say that things are different and not weird. Once the culture shock wears off a little, these things are interesting and fun to observe.
1. Japanese drive on the different side of the road (we drive on the "right" side). I have gotten used to this, but I still try to get in the wrong door as a passenger. Tom Carr has taught me to pretend that I am doing a safety inspection of the tires when this happens.
2. I have heard that screws work differently here. Think "Righty loosey, Lefty tighty." However, I have yet to experience this phenomenon.
3. Books start at a different end. Sometimes you might wonder why everyone else is in Revelation when you're supposed to be studying Genesis!
4. When talking about themselves Japanese people don't point to their chest but to their nose. Don't worry they are not trying to tell you that you have a booger hanging out of your nose.
5. Typhoons are really the same thing as Hurricanes the name is just different. So, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I know this because I learned about it from a reliable source: Wikipedia!
That's all for now! Congradulations on making it to the bottom.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Rude Awakening
6/23/07
Yesterday, Romi informed me that she was taking the girls and I along with some other friends to a volcano in the morning. So that night I, wanting to be as prepared as possible, gathered and calibrated all of my volcanic exploration equipment which, after hours of contemplation, I had decided to bring to Japan just in case such an occasion arose. My equipment included one magma collection kit, three extreme temperature gauges, one lava-proof volcano suit with matching boots, and seven flame retardant notepads. After checking and rechecking my tools, I went to bed with great anticipation, dreaming of the grand adventures the morrow had in store.
I awoke early in the morning and as is the custom with pre-volcano breakfasts, I prepared a feast of the finest pancakes known to man. Personally, I believe a pancake is best enjoyed in a minimalist fashion, maple syrup being the only topping needed. However, the girls felt it necessary to don their flapjacks with an assortment of fruits, jams, jellies, the butter of peanuts, and even chopped chocolate chips. Now, normally I would not have allowed such ostentatious extravagance, but I was in an especially convivial disposition so I decided to let it slide. After filling our tummies with all of the yummy goodness, we set out for the volcano.
We traveled for approximately 45 minutes and upon stopping, I stepped out of the car astonished that the Takahashi’s lived so close to such a deadly force of nature. I was even more bamboozled when I looked to my right and saw hundreds of people loitering around the base of the volcano. My eyes got even wider and my jaw even closer to the ground when I noticed that most of the people were dressed casually, with not even a hint of protective gear. I guess I assumed that a person of average intelligence would know that volcanoes tend to be very hot especially erupting volcanoes, which have a nasty habit of spewing molten rock thousands of feet into the air in every direction. To tell you the truth, I almost passed out right then and there. I quickly slipped into my volcano suit, grabbed three notepads and sprinted up the wooden walkway to the mouth of the volcano. After tediously navigating my way through a gaggle of senior citizens all wearing identical “Erupting Into My Eighties: Japan Volcano Tour 2007” t-shirts, I finally reached the summit. I looked down into the center of the volcano and my heart did a nosedive down into the very depths of my matching left boot. And it wasn’t just the heel part of the boot it was the toe part. I looked up and down, across and around and there wasn’t one single speck of lava or magma. Not even a small brush fire. No charred trees scattered about. No signs of any volcanic activity in the least. I removed my right glove placing my hand on the ground. It wasn’t even warm, in fact it was a little on the cool side. For the next two hours I did several onsite tests, which led me to the conclusion that this particular volcano was a “dormant” volcano, whatever that means. Whoever heard of a “dormant” volcano? If you ask me, “dormant” is just a fancy way of saying, “mountain with a dip in the center.” The whole thing was a little embarrassing. I had to spend the rest of the day walking around in my volcano suit, which has to be one of the loudest pieces of outerwear ever since it’s made of a tinfoil-like material. Every time I took a step the sound waves generated from my suit echoed off the volcano’s walls creating innumerable rock slides and earaches.
Later, the girls caught up with me and we had lunch and walked around the rim of the “volcano.” I threw/kicked several rocks down into the center and it turned out to be pretty enjoyable. On the way home, we even saw a monkey sitting on the guardrail so we stopped and chatted for a while. Apparently, he works for some big consulting firm just outside Tokyo. He told me that he and his family were also disappointed at the lack of lava near the volcano but finding a banana tree on the side of the road had revived their spirits. At the end of the conversation we exchanged e-mail addresses and promised to write but we all know how that goes.
Yesterday, Romi informed me that she was taking the girls and I along with some other friends to a volcano in the morning. So that night I, wanting to be as prepared as possible, gathered and calibrated all of my volcanic exploration equipment which, after hours of contemplation, I had decided to bring to Japan just in case such an occasion arose. My equipment included one magma collection kit, three extreme temperature gauges, one lava-proof volcano suit with matching boots, and seven flame retardant notepads. After checking and rechecking my tools, I went to bed with great anticipation, dreaming of the grand adventures the morrow had in store.
I awoke early in the morning and as is the custom with pre-volcano breakfasts, I prepared a feast of the finest pancakes known to man. Personally, I believe a pancake is best enjoyed in a minimalist fashion, maple syrup being the only topping needed. However, the girls felt it necessary to don their flapjacks with an assortment of fruits, jams, jellies, the butter of peanuts, and even chopped chocolate chips. Now, normally I would not have allowed such ostentatious extravagance, but I was in an especially convivial disposition so I decided to let it slide. After filling our tummies with all of the yummy goodness, we set out for the volcano.
We traveled for approximately 45 minutes and upon stopping, I stepped out of the car astonished that the Takahashi’s lived so close to such a deadly force of nature. I was even more bamboozled when I looked to my right and saw hundreds of people loitering around the base of the volcano. My eyes got even wider and my jaw even closer to the ground when I noticed that most of the people were dressed casually, with not even a hint of protective gear. I guess I assumed that a person of average intelligence would know that volcanoes tend to be very hot especially erupting volcanoes, which have a nasty habit of spewing molten rock thousands of feet into the air in every direction. To tell you the truth, I almost passed out right then and there. I quickly slipped into my volcano suit, grabbed three notepads and sprinted up the wooden walkway to the mouth of the volcano. After tediously navigating my way through a gaggle of senior citizens all wearing identical “Erupting Into My Eighties: Japan Volcano Tour 2007” t-shirts, I finally reached the summit. I looked down into the center of the volcano and my heart did a nosedive down into the very depths of my matching left boot. And it wasn’t just the heel part of the boot it was the toe part. I looked up and down, across and around and there wasn’t one single speck of lava or magma. Not even a small brush fire. No charred trees scattered about. No signs of any volcanic activity in the least. I removed my right glove placing my hand on the ground. It wasn’t even warm, in fact it was a little on the cool side. For the next two hours I did several onsite tests, which led me to the conclusion that this particular volcano was a “dormant” volcano, whatever that means. Whoever heard of a “dormant” volcano? If you ask me, “dormant” is just a fancy way of saying, “mountain with a dip in the center.” The whole thing was a little embarrassing. I had to spend the rest of the day walking around in my volcano suit, which has to be one of the loudest pieces of outerwear ever since it’s made of a tinfoil-like material. Every time I took a step the sound waves generated from my suit echoed off the volcano’s walls creating innumerable rock slides and earaches.
Later, the girls caught up with me and we had lunch and walked around the rim of the “volcano.” I threw/kicked several rocks down into the center and it turned out to be pretty enjoyable. On the way home, we even saw a monkey sitting on the guardrail so we stopped and chatted for a while. Apparently, he works for some big consulting firm just outside Tokyo. He told me that he and his family were also disappointed at the lack of lava near the volcano but finding a banana tree on the side of the road had revived their spirits. At the end of the conversation we exchanged e-mail addresses and promised to write but we all know how that goes.
Friday, June 22, 2007
As the rain...
Friday, June 22, 2007
Well, it’s about time I blogged again… hmm… words are not flowing. I will share a verse that has encouraged me in my devotions.
Isaiah 55:10-11
“For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do no return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Mariah did a really good job summing up our time with Mickey. I felt God laying it on my heart to write out some verses to leave with her. I copied out Psalm 73:23-28 (my life verses) and explain that it described what God is to me. She agreed to read it later and let me know if she has any questions. She has no foundation in the Bible or knowledge of God. I wanted so bad to just share all my heart and God’s salvation with her, but without building a proper foundation it would not make sense. I’m just praying that the verses I left with her will intrigue her enough to create an open door for other opportunities. Please pray for the salvation of the this precious Japanese girl.
It is raining outside right now. Actually it is more of a moist mountain mist. I think that the rainy season we have been told about from our first day has finally arrived. The surroundings here at Adatara Bible Camp are green, green and more green, with some vivid flowers thrown in just for fun. You can almost feel the ground soaking in the water and the plants drinking it up. As I look at the rain it makes me remember God’s faithfulness. He is faithful to maintain the water cycle, from the little streams in the mountains and the rainy season in Japan, to the crashing waves of the ocean and the underground reserves that supply thousands of people.
He is also faithful to water the seeds of His Word in the hearts of people. I take great comfort in the promise that God’s words will not return to Him empty. He has a purpose and a task for it to accomplish. It doesn’t say it might succeed, but it shall succeed! He feeds the souls of the hungry till they thrive.
Oh, Lord when I am weary, when I feel there is no purpose being accomplished… help me to be faithful to proclaim Your Word. You have promised Lord, to give the success. Only help me to be faithful.
Well, it’s about time I blogged again… hmm… words are not flowing. I will share a verse that has encouraged me in my devotions.
Isaiah 55:10-11
“For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do no return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Mariah did a really good job summing up our time with Mickey. I felt God laying it on my heart to write out some verses to leave with her. I copied out Psalm 73:23-28 (my life verses) and explain that it described what God is to me. She agreed to read it later and let me know if she has any questions. She has no foundation in the Bible or knowledge of God. I wanted so bad to just share all my heart and God’s salvation with her, but without building a proper foundation it would not make sense. I’m just praying that the verses I left with her will intrigue her enough to create an open door for other opportunities. Please pray for the salvation of the this precious Japanese girl.
It is raining outside right now. Actually it is more of a moist mountain mist. I think that the rainy season we have been told about from our first day has finally arrived. The surroundings here at Adatara Bible Camp are green, green and more green, with some vivid flowers thrown in just for fun. You can almost feel the ground soaking in the water and the plants drinking it up. As I look at the rain it makes me remember God’s faithfulness. He is faithful to maintain the water cycle, from the little streams in the mountains and the rainy season in Japan, to the crashing waves of the ocean and the underground reserves that supply thousands of people.
He is also faithful to water the seeds of His Word in the hearts of people. I take great comfort in the promise that God’s words will not return to Him empty. He has a purpose and a task for it to accomplish. It doesn’t say it might succeed, but it shall succeed! He feeds the souls of the hungry till they thrive.
Oh, Lord when I am weary, when I feel there is no purpose being accomplished… help me to be faithful to proclaim Your Word. You have promised Lord, to give the success. Only help me to be faithful.
-Elsbeth
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