As a resident alien(I love to say that!:) there is a form I have to fill out telling how long I have lived in Japan, a year to year list of the number of days I have lived in Japan for the past 10 years. Last year when I arrived at the temporary office and asked for the form they called the office and someone brought them over to me. This year I got to have a new adventure, I got to go find the real tax office to get the form.
I spent a lot more time driving around trying to find the offices and parking lots than I actually did in the office filing my return! Then I spent some time in an electronics store, practicing piano and eating dinner.
My evening is finishing with a lovely gift from a wonderful youth group in Michigan... peanut butter cookies and Reese's! Thank you!
3 comments:
Shan, I saw your title and thought my son had hijacked your blog. That is exactly what he asks me every evening, even if he has been with me the entire day.
Well, it certainly sounds like you had an adventure.
Reeses. Yum. I bet they're a little harder to find in Japan!
I had a random thought of you yesterday... I get questions sometimes from people at other churches looking to see some of our resources (for small groups, etc.) and I had a request from a church planter in Osaka! I know that Osaka is both a city and a region, so I'm not sure he's anywhere near you, but I still thought it was fun. :)
Hey again! I just realized I don't have your actual email address, so I'll respond here. :) My email is first name (dot) last name (at) gmail.com -- don't want to spell it out, but you can figure it out if you want. :)
The tool other pastors request from us most is a study guide, linked here: wayofchrist.info/iwoc/book.asp
I need to update that site, but haven't done it in a while... Oh well. :) We also send people to this site I do work on more: soulrevolution.net. That site is for our pastor's second book (which has a bit of my story in it).
I just ordered you a copy of our pastor's first book, "No Perfect People Allowed" from Amazon (it'll arrive between April 2 and 22). I've meant to ship that to you for a while but keep forgetting. Maybe this was a divine prompting. :)
He writes mostly about our church, about the very "not perfect" kinds of people that God seems to bring us, and lessons learned about ministering to them. The chapters hit on some topics that people like you & I may not have talked a lot about when we were growing up (issues of brokenness, aloneness, tolerance, sexual wholeness, etc.) but which are reality for so many people. Some of those subjects are hard to think about -- but over the years here, I've seen so many people that I might have labeled "too messed up" come to real & transforming faith in Christ. His second book has more teaching-- this book has lots of stories, some principles, and plenty of study & read for yourself questions.
Lots of pastors overseas have written us, saying they like the book. It's not because other cultures are dealing with the same subjects, necessarily, but I think it's mostly because of the motivation it gives them to think how to minister better in their context.
Anyhow, regardless of if the book helps you, at least you can look forward to more mail. :)
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