Shan In Japan

Thought from St. Ignatius

2009-11-10T03:42:00.003+09:00

I am reading a book about Mother Teresa. It is filled with letters that she wrote to and received from her superiors as she was forming and serving as a Missionary of Charity in India. So much of what I have read has made an impact, but here is a recently read quote. This was written in a letter from Archbishop Perier quoting St. Ignatius.

"My only wish and desire, the one thing I humbly crave to have is the grace to love God, to love Him alone. Beyond that I ask for nothing more."

Oh to live with such a desire!

friends

2009-11-01T06:10:00.010+09:00

As I have traveled around the upper midwest the past two months I have met many new people, shared numerous times about ministry in Japan, and stayed with a variety of people, some I have stayed with before and others were first timers. Overall, it has been a great home assignment so far.

A week ago I went to Minnesota and stayed with long-time friends. What a blessing those 6 days were!
I stayed with fellow missionaries...

Barb and I tried to buy out all of the tall-sized pants and jeans at Shopko.

I stayed with a college roommate...

We did a lot of fun things including a corn maze...
and breakfast with another roommate...

I also had dinner with another roommate...

She is also in ministry so we had a good time of sharing and encouragement.
Six of us lived together senior year so I have lots of college roommates!

And yesterday I got to visit with a best buddy from high school, junior high, elementary, well, since forever, right here in Madison.

I was reminded how blessed I am with such wonderful friends. Thank you, Jesus!

the harvest is ready

2009-10-30T10:48:00.003+09:00

I have been traveling through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota for the past couple of months. I have watched the fields turn from green to brown as the beans, corn, and sunflowers matured and dried in preparation for harvest.

Everything was looking so good. Then the rains came. In October. The crops don't need as much rain as we've gotten this October. We've had a few days of no rain, in a row, so the farmers have been scrambling to get the soy beans harvested. Then the rain started again today.

As I was driving back from Iowa last night in the rain past all of the unharvested fields I thought of the well-known verses from Matthew. "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."

I was thinking of all the things that can hinder the harvest, rain, broken tractors, snow, etc. There are also things that hinder the harvest that Jesus was talking about in Matthew. The main hinderance Jesus talked about was the lack of workers. I am sure we can think of many other hinderances, culture, prejudices, religion, etc.

There are outside influences the enemy uses to hinder us. There are also lies he tells us to keep us from participating in the harvest. "You are not called." "You don't know enough to talk about the Bible." "You are too busy." And so on.

There is another hinderance, comfort. It is uncomfortable to participate in the harvest. Farmers who harvest crops work long hours during the harvest season. Being a harvester for Jesus is uncomfortable.

What is hindering us from being harvesters?

Least Favorite Part of the Job

2009-10-15T06:05:00.005+09:00

Part of being a missionary is asking for support. I do not know one missionary who likes this part of the job. But, two weeks ago I went to a conference put on by a ministry that helps make it a little bit easier.

Steer, Inc. is a ministry that partners ranchers and farmers with missionaries. I actually have several people who support me through this program. It is great to see people who desire to share God's Word around the world finding ways to make it happen. If you want to know more about this innovative program check it out here.

While at the conference I got to get together with fellow NAB missionaries (Lance and Debra Rundus), see people from supporting churches, and meet missionaries from other organizations.

We also got to hear some inspirational speakers, Kim Meeder (who I wrote about in this post), Mark Mittelberg, Brian Wechsler who is a representative from Village Missions, and Josh McDowell, who I did not get to hear since I had to leave early.

So, in the midst of thinking about the least favorite part of my job I got to be part of one of my favorite parts of my job, hanging out with other missionaries!

Just a thought

2009-10-03T00:38:00.003+09:00

I guess I need to keep my computer connected to me at all times. (My mom thinks it is connected to me!) I keep having good ideas for a blog post and then I forget by the time I get a chance to write!

Well, here is one I remember.

On Tuesday I went with my parents to Sioux Falls to listen to my dad speak-he did a great job. I had not signed up for the seminars so while they had lunch and seminars, I went to Bagel Boy for lunch.

As I sat eating my sandwich, which was delicious, and reading my book, I also noticed a group of women having lunch together. It started out with two ladies sitting at a small round table really only big enough for about 3 people. In about 10 minutes' time there were six ladies sitting together talking and laughing and sharing time as they lunched. I didn't really pay attention to what they were saying even though they were loud enough to be heard throughout the restaurant.

Then I noticed another table of women. Three ladies sitting at a table large enough to hold at least 6 people. They were just eating their sandwiches and looking at that spot on the middle of the table where you look when you aren't quite sure what to talk about.

Two tables of women lunching together. Yet what a difference in how they spent their time together! Just something I noticed and found interesting...

A fun week

2009-09-24T06:30:00.009+09:00

Last Thursday my Japanese friend came to visit. We have been having a fun week discovering South Dakota. We also made a little trip into North Dakota for a church visit. Noriko has taken about 1000 pictures! I don't have quite that many, of course, since I was driving.

The first day we took a walk around Madison. We stopped in the church where Dad was working on the computer.

We also went to Shonda's for delicious grilled salmon and veggies from the garden.

The next day we were off on a trip to Ashley, ND. On the way we stopped to take in the sights along the way, like DeSmet to see Laura Ingalls' homestead.

When we arrived in Ashley we went to the Schauer's for dinner and had fun playing with the children.

From North Dakota we headed to the most famous South Dakota site. It was much colder than we thought it would be so we had to buy sweatshirts! We both liked the pink one.

We also stopped by Crazy Horse and drove through the Badlands.

On Monday we had lunch in Hill City at Alpine Inn which was recommended by several people. While there we saw Monte and Marian, friends from Madison. In the evening we arrived back in Rapid City for dinner and ate a a Happy Days style diner where we saw more friends from Madison!

It has been so fun to have Noriko here! I will miss her when she goes home tomorrow! It has been good to speak Japanese together, too:)

How weekends are spent

2009-09-17T06:50:00.010+09:00

While on home assignment the word schedule is used for Sunday church visits. After that, there is no schedule! Every week, every day is different. This is good. This is challenging. This is.

So, here is a little of what has happened the past three weekends:

A visit to Brandon Baptist Church where the morning music was put on by these guys...

The following weekend was Labor Day weekend, a Monday holiday in the U.S. It is also the weekend of Life Light, a huge Christian concert outdoors with bands from all around the U.S. and Canada playing music from almost every genre. Here is what it looks like from about halfway back from the main stage:

That weekend my college roommate, Cindy, came to visit-it was very bright!

It was also my birthday weekend. We started with breakfast at the Sims' house.

A little ladder ball in the afternoon.

And family dinner in the evening.

Last weekend was spent in Herreid, SD being encouraged by the church there. We also had an afternoon/evening of food and fellowship with area churches. One of the games was to put on extra large work gloves and open Hershey's kisses. This is what it looked like...

That was followed by pastors vs. youth volleyball...

So, although my Sunday schedule is full, it is a lot of fun, too!

Time to think

2009-09-08T02:19:00.007+09:00

The last full week of August I spent in Palmer Lake, Colorado at Mission Training International. Before leaving from Japan I got on the internet looking for retreats for missionaries, knowing that I needed some down time after three years of ministry and if it got to include hanging out with missionaries then that would be an added bonus. The retreat I found that fit with my schedule was 'debriefing and renewal' at mti. How absolutely like God to lead me to exactly what I needed! Oh, how I appreciated that week. It was worth every penny, even more!

I met missionaries who have been serving all over the world. Families with babies and young children, families with teenagers, empty nesters, second careers, singles, missionaries in all stages of ministry. What a blessing to hear stories, be challenged by stories, laugh, cry and pray together.

Each morning we met with our small group. We talked about stress, ministry, leaving the field, returning to the field, hanging out with God, hanging out with friends, and everything in between.

Afternoons were spent individually with our group leaders for a 45-minute session. Then we were free to nap, spend time with God, hang out with our new friends, walk, hike, go to coffee shops, etc.

I was so encouraged by the missionaries I met. We had great times of fellowship. Our favorite spot to go was Serrano's Coffee Shop in Monument. While there we talked about every topic under the sun and shared our hearts for our adopted countries, struggled together about what the future holds, and got to know the gals working-one of my new friends even taught them how to make an iced coffee drink she likes, now they can add that to their menu! We also spent time playing speed scrabble and apples to apples as well as went bowling.

God graciously met me there. We had wonderful times of fellowship together. He reminded me of His love, grace, and delight. I am thankful for the time I had to think there in Colorado. I am thankful for the ministry of mti and our leaders who love to share God through there service to missionaries. What a blessing the week was!

One More Post

2009-09-01T03:34:00.004+09:00

I just realized it is the last day of August and I haven't posted much this month, so I am trying to get one more in!

This month has been full of travels, fun with relatives, lots of car time, meeting missionaries from around the world, and even a little airport time. My last post contained lots of pictures from travels and got me to Colorado. So, here is an update of what has been going on since I arrived in Colorado.

I hung out with my aunt, uncle and cousins for about a week, learning a bit about how to live in chaos:) With 5 kids from 20 to 6, how can life not be just a bit chaotic?! We had some good conversations, relaxing times in the backyard and took in a minor league game. Abby, 6, used my camera for a while. Here is the perspective of a baseball game from a 6 year old!

Random people we don't know...

We do know these people...

Trying to get a self-picture of her missing tooth...

We had a lot of fun!

Next time will be about my missionary-filled week.

(Ah, I just realized that because my computer is still set for Japan time, this is going to be a September post!:)

Traveling

2009-08-20T06:11:00.009+09:00

Life has been wonderful and relaxing and crazy the past few weeks. It has been a nice change of pace visiting family and friends with some unexpected and fun times with long-time friends. Here are a few pictures to chronicle my path since July 29th when I last posted from my sister's in Aurora, SD.

Driving through Illinois to visit Donna and family. This was at a rest area. It was a very restful stop!

Dinner out with Donna and family.

Sunset in Kansas

The Texas panhandle... the only things taller than the grass were the wind turbines, which were plentiful.

New Mexico scenery

Arizona scenery

Then the family reunion/wedding fun started...
Some of the relatives at the rehearsal dinner.

Uncle Daniel telling a very important story to the men.

Reed/Mobley Crew at the wedding

Inadvertently matching necklace cousins

Most of the Benton girls

Most of the Benton men

All the Benton cousins

And then I arrived in Colorado. Here is a nice storm building up as we drove along on Monday.

Dirty Hands

2009-07-29T14:18:00.004+09:00

Today I did some weeding in my sister's garden. Last week my mom and sister spent over 5 hours weeding. Sunday afternoon my sister and I spent over an hour weeding. Today I spent about an hour weeding. It is a HUGE garden! My sister got the green thumb. I like living in a condo on the 9th floor with no grass to mow or garden space!

As I was weeding today, God taught me a couple of things. I was working on the carrot row today. The carrots are not very big yet and are very fragile, kind of like our lives. But, there were a variety of weeds growing alongside and right in the middle of the weeds. As I looked at the weeds and tried to decide where to start, I decided to start with the biggest ones first.

It made me think that God does a similar thing in our lives. When He looks at us as we first come to Him, He sees a lot of weeds that need to be pulled, sins that need to be worked out and new character to be developed. It can't all be eliminated at once, worked through at once. So, God gets down on His knees and begins to gently pull out the weeds.

Even as I gently pulled the weeds, I was not always successful at not disturbing the carrots. God is gentle in weeding the garden of our lives, but sometimes it feels like He is being pretty rough. When it feels like He is being rough I need to remember that God is lovingly helping me get some space to grow. He is preparing the soil for me to flourish.

As I got ready to go inside for breakfast I noticed my hands. They were completely covered in mud. Pulling weeds is messy. It is not a job to do just after a manicure and in your nice clothes. When God works on my life, He is right here in the midst of the mess with me, getting His hands dirty as He pulls the weeds and helps me sort through the mess.

God has dirty hands and I love Him all the more for it!

Here are a few pics of my sister's gardens to enjoy...

A Cold Trip

2009-07-26T05:17:00.009+09:00

A week ago I was in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for our church conference's triennial gathering. It was great fun to see so many people I know from church visits, camp and other triennials, as well as to meet new people. I am thankful for my NAB family and the way God has provided for me through them. I could not be doing what I do without you all!

I rode up to Winnipeg with Bill, Luci, and Becky Lengefeld. We had great driving weather and good conversations-and the SLOWEST service ever in a restaurant at one stop.

Here I am with Becky as we entertain ourselves at the Manitoba welcome center.

Southern Manitoba is flatter than South Dakota! But, they grow canola which was flowering beautifully when we drove through!

Each mission field had a display area. This is the Japan display with those who put it together while the rest of us talked to our neighbors:)

I spent an afternoon at a local park with my friend Rosemarie. We looked at sculptures and ate cherries while she told me about her life in Germany during WWII.

Even though the temps were low and it rained often, we had a good time. I am looking forward to seeing many of you again as I visit your churches. The biggest challenge is that when I visit churches everyone doesn't wear name tags like at Triennial. Be sure to remind me of your name when I visit your church, please!

Friends

2009-07-15T12:24:00.003+09:00

This week I am in Winnipeg for the NAB Triennial. (I forgot the cord to download pictures so they will come later.) One of the great things about Triennial is getting to see friends made in years past as well as to make new friends. Today was spent with missionary friends. What a great time we had just chatting and sharing and talking about ministry. Tomorrow the conference starts along with the next round of friendship renewals!

Yesterday I received a blog award from a friend from Texas days. We used to teach Sunday School together and I had Thanksgiving dinner at her house one year-the year of like 3 or 4 invites. Anyway, I enjoy reading her blog, but since she gave me the award I will choose others to pass it on to.

Here is the award:
The Love My Friends Award is given to those bloggers who aspire, inspire and share the most beautiful of human attributes: art, wisdom and friendship. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more.

And the award goes to... (in no particular order!:)
1. Lori
2. Julianne
3. Traci
4. Lara
5. Heidi
6. Melody
7. Stacy
8. Michelle

If you have time, check out my friends' blogs!

Driving and Shopping

2009-07-08T11:56:00.006+09:00

For my friends in Japan, here is a picture taken as we were driving through South Dakota on Monday.
日本にいるの友達、車から月曜日でとったSouth Dakotaの写真です。

Here is my new pair of sandals which I am loving!
これは大好きな新しいサンダルです。

And a sudden South Dakota summer thunderstorm!
South Dakotaの突然の夏の大雨です。

Sunday Pictures

2009-07-06T12:21:00.005+09:00

I have arrived safely back in South Dakota with only a short delay and diversion to Cheyenne, Wyoming on the way to Denver. I spent Independence Day with friends from church eating, chatting, and watching fireworks.
Then today, Sunday, I got to go to church with my parents, worshipping with long-time friends, studying the Bible together, and hearing about how God is at work here in South Dakota.
Worshipping together in English!
We spent some time this afternoon weeding the Jones' garden. Here is before and after.

Then we went for a picnic at Lake Herman State Park.
The day closed with a lovely moonrise.

Lots of lasts

2009-06-29T11:31:00.005+09:00

This past weekend was filled with goodbyes, see you next year type gatherings. It was also filled with packing, packing, and more packing. I was trying to get my suitcases packed at the same time I am packing boxes. It was going well and looked liked I was actually going to get everything into two suitcases. Then Woykes came to get my shoe closet and I realized that I had not packed any shoes to take on home assignment! So, I will have to repack once I get moved so the weight can be distributed evenly in the suitcases. I may still be able to have two suitcases, but that means my carry on will be super heavy-nothing new there, though.

So here are a few highlights of the weekend in pictures..
Pre-choir singing time

Sharing at Kongo Church

One more potluck at Kongo-always really good food!

Paul took a group picture at Komyo so when I get that from him I will post it, too, if I remember!

And, here is a little glimpse into the state of my apartment...

Last night at a very late hour I realized that the guy was coming to take out the air conditioner units and all the boxes were stacked under the units, in both the office and the dining room! So, I had to move them all to the other side of the room giving the worker a whole 3 feet of work space!

Did you know?

2009-06-25T21:12:00.007+09:00

Did you know that you can come to Japan?! Yesterday a team of people from Illinois left after a two week trip here to Japan to help us out. In our NAB conference they are known as Gateway Teams, groups who come for a short time to help out the missionaries as well as get to learn about the work here and find out how God can work in and through them.

Although I have been busy packing, I did get to spend a little time with the team. They came to church last Sunday where Megan gave her testimony and Doug preached. The rest of us listened carefully!

On Monday we went to the elementary school to do an English lesson with the 3rd and 4th graders. The week before the team had been to the school to teach the other grades, too. There was a little lesson on Illinois, Chicago, and Abraham Lincoln, followed by an English conversation introduction, a game and finally the Hokey Pokey!
(We were asked not to take close up pictures of the kids.)

Joy and Paul teaching the conversation

Third graders listening carefully

Fourth graders getting ready to move to smaller groups

The Hokey Pokey!

Some of our bilingual volunteers enjoying lunch with us at Ewings.

AGC Summer Concert

2009-06-20T22:26:00.008+09:00

Today we had our annual Gospel choir concert. It was early this year so that I could take part in it before I leave for home assignment. It was a fun day! Here is a recap in pictures:

Getting ready for rehearsal.

Rehearsing "Hallelujah, You're Worthy."

Practicing "You are my All in All."

Rehearsing "Call Him"

Gerber daisies from Yuki chan. How did she know I love them?!

Getting ready to go home after dinner.

Bittersweet

2009-06-14T12:56:00.006+09:00

A missionary acquaintance is also going on home assignment this summer and has a blog I read. Recently she had a post about what she was looking forward to doing in her home country, Australia, and what she will miss about Japan. As I run in the mornings and as I am packing up I have been thinking about this topic, too. So, here are a few things on my lists...

Things I am looking forward to in America:
*family
*friends
*sharing at my supporting churches about what God is doing in Japan. Truly, I enjoy doing this!
*Mexican food!!!!!!
*being able to understand and be understood
*Mom's mashed potatoes and Dad's burgers on the grill
*fresh veggies from my sister's garden
*not paying $18 for a movie
*worshipping in my heart language

Things I will miss:
*friends
*church planting
*Gospel choir
*onigiri
*nashi, aka Asian pears
*unintentionally being the center of attention (okay, so maybe I won't miss the constant staring!:)
*summer so hot and humid you can't even move without breaking a sweat
*fall colors
*the challenge of understanding and being understood

These lists are just a quick, off the top of my head list. I will add more as I think of more things. Basically, people and food are the theme of what I am looking forward to and what I will miss!

Thought for the day from Oswald

2009-06-06T18:52:00.001+09:00

He Himself has said...So we may boldly say... Hebrews 13:5,6
My assurance is to be built upon God's assurance to me. Take a deep spiritual breath. Take hold of the Father's assurance, and then say with strong courage, "I will not fear."

Learning

2009-05-31T12:00:00.007+09:00

This year I have been learning, or re-learning, how to play the piano. I took piano lessons for a good chunk of my childhood. However, once I moved away from my parents' house I didn't play much. In an effort to help out at church, I decided it would be good to dust off the keyboard. Our gospel choir director teaches piano seminars and restarted one in Osaka this winter. What a great opportunity to learn how to play for church!

This picture is a joint class to prepare for the concert. But, this is our usual set up, keyboards lined up around the room and our director up front. We gather around him for direct teaching and then go back to our keyboards, which we usually share, to practice what he just taught.

In the past 5 months I have learned an amazing amount of information-some of it I understood and some I didn't! Two of my friends from choir also attend. The class is divided into beginners (me) and experienced players (my two friends from choir) and they meet on alternate weeks. If you had time and the desire, you could attend both classes, which I usually did. I figured the more I put into my head, the more would stick.

Yesterday, May 30, was our concert/recital. 26 of the 29 members were able to attend and play. Since everyone is learning to play for the purpose of accompanying a gospel choir or at church, we basically had a 3 hour praise and worship time. My voice is a little tired today! It was a wonderful time!

I chose "You are My All in All" to play for the concert. (Pretty much the only song I can play right now:) Tomoko Shimada, from AGC, sang the verses in English. The choir sang the chorus and then the whole thing in Japanese.

After the concert, two friends from choir who came to sing and one of the friends from choir who also is learning piano and I went out for dinner and dessert. One of the ladies is a Christian and the other two are listening to Jesus knock on their hearts' doors. We had great conversations!

My dessert!

(I still haven't figured out which flash setting to use on my camera in that kind of lighting so the pictures didn't turn out all that good. Therefore, I only included one picture from the concert.)

**Update: The lady who stopped by the church last Thursday came to Bible study on Wednesday night and is planning to come back again!

Hope

2009-05-25T12:01:00.004+09:00

About a week and a half ago I saw some sobering statistics on the news. The Japanese national police agency has released their suicide statistics for the year. I had just turned on the TV and was preparing to watch a movie with a friend. We were talking about other things so I didn't catch the whole story-plus it was in Japanese. But, last week as I was preparing to talk about hope in church on Sunday I remembered that news story and started hunting for the information on line.

Hunting for information in Japanese takes me a while so I started by searching in English. But, since these statistics have just been released, I couldn't find them in English. So, I did a search in Japanese and found exactly what they had shown on the news.

Here are just some of the basic statistics:
Number of suicides in Japan in 2008
32,249
percent male
70%
top age group
50's
top two reasons
health (which includes depression)
economy
number of children
611

I talked with my Japanese Christian friend about these statistics and hope. She said something that really stuck in my heart. "We cannot exist without hope." As I look at this list, the last number, especially, hurts my heart. What could happen to a child, to that many children, that would cause him/her, them, to lose hope? Aren't the children our future? If children are losing hope, what does that say about our future?

BUT...
There is hope! Jesus is our hope. Paul says in Hebrews that 'we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.' A ship in a storm is safe when it has a good anchor. Just like a ship in a storm, when we go through storms in our lives, if Jesus is our anchor, we are safe. This doesn't mean that because we have an anchor we will never go through storms, but that when we are in the storms, if we trust in Jesus we can be firm and secure. We have hope.
If our anchors are things like money, family, work, material possessions, then what happens when we lose them?

We closed, yesterday, with the hymn "The Solid Rock."
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' Name

On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand

When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my sould gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand

NOW...
The challenge is, how do we share this hope?
How do we share this hope before more people take their lives?
How do we let children know they are loved and give them hope?
These are the questions in my mind today, and, hopefully, always.

Sweet Day

2009-05-21T20:23:00.003+09:00

We have started having Bible studies at church. So far no one we have invited has been able to come. But, we show up and have times of good fellowship. This morning, again, no one was able to come. However, Melissa and I had such a sweet time of prayer. We both had things weighing on our hearts that we wanted to talk to God about. He was real and present with us as we talked together and with Him. What a blessing!

I stayed at church working on my message for Sunday and practicing piano. During the afternoon I watched the pottery class next door working on their creations. At one point I looked up and a lady was walking toward the door. She just came right in and started asking questions about the church, what we study, picking up books and papers, and generally just looking around. Pretty amazing to me. It seems that here in Japan, people don't just walk into anywhere and just start looking around and asking questions-except possibly department stores! She seemed interested and said that she would think about coming next Thursday. She said that she lives nearby and passes by often so just wanted to come check us out.

It has been a sweet day!

New Digs

2009-05-15T16:21:00.003+09:00

Today was the signing of the contract to buy a condo for me to live in while ministering here in Izumi! I am really excited! At the moment I do not have a picture, sorry.

It is so cool how God provided everything. Our mission was able to sell the mission house in Nagoya which we are not using any more. The earnings from that sale are just the amount we need to purchase the condo! I thought we were going to have to look for a cheaper place because we were going to have to pay some taxes on the house in Nagoya, however, the tax office there said we were not required to pay those taxes. Plus, two weeks ago the owners lowered their asking price to a range we can afford.

The condo is a 4 minute walk from the station, still in the same neighborhood where I am living now. The outside was just repainted last year so it looks nice on the outside. The people living in the condo we are buying remodeled it after they moved in three years ago, so it is lovely inside, too. They installed bookshelves in the living area and a nice shoe closet in the entryway which they are leaving for me to enjoy. I am looking forward to finding out even more about how God has blessed me by providing this place.

Moving day will be July 1. Flight to the U.S. for home assignment will be July 3. June will be a whirlwind!

Thank you for faithful prayers. Please continue to pray!

where to start

2009-05-09T12:35:00.003+09:00

It has been so long since I last posted and so much has happened that I don't even know where to start! Plus, there are some things that happened before going to Hawaii that I had wanted to post about but haven't yet. So, I will just start with what is on my mind right now and maybe get back to the other things, or maybe not!

I noticed that I have recently talked a bit about books I have read and don't mean for this to be a book talk blog, but some of the authors I have read this year have some thought-provoking things to say.

One of my friends asked me where I found out about all these books. Well, from other blogs, actually. A couple of blogs I read regularly had readers post comments about books they were reading. I read through the comments with a pen and paper and made a list. I found out that a lot of books can be ordered through amazon's Japan branch-saves me huge amounts of money on shipping costs!

Well, last week I finished reading two more of those books, Crazy Love and There is no me without You.

The first book is by a pastor named Francis Chan. There were so many things he said that made me stop and think. One thing that has stuck in my head and challenged me is: if you didn't believe in Jesus how would your life look different? (paraphrase!:)

The second book is by Melissa Fay Greene written about Haregewoin Teferra. The book tracks Haregewoin's life from middle class life in Ethiopia to losing half of her family and becoming a 'mother' to AIDS orphans. I hope by reading it others will also become educated about the crisis and figure out a way to help out. We in the western world are rich. There is no reason we should not be helping out our fellow humans in poverty around the world.

In an attempt to keep from getting on a soapbox I will stop there. In an attempt to keep this post from becoming too boring, I will stop there. But, along with other books I have written about on this blog, I recommend these books-the first to those serious about learning to love God with their hearts, minds, souls, and strength and then to love their neighbors as themselves. I also recommend it to those who wonder why it is we love God. The second I recommend to anyone who cares about others, especially children and those living in poverty.

What books are you reading/have you recently read that you would recommend?