Visit to Takayama ("Tall Mountain")

Sasha and I are blessed to be a part of a monthly womens Bible study hosted by a church in south Sendai. Our recently-married friend Emiko, who is also our former roommate, is member at this church and usually organizes the study. It was held at Takayama this time, a small camp in Shichigahama near the ocean.

We talked about Abraham's interaction with God through prayer about Sodom and Gomorrah, how Abraham's understanding of God was shaped and how God showed His compassion through the exchange. It was really good to discuss our reactions, insights and realizations in the group of seven. It was also a really supportive atmosphere in which to practice this kind of discussion in Japanese. They really want to help us improve!

After the study, a few more friends joined us for a barbeque lunch. A Saturday well spent!

For those wondering, I do plan to post about my travels to Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia soon! Now I really know what Joel meant when he would return to Japan from a trip like that and say, "I'm still processing..."

I'm baaaaaaack!

And hello again!

I'm sorry for the nearly year-long hiatus! Allow me to catch you up on what's going on here.

Kindergarten: The past year has been a transition to say the least! I can't believe I'm on the other side of a year of teaching! My first year at that! It was a lot more than I expected, in more ways than one. It takes more time than I thought to be all-the-way prepared for ten kindergartners to walk in the door in the morning! Blessing: I'm MUCH better at it now than I was when I started! I have a new appreciation for professionals working with this age group because I've gotten to see what a huge responsibility it is. Thank you, Lord, for equipping me. Another blessing: I never knew I could have so much love for these children! I love these kids so much that I can't help but smile at them all day long! They are my best friends. I'll post some pictures in a future entry.


Sasha: She's been doing a great job this year, helping with Cell group, having her own individual Bible studies, having a leadership role with the summer LST project and being involved in the other bible studies and activities we attend. She is now starting to organize her next term of individual classes and brainstorming ideas for a group class. Please follow the link to her blog to read more. :) Thank you, Lord, for guiding Sasha and using her for your good work.

The June/July Flurry of Activity (and visitors!): We were blessed to have Cami, Jason and Andrew from York College as the 6-week summer LST team. They did a great job relating well to their readers and running the weekly parties. We were blessed to have many visitors around the church during the summer term: Crimsen, who came for two months; The Strakers, who came to visit for almost two weeks; and the Friendscamp team from Texas that was with us for about a week. Also, our roommate, Emiko, got married in June, so we hosted three of her Australian friends at the house for a few days. It was a real good time, mate! What a blessed summer! Thank you for blessing our summer activities, Father!

Language, etc: Sasha and I continue in our respective language study programs (her with Handa sensei and through classes at the community center near our house, me with Akiko and Yukie and Saito sensei). After the last term of Cell group and taking a break because of summer programs, we are praying and brainstorming about how to continue a group devotional time. I hope to begin with that again next month. Holy Father, thank you so much for creating us in such a wonderful way, with the abilities we have. Thank you for the capacity to learn language. Please continue to motivate us with the vision of ministering to our friends in Japanese. Please give us wisdom in the planning stages of our bible study gathering.

More to come! Sorry for the wait!

In Him, Debi