While we were in our team meeting on Saturday morning, before we left to Komaki for the weekend, I got a really really sharp pain in my abdomen. So my team "forced me" to go the doctor, and I say forced, because those of you who know me, know that I'm not the type who would just rush to the doctor to inconvenience others. They went to go tell Laurence that I was needing to go to the doctor before leaving, and "my health was more important than going to Komaki." And that was hard for me to say was true, and I don't think that statement is true, but we can debate that later.
So Laurence took me to a clinic and Amber-Lee came along to be with me. The clinic we went to was a fairly new clinic and so it looked very modern and "not sketchy" at all. While with the doctor, he asked me (through Laurence translating) where I was feeling pain and also what "type and color" of poop I had. I told him I had really really sharp pain in my upper/middle abdomen and my poop was dark (almost black), tar looking. Sorry for being graphic but that's an important part of what was going on in my body. After examining me and taking a blood test, he told me that it seemed like I had a peptic ulcer, but it was in the process of getting better. So he gave me 2 types of medication (don't ask me what type because it's all in Japanese, and I can't really read Japanese, sorry). One of the pills I take after breakfast, while the other I take after each meal (3 times a day).
Today (Sunday), after dinner, I had the pain again, and it's still lingering after about 4 hours. I've been praying and ask you to join me, that if it's in God's will, for this medication to work and heal me of this ulcer. The part that bugs me the most of this whole thing, is that because of the sharp, unbearable pain, sometimes I can't do things with my team. I have to admit that sometimes I've felt like a failure because I haven't been able to be the team leader that I'm supposed to be, and that's why this pain is so annoying and discouraging.
After getting home from the doctors office and getting my medication, we left to Komaki. The people there were some of the most, if not the most hospitable people I have ever met. The Hope Chapel Church is a very small congregation and cute, small chapel/church building. We ate with them, sang with them, saw The Chronicles of Narnia, read scripture with them, and shared life together. Even though we were only together for less than 2 days, God's love definitely bonded us. Over and over again, I've been convinced of how much Christ love is a lot more binding than a language. A language can be a barrier to a certain extent, but with the love of Christ shared between people, that barrier means nothing. These people constantly asked me how I was feeling, if I needed something, and continually poured into all of us. Pastor Abe and his wife were awesome. They knew a little bit of English and sometimes we just ended up laughing because we couldn't understand what the other person was saying, but that was ok.
I've also been learning how much power there is in prayer. Sometimes we don't realize and try to comprehend how much prayer is the best weapon that we can use. And as I've been learning this, please, dig into prayer, dig in the Word, dig into what God has for you right now, at this very moment. Please pray that prayer would be more than mere words that we feel we have to say to have a good and valid prayer, rather, that prayer would be the cries and praises given up to our Creator, Provider, Counselor, Healer, etc. And as I've been here in Japan, I've realized how privileged I am to be able to call Him Father and know that He is the True God and He's my Father.
Blessings as you seek to find God in the everything, the everyday.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Komaki pictures
The lady in the picture is a calligraphy teacher, and she made 6 different calligraphy pieces, one for each one of us. The picture below is her handing me the piece that says, "God."
This is the calligraphy teacher with our team. She was very excited to take a picture with us.
This is the Hope Chapel Church congregation and our team.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Some pics...
This is a picture of our "Easter Dinner".....yes, we had sushi for our Easter dinner.
Sometimes we fail at making rice...actually, this was our first failure at making rice and it was the rice makers fault! But we're not keeping our "rice ball" outside so that we can paint it and have fun with it.
This is a picture of Trenton Hiebert (the son of Laurence and Leona Hiebert, the MBMSI missionaries in Japan that we're working alongside) and some kids lined up and getting ready to hit the pinata......yes a pinata in Japan! It was probably the smallest pinata I've ever seen, but then again, everything in Japan seems to be smaller.
Suniki and me. This was a kid from Hirakata Christ Church who loved us so much and was hilarious! He is going to be an amazing Japanese comedian!
This is our team in front of the Golden Castle in Kyoto, Japan.
Sometimes we fail at making rice...actually, this was our first failure at making rice and it was the rice makers fault! But we're not keeping our "rice ball" outside so that we can paint it and have fun with it.
This is a picture of Trenton Hiebert (the son of Laurence and Leona Hiebert, the MBMSI missionaries in Japan that we're working alongside) and some kids lined up and getting ready to hit the pinata......yes a pinata in Japan! It was probably the smallest pinata I've ever seen, but then again, everything in Japan seems to be smaller.
Suniki and me. This was a kid from Hirakata Christ Church who loved us so much and was hilarious! He is going to be an amazing Japanese comedian!
This is our team in front of the Golden Castle in Kyoto, Japan.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I slept in an old bar this past weekend...
This past Saturday, we left with Pastor Junichi Fujino (pastor of Hirakata Christ Church) to Hirakata. He pastors a small Japanese Mennonite Brethren church in Hirakata, Japan. He has been the pastor of this church for over 25 years.
As we were pulling up to a very small parking lot (of 5 spaces) after a 2-hour drive, Pastor Fujino asked us if we saw the church, and we were so confused. What we didn't know was that the church was a small building that was wedged in between other small buildings, and it looked like a house amongst a business and another house. We stayed in a "church building" that was right next to the church. And as Pastor Fujino was showing us how to work the complicated lighting system, he casually mentioned that the building used to be a bar. At the bottom level of the building you could guess that it was a bar, but the 2nd level was made up of 2 small rooms. We slept on some futon mattresses on the floor....all 6 girls in one nice cozy room (team bonding I'll tell you that much). This building had a shower, but it did not have hot water, so we had to go to the public bath every night. Public bath? Are you wondering what that is? Well, it's just what the name says, it's a public bath. In the old days, when there was not any running water, the Japanese people invented this thing called "public baths." Everyone from the surrounding area would come and bathe at the public bath. Japanese people are very cautious about being clean, and going to the public bath is a good time to get clean and have some good chats with people. What happens at a public bath you ask? Well, you pay a fee to get in, then you go to this locker type room, strip your clothes off (all of them) and place them in a locker, then you go rinse off before entering the showers. At the particular bath we went to, we had to take our own shampoo, conditioner, and soap, so you would rinse in a spot with a small scoop and then to sit down at a "station" that was open to all the other stations. One big rule at these public baths is that you get really clean before entering the actual bath or pool part. After you get clean, you walk to which ever pool you want to soak in, with only a small washcloth to cover you. Once you got the soaking part, it was very relaxing. Did we have a hard time doing this? Umm, yeah. As North Americans, we are not comfortable with or in our own bodies. We, especially being girls, are not very comfortable with others seeing our bodies and we had a lot to pray about before hand. One thing that I learned was to realize that when I continually criticize my body and how much I don't like it, I'm saying that to my Creator, my God. There are things that I can work on, but there are things that I can't, and it's those things that I have to realize that my Creator created me in that way for a reason.
On Sunday morning, we attended the Sunday morning service at Hirakata Christ Church. Even though this church is small, God is amazingly evident through their lives, love, services, and fellowship. We experienced God's family to a new level. Even though most of them spoke only a few words in English, and we speak only a few words in Japanese, we spent all day Sunday having fellowship. Of course there was some interpreting from Pastor Fujino and the international students from Kansai Gaidai University that attend Hirakata Christ Church. We sang some songs during the church service and I shared my testimony with them (with interpretation from Pastor Fujino).
On Monday and Tuesday Pastor Fujino gave us a guided tour of Kyoto and Osaka. We went to Kiyomizu Temple, Yasaka shrine, the Golden Pavilion (pictured below), the Osaka castle, and some other Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Our initial reaction to seeing these different places and seeing these amazingly beautiful buildings, was to be in awe of what was in front of us. Millions of people visit these sites every year and have no idea of what actually goes on in these buildings. As we entered some shrines or temples, I could feel a spiritual heaviness. These shrines and temples are so dark, and people go to them looking for light. The picture below the Golden Pavilion temple is a picture of what is done in the Buddhist and Shinto religions. Outside the temples or shrines are really long big ropes that if swung hard enough, they ring a bell. People go to these places with their requests and present them before the gods. As they're approaching the rope, they throw in some money over the railing, then put their hands together and I guess basically present their request before the god or gods, and then when done they swing the rope to ring the bell as a sign of worship. My heart broke when I would see the deep sincerity in the people. They would come presenting their request to a god that they don't even know. They have no idea who the god they're praying to is. As I saw people "coming to the rope," I realized how awesome my God, The God is. We have hope in Him, we have a relationship with Him, and we're important to Him. Please help pray for those people that are searching for a god, and that they may find The God, Yahweh. And that Japan may be overflowing with God-fearing Christians.
This weekend was long, and exhausting, and I thank God for every minute of it. Thank you for your prayers! Blessings upon blessings.
As we were pulling up to a very small parking lot (of 5 spaces) after a 2-hour drive, Pastor Fujino asked us if we saw the church, and we were so confused. What we didn't know was that the church was a small building that was wedged in between other small buildings, and it looked like a house amongst a business and another house. We stayed in a "church building" that was right next to the church. And as Pastor Fujino was showing us how to work the complicated lighting system, he casually mentioned that the building used to be a bar. At the bottom level of the building you could guess that it was a bar, but the 2nd level was made up of 2 small rooms. We slept on some futon mattresses on the floor....all 6 girls in one nice cozy room (team bonding I'll tell you that much). This building had a shower, but it did not have hot water, so we had to go to the public bath every night. Public bath? Are you wondering what that is? Well, it's just what the name says, it's a public bath. In the old days, when there was not any running water, the Japanese people invented this thing called "public baths." Everyone from the surrounding area would come and bathe at the public bath. Japanese people are very cautious about being clean, and going to the public bath is a good time to get clean and have some good chats with people. What happens at a public bath you ask? Well, you pay a fee to get in, then you go to this locker type room, strip your clothes off (all of them) and place them in a locker, then you go rinse off before entering the showers. At the particular bath we went to, we had to take our own shampoo, conditioner, and soap, so you would rinse in a spot with a small scoop and then to sit down at a "station" that was open to all the other stations. One big rule at these public baths is that you get really clean before entering the actual bath or pool part. After you get clean, you walk to which ever pool you want to soak in, with only a small washcloth to cover you. Once you got the soaking part, it was very relaxing. Did we have a hard time doing this? Umm, yeah. As North Americans, we are not comfortable with or in our own bodies. We, especially being girls, are not very comfortable with others seeing our bodies and we had a lot to pray about before hand. One thing that I learned was to realize that when I continually criticize my body and how much I don't like it, I'm saying that to my Creator, my God. There are things that I can work on, but there are things that I can't, and it's those things that I have to realize that my Creator created me in that way for a reason.
On Sunday morning, we attended the Sunday morning service at Hirakata Christ Church. Even though this church is small, God is amazingly evident through their lives, love, services, and fellowship. We experienced God's family to a new level. Even though most of them spoke only a few words in English, and we speak only a few words in Japanese, we spent all day Sunday having fellowship. Of course there was some interpreting from Pastor Fujino and the international students from Kansai Gaidai University that attend Hirakata Christ Church. We sang some songs during the church service and I shared my testimony with them (with interpretation from Pastor Fujino).
On Monday and Tuesday Pastor Fujino gave us a guided tour of Kyoto and Osaka. We went to Kiyomizu Temple, Yasaka shrine, the Golden Pavilion (pictured below), the Osaka castle, and some other Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Our initial reaction to seeing these different places and seeing these amazingly beautiful buildings, was to be in awe of what was in front of us. Millions of people visit these sites every year and have no idea of what actually goes on in these buildings. As we entered some shrines or temples, I could feel a spiritual heaviness. These shrines and temples are so dark, and people go to them looking for light. The picture below the Golden Pavilion temple is a picture of what is done in the Buddhist and Shinto religions. Outside the temples or shrines are really long big ropes that if swung hard enough, they ring a bell. People go to these places with their requests and present them before the gods. As they're approaching the rope, they throw in some money over the railing, then put their hands together and I guess basically present their request before the god or gods, and then when done they swing the rope to ring the bell as a sign of worship. My heart broke when I would see the deep sincerity in the people. They would come presenting their request to a god that they don't even know. They have no idea who the god they're praying to is. As I saw people "coming to the rope," I realized how awesome my God, The God is. We have hope in Him, we have a relationship with Him, and we're important to Him. Please help pray for those people that are searching for a god, and that they may find The God, Yahweh. And that Japan may be overflowing with God-fearing Christians.
This weekend was long, and exhausting, and I thank God for every minute of it. Thank you for your prayers! Blessings upon blessings.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
So I feel like a Kindergarten student...
This morning we had a "Japanese Manners" class given to us by Misaka-san and another lady from the church (I forgot her name). They taught us to say things like "itadaki-mass" (means "I receive" and you say it before you start eating), "sumi-masen" (means "excuse me"), "wakari-masen" (means "I don't understand" or "I don't know"), and a lot more. They taught us to do a lot of things, here are few: how to pick up chop-sticks, how to pick up the rice bowl, how to pick up the soup bowl, how to pick up and hold our tea cups. They also taught us a lot of things we shouldn't do because they are rude to do in the Japanese culture. It was really helpful to get these pieces of information that we will most definitely use while here in Japan. There are a lot of things that are completely opposite of what we're used to from home, but there are also a few similarities.In the afternoon, we had our first Japanese language class from Kasama-sensei (you add -san at the end of everyone's name, but when you have a teacher, you add -sensei as a sign of respect). She will be teaching us every Tuesday afternoon while we're here in Japan. I'll tell you, I have not felt like I was kindergarten since..........well, since I was in kindergarten. I realized that Japanese is not a very easy language to learn, but it is so intriguing and beautiful. We learned how to write some of the letters or characters. Japanese uses3 different alphabets: the most traditional one (I don't remember the name and we will probably not learn), Katakana (which is the alphabet for foreign things and people), and Hiragana (this is what Japanese mainly use. It is written up and down, and this is the main alphabet we learned today). If there's one language that you need to be a semi-good artist in, it's Japanese! We learned how to write a, e, i, o, u, ka, ki, ku, ke, and ko. She gave us a lot of homework to write out and things to say for practice.
I have a lot to learn, but our team is determined to practice with each other and get as much Japanese in our minds as possible!
Please pray that we focus in our lessons, practice as much as possible, but most importantly, come to love the beauty of the Japanese language.
Sayonara (good-bye)!
Blessings.
I have a lot to learn, but our team is determined to practice with each other and get as much Japanese in our minds as possible!
Please pray that we focus in our lessons, practice as much as possible, but most importantly, come to love the beauty of the Japanese language.
Sayonara (good-bye)!
Blessings.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Some videos of our house in Toyota
These are videos of the house we live in here in Toyota, Japan. Start with video #1.......in case you didn't figure that one out.
Video #1
Video #2 (continuation of #1)
Video #1
Video #2 (continuation of #1)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
We're here!!!!!!!
So we made it safe and sound! We left the MARK Centre at 4 am, and got to Toyota at 9 pm, which is 4 am pacific time or 6 am central time a day behind. We traveled around 29 hours over all. It was a long long day of traveling, but it was awesomely coordinated by our Father up above, that's for sure!
When we arrived at the Vancouver International Airport, we were told that our flight to San Francisco was canceled......not delayed, canceled! So we laughed about it and got in line to get a new flight out. We were kinda scared that we weren't going to get a flight early enough to get our Tokyo flight from San Francisco, because we only had a 2 hour lay-over in San Francisco. BUT, God having everything in His control, had a 7 am flight to Portland ready for us, and then we went from Portland to San Francisco at our original time.
We were a bit nervous of some things, but everything worked out. I'm telling ya, God definitely had everything under control! We even sang "God is on our side" while in the Vancouver airport, and that was definitely truth throughout the trip.
Our close to 11 hour flight from Portland to Tokyo/Narita, was kinda long but it was good. It was quite interesting getting from gate to gate in Narita, because most things are in Japanese, but then again, most things also have English on them as well. So it was fun.
On our flight from Narita to Nagoya, we were all really tired, and we all pretty much slept the whole flight. Laurence Hiebert (the head MBMSI missionary here in Japan) and a man from the church, were at the airport to greet us. As we were getting into the van, I almost got on the driver's side, because they drive on the other side. I'll tell you one thing, most of the stuff in Japan is really nice. I really enjoyed the 1 hour drive from the Nagoya airport, which is on a man-made island, to Toyota because we got to connect and talk to Laurence about quite a few things.
I'm so excited to be here! I'm really looking forward to jumping into the culture, ministry, and everything else about Japan.
Thank you for your prayers! They were definitely answered!
When we arrived at the Vancouver International Airport, we were told that our flight to San Francisco was canceled......not delayed, canceled! So we laughed about it and got in line to get a new flight out. We were kinda scared that we weren't going to get a flight early enough to get our Tokyo flight from San Francisco, because we only had a 2 hour lay-over in San Francisco. BUT, God having everything in His control, had a 7 am flight to Portland ready for us, and then we went from Portland to San Francisco at our original time.
We were a bit nervous of some things, but everything worked out. I'm telling ya, God definitely had everything under control! We even sang "God is on our side" while in the Vancouver airport, and that was definitely truth throughout the trip.
Our close to 11 hour flight from Portland to Tokyo/Narita, was kinda long but it was good. It was quite interesting getting from gate to gate in Narita, because most things are in Japanese, but then again, most things also have English on them as well. So it was fun.
On our flight from Narita to Nagoya, we were all really tired, and we all pretty much slept the whole flight. Laurence Hiebert (the head MBMSI missionary here in Japan) and a man from the church, were at the airport to greet us. As we were getting into the van, I almost got on the driver's side, because they drive on the other side. I'll tell you one thing, most of the stuff in Japan is really nice. I really enjoyed the 1 hour drive from the Nagoya airport, which is on a man-made island, to Toyota because we got to connect and talk to Laurence about quite a few things.
I'm so excited to be here! I'm really looking forward to jumping into the culture, ministry, and everything else about Japan.
Thank you for your prayers! They were definitely answered!
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