Saying Good-bye

This is Wednesday evening in Japan, I have started my good-byes to readers and church family here. I will write this now because I may not be able to see the keyboard through my tears tomorrow and Friday.
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined how much I would come to love these people and the church family here in Hachinohe. When I leave on Sunday a big chunk of my heart will be missing or at least broken.
I do not know if there are words good enough to tell them good-bye.
Many prayers have been offered for my health, fundraising, traveling and so many other things now I ask for more prayers.
*Prayers thanking God for the amazing Christians serving Him and others in this place.
*Prayers for preparing hearts to receive the Word
*Prayers for the Pepperdine Team arriving on Saturday to continue reading sessions for 3 weeks
*Prayers for Annie & I as we say good-bye.
*Prayers that readers will seek to know more and learn more about this Jesus they have been studying about.

Top 5 Reader Comments/Questions

1. I think Luke is a Holy Book.
2. What is "worship"?
3. Do you believe that Mary was a Virgin?
4. When Jesus is praying in the garden, one reader asked if he was praying for his enemies like He told us to do?
5. "I think Jesus is not talking about physical health, I think he means inside health" - much discussion followed this comment.

Top 5 things about Monsoon Season

Good things happen even when it rains...
1. The gate closes easier (we close the gate to the property every evening) when it is wet
2. We Americans provide entertainment for the neighbors - did you ever see 2 Americans trying to walk carrying an umbrella AND groceries?
3. Annie did a solo entertainment act - she had THE umbrella, rolled up PJs and 2 bags of burnable trash to take 2 blocks to the dumpster - just imagine how the neighbors must have laughed!
4. Watching the crows, VERY LARGE crows, bathing in the puddles
5. Annie riding to the Post Office in the rain (she just had to mail a letter to Jared) just imagine, Annie, THE umbrella, the bicycle, the wind AND the rain.

Card Party w/Readers & Church members

Annie teaching readers and members the finer points of Skip-Bo. While 1/2 of the party people played Skip-Bo, I taught the others how to play UNO. We all had a great time! We had six readers plus one reader's son, five church members and the two of us. We had games, laughs, snacks and ice cold green tea and Coca-Cola!
Everyone enjoyed a couple of games of SPOONS!
Ready to play spoons
More fun with spoons
The winners of the door prizes Yurika with Skip-Bo, Yotaro with a deck of Kansas cards, Sam with Uno and Masayo with cards from Chicago. We had a great time. This Sunday afternoon we will have a Birthday Party - I can't wait!

Reader Pictures

One morning, my reader, Yuko brought a Japanese children's storybook. It was the story of Jesus' birth. Her sister-in-law had given it to her to read to her two young sons. Yuko read the book to me in Japanese and then translated it into English for me. That was the day we were reading the lesson from Luke about Jesus' birth. What a great experience. The text
The front cover of the storybook

Sharlene and Yuko

Beautiful things God has created!

Annie enjoys sitting out in our yard. Sometimes she uses the time to think about God and pray and sometime I think she just sits and thinks about Jared.
There are so many beautiful flowers here in Japan. These daisys grow along the street we walk on to go to the store and use for our prayer walks.
There are some amazing gardens. There are gardens everywhere and we get to enjoy them!

TOP FIVE

TOP FIVE READER COMMENTS
1. "I think God can do anything." when reading about Mary's visit from the Angel
2. "I think Jesus is smarter than the devil" when reading about the devil tempting Jesus
3. "I think this says God is powerful." when reading about Gabriel, the angel, visiting Mary
4. About lesson from Luke 12:22-31 "I think this is a very important thought in Christianity" the passage is when Jesus was reminding his followers how important they are to God
5. "I see, I see. Now I understand" words that every teacher or leader loves to hear!

TOP FIVE THINGS ABOUT BEING AWAY FROM HOME

1. Receiving encouraging emails from my husband, friends & family
2. Phone calls from home (even those in the middle of our night time!)
3. Receiving amazing letters of love and encouragement from Bob, my Mother, The Gordon family and my Bible Class children (my Mom helped them write us)
4. Finding love notes and encouraging cards in my suitcase from Bob, Annie and Pamela Jeane *
5. The sense of peace that comes from knowing God is in control. He is watching over our loved ones in America and is taking great care of us here in Japan.


*Starting in 2001 I wrote cards and placed them in the girls' suitcases before they left on Mission Trips. Some would have scriptures others just reminded them that they were loved, I was praying for them and that God would take care of them. Imagine my surprise when there were notes, pictures and cards from Bob, Annie & Pamela in my suitcase, in my Bible and backpack. YEAH! Boy, do I feel loved!!

God's Handiwork

If you read my last two posts you had some serious reading! I have two stories to share which will make you smile and maybe even LAUGH out loud like Annie did - HA! HA!

THE FORK
On Monday evening the ladies of the church fixed supper for us after our reader orientation. I was wondering what the rules were for sitting at the table I did not need to worry my place was the ONLY one with both a fork and hashi or chopsticks. Everyone laughed and they were all surprised when I proceeded to eat with the chopsticks. (I have done fairly well and some foods are even easier to eat with chopsticks)

JAPANESE PLEASE
On Thursday one of the church ladies came to answer the phone, help us and to fix our noonday meal. It was delicious. I was trying to say "very good" in Japanese and butchering the phrase. She laughed out loud and said "I think your Japanese is like my English" (truthfully implying that neither one of us spoke the other:s language very well) We all had a good laugh!

I am thinking that one of the reasons God sent me to Hachinohe was to teach me some lessons for my own Christian walk. There are many things we are aware of, things that we know are in God's word but maybe we don't really know what God means or we just don't do them.
Two of my readers have asked about Mary being a servant of God and "what is servant?" I am convinced that the Japanese people know what it is to serve. During these discussions I had to dig deep to explain just what it meant to be a servant of God. God sent many thoughts my way!
*maybe before we can lead, we must first serve. Jesus told us the least would be the greatest
*serving does not come naturally - we must learn to serve
*as we learn to serve we become more like Jesus
*I don't think Jesus wants us to pick and chose who to serve - we must serve even those who make our
lives difficult

That:s my deep thinking for today - have a great weekend!

I have debated whether or not to "borrow" the idea of Annie's Top Five List which she "borrowed" from someone else - I guess I will...

These are things that I want to share with you about the church, the readers, the people and the country that I have learned or experience since I have been in Japan. I can understand why Pamela and Annie have a heart for Japan and its people. I have been amazed by so many things since our arrival a little over one week ago. I hope to add some pictures and will try to keep you updated.

TOP FIVE THINGS ABOUT THE CHURCH

1. No matter where you are, you can feel at home with God's people
2. It makes me feel good inside when handed a translated song sheet so I can join in
3. Communion with God and the church has no language but the language of the cross
4. Brothers and Sisters greet you like you are family, and you are
5. Christians enjoy visiting over a good meal

TOP FIVE THINGS ABOUT HACHINOHE

1. The Christians - amazing people with servant hearts
2. Reading sessions - getting to talk to & share with my readers
3. The Gardens - the most beautiful plants and flowers I have ever seen & there are fresh flowers in the building every day!
4. The food - gyoza, ramen, tempura and so many other great foods
5. Time with Annie - it does my heart good to share this time with her

TOP FIVE THINGS ABOUT SENDAI

1. The amazing Christian women (Debbie, Sasha, Yuko) who live and serve there
2. The Party with Readers
3. The food (and yes, I am attempting to eat with hashi or chopsticks)
4. The hospitality of Americans and Japanese who live there
5. Getting to be with Crimsen for a short time

Konnichiwa from Hachinohe!

Annie and I are onsite in Hachinohe. We took the train from Sendai this morning (Saturday) and arrived quickly and safely. Four Chrisitans welcomed us at the train station. After delivering our suitcases to the building they took us to lunch and grocery shopping. The lunch was delicious and it was as close to American food as we could get in a Japanese restaurant in Japan. They ordered for us and so we didn:t even have a menu challenge. Now we are settling in to our new home.
We have many readers signed up to start on Tuesday morning. Please be praying for our readers' hearts, our recall of all we have studied and that God will give us the words to share
I am just so EXCITED! I will post a little about our time in Sendai later, but I will say that our time there was a blessing. I feel that God used that time to acclimate us to Japan and slowly get us ready for the language and cultural experiences.