life as of late

As I sit here chowing down on Pringles Salt and Vinegar Chips, sipping my vanilla milkshake on a beautiful Sunday afternoon (albeit with warnings of a typhoon coming), everything just seems right with the world! ;-) Thanks for your prayers, support and everything -- I am doing much better, thanks! You'd think that I would remember about the "adjustment time", but it hits hard every time. Time, God's great faithfulness and the love of friends tend to do wonders, though.
Last Sunday, we had BBQ for "youth" from the 4 MB churches in this area -- I use the term "youth" loosely since there was a 70 year old pastor and his wife there, and a bunch of kids, but in general 15 to 35 year olds. Since I arrived last February, we've been able to meet together as leaders from each of the churches, in order to plan events (fellowship, outreach, study, service) every 3 months. Especially since the churches here are small, it is a great way to meet with other young people, strengthen faith and build relationships. It's really exciting to see the excitement of the young people, and the churches working together to make it happen!
On Friday I had a few women from church over for lunch (well, with kids and all, there were 9 of us!). It's the first time (outside of student get-togethers) that I've really hosted people at my place. We had a great time! One of the ladies was telling me at lunch today that we need to have a "Ladies Luncheon" more often from now on! ;-) Since I often don't see those from church outside of Sundays, it was so neat to just get to know each other better, sharing stories and laughs across generations -- from me all the way up to 70! And, since Japanese people are so into gifts, I ended up with more food after the get-together than I had before, so that was definitely a bonus! ;-)
Saturday -- I bought a car in the morning! (Which I have not seen or driven yet, but hopefully in about a week and a half!) One of my students, who exports Land Cruisers to Canada, has been a huge help with looking for, and then buying a Wagon R (Suzuki) through an internet auction. Up until this point, I've been getting by with my bike, but I'm looking forward to being able to go more places nearby -- it is gorgeous here, with all of the mountains, small rivers, bamboo (really, you need to come and check it out, right Bob?!), inviting friends out, and using the car for youth or other events at church. If you check out the link, you can see it's a pretty small car (660 cc.), so I'll have lots of chance to practice driving on the left-hand side of the road at low speeds, I'm guessing! http://www.globalsuzuki.com/globalnews/2004/0117.html
Saturday night we also had our first youth event after summer -- all 4 of us that were there! It was "Challenge Game Night" -- we played life-sized Sudoku. Funny thing is that no-one here knows about the "Japanese game that's all the rage" these days! :-b Guess I'll have to be an ambassador from North America. . . We made milkshakes, and talked about God as being our "safety net" -- I must say that has challenged me over these last few days -- the fact that we don't really have to be afraid to fall, but what we have to be afraid of is not having a safety net!! (And "using" that safety net only "sometimes", doesn't really do a lot of good!)
Today in church, the pastor talked about leaving a legacy of faith. . . It's true, we've all been influenced to a great extent by the faith of those around us -- friends, family -- and that we also are also leaving an impression on those around us. When I came here last year, I was incredibly impacted by the realization that God calling me here to serve was the result of, not only His will, or a desire or experience of mine, but the fact that I have an amazing heritage of faith of those who have gone before me. And for that I am extremely thankful, and only pray that I will be able to continue so faithfully.
I have a prayer request to share with you. Today I spoke with a few of the people in church about the possibility of starting up an English / Japanese Bible study, along with students from my classes. (How many students will come or not, I don't know, but it's something I'd like to offer them). I really feel like God has been putting on my heart to facilitate connections between those who don't know Christ yet and Japanese Christians. I hope this will be a great opportunity for my students to learn about who Jesus is and what it means to have a relationship with Him, and for us as Christians, to grow in our faith as we share together and have opportunities to talk about what Christ means to us. Please pray along with me that if this is something God wants to happen that He will provide those to help from the church, and also students or other non-believers who are interested in studying together. I think we are going to meet for the first time on October 1st, in the late afternoon, spend some time eating and chatting together, and then be able to read / talk about the Bible and pray. Thanks for your prayers. . . I appreciate it more than you know!! I will keep you updated! May this be a blessed Sunday for you -- a special day to meet with our Amazing Saviour!