Come Emmanuel

The Christmas season is upon us though Thanksgiving is barely past in the States. Yet, with no Thanksgiving to celebrate, Christmas lights have been up since early November in Japan. Rob and I are doing well although I was not able to escape the cold and flu season without catching cold myself. Rob on the other hand has an immune system that is iron strong.

Well this one is for all you sports fans out there. After years of defeat our high school soccer team finally beat its rival Ozu this past week to win the prefectural title. Our principal was so excited he announced in our morning staff meeting that we had won the national title. Apparently there were no dry eyes on the Luther side of the stadium. Unfortunately, I was unable to see the game in Kumamoto, because I was in Fukuoka for Rob's first Sumo match.

Filled with the exciting news of Luther's first win against Ozu we climbed the steps of the arena to find our seats and watch some huge men wearing only a well wrapped piece of cloth around their loins push each other out of a ring made of sand. The first few matches were of lower level wrestlers, but in the evening the better stronger wrestlers competed. This was my second time watching Sumo and let me tell you it was even better the second time around. The best matches of course are the ones with the yokozuna--the champion or strongest Sumo. The current yokozuna is Asashyoryu, a Mongolian. His strongest competitor is Hakuho, also Mongolian. My favorite wrestler (or at least for the moment) is a huge Bulgarian (I think) named Baluto. Well, I was in for a treat because the final bout was between Asashyoryu and Baluto. Baluto looked to be twice the size of Asashyoryu. They pushed and held each other for a good several minutes (it seemed) until finally Asashyoryu grabbed hold of Baluto's belt and lifted him to the ground out of the ring. It was a glorious round. I don't think I calmed down for at least an hour after.

I'll end with a short message prepared for Oe church. May you experience the nearness of God in this Advent season. Please pray for all of us here that we be in good health and for safe travels for all who travel to be with family both in the missionary community here in Japan and for our students who will travel back home to be with their families over the new year holiday and also for our teachers and students who will travel to Tokyo to cheer on our soccer team as they compete in the national tournament.

The Lord be with you all

Isaiah 45: 22 "Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other."

This week Luther Gakuin had its annual tree lighting and candle light vigil. The lights around the campus are beautiful and singing songs really led me into the Christmas spirit. It was really a holy moment standing in the cold among students and friends as the choir sang "O Come Emmanuel." Really that's what Christmas is about: all the world waiting and crying out for a savior.

As we approach Advent and begin our time of reflection, may our hearts be filled with cries of "Come Emmanuel." I pray that we will all experience God with us as we come near the celebration of Jesus' birth. May our every prayer be "Come Lord Jesus, come."

Let us pray: Holy God, in your love for us you put on human flesh. As we approach Christmas let our minds and hearts be on the miracle of that moment and not on the things we must buy. So that we will experience closeness with you this Christmas. Come Emmanuel.

Isaiah 45:”

Pray for Japan

What's your most important thing? For one of our students it's his Bible. In a country where Christians number less than 1% of the population, this is SUPER cool to hear. Unfortunately, I was not the one to hear the student talk about his Bible, but I was able to rejoice with his teacher Carolyn. We don't know who of our students is Christian or even interested in Christianity. It's easy to assume that none of them are, but this is just me being pessimistic and not believing that God can do big things. Recently I watched a video made by some friends and fellow missionaries from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). They are the LCMS equivalent of the ELCA's J3 program. They are called VYM(ers)--Voluntary Youth Missionaries. I got to know them during my 6 month orientation. Their video reminded me that God is bigger than I give God credit for and is capable of and already busy doing work that I think is impossible. As I was reminded to pray more fervantly for Japan and for the people I see everyday, I wanted to invite you to do the same. Please watch the video and pray! Here are some specific ways you can pray for the people of Luther Gakuin.

Luther:

--Students and Teachers: That they would be changed by the teachings they hear every morning in chapel. For the Christian teachers to live infectious lives worthy of the Gospel and for them to dream and pray big things for this school.

--Missionaries: Please pray that we do not lose sight of why we are here, but instead that we take delight in not only sharing our faith through our interactions with others, but that we pray without ceasing.

The video also encouraged me to rejoice in what I've already seen God doing in Japan. As I complete my first full year in Japan here's a look back on what I've seen of God in this country:

1. The history of Christianity in Japan started LONG before I got here, even before my beloved country (the United States) was settled by Europeans. I'm joining a league of missionaries stretching back to the 1500's.

2. The church that began in the 1500's survived years of persecution, exclusion and war. There are relics of the hidden church in some Buddhist temples in Japan (since this is where persecuted Christians were hidden). There are even some people who still practice Christian worship the way people did when the church was hidden. With as much religious hostility as there is in the world, it always brings tears to my eyes to think that when Christians were being executed in Japan, it was Buddhist monks who protected them. If that isn't God at work, I don't know what is.

3. Today there are many churches in Japan. In my town of Kumamoto there are 5 Lutheran churches alone. It is easy to think that the Church is failing in Japan because only 1% of its people are Christian, but in fact the Church is strong in ministry though it lacks in numbers. I once heard a pastor here say that most of the social services done in Japan are conducted by the Church. Christians in Japan are very active and everyone knows it. The JELC/JELA (Japan Evangelical Lutherans) have two social services centers here in Kumamoto alone. These centers care for people at every stage of life from newborn to elders needing hospice care.

4. Youth ministry is small, but also very strong. Every year a small group of (what we in the States would consider) young adults goes on a mission trip. One of the young ladies who went to India this year on mission was baptized this April and I was there to see her join the community of Christian believers.

These are just a few ways God is and has been working through the Church in Japan. Yet, God was being revealed in Japan long before the first missionaries came, even before there was a Church. So, let us all continue to pray for this country. First giving thanks for what God has done and is still doing. Then asking God to continue to move in this country, to continue to strengthen the Church and answer the call of all who search for God. Please, pray for the missionaries, pray for the church, and pray for the people of Japan.

In the joy of service--Jen

I (heart) Kumamoto

It's been about two months since I started teaching at Luther Jr. High and High School. I really enjoy teaching. I also love my new home of Kumamoto. I've been here now three months and couldn't have asked for a better place to live or work...because I can't imagine either.

Luther Gakuin is an institution that holds a kindergarten, junior high, high School, and university. I teach English Communication to 1st & 2nd year high school students and 1st year middle school students. All my classes are team taught alongside a Japanese English teacher. I have three partner teachers who are all very professional and very good teachers. Japanese children spend 3 years in middle school and 3 years in high school. First year high school students in Japan would be sophomores in the U.S. Luther offers its high school students 4 tracks or course foci: Art course, English course/college prep (Eigo Tokshin), Math & Science College Prep (RiSu Tokshin), Sports, and General course (Sogo). I teach English to English Course 2nd year students, and 1st year Art Course, Sports, and (RiSu)Tokshin students. My classes range in size from 17 to 28 students.

The cutest kids are the 1st year middle schoolers (U.S. 6th graders). These are my largest and lowest level English classes. Most of them have just learned how to spell their names using roman characters. In fact, my first day in their class they were given strips of paper with their names written in roman characters so that they could learn and practice writing their names in English. The junior high has two classes in each year of middle school so there is 1st year class 1 (1-1) and 1st year class 2 (1-2). These students will stay together as a class there whole time in middle school; when they are second years 1-1 will become 2-1 and so on through year 3. I teach both 1st year classes. 1-1 is very cute and pretty quiet. 1-2 is cute, but not quiet. I see these students once a week for one hour.

Now for a brief Japanese lesson.

High School in Japanese is Ko Ko 高校 literally translated: high school.

Middle School in Japanese is Chugako 中学校 literal translation same as English.

Year in Japanese is Nen 年

1, ichi 2, ni (nee) 3, san (sahn)

When refering to students of a certain year we often say Ko-ichi (1st year high schoolers) or Chu-ni (2nd year middle schoolers). I teach Chu-ichi nen sei's (students), Ko-ichi and Ko-ni.

My most challenging class is the Sports class. They are known as having the worst behavior and lowest high school educational level. For this reason, and others, they have their own curriculum. The class of 41 students is split between myself and another missionary teacher. My Japanese teaching partner and I currently have a class of 21 15 year old boys, most of whom are not interested in English (by most I mean probably none). Needless to say, we've had some behavior problems. For the most part they're just talkative. These kids spend all day together and still find things to talk about, it amazes me. Of course when they're talking they aren't paying attention to the lesson and are not doing their work. Thanks to some great advice from Mary Johnson, the ELCA's ESL/EFL supervisor and trainer, and a couple helpful books I've started to get the talking under control. However, quietness in the classroom doesn't mean students are paying attention. I've found that if they aren't talking they're usually sleeping. The result was that coming toward midterms 25 of the 41 students were failing. Now, the percentage mark for failing in Japan is set really low. Students only need 30% to pass a course, so one must be intent on not producing in a course in order to fail. Students in this class seem to be just that. Unfortunately, there are no immediate negative repercussions for failing a subject; students aren't put on academic probation here. So, the week of our midterm examination the four teachers held mandatory study sessions after school for the 25 failing students. It was exhausting, and the students were not happy to receive extra help. We spent two hours after school on Monday, and two and a half hours on Tuesday helping students with their pronunciation and preparing them with the correct answers for their Thursday test--it was an interview exam so where students would be graded not only on their answers, but on pronunciation. The result: for the first time every student passed an exam and our 25 failing students was decreased to 4. Thanks be to God! Students did not only study during their extra study sessions, but were studying on their own. When we walked into their classroom the afternoon of the test every student was sitting with their study sheets in hand practicing their answers. One girl (there are about 6 girls in the class) scored 100%. I don't know that I've ever been more proud. Even their homeroom teacher, who also has been getting on their case about their grades, gasped to see the score of one student who is infamous for having a bad attitude (he scored 67 out of 100, and had previously scored a total of 2 points in the 5 quizzes leading up to this exam). It was indeed a great end to a very busy week.

We are now closing in on summer break. My health has been okay. My feet have not bothered me since leaving Tokyo. Actually, everything has been better since leaving Tokyo. I haven't had any haunting dreams, or strange ailments. Thank you for your prayers. Language continues to be a struggle. I'm forced to speak more Japanese in Kumamoto than I was in Tokyo. On the other hand without being in language school and with being required to speak English on the job I feel like I'm not making much progress in speaking Japanese. I might be getting better at understanding the language. I find myself often frustrated, because not having the language has been an invisible divide between me and my Japanese colleagues. I want so much to be able to talk with them, but everyone knows that the conversation will only go so far so neither party tries. Every now and then I or they will reach out, but I feel very isolated even though I have three other missionary teachers at school with me (as well as Japanese English teachers who are pretty fluent in English). I like to be able to mix and mingle with many different people. Language has really limited my ability to get to know new people. Please pray for me in this area: that I would be courageous in speaking and diligent in studying.

Thanks again for your many prayers and inquiries into my life here in Japan. I pray the peace of Christ keep you until we meet again.

Leaving Tokyo

Well, we have finished our six months of orientation and language training and are now each moving into new apartments. I mentioned in the December blog that there were two assignment locations. One at the Hongo Student Center in Tokyo working with college students and general members of the surrounding community. The other in Kumamoto at Kyushu Luther Gakuin. Carolyn and I will be heading south to Kumamoto this weekend. We will be teaching junior high and high school students English conversation. While we are both very excited it has been tough saying goodbye to our friends and churches here in Tokyo. Even Matt has found it difficult leaving his orientation church though he'll be able to visit them again and again. We are all so grateful to our respective orientation church communities. 

Now the "real" work begins (I say "real" because as long as we are in Japan as missionaries we are working, but now we have institutions and people depending on us to show up and teach). Carolyn and I will have 4-5 classes each week and with the exception of a brief orientation for new teachers, will have little to draw from since this will be our first time teaching in a classroom. We will be assigned Japanese teachers to work with so we won't have to teach on our own (thankfully).

Of course the other exciting thing is moving into new apartments. For the past 6 months we've been neighbors in small one room apartments. These Leo Palace apartments are built for temporary living so we were never fully able to stretch out (both because they're not built for comfort and because as such there wasn't much room for stretching out). We are each moving into fully furnished one bedroom apartments. What's great about the Kumamoto apartments is that they are owned by JELA (Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Association) the outreach organization of the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church. JELA is responsible for Japanese missionaries to other countries and their programs. What's exciting about that is that the entire building was built to house J3's. Carolyn and I get to move into a building with people like ourselves. It's great. 

The other fun fact is that this will be the first apartment I've ever lived in on my own (except of course for the temporary residence I'm leaving behind in Tokyo). It will be exciting to hang my own photos, have the refrigerator to myself, lay out on the couch and not worry about anyone else wanting to sit there. The restroom will be available when I want to use it. I won't have to worry about anyone's mess, but my own. I have to say, however, that this independence will be short-lived.

I mentioned in my last post a change in my personal life. Well, on January 1st of this year I got engaged. The two of us plan to marry this summer and he will come live with me in Japan through the duration of my term. 

These are exciting times indeed. Please pray for Carolyn, Matt, and I as we make this transition into teaching. Pray also for me and my fiancé Rob as we prayerfully prepare for this major change in our lives and our relationship.

Thank you for your prayers concerning language, my dreams, and my health. After months of not being sure I wanted to leave my room so I wouldn't have to speak Japanese, I thank God that for the past several weeks I've wanted only to speak Japanese and have fallen in love with my host country and its people all over again. Please continue to pray that God open my heart to the people here and that I continue to make strides in Japanese. I will not be able to speak as much English in Kumamoto as I do in Tokyo, so please pray that God loosens my tongue more and that I would speak without fear of making a mistake. I have been in fairly good health except for occasional swelling and pain in the ball and toes of my right foot brought on by a mysterious ailment therein. Please continue to pray for my health as my schedule will become more rigorous in less than one month. And praise God my sleep has been sweet. I have been disciplined about regular reflection so that I don't go to sleep bothered by the issues of the day. This has caused a deepening in my relationship with God so thank you for your prayers.

My address is changing. If you have not received the new one from me and would like it please email me.

Blessings

Holy Days (holidays) in Japan

Hello again. I apologize for taking so long to write. It seems I started writing this blog and then one thing after another came up and I never finished it. Well this lapse in time has proved useful because I am now able to share my experience celebrating Christmas and New Year's in Japan. This is a lengthy blog, but hopefully you'll find it interesting.

The Christmas celebration was kicked off by a class speech day. Every year the missionaries taking Japanese lessons at the local Lutheran Learning Center have to give speeches. All of us new students shuddered in fear when we were first told we'd have to stand up in front of friends and speak Japanese. It turned out all of our fretting was for naught. We all spoke confidently about ourselves, our experience in Japan, and the things we enjoy. It was a great day. Cindy came, along with my pastor Saitou sensei, and another woman from my church Umeda-san.

* I'll pause for a second and give just a little note about the use of the suffix 'san.' In the US we tend to think 'san' means 'mister'--it sounds like 'son' so it must be a masculine term. Actually 'san' is an honorific term, it shows respect to the person being talked to or about. Everyone at my church calls me "Jenifah-san."

The following Sunday (speech day was the Friday before Christmas), I performed my speech at the Christmas lunch. Everyone got to hear me talk about my 8 siblings, 4 nephews and 8 nieces. They all understood me (which above all things is the goal). Even weeks after, people talk to me in reference to the things I said in my speech. They all came to me saying "Jenifah-san, yokata desu ne. Wakarimashita"--Jenifer good job. I understood what you were saying. Unfortunately, I fell sick that day and couldn't enjoy the feast that had been prepared. I was so sick I also missed some of the great stories other people shared, because I needed to go home and rest. Usually the Sunday before Christmas Ichigaya church has a huge lunch after service. Everyone who can brings some delicious food, tells stories about the year or shares a talent, and gifts are exchanged. I was so surprised to receive gifts from people at the church, some of whom I've never talked to. Even as I write this I am overcome with gratefulness for the way people at Ichigaya church have surrounded me. They are my Japanese family.

All of the Christmas services were beautifully decorated, including the Sunday worship before Christmas. There were candles everywhere. I especially liked the two candelabra on the alter each holding maybe twelve red candles--gorgeous.

Christmas Eve services are big celebrations for the churches here. Ichigaya celebrated with a packed night: two services, caroling, and a charity opera concert. I was still sick, but I was not going to miss Christmas Eve service and I'm glad I didn't. The first service was similar to the Sunday prior, a regular worship service with two selections from the choir. However, all of our hymns during that service were Christmas carols. Singing carols during service was perfect for me because it gave me time to practice the songs we would sing as we walked the neighborhood after the first worship service. Between caroling and the charity concert we were served a sweet bean soup with mochi (a chewy rice treat that has no strong flavor, but tastes great in all the ways I've had it so far). This sweet soup was great and perfect for warming us on that cold Christmas eve. The charity concert was amazing. The singers were great. Unfortunately my cold brought with it a furious cough so I had to step out from time to time in order to cough without disturbing the performance. The last event of the evening was a Christmas morning service, that is, a midnight candlelight service. The exciting thing about this service is that it was the first time my friend Maho, a seminary student, got to preach at a worship service. I was so excited to hear her and so proud of her--if only I could understand what her message was about. As you can imagine, I was completely exhausted by the end of the Christmas Eve/morning events. I slept all of Christmas day.

Apparently the Japanese celebrate Christmas, not as a Christian holy day, but as a Western holiday. So they usually eat fried chicken and cake, and go out with their romantic partners. Christmas turns out to be one of the major romantic holidays of the year. Jewelry shops were sold out of many items after Christmas, and not just women's jewelry.

I was glad to have a visitor from the states during my winter break. The two of us had a great time celebrating the new year here in Japan. This visit brought with it personal changes for myself which I will talk about in later posts. For now I'll just tell you about Japanese New Year's festivities.

The coming of a new year is sacred in Japan. It is a time of renewal; a casting off of the ills of the previous year and starting fresh in the new. Although many Japanese claim no allegience to any particular faith or religion, the beginning of the year proves to be a time when all of Japan goes to worship.

In November I'd been told that most people go to a shrine or temple to pray and give offerings on New Year's Day. One woman told me that some people go to the (Buddhist) temple on New Year's Eve and then to the (Shinto) shrine on New Year's Day. Wherever one goes the purpose is to offer up prayers for the new year. So I decided I would also go to one of these places of worship to see what goes on. So on New Year's day I joined the masses heading to the Meiji-Jingu shrine. Now when I say masses, I mean MASSES. It felt like half of Tokyo was at or in the neighborhood surrounding Meiji-Jingu when I got there. It only took us an hour to get up to the front of the shrine where we were sectioned off into groups to go up pray and give an offering. Now this can be very dangerous. I was given a tour of the shrine with the other new missionaries at the begining of December when the place was empty. At that time we were able to walk up to the inner most court yard, where we could see the gashes on the huge wooden doors from people throwing their coin offerings on New Year's Eve/Day. Thankfully I was not hit by any coins during my New Year's visit, but you better believe I covered my head just in case.

Now I said that we only waited an hour as if that was a short wait, because one of our Japanese teachers told us she had tried to visit the Meiji shrine one New Year's Eve one year, and after waiting three hours in line with little progress she decided to leave. So I was pretty happy that it didn't take long to get in and out of the Meiji. After visiting Meiji-Jingu I thought we'd make it over to another shrine Yushima-Tenjin and then head over to a temple in Asakusa (I was very ambitious). Yushima-Tenjin was suggested to us by some members at church. They said it would be particularly interesting because January is the time when students either begin taking or prepare to take entrance exams for universities. Because Yushima-Tenjin was dedicated to a great Japanese scholar, many students go there to pray for academic success. Well, we traveled down there, but were too hungry and tired to stand in the long line (at least three blocks long). Needless to say we also did not make it to the Asakusa temple. One of Japan's most famous temples, both in and outside of the country itself, this temple has a huge lantern at the entrance. It often comes up when searching for images from Japan. I'd been told that people go to the Buddhist temple to ring 108 bells as a symbol of emptying one's self of the 108 human desires (sorry I can't name them all). Having taken a class on Buddhism my last year of seminary I was really anxious to witness this, but my stomach was calling me home.

New Year's is also a family holiday. In Tokyo there are restaurants everywhere, Pachinko slot machine shops are found open night and day, anywhere you go on a normal day there will be some form of entertainment in Tokyo. But the first three to four days of the year the entire country shuts down. Except around shrines and temples Tokyo looked like a ghost town. I've walked my neighborhood after midnight and seen more lights and more people than I saw the entire first week of the new year. This is because everyone was home with their families.

I was blessed to spend January 2 with a family from my church. They were excited to share their celebration of the New Year with me. Our time began with sado Japanese tea ceremony. During the ceremony we drink a powdered green tea that is prepared a special way and drank from what looks like a bowl. The drink is mixed with a bamboo whisk. Before drinking we partake in sweets to off set the bitterness of the tea. Then the tea master (usually if not always a woman) brings out the first serving of tea and hands it to one person. That person must first say thank you to the person who has served them, then turn to the person on his/her left and say something to the effect that they are going to drink this first or "is it alright if I drink before you." After receiving their approval the drinker then raises the dish in a form of thanksgiving to God, brings it back down, turns the dish clockwise and then drinks. When that person has finished the ceremony continues with each person until everyone has drank their own dish of tea. This is a sacred ceremony in Japan and some scholars suggest that it may be connected to the Christian communion ceremony, brought by the first Christians who came to Japan in the 1500's. This notion comes from the cleansing and purification actions taken before the drink is poured; some of the cloths used are folded the same way a celebrant or presider might fold a purification cloth used for similar purposes in communion, for example.

After tea ceremony we had lunch. New Year's lunch (and all food eaten during the New Year celebration) is supposed to symbolize long life and or renewal. For example, New Year's Eve we eat soba noodles because they are long and serve to symbolize long life. So of course during our New Year lunch there were eggs, both for their birth symbolism and because the way they are cooked here the center is an orange color that makes the eggs look red and white. These colors are significant for the Japanese (note the Japanese flag) so New Year's food is put together to display these colors. There was also every kind of meat there is and mochi. I have mostly had mochi as a sweet treat with sweet red beans in the middle, and as described above as a sweet soup, but for New Year's it is served in a chicken soup. I think it is served this way at New Year's for the same reason soba is eaten, when mochi is inside hot liquid it becomes maliable and stretchy. I recall once during a New Year's meal having mochi stretching from the soup bowl to nearly half-way down my throat (this may be a disgusting image to some I apologize). It's that kind of long stretching that one wants from New Year's food set to symbolize long life.

After lunch we wrote out our hopes for the new year. The picture above shows my New Year wish (we in the U.S. call it a resolution) to laugh more this year, especially at myself, to not take things so seriously. I had to practice writing this kanji with brush and ink about 5 or 6 times before the family picked their favorite one. If you look closely and then not so closely you'll notice it sort of looks like a face. I was told to make dramatic strokes so that the kanji looked like a happy laughing face. The lettering down the side of the picture is my name written in katakana. After drawing our wishes we made origami and then I braided the daughters hair. It was the best time I've had in Japan thus far.

This was a very long post so thank you for patiently reading. I hope it was an interesting read. In the next month we will receive our teaching assignments. I am excited and at the same time longing to know my placement.

Prayer Requests:

1) Health: I have had both physical pain and constant battles with colds over the past couple months and even as I write this am suffering from a lingering cough that sometimes causes me to gag. Please pray especially for the irritation in my throat to be removed and for my body to be restored to health.

2) Sleep: I have also over the past month had many disturbing violent dreams that interrupt my sleep. Please pray for my sleep to be sweet (Psalm 4:8) and for whatever is racking my subconscious to come to light and be resolved while I am awake so that I can sleep.

Happy New Year

May the Peace of Christ fill you, the Grace of God keep you, and the Love of Holy Spirit surround and flow out of you to all you meet in this new year.

Giving Thanks

This has been a very busy month. Since I last wrote we have helped lead an English language Bible camp and visited another island. We have also been amazed and excited about our progress in the Japanese language. Though we have so much more to learn about the culture, and language of Japan I thought I'd take this blog to share some of the joys of the past month.

In the last post I complained about the difficulty of the Japanese language. Well a couple days after posting that blog, I was given a gift that has since helped me get through my Sunday worship services. This next story tells of the hospitality I've received here through the people of Ichigaya Lutheran Church.

After  a couple weeks of sitting by myself in church I finally picked a seat next to another person late in October. This woman speaks no English, but every Sunday she arrives about 20 minutes before service and sitting always in the same seat she begins her worship in silent prayer. Well it seems the seat I had chosen that Sunday was right next to her usual seat. I thought for a moment that I may have stolen her seat, but she made no complaint. Instead she helped me through the service, pointing out where we were in the order of service and constantly checking to make sure I was on the right page--ever try following a service that's spoken and written in another language? 

Well, as we sang hymns and read prayers my neighbor noticed that I was skipping all the kanji characters in the liturgy. I may have mentioned before that Japanese uses three scripts all of the time: hiragana for Japanese words, katakana for non-Japanese words (for example my name is written using katakana), and kanji (Chinese characters) also used for Japanese words. While we learned hiragana and katakana our first week of Japanese lessons, we did not start learning kanji until this month. So I have been reading what I can of the liturgy each Sunday, always skipping over the kanji.  After service my neighbor asked me, by pointing to the different characters if I could read kanji. I told her no and because neither of us could speak the other's language we went our separate ways.

The next week (the Sunday after I posted my last blog) as I prepared for service she called to me with a folder in her hand. Taking me to Megumi, the pastor's wife, she explained through Megumi that the folder in her hand was for me and I should not take the regular worship booklet. Because service was about to begin there was no time to explain what was in the folder, so I took it back to my seat. I immediately opened the folder when I got to my seat. When I saw what was in the folder I cried right there in my seat. I was overwhelmed by the gracious love of God. What I held in my hands was a copy of the worship booklet, but written over all the kanji was hiragana so that I could read through the liturgy without stopping. She later brought me a copy of the prayer of the day with hiragana written over the kanji. Now every week she comes early to copy the prayer and translate it for me.

Over and over again the people of Ichigaya church have gone above and beyond what I expect in order to take care of me. The same can be said of Cindy Otomori and the Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Church who continue to provide what new missionaries need before the missionaries themselves know they need them. This Thanksgiving I give thanks for the people of Ichigaya Church, and the JELC. I give thanks to God for placing me in a beautiful country with beautiful, gentle, hospitable people. I also give thanks for my colleagues who have ministered to me with words of encouragement, laughter, and hugs in my time of need. I give thanks for time away from Tokyo with trips to the mountains outside of Nagano and to the island of Kyushu. In Nagano I saw trees of every shade of autumn--the brightest red, crisp gold, earthy brown, and green. On the island of Kyushu I was given a taste of home with palm tree lined streets and beautiful beaches in Miyazaki prefecture. Also in Kyushu we were surrounded by the colors of fall while visiting the Lutheran schools in Kumamoto where two of us will be placed.

This has been a great month. It seems I have crossed the initial threshold that comes with being in a new place and am beginning to see Japan as my home. 

Thank you so much for your continued prayers. I am grateful especially for the encouraging emails you are sending. Your emails and letters guard against feelings of loneliness and isolation. 

Please continue to pray that my friendships here go deeper and that I am able to reach out to new friends. Pray also for discernment for Carolyn, Matt, and myself as we have been asked to submit our placement preferences to the JELC. Pray that we are able to see which position would best fit our needs, and gifts. As you are praying for us in this matter please also pray for Pastor Naoki Asano and the other pastors of the JELC who will determine where each of us is placed. Although the JELC's decision is far off, there's no reason we can't begin to pray now for God's will to be done.

I pray that your time of giving thanks and preparing for the celebration of the birth of our Saviour is filled with joy.

Peace

Please use the following link to view pictures of my trip to Kyushu (you'll have to cut and paste it into your browser):  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012137&l=b00b2&id=1201512632

Crossing the Threshold

This week marks the completion of one month in Japan. It's funny because while on the one hand it feels like I have been here so much longer, on the other it feels like I left the US just last week. Of course I'm way more adjusted now than I was one week after leaving the US. My first week in Japan was filled with anxiety (as well as excitement). I wondered every day whether I had made the right decision. Now my excitement and love for my host country grows more and more each day and my anxiety has left.

I used to think that the Japanese custom of taking off one's shoes when entering a home was not just for the home but for entering any building. It turns out that one only takes off ones shoes when crossing a threshold. When entering a home or office, if there's a change in flooring, a raised entry, or slippers waiting these are all indicators that shoes must be removed before entering; different footwear is required beyond the threshold. This month has been about living life beyond the threshold: learning a new language, new customs, a whole other way of being in the world. We began our language classes and have already had our first test. We're only in our third week of language study and I must confess that I don't always feel motivated to go to class or to speak Japanese. My third Sunday at Ichigaya church I remember being exhausted from having to be so polite. The Japanese are very polite. It makes them very hospitable, but it also means that for someone from the US who is used to being direct, I have to now gently enter conversations and constantly say "thank you" for everything. Now this doesn't sound all that bad, but I have to say thank you here in Japan far more than is normal or even standard politeness in the US. But I feel like I'm getting used to it all.

I am starting to understand the way the language works and I'm not bad at speaking it. I am also getting used to my routine, my neighborhood, and my prefecture Tokyo. I have only traveled outside of Tokyo prefecture once and it was to a bordering area called Yokohama. I look forward to getting further outside of Tokyo. In November we will have a J-3 retreat in Kyushu, the southernmost island off the main body of Japan, where we will also get to visit the Kumamoto site. We have had the joy of attending Bible study and English Coffee hour at the Hongo Student Center, another J-3 site that one of us will be assigned to. 

Thanks so much for all of your prayers. I am enjoying the Japanese language more and more, so I am speaking more and more. It is so exciting to go to church every week and be able to communicate and understand more than the previous week. I can now understand what the announcer is saying on the trains and can sound out words (although I often don't know what they mean). These are exciting times. Our neighbors are also becoming more familiar with us. Earlier this week we went out to eat at a restaurant across the street from our apartment. After dinner our server asked us (in Japanese) if we lived across the street because she sees us every day. This was very exciting for us to be known by someone in the neighborhood. Of course this restaurant has become our favorite place--because sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. We like to think that we are becoming familiar within the larger neighborhood. One example is a story about Carolyn's walk home from church this Sunday: 

We all go to different churches. Matt and I have to take the train to get to our churches, but Carolyn is able to walk to hers. Well this Sunday on her usual route Carolyn spotted some Sumo wrestlers sitting outside an apartment building (did I mention our town Ryogoku is known for Sumo wrestlers--it is literally the Sumo Wrestling capital of the world). Seeing Sumo wrestlers is normal for us, but this Sunday was different. She said that as she walked by one of them pointed at her and the other two all turned to look at her and talk about her. This was unusual since Sumo wrestlers have never made a single nod in our direction or any semblance  of acknowledging our presence, not even when we smile at them in passing. We like to think they were probably saying, that's the gaikokujin (foreigner) who lives in our neighborhood.

That said thanks for your prayers and email messages encouraging me to hang in there and speak. I have seen a huge turn around from my first week. Now that the newness is wearing off please pray that we continue to get along (Carolyn, Matt, and I) and that we become even more of an encouragement to one another. Pray especially for our language learning, it is frustrating not being able to communicate with people. Also pray that we start to make friends with people our own age. Right now we are all we've got so we feel kind of isolated.

Many Blessings

By the way the video is from Ichigaya church's annual Festa 10/19/2008