One Year in Japan!
Praise the Lord for the plans He has! On September 10th I celebrated one year of living and working in Japan. It was a great time to look back on how the Lord brought me to Japan. The first time I came was in 1996 with my family, I was just 10 years old, but the Lord knew Japan would be a part of my life again. Wow! He is GOOD!

"The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?"
Proverbs 20:24 (New Living Translation)

Knowing that the LORD is leading every step of my life, in the big and the small, gives hope for every day! I feel like I'm always looking forward to what He will do next. Trusting and waiting for His direction.

This, That and the Other

• Just to give you an update on my plans for now. My current contract ends next March. My company encourages re contracting and I think I would enjoy another year as an AET in the Horigane schools. If I re contract, then I will continue this job until March 2011. Staying in Horigane gives more solid relationship building time with the teachers and students. But, I'm also praying about it. I will officially make a decision in February. Your prayers are appreciated!

• Other highlights of life in Japan include:
  

• Family Camp with Azumino Family Chapel! It was a great time of fellowship and growing. The speakers are TEAM missionaries, so I had a chance to talk to them in English and I learned a lot! This is a picture from camp. The two girls in the middle are Christians from China that are living in Japan.

• My friend Toshimi's wedding. It was my first Japanese wedding experience! It was a God-honoring celebration. (See the Facebook link for pictures).

• Busy school schedules! This included the Elementary school Undoukai, which is a much more elaborate version of the American "field day". The Junior high had their annual school festival. It was a great time of presentations, music and fun.

• New private students! I'm teaching three private classes a week. I teach two 4 year olds on Mondays, 5 Elementary kids on Tuesdays and 5 adults on Thursdays. It keeps me busy, but I really enjoy it. My class with the 5 elementary aged kids just started this week. It might be a bit off a challenge because the kids are different ages and their English levels are a little different! I'm thankful for all the private classes because it gives me more opportunities to reach out to the Japanese around me! Please pray that I will teach to my best ability and that I will use every opportunity to glorify the Lord.

• Hiking and Climbing: Being from Indiana, there haven't been opportunities to go and "play" in the mountains! I started fellow shipping and training with people from the church. I mostly enjoy the encouragement and building each other up while we hike. The Bible Bookstore owner Yoshino san is my number one hiking buddy. I'm thankful for the times we've had together.

• English club: I'm starting over with English Club only two times a month. When we were asked to do a presentation for the school festival, English Club went from 9-11 students each week to one person regularly attending. Now that I'm changing the format, I'm talking to the members and recruiting new members and hopefully it will be up and running at the end of this month! It has been frustrating lately! Please pray for club to pick up again.
  

• Please pray for my friend Kikuko. I met her through one of the teachers at the Junior High and she came to the church festival with her family. We have gotten together several times. Recently she has been very open with me about her feelings and problems and I've had the chance to share about the hope I have in Christ and the hope she can have. I was also so happy that she came to the bookstore one Saturday morning for Kid's Story Time and she was able to talk with Yoshino san in Japanese about Christ. Pray for our continued friendship and wisdom in sharing with her.
  

• JLPT 3! In six weeks I will be taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test level 3! The test is December 6th. Please pray for my studies! I have 9 chapters in one book that I need to finish to study grammar and I have about 300 kanji to make sure I know. The kanji are coming along and I have about 90 more to master. I'm taking the test because it provides a goal for studying and also will enable more opportunities in future jobs and ministry.
  

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement. It means a lot to know there are people praying each step of the way!

Don't forget to check out the pictures ---->