There has been more snow this winter than last year. I am actually enjoying that. Because my thinking is, "If it is going to be cold, it might as well be white and beautiful". However, the amount of snow doesn't come anywhere close to Indiana winters!
Going along with the snow theme I had many opportunities to share from God's Word. The project this year was "building snowmen". I used this snack to share with unbelievers at the bookstore story time and with the Sunday school kids at Azumino Family C
hapel. I remembered an object lesson from when I was young. It was in one of the Lakeland Child Evangelism videos. The kids collect snow in a jar and marvel at how clean and pure it is. It is the whitest thing they have ever seen. But when the snow melts there are specs of dirt in it and it isn't clean enough to drink. This shows that even though we think we are good people and we don't have any sin or problems there is still sin in our hearts because of the sin nature. I read Psalm 51:7b "Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow" and Isaiah 1:18 "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins be like scarlet they shall be as white as snow;" I pray that every time thos
e children and even the parents see snow they will think of the words of the Lord.Winter vacation was wonderful! I could tell many people were praying for me because it wasn't hard to be away from my family. I had to work on Christmas day, but I was able to go in late so that I could talk to my family via Skype video and open presents. It was nice. I am blessed to have such a great family. Vacation included: a Christmas KFC chicken dinner with my friends and a missionary family, the Risdens. Game days, bowling and karaoke. Snowshoeing in Norikura. New Year's Japanese style. I even took a 4 day trip to Taiwan with my boss. Vacation was so busy I didn't have time to miss my family or friends in America.
There are plenty of pictures and more exciting details on my facebook page. Check out the link----->
Good News! Thank you for your prayers. I passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test level 3! I got my results this week. :)
It was good to accomplish this, but I feel like it is a little step up the mountain of Japanese! I don't have another test or goal set now. I would like to be able to teach the Children's Sunday school lesson. Right now I am an assistant because I can't do a whole lesson. What a blessing it would be to teach children about the Lord in Japanese! Please pray for my continued studies.
Habitat for Humanity Trip:
There is a possibility that I will be going to the Philippines with Habitat for Humanity in the end of April for ten days. The trip is organized by the JET Christian Fellowship. They made an announcement about the trip at the November retreat and I had been thinking about it and praying about it and decided to sign-up. However, the trip is up in the air. There must be 12 members to take the JCF team and as of 2 weeks ago we only had eight people committed. My friend Eno is going and also two of my "Japanese older sisters" from church. Please pray that we will have a complete team and be able to minister in the Philippines.
I'm looking forward to using the building skills my dad and brother taught me...they have been out of use lately! :)
Please continue to pray for my friend Kikuko. She came to the Christmas program at church with her daughters. I gave her and the girls a Japanese storybook of the Christmas message. Last Saturday, she and the girls came to the story time at the Bible bookstore. Yoshino san gave her an English book to read about what to do in hard times. Pray that I will be able to get together with her more often.
Please pray for my relationships with teachers. Sometimes it is hard to get to know them because they are not as open as Americans. Next week I will go snowboarding with two of the young teachers.
I have decided that I will be an ALT for one more year. That means that I will be in Japan with this job until March 2011. I don't love being an ALT because I would rather have the freedom to teach my own classes. But I think this is where the Lord wants me right now and I plan to make the most of it! Pray for this next year. I am sure it will go by quickly! Please pray for wisdom about what to do in 2011!
Lastly, Congratulations to my dad and mom! Today is their 38th anniversary! They are wonderful parents and godly examples for me. Pray for them as they count their blessings from the 38 years they have had! Love you mom and dad! :)
For Him in Japan,
礼子
That's the Japanese name my friends gave me on New Year's!
