Saturday

Not the greatest meet-up spot.

Beach

I love the ocean so much! And I had the chance to go on Tuesday with my classmates and teachers, thanks to the spring equinox national holiday （春分の日）in Japan! Understatement: I really enjoyed being by the ocean. It took a little bit of courage, but I also ate hijiki, a type of seaweed apparently loaded with minerals.

Update on the CHANGE conference. Thank you so much for your prayers! It was an incredible time of worship and fellowship!! The students loved time together and were courageous to share their faith as well. Pictures to come in my monthly prayer letter.

beer?

Today I was trying to explain to two of my Japanese classmates (from Russia and China) that I met someone from Spain who is an architect. Well, I couldn't remember how to say architect in Japanese. When I tried to say that she designs buildings, I accidentally said ビール (biーru) instead of ビル (biru), which means beer, not building. They thought that she gives tours to people at beer factories...

On a more serious note, yesterday students from all over Japan came to Tokyo for the CHANGE conference. They are focusing on how to know Jesus better in order to change their lives and the world for Him. You may be able to see us in worship at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/チェンジ２０１２-仕えよう-ニッポン

pure white

Talking about the weather is usually just small talk. But since a lot of my friends and family are from San Diego and LA, the seasons in Tokyo can actually be pretty exciting...last week it was snowing, and today I spotted the first signs of spring.

Actually, I've only ever experienced snow-fall in Japan, and I think it's beautiful. It really brings to life part of the Bible for me:

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. -Isaiah 1:18

From my brand new Japanese Bible, that's: さぁ、来れ。ろんじ会おうと主はおおせられる。たとい、あなたがたのつみがひのようにあかくても、雪のように白くなる。ーイザヤ１：１８

I can't understand or fully explain this in Japanese yet. But, I love how the snow reminded me of how clean I am because of Jesus in my life. Alone, my life is extremely ugly and stained. However, through God's grace all of that is washed completely away.


OK, then approximately an hour after I wrote this stuff above, I learned a new Japanese character... 真. I learned two different ways to read this kanji, "ma" and "shin". Two of the words it's used in are masshiro (真白）and shinri（真理）、meaning "pure white" and "truth".