help

We were blessed with a couple amazingly beautiful days in Tokyo, but tonight there are some icy winds of death blowing. I'm gonna try to stay inside as much as possible : )

So, today at gospel choir practice, we focused on a really good song for a while. It's called "Please Don't Pass Me By" by Fred Hammond. Please listen to it if you can! It talks a lot about how much we need Jesus and how much he loves to help us. I would give you the lyrics, but the song is just so beautiful. It wouldn't do it justice.

Along with that, I was just reading about the help God offers. This might sound slightly psycho, but I'm reading a book in Spanish because I miss it. Probably not the best thing to do to work on my Japanese, but that's coming along a tiny bit anyway. Basically what this book (El campo de batalla de la mente) was saying is that you should know that God "loves you, that He's full of compassion, that he will help you. Know Jesus. He's your friend. He died for you. Know the Holy Spirit. He's with you all the time as your Helper. Allow Him to help you."

smile

This picture is symbolic of the hope I have that we're gonna make it through this winter! These early pink and white blossoms are on my walk home from the park I often go to.

The problem is, if I think too much about how the winter's almost over, it makes it harder to withstand the cold. Similarly, if I think too much about how I'm not all that homesick, I suddenly miss my family a lot. I got really bummed the other day, because my brother Misha was doing impersonations when I was on the phone with my mom. I could hear him, and he is the funniest person on the face of this earth as far as I'm concerned. The past few days have been a little rough, but here are a few things that help me:

A) Acts 2:28 "You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence."

B) The flowers I just put in my window sill

C) friends at home and here

D) the Junior Mints and Circus Animal Cookies I just received from America

E) singing to Jesus in the gospel choir

Japanese hospitality

Man, some people here! Our neighbor Keiko and her daughter Minori had Shyla and me over for lunch last week. It was amazing!!! First we ate...I think they were nervous we wouldn't like their food, because they made about 10 things! We had like a sandwich bar with pita bread and taco meet, ham, and a million other sauces/vegetables/Japanese things. It was actually great, and I am the most picky eater I've ever met, so it was great. And then we had tea. They took us into this special room, where they usually only eat for New Year's I think. They had one of these really cool heaters (I forget what it's called) where you sit at the little table, and it's heated underneath. A blanket/table cloth thing keeps the warm air inside. So we had tea and dessert in this quaint little room while the snow was falling outside and you could see it in the window. We looked at some baby albums of Midori and heard Keiko tell a story to practice her English (she practiced the intonation and everything by listening to tapes!) Then we went into yet another room and heard both of our hostesses play the piano. Keiko is a piano teacher and is so amazingly talented...and of course she teaches her talented daughter. I could not ask for cooler neighbors!

first real winter

I walked to church in the snow today.

Thailand

Things I enjoyed in Thailand: sleeping in a bed, not sorting my trash, not wearing shoes too much, not taking my shoes off inside, paper towels in the bathroom, Mexican food, so incredibly many palm trees, and the beautiful ocean. Also, it was 30 degrees Celcius instead of negative 2 like Tokyo. I got to surf three times (and it was only $3/hour to rent a board.) I'm so thankful for the conference and vacation!!! I'm refreshed and ready to go!

Hokkairo

For a belated birthday gift, I received something that has changed my life. Hokkairo. Since it is now freezing cold in Tokyo, it is very helpful to keep Hokkairo very close to you. These little heat packs go inside your pockets and prevent you from being miserably cold. It's really great! These three girls from Sophia University blessed me with Hokkairo and even wrote out the directions in English so that I wouldn't burn myself or anything. They also made me the most precious card I've ever seen in my life!

I will not need Hokkairo in a couple days though, because I will be in Thailand! The beach and warm weather will be so refreshing! My friend Paul and I would really appreciate your prayers for good surf in Koh Samui from the 20th through the 27th. Actually, I don't really know how to surf yet, but I've been training (push ups, stairs, running) and my friend Paul is wondering if you could pray for a sandbar reef and barreling rights.

Also, I'll be joining the gospel choir on tour from March 11th through the 21st. We would really love your prayers for all the planning for that as well! Sorry, video of our fall concerts still to come!

I miss you! I miss you all a lot!

pictures, compliments of my roommate!

Pictures from my birthday! Hiroshi had such a nice set-up for us! He knows I can't drink caffeine at night, so he made a special menu of drinks just for me! And he doesn't really speak Engish, so he looked up most of the words in a dictionary!

These Christmas lights might be the best ones in Japan! At least they're the coolest ones I saw this year, and I really enjoyed them. I found them when I was on a run and went back just to see them.

Shyla and I are taking care of the kids! I really really enjoyed helping out with the child care at the Japanese staff conference! That's Micah and JJ. Plus, I got to hold James a lot, and he slept in my arms for over an hour and it was so sweet! Precious!

So the most exciting thing in the last week was that I went with my team leader to feed the homeless. It was really awesome! We totally couldn't communicate with anyone, but they said thank you and sometimes even in English. We gave out some warm stuff and rice triangles, peanuts, and fruit. It was cool to see them appreciate it.