Prayer request

I didn't fit it into my newsletter this month, but I may or may not revise that. Please pray for F. The weekend of the praise hour gave him a lot to think about: He and I had a great/enjoyable conversation on the phone, but the next day when I saw him at brass quintet practice I was crabby and annoyed at how much he was praising me. The praise hour homily was on baptism, and he had a long talk with one of our biggest prayer warriors from our church (a sweet grandma/lady who is maybe in her 60s) about faith.
I was very happy with all of this, however, it has been more than a month and I haven't heard a word from him or seen him.
I have not tried to contact him, because I sense the Lord has instructed me not to.
I want to be patient and give him the time that he needs, but I'm also becoming anxious because I know there is a spiritual battle going on, and without knowing differently, I'm afraid he's losing that battle.
Please pray for him to experience victory in Christ, to receive faith, and to inform me when he does.
Please pray that I would pray faithfully with a pure heart, trusting rather than fearing, and for patience and discernment in the Holy Spirit's leading and wisdom once I do hear from/see him again.

flying solo

Since I began teaching at the highschool, I've team-taught every class with a Japanese teacher. But today, one of the teachers had another appointment and I had to teach the class alone.

Now, I teach English classes alone all the time -- for anywhere from one to about seven students.

Now picture a room full of 41 Japanese 15-year-olds, some of whom don't respect any of their teachers... and picture me walking in alone.

Without the Lord's gift of patience and boldness, I would have failed miserably. This is just another to add to my list of: "If you had told me in college that I would be... [ ]... I would not have believed you." Here is as much as I can recall from that list:

Teaching
Teaching kindergarteners
Enjoying teaching
Living in Japan
Driving in Japan
Climbing mountains in Japan
Skiing on real mountains
Speaking Japanese fluidly (although not yet fluent)
Talking about: God, grace, sin, the Gospel, the Holy Spirit, prayer, protection, etc. to non-believers, in Japanese
Trying to pray in Japanese
Performing a solo concert in a hospital lobby... in Japan

Belonging to a band where all the people and all the rehearsals are held... in Japanese (The extent of the English: one conductor actually says "One, two, san... " before starting us up.)

Having those band members joke that I am Japanese

Belonging to an amateur orchestra that practices weekly with professional dedication... and pays a professional conductor largely from the proceeds of their concerts.

Leading a horn class for eight Japanese Junior high girls (last winter)
Playing horn octets in concert (last winter) and for fun (recently) with Japanese people.
Playing an alpenhorn quartet for fun
Realizing that some Japanese men are tall... and attractive
Commuting to a different place every day and loving it
Teaching at a university (last year)
Teaching at a high school (recent)
Experiencing a nearby flood and nearby earthquake in the span of three months (2 years ago)
Playing soccer, tennis, air hockey, darts; doing archery and batting cages; and rollerblading all in the same building within the span of three hours (tonight)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The solo high school class was really not all that different from teaching with someone... or from teaching my elementary age kids! :-)

Horn group!!

Two weeks ago I attended a horn players group called "Ensemble Amalance." They gather about once per month. The day that I came, there were 9 horn players including me. We played some horn octets while one member conducted. Some were easy, others were more challenging. I don't think I was the only person sightreading. But someone had also borrowed four Alpenhorns from an instrument shop, and they even had some music for three or four such horns. It was the first time I've ever seen one up close, much less play on. After I played on one for a while, I let someone else play, and then I took this picture with my cell phone. That's why it's both 1. not a very good picture and 2. doesn't have me in it. But aren't they cool-looking? It was a late evening after a long day, but tons of fun.