Ultimate Frisbee

 
On Saturday morning, we went to a playing field we had reserved and played a couple of games of ultimate frisbee. I had never played before, because I didn't think I'd be very good at it, and I was right. During the first game, I was going for the frisbee.... and so were two big guys, on either side of me. Sandwiched between them because none of us saw the others, I fell almost flat to the ground and my head bounced. I got up, but was somewhat dizzy the rest of the day. I sat the rest of the game out but took a lot of pictures of the game, anyway. One friend thinks I maybe had a mild concussion. But I'm fine now. 

Hiking

 
Since we were located next to a river valley, there were mountains everywhere. We went hiking the day we arrived (Friday), and then again on the day we left (Sunday). The trails were sometimes overgrown, which only served to heighten the sense of adventure. Both times we went, it was a good workout, and I'm sad to say that the Tokyo people were in better shape than I was! While they are climbing stairs at the train stations, I'm sitting in my car. All in all, it was a wonderful, restful, rejuvenating retreat. 

Orchestra concert

 
On Sunday, November 12, the Niigata Symphony Orchestra performed their 79th regular concert. We performed Festive Overture by Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky's (2nd?)violin concerto, Op.35, and Dvorak's 9th Symphony "from the New World." On 'Festive Overture,' the 'banda' players (4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones) came out onto the balcony in front of the organ in the concert hall midway during the piece; I played the first horn part for that. I played first horn on the concerto, and second horn on the symphony.
It was a very fun concert, I was super nervous only during rehearsals, but when it came to the concert I felt comfortable, enjoying myself with the music. We rehearsed nearly 60 hours, about 3 hours a week since mid June. It was full of minor mishaps that the audience didn't notice.
I was late to the Saturday night rehearsal because I was teaching, and I was late to the Sunday morning practice because I went to church. I played the whole concert to the Glory of God, frequently conscious that none of this would be possible without God, who created us and sustains our life, and who gave us the time and the means to make all the instruments, the music, etc., and further gave us the time, talent, health and energy to practice and make music.
At the parties afterward, I did drink a bit, since my friend had invited me to stay over at her apartment. I got to know several more people, shared with a few my testimony, and shared the Gospel and prayed for one man whose wife is Christian but he doesn't believe anything. God's ways are amazing: one hour I can be wondering if I've really made so many friends in this group and if I'm really being used by the Holy Spirit. A few hours later I am absolutely certain that the Holy Spirit is moving boldly, that God is even paving the way for me to stay in Niigata and in this group, and that it's only a matter of time before everything falls into place.

This picture is of the flowers I received from students and friends on the day of the concert. Altogether 25 friends bought tickets and went. Many of those friends were Christian, but some were not. May the seeds that were planted at the parties grow and blossom even more abundantly. To God be the Glory. 

Fall Retreat

Last week I was in Tokyo for our annual Fall Business meeting and retreat. This year it was called the Fall Conference because it was nearly a week long, and we did some more teacher training sessions. I have tons of pictures, but not tons of time at the moment to put them all up here, and think backwards so that it easily goes in order. So this is all you get for now.
It was a really good trip, and I am planning to write more about it soon. 

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.

September Praise Hour and Chicago Pizza

Today we just had another really great Praise hour. The thing I'm most excited about is that five of my friends from the band came, three of them for the first time! The two who have come before, are T (the young lady that I carpool to band with) and F (the guy I went to dinner with in my last post). They all had an enjoyable time, to varying degrees. For example, one of the newcomers said of Pastor's message: 'I've never heard that way of thinking before.' That to me is how a Japanese person would politely say 'I didn't like it because I disagreed with everything he said.' It doesn't matter either way; God's word is powerful. On the other end of the spectrum, F said that he could understand easily, especially because of what I explained to him about sin last week. Pastor's message was based on part of Genesis 6, the flood, and also the new testament reference to the flood symbolizing baptism. The message was all in Japanese, so I didn't understand every detail, but he told interesting stories, preached the Gospel, and very sensitively offered baptism in such a way that I didn't think it would be offensive to those who weren't interested, but would be very encouraging for those who were.

The other cool thing was that I played my horn during the service! I've been praying that I might have a chance to do it, and the night before the service, Pastor's wife asked me to play on one of the songs. I was actually kind of glad that no one really commented on it, because I wanted to play purely with a heart of praise, not like a recital. They were busy singing along, anyway.

After the praise hour, we had our usual icebreaker time, which was good, and then we had a dinner of Chicago style pizza. Victor spent a few weeks researching and trying recipies, and the church bought a new gas oven so that we'd be able to cook all of them. It will be really nice this Thanksgiving, too. We cooked ten pizzas, in rectangular pans because we could fit more in the oven that way. We actually baked the pizzas the day before, and it took all afternoon and into the evening, but I was only there for part of it. Then we reheated them during the icebreaker time. It turned out really good, and other Americans who know Chicago pizza said it tasted really authentic. We also served salad and spaghetti, and had a few desserts as well.
Altogether, there were 49 people in attendance. It was a good number, because the church was full but not overfull. Only 16 of those were Christian; 33 were guests. We had plenty of food; in fact we had one whole pizza leftover. There were several regulars, Christians from other churches, and several newcomers. One family of a student of mine in Tagami came for the first time, and seemed interested in coming again. There were only a couple of families with kids, and after we were done eating, I went with them into a side room to play with puzzles and draw pictures.

After most everyone had gone home, ten of us went to play badminton again: me, Victor, Laura, Efrain, Eriko (pastor's teenage daughter); A, F, and two other guys and a lady that I don't know as well so I haven't mentioned them before. We had a good time, and worked off all (or at least most) of the calories from our pizza! Overall, I think it was another good praise hour: the Gospel was preached, God's word was read, we sang his praises and fellowshipped with people from all walks of life, forming friendships and talking about what we care about.

The dinner "date"

Beware, this post is really long.
More on my 'oh so crazy life'...

First let me explain how I got into this 'situation.'
I was talking to some of my students about a week and a half ago, and happened to mention that I want to stay in Niigata, but I'm looking for a job. Well, they did a bit to work on helping me find one, but at the end of the conversation they teased me: 'You know, Betsy, the easiest way to stay in Japan is to get married.' Then again they almost seemed half serious when they mentioned someone in particular.

So I was a little bit unnerved when I had a message on my cell phone voice mail that evening. The name was mumbled so I couldn't recognize it, then he said in English: "I heard that next year, you are going back to the United States. Really? I want to have supper or dinner with you.." and the message was cut off.

I panicked and prayed about what to do. I don't know this person!! Why should I call him back? This is kind of scary... and yet I felt the Holy Spirit prodding me to call him back. I felt awkward about just calling back using the caller ID function on my cell phone, to call some one up and ask 'who is this?' So I dialed the number, let it ring once, and then hung up.

As I suspected, he called me back, and then I could comfortably ask his name. As it turns out, it's someone I met nearly a year ago, and had seen again recently. I was so relieved to find that it was someone I already knew, that I chatted with him a while and agreed to have dinner with him. As it turns out, there was no connection whatsoever to my students.

After I got off the phone, I thought 'what have I just gotten myself into?!' I comforted myself with the thought that I might have to cancel because that night would possibly be for the welcome party for the highschool.
However, on Friday when I found out that the party would be on an entirely different night, I emailed him to let him know for sure that I could go. I guess I was kind of looking at it like just going to dinner with a friend. He was planning to go see our band competition that Sunday, so afterward we planned where we would go. He was supposed to be giving me directions, and he kind of did, but then asked if he could pick me up. Well, I figured that would save me on gas and parking, since the place he wanted to go was not so closeby, and parking always costs. The main reason he wanted to have dinner with me was so we could have more time to talk (and if you could hear his attempts at English, you would understand why it would take a long time!). So I also figured that if we rode together we could talk in the car too. So, okay then, it's settled. I'm going.

On Monday he emailed me, thanking me for meeting him Sunday in order to arrange our dinner, and also telling me that he was going to the Buddhist temple to pray for 9/11 (that Monday was September 11 '06).

What? Excuse me? Hello! This is no date, this is no simple dinner, this is outright spiritual warfare!!

For the entire week, my focus on God kicked into high gear and I did everything I know spiritually to prepare myself for battle.

True, it's possible he just said it to try to impress me (as though any religion is just fine, as long as you are religious), or show me how much he cares about America.

But very few Japanese even want to hear anything about religion, so it was a bit unusual. It seemed certainly best to me to be on my guard.

In the morning on the day of the date, I had planned to get up early for prayer and bible study, but slept in so I only had an hour and a half before I had to leave. I prayed about what to do, and God said 'go for a walk.'

The seriousness and earnestness I had excersized all week was good, but it was lacking the joy and love for God that the Lord wants most in our response to Him. I had begun to get a bit legalistic with myself. God restored to me that morning the joy of salvation, and showed me that while sincerity and dedication is good, it cannot be done right if I'm neglecting love.

F. picked me up from the church, since I was just finishing my work there, and he already knew where it was because he attended a praise hour there last year. He chatted with the pastor and his wife, and with Laura, while I finished cleaning up my stuff from class and got my things together.

I think one of his main purposes in wanting to talk with me was musical. One of his tuba students in the band was hoping to ask me to play the horn part in a brass quintet, but felt awkward asking me directly, as so many Japanese do.

The majority of what we talked about was music and religion. Denominational differences (primarily between Catholic and Protestant) came up during the ride there, and I've developed the habit of using that as way to share the Gospel ("There are lots of differences, like the offices of priest vs. pastor, but the one thing all denominations have in common is that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, then rose again.") During dinner, he said there was something he really wanted to ask me about. "What is sin?" So I launched in as best I could in Japanese, beginning with the original sin of not only Adam and Eve but the bad angels and how all sin basically amounts to a selfish desire to want to somehow replace God. I talked for 20 minutes or more and gave examples and witnessed the Gospel. The entire time, all I felt was a flood of love for my Lord Jesus, and an abounding joy I've never fully experienced before. I really think that God took over and the Holy Spirit spoke through me, not only because of how I felt, but because of what F said when I was finished. I can't remember exactly if he used the word 'shiawase' or 'ureshii,' either of which can be translated happiness or blessedness. But supposing he only meant happy, he said he felt exceedingly happy to hear what I had said, and also to see that I am so happy in what I believe.

He also said later on he was surprised that I didn't attack him for his Buddhist faith, but asked him about what prayer means to him. I have been realizing for awhile now, that it can be really good to ask other people questions about what they believe. If I hesitated to before, I think it was because I was afraid that my faith wasn't strong enough, and by hearing what they believe, my faith would somehow be weakened. But the more I hear about others' faith, the more foolish it sounds to me. It's still respectful to them, because I don't come out and tell them my opinion, and I figure that if it sounds foolish to me, eventually it will sound foolish to them also. But even though he said he didn't feel 'attacked,' I know that the Holy Spirit was using me to attack the hardness in his heart, in the gentle way that only God knows how to do.

After that conversation, I knew the evening had been a success, that it was truly God's will that I go. The whole time I thought of it as work, not pleasure. People who knew I was going said "have a good time," but I honestly didn't think I would. But after awhile, when he went to the washroom, I looked at the time and was surprised that three hours had passed! We talked for awhile more before we left the restaurant, he let me pay for my half, and he took me home (back to the church, where my car was parked). I can honestly say that I did have a good time.

I still firmly believe that I should not seriously date a man who doesn't belong to the Lord. In Japan, a couple isn't considered serious until the third date, but I know I still need to be careful. My current policy is: if he asks me, I'll go, but you can be sure I'll be so 'salty' and so full of love for God, that he'll either not want to go out with me again, or he'll want to go to church, so if he really likes me he can just meet me there.

F is planning to come to the Praise Hour next Sunday. But in all fairness, he was planning to come even before we went out.

Kanto area summer camp

 
This was the main gathering room. In the same building were several tatami rooms where we slept. My room had seven women. There was also an onsen (hotsprings) and a dining room. The theme for the three days (Mon-Wed) was: The power of praise. 

The praise band

 
The players came from two different churches, and they sounded quite good together. The flute player (far left) is exceptionally good, and was a very nice complement that made it much easier to hear the melody. The girl in red was in the same room as me, and I got to talk to her quite a bit. We spent about as much time praising and singing as we did listening to speeches, which was nice. 

The speaker

 
Our keynote speaker was Chu Kosaka, a Japanese Christian gospel singer. On one of his CDs I saw his name spelled Chew! He shared many stories about his life, and the overal theme was encouraging contemporary music in churches. I'll translate/paraphrase one thing I remember him saying "Many Japanese people spend the whole week long, Monday through Saturday, at work in drudgery. If they were to go to church on Sunday, what are they most likely to experience? Slow music and a long sermon that very much resembles a funeral service. Why would they want to come? We need to change that." 

The speech

 
Laura and I were special guests, since Niigata is not considered part of the Tokyo area that this camp was for. Each church shared the main points of their ministry, and at the end they invited me to tell about the ministry in Niigata, so I shared the highlights of VYM related ministry: the praise service, coffeehouse, and special events at Shibata. Yes, I said everything in Japanese, with certainly many mistakes! 

The food

 
No potlucks here! Everyone was served an elaborate meal for breakfast and dinner and a simpler meal for lunch. This was dinner from the first night. As usual, I ate everything... okay well so I didn't eat the entire whole fish, just the meat from it! 

the dining hall

 
All these people are Lutherans! There were about 90 participants in the summer camp representing 14 different churches in Tokyo and the surrounding area. 

Prayer retreat

 
On Wednesday we went to another part of Nasu and stayed in this cabin. This picture actually makes it look much more isolated than it was. It was the first cabin in a cluster of several; there were also many families camping nearby. 

Our "campsite"

 
Our cabin was in the woods, and the area had both cabins and regular tent camping. Here I am on the small porch we had in front of our cabin. 

On the way home

 
Becky, Laura, and me at the restaurant where we ate lunch on the last day. After that we boarded a train to Koriyama, waited to get on a bus back to Niigata, took a local bus back to Nozomi lutheran in Niigata, and drove home from there. It was a great trip, but all good things must come to an end! 

How do you put on a yukata?

 
Last Thursday, the day after the fireworks, I bought myself a yukata, at an end of season sale. (Yukata is the name for the summer, cotton kimono.) Then I asked my friend H to teach me how to put it on. She and two other friends, Y and Laura, came over to my apartment and we all put on yukata once. Then we took them off again and Y and I practiced putting ours on all by ourselves. My yukata came with a short, easy-to-put-on obi, but H loaned me a real one in the same color so I could practice. After adjusting the length of the yukata, I had to tie cloth 'cords' around my waist and around my rib cage to make sure it stays in place. 

How many hands do you need?

 
The one part has to stay up on your shoulder and out of the way, but you really need both hands to wrap the obi around you. Laura gave me good advice; 'use your chin!' That worked, but it also looks really funny. Thank you Laura, for taking so many great pictures! 

Tying the obi

 
When you put yukata on by yourself, your arms can't reach behind you where it is supposed to be tied, so you tie it in front, and then twist it around to the back. But it is a very wide piece of cloth, and it can be rather difficult to get it right, especially when you forget to tie it off like I did. My good friend H taught me well, but I don't know how much I will remember. 

The back

 
Almost done... just a few more minor adjustments now that the 'butterfly' has been twisted around to the back... and... 

I did it!

 
I put this yukata on almost entirely by myself. After sitting and chatting awhile, the four of us decided it was time to go out to dinner. Two of us (me and one Japanese friend) went in yukata, and two went in western summer clothes, just casual. We went to a Japanese family restaurant, and it was fun to see people trying to control their reactions. It was a really fun day. 

Niigata fireworks

 
Today I went with a few friends to see the fireworks in Niigata city. The show was so long that we did quite a bit of talking in the midst of it. There were scads of people wearing yukata, the summer kimono. Mostly the women were dressed up, but I saw a few men wearing the men's version. These girls I do not know; they plopped down right next to us and I thought it made for a nice picture. 

Tokamachi trip (8/8)

 
Today I went to Tokamachi to see a very large art exhibit that was spread all over the city. This piece was set up in the mountains among farmers. The pond probably existed to begin with, but it looks like they did some re-shaping and possibly controlled drainage. Being outdoors, the weather adds much to the mood of the artwork. My friend N, from the orchestra, took me around. Of the hundreds of works, we saw about twenty. 

form? function? both?

 
At first glance I thought maybe this was one of the pieces. N explained that this was probably a place the farmers were cultivating Shiitake mushrooms. I decided to take a picture anyway. 

charred wood sculptures

 
Not all of the pieces were outside. There were several in houses, stores or buildings, and at this place we had to wait until 10am when they opened.

Tokamachi is N's hometown, and along the way she showed me where she had gone to junior high and high school. The weather looks nice, but it was quite hot and humid, well near 100 degrees F.
 

Me in front of the mirrored house

 
After we had seen several art pieces in the exhibition, we went to lunch and ate a type of soba noodle that Tokamachi is famous for, plus some tempura. Then we saw a couple more pieces on the way to her parents' house. I met her mother and grandmother who welcomed me warmly and we had iced tea together. They were nervous about meeting a foreigner, but were set at ease when they learned that I can manage conversation in Japanese. After a while, and seeing their koi pond and gardens, we left with freshly picked tomatoes and an open invitation to visit again.
Then we went to the huge sunflower field. 

Me and N at the field of sunflowers

  

Amazing day (8/6)

Today was an absolutely, incredible, wonderful and amazing day. If you want the simple version, I'll give it in one paragraph here. I went to Chuetsu church in Sanjo this morning and several prayers were answered in a big way. Then I went to the band competition in Joestu, had some very good bonding with band members, and we won first place. I came home, made dinner, then went for a walk and watched the Sanjo fireworks from afar while spending some incredible quality time with God. It was truly an amazing day.

The longer version here will include a bit more detail. It's only been a month since I last went to Chuetsu, but it still felt like a long time since I had seen many of them. I arrived a good half hour before Sunday School, and pastor let me warm up on my horn first. Then he and I had a very good, insightful talk.

Sunday school was nice, especially since I sat with a good friend: a little girl in first grade whom I used to be very close to when she was at the kindergarten and in whom I had seen genuine faith. She is still as sweet as ever, but I almost felt like her mother, helping her find the page and reminding her to fold her hands rather than fidget with the bible when we were praying the Lord's prayer.

After Sunday school finished, I turned around to see the newest teacher at Sanjo kindergarten sitting in the last pew! I haven't gotten to know her very well yet because she wasn't here all the times in the past when I would have the teachers over for dinner. So I chatted with her for a little bit and learned that she's interested in joining the band as a percussionist.

I turned around again, and there sitting next to me was a young Japanese lady whom I had never seen before. So naturally I greeted her and introduced myself in Japanese. She also introduced herself in Japanese, but then began speaking in fluent English! She explained that she had lived in Indiana for four years and went to Pastor Going's church, and now she's back in Sanjo and attending Chuetsu, which happens to be Pastor Going's former church. I learned that she is a Christian, and told her all about our cell group, and she's excited about coming this week because she's been looking to connect into a bible study. Two prayers answered at once!! I've been praying about potential Japanese Christians for our group since the one we have had is moving to Korea as a missionary as early as next month.

By then it was time for worship to begin. The sermon text was the story of Abraham's servant going to find Rebekah for Isaac, and even though I've often had difficulty understanding this pastor's Japanese, God spoke to me in spite of it. And the poor pastor lost his place in his sermon notes and couldn't find it again, to his great embarassment, and so he completed the sermon time by talking about something totally different impromptu that I couldn't understand, but it gave me time to process what God had revealed. I fought my fears that the service would go too long and make me late for the bus to Joetsu: God provided for me in a similar situation not two months ago, so I could confidently trust that it would all work out today, too. And it did, but I still had fears creeping in that needed fighting.

The service ended by 11:30am and then announcements and I exchanged contact info for both ladies and promised to ask someone in the band about the one who wanted to join. Since I'll likely forget, I'll skip ahead to say that by the end of the day, it was established that we do need another percussionist, that my teacher friend will come to the next rehearsal this Friday, and that she and I will go out to dinner together that day before rehearsal.

So after exchanging contact information, I took off to meet the band and get on the bus. I arrived in plenty of time (okay, ten minutes early), but they didn't leave exactly on time either. There was a flurry of activity, Kay was there and went with us to help out, and I got to help carry our bass-clarinetist's chair onto the bus.

On the bus I sat next to a young lady whom I had started to get to know, but she has seemed a bit distant over the last several months, so I was nice to chat and connect with her. Once we arrived, everything went very quickly. We went in, pinned the tags on our sleeves, and got our instruments out. Before long, we lined up and went up to our 'tuning' room. When it was time, we went back downstairs and backstage. We waited nervously while the band before us played.(As it turned out, they only got silver. There were four golds.) We went onstage, set up, played our best, and went off. Then it was outside for a group picture, back inside to put our instruments away, and into the audience for the awards ceremony. For some reason we were the last group to perform, maybe because we are the biggest. In any case, we took first place and will continue to the regional competition, which is being held this year in Niigata city, and coincidentally on Kay's birthday.

At various intervals, I also saw other people there, which may be why the time went so quickly. When we first arrived, I saw another horn player friend of mine from the orchestra, her group had just finished performing. I saw and chatted with her later too; her group took second place, so they will also go to the regional competition. She also introduced me to a friend of hers who has good English and has been to Nozomi Lutheran church for coffeehouse. When we were lining up to go to the tuning room, I saw a Shirone church member whose daughters were performing in the competition.

Another general highlight of my time with the band today: they light-heartedly joke that 'Betsy is Japanese.' The way that I use the language constantly when I'm with the band, down to even saying 'oops' and 'ouch,' my mannerisms and the fact that I can eat anything, prompted one of the horn players quite a while back to begin saying that, even though I may look like a foreigner, I'm really Japanese. That began maybe almost a year ago. Today several other people said a similar thing. I've always taken it as a compliment, and it's encouraging to feel that I'm fitting in to their lives and their culture while still retaining my 'saltiness.'

That's a prayer that God has been answering more and more day by day since I came to Japan nearly four years ago: may I become like the Japanese to win the Japanese for Christ.

Shibata students' summer sunday school

 

July 30, 2006
Me with one of my students.
First we had Sunday School. The program started at 6:30pm. We sang 'what a friend we have in Jesus' in Japanese. Then we watched a powerpoint version of a storybook that was read aloud and accompanied by music. Then Pastor Shtan gave a short message, talking about how the story relates to Christianity. After that, the three of us VYMers taught "This little Gospel light of mine" in English, and we also sang it in Japanese. After the offering, Lord's prayer, and blessing, we went outside to light sparklers. When those were all done, we went back inside for ice cream and brownies.