When it rains, it pours....

A typhoon is coming through right now. I love typhoons. I don't like the damage they do and all that, but I really just like them. My mom made the point that typhoons are so cleansing, and she is right. Days before a typhoon comes here, it is so humid and stifling, especially right up until it comes. And then the strong winds come and the torrents of rain come and it is amazing the crazyness that goes on outside. But when it is gone, it is so clear and fresh outside. The sun comes out and it is so beautiful. Perhaps it is more beautiful because of the furious tempest that just went through.
It seems like it is pouring in the lives of many people that I know right now. A friend's mom who is in a very intense battle with cancer; a good friend who can't return to Japan to teach because she is still very sick from a physical illness that has followed her for several years now; a best friend who had some very scary surgery to repair and revive a punctured lung; and so many more people who are close to me who are hurting.
I myself am doing fine. But so many people are having typhoons in their lives, right at this very moment, all at the same time. I wish that I could endure the typhoons for them, or that the typhoon would leave now and the sun would come out for them. But I can't. All I can do is pray and walk beside them in it. I know that the sun will come out for them again, I just pray that the typhoon doesn't damage too much as it runs its course.
For those of you who I am talking about - I am here talking to our Creator about you. I love you and I want to walk with you in this (even though I am physically so far away). I know it is pouring right now, but that sun is going to come out someday, and things are going to be so fresh and clean and beautiful.

English Interactive Forum

This is a pretty bad picture, but I wanted you to see some of my Junior High students and the English teacher that I have taught with since I came here. I am proud of all of my students, but I am especially proud of these four. Today they stepped out of their comfort zone to have group conversations IN ENGLISH ONLY at the Mito City English Interactive Forum. Now, if you know anything about the Japanese, it is a pretty big step for most out of that good 'ol comfort zone and into the world of English conversation all by yourself, in front of your peers, and in front of two judges - one of whom is a native English speaker. Actually, it's more like a huge leap off of a big cliff.
But four of my students - two eight graders and two ninth graders - made that huge leap (mostly because my English teacher told them they had too) and went through 3 five minute rounds each of English conversation. Of course the English teachers and I practiced with the students (even if it was only a few), so they were somewhat prepared. But it is still difficult and nerve-racking for them. Sometimes the English conversations are funny simply because they are so nervous. One of my 8th grade boys was in a conversation group with two girls. The girls were talking about school uniforms and went on for a good couple of minutes about how they didn't like theirs because they were too long and they liked short skirts better, etc. Then they both looked at him and asked him what he thought about skirts. He gave them this look and said, "I am a man! I don't have skirts!"
Well, even it isn't funny for you, I and the whole room had a good laugh. I am proud of these kids and pretty happy because two of them are going on to the next level (including the boy who was asked about skirts).
So now it's back to more training. That makes me happy because it gives me more of a chance to know them better. And here ends another interesting, yet enjoyable day in the world of English teaching in Mito City, Japan.

The Here and Now

It has been a rainy week. Considering that we are in the middle of rainy season here in Japan, that makes perfect sense. I am always amazed how closely my emotions are linked to the weather. Winters are very hard for me because they are so cold and dreary (and I really hate the cold). The past two weeks have been pretty down because it has rained every day except for two of them, and those days were still cloudy. Add that on top of the end-of-the-semester busyness and some of my friends going through hard times also, and my thoughts wonder off to anywhere but here. The past two weeks, my thoughts have been full of wishing and hoping that the future of being in Mexico would come sooner because things are so busy and complicated that I want to be anywhere but here.
Then God rightfully slaps me in the face with the big fat realization that HERE is where I am supposed to be NOW. Right now has been given to me for a reason. Every moment is given to me to fulfill a greater purpose – whether it be to teach English to very excited four year olds and then to very apathetic ninth graders, to make time to meet with a Japanese person who really wants to speak to me in English, to make myself go to bed early so that I can be well rested and then devote more of myself to my students, and to just be fully content with the life I have been given here (even when the expectations are incredibly high).
God blesses me with daily reminders of why it is so good to be here, now, and to be contributing to the work of God (even though it is in very small ways). Last Saturday was awesome! We had our first get together with our readers from Shiro-sato church outside of the English Bible Class we have on Sunday mornings. We grilled American hamburgers at a beautiful park, played some games, and got to know each other. It is a blessing to have people want to know me, because I want to get to know them just as bad, if not more. That night, I hung out with my friends and we celebrated my birthday by watching a movie. Sunday, our cell group took some time after church to go to a secluded park and spend time alone with God. What a refresher! Monday after work, some of the newbie AETs down the street invited me over for dinner. It is a blessing to know them and to get to laugh my head off with them. Tuesday, I did the weekly visit to Iitomi Elementary and Kindergarten. Those adore me almost as much as I adore them. They always raise my spirits because they are so eager to learn and to have fun with me. And I always look forward to my time with the kindergarten students because it is one of the few times that I get hugs (my little girls always hug me and make strange hairstyles in my hair). They do my soul good. On Wednesday after work, our cell group had a fun night. We went to karaoke and I think that it was the funnest karaoke time I have ever had (Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody never gets old!). On Thursday, my ninth grade choice class and I cooked Mexican Food. The weren’t really fond of the guacamole, but they gobbled everything else (much to my dismay – I was wanting some of it for dinner :-P). Right before school was finished, I was blessed by a full-fledged thunderstorm! They don’t happen often here (this is the second one I have experienced in my year and three months here) and boy did it make me excited to see the lightning and to hear that rolling thunder. I even enjoyed Japanese class that night. I always dread going to it beforehand but enjoy it immensely while I am there, even though I get a headache from learning this difficult language. And here I am today looking forward to a trip to Yokohama tomorrow (Saturday) to see one of my best Japanese friends tear it up on the piano at a piano concert and to do some sight-seeing on the side. And this is just a small recount of my daily blessings.
The moral of this long blog? I have every reason to be content (the main reason being that God has saved me through His Son Jesus and that I can have a relationship with Him) and very few reasons not to be. I hope that you are as blessed as I am to know the blessings given to you.