A Visit from my Japanese "Father"

My landlord from Japan, Mr. Uetake, came and visited me and my family this week. It was awesome fun and I really enjoyed showing him around OKC and pointing out all of the cool culture differences to him. He was really amazed that there were so many junk cars driving around on the roads (In Japan, you never see somebody driving a junkie car). He was also amazed that the state of Oklahoma only requires its people to put a license plate in the back, not in the back and front like they require in Japan. We would be driving and he would read all of the license plates. It’s amazing to me the little differences that you notice when you are in a foreign country.
Anyways, I think he had a good time and I know that my family and I really enjoyed having him here. He is a kind man and I was very happy to get to treat him to many things. During my two years in Japan, him and his family constantly took care of me. They took me to festivals, to Disney Land and Disney Sea in Tokyo, invited me over for dinner or just tea, threw me a birthday party two years in a row, and above all other things, accepted me as part of their family. I love them and I praise God that He has blessed me with them.

Happenings

I went to visit my mentor Clyde Antwine and his wife Gwen (Queenie) last week. Mr. Antwine, a veteran of foreign missions and a beloved professor at Oklahoma Christian was responsible for increasing my understanding of the Bible through weekly, tough-question-filled Bible studies when I first transferred to OC (though I had been a Christian for about 4 years at that point, I was still lacking considerably in Biblical knowledge and he would “hash it out” with me, handling my difficult questions and difficult moods). Before I went to visit him, Queenie told me of the surgery he had on his neck two weeks before because of cancer tumors and the quadruple bypass surgery he had on his heart a week after that because of a heart attack. Praise be to God that he survived both and that he is on the road to a quick recovery.
Even though he was a little weak, he happily received me and relayed all of the great things God had been doing for him and others related to him through those two big ordeals while Queenie was buzzing in the background doing 50 things at once (checking on her beloved Clyde making sure he was comfortable while confirming all he said and making us lunch). Then, both Mr. and Mrs. Antwine sat down and listened to what I had to say about two years of living, working, and being in Japan. I knew that they were listening with understanding hearts, especially when they validated what I felt about my Japan experience and how I had been feeling since I returned and gave advice about how to acclimate back to life in the U.S.
I praise God for those two! Mr. Antwine, since I have known him, has always been there to guide me spiritually, to openly share his experiences - the good and bad of mission work (and life in general) – with me, to be someone who listens and who cares. That is why he is my mentor. And I have always been refreshed by Queenie’s God-given, beautiful spirit and smile. Her hugs and her love have always lifted me up, even in the beginning when I only knew her through the stories her husband would tell in his mission classes.
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I have a job! I will now be a Joe’s Crab Shack waitress. I’m pretty excited about being around a lot of people again. People who are looking to have some fun while they eat (we actually have set dances that the whole wait staff will occasionally do) and people I can understand when they speak (I never realized how in-the-dark I felt all the time while I was teaching in Japan). And I’m looking forward to not having to work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week behind a desk.
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I have a new church home!! God has blessed me with a Hispanic congregation near my house that goes by the name Iglesia Cristiana Rey de Gloria. I prayed for a church family and God has shown me them. They are evangelistic, pure in their love of God, loud in their worship, and diligent in preparing the Body that meets there to go out and spread the Good News through the consistent teaching and studying of the Gospel. God has blessed me with them and they are more than I could have hoped for. I am very happy that I can begin to be a part of them. They all come from various Spanish-speaking countries and the services are held in all Spanish. I praise God that He is opening my mind so that I can understand the majority of what is being said and that the Christians there are kind, sincere people who already have made me feel like I belong.