Happenings
A LOT has happened in the three months since I have last updated.
First things first, I want everyone to know how incredibly thankful I am to God! He answered prayers that I began praying 4-5 years ago when I was just finishing my degree - prayers asking Him to help me pay off my $23,000 college loan debts within a relatively short amount of time. By opening up the opportunity for me to go and work in Japan, I gained a sufficient amount of money to pay it all off in three years! And not only did He provide for me to do such a thing as pay off a great debt in so little time, but I also got to experience, learn, and enjoy the many things that living and working in Japan provided. And I could gain experience in mission work, in dealing with a culture almost completely opposite of my own, I could travel to many interesting countries, I could meet awesome people, I got the pleasure of teaching great students, of teaching with great teachers, of having great friends, etc., etc., etc.
This is a 'No duh!' statement, but God is great! He has continually been answering my prayers, and I know that He will continue to do so, and this week, when I made my last payment to Sallie Mae, has just been a testimony to the faithfulness of God.
Now I will begin in full force seeing what doors are open for me to go and finally do my calling from God and my dream to be a missionary in Mexico. I've already had a few doors shown to me through the people I go to church with. I praise God because He has lead me to a great Body of Christ that I can be a part of in my transition time. (Most of you know from other posts that I am attending a Hispanic congregation in SW OKC where everything is in Spanish and nothing is preached but the Bible.) I'm enjoying the freedom I have to be as involved as possible with this congregation since I am only working about 30-35 hours a week at Joe's Crab Shack as a waitress.
Since my last post, Junko and Yutaka, two of my very best friends from Japan, came to visit and stay with us for 10 days. It was so much fun! We went to Missouri to visit RaeLynn and her family, and from there went to Silver Dollar City (Travis went too!). All the people who are back from Japan came together and we had a great time catching up, speaking some Japanese (some better than others (Peter Rice!)), and eating Japanese food together. We showed Junko and Yutaka around beautiful OKC and got them fat on American food. They also went to my church and I tried my darndest to translate from Spanish to English and sometimes Japanese for them. It was great fun to have them here and Junko herself said she had an excuse to come back to the U.S. - to buy shoes at Payless because they have just her size and they are cheap!
A tragedy also occurred in our family a couple of weeks ago. My stepbrother, Brandon Perryman was shot and killed at the age of 20. My mother and my stepfather had gotten together when I was 7 and Brandon was 2, and we had all been raised together until we went our separate ways about 3 years ago. Brandon, unfortunately, got involved with the wrong crowd and did things he shouldn't have done. That put him in the position he was in the night he was shot. But he died protecting his friend, the one who was being shot at. His friend is alive and well, but Brandon is not. Everybody who knew Brandon is naturally devastated. He had a big heart that loved people with a great love. The funeral was a beautiful memorial to him. Please pray for my family.
But this summer has been a great one. I find that I am perfectly content with where I am. God is good and I am pleased to see that He is using this transition time to teach me more, to give me lots of time with my family, and to prepare my heart more for what I have been wanting and preparing to do for a long time.
I honestly don't know when my next update will be. I don't spend much time on the internet these days and things are not as exciting as they were when I lived in Japan. So, I hope you have enjoyed this post.
Dios les bendiga!
First things first, I want everyone to know how incredibly thankful I am to God! He answered prayers that I began praying 4-5 years ago when I was just finishing my degree - prayers asking Him to help me pay off my $23,000 college loan debts within a relatively short amount of time. By opening up the opportunity for me to go and work in Japan, I gained a sufficient amount of money to pay it all off in three years! And not only did He provide for me to do such a thing as pay off a great debt in so little time, but I also got to experience, learn, and enjoy the many things that living and working in Japan provided. And I could gain experience in mission work, in dealing with a culture almost completely opposite of my own, I could travel to many interesting countries, I could meet awesome people, I got the pleasure of teaching great students, of teaching with great teachers, of having great friends, etc., etc., etc.
This is a 'No duh!' statement, but God is great! He has continually been answering my prayers, and I know that He will continue to do so, and this week, when I made my last payment to Sallie Mae, has just been a testimony to the faithfulness of God.
Now I will begin in full force seeing what doors are open for me to go and finally do my calling from God and my dream to be a missionary in Mexico. I've already had a few doors shown to me through the people I go to church with. I praise God because He has lead me to a great Body of Christ that I can be a part of in my transition time. (Most of you know from other posts that I am attending a Hispanic congregation in SW OKC where everything is in Spanish and nothing is preached but the Bible.) I'm enjoying the freedom I have to be as involved as possible with this congregation since I am only working about 30-35 hours a week at Joe's Crab Shack as a waitress.
Since my last post, Junko and Yutaka, two of my very best friends from Japan, came to visit and stay with us for 10 days. It was so much fun! We went to Missouri to visit RaeLynn and her family, and from there went to Silver Dollar City (Travis went too!). All the people who are back from Japan came together and we had a great time catching up, speaking some Japanese (some better than others (Peter Rice!)), and eating Japanese food together. We showed Junko and Yutaka around beautiful OKC and got them fat on American food. They also went to my church and I tried my darndest to translate from Spanish to English and sometimes Japanese for them. It was great fun to have them here and Junko herself said she had an excuse to come back to the U.S. - to buy shoes at Payless because they have just her size and they are cheap!
A tragedy also occurred in our family a couple of weeks ago. My stepbrother, Brandon Perryman was shot and killed at the age of 20. My mother and my stepfather had gotten together when I was 7 and Brandon was 2, and we had all been raised together until we went our separate ways about 3 years ago. Brandon, unfortunately, got involved with the wrong crowd and did things he shouldn't have done. That put him in the position he was in the night he was shot. But he died protecting his friend, the one who was being shot at. His friend is alive and well, but Brandon is not. Everybody who knew Brandon is naturally devastated. He had a big heart that loved people with a great love. The funeral was a beautiful memorial to him. Please pray for my family.
But this summer has been a great one. I find that I am perfectly content with where I am. God is good and I am pleased to see that He is using this transition time to teach me more, to give me lots of time with my family, and to prepare my heart more for what I have been wanting and preparing to do for a long time.
I honestly don't know when my next update will be. I don't spend much time on the internet these days and things are not as exciting as they were when I lived in Japan. So, I hope you have enjoyed this post.
Dios les bendiga!
posted by Jessica Graumann @ 11:41 PM
2 comments
