"Kanzakura"
Shinjuku-gyoen, February 23, 2011
Shinjuku-gyoen, February 23, 2011
I can't wait for the Japanese cherry blossom season! These are "Taiwan cherry" trees
in Shinjuku park. It was really beautiful!
2.25.2011
2.22.2011
火曜日。
Well, hello there!
This weekend was super busy, but it was so great! I attended a Chi Alpha friend's wedding in Yokohama on Saturday and, in addition to our regular services, attended a really special baptism service on Sunday afternoon. Five people were baptized, two of which were personal friends of mine - and it was just such a blessing to hear them give their testimonies about how God has changed their lives and why they were choosing to get baptized. Praise God!
I'm a little at a loss as to what I should write about today. I get these really awesome ideas throughout the week (ie, weird things I experience in Japan, the number of people, just downright diary entry of each moment that has passed from the last post...etc...), but I'm not feeling it today. I've had two cups of coffee and I finished checking the English website for our office...and now I feel like writing...but what?
Last night I attended Waseda University's 190th orchestra performance at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space. I'd never been to a symphony orchestra performance before, and I was awestruck by how visually compelling it was. The synchronization of the different sections, the movement that gave birth to sound - to art - it was a beautiful thing.
During Wagner's Götterdämmerung, the final piece Waseda's symphony orchestra presented, looking down on the orchestra, I could clearly see the numerous musicians with differing musical talent, playing different notes and making different sounds, moving in different ways. Moreover, I could see that each sound - each movement - the very breathes taken by each member - were actively being chosen or taken specifically for the accomplishment of this singular work of art under the direction of one man: the conductor. He kept the different parts in unison, he quieted the strings in favor of the winds when needed and vice versa - he called forth the loud crash of a symbol, the beat of a drum, and stilled them in practically the same effort. He directed the sound into correct channels, into proper volumes and tempos. Although the crescendo of one instrument might overpower the underlying notes of another for a time, the music would not be the same without both strains, and the role could change at a moment's notice. We need the crescendos and the diminuendos, the quick and mellow tempos, the shifting of responsibility in carrying a piece, the various sounds and methods of producing them - and eyes that instinctively follow and trust the conductor's hands - in order to deliver the number in the manner for which it was composed: in such a way that all are touched and changed in a way by the sight and sound of it.
Until.
Amanda
This weekend was super busy, but it was so great! I attended a Chi Alpha friend's wedding in Yokohama on Saturday and, in addition to our regular services, attended a really special baptism service on Sunday afternoon. Five people were baptized, two of which were personal friends of mine - and it was just such a blessing to hear them give their testimonies about how God has changed their lives and why they were choosing to get baptized. Praise God!
I'm a little at a loss as to what I should write about today. I get these really awesome ideas throughout the week (ie, weird things I experience in Japan, the number of people, just downright diary entry of each moment that has passed from the last post...etc...), but I'm not feeling it today. I've had two cups of coffee and I finished checking the English website for our office...and now I feel like writing...but what?
Last night I attended Waseda University's 190th orchestra performance at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space. I'd never been to a symphony orchestra performance before, and I was awestruck by how visually compelling it was. The synchronization of the different sections, the movement that gave birth to sound - to art - it was a beautiful thing.
During Wagner's Götterdämmerung, the final piece Waseda's symphony orchestra presented, looking down on the orchestra, I could clearly see the numerous musicians with differing musical talent, playing different notes and making different sounds, moving in different ways. Moreover, I could see that each sound - each movement - the very breathes taken by each member - were actively being chosen or taken specifically for the accomplishment of this singular work of art under the direction of one man: the conductor. He kept the different parts in unison, he quieted the strings in favor of the winds when needed and vice versa - he called forth the loud crash of a symbol, the beat of a drum, and stilled them in practically the same effort. He directed the sound into correct channels, into proper volumes and tempos. Although the crescendo of one instrument might overpower the underlying notes of another for a time, the music would not be the same without both strains, and the role could change at a moment's notice. We need the crescendos and the diminuendos, the quick and mellow tempos, the shifting of responsibility in carrying a piece, the various sounds and methods of producing them - and eyes that instinctively follow and trust the conductor's hands - in order to deliver the number in the manner for which it was composed: in such a way that all are touched and changed in a way by the sight and sound of it.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Until.
Amanda
2.16.2011
Web-Image 水曜日。
I saw this today...
(Salvador Dalí. Paranoiac Woman-Horse (Invisible Sleeping Woman, Lion, Horse). 1930)
and a Jackson Pollock, and a ton of other well-known surrealists,
at the Surrealisme exhibition I went to today here...
at the Surrealisme exhibition I went to today here...
(National Art Center of Tokyo - Roppongi, Tokyo)
after I met with a Waseda University friend that I haven't
been able to catch up with since last summer!
(and then I finished two units for of my Global Uni course...)
Today, you rocked.
Until.
Amanda
2.15.2011
火曜日。
Sometimes you can meet a person and they immediately mean something to you. They stand out, and you long to keep them close. Somehow.
This is how things started with Gramma Kay.
In my first few weeks back in Tokyo last October, I was all over Tokyo with the Hilo Hawaii team. On a particular night of outreach in Sagamihara, we met this sweet little lady in front of the train station who told us to call her Kay. She rode with us in the pastor's car to the church for that evening's service. As I sat chatting with her before the service began, I learned that she had lived in the US for several years with her family while her husband had been working. She actually attended a charismatic Catholic church in the area, but had always wanted to stop by this church - so our hula event gave her a good reason. She also has weekly English lessons, which she was on her way to when we lured her in with ukulele music, and was genuinely pleased to be with us for the evening.
When the service was winding down and we were all beginning to say goodbye to the guests and pack up, I was suddenly struck by the idea that I might never see Kay again. Sagamihara is a bit far from my general whereabouts, but I had so enjoyed talking with her that I caught her before she headed out to ask if I could write her a letter from time to time. It felt kind of silly, we'd just met a few hours before - but, sweet little lady she is, she just smiled and wrote down her address and said it would be a pleasure.
We've been writing each other ever since, moving from [Last Name]-san to just Kay to Gramma Kay - "your Japanese gramma." Her postcards and cards are always made from some personal picture she took, or a friend took, from some obscure or famous place in Japan. She writes notes about the names of the flowers in her pictures, their names in Japanese and why she chose it for that letter. She asks me to correct her English, which I do reluctantly because I don't want her to stress about how she writes, and she's good at it anyway. We write about family and prayer requests and what God has done from one mailing to the next.
I hope she knows how much of an encouragement she has been to me, and in some way, I hope I am able to encourage her as well.
Until.
Amanda
This is how things started with Gramma Kay.
In my first few weeks back in Tokyo last October, I was all over Tokyo with the Hilo Hawaii team. On a particular night of outreach in Sagamihara, we met this sweet little lady in front of the train station who told us to call her Kay. She rode with us in the pastor's car to the church for that evening's service. As I sat chatting with her before the service began, I learned that she had lived in the US for several years with her family while her husband had been working. She actually attended a charismatic Catholic church in the area, but had always wanted to stop by this church - so our hula event gave her a good reason. She also has weekly English lessons, which she was on her way to when we lured her in with ukulele music, and was genuinely pleased to be with us for the evening.
When the service was winding down and we were all beginning to say goodbye to the guests and pack up, I was suddenly struck by the idea that I might never see Kay again. Sagamihara is a bit far from my general whereabouts, but I had so enjoyed talking with her that I caught her before she headed out to ask if I could write her a letter from time to time. It felt kind of silly, we'd just met a few hours before - but, sweet little lady she is, she just smiled and wrote down her address and said it would be a pleasure.
We've been writing each other ever since, moving from [Last Name]-san to just Kay to Gramma Kay - "your Japanese gramma." Her postcards and cards are always made from some personal picture she took, or a friend took, from some obscure or famous place in Japan. She writes notes about the names of the flowers in her pictures, their names in Japanese and why she chose it for that letter. She asks me to correct her English, which I do reluctantly because I don't want her to stress about how she writes, and she's good at it anyway. We write about family and prayer requests and what God has done from one mailing to the next.
I hope she knows how much of an encouragement she has been to me, and in some way, I hope I am able to encourage her as well.
Until.
Amanda
2.10.2011
2.08.2011
火曜日。
Oh boy, I am such a sleepy girl today!
The semester has wound down to close around here. Friends are traveling back to their respective hometowns and countries to see family during the spring vacation. We'll still be having Bible study at both campuses, but my Japanese class if over for the time being. Altogether, my life looks like it will be quieter for a month or so...
Or not. You never know.
Yuri-san is helping me renew my work visa soon, so I can continue working for the School of Engineering during my time in Japan. Today has been a bit slow. I only had two documents to review, but I talked about Deborah (Judges 4-5) at the LOGOS Bible study today - so the day wasn't completely devoid of excitement. I'm also pretty jazzed about the choco party this weekend. It should be good times and I have a few friends coming that I'm excited to spend time with.
As far as Global University goes, I'm halfway through my second course and I think I'll finish up next week. I'm really trying to get a good grasp of my study time so I can finish this level of courses before I leave Japan, while still actually learning! So far, so good...
On the prayer front, please remember our XA director Joyce as she is traveling in India over the next few weeks. Then, Pastor Sakai, Susan and other members of TkUC are heading to Singapore to see Naomi off to Bible school! Pray for safe travel all around, please. Also, I pulled something in my neck last week and it's still giving me a bit of trouble with stiffness -- so please pray for complete healing for that. Thanks!
That's all I got for now, I really just want to take a nap!
Until next time!
Amanda
The semester has wound down to close around here. Friends are traveling back to their respective hometowns and countries to see family during the spring vacation. We'll still be having Bible study at both campuses, but my Japanese class if over for the time being. Altogether, my life looks like it will be quieter for a month or so...
Or not. You never know.
Yuri-san is helping me renew my work visa soon, so I can continue working for the School of Engineering during my time in Japan. Today has been a bit slow. I only had two documents to review, but I talked about Deborah (Judges 4-5) at the LOGOS Bible study today - so the day wasn't completely devoid of excitement. I'm also pretty jazzed about the choco party this weekend. It should be good times and I have a few friends coming that I'm excited to spend time with.
As far as Global University goes, I'm halfway through my second course and I think I'll finish up next week. I'm really trying to get a good grasp of my study time so I can finish this level of courses before I leave Japan, while still actually learning! So far, so good...
On the prayer front, please remember our XA director Joyce as she is traveling in India over the next few weeks. Then, Pastor Sakai, Susan and other members of TkUC are heading to Singapore to see Naomi off to Bible school! Pray for safe travel all around, please. Also, I pulled something in my neck last week and it's still giving me a bit of trouble with stiffness -- so please pray for complete healing for that. Thanks!
That's all I got for now, I really just want to take a nap!
Until next time!
Amanda
2.01.2011
火曜日。
random thoughts:
reading: "Mere Christianity" and "The Hobbit"
(I read "The Hobbit" on my way to church on Sundays, I won't touch it the rest of the week.
I'm not sure when or why I decided it was "Sunday reading," but there you have it...)
song stuck in my head: "Rend" - Jimmy Needham
enjoying: the best green tea I've ever had...ever...
musing about: the beauty of sleep...
(...maybe I am just missing my bed...)
(...maybe I am just missing my bed...)
thankful for: that giggly, girlish laughter
that can only be produced by friends who know
exactly
what the other means.
I wish I could explain the simple pleasure of that first sip of coffee before or after a long day. I know that most coffee drinkers know the exact sensation I long to describe, but I still wish I could capture its perfection.
Back home, in Tulsa, there was a specific coffeeshop that my friends and I went to often. I admit that the atmosphere provided the primary draw - but I didn't mind the 45 minute drive just to get to Brookside in Tulsa to visit Shades. A full bookshelf, eclectic furniture, art on the walls and live music on the weekends. Last week, I found the place in Tokyo. While looking for a location to host the OneHope focus groups, I wandered away from my friends from the YWAM team and Kohei to have a look inside a cafe across the street and, once inside, fell in love a little bit with Cat's Cradle: travel books & coffee.
Need I say more?
I've been back twice since. The coffee is fantastic, the food is delicious, and the atmosphere provides a perfect environment for reading or studying - as I really can't focus well within my own room and must go out to really be productive. Starbucks is often too loud for me to stay focused. Anyway, I won't ramble anymore about a coffeeshop...I was just there last night studying. I finished a full unit for my Global University course. Yay!
Re-cap on the prayer notes I put up two weeks ago...since I failed to update at a decent time again!
- I'm still working on the OneHope groups and we've run into a few walls here and there with timing, but we did find a place to host the event. Keep praying for favor as we advertise the event this week and for the actually showing of the film on Sunday.
- Susan is speaking at LOGOS today! WEBS at Waseda was so good two weeks ago, but last week the exams started so our friends have been busy studying. The spring break is starting soon!
- The Power Praise Night was fun, it turned into a night of testimonies and it was nice just to be in God's presence with such dear friends!
We have some fun stuff coming up! This month we will have a chocolate making party at the Chi Alpha Student Center for Valentine's Day! One of the members of Chuo Seisho church is a cooking instructor and she will be teaching us how to make delicious sweets. After that, we are going to watch the first Narnia movie. Can't wait!
Annnnd, two of my friends from my first trip to Japan are getting baptized this month at GAP! Praise God -- I'm so happy to be back in Japan to share this time with them. Six people in total are getting baptized that afternoon. It's going to be awesome! In Japan, it's most common for a person to give their full salvation testimony on the day of their baptism. I'll be sure to have Kleenex with me...
Keep praying about the focus groups - that happens this weekend - and please say a little prayer for me as I prepare to lead Bible study next Tuesday at LOGOS!
Until next time...
Amanda
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