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

Web-Image 水曜日。

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

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...)

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