Funny, Awkward Saturday

A class I teach at Saban English School. One of these students will be traveling to Illinois with me over Christmas for a home stay with a Christian family.

Shiori teaches at the school on Mondays. I met her at international student ministry in Illinois two years ago, so we were already friends before I came to Japan:)

I've been waiting for a few funny moments I could share with you in my blog. One good characteristic for a missionary to have is to be able to laugh at yourself. A couple of these moments were easier to laugh at than others while I was in the moment!

I work every Saturday here until I come home for Christmas. I teach 3 English classes at the church, and my day ends around 3:30. I enjoy teaching at the churches a lot because I also get to teach a Bible lesson, and we have several non-Christians in the classes. Naturally, since it's a church class, talk about God and faith come up.

This was my first Saturday teaching at the church. I've been driving by myself some this week, so I followed Kurt to the church. I teach at 2 churches and thought we were going to the one I'd already driven to twice this week. Kurt took a different way to the church I hadn't driven to on my own yet...you see where this is headed. My cell phone was conveniently at home. I didn't think I'd need it.

Lunch break after my first class-I wanted to go to a restaurant and asked my class helper about where I could go because I was unfamiliar with the restaurants that were in the area. The other 2 missionaries I work with weren't around. My class helper spoke to my class about it in Japanese, and the only single guy in the class offered to take me to a restaurant. I really wasn't counting on everyone in the class being involved with restaurant selection, and I felt bad but didn't want to eat with just him (I typically don't spend much one-on-one time with guys from my ministry), so I asked my class helper if he could just lead me to the restaurant. I tried to do this discreetly and just talk to my class helper about it, but it turned into my whole class knowing I just wanted him to lead me to the restaurant instead of eat with him-awkward! We got there, he insisted to help me order, and left. We were less than 1/2 mile from the church. One problem, I hadn't ordered a drink yet, but I'd eaten at some restaurants in Japan on my own, and just pointed to what I wanted. I have about a 75% success rate with this method. However, today I pointed to what I thought was water, and got a clear glass of alcohol-ooops! I didn't try to order another drink, just let the alcohol sit there.

Time to head back to the church, only if you know me well I am not the best with directions, and Japanese roads aren't exactly marked for Americans. The 1/2 mile from church felt like about 30, because I got a little turned around. Thankfully I made it to class a little late, but made it!:)

Final class is over, I just have to make it home now, only I'm driving and I can't remember every turn to the new way Kurt led me.......I got a nice tour of the city, and promised myself I would not leave home without my cell phone again:) I was desperately missing my teammates from the Philippines because my girls loved the cell phone and would never leave home without it, and my guy were experts at finding their way around.

My job for now in Japan is to learn about all the new stuff so I can teach others well, and I'm sure there will be many more funny and awkward moments to come while doing that!

Praises: First full week of classes went really well! I taught a lot by myself this week. The typhoon that struck did not last long and did very little damage to our area. I am praising God for keeping me safe and opportunities to share my faith!

Prayer requests: Please pray for boldness, opportunities to share the gospel, and for God to work on the hearts of my students who aren't Christian. Please pray for health. 2 out of the 4 family members I am living with right now are sick. Also, because I work evenings, I cannot spend much time with friends during this time like I am used to, and I have moments of loneliness. Please keep this in prayer.Thanks! Missing all of you!

Into the New

Today I drove for the first time in Japan. The roads are narrower here, and I don't really like driving in tight places. I mean seriously narrow!! I drove on the left side of the road, with a turn signal that was on the right side of the steering wheel, and up is Left turn instead of right turn. Yes, as you can guess, I prayed through the whole experience! Akane, the wife and mom I live with, is a great teacher and very nice. We were both a little stressed out:), but still fun as I ventured out on my own to get used to another part of the culture.

In pre-field training, I learned an important lesson: entering a new culture with a new job will completely reshape your life. I haven't taught for extended periods of time since my days of teaching swimming lessons at the YWCA the start of grad school. Who would have thought that method and structure would help prepare me to teach here? At Saban English school, they have fun curriculum with short prep time and work books and cds for the kids to listen and respond. The kids have several levels they can advance to. I am still learning different methods and what each class knows at their different level. I enjoy the variety of classes and age levels.

I like Japanese food, which is an extremely big deal if you knew me when I went to China and the Philippines. I did not always care for the food there, and staying long-term would be a struggle. The bread is wonderful, I can buy a lot of fruit, and many American favorites, such as pizza and spaghetti, I can find easily here:)

Akane took me to a place that is similar to Old Navy today and a mall. I love the clothes at the Old Navy and had fun looking at all the cool stuff, especially stuff for kids (future Christmas presents for the niece and nephew) at the mall! I

For the first time in a very long time, I have more free time, as I am no longer in grad school:) I have been taking long walks, started reading the Bible all the way through in a year with Akane, staying connected with friends and family online, and getting settled here, with building things like a drying rack for my clothes because they air dry their clothes here. The family I am staying with has been extremely gracious and helpful in getting everything I need to get settled.

For those of you who have been praying for friends, I am very thankful! Finding Christians around my age who speak English would be a hard task without the hand of God:) My first Sunday, God brought 3 girls around my age my way:) 2 of them were brand new to our ministry- one was at the church I was at Sun. morning for the first time. She lives with international students, and used to study in Minnesota! Another girl came to the Sun. night Bible study Kurt and Akane have. I have also been excited to reconnect with Shiori, who attended the international student ministry I helped lead 2 years ago and became a friend! She teaches at the school on Mondays so I will get to see her then. I am very thankful to make and be able to do ministry with new college friends:)

Prayer Requests: Please pray for my study of Japanese, God's provision of teammates in his timing (the missionaries are staying with are hoping to expand), and God's provision. In order to expand the team, we need to generate more business in the school so we can pay missionaries. arigato (thank you)!

I will have to hold you in suspense regarding the pictures of Japan, and blog more often so the entries won't be as long:)