Long Time Gone

Where do you begin after a 6 month absence with no writing?  I have no idea, so I’ll just start.

I’ve spent the past months in Ishinomaki, a small fishing city in northern Japan.  A city I had never heard of, nor probably ever would have had it not been for the tsunami that tore through northern Japan on March 11th.  Ishinomaki is reportedly the city with the highest death toll, though how they can determine such a thing with the amount of unknowns is beyond me.

Our churches were fast to respond to the suffering in the north, delivering supplies just days after the disaster.  To tell how we got from that to now being stationed in a neighborhood where the water rose over 10ft is a long story laden with the details of God’s leading.  I’d like to tell those in upcoming posts.

Took a few days after the disaster in Ishinomaki

Images from today’s earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan

This is a video made by Hiroko over at hirokochannel.  Since this video was made, there have been several more quakes and warnings for more tsunamis all over Japan.  There are many people without homes and no ability to contact their families.  It’s cold and snowing in that area.  Cars and homes have been washed away.  The death count is over 200, and hundreds more are missing.  Please remember Japan.

P.S. Hiroko was posting on Facebook just after the first earthquake.  At that point I could hear the nearby city office warning people to stay away from the river because Osaka was under a tsunami warning, but I couldn’t understand the news to know how significant that was.  I sent her a quick message asking for help and she responded so quickly.  Thanks, Hiroko!

Memory Monday (on Tuesday)

I didn’t make it here yesterday, so I’m posting a day late.  Last week I chose 1 Corinthians 10:24 to memorize.

“Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.”

Here’s what I found as I tried to memorize this verse:

• It’s more difficult to do than it is to memorize.
• It isn’t just random goodness we’re supposed to do; it’s attached to something practical.  The context is talking about putting brothers and sisters ahead of our rights.  I should never be the cause of someone else’s sin.
• I’ve been really challenged by Paul’s teaching/heart throughout 1 Corinthians on the love we’re to have for our brothers and sisters.  And no wonder, since Jesus said outsiders will no us by our love.
• Paul used the word ‘defeat’ for when we fail to love.  We’ve already been defeated in that case.  And these are the elementary teachings, he said.  Makes me realize I’m not as mature in Christ as I would have liked to have thought.
• I think it’s important to note that our the final goal isn’t to love for the sake of love itself, but to reflect the love of Christ. That’s a specific and clear example.

I’ll continue studying 1 Corinthians this week, so I’m going to keep this verse in mind again.

Memory Monday

I think I’m going to try again to memorize one Scripture per week.  I’m entering into the effort expecting to fail sometimes.  I’ve been on Christmas vacation for a while, so now I have all kinds of ideas on how I want to spend my time, but realistically expect a clash when ‘real life’ starts again.  But, I can’t see that being a good reason not to try.  Memory Monday is an idea I got from one of my favorite blogs.  If you click on the button to the right you can find it.  I highly recommend following Joanne!

I’ve been reading 1 Corinthians lately.  I love the letters of Paul.  I have every since I was in Bible college.  I had a great teacher for most of the Epistle classes.  I like reading the letters again now and remembering the things I learned so long ago.  In my last newsletter, I posted verse 10:13.  I thought I ‘d start there for Memory Monday, but I just so happened to read through chapters 9 and 10 in my daily reading, and 10:24 jumped out at me.

“Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” 1 Corinthians 10:24

It’s simple, and I could probably quote the gist of it already, but it’s weighty.  I think it’ll be good to meditate on it for a week.  And honestly, I don’t think I’ve been doing so good at this lately.  Nor do I expect to outside of a heart of gratitude for how Jesus has sought my good.  It’s good food for thought.

Happy Monday : )

Happy 2011

I rang in the new year with my teammate, Beth.  I had planned to go to bed early, but she would have none of it.  So we watched a movie and ended just in time to do a count down.  Then we tried to position our hands to make ’2011′, but the 2 was difficult so it turned out like this:

January 1st-3rd is one of the most important times of the year in Japan.  Everything stops and people return to their hometowns to visit family.  They eat special food, relax, enjoying each other’s company.  It’s similar to Christmas in the U.S.  I imagined I’d stay in on that day, but Beth and I were invited to join our good friends, the Fukunaga Family, for their New Year Celebration.  This family has become really special to me.  Two years ago I did my first overnight stay in a Japanese home with them.  Since then, they’ve become good friends and Chiaki, the wife, has been such an asset in learning Japanese language and culture.  Every week she gives her time to meet with me and practice conversation.  She also tries to invite Beth and I to family events so we can experience real Japanese life and culture first hand.  Here are some pictures from out time yesterday:

We started the day with traditional Japanese food for brunch.

Then we took a Wii break

Beth won. Kanta and I are trying to hold back our contempt.

Next we made mochi. It's a traditional Japanese sweet made from pounded rice and sweet beans. It was our first time making it, and it kind of reminded me of making biscuits. I'm not really sure why - it's not at all the same.

Japanese card game. So fun!

Yakiniku and sushi for dinner! Two of my favorite Japanese foods together

Group shot before going home. In the back right is Mrs. Fukunaga. We did all this at her house. Very sweet woman, good artist, and cook!

So that was my New Year’s Celebration.  What did you do?  Tell me about it in a comment, please!  Also, do you make New Year’s Resolutions?  I’d love to hear some of yours. One of mine is to blog more.  I know I’ve said it before and, as evidenced by the 7 month gap from May to December, that didn’t go so well.  I’m not really even sure anyone checks here anymore.  But I’m optimistic for the New Year, so I’ll give it a shot.

Before I end this, I want to introduce you to Hirokochannel.  It’s a channel on You Tube made by a Christian Japanese girl who is my age.  Before coming to Japan, I followed her videos pretty regularly, trying to learn about the language and culture.  There’s all kinds of different stuff about Japan on her site.  I think she does a great job, and I’m excited to have permission from her to post some of her videos here to help give an idea of what life is like here in Japan.  Hiroko lives in Tokyo, which is over 2 hours away from Osaka by the fast train.  Here’s a video she made on New Year’s Eve.  You can see famous Tokyo Tower, as well as masses of people making their first visit of the year to the temple in hopes of receiving blessings on the upcoming year.  Get some insight into Japanese thinking and traditions, and let that inform your prayers for the Japanese.

God Bless!

New Home in Japan

I’m sorry for the long gap between posts.  Below is an entry I did for the church website about the house I moved into last month with four other girls.  I thought you guys at home might like to hear about it too.  I’ll post some pictures later!

 

Girls’ House:

 

The Girls’ House has been a topic of discussion at churches and celebrations lately.  We’re so grateful for the support, prayer, and help we’ve received from everyone.  Thank you so much!

 

Beth, Satoko, and I (Lora) moved into the house on November 20th, Mika moved in on the 23rd, and Miho moved in on the 26th.  We’re adjusting well to our new home, and becoming better friends each day.  We’re all enjoying getting to know each other more and learning more deeply about each other’s cultures.

 

The idea of sharing a home and life together has been in the making for over a year. We’ve desired to have a place dedicated to God for ministry.

 

When I talk with the other girls about our hopes for the future, the theme I hear the most is community.  The Bible has so much to say about community.  From Adam and Eve to the church of the New Testament, we learn that it is not good for people to be a lone, and that we are at our best when we come together as one.    There are challenges to the blending of two cultures in one house.  However, we also have a unique opportunity to see the unity of the Holy Spirit in a special way.  It is our faith in Him that has brought us together.  We are different ages, doing different jobs, and come from different backgrounds, but we are united by our faith in Jesus, and that’s the strongest and most faithful foundation we could hope for.

 

Like a lot of things, it started with Beth (she’s great at initiating).  About a year ago she began talking about this possibility, and it has grown from there.  The first hurdles to overcome were financial.  The key money and deposit were a concern, but God provided the needed money quickly.  We were able to begin looking with it sitting in a bank account ready to be used.

 

We began looking for homes in July after I (Lora) arrived in Japan.  At first it was a bit aimless because we were unsure how many roommates there would be and what would be the best location.  As that pulled into focus, so did our search. More than once we found places that seemed perfect, only to hear that the landlord had said no to us because we were not a family unit.  Then we found a house in Ikeda.  It was beautiful and big enough for the five of us.  We were excited to move forward with it.  However, the day before signing the contract, it fell through.  We were all pretty frustrated and confused, but decided to believe that God would be faithful to us in His time.  We kept looking, and about bout one month later, we found our new home.

 

As we look into the future, we’re all in agreement that we’d like to eventually have a church meeting in our new home.  We don’t know when that will begin, or what that will look like.  But we look forward to it, and desire to see what kind of things God intends for us and our time here.

 

The Girls’ House is a first for all of us, as well as for Be One.  We’re beginning something new.  That can be scary and exciting at the same time.  The following passage from Joshua has been on my heart concerning the house and all that lies ahead:

 

“Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.  From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.  No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.  Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.  Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.  Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.  Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.  This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your ways prosperous, and then you will have good success.  Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord you God is with you wherever you go.”

 

Joshua 1:3-9

 

I see two themes in this passage: 1. The call to trust God’s promise to be with us, and 2. The call to imitate His faithfulness by following His word carefully and obeying Him.  That is my hope for the Girls’ House – that we could go out boldly trusting God to be faithful to His promises, and that we could hold tightly to His word, keeping it in our hearts, minds, and mouths so that we don’t stray from it.  I believe this will always bring about the Father’s blessings.

 

On Leaving

Last week I was talking with a foreign exchange student who has been in the U.S. for about a year.  She will return to her home country at the end of the month.  I asked her if she was ready, and we began talking about the mixed feelings with coming and going.  She told me that when she left, she didn’t realize that she would be gone for a year.  Of course she knew that she was leaving in one calendar year and returning in the next, but that reality didn’t hit until after she arrived here.  She said she spent the first 3 days crying.

I think that’s how I’ve been about my move to Japan.  How strange it must seem to people when they ask how long I’ll be gone and I reply with a smile, ’2 years.’  It isn’t because I’m that carefree.  I don’t know anyone who could be, and if you know me at all, you know ‘carefree’ doesn’t describe me.  But I think I’ve continued to see it as a great adventure, like my first trip to Japan, not getting the reality of two years instead of two months.

But now… well I guess I can’t say I fully get it now.  I’m still several weeks away from departure.  But it is weighing on me more and more.  The past month I have felt all out of sorts, and am just coming to realize this is a large part of why.  I’ve been fighting with my family more, and wondering what’s wrong with them (me!), and then coming to realize it is a bit easier to feel angry than the hurt of leaving them.  And today it began to hit me – I’ll miss 2 Mother’s Days, 2 birthdays of all family members, 2 Christmases, Thanksgivings, Easters, and probably more painful, all of the little things in between.    And about 30 minutes ago I was sitting outside on the porch wondering if it is all worth it.

In those moments, I think the Lord came close.  He reminded me that it is for Him, and this is the one sacrifice that can never be wasted.  And reminded me in the way that only He can of the ways He has provided for me, comforted me, and led me to this point.  I didn’t feel any better about leaving my family.  But He answered my cry for His voice of affirmation.

I guess I don’t have any neat way to tie this all up, I just wanted to write it down.   So I’m going to leave you with this verse that was shared with me a few weeks ago by a good friend and leader in my life:

Mark 10:29-30

“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brothers and sisters and mothers and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

What a beautiful promise from Jesus.  And we know that He who promises is faithful.

Breaking the silence

Things have been happening rather quickly for the past two months, and it’s all been floating around in my head, not knowing how to come out. But it’s time for an update on all the good things that have been happening, so we can give God thanks and praise.

Side note: I missed my memory verse. Typing it out here sort of works as accountability, but I guess it’s still easy to ignore! I haven’t finished the next three verses of Hannah’s prayer yet…

Anyway – you’ve probably heard I got my VISA in March. This entire process went so smoothly that my teammates and I have just stopped and taken notice of God working so seamlessly. The document needed from the Japanese government usually takes one to three months to obtain, and it happened in two weeks.

On March 29th I went to the Japanese Embassy in Nashville to submit all the necessary paperwork to actually get the VISA stamp. The representative I spoke to was from the city I will be moving to. She was very friendly, and it felt like another demonstration of God’s sovereignty. She said it would take two days to process, and then they would mail my stamped passport to me. I was a little nervous about mailing my passport, but I didn’t have another choice. I asked her to overnight it. I was a bit surprised by how easily the whole thing was – I had filled out the application before coming, so I was only in the embassy office for a total of about 5 minutes. No scary interview or anything.

The timing of everything worked out so that on the morning of my birthday, I got an excellent gift – my passport with the VISA inside. Usually it is difficult for me to think of God taking notice of such small things (birthday timing), but I felt loved and carefully provided for by Him.

All of this happening was great news, but I was still short on the support I needed to actually be able to use the VISA. And I now had a timeline of 3 months before it would expire and I’d have to start the whole silly process over again. I got word that I would be allowed to go forward if I reached 90% of my monthly budget. I felt like God was saying that I would be going before the VISA expired, but I was unable to see how it would happen and from where the money would come.

Since that time, I have spoken with one church and one family, and heard nothing from either of them. Yet, my budget has been met 100%. Several people have responded to my need and to the leading of God’s Spirit to give. I’ve heard one cool story in particular of how God continued to challenge this person to give in faith.

Now it is about a month and a half until I need to be in Japan. With my VISA in hand, the money in place, and the Lord clearing the way, I am one interview away from buying plane tickets to set out for my new home and ministry.

I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed these days. Sometimes a little weepy, sometimes a little numb, sometimes scared, and sometimes excited. But in all this I’ve taken great comfort in how God has met each of these needs outside of my efforts and even lack there of. He is rich and able to meet all our needs, and His plans are good.

And here is what I feel He’s been teaching me through this. The things that I get so worked up over are such small things to the One who holds us all together. He’s answered my prayers and met my needs, not based on my merit, but on His goodness. And, for some reason, in the midst of all this, it was difficult for me to praise Him and thank Him. My mind was always too preoccupied with the next worry. After I got the VISA, others were congratulating me, and I was quick to remind them that I had a time crunch. No time to celebrate! With each new commitment, there was a sense of relief but no rest until I knew I had enough. No time to recount what God has done. Oh, how dangerous that is. How sad it is. So I think God has continued to bless me and provide (let me say it again – with absolutely no thanks to my own work) so that I had no choice but to stop and pay attention. There is nothing more to do, except look at what He has done.

I know this isn’t a one-time thing, but a habit of mine. I regularly worry and fret and and wait until all is at rest before I look for what God has done. And it is a shame. Only I can give Him praise from my heart, and I don’t want to withhold that. I want to live a life of praise in the good and in the bad. I want to say with Job, ‘the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ (1:29).

So I’m thinking and praying about what it means to recount God’s goodness and live in it, not missing it because of the next worry. Giving Him my worship because He deserves a life of praise. It’s more than a song. How do you live worship?

Memory Monday… at 12:15 am on Tuesday

This week I was working on memorizing 1 Samuel 2:1-3.  I chose it because several weeks ago this is where I was in my Bible reading and was encouraged by Hannah’s prayer.  I typed it out below.  I’ll continue with the next three for next week.

“And Hannah prayed and said,

‘My heart exhults in the Lord;

my strength is exhalted in the Lord.

My mouth derides my enemies

because I rejoice in your salvation.

There is none holy like the Lord;

there is none besides you;

there is no rock like our God.

Talk no more so very proudly;

let not arrogance come from your mouth;

for the Lord is a God of knowledge,

and by Him actions are weighed.’” 1 Samuel 2:1-3

Let me know if you’re memorizing anything!

Just a quick note

… before bed because it has been so long. The last three weeks were full with my friend Yuko here visiting, and the result was my complete absence from the blog.

I’ll write to catch up later, but I wanted to follow up on the last post – memory Monday. Now, four weeks later, I still haven’t memorized the verses I wanted to start with. So I’d like to begin again with the 1st 3 verses of 1 Samuel 2. The goal is to type them out by memory next Monday.

Memorize with me, or check back and hold me accountable!