September Update

Hello everyone,

I hope this letter will find you all well. As always, things here have been quite crazy here to say the least. As the wedding is quickly approaching, Cassie and I have been very busy trying to get lots of last minute details done for it. It’s really stressful and I am not even doing all the hard work that Cassie has been doing. On September 7^th, Cassie and I celebrated our first year together as a couple and I am looking forward to many more. Well, I am going to try to keep this one short, just like the last one so here we go.

       Over the last month, Cassie and I have spent a lot of time with all of our different Japanese friends trying to be lights to them. We have continued to have dinner with Takuto and Yuu about once a month. Tonight, Takuto will take Cassie and I out as a wedding present to the restaurant he works at to eat Yakiniku. We also have been spending time with a couple of girls Cassie was in club with at Oklahoma Christian and that I met on my exchange program. Their names are Noriko and Yuuki. They really enjoy American culture so I extend American culture a little more when we get together by praying for our meal and they seem to really enjoy that. They even asked me one time to pray before I even got a chance to get ready for one. Last Saturday, Cassie and I also had dinner with Ayami Kawasaki. Ayami is a girl I met when I was a student here who later became a Christian after returning from OC as an exchange student. I actually studied with her at Oklahoma Christian while she was there. 

Dinner with Japanese Friends

Tuesdays really make for a long day because I work from 8-5. After work I go to Japanese class and then have my English Bible class. I normally don’t make it back home until 10, sometimes 11. On Tuesdays, I’m still having my English Bible Study with Kato. He is really having a hard time understanding some things we have been talking about lately so please pray for him during this difficult time. 

School has also been quite busy. I have been preparing a lot lately for the observations that I will be having soon. The Board of Education as well as other people will be coming to watch me teach 2-3 times this next month. We also had our yearly sports festival that all Japan schools have every year a few weeks ago. At the sports festival, there is a relay where students pick up cards and the students have to find a person that matches that card such as hot mom and such. I was chosen at my school as the friendliest teacher and the funniest teacher in the relay, so I got to run twice. It was overall a really fun day. Because I worked on a Saturday, I was able to get the following Monday off and make it to an Ibaraki Preachers Meeting and Hitachi Christian Camp meeting. It was nice to live the life of a missionary and seeing preachers again for a day. I hadn’t seen most of the preachers from the preachers meeting for about 4 or 5 months. The following week, my students from the junior high who live at the orphans home invited me to come to the orphans home for a summer festival they were having. Cassie and I were able to spend about an hour and a half there and support some of my kids. We had a really great time.

            Ibaraki Preacher's Meeting 

After getting the kind teacher in the relay

                At the Children's Home

In the last month, it has also been nice to have some time to relax and go hang out with some American friends. This last month, Cassie and I were able to get some tickets from my host family (the Hirosawas) that I had when I was a student here to a professional soccer game. I was into the soccer game a lot more than Cassie, but she enjoyed playing with the Hirosawa’s kids. We have also been to guys and girls nights in the past week where the girls hung out and did girl things and the guys played poker and hung out and talked with each other. Last week, I also was able to go to Tokyo with a couple of guys and get a steak at Outback! It really hit the spot.  I will be going back to Tokyo to pick up my parents this weekend. They are coming to Japan to visit me and I am really looking forward to it. Please pray that they have a safe trip here.

         Cassie and me at the Antlers Game

      At Outback Steakhouse with the guys!

Well that is about all for this post. Please continue to pray that Cassie and I can be effective while we are here. There are times it is so hard for us because we are so busy planning our wedding and with work alone. However we want to use our time in this country for the glory of God. Please pray that we can continue to do this in any way possible. May God bless you all.