Hello Brothers and Sisters,
As I write these messages, I am beginning to feel more and
more like Paul. However, I am not in jail yet. However, I do thank God for each
of you and what you mean to me if you are taking part in this ministry. Things
have started to finally cool down here. It gets so hot here when you don’t have
air conditioning in your school. However, it is nice to finally have some
cooler weather.
I would like to start out by stating that things have been
very stressful for me lately. I am not taking the stress very well at all and
it has led me to become very sick and ill. I am continuing to pray and give it
to God, but still trying to fight it at the same time. Please pray that I may
regain my strength and health so that I can go back to doing things the way I
used to. I would also like to thank the Sand Springs congregation for all their
encouragement they have given me through the many cards I have received in the
mail here. It is great to hear from those back at home and Cassie and I could
not be more grateful for your thoughts and prayers that you send us often from
home. Well in the coming update, I will
discuss what things have taken place in October. Like always, a lot has
happened, but I will do my best to keep it to a bare minimum.
The month of October has consisted of me having a lot of
observations at my school. By a lot, I mean that I have had at least five
observations. On the first day of October, nearly 200 people came to my school
to watch me teach class. However, I was able to stay calm knowing that my
parents had finally arrived in Japan to come visit me. My parents came to Japan
on the first week of October. We had a really great time together. We spent
time in Hitachi seeing where I went to college at Ibaraki Christian University,
Kasama where I used to work full time at Tomobe church before I came full time
teacher and part time missionary, Mito which is the capital in Ibaraki where I
am a full time teacher, and then went to Tokyo for their final weekend here. I
think overall they had a good time after getting past eating raw fish and going
to the Japanese public baths. I felt like it was good for them to see me teach,
lead worship on the first Sunday, and experience some Japanese culture. I am glad they were able to come.
I have continued to meet with Cassie’s coworker on Tuesday
nights. We have been recently discussing how important our lives are and with
God they become more important. It has been going really well. I am not sure if
I mentioned it before, but he has a Christian wife and also went to Africa for
the Japanese Peace Corps. These things have led him to be very interested in
Christianity, but he still has a hard time believing. Please pray that my
studies will continue to go well with him.
In the middle of October, I was blessed with one of the most
amazing moments of my time in Japan. One of my good friends, Koichi Sukigara
that I made at Ibaraki Christian was baptized. Koichi and I had studied a
number of times when I had my Bible studies at Ibaraki Christian last year and
also when I came as a student we were always talking about when he was going to
become a Christian. I am so happy excited to finally have him as a brother in
Christ now. Please pray for Koichi as he starts this path and that he will be a
great disciple for Christ and the country of Japan. After his baptism we went to the public bath
together.
Koichi and I
After the public bath, we had Eagle Bash in Mito. Eagle Bash
is kind of like an annual Oklahoma Christian reunion for people who are
graduates of Oklahoma Christian University or went to OC as an exchange
student. I was able to me the new OC president, John deSteiguer. I am happy to
see that OC elected such a great man that is going to make the school a great
place to call “home”. It was great seeing
old friends once again and reuniting with those I had not seen in a long time.
This last month there was a meeting for Hitachi Christian
Camp as well as a work day for the camp, but I was unable to make either one of
them due to being so stressed and sick. I know at the camp they have been
working on paving the roads. There is about to be a lot of things that will be
changing at the camp. I believe that the next thing to do will be to rebuild
the kitchen and getting it set back up again. I hope that I can make some of
the following work days and meetings soon after I get back to good health
again.
Along with having many observations, we have also had many
things going on at school. At school, I have continued go to baseball practice
when I get the time. I have also been responsible for choosing the new members
of the percussion section in the brass band who will be joining us in the
coming month. Last but not least, we had a school culture festival last
Saturday. Each of the grades set up a classroom of their own for people to go
inside. One of the grades made a haunted house. It was impressively scary for
how many supplies and the budget they were given to make it happen. I have also
been very busy with lesson planning at school as well this last month. One of
the things we covered in class was American Football and the story of Tsutomu
Aragaki ( A True Japanese Story). Tsutomu Aragaki’s parents left him when he
was child so he was left in his grandmothers care. However, his grandmother
died when he was around the age of 14. He became very down on life because he
thought everyone abandoned him. However, he heard some hymns on a radio one day
so he went to a church and talked to a minister about it. He then told the
minister his life story so the minister took him in and let him live with him
and his family. This made Tsutomu Aragaki want to become a minister too. When
we went to college, he later decided to become a singer. I say all of that to
say that we got to talk about Christianity in a class. It served as a door for
me to talk about Christianity a little bit at school. Also, the story talked about a hymnal and
none of the kids had any idea what that was so I got to bring my Japanese one
and share it with the class. Some of them read it for quite a while. It was
quite a cool experience that I feel God blessed me with. I also got to talk
about American Football in my other class. It was cool to talk about two topics
that mean a lot to me that my kids didn’t know anything about.
Well that is all for the month of October. Please pray for
me and the things that I have requested above, especially for my stress. I am
tired of feeling the way I do. May God Bless You all.
