Job Update

Hello Everyone,

久しぶりね！That means its been a while hasn't it? It seems like its been forever since I wrote in this thing. Anyways, I will try to give you a short and brief update as to what has been going on over here in the Land of Rising Sun.

Well things have been quite hectic since I began my new job to say the least. However, I have really enjoyed my new job a lot. Its been great. It is actually hard to believe that I have almost been working there 2 months already. In this post I will give you and idea of what my new job is like and some of the mission work I am continuing to try and do.

To start out, I moved from the Tomobe, Kasama area to Mito. Mito is the capital city of Ibaraki. I have found my way around the city pretty well for the most part already even though it is the capital.  I am currently employed as an English Teacher for Iitomi Junior High, Elementary, and Kindergarten Schools. Iitomi is actually a fairly smaller more small district of Mito. However, I love it that way because I feel like it is easier to get to know everyone. It is basically like a small little farm town. Every which way you look from the school are farming fields its actually quite amazing. Also, they have way better school lunch than I ever had once in America when I was in school.


          All of the new Mito English Teachers


              All the farming fields by the school

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I go to Iitomi Junior High. As I mentioned earlier, Iitomi is a really small area of Mito. In a lot of schools in Mito, each grade has about 3 different classrooms worth of grades. My school is 3 different classrooms of 3 different grades. Therefore its actually quite small. In all about 71 students go there. The students are a lot of fun and are your typical junior high kind of kids. To be honest, its as if I am doing vocational youth ministry, and I love it. A couple of weeks ago, our 8th graders went on a cruise to Hokkaido; Japans most north island. It was cool because I got to go send them off and spend a little time on the ship with them before they took off. I also really enjoy working with the staff there, especially the English teacher. Iitomi's old English teacher has been in the hospital for some time and so they brought in a temporary 22 year old to work with me. We have lots of fun together teaching the classes. We have even spent some time together outside of class fishing and hanging out.

                       The Junior High


            The 8th graders heading to Hokkaido

My English Teacher after catching a carp

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I work at the Iitomi Elementary School and Kindergarten. I actually only go to the Kindergarten on Tuesday mornings from about 9 in the morning to lunch and spend the rest of Tuesday and all of Thursday at the Elementary School. While working with the junior high kids are a lot of fun, the elementary school is also fun in a different kind of way. We sing lots of English songs and play games with the kids to help them become better at the language. At the junior high, I get to be more like a vocational youth minister and at the elementary school I feel like I get to be a kid again. Each of the schools has amazing things about each of them. They are just amazing in two completely different ways. Also, after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have been joining there after school Brass Band Club. I was never that great in percussion in high school, but I have enjoyed knowing music well enough to help the elementary percussion section with their music on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Also, it seems like anytime I run into these kids outside of school or even at school, they think you are a rock star. They always want you to come and talk and hang out with them. They are also awesome in their own way. All in all I am loving my job working with the Iitomi schools.


                     My Elementary School


                     My English Classroom

         Cleaning Time at the Elementary School
  (The Kids Clean the School Themselves,No Janitor)

When I am not working at the school, I am continuing to stay quite busy with doing my mission work still as well. Every second Monday of the month, I continue to go to the Hitachi Christian camp meetings. This last one made up for working about an 18 hour day. However, I really enjoy staying involved in the church and being an associate missionary. Every first week in May, Japan has a week where there are four holidays. This week is known as Golden Week. While we were on our Golden Week vacation, Cassie and I also went to camp and hung out for a day as well. Aside from camp, we had a goodbye party for a girl named Miki. She had to move home to be closer with her family and help them out because she lived in the disaster area from the earthquake and tsunami. Miki has yet become a Christian yet still and so Cassie and I tried to just encourage her and be a good influence on her. One of the ways we did that was by having a good bye party for her and making mexican food. Miki loves Mexican food and so do so that was a great fellowship party we had at my apartment. Last month, Cassie and I also attended Accappella Praise Night at Ibaraki Christian as well. There is a couple of people in the group that our not Christians and so Cassie and I went to have some good praise time and to support them as well. We were supposed to have a Bible Study today with Saki, but she had something come up and had to cancel. Keep continuing to pray for the studies I have with her. Aside from those things, we stay very busy with the church on Sunday mornings and afternoons too. However, by about 3 Cassie and me are normally just shot from going non stop all week and try to spend Sunday nights just relaxing and doing nothing with one another opposed to keeping a 100% busy schedule. Its about the only time we have nothing to do during the week and we enjoy every minute of it. In the next few weeks I will be busy leading worship at Tomobe Church tomorrow, preaching at Tomobe next Sunday, and preaching at the church in Tokyo the week after that. I really do have a plate full.


             Everyone at Hitachi Christian Camp


                        Miki's Goodbye Party

Well thats kind of an update of the things going on with my new job and some of the mission work I have been doing. Aside from those things not much else is going on except things like getting gout my first week on the new job. Besides just going to camp for Golden Week, Cassie and I decided to take a day trip together to the NW prefecture of Tochigi to spend some time for a day at the Twin Ring Motegi. This is actually where Japan has their Indy Japan 300 event. We got to see the race track and lots of cool cars while we were there. Also a couple of weeks ago we got to see the solar eclipse as well and that was quite awesome. You can see a picture of what we saw below.




 Cassie and Me as we entered Tochigi

                    The Race Track Entrance

                    Solar Eclipse from Japan




  Cassie and I also went to one of her Teachers house for
                 a barbecue on Golden Week

   .....And we saw an old friend from OC, Yukari


Well I should probably stop here, we are having a good-bye party for Toru tonight because he gets to go to Oklahoma Christian. I need to get his presents finished so we can present them tonight. If you guys have any questions or want to know anything, hit me up at jared.scism@alumni.oc.edu and I will be happy to let you know anything. Also, I will be home in Oklahoma from July 28th, August 8th if any of you would like to meet and catch up and talk more about my adventures here. Have a good day and God Bless You all. 



Cassie and I under the Cherry Blossom Tree at Church

Transition Update

Since I last updated you, things have been extremely busy. I finally moved out of Tomobe or Kasama and moved to Mito on April 1st. I am not fooling you either! Just to give you an idea of the city differences, Mito is the capital of the prefecture Ibaraki that I am living in and Tomobe was a small country side town. It would be like moving from Luther to Oklahoma City. At the end of time in Tomobe, we had our goodbye party for the LST Team and I began my preparations for moving to Mito! Things have also been blooming making it very beautiful here. All of the beginning of the blooming of things here make things feel great for new transitions and beginnings in my life here in Japan.

LST Goodbye Party!

Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) in Mito

Since I have been in Mito, I have been busy going to change my address in places like the post office, bank, cell phone, utilities, my drivers license, my foreigner card and all. I was also busy finishing up some last minute paper work to transfer my new car and scooter in my name. It was kind of a challenge doing it all in Japanese, but I really ended up enjoying the challenge and learned a lot of new Japanese in the process.

It feels great that I finally I got moved into my new apartment. If any of you know me well enough, its hard for me to not have people over. I also ended up having a bunch of my students from Ibaraki Christian over this last week for a barbecue and made some rolls and mashed potatoes. Aside from having people over, the couple who gave me my car also gave Cassie and I practically their entire apartment for a small price. In fact, they gave me enough stuff that my entire apartment was practically furnished and I had to hardly pay for anything extra other than the small fee. Since we got all of their stuff, I not only got settled in my apartment but also got Cassie's apartment put together as much as we could to prepare it for when I move in after we get married. This way we can just move the stuff I have in my apartment now and put it in her apartment easily before we go home to get married. I'll try to post pictures of the apartments next time.

While I am transitioning into my new job to become a teacher, there are also a lot of teachers who are leaving. One of them is my friend Allen and his wife Laura. I went to Africa with Allen when I was at Oklahoma Christian. It is weird to see them go, but it will be great also meeting some of the new English teachers soon.

Last dinner with Allen and Laura!

Easter Sunday we ended up having a great worship. We had worship at the church in the morning. After worship was over, we went to the Tomobe Church Grave and celebrated those who had been raised from the dead and gone to Heaven for their faith. After the celebration, we went to the park next to the cemetery and had a picnic.

At the Tomobe Church Grave!

Picnic after going to the Tomobe Church Grave!

In better news, Toru's dad finally decided to get baptized. Last Monday, I attended my last preachers meeting and then came back and watched Marlin baptize Toru's dad. It was such an incredible time to know that not only will Toru have his dad's support but also his mom's support for him to be a preacher. After the baptism, Cassie and I went to the Hitachi Christian Camp meeting for the work camp we will have next month.

Toru's dad being baptized!

On Tuesday, I went to Ibaraki Christian University and met with some of my students from the last school year I studied with. I was albe to meet with Saki and talk with her some about talking with her father about being a Chrisitan. She still has yet to talk to him. Please continue to pray that she will be able to talk to him soon so that she can be a Christian. After meeting with my students, I went and met the KGK College Christian Club group and meet some of the members.

KGK Meeting!

This next Sunday Cassie and I will take some engagment pictures with the Cherry Blossom trees and next Monday I start my job with training for being an English Teacher. Please pray for this transition!

I appreciate all of you for your prayers and support. Thank you all for everything you have done for me. Please email me if you have any questions at jared.scism@alumni.oc.edu and I will answer them. May God Bless You All!

Beginning of March (Possibly The Last Post!)

Hello Everyone!

Hope you are all doing well! Things are going pretty well here! There is quite a bit to tell so I am going to go ahead and get with it.

For the past month we have had a LST team here with us. They have been averaging about 35-40 English Bible Studies every week. A couple of weeks ago during their off day, we went and spent some time with the a couple of the people they have been studying with. We ended up having Tenpura which is like a fried fish and fried vegetables. You can see a picture of what it looks like below. This is one of the LST readers named Maria Laura. She got the Sky Tree Tenpura. Sky Tree is the new tower that is being built in Tokyo now to make the tallest tower in the world!

Maria and her Tenpura Sky Tower

A couple of pics with the LST team in Ibaraki

On the 3rd, Cassie and I held a Spring Sing party for all the old exchange students and people who love OC at Cassie's Apartment. We had a few people show up. In the picture below you can see the two girls who came earlier with Cassie and me. After the party was over, we returned to Tomobe to have one of LST's weekly parties. On the 3rd we had an American Breakfast Party. We had pancakes and sausage. Japanese people normally eat fish and rice for breakfast. These parties are used as an outreach to have fun and show that Christians can also have a good time as well. Altogether there were 25 to 30 of us.

Spring SIng Watch Party!

LST Party!

As of this month, every first Sunday of the month I am responsible for leading worship. For some people this may seem difficult enough just to lead worship. However, I also had to lead it in all Japanese. While my Japanese is not horrible, I have still have yet to improve a whole lot more. However, I lead a prayer, did communion and contribution, led singing, and gave the announcements all in Japanese! I am not sure how I did but I got an applause afterwards so I guess I did alright. After worship we had our monthly church meeting in the afternoon and then guitar class later that night along with evening worship. Because part of the LST team is from Argentina and one of their friends came to visit the church from Argentina and he only knows Spanish, we ended up having a trilingual service. Also, to my surprise, one of the students I had been studying with at the college, who lives an hour away by car also ended up coming to worship. He not only came on the 4th at night but also on the 11th, this last Sunday. This last Sunday marked the tragedy for the one year anniversary since last year's big earthquake. I wanted so bad to be a part of a group that might have done something that day. However, I ended up staying home sick. Please continue to pray for all the family and victims and the troubles some of them are still having!

Leading Worship!

The following Monday, I decided to go to eat lunch with the student who came to church on Sunday. We had curry together and I talked with him some about why is not a Christian yet if he believes in God. He was telling me that he is responsible for the family grave which is Buddhist. While he still believes, he has a long way to go. Please pray that he can find a way to explain to his family that this is not necessary for him. Also this last Monday we had our monthly preachers meeting and camp meeting. Cassie and I also presented our design for the poster for this spring's camp. When I returned from the camp meeting, I had the surprise and pleasure to see a guy I studied the Bible with at Ibaraki Christian a few years ago. I have been trying to get in touch with him to start studying again since I arrived, but he always told me he was too busy. However, I am hoping after some talking that we had this last week and spending some time together that we can get back to studying again. Please pray that this person can see that God wants what is best for him and that he keeps looking towards the right path. His name is Keiichi!

Keiichi and Me!

On Mondays I have continued to attend the church Bible classes. As of now, we are studying the book of John. Also on Mondays, I study with Masako. Last week Masako and I talked about how the reason we have many races and languages is because of the Tower of Babel. This week we talked about Cain and Abel. While I am not sure how she is starting to feel, she has been very open about talking about being a Christian. Please pray that Masako's heart can be changed and that she wants to know more about the gospel.

This last Tuesday, Cassie and I went to have dinner with a girl who went to OC as an exchange student for the past 8 months. We had a really good time and got some good Italian Food.

For the most part, Tuesdays and Wednesdays have been slow recently because Saki (The girl I hope to baptize) returned home. As of right now, I have not heard from Saki as to whether she has talked to her dad or not if she can be baptized. Please pray that God will help her with the confidence to as her dad and that he will be understanding and allow for me to baptize her.

Lately, things with Toru have been crazy. Toru has had many people to spend a lot of time with so we have not got to study as much lately. As of right now, Toru will go to OC in June. Please pray that Toru will get the funds to be able to attend college there. Right now, things are quite tight with him going. Please pray that God blesses this effort.

On Thursdays I have not been able to study with Setsuko because she has been having problems with her shoulders. The other lady, Hiromi,whom I have been studying with has also began to have a hard time wanting to come. Please pray that they can regain health.

On Fridays, I have been able to finally begin to study with another lady after the church cooking class is over. However, she is not a Christian. The first week she was begging to not study the Bible with me. Nevertheless, this week we were able to get some talking about Christianity in rather than only speaking English. Last week I also promised my elementary class that if they averaged a 70% on their test that we would play games the entire last class period and I would get them cake. After taking a book comprehensive final, most of of them got High B's and Low C's. Therefore we will have a fun class with games and food this Friday. Last Friday after my elementary class was over we had a youth group activity and went to play pool. Over all we had quite a group come opposed to the small group of 4 we had on our first youth group activity night of playing pool.

At Cybex!

Having a Devo before Pool!

Last Saturday, we had another LST party and had cookies and tea/milk. Overall there was quite a group that came. Everyone enjoyed playing cards and eating cookies. However, I ended up getting a stomach ache and ended up not being able to participate. By the looks of everyones faces, it looked like everyone had a good time.

In other news, today will be my last day of classes at the church. My contract with the schools in Mito will begin on April 1st therefore I will move to Mito on April 2nd. I will use the next couple weeks to relax and begin packing to move from Kasama to Mito which is about 45 minutes away by car. I will also be able to get my car on the 31st of this month. Last but not least and MOST IMPORTANT, I asked Cassie, to marry me yesterday. We will be getting married December 29th this year in Oklahoma City. As of right now, LIFE IS GOOD! I hope to keep you updated when I can as a teacher but it won't be near as frequent. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. May God Bless each of you! Thank you all for your support and prayers you have given me during my time as a missionary. I pray that I can be an effective vocational missionary once I began teaching. Thank you all once again.

Cassie said Yes after asking her to marry me and reading 1 Corinthians 13

The End of February

Hello Everyone,

First of all, I would like to apologize because this may not be a very good update. Things have been very busy recently, and it is about 11:00 p.m. on Thursday night. There has been a lot of stuff going on lately, and I have yet another crazy weekend. It has also been very cold and we have also had some snow this last week. Anyways, I will go ahead and get on with what has gone on the past couple of weeks. I will start out by talking about my classes, then talking about other things that have been going on.

Picture of some snow from the kitchen window!

Sundays:

1. On Sundays we have our normal worship service. The past two Sundays we have had meals at the church afterwards. One of them was a lunch for welcoming LST and the other one was our 4th Sunday curry day.

2. Due to being very busy lately, we have been unable to have guitar learning class.

3. A couple of Sunday nights ago, instead of worship LST had an information meeting to meet with people about the times they could study. Last Sunday however, we had normal worship service and with everyone there, there was about 15 people. It was the most I had ever seen at worship on Sunday night. One of LST's friends has been in Japan touring for the past couple of weeks so he was also there meaning that he only knew Spanish. Therefore we were translating things into English for worship that night, then Spanish. It ended up being quite crazy but really cool to have have a trilingual worship service.

Yasuki singing Jesus Loves Me out of the side of his mouth after Sunday night worship! Yasuki is also going to preachers training school in Japan starting in April.

Mondays

1. On Mondays we have our Tomobe Church Bible Studies. Once a month we have them at Toru's house. When we have them at Toru's it makes things much better because his father ends up coming and seems to enjoy them. Please pray that Toru's dad might also become interested in Christianity.

2. In the afternoon, I have been studying with Masako. I recently got her to realize that Christianity and Shintoism can not possibly both be right. However, she wants to know more about the beginning of the world from a Christian perspective so we have been studying Genesis together. Last week was the first time she had come in a while because her son came home from Italy to visit and her daughter just had a baby so she has been taking care of them. We ended up talking about the Tower of Babel which led to good discussion because she never knew how people got into different parts of the world with different languages.

Having the Tomobe Church Bible Study at Toru's House

Tuesdays and Wednesdays

1. On Tuesday and Wednesday I normally go to Ibaraki Christian to study with Saki to prepare her for baptism. However, two weeks ago I was at the driving center taking my test and this week it ended up snowing really bad so we ended up having our study on Skype instead. After having all of our studies, Saki still seems confident that she is ready to take this step to be a Christian. After our Skype study last week, she left to go back home to Ishinomaki which is where all the stuff from the earthquake happened last year which is a few hours away. While she is gone, she is going to be talking to her dad about wanting to be baptized. Please pray that this goes smoothly and that her father will say yes. If he does, I will be able to baptize her in May.

2. On Wednesdays, I also continue to teach Toru things about the Bible.

Thursdays:

1. Last Thursday I began to study with a new woman named Hiromi. However, after LST decided they wanted to take a trip to another city, she decided she wanted to go with them yesterday because our study was too difficult. Hopefully she will still be able to come next week.

2. I have also been unable to study with Setsuko the past couple of weeks because she has been sick and also had some other things that she has been busy with. We will begin to study again next week.

3. On Thursday nights, I have also been continuing to help Toru improve his English.

Fridays:

1. On Fridays twice a month, I attend the minister's wife, Jeanne's cooking class. I attended the one last week which consisted of the LST team teaching the ladys how to cook Argentine food.

2. I also picked up another new woman to start studying English/Bible with on Friday named Kaori. Every time I tried to start talking about Christianity though, she would always change the subject. Please pray that Kaori will be more open to talk about Christianity.

3. At night, I continue to teach my elementary students who are just crazy all the time. They really aren't interested in Christianity at all, but I hope that the seeds will at least be planted in their mind.

4. We also continue to have activities with Toru and his friends every other Friday. Last Friday we went to Karaoke.

Teaching my elementary students!

Me waiting to start Karaoke!

A few days before the 16th, a group of the students I study with at the college all decided that they wanted to get together to have a Bible Study. We ended up going to the church in Omika and having a study there with some other members of the Omika Church and spent time in fellowship, prayer, and encouragement. Before going to the church, we all went to have dinner together at a popular restaurant here in Japan known as Coco's. It is so encouraging to see how eager some of these students are to want to know more about God.

On the 17th, I went with Sayaka, the assistant to the Mito Board of Education to apply for my teaching visa. They said that I should receive it by next month some time if it processed. Please pray that this process will work out because it is very important that I get this visa to get my new job. That night, I was invited to come to an all Ibaraki college student youth lock in at Omika Church. However, I had previously been invited to go to an Oklahoma Christian Exchange Student Reunion type thing with the exchange students who went to OC last year. It was difficult for me to choose which one to attend, but I ended up attending the event with the exchange students and had dinner with them. While we were there, I discovered that they all paid for the option of being able to drink as much as they wanted. I ended up drinking water the whole night except for a glass of Calpis. Calpis is a fruity drink that is popular in Japan for kids to drink. However this lead to a lot of good conversation for ministry to tell them why I wasn't interested in drinking with them. However, after the amount of food I ate dinner and water I drank, it was definitely not worth $40. However, it was great to see everyone.

A picture we took before dinner. This is popular for Japanese girls to do before an event! They are called purikura!

The morning of the 18th, I held a Bible Study with a couple of girls at Starbucks with Cassie. One of the girls is a Christian, and the other one is not. My main purpose was to encourage the girl who is not a Christian because she is very active in the church. However, since she started working and finished college, she has found it more difficult to want to become a Christian. I ended up studying with her how great God's love was and that no matter how difficult things get, God will always still be there with his love. By the end of the study, she seemed to feel much happier and excited about things, however she still needs much more encouragement. Please pray that Miki may come to have the spark that she did when she was a student and that she can see God's love. After our study at Starbucks, the four of us walked around Mito and had lunch together. That night, Cassie and I came home to welcome our new Let's Start Talking team to Japan. It made for a long day, but it was still a lot of fun.

On the 20th, Cassie and I met with a couple of new friends Chip and Elise for dinner. Our main purpose was to start transferring the car I will be getting over into my name. It is a very tedious process because I have to fill out a lot of paperwork for it to submit to the police station. One of the most annoying parts of it is getting a parking place for your car. In Japan, when getting a car, you have to prove to the police that you have a place to park your car because people have such small property and they don't want any cars in the road. Once you find a parking space, you have to draw 2 detailed maps, showing where it is. The first map is a general map showing the the location of the property you will park it and the second one is a detailed map of where the parking spot is on the property you will park it. Then you have to draw that and give all of the measurements of the property and the parking space and all. I will be glad when this part is over.

On the 22nd, I went to take my driving test again after failing it and spending the entire day taking tests on the 15th. I ended up only having to stay at the driving place until 2 the second day I took it. Luckily, the guy that gave me the driving test this time was much nicer. I actually almost went into the right side of the road because in America thats how we drive. However in Japan, they drive on the left side of the road. However, I think he let it slide because I remembered to turn into the correct side of the road the whole test except for the last turn. I was so glad to finally get my license. I ended up taking a driving and written test to get it. The written part was in English and the driving was in Japanese. However, the English test was worded so weird that sometimes it was hard to know what they were asking. I am just thankful that I have my license in Japan now.

After getting my license in front of the test center!

Last Saturday, the 25th, we were supposed to have a work day at the church for repairing some stuff on the building. However, it ended up raining so we were not able to do anything. Nevertheless, it was just nice to relax and enjoy the rain. It also allowed me to talk to my parents some. That night, Cassie and I went out to dinner with one of my good friends Kota and his girlfriend. I believe I wrote about him in a previous post about being interested in Christianity because he thought it would help him get higher level job at Ibaraki Christian. We ended up going to El Toritos, which is the only Mexican restaurant in Ibaraki. Once we got our dinner, Kota asked if I would pray for it. I was so excited to know that he wanted me to do that. Before I came here, Kota had never really expressed any desire whatsoever in Christianity, but now it seems like he wants to know more. Please pray that I can reach him in some way to become a Christian.

On the 27th and 28th, Cassie and I had dinner with our friends Allen and Laura Thompson and Chip and Elise Riley. Because they are leaving Japan in April and returning back home after teaching English here for a few years, they are trying to get rid of some stuff from their apartments. Cassie and I have been more than helpful trying to get stuff from them for our own apartments so that we don't have to pay as much for stuff. Chip and Elise are actually the couple I am getting my car from that I mentioned earlier. While I cannot get the car until next month, I was still able to get a scooter from Chip on Monday so that I don't have to make the 35 minute bike ride to church.

The scooter I got!

Yesterday, I went to Toru's high school graduation. It was a lot different than an American graduation. They do the presentation of the diplomas at the beginning of the ceremony by calling at each students name and the student stands and says, "Yes Sir" after their name is called. They call each student's name based on the homeroom class that they are in. After each student's name is called, they have speeches just like we do that take a long time. After the ceremony is over, the students go back to their homeroom classes and then they are each presented with their diploma and diploma case. Overall, it takes about three hours for the whole thing to take place. After the ceremony, I went with Toru and some of his friends to eat lunch and Karaoke. It ended up being a lot of fun and then I came back to prepare for some stuff that I will be doing on Saturday. On Saturday, Cassie and I will host a Spring Sing party for all the students who have gone to OC and will watch Spring Sing together.

Toru and his friends!

Toru and I with his diploma!

Tomobe Church Minister Marlin Ray far right, Toru and Me after graduation!

Well thats what has been going on the past couple of weeks. Things have been getting crazy trying to get things ready for my new job and preparing to make the switch for that. Please pray that everything goes smoothly for me in this process. Also please pray for the LST team and the work they are doing for us in Tomobe and that it will be successful. Once again, please feel free to email me at jared.scism@alumni.oc.edu if you have any questions. I love to hear from people. Thank you all for your support once again. May God Bless you all.

The Beginning of February

Hello Everyone,

I hope all of you are doing well. Well it is Thursday morning at 12:22 A.M. and I am not sure when I will be update you again. It may be another couple of weeks before I wrote you so I thought I would go ahead and stay up late and write this post for you tonight. I was unable to write it this afternoon because I went to take my driving test today. I ended up passing the written test, but failed the driving test. However, I have been told that every foreigner fails 1 or 2 times before he actually passes it. I have only met one person who has passed it on their first time. I wasn't too concerned, and I will be retaking the driving test again next Wednesday. Well quite a bit has happened the past couple of weeks so I will try to keep this as short as possible.

On the 2nd, Toru Hirosawa, the guy who plans to go to OC next year to major in Bible and Ministry turned 18. On the 18th, I took him out to lunch for his birthday. However, what he didn't know was that there was a surprise party for him on Friday. I got his mom to invite all his friends and they all came to the church and I grilled hamburgers for everyone. Overall it was really tasty and Toru was very surprised. If you would like more information about Toru, please let me know. He needs more money so that he can go to Oklahoma Christian next year. Japan desperately needs ministers, especially young ones because so many here are very old. Also, last Saturday Toru took his TOEFL test to see if he could improve his score in order to enter Oklahoma Christian. The last two weeks also consisted of studying with Toru quite a bit so he could do better last Saturday. We studied for about 5 hours two days before his big test. Overall, I think he did very well on the test. We will know more results in the next week or so.

This is Toru!

Toru and his friends!

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays this month, the campus minister at Ibaraki Christian and I started to have Personal Bible Studies with Saki, the girl who wants to be baptized. As of right now, the campus minister, Uzawa san is teaching her basic Bible information. At the end of next week or the following week, I will begin teaching Saki what it means to be baptized and how you should live your life after becoming a Christian. So far, the studies are going very well. However, Saki is very nervous about talking to her dad. Please pray that everything will go smoothly and when she talks to her dad everything will work out. In Japan, younger people have a harder time becoming Christians because of their parents opinion. Please pray that Saki's father will soften his heart and it can all go well. I was also informed this week that I will be the one who will get to baptize her.

On the 6th, we had a lot of the guy English Teachers over at the house so that we could watch the Super Bowl. Although it aired live here in Japan on Monday morning, they replayed it again at night about 8. It was a great time to spend with the English Teachers and good to watch the Super Bowl even though we were unable to see the Super Bowl commercials! Go Giants!

Everyone watching the game!

Last Sunday, we had our monthly church meeting. At the meeting we discussed some of the future things going on at the Tomobe Church. Also during the meeting we discussed getting more people to do worship. I volunteered to lead the worship service every first Sunday of the month. I will have to do a majority of it in Japanese. This will help make me more confident to start preaching when the time comes. I am looking forward to this incredible opportunity. We have also continued to have our Guitar Learning Class before worship on Sundays. While I am far from being good, I am beginning to make some good progress. Of course, we also have worship every Sunday morning that I have been attending.

Last Friday, I had a Mexican party for my students that I study with at Ibaraki Christian. Overall, we had about 10 people show up in all. I made enchilladas, tacos, queso, guacamole, refried beans, rice, hard and soft tacos, quesadillas, and also had chips and salsa. For dessert I also made a sopapilla cheesecake. Many of the students said they felt like they were in Heaven after eating it all. After we ate, we had a Bible study over how even though all that food tasted great, and seemed like we were in Heaven, Heaven is going to be an even better place than the food we ate. Once we finished the Bible study, we did some exercising to burn of all the calories we had eaten.

All the Food I Made!

The guys being crazy on the couch!

Our Bible Study!

Everyone that came minus a few!

Trying to shed all the calories we gained!

This last Monday, the 13th, consisted of my monthly meetings. In the morning, we had our preachers meeting and discussed who could preach at a congregation where one of the ministers died a few weeks ago. After discussing that among relief work topics and camp information, we all had lunch together and actually finished our meeting before lunch for the first time in a long while. Later that night, we headed to Hitachi for our monthly camp meeting. At the meeting we discussed the theme for Spring Camp which I came up with. Working for God with the scripture Colossians 3:23 in mind. Cassie, my girlfriend and I will also be responsible for designing the camp poster by next month.

This was before the camp meeting! The chain was too funny to pass up posting on here!

Overall, my weekly classes have been going well. I have been unable to meet with Masako, the lady I recently began to start reading Genesis with because her daughter just had a baby. She has been very busy staying at home trying to help her daughter so I have not been able to study with her lately. The other lady I study with Setsuko, continues to come every week. However, as I mentioned earlier, she is much more interested in learning English than the Bible. I hope that eventually our studies together will soon begin help her to realize its not all about English. Please pray that her heart will also soften and she can gain fore than English from our studies. I also continue to have my elementary class on Friday nights. Those students are also there for English only and our really crazy. As of now they are not interested either. I hope that I can show them a love and patience that they may want to know more of what Christianity is all about.

As far as my teaching plans, I met with the Mito Board of Education a couple weeks ago. It is not currently official that I have a job yet. Please pray that this all goes smoothly and that the transition for my visa is a smooth process. I have been told sometimes it can be kind of difficult process to go through.

Some of the things that are coming up in the next couple weeks are as followed:

-This week, we have been preparing for an LST group to come. A group from Argentina and America will be coming to Tomobe Church to do a Let's Start Talking mission trip. Let's Start Talking is a program that sends people out all over the world to churches to give free English lessons by using the Bible to teach English! Because of the high demand of English being learned around the world, many people end up coming. Please pray that their trip will be a blessing to the church here and that they can bring more people to the church and help us grow.

-Marlin Ray, the missionary at Tomobe Church will be returning home this summer to take Toru to Oklahoma Christian and go back home to try and raise more support. While he is gone, I will be preaching a time or two every month from June to July. I will be doing this while I am a teacher.

-Once a month, we have been meeting at Toru's house to have a Church Home Bible Study. Although, Toru's mother is a Christian, Toru's father is not. I have talked about him previously coming to church, however he has not been in a while. Pray that these Bible Studies will reach him in some way or another.

-At the end of April or the beginning of May most likely, I have been asked to come speak at the Ochanomizu Church of Christ in Tokyo. Ochanomizu is probably the biggest Church of Christ in Japan ranging from 150-200 most likely. I am looking forward to this incredible opportunity. On the day that I go, there will be a bilingual service for both Japanese and foreigners. They are normally separated on Sunday mornings.

-Due to Ibaraki Christian being on Spring Break, I am going to continue to have my Bible Studies with my students. Starting this Saturday, we will meet in the capital city of Mito at Starbucks and start having Bible Studies there on Saturday mornings.

-I hope to start posting some videos soon!

Well that is all I have for right now. If you have any questions about anything, please don't hesitate to email me at jared.scism@alumni.oc.edu and I would be happy to talk to you more about anything. I love you guys and I thank God for you and your love and support.