Friday, December 16, 2011
December 2011
Happy December to all!
It feels like it has been a busy and fast fall. I can't believe it is already the middle of December!
I am now at 33 weeks with baby Noguchi. I think he is around 4 pounds or so by now. I enjoy feeling him moving around inside of me and constantly amazed at God's amazing design of the human body! It is hard to believe there is a sweet little life being formed and knitted together by God, right inside of me!! I am not even doing anything! (but living!) God is so awesome!
We are excited for our son's arrival but I don't think the reality that we are going to be parents has fully sunk in. It is hard to imagine until it happens I guess! But I am thankful for God's Word and that He promises to help us even in raising a child.
In the last couple of months we have enjoyed entertaining friends from church in our home. Also have been busy with the normal English class schedule, and Keisuke at work. We are enjoying his two mondays off every month. Sometimes we have gone on a little day trip drive to places close to Sapporo, or just gone shopping together, or just enjoyed having the extra time at home.
Our music group is going well. I am taking a break starting last week from our regular music team until after the baby is born. It gets a little hard to sing with a growing baby pushing up against my rib cage. Last week was our turn to perform for the Gospel service. We had several mistakes and happenings (such as misplaced capo, guitar string breaking, dropping a drumstick, etc...) but even in all that many people said that the message of the songs was very clear, and they were encouraged to want to praise God since we kept singing and smiling even with all the mistakes. That was very encouraging to us as from a human perspective we had failed, but God used our mistakes and still glorified His name! Thank you, Lord!! It is definitely a humbling experience to be used by the Lord in situations like these.
On December 1st we had an English Time outreach. We had 6 visitors (with 3 being brand new). We talked about Christmas, and why we celebrate it. What does the birth of Jesus have to do with each one of us? Why do people celebrate the birth of Jesus all around the world? It was a good chance to talk about Jesus coming so that He could die in our place on the cross, and save us from our sins and the eternal judgement that we each face because of our sins. Jesus was born to die in our place, and then raise again, and giving us the one and only way to salvation!! Jesus knew He would die, and He knew what a humble start (born in a manger in a stable!) He the Creator of the world, would have, yet He still came to save us! No wonder Christmas is celebrated all over the world! If only everyone would realize this and receive Jesus as their own Savior!!! That is my prayer every day!
This Christmas one the 24th and 25th we will have 3 concerts at church. I am on the special concert team for this. (this is will be last time to sing with a team until after baby is born) We have been practicing for several weeks now, so just praying for God to be glorified and that many people would come to the concerts and hear the Gospel. And not only hear it, but believe and be saved! Also praying for Keisuke's Dad to come. Please be praying for these things!! Our church has been so blessed! Every week we have the Gospel service (soon it will be for the past 5 years!!) and every single week since we started (except 2 times!) We have had a visitor or non Christian come to our service. That means 100's of people have heard the Gospel, but unfortunately very few of these have made a decision to believe in Jesus Christ. Please pray for the people of Sapporo! That they would open their hearts to Jesus, and that we would faithfully and boldly share the Gospel with these people.
Well, only 6 1/2 more weeks or so to go until baby Noguchi comes. So we are trying to get all the items needed gathered. We are so thankful for the generosity of so many people in offering to do a baby shower (through Skype!! Imagine that!) from Indiana, and also our brothers and sisters in Christ here at the church who so generously have loaned us some items and are all offering to help with meals (including Keisuke's sweet mom who is already planning on helping as much as she can when she is already so busy) once baby is born.
Here is Japan, after a baby is born, most women go and stay with their mother for a month or so. They don't go out anywhere, and basically just recover and get used to taking care of a baby while their mother helps them with all the cooking etc... Well, I am planning to stay here (as there is not really a good place for a baby to stay at Keisuke's parents house) and we are far away from my side of the family. Times like these make me think of my sweet mother and wonder what she did with all of us kids (especially us twins!) when we were born. I so wish she could be here to meet our little baby, but am so thankful that she is with Christ, in Heaven, and I pray that someday they will get to meet!
I am also thankful for Keisuke's mom and her sweet caring for me, and also the ladies in my prayer group are planning on working with mom to provide meals for us for after the baby is born. We are so thankful for the body of Christ, the Church!
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. May it be a special time reflecting on why Christ was born, and also a special time to celebrate with the many loved ones that God has blessed each and every one of us with.
Much love to all!
It feels like it has been a busy and fast fall. I can't believe it is already the middle of December!
I am now at 33 weeks with baby Noguchi. I think he is around 4 pounds or so by now. I enjoy feeling him moving around inside of me and constantly amazed at God's amazing design of the human body! It is hard to believe there is a sweet little life being formed and knitted together by God, right inside of me!! I am not even doing anything! (but living!) God is so awesome!
We are excited for our son's arrival but I don't think the reality that we are going to be parents has fully sunk in. It is hard to imagine until it happens I guess! But I am thankful for God's Word and that He promises to help us even in raising a child.
In the last couple of months we have enjoyed entertaining friends from church in our home. Also have been busy with the normal English class schedule, and Keisuke at work. We are enjoying his two mondays off every month. Sometimes we have gone on a little day trip drive to places close to Sapporo, or just gone shopping together, or just enjoyed having the extra time at home.
Our music group is going well. I am taking a break starting last week from our regular music team until after the baby is born. It gets a little hard to sing with a growing baby pushing up against my rib cage. Last week was our turn to perform for the Gospel service. We had several mistakes and happenings (such as misplaced capo, guitar string breaking, dropping a drumstick, etc...) but even in all that many people said that the message of the songs was very clear, and they were encouraged to want to praise God since we kept singing and smiling even with all the mistakes. That was very encouraging to us as from a human perspective we had failed, but God used our mistakes and still glorified His name! Thank you, Lord!! It is definitely a humbling experience to be used by the Lord in situations like these.
On December 1st we had an English Time outreach. We had 6 visitors (with 3 being brand new). We talked about Christmas, and why we celebrate it. What does the birth of Jesus have to do with each one of us? Why do people celebrate the birth of Jesus all around the world? It was a good chance to talk about Jesus coming so that He could die in our place on the cross, and save us from our sins and the eternal judgement that we each face because of our sins. Jesus was born to die in our place, and then raise again, and giving us the one and only way to salvation!! Jesus knew He would die, and He knew what a humble start (born in a manger in a stable!) He the Creator of the world, would have, yet He still came to save us! No wonder Christmas is celebrated all over the world! If only everyone would realize this and receive Jesus as their own Savior!!! That is my prayer every day!
This Christmas one the 24th and 25th we will have 3 concerts at church. I am on the special concert team for this. (this is will be last time to sing with a team until after baby is born) We have been practicing for several weeks now, so just praying for God to be glorified and that many people would come to the concerts and hear the Gospel. And not only hear it, but believe and be saved! Also praying for Keisuke's Dad to come. Please be praying for these things!! Our church has been so blessed! Every week we have the Gospel service (soon it will be for the past 5 years!!) and every single week since we started (except 2 times!) We have had a visitor or non Christian come to our service. That means 100's of people have heard the Gospel, but unfortunately very few of these have made a decision to believe in Jesus Christ. Please pray for the people of Sapporo! That they would open their hearts to Jesus, and that we would faithfully and boldly share the Gospel with these people.
Well, only 6 1/2 more weeks or so to go until baby Noguchi comes. So we are trying to get all the items needed gathered. We are so thankful for the generosity of so many people in offering to do a baby shower (through Skype!! Imagine that!) from Indiana, and also our brothers and sisters in Christ here at the church who so generously have loaned us some items and are all offering to help with meals (including Keisuke's sweet mom who is already planning on helping as much as she can when she is already so busy) once baby is born.
Here is Japan, after a baby is born, most women go and stay with their mother for a month or so. They don't go out anywhere, and basically just recover and get used to taking care of a baby while their mother helps them with all the cooking etc... Well, I am planning to stay here (as there is not really a good place for a baby to stay at Keisuke's parents house) and we are far away from my side of the family. Times like these make me think of my sweet mother and wonder what she did with all of us kids (especially us twins!) when we were born. I so wish she could be here to meet our little baby, but am so thankful that she is with Christ, in Heaven, and I pray that someday they will get to meet!
I am also thankful for Keisuke's mom and her sweet caring for me, and also the ladies in my prayer group are planning on working with mom to provide meals for us for after the baby is born. We are so thankful for the body of Christ, the Church!
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. May it be a special time reflecting on why Christ was born, and also a special time to celebrate with the many loved ones that God has blessed each and every one of us with.
Much love to all!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
October 2011!!!!
WOW! I am probably one of the most unfaithful bloggers out there. I was looking at my past post, and it was in January of this year! I am sorry for the lack of updates, but it is high time to update for those of you who haven't been able to follow what is going on with us this year.
On March 11th of this year, as you all know there were huge earthquakes followed by tsunamis in the Northeast area of Honshu, Japan. We felt the quake even here in Sapporo (well, Keisuke did but I didn't because I was walking outside at the time), but nothing compared to what it was in the main area. (though our church building, being old, got many cracks in the walls with the magnitude 3-4 shakes that we got here in Sapporo.)
It was so sad to see all the devastation to this country and so many people lost their lives. We especially felt the need to pray for people to turn to Christ and receive Him as their Savior! We continually feel the need to get the Gospel spread as so many people do not understand the Gospel or have never fully heard it! None of our church families' were affected with death of a relative but a few had some relatives that had to evacuate their homes for a short time. I think they are all safe now.
In the spring of this year we got to go home for a couple of weeks to visit family. It was a special time together before the Jarrett's spread out. (Pat's family to Colorado, Susie and Chris to Cincinnati for a year's internship, Elissa to Uganda for 6 months starting late July, Amy to Kenya for two years starting early August, and Dad and Rachel to Kenya for 6 months starting in September) (And of course us here in Japan) I stayed for 2 weeks and Keisuke came for 1 week.
My sister Rachel flew back with us from the States and stayed with us for a little over 2 months. We had a special time with her here. The last two weeks of June my Aunt Shirley came and we had a wonderful time with her as well. We got to go on a overnight trip to Shiretoko which is on the far northeast side of Hokkaido. The weather was a bit crazy, but we still had a great time. Aunt Shirley was kind enough to escort Rachel home to the States (as far as Chicago where Rachel was then escorted with a wheelchair service until she found Dad at the Indy airport) We were very thankful for Aunt Shirley's help in this, and we had a wonderful time with family here in Sapporo. Keisuke must have looked like a very interested Japanese man with his posse of three American women (sometimes four when Alicia hung out with us also) haha. I often wonder what kind of person people think he is. ;) Life is pretty exciting when God is in control! (that is what I often think!) haha
In early May Pastors Eric and Troy came from Castleview to visit our church here in Sapporo. That was a huge blessing to our whole church and an encouragement to me personally as well.
Another HUGE event in late May was the discovery of a little life growing inside of me!! God gave us a baby!! I am now 6 months along and we are excited to welcome our little BOY in around January 31st of 2012.
In July the STM (short term mission) team of 7 youth came from Castleview to help with the evangelistic outreach in the church and for fellowship. It was a wonderful time of fellowship with believers and also we had 3 special "English Time" outreaches where I think there were a total of 32 nonbelievers who came and got to hear the Gospel.
I also turned 26 in July. My first 4 months of pregnancy were pretty tough with a lot of "morning sickness". It seemed to last a long time, but now that I look back at it, it of course went by quickly like everything else does! But I was pretty miserable vomiting several times a day almost every day. God was faithful through it all though, and I was so blessed by help with meals and cleaning from my sweet Keisuke, his mom, Alicia, and other friends at church. I was so thankful for God's protection and help through it all. It was a good time to reflect on God's faithfulness and read the Bible, and pray since I couldn't do much of anything other than stay in bed. In fact due to several complications in late July I was on bed rest for a total of about a month I think. During this time I was able to rest from teaching English thanks to Chris Juday and Alicia covering for my classes. I also had to take a break from singing on my music team. It was a good chance to just rest in Christ, and accept that even when I can't be serving or "doing" things for Christ, He still loves me just because He is so gracious and because He has washed me with His blood shed on the cross. I don't have to DO anything to deserve salvation. Just by believing in Him and trusting in His work on the cross and His resurrection am I saved and able to have relationship with God. I was reminded of this a lot during my long hours of sleeping and resting.
Towards the middle of August I finally started to recover (though I still had nausea), it was more controlled with some anti nausea medicine that my Dad recommended from the States. I have been taking that up until about last week when I finally am able to get through a day with just a few feelings of nausea without taking the medicine. In August Keisuke had a week off during a time where many stores and businesses take a week off or so. It is a holiday called "Obon" that is celebrated here during the month of August. We as Christians do not celebrate it as it is a time where people believe their deceases ancestors come back for visits so they have to clean the grave sites and prepare special foods to welcome them back. There are actually many other strange beliefs or customs practiced during this time, but it is all so empty and many different beliefs that people now a days don't really even know why they celebrate this time. So, even though we didn't celebrate any of this, we were still happy to have time off to be together! We went to a pool one day, got to see Keisuke's sister Yuko since she was visting in town from Tokyo, went camping for one night at Shikotosuko (my favorite lake spot about an hour away from Sapporo) and various other activities with Church etc. It was a nice break.
Keisuke's birthday was August 29th where he turned 34.
In September I started teaching English classes again after about a month and a half break. We also had an English Time event in September. I was the leader for the English ministry this past year, but since I had many health problems and getting prepared for the birth of our baby, I handed over the leadership to Nozomi Juday so that it is not slowed down by my more limited ability to plan and lead for the English ministry in the present circumstances. We are really praying though that God would provide a leader for the English ministry that has real vision for growth and moving forward, and also maybe a little more training in teaching English, where (he or she (or a couple!) could train us how to be better teachers, and where we could grow to reach out to even more nonbelievers using English. Please join us in praying for this person to be provided!
On September 25th a group of 15 people from a church down in Kobe, Japan came to visit our church. We had a special Gospel service on that day where Keisuke and I were on the music team. 13 nonbelievers came to that service! We also had a really blessed time of fellowship with the group of believers (ages Jr. high to adults maybe in their 50's). We are excited to see what God will do with this relationship to Kobe Grace Baptist Church in the future.
This brings us to October where were are now! Starting this month Keisuke gets to have two Mondays off a month and his dad gets the other two off. This is a huge blessing and answer to prayer for us as usually Keisuke's only day off is Sunday! So it is nice to have a little more time to do things and just have a little more rest for Keisuke. Last week he got his haircut and I went to the dentist (a first for me in Japan!). Then we went on many errands including a Costco trip, and a short stop at a park when there was a break in the rain. We had a nice relaxing evening at home. I am excited for next Monday! :)
The next day Tuesday the 18th, Keisuke will leave for a 3 day business trip driving around Hokkaido to various cities where they have contacts with other stores where he looks for good cameras, lenses, and such to sell in their store here in Sapporo.
As I mentioned earlier we are excited about our SON to be born next year. I will try to keep you all more updated on a more regular basis. If you have Facebook I sometimes put pictures up on there, so feel free to look at those! I hope everyone is having a wonderful fall! This is my favorite time of year! The leaves are just starting to change here in Sapporo.
Well I will sign off for now, but would love to hear from anyone who reads this! We miss all our loved ones in the States! But we are very thankful for the support of our church family here and Keisuke's family. Much love to you all!
On March 11th of this year, as you all know there were huge earthquakes followed by tsunamis in the Northeast area of Honshu, Japan. We felt the quake even here in Sapporo (well, Keisuke did but I didn't because I was walking outside at the time), but nothing compared to what it was in the main area. (though our church building, being old, got many cracks in the walls with the magnitude 3-4 shakes that we got here in Sapporo.)
It was so sad to see all the devastation to this country and so many people lost their lives. We especially felt the need to pray for people to turn to Christ and receive Him as their Savior! We continually feel the need to get the Gospel spread as so many people do not understand the Gospel or have never fully heard it! None of our church families' were affected with death of a relative but a few had some relatives that had to evacuate their homes for a short time. I think they are all safe now.
In the spring of this year we got to go home for a couple of weeks to visit family. It was a special time together before the Jarrett's spread out. (Pat's family to Colorado, Susie and Chris to Cincinnati for a year's internship, Elissa to Uganda for 6 months starting late July, Amy to Kenya for two years starting early August, and Dad and Rachel to Kenya for 6 months starting in September) (And of course us here in Japan) I stayed for 2 weeks and Keisuke came for 1 week.
My sister Rachel flew back with us from the States and stayed with us for a little over 2 months. We had a special time with her here. The last two weeks of June my Aunt Shirley came and we had a wonderful time with her as well. We got to go on a overnight trip to Shiretoko which is on the far northeast side of Hokkaido. The weather was a bit crazy, but we still had a great time. Aunt Shirley was kind enough to escort Rachel home to the States (as far as Chicago where Rachel was then escorted with a wheelchair service until she found Dad at the Indy airport) We were very thankful for Aunt Shirley's help in this, and we had a wonderful time with family here in Sapporo. Keisuke must have looked like a very interested Japanese man with his posse of three American women (sometimes four when Alicia hung out with us also) haha. I often wonder what kind of person people think he is. ;) Life is pretty exciting when God is in control! (that is what I often think!) haha
In early May Pastors Eric and Troy came from Castleview to visit our church here in Sapporo. That was a huge blessing to our whole church and an encouragement to me personally as well.
Another HUGE event in late May was the discovery of a little life growing inside of me!! God gave us a baby!! I am now 6 months along and we are excited to welcome our little BOY in around January 31st of 2012.
In July the STM (short term mission) team of 7 youth came from Castleview to help with the evangelistic outreach in the church and for fellowship. It was a wonderful time of fellowship with believers and also we had 3 special "English Time" outreaches where I think there were a total of 32 nonbelievers who came and got to hear the Gospel.
I also turned 26 in July. My first 4 months of pregnancy were pretty tough with a lot of "morning sickness". It seemed to last a long time, but now that I look back at it, it of course went by quickly like everything else does! But I was pretty miserable vomiting several times a day almost every day. God was faithful through it all though, and I was so blessed by help with meals and cleaning from my sweet Keisuke, his mom, Alicia, and other friends at church. I was so thankful for God's protection and help through it all. It was a good time to reflect on God's faithfulness and read the Bible, and pray since I couldn't do much of anything other than stay in bed. In fact due to several complications in late July I was on bed rest for a total of about a month I think. During this time I was able to rest from teaching English thanks to Chris Juday and Alicia covering for my classes. I also had to take a break from singing on my music team. It was a good chance to just rest in Christ, and accept that even when I can't be serving or "doing" things for Christ, He still loves me just because He is so gracious and because He has washed me with His blood shed on the cross. I don't have to DO anything to deserve salvation. Just by believing in Him and trusting in His work on the cross and His resurrection am I saved and able to have relationship with God. I was reminded of this a lot during my long hours of sleeping and resting.
Towards the middle of August I finally started to recover (though I still had nausea), it was more controlled with some anti nausea medicine that my Dad recommended from the States. I have been taking that up until about last week when I finally am able to get through a day with just a few feelings of nausea without taking the medicine. In August Keisuke had a week off during a time where many stores and businesses take a week off or so. It is a holiday called "Obon" that is celebrated here during the month of August. We as Christians do not celebrate it as it is a time where people believe their deceases ancestors come back for visits so they have to clean the grave sites and prepare special foods to welcome them back. There are actually many other strange beliefs or customs practiced during this time, but it is all so empty and many different beliefs that people now a days don't really even know why they celebrate this time. So, even though we didn't celebrate any of this, we were still happy to have time off to be together! We went to a pool one day, got to see Keisuke's sister Yuko since she was visting in town from Tokyo, went camping for one night at Shikotosuko (my favorite lake spot about an hour away from Sapporo) and various other activities with Church etc. It was a nice break.
Keisuke's birthday was August 29th where he turned 34.
In September I started teaching English classes again after about a month and a half break. We also had an English Time event in September. I was the leader for the English ministry this past year, but since I had many health problems and getting prepared for the birth of our baby, I handed over the leadership to Nozomi Juday so that it is not slowed down by my more limited ability to plan and lead for the English ministry in the present circumstances. We are really praying though that God would provide a leader for the English ministry that has real vision for growth and moving forward, and also maybe a little more training in teaching English, where (he or she (or a couple!) could train us how to be better teachers, and where we could grow to reach out to even more nonbelievers using English. Please join us in praying for this person to be provided!
On September 25th a group of 15 people from a church down in Kobe, Japan came to visit our church. We had a special Gospel service on that day where Keisuke and I were on the music team. 13 nonbelievers came to that service! We also had a really blessed time of fellowship with the group of believers (ages Jr. high to adults maybe in their 50's). We are excited to see what God will do with this relationship to Kobe Grace Baptist Church in the future.
This brings us to October where were are now! Starting this month Keisuke gets to have two Mondays off a month and his dad gets the other two off. This is a huge blessing and answer to prayer for us as usually Keisuke's only day off is Sunday! So it is nice to have a little more time to do things and just have a little more rest for Keisuke. Last week he got his haircut and I went to the dentist (a first for me in Japan!). Then we went on many errands including a Costco trip, and a short stop at a park when there was a break in the rain. We had a nice relaxing evening at home. I am excited for next Monday! :)
The next day Tuesday the 18th, Keisuke will leave for a 3 day business trip driving around Hokkaido to various cities where they have contacts with other stores where he looks for good cameras, lenses, and such to sell in their store here in Sapporo.
As I mentioned earlier we are excited about our SON to be born next year. I will try to keep you all more updated on a more regular basis. If you have Facebook I sometimes put pictures up on there, so feel free to look at those! I hope everyone is having a wonderful fall! This is my favorite time of year! The leaves are just starting to change here in Sapporo.
Well I will sign off for now, but would love to hear from anyone who reads this! We miss all our loved ones in the States! But we are very thankful for the support of our church family here and Keisuke's family. Much love to you all!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Hello 2011! Wow I can't believe it is already 2011. I haven't been able to update our blog recently so I figured it was time to do that.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration.
This December has been busy with a Christmas concert (on the 11th and 12th of December) at church, English classes, (Keisuke at work), music practices, and some celebrating in between.
Keisuke's store was very busy but that is good for them.
Here in Japan they do not celebrate Christmas very much but Keisuke and I enjoyed making celebrating our Savior's birth anyway.
On Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner together. We read from Luke 2 in the Bible, the story of the birth of Jesus. It was a good time to reflect on the reason Christ was born. To imagine that the King an Creator of all creation humbled Himself to become a human baby and be born into this sinful world. And that He was born to one day die in our place on the cross and bear all our sins. He took our punishment and made a way for us to be saved. Because of Christ's death and resurrection, we can be saved from hell and have eternal life in Heaven after we die.... I guess to a Christian, every day is Christmas as we remember what Christ did for us. Truly the best and biggest gift we could ever receive.
On Christmas day Keisuke had to work and I had to teach English classes, but Alicia and I had mini Christmas parties for our students. Christmas night after Keisuke's team music practice we came home and skyped with family. So that was special to get to see most of the family. We sure missed being with them as they were all together in Charleston for Christmas.
The New Year holiday is a huge celebration time for Japan. Most companies, stores, (even HOSPITALS!) close for the New Year holiday. To most people it is a time to go to the temples and pray for blessing for the coming year. It makes me a little sad when I see everyone going to the temples and praying to gods that can not do anything, that don't even move or breathe. There are many traditions they do as families, hoping for blessing, success, etc.. for the new year. Even the food eaten has special meanings or wishes attached to each item!
As Christians we gather on New Year's day and have a special worship service thanking God for the past year and asking for God's guidance and blessing on this next year.
But it is also a special time because everyone has a break from work, so it is a special time for families to get together.
It was so nice to have Keisuke around for 5 days! His sister was in town also so we spent lots of time at his parents house and also had the family over for lunch on Friday.
Keisuke usually works every day from 10-7 so he is usually gone from 9:30 till 7:30 or so. But since he didn't have work for five days we enjoyed the extra time to do things around home and also with family, church family, and just the two of us.
We took advantage of the slower evenings and watched the three Lord of the Rings movies which have always been my favorite. Keisuke had never seen them.
On New Year's day we went skiing on a mountain about an hour away. That was really fun. Keisuke is really good at skiing. I am not, haha but I still have fun.
Another new happy thing is that Keisuke and I are now on the same music team! Now we can practice together at home, and go to the same practices, and use our gifts together to serve the Lord. We are pretty excited about that. Our team will be singing at the Gospel service this next Sunday (the 9th).
We are excited to see what God has planned for us this year. This past year has gone by very quickly. It was a year filled with sad things and many happy things.
Almost a year ago (Jan. 22, 2010) my dear mother finished her fight with cancer and this life on earth, but she is in Heaven now with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I can't believe it has almost been a whole year, but we still miss her. I am so thankful for the hope that we have as believers in Christ, that we will also go to Heaven one day, and meet again with my mother too.
There were also various struggles with my health, and the uncertainty of Keisuke's and my future together. We didn't know what was going to happen. But God did the whole time! And He faithfully cared for us and led us to the point where we are now.
2010 was special with getting engaged in April and then married in August. It was sad to leave family and friends in the States, but we are so blessed here in Japan with a church family that loves God and are faithful to the Bible. We also have Keisuke's family here and stay reasonably connected with family at home through skype/ email.
This year our church is starting prayer groups (kind of like small groups) so we are excited for those to start. Keisuke will be a leader in his group. I will be in one of the women's groups but we don't know with who yet... They are working on splitting up the groups right now.
I am the leader of the English ministry now. Please pray for God's leading for me in this, and that through this outlet, many students might hear the Gospel and believe.
We are going to be recruiting new students too, so please pray that God will provide just the right number. My main prayer is that there will be people saved through this ministry. Please pray for the hearts of the Japanese people to be opened up to Jesus who is waiting to save them!!
Well, I will sign off for now. I am going to make dinner.
I hope to hear from you all! We miss you all and love you!!
here is are some links to pictures put up on facebook.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration.
This December has been busy with a Christmas concert (on the 11th and 12th of December) at church, English classes, (Keisuke at work), music practices, and some celebrating in between.
Keisuke's store was very busy but that is good for them.
Here in Japan they do not celebrate Christmas very much but Keisuke and I enjoyed making celebrating our Savior's birth anyway.
On Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner together. We read from Luke 2 in the Bible, the story of the birth of Jesus. It was a good time to reflect on the reason Christ was born. To imagine that the King an Creator of all creation humbled Himself to become a human baby and be born into this sinful world. And that He was born to one day die in our place on the cross and bear all our sins. He took our punishment and made a way for us to be saved. Because of Christ's death and resurrection, we can be saved from hell and have eternal life in Heaven after we die.... I guess to a Christian, every day is Christmas as we remember what Christ did for us. Truly the best and biggest gift we could ever receive.
On Christmas day Keisuke had to work and I had to teach English classes, but Alicia and I had mini Christmas parties for our students. Christmas night after Keisuke's team music practice we came home and skyped with family. So that was special to get to see most of the family. We sure missed being with them as they were all together in Charleston for Christmas.
The New Year holiday is a huge celebration time for Japan. Most companies, stores, (even HOSPITALS!) close for the New Year holiday. To most people it is a time to go to the temples and pray for blessing for the coming year. It makes me a little sad when I see everyone going to the temples and praying to gods that can not do anything, that don't even move or breathe. There are many traditions they do as families, hoping for blessing, success, etc.. for the new year. Even the food eaten has special meanings or wishes attached to each item!
As Christians we gather on New Year's day and have a special worship service thanking God for the past year and asking for God's guidance and blessing on this next year.
But it is also a special time because everyone has a break from work, so it is a special time for families to get together.
It was so nice to have Keisuke around for 5 days! His sister was in town also so we spent lots of time at his parents house and also had the family over for lunch on Friday.
Keisuke usually works every day from 10-7 so he is usually gone from 9:30 till 7:30 or so. But since he didn't have work for five days we enjoyed the extra time to do things around home and also with family, church family, and just the two of us.
We took advantage of the slower evenings and watched the three Lord of the Rings movies which have always been my favorite. Keisuke had never seen them.
On New Year's day we went skiing on a mountain about an hour away. That was really fun. Keisuke is really good at skiing. I am not, haha but I still have fun.
Another new happy thing is that Keisuke and I are now on the same music team! Now we can practice together at home, and go to the same practices, and use our gifts together to serve the Lord. We are pretty excited about that. Our team will be singing at the Gospel service this next Sunday (the 9th).
We are excited to see what God has planned for us this year. This past year has gone by very quickly. It was a year filled with sad things and many happy things.
Almost a year ago (Jan. 22, 2010) my dear mother finished her fight with cancer and this life on earth, but she is in Heaven now with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I can't believe it has almost been a whole year, but we still miss her. I am so thankful for the hope that we have as believers in Christ, that we will also go to Heaven one day, and meet again with my mother too.
There were also various struggles with my health, and the uncertainty of Keisuke's and my future together. We didn't know what was going to happen. But God did the whole time! And He faithfully cared for us and led us to the point where we are now.
2010 was special with getting engaged in April and then married in August. It was sad to leave family and friends in the States, but we are so blessed here in Japan with a church family that loves God and are faithful to the Bible. We also have Keisuke's family here and stay reasonably connected with family at home through skype/ email.
This year our church is starting prayer groups (kind of like small groups) so we are excited for those to start. Keisuke will be a leader in his group. I will be in one of the women's groups but we don't know with who yet... They are working on splitting up the groups right now.
I am the leader of the English ministry now. Please pray for God's leading for me in this, and that through this outlet, many students might hear the Gospel and believe.
We are going to be recruiting new students too, so please pray that God will provide just the right number. My main prayer is that there will be people saved through this ministry. Please pray for the hearts of the Japanese people to be opened up to Jesus who is waiting to save them!!
Well, I will sign off for now. I am going to make dinner.
I hope to hear from you all! We miss you all and love you!!
here is are some links to pictures put up on facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084296&id=161501693&l=1ecd91db7f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084295&id=161501693&l=9caa1535f5
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=564736398186&comments
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