Playing "kitchen" with Yume

Here are photos of Yume and I - I got her a kids' baking set that she loved. She is such a cutie! .She has taught me so much Japanese...she speaks English very well, though.

Thanksgiving party 11/18

Last night some friends and I had a big Thanksgiving party for Japanese people. I think everyone had a great time. We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, vegetables, stuffing, and corn, plus pie for dessert!
I had such a great time!

More fun with friends!

A dear Christian couple named Ken and Maira Diaz invited me and some Japanese friends over for dinner recently. We had a wonderful time and were very blessed.
I also went to New York City recently and had a great time eating soba for lunch in Manhatten and ramen for dinner at Mitsuwa in Edgewater, New Jersey. We were so happy to eat authentic Japanese food again!

JOY and Loving the Poor

I heard another missionary speak on Sunday. He was so humble. I was thinking that if I didn't already want to be a missionary in Japan, I'd be a missionary to China! The thing that struck me the most was the tangible evidence of this missionary's relationship with God: the JOY on his face. May all Christians be as JOYFUL as this missionary! I once heard a story of a man who was rejected by a church as an elder candidate because "he wasn't joyful enough." Christians should be the most joyful people on earth!

Also, I have been thinking a lot lately about the poor in this world. The Bible has so many things to say about this such as:
He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered.
How blessed is he who considers the helpless.
He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.
The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor.
Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth...defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.
Happy is he who nis gracious to the poor.

Who are "the poor"? Well here are three orphans in El Salvador. They are three of those whom the Lord considers the poor and loves dearly.

I myself used to be an orphan. Meeting oprhans in El Salvador was a profound experience. I was moved by their stories, especially of one of these girls, whose mother was a prostitute who died of AIDS and whose father was a drunkard who committed suicide in 2004.

I have been thinking a lot about these verses a lot and wanted to share them.

Meeting a Missionary

Recently I have had the privilege to meet and hear from Michael Oh, missionary to Nagoya, Japan with Mission to the World (MTW). I am praying about going to Nagoya with MTW to work with Michael. On Monday I went to a dinner hosted by a young woman from Renewal Church in West Philadelphia and heard Michael speak about this work. There is also a support group from these church called FONTS that meets once a month to pray for Michael who is the president of Christ Bible Seminary and is training the future leaders of Japan.
Michael was also gave the keynote address for the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering 2006 in Malaysia last month. I was personally challenged by Michael to remember that EVERY Christian is called to be part of sending the gospel out into the world by being either a sender or goer.

Keeping Busy

Things are busy these days, but it is a very lovely kind of busy. I have many chances to meet with Japanese friends and chat, hang out, go shopping, and have lots of wonderful conversations. Occassionally I get together with a Mexican friend who lives in South Philly, but like most Mexicans I know, she is crazy busy with work so we don't meet very often. I am really enjoying teaching piano these days. I taught piano for a few years during college, but I have some really talented students right now, including Gio (see photo). He played "It Don't Mean a Thing (if it Ain't Got That Swing)" as his recital song this past June - he was awesome! Besides teaching, I keep busy with studying Japanese, reading good books, and working two jobs. I have been thinking a lot lately about how God is in control of everything, even down to the most minute detail. It really relieves any temptation to worry about the future when I focus on the sovereignty of God. Right now, I am not sure what I will do in the future, but I am thinking these days that I will pursue serving with MTW in Nagoya next summer and then return to Sendai next September for at least two years to focus on language study and serving the missionaries I used to work with there. I would love to see old friends living in Sendai. I think of Japan almost every day and remember fondly how beautiful the people and nature are in Sendai.

Happy Birthday, Yume!

The daughter of my wonderful friend Beniko Iwakura celebrated her 4th birthday recently. We thought it was funny that her store-bought cake read, "Happy Birtday."

A beautiful hymn to fight the legalist within

Lately, I have come to understand once again what a HUGE struggle I have with legalism. It occurs most often when I hesitate to come to God in prayer because I have fallen short of God's commandments. I had to repent this past Lord's day for insulting the cross by thinking lowly of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross; I forgot AGAIN that it is always by grace that I come to God in prayer. This hymn moved me to tears last night as I thought, "Was not Christ's work enough?" I imagined all that Jesus suffered in the garden and on the cross and cried as I thought that Christ has secured our way to God not only to salvation but also to bold prayer. I LOVE THIS HYMN!

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you, Full of pity, love and power.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome, God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance, Every grace that brings you nigh.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden, Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better, You will never come at all.

View Him prostrate in the garden; On the ground your Maker lies.
On the bloody tree behold Him; Sinner, will this not suffice?

Let not conscience make you linger, Not of fitness fondly dream;
the fitness He requireth is to feel your need of Him.

Lo! the incarnate God ascended, Plead the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly, Let no other trust intrude.

I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior, O there are ten thousand charms.
- Jo­seph Hart 1759

Old photos of friends REVISITED

This is Chiemi - she taught me Japanese for six months before I went to Japan in 2001. We are still good friends and she is coming here for a visit in December! Hooray! She taught me how to bow, how to use chopsticks, and a lot of basic Japanese before I went to Japan in 2001. In this photo we are eating ramen, my all-time favorite Japanese food ever!!This is Naohiro Ito, my cutest student ever! He was a joy to teach and could pronounce English well since he already spoke German and Japanese!
This is my precious host mom Kikuko and her son Yotaro. She was my dearest friend who I left behind in Sendai. It hurts to be so far from this dear friend.
This is my friend Mayumi. She lives in South Carolina now. We are eating cow tongue in this photo.

Great memories...

What I'm reading

I LOVE to read. Right now I am reading The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life by Charles Spurgeon and Heaven: Your Real Home by Joni. There are a million books I want to read. I especially like biographies. Right now I am really getting into reading about Charles Spurgeon. Last night I read about his amazing childhood - AMAZING!! IIt is such a joy to curl up with a good book before going to bed and reading about men and women of the past who served God with their whole heart and soul.

Thoughts about Japan

Well, after posting a lot of photos and remembering different experiences and friendships, I feel very thankful for all the friends God has blessed with me over the past five years. In August 2001, I had just arrived in Sendai, Japan and started a journey of learning to love and understand the people of Japan. I cannot imagine what my life would be like now if I hadn't spent those two years in Japan. It was truly a life-altering experience. I've been back in the U.S. for about three years now. The first two years were difficult with the tremendous pain of re-adjustment and reverse culture shock. Making Japanese friends here in the States has been the biggest help in learning to readjust to life in the U.S. They understood what I had experienced and I could understand their frustrations and confusion about understanding and interpreting American culture. Some differences in culture we could laugh at and both found equally bewilidering, such as the tendency of Americans to blow their noses very loudly, the huge portions of food at restaurants, and the overall terrible customer service here. In addition, my own self-study of Japanese culture through conversations and reading books has left me with a sense of wonder that our cultures are so totally and completely different. Also, language study seems less formidable to me than it used to. About two years ago, I found a wonderful Japanese teacher who has helped me immensely in speaking and writing Japanese. God has grown my love and passion for the Japanese language, and it has become a real joy to study it. That is 100% God's work in me, because when I lived in Japan, I was not a very disciplined student and really hated learning kanji (a form of written Japanese using Chinese characters). Right now I am working very hard to improve my reading ability in Japanese which is very poor, I think. To read a newspaper, one needs to know about 1,850 Chinese characters, and at the most, I know about 500-600 characters. I have a long way to go. I am also attempting to read as much as I can about Japanese history - very interesting!
I love the people of Japan, and I believe God Himself has given me this love for the Japanese people. It warms my heart to think of God loving the Japanese people through someone as flawed, weak, naturally selfish, and messed up as myself. It is a joy to meet Japanese people and learn about their lives and to tell them about the God of the Universe who is a compassionate, loving, forgiving, merciful Savior. It is the desire of my heart to spend the rest of my life minstering to these lovely people in some form, whether in the U.S. or in Japan.

Photos of Japan/ Friends from Japan

shrine in winter
Sendai Station
in front of a shrine in Niigata
with Kaoru & Kei in Sendai

with Shiho in New York City
kids' class in Nagamachi, Sendai (2003)

Photos of Japanese friends

Here are two photos of me and my wonderful friend Saori. We went to Mexico together in April 2005 and had a great time! Saori was so adventurous and learned quite a bit of Spanish in only eight days! This was a fun party! None of these friends live in Philadelphia now...I miss them a lot.


These are my dear, dear friends Saori , Shinji, and Hiromichi. Saori now lives in New York and Shinji and Hiromichi went back to Japan after graduating from U Penn. Isn't the photo with Hiromichi holding Elisabeth Cummings the cutest?

Isn't God amazing to bring such wonderful friends into our lives?

El Salvador 2004

I have been thinking a lot of El Salvador lately. I felt like posting some photos of my 2004 trip. It brought back lots of memories!

with baby Moises The beach that I went to in El Salvador had black sand!

Wow, I am missing El Salvador these days...I went to work in Shalom Children's home near the city where I was born. It was my first time to be back to El Salvador since I was adopted at two months of age and it was a profound experience. I helped take care of babies and young girls. I still keep in touch regularly with two of the ladies I met in the home. I enjoyed looking just like everyone else for the first time in my life.The lovely young lady above is Estela Gomez - she was a very special young woman and I miss her terribly! She's 15 now...I hope I can go back to El Salvador in 2007 for a short visit!

Farewell, Summer!

It was a good summer...here I am with Hitomi and Ayako. It was their first time to eat water ice, I think.
I was sad to see the summer go. I had so much fun with my Japanese friends.

Photos

New Attitude May 2006


New Attitude was held in Louisville, Kentucky. It was one the highlights of my Christian life. I met my high school friend Melanie Lippincott at this awesome conference that was run by Sovereign Grace Ministries. www.sovereigngraceministries.org





My friend Katie Wagner visited me from Wisconsin. We hadn't seen each other in almost three years. She was my roommate when we lived in Sendai, Japan. The other friend is Ayako Ono, my dear Japanese friend.












Enjoying Japanese food at Sagami Restaurant!