Dear all,
The weekend is still ahead and it has already been an awesome week. I love that I serve a great God. A God that reveals Himself in wondrous ways...ways that I never saw thought Him working with. At times, I am so doubtful. At other times, I can not believe I doubted. I feel like I sometimes live in a constant cycle of "belief and unbelief". It actually really irritates me. I am like the Israelites all over again! And I know how all that turned out for them. But it is encouraging and HOPEful to know that my Father in Heaven looks down with loving care and has grace on me. I don't know how people live without it. I realized that today. In the midst of chaos, life problems, world uproar and disfunctional lives, I can rest and be assured that everything is fine because I trust that God is in control. It puts everything in perspective!! He knows what's going on. He planned it all out anyways. He's sovereign! Most importantly, He loves me and TRULY wants what is best for me even more than I do! I can rest because of my faith in Him. What peace we Christians have! What unrest unbelievers have! Thank you God for transforming my life, calling me, changing me and adopting me as Your son. Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow! I really do serve a MIGHTY God...one who knows my thoughts and desires (even if they are silly and small.)
Saying "good-bye" is never really fun. Saying "good-bye" every day for a week....well it sucks! I never really thought about it until I was in the middle of it but having to go through all my English classes, friends that I've made & teachers and say "sayonara" is hard! And...I'm not done with this week yet as well. But that's what this week has mainly been. English classes have gone great (they always do...I love them) and conversations have been even better. It is interesting to see how talks, relationships and communities change, evolve from surface to something more over time. I've been here 3 months and yet I could see myself still learning about and from these amazing people for years. They love sharing with me about their weeks, families, Japanese culture, jobs, etc. They want to hear my opinion on things or my "different" perspective on world issues (which is funny because I NEVER know what is going on and still don't.) EC has been where I've received the most Japanese one-on-one interaction and I'll definitely miss it.
I have one funny, slightly awkward and horrible, story from this week. On Monday, I went to Darlene's EC (one that I had never gone too.) Don't ask me why I've waited until the LAST week to actually go to this class but I did. I've noticed one lady in particular even week that I'm there. She looked SO familiar and I never knew why. Well....turns out she was in Darlene's class. I met her when we introduced ourselves. I introduced myself and talked about my BIG, honky family. She stops me and says "I know. I was your host-family mother when you came to Japan 4 years ago!" You can imagine my expression when I finally understood what she said. Pure embarrassment! How could I have done something so humiliating and awkward as that!?! I tried to recover but I'm not sure I did. She was so gracious and understanding and we laughed about it with the other the rest of the class. But I still felt HORRIBLE! That was Monday and today (Thursday) I had the opportunity to re-unite with my homestay family for the day. We visited a local historical place and eat together. It was great to see them again and get re-aqquianted. God knew that I had been wondering about them and had us in the right place at the right time to be re-united. It really was wonderful even though I still don't think that I'll recover from such embarrassment.
I don't want this to be my last post so it won't. I am flying home on October 5th (this Tuesday) so I plan on writing before them. Even with that known, I have a very busy weekend which I need much prayer.
- On Saturday, Nisshin Christ Church is hosting a gospel concert featuring John Lucas (originally from Jamaica who now leaves in Tokyo.) Pray that people will come to both concerts and that they will have open hearts to hear and accept the Gospel. Pray for those that are singing backup and still haven't practiced (me, Tom and several other!)
- On Sunday, I and the Watanabe family will be leading a seminar/discussion on homeschooling. This will be after church and I'll be giving the student perspective on what it was like to receive that education and the Watanabe will give the Japanese perspective on how it works and how it is legal. Pray for people to show up as well and that my nerves will be put to rest about what I will say.
- Pray for the choirs that meet tomorrow and Saturday and that they will run smoothly. Pray that Tom can direct efficiently and more importantly teach the Gospel through Word and song.
- Pray that God will continue to teach me, to mold me, to reveal Himself to me in these last several days. Pray that my desire would be to serve and honor my God and that I will find complete JOY in obey Him. Pray that I will be open to whatever He would have me to learn in the next few days
May God Bless,
Richardo
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