Increadibly Blessed

5-29-12

Alright.......

Quick run through update:

Sunday -

I decided not to go to church because it sounded like there was going to be quite a few people and I though there probably wasn't going to be enough room in the little home church. Found out later that it would have been fine – but I had a wonderful Bible time instead. I ended up spending over 4 hours reading and studying the Greatest Commandment (which led to the second commandment and then a study on love...) and wrote over 8 pages of notes. The Lord is so wonderful!

Monday -

I thought I was going to die if they wouldn't let me work. Seriously there is nothing to do here if you aren't working. Anyways. I happen to see Lesley trying to sneak off and ask where she was going – which landed me with an exciting day out. First we (Lesley, Justin, and I) went to my work site and built a tool box for one of the other homeowners (the people who's houses I had worked on in the very beginning.) They are like super gardeners and they have all their gardening tools in like their living room because they have no where else to put them. So we spent the morning doing that – then went to their house to deliver it to them – which went quite interestingly. They were SO EXCITED! And declared it too good to put tools in and had us bring it into the house where they are going to use it as a little green house for all of their starter plants. Had coffee and visited with them for quite awhile. After that we ended up going to a mall and killing time until 5 when the little ramen shop that Justin and Lesley liked opened. Except that we discovered that it doesn't open on Mondays. We ended up going somewhere else – but it was still pretty amazing ramen! Got back to base and we decided to go for a walk (to burn off the ramen), it hit twilight and I literally went blind (for some reason I can't see anything at the time of night), so after Lesley and Justin discovered how blind I really was, they were trying to direct me and would poke me so I didn't step in the puddles – it was rather amusing.

Got a bunch of new volunteers – from Hawaii.

Tuesday (today) -

Woke up at 4:40 due to the new jet lagged volunteers........

Kenji did devotions this morning and talked about the way that the Lord directs our steps in life. It was such a good reminder. Finally got to work! YES! I finished drywalling the clubhouse and a bunch of other spots – ended up skinning all my knuckles by shoving my hands down cracks to hold the drywall tight.... ouch. But it was crazy how every piece worked perfectly – that just never happens.... thank you Jesus! Discussed the morning devotions more in depth with Justin over break and lunch. Good insights. Got to see Kazu-san (the neighbor) again today. He didn't look well – but he was out of the hospital. I talked to him for awhile (well tried to anyways – between my little Japanese and his little english) and he kept saying how grateful he was ans that ' in my mind SP is family' such a precious soul and yet with such a broken heart.

Got some awesome news for share time! Today at a home dedication two people accepted Christ!!!!!!

SO AWESOME! Every day here is so filled with the presence and blessings of the Lord – He is SO GOOD!


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PICTURES:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150834348193543.396054.661548542&type=3&l=895f700962 

Cookies and Squid Guts

5-25-12

Another lovely day of work. I spent the majority of my afternoon 'playing' in the 'clubhouse'. Basically drywalling a small loft space about 8 feet off the ground. I had to literally rasp the pieces while laying on my back – so I got COVERED in sheetrock dust. I was totally white – and every time I moved I created a cloud.

Our homeowner came by again as we were finishing up for the day, and brought pictures of the house and yard the day after the tsunami.

Had a bit of an adventure on the way back to camp. Justin is quite set on not taking the express way since it's a toll – He'd rather not spend SP money on the toll if there is another way. So we typically take the scenic route – little back roads through rice fields, which I really enjoy. But between him and Hide they seem to be set on discovering EVERY other way to get back and forth from work – so they wanted to find a new rout today. It was great. We drove through rice fields, and through this little town, turned the wrong way – it was really fun. We eventually made it back to camp - super late for dinner....

A group of national volunteers left tonight. Their little team leader/pastor lead share time and then sang a japanese opera song for us. Seriously that man can SING! I think the rafters were vibrating.

Washed dishes again – My current hobby. Then hung out in the kitchen, laughing as Justin made cookies and tried to work the oven, and helping Day gut some fish and squids – marine biology 101. Seriously, go gut a squid it's fascinating!

We have off work till Tuesday because of Memorial Day. Although I think our crew is probably going to work Monday. And we might try and sneak in half a day Saturday, after Justin gets back from the birthday party for his 'best friend in all of Japan' a little boy who's turning 4 tomorrow. In the mean time I might be going to a tea that some local pastors are doing for the people in the temporary housing.

We'll see.

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Prayer:

• Kazu-san: been in and out of the hospital everyday - struggling with depression etc. from the disaster.
• All the people that SP is coming in contact with – that they would just see the light on Christ shining through us.

God Of Wonders

5-21-12

Another amazing day here in Japan.

I got to see a solar eclipse! It was super cool! And apparently the Sendai area was like the only place that you could see it from - because everywhere else in Japan is was cloudy. It just reminded me that God cares about the small things in life too – I've wanted to see a solar eclipse my entire life.

We took a long lunch break today and had a great time discussing Joy. What it looks like, Biblical references, weather or not atheists can every experience true joy, etc. It was really neat. And then for our second break I stayed in our house while everyone else went to the neighbor's for tea, and I just sat there reflecting on stuff and realizing just how incredibly blessed I am and just how good God truly is.

Our home owner showed up right around 5, as we were getting ready to go, and it was really sweet because he brought his wife with him this time and it was her first time being back in the house. She seemed pretty pleased. And the super cool thing was that they were asking why we would come to Japan and help and didn't we miss out families? And so we got to talk with them about why we were here and we read them the story of the Good Samaritan and then I got to pray for them.

- - -

5-22-12

We are making progress on our house!

It is coming together! Yesterday our drywall was delivered and Justin managed to get a could of pieces on the walls today. We also got one whole ceiling done and I've almost finished with the framing in the hallway.

For lunch we went to Yunome-san's house. It was so good to be back!

Having lunch with everybody and singing again. <3

Tomorrow is the last day that the Cali Volunteers are going to be here – so we'll be losing about 9 people.........

5-19-12

Two Monkeys and a Ram.

Having more fun then a human ought to have.

Wow – Today probably goes down as one of the most exciting, weird and best days of my life.

I woke up at 4am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep – so I got up and dressed and fumbled around (trying not to wake any of my roomies) until 5-ish when the main house opens up.

Got down there, read my Bible, and had a nice quiet breakfast with Justin, Rebecca, Hide and Katie.

Washed dishes with Rebecca while laughing hysterically as she told me the stories of things that happened while I was gone.

After that Justin, Hide, and I jumped in the van and headed to work (I think we were the only ones that went out today – other then Timo) – and our strangely awesome day began. The drive that typically only takes 35 minutes took us over an hour. First we had to stop and get gas, but of course we stayed there a little longer then normal talking to the pump guy and giving him gum. Second stop was the warehouse in Gamo, where we couldn't find what we were looking for.....

Anyways – we did finally make it to the house we're working on – and got to work for like 2 hours. Took a coffee break, and then helped plant a little community garden which ended up taking all of like 20 minutes......

And just as we were about to put our tool belts back on the neighbor (steve's homeowner) said it was time to leave for lunch. So Justin, Hide, and I jumped into his car and followed Jun into Sendai where we ate lunch at the Chinese restaurant that Nobuki (former translator and mudout guy) now works at.

Had a nice lunch then drove back to the house, where we only got to work for like another 2 hours.

Had tea with our homeowner and his son then headed out to pick up Timo – But instead of going straight to pick him up we made a side trip to the Otomo-sans house, which is now completely finished inside and out. It was so incredible to be able to see it all finished! Their home was the first house I got to work on back in March, and it was so cool to be able to go there and see the completed version – it was literally so beautiful I almost cried. Sat and had coffee with them and visited for awhile till Timo called wondering where we were. Back on the road we finally picked him up and headed back to base.

And on another kind of random note - 

Those of you who are praying that we just have the joy of the Lord - let me tell you, this place is literally saturated and overflowing with love and joy. Such an incredible blessing. <3

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God is like the mountains - on cloudy days they are hard to see, and when it rains it's nearly impossible to see them - but they're still there.

Phase Two

5-16-12

Well, after many many hours of traveling (a few too many for me), I have safely arrived back here in Japan. Thanks all for your prayers.

It's so awesome to be back. Seriously I think I ran all pure adrenalin all day today. It's great.

The new camp is pretty nice, it's in the woods, by a lake, full of stinkbugs.....

Unfortunate the internet here is really bad. Supposedly they are working on fixing it but it probably won't be up and running right till sometime in June. :P

There was an earthquake last night that shook all the bunk beds. Got to see and reconnect with Lesley, Justin, and a bunch of other Shichigahama people over breakfast. Morning devotions was really good – Mike talked about Nehemiah (I've been hearing quite a bit about that story lately – I think there is something the Lord is trying to tell me.) 

Worked doing floors pretty much all day – framing, blue-boarding, and screwing in.

It's pretty fun though – there are three teams all working right in the same spot. We are working on one house, the mud out crew is in the house just across the driveway, and there is another construction crew in the house right next to us – so we all get to have our breaks and lunch together.

We did have a bit of an accident today, as one of the guys here for a few days from CA sawed off a piece of his finger. He ended up going to the hospital and he's doing well – it wasn't that bad – just a bit off the tip. But the whole thing turned out to be really great because the neighbor (who's house is also being worked on) ended up taking her to the hospital, so they got to talk to him the whole way there, and then in the waiting room he asked if he could pray for the guys finger “even though I'm not a Christian yet.” So the Lord is really working there already. All things work together for good and for His glory.

Other then that the day was really good. Like really REALLY good. I'm so happy right now.

I don't think I realized how much I missed being here till I got back. So I'm really just loving all of it – all the roads full of potholes, the bowing, the earthquakes, the mandatory tea breaks, the chopsticks, the awesome christian fellowship, everything.

God is soooo good. So so so good.

I think we are planting a garden tomorrow. Or maybe that's on Saturday......