It’s hard to believe that three weeks have already flown by since returning home from our Summer travels. In that time I’ve jumped back into full time language study at Morioka Japanese Language School, and my teachers have put me on a pretty frantic pace. In the last three weeks we’ve covered nearly half of my new text book, and I recently learned why.
The original plan was for me to join a group of incoming students who were to start in October. It was thought that these students would be at about my level, or maybe just a little under, so I expected to get a little breather, some time to review, and the satisfaction of being the smartest guy in the class. However as it turns out, the incoming students are going to be starting at an even lower level, so instead I’m being promoted to the class above me. Which means the opposite will now happen; I’ll be a little behind everyone, and continuing to study at a break neck pace to catch up while being, no doubt, the dumbest guy in the class. This is a little humbling given that the average age of the students in my class is about 19. So it’s kind of like going to school with my little brother Josh, except somehow he’s smarter than me and I’ll have to ask him for help all the time.
As daunting as that is, it’s also a little exciting and encouraging that my Japanese has come from basically zero to the point where I’m getting on the verge of actually being able to carry out an actual conversation. Little by little I’ve been stretching myself. Each Wednesday I attend a Japanese prayer meeting at our church where I share prayer requests in Japanese, and last Sunday I was able to give an announcement about an upcoming outreach I’ll be helping out with. Next month I’ll also be entering a speech contest, where my topic will be the differences in attitudes towards religion between America and Japan.
Tomo has continued to play piano at church, and acts as our missions secretary in addition to having her hands full with Titus, who is getting faster, braver, and more talkative. He continues to enjoy shouting loudly in inappropriate places, and recently has taken up pretend scowling, which he can only hold for about 10 seconds before bursting into laughter. He’ll be 2 in November. Pray for us.
If you get a chance, please click here for a brief update on our support needs/concerns, and please continue to pray for God’s provision for our family. Thus far He has never failed meet our needs, and we have faith that He will continue to do so.