Month: October 2014

Life continues to fly by as we adjust to becoming a family of four. Felicity is now more than a month old, and is already a rather large 11 pound baby who just loves to be held. Many have commented about how content and peaceful she always seems, which she is as long as she’s not hungry and being cradled in someone’s arms. We’ve managed to catch a few smiles here and there, more often than not directed at her big brother. The kids seem to be getting along pretty well so far.

After taking a month off of English Cafe I was a little concerned that we wouldn’t have many people show up at our last one, however it ended up being one of our biggest turnouts in months. One girl from our church invited 5 non Christian friends, including her boss at work, who all attended. In addition a number of college students who are involved in the a Christian Club at Iwate University also attended. I was talking to the leader of the club who was excited to see that we were continuing the English Cafe as there were other students who also were interested in practicing English that he was planning to invite. Many of the members of the club are not Christians (yet) but are interested in Christianity. Please continue to pray for open hearts and the building of good relationships through this monthly outreach. Our next English Cafe will be November 21st.

Christmas is also fast approaching and even now preparations for Christmas events and outreaches are beginning. Our family got cast in starring roles in the Church Christmas pagent, with Tomo playing Mary, me Joseph and Felicity Baby Jesus. Titus is content to be a sheep (although he’s a little disappointed he couldn’t be a solider), and has been practicing his lines: “Meh Meh, Mow, Mow” which is Japanese for “Baa Baa”.

I’m still studying hard for the N2 Japanese Proficiency test in a little over a month. This is looking to be the most difficult one for me to pass, particularity as the number of Kanji I need to know has jumped dramatically compared to the N3 test. I’m studying lots of flash cards and running through a couple of Japanese learning apps on my smart phone.  It’s hard to believe that in 4 and a half months I’ll be graduating from language school and starting out into full time church ministry. I’m excited and nervous to finally be reaching this stage of ministry after so many years of preperation. Please pray for my remaining time of full time language learning to be productive and for preparation for serving the church here in Morioka and throughout Iwate.

Two kids are a lot of work! Tomorrow Felicity will be four weeks old, and it feels like we’ve been living in the midst of a typhoon ever since she showed up. Incidentally, there’s an actual Typhoon headed our way that’s supposed to hit tomorrow, Titus’s pre-school is canceled, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to figure out a way to get to language school tomorrow. Normally I go by bike, but that will be (probably) out of the question. Prayers for a safe commute are appreciated!

Since Felicity came home I’ve been spending a lot of time here helping Tomo get back on her feet, doing chores, cooking meals and keeping Titus occupied. Thankfully Tomo is doing really well and is basically fully recovered from the delivery. We could use more sleep, and we’ve lost nearly all semblance of a schedule which has caused a pretty big dent in productivity, but we’re adjusting, but yet somehow in spite of it all we’re just so happy to have this new little girl in our lives and constantly thanking God for her.

One of the most challenging things for me has been trying to keep up with Language learning, as I’ve taken a number of days off from class, and not had a lot of time to study outside of school hours. Unfortunately I had some term finals shortly after Felicity was born, which did not go very well. But I’m starting to get back into the swing of things, and trying my best to prepare for the N2 Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) next month. This will be the final JLPT test I’ll take before graduating Language School (by God’s grace I’ve passed N5, N4 and N3 already). My goal at the start of Language School was to be able to pass the N2 test before graduating, so please pray that I will be able to really focus and study in this next month, as at this point I haven’t been doing very well on the sample questions I’ve tried.

Despite this I really feel like I’m getting the hang of Japanese, I have little problem navigating daily chores and shopping, and can carry basic conversations. At this point it’s primarily a matter of practicing what I’ve learned and increasing my vocabulary. Pray that I am able to continue to do that.

We took a month off from the English Cafe at church, however we’re starting up again this Friday night. I’ll be getting a lot of help from a team from Singapore, which is extremely appreciated, but I’ve still got some preparation to do. Also with two kids our bedtime routine is still in flux, so it can get a bit tricky for Tomo to put Titus and Felicity to sleep on her own. 

All in all it’s been an exhausting month, especially the last week, as Titus came down with a pretty bad cold, and passed it on to me and Tomo as well. So far it hasn’t been nearly as bad for the two of us as it was for him, and Felicity has up till now managed to avoid it. Please pray for quick recovery for the three of us, and protection for Felicity.

And despite all this, every time I look at my little girl I can’t help but smile and think how blessed we are and how thankful I am to God for this gift. And right after that about how nice it will be to send our kids off to college in America while we stay here in Japan. God Bless, and thank you for your prayers!