Two little things that have made me very thankful in the past 24 hours about friends.

1) A knock on the door last night from our friend Yasko – who brought us our first Krispy Kreme donuts in Japan!  She waited in line in Osaka to bring them over.  The kids loved their surprise breakfast.  What a great friend.

2)  Yesterday Annie told me that if I wanted to meet her new friend A., I should wait at the park for them to walk home from school.  So I did today.  If it was important to her, it was important to me.  It did my heart wonders to see two smiling girls walking hand-in-hand. A. asked us to walk home with her and see where her house is.  The two of them have been walking home together for weeks and developing a sweet little friendship.  I had a chance to meet her mom and get to know her a little.

Shortly after we got home, a mom friend called to see if her daughter H. could come over and play with Annie.  It was so fun to hear the girls playing away in Japanese out in our yard!  I am very thankful for God’s work and for so clearly answering our prayers for our daughter in the areas of learning Japanese and building friendships.

“There is magic in the memory of school[girl] friendships; it softens the heart, and even affects the nervous system of those who have no heart.”
– Bejamin Disraeli

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Eric and I had a hard time getting a cell phone connection tonight – I was sad we couldn’t talk better but still glad for a few minutes.  I miss him being around here and getting to talk to him about all the things that happen in a day’s time.   After a day of different clean-ups and ministry, the team went down to the Ishinomaki beach.  There they had a prayer time to remember the victims of the tsunami that hit this city and those new friends to whom they are ministering.  God- give them strength for each new day.