Sometimes it just plain helps to see someone worse off than you.

If you’re having a bad hair day, look at these photos of Annie when she woke up one morning recently. They really will make you feel better…

Today was a busy food day!
In the morning, I taught my ladies’ English class. We were studying how to order food at a restaurant. Since two of the ladies are planning trips to the US this year, I copied real menus from Cracker Barrel restaurant and helped them learn how to read a menu. WOW– American menus have TONS of words!

They had fun taking turns dressing up as servers with aprons and taking each other’s orders.

It made all of us hungry for good ole’ American cooking… Fortunately, my afternoon ladies’ English class was having a lunch potluck party! Not quite American cooking, but it was still good. This class has only been meeting for a month, so it was a fun time for casual conversation and getting to know each other better…

During both classes, we shared the historical legend (is that an oxymoron?) of St. Valentine… They were surprised to learn that he was a christian in the Roman Empire. I think it’s great for Japanese to hear examples of Christians who aren’t Americans… that Christianity is so so much more than a western religion…

When I came home, Eric and I pulled out our combined “bounty” from Valentine’s Day.

In Japan, every year the amount of chocolate being sold on Valentine’s Day increases, as does the creativity! (If you look closely above, there are chocolate penguins; chocolate sushi; and plastic fruit filled with sushi). School girls make or buy chocolate for that special boy as well as a dozen of their girlfriends…and teachers like us are included as well. For whatever reason, in Japan, valentine’s day is when girls make their desires know to boys (and women as well profess their love to men)… One month later, on “White Day”, men are supposed to reciprocate.

After my class, I went to the home of one of Owen’s friends, where a group of moms and their sons had gathered for a play date. Oh…the chocolate flowed freely, as did my love for these friends to whom God is allowing us to minister.

It was a sweet, sweet day.

This week our good friends here in Sanda have gone through a great disappointment…their junior high boy wasn’t accepted into the high school where he planned to go. He has made some bad decisions recently that affected the school’s decision; but his mother had prayed her heart out, and even fasted, so that God would allow him to get into this school. Not getting into the school means he is more likely to continue making bad choices and hanging out with the wrong friends…

I sent our friends a quote that has been on my mind these last few days. I used to have it hanging over my desk in college… St. Augustine’s mother, Monica, was a devout Christian – Augustine wasn’t (in his younger years). He wanted to sail away to Italy – big party place! – and so his mom prayed earnestly that God would prevent him from going.
He went anyway; and it was while he was there that he experienced God and his life changed. Here is his quote:

He wrote: “And what she was praying for, O my God, with all those tears was that You should not allow me to sail! But You saw deeper and granted the essential of her prayer: You did not do what she was at that moment asking, that You might do the thing she was always asking” (The Confessions of St. Augustine).

I love this – it brings perspective into our immediate world. In case God hasn’t answered your momentary prayers recently….

I have found that God gives each of our children special gifts that can suddenly light up a dark room, when we least expect it. Owen’s laugh can bubble up and make everyone else in the room crack up, as well. Olivia’s winsome smile and rascally ways are irresistible and can make grumpy store clerks suddenly smile. One of the gifts that God has given Annie is her singing. We will be driving in the car and she will suddenly just start singing a praise song with incredible gusto. The other night we were in the living room when the kids were in bed and we heard quite a racket from upstairs. It was Annie, singing her heart out (thankfully Owen and Olivia stayed fast asleep!).

When Annie and I were back in L.A. for a week to attend our friends’ weddings, I was asked to share at HOPE Christian Fellowship for five minutes about our ministry in Japan. Annie came up front and stood with me. I shared briefly, and then when I was done I said that Annie was going to sing a song that captures why we are in Japan. She took the mike and sang her heart out. Here is the chorus that she sang, twice…it’s the same chorus – the first one is near the Santa Monica pier a day or two after she sang in church; the second is in our living room yesterday. She has no problem doing it anytime, anywhere!

We bought a Japanese bread-maker after Christmas. We finally opened it last week, and I proudly made my way through the whole Japanese instruction book. The first batch I followed the “speedy” recipe and made wheat bread. OOOOHH…it smelled soooo good.
But it flopped. It was too wheaty…too thick…too- something.

So when our friend Yasko came over, I went back through the instruction book with her to make sure I was getting all the ingredients right. We concluded it must have been the combination of speedy and wheat, and that night I tried again, getting all fancy-shmancy and even using the timer so that it would finish at 7:45 the next morning, in time for our breakfast.

It smelled so delicious as we were waking up. When I came downstairs, Eric just shook his head. Once again – all the right smells; none of the right shapes or textures.

Later that morning I was talking to my friend MaryJo. She got out her breadmaker instruction book and was reading through the troubleshooting section. Not enough flour maybe?

And then it dawned on me. I was measuring the flour American-style rather than Japanese-style. I was using measuring cups; Japanese measure dry ingredients by weight, using a kitchen scale. I was only adding 2/3 the right amount of flour.
Live and learn. Sometimes you have to make a few bad loaves of bread to get it right. The third loaf not only smelled good, but it came out perfect.

*****
Annie had been praying for snow. We had a few light coverings, but it never “stuck”, so Annie kept praying. Her prayers were answered the same morning as the perfect batch of bread emerged…It had snowed all Friday night, and continued snowing on Saturday.

Eric had to go and teach his men’s class, so mid-morning I pulled out all the snow clothes, bundled all 4 of us up, and we walked up to the park and met Owen’s school friend Yousuke, his younger brother, and mom Naomi. We all had a great time…

Romping…

Sledding…

Falling off the sled….

And making a Japanese snowman (they have two stacked body parts, not three)…

Here is a video of Owen and Eric trying to build another snowman in the park later. Clearly, there has to be a better way to move that huge snowball!:

My favorite moment in the snow, however, came when Owen ran into the fresh, untrodden baseball field and threw himself down to make an angel…

Annie also liked the idea of making an angel, so she went running into the open snow field and threw herself down, as well:

The only problem is – she threw herself down face-first…

She still got her angel, but it was a rather cold way of doing things…

Ahh…living. It’s how we learn. And by doing it wrong sometimes the first…even second time around.

That night in bed, Annie thanked God for the beautiful snow. And I thanked God for our new bread machine, which is –slowly– becoming my friend.

I’ve been home most of the week with a bad throat. The doctor first told me I had either strep throat, influenza, or both (but didn’t test me for either), and put me on antibiotics. After several days of not seeing much pain relief, I went back and he concluded that it must be a viral throat infection that takes at least a week to heal. So I’m still in pain, but yesterday was able to teach one afternoon class. Being sick at home with three little kids is different than the good ole’ days… watching Regis and Kathy Lee on the couch and eating tapioca and sleeping whenever I felt like it feels like a dream from the past….
But here are a few things that have been soup for my soul this week:
***

Yesterday our friend Yasko took all 3 kids in the afternoon for awhile to give us a break. She made hot cocoa for them, and Annie sat at the table with Yasko to start drinking. Yasko told us about this little interchange:
Annie: We should talk about something.
Yasko: OK. What do you want to talk about?
Annie: Let’s talk about God.
***
I’ve been really stuck in needing translation help for papers I need to finish grading from last August. A friend Yumiko is helping to do at least some of them. It’s a huge burden lifted…

***
In my English class yesterday, we were finishing up- most of the ladies had headed out the door already. Our host, Naoko, stopped Junko and me. (Junko is a Christian friend who is helping lead the chapel times in the class).
Naoko: I was wondering if you could tell me where I could borrow a Bible?
Junko and Sue (pick chins off the floor) – Uh – we have one you could borrow!
Naoko: I’ve been wanting to read one. I don’t want to spend the money on it until I know if I’ll like it or not.
(I’m going to give her one of the Gideon English/Japanese New Testaments that we have – for now. I told her once she gets into it she’ll really want to buy the whole Bible)

***
Eric and our pastor went to talk to realtors about our desire to find a larger house to rent in our area. Even though there really isn’t any breakthroughs, we are moving forward… and we can continue to pray and trust God’s timing.
***
Owen was eating lunch and exclaimed, “Mommy, you’re a really good cooker.” THIS was great soup for my soul!
***
I was stewing a lot this week about our upcoming home assignment, housing needs, how it will be for our kids to go to the US and then come back here… and a friend wrote and reminded me of verses that I had shared at our church in LA when I was back a few weeks ago– from Genesis 1:2. It is the theme verse I have chosen for this year –that even in the midst of darkness, before God had even created light – the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the waters. Already I had forgotten my theme verse! I had forgotten that God’s Spirit is hovering over the couch when I am sick…over Naoko as she contemplates and thinks about God…over Annie and Yasko as they drink hot cocoa. And He will continue to hover (even when I forget this is true) as we move through this year of many unknowns. Please keep reminding me – I have a bad short-term memory.

It was during my three short months of doctoral studies ten years ago with Eugene Peterson that I did my first theological imaginings into the notion of the Trinity. Peterson’s lectures and assigned readings deepened and heightened my understanding of the Trinity and left me with an unforgettable image of a divine dance: the Trinity whirling and twirling together to create a unified body of movement.

There is a book that has re-opened my joy and anticipation about the Trinity. It has made me laugh and weep. It has made me fall in love anew with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Shack (by William P. Young) was highly recommended to me three weeks ago during my “wedding tour” in the U.S. by my friend Alene. She probably said to me four times in two days: “Sue, you HAVE to read this book.” I relented and ordered it from Amazon.

Can I just say to each of you now –YOU have to read this book. I am not going to spoil the story by sharing anything about the plot, and I’d recommend you not read too many reviews online before you read it yourself. It is a novel –a novel! As I read this book last week, I realized that 95% of my reading these days tends to be “how-tos”: How to be a better leader; how to be a better parent; how to be more disciplined… You know what I mean. These can be great… but usually this genre of books engages our intellect to shape our thoughts. I was so surprised at how this short 240-page novel grabbed my heart – my soul – my mind – all at once, and made me re-examine my notions about the trinity. And love God more.

There are some finer elements of the author’s theology that you may disagree with. There are a few parts of the book that feel a bit rough. But I soundly believe what Eugene Peterson has said in his forward of this book: “This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good.” It really is that good.

This book has been life-changing for me. I don’t know the last book I could say that about. It has actually been fun to begin thinking about some of the books over the years that have been life-changing for me… What are a few of yours?

I’d love to hear what you think. Let’s tango with the Trinity together – it’s a wonderful dance that at least this missionary wants to do a lot more of.

Before January draws to a close, we wanted to write about the wonderful Japanese tradition of exchanging New Year cards. I don’t know if other Asian countries do this or not, but we’ve come to love January 1st, when special postal workers are all hired to make the rounds and deliver nengajo, or New Year postcards. We love to sit and read through the colorful stack of cards that we receive from our Japanese friends, most with a family photo printed on them.

Every year there is an animal assigned to that year, coinciding with the Chinese zodiacal calendar. This year is the year of the rat, so most cards, if you look closely, have a picture of a rodent of some kind on the front (somehow I can’t see this going over big on Christmas cards in the U.S…).

There were two cards that really touched me. They are both from women who are currently studying English with me on Thursdays. This one is from my friend Yuriko, who was our first neighbor friend to begin studying English. She writes, “You color my life! Thank you for giving me special chance.”
Recently she has been wrestling with the truths of Jesus. This week she gave a ride to a Japanese Christian friend in the class and asked her many questions about God answering prayer.

A new mom friend from Owen’s kindergarten wrote on her card to us, “This year I am thankful for Jesus and for Sue.” She had just finished studying about Jesus in our Christmas English Bible class. Pray that we (Eric and I and our partnership with our Japanese church members) have wisdom in sharing with Keiko and the other 3 women in our afternoon class who are interested in Jesus…pray that He can truly color their lives…

Last night we helped planned a fun birthday event for our close friend, Mrs. I.. It was her 60th, which is a big year in Japan. Her daughter, our family, and our friends Bobby and Claire went to a nearby Japanese restaurant to celebrate with her and her husband.

They are like grandparents to our children, attending every family birthday celebration… our kids love them dearly, as do we. There were three things that stood out to us about the party:
1) the laughter. Wherever Mrs. I is, there is fun, and last night was no exception. We laughed SO hard, and so much. Cultural barriers sure break down with laughter. While in the US two weeks ago, I bought I-san’s birthday presents… one of them was some lingerie to keep her young.:) Here she is receiving the lingerie, laughing herself out of the picture:

2) the cake – it was SO UGLY. Honestly. It looked like a bundt cake baked for the L.A. Lakers that tangled with a fan. It just didn’t work!

I tried softening my regular icing recipe in the microwave to glaze it on, and it just didn’t glaze- it clumped. No matter what I did. I tried heating the whole cake in the oven, blow-drying it (literally)..scraping it off and reapplying… then I mixxed up more but the butter-yellow color changed to a Halloween-orange…in the end, it wasn’t a cake that I’m proud of. But I guess there are days like that, and hopefully Mrs. Ishida knew that it was baked with a great deal of —
3) LOVE. We love the Ishidas and their daughter so much. The shared joy around the table was clear. We ended up becoming friends with the other party sharing our Japanese-style room, and sharing the extra cake with them (at least it tasted pretty good!)…In the end, everyone was laughing. And as Eric commented later, this interaction probably would not have happened if the room had held only Japanese.
Pray with us for Mr. and Mrs. I and Y.  She is like our sister – eating meals and hanging out with us every week…loving our children… sometimes attending church with us. We pray that she and her parents will know God’s love for them through ours.

Yesterday I went with my friend Megumi to what seemed like the edges of nowhere in Sanda to teach a cooking class.

My friend Kazuyo had asked me months again to come, and as the details fleshed out I found out I would be teaching about 55 moms and their elementary-aged kids! I learned from a similar experience last year to pick simple recipes, as it can take 30 children a LONG time to take turns crunching up graham crackers..
I taught Hawaiian Teriyaki Hamburgers and my mom’s recipe for strawberry cheesecake (no bake!). I’ll put the recipes at the end.

Aren’t the kids SO cute? They ALL wore aprons and bandanas…so part-way through I decided I better wear one too…

Here is the group of us! I’m thankful that some of these relationships will continue, as Eric is teaching English to a number of these great kids.

When Kazuyo first asked me to teach this class several months ago, I wasn’t thrilled. (I am really reticent to speak Japanese in front of larger groups of people). But I have been praying for Kuzuyo for three years! I meet weekly with a Japanese church friend for accountability and prayer. We have been meeting for 3 years, and praying every week since then for Kazuyo. She and her daughter have both studied English with me and Eric at times. So, for the sake of this relationship I agreed to do the class. Pray with me that she will know the love of Jesus!
During the class, I just HAD to ask her if she thought the whipped cream smelled bad… (look closely at her nose — some things I still just can’t resist!):

Here’s the recipes:
Hawaiian Teriyaki Burger (these are a family favorite!)

1 ½ pounds ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 egg
¼ Cup shoyu
¼ Cup sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 stalks green onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon sesame oil

Combine all ingredients; mix well. Form into patties. Fry or grill.

Strawberry Cheesecake
1 package cookies, crushed
¼ Cup sugar
¼ C softened butter
Press into pyrex pie pan.

Cream Cheese:
1 package softened cream cheese
1 cup sugar
Mix above;
Mix 1 package whipped cream; combine with spoon

Pour into crust.

Strawberry Filling: (My mom always canned cherries, but we can’t buy them here, so any kind of frozen fruit would work)
1 bag of frozen strawberries
½ Cup sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
¼ water
Stir and cook over medium heat; let cool. Pour on top of cheese portion. Chill cake for 3 hours.

As we left the community center, a group of kids and moms followed us out….That, and the snow falling, made it a great day…