Today at Owen’s yochien it was grandparents day. They had a special saturday morning session in which only the students- and their grandparents- were invited. No parents allowed! We knew Owen would probably be fine without his grandparents flying in from Hawaii or New Jersey, but we thought it would be special to have our close neighbor friends, the Ishid*s, attend in their stead. We often comment on how they are very much like our children’s grandparents- they attend all of our family birthday gatherings, take Owen and Annie to the park, and really love on our children.

We asked Owen’s teacher if it would be OK for a non-relative to attend. She looked very surprised, and said she would need to get special permission. The next day she hesitantly said it would be OK, but made a point of expressing that this was the first time for this to happen!

This morning, Mrs. Ishid* borrowed my bicycle and spent the morning with Owen. Special activities were planned – they made a special bottle, which had Owen’s picture on one side and Mrs. Ishid*’s picture on the other side, both drawn carefully by Owen.

They sang songs, played games, and at the end all the kids gave their grandparents a back massage. Owen loved this- he kept calling his teacher over to watch him giving Mrs. I. his special massage. They came home on the bicycle together, both glowing from a special time.

I couldn’t help tearing up as I thanked her for playing this special role in our children’s life.

Also this morning, our good friend Keiko Saikawa left us, on her way back home to Tokyo. Keiko has been a friend in Japan for 18 years, since she and I were ministry partners when I first came to Japan for three years. Our family on numerous occasions have enjoyed her warm hospitality when we have been in the Tokyo area, so it was really special to have her stay with us for a few days.

Yesterday, we took her to our favorite Japanese tea house, a 500-year old thatched-roof building with delicious green tea and specialty rice dessert, warabi-mochi. In the car coming home, she loved listening to Olivia sing out as only Olivia can do (see Tone-Deaf entry). Keiko took lots of pictures of Olivia’s smile, and spent time back at home with Annie, entertaining her with the Totoro characters (both of their favorites). Our three children loved having Aunt Keiko visit.

Keiko was also able to participate with us yesterday in our missionary small group gathering. Our children LOVE the days when Auntie Claire, Uncle Bobby, Aunt Reiko, Aunt Wendi, and Uncle Peter come over. We all love these times of fellowship.

As I contemplated our visit from “Aunt Keiko,” Owen’s morning with “Grandma Ishid*”, and the ongoing family-like relationships we have within Asian Access, I thought of the special promise Jesus gave to his followers in Mark 10:29:
“Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age – houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions- and in the age to come eternal life.”
Being far away from loved ones will continue, for me, to be the hardest thing about being a missionary (see Golden Fasts), but how I thank God for His faithfulness in bringing us abundant family from our Japanese friends and our mission community. I can only imagine the age to come…

Owen started back to yochien (kindergarten) on Tuesday. So, on our day off – Monday- we decided we needed to do something to celebrate the last day of summer. We drove up to Mt. Rokko, the mountain that separates our part of the world and Kobe, the nearest big city.

There are two cable cars, or ropeways, that run up the mountain – one from Kobe. We ended up at the one that connects Mt. Rokko with Arima, a little town nearby very famous for their hot springs.

It was a fun, beautiful, twelve-minute cable car ride across a verdant stretch of mountains.

When we got to Arima, we had a picnic, walked a bit and came to a waterfall that was a great surprise.

We rode the same cablecar back up the mountain, marvelling at the beauty that is so near us.

While we were at Arima, Annie had to use the restroom. We went in the first stall, and I said, “Oh, it’s a Japanese toilet. Let’s try the next one.” (These are affectionately known to us as squatty potties, and are the traditional Japanese toilets still found in most public places across Japan). Here’s what they look like:

So, we went into the next stall, the kind of toilet you’re probably more familiar with:

Annie looked at it and said, “Phew, it’s an English one.”

It was a good day.

I came back from Tokyo on Friday early evening and loved being greeted by Eric, Owen, Annie, and Olivia. Then, we packed up on Saturday morning and went camping with our neighbor friends, the Ito family. It was good to have these kind of shared experiences together. We had a good time with a river nearby for swimming (and falling into – see Annie below)…the Itos grilled some great squid, I taught them how to make perfect roasted marshmallows (seriously- they were enlightened); this morning by the river we tried the Coke and mentos experiment (we only got 2 mentos in so it wasn’t too big an explosion) and we were thankful for a good tent and perfect camping weather.

Tomorrow we get to finish unpacking from camping and my Tokyo trip, do ten loads of laundry, and get ready for Owen’s school to start on Tuesday.

Putting Owen to bed tonight, I started to pray with him, and he said, “Mommy, we haven’t said our Bible verses for a while.” So we started to review Psalm 23. When we got to “He restores my soul,” Owen asked what this verse means. So I tried to explain, “when we are tired God wants to refresh our hearts.” And Owen looked and said, “Or can’t you just go to bed?”
We’re tired – it’s been a LONG August. We need God to refresh our hearts – He can do that. But we also – might just need to get some sleep. We can do that.

I have almost finished a week filled with a lot of firsts:
–the first time to design and teach a D.Min course (Doctor of Ministry);
–the first time to teach a one-week intensive solo;
–the first time to teach Japanese leaders
–the first time to teach in an academic setting using a translator the whole time.

It has been challenging. I knew it would be, but I think yesterday was the hardest day I’ve ever had as a teacher. I really thought it would never end. Seven hours of lectures is A LOT of time if the day is going poorly and you’re VERY tired of hearing yourself talk…and you have lost confidence that you are at all effective in any way.

I was reminded last night of words I had shared in the class by Mother Teresa – our goal is not to be successful, but to be faithful. There are many things I have learned this week that I would do differently, but that is all part of this being lots of firsts. It was, in a weird way, sort of a good thing to feel like I had fallen flat on my face and could do nothing about it. Last night in the shower I just sang, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus” over and over until I really could just trust Him with the outcome of all of this. It’s good to rest completely in Him….to be reminded that we are but very weak vessels.

Today, thankfully, went much better. My translator friend Yuko and I both sensed something different today than yesterday – we wonder now if there were some spiritual issues involved yesterday. We will finish tomorrow around 12:30. I am missing my family so much, but thankful for the opportunity to learn such a great deal in a short amount of time. It’s felt like an honor to teach these pastors who each have such amazing life stories. I cried as I prayed for them this morning, recognizing that I am in a room filled with people who God has specially and uniquely called into fulltime, challenging ministry for his purposes.

Here are a few photos of small group time:

I am in Tokyo right now teaching at a seminary for five days. Walking home from the train station last night to our friend Keiko’s home I passed this sign:

Basically, the sign says, “Warning: Perv*rt in the area: please call 110 if you see one”.
Haven’t seen those signs posted along Main Street, U.S.A….

Today the Thomson family came over for dinner and we were reunited with them, as they have just returned from a three month home assignment in Los Angeles and Seattle. I wish you could have seen Owen and Toby hug each other- they reminded me of old war buddies who hadn’t seen each other in twenty years. It has been a really fun reunion. Despite all of them having jetlag from arriving last night, things went quickly back to normalcy. You can watch our combined seven children enjoying life (forefront) and putting on a concert (background) in this short video clip. It should convince you:
a) that our kids really really love each other and love being together (even when they fight over toys)
b) to pray that God will provide a home that will allow for times like this to be a bit more….spread out.
Welcome home, our friends. We’ve missed you.

Yesterday morning, I was trying out yet another local coffee shop as I continued hammering out lectures for my upcoming course. Eric shared this story:

“I was sitting on the couch having my quiet time. Owen and Annie were sitting under the open window, enjoying Play-Do.
Annie said to Owen, ‘What’s that noise?’
and he said, ‘That’s semi‘ (Japanese for cicadas, which are quite noisy this time of year in our neighborhood). Annie continued with her many questions, ‘What are they talking about?’
With confidence Owen answered, ‘They’re talking about God.’
—-

There is a somewhat obscure passage in Matthew where the chief priests and the scribes see Jesus doing miracles of healing, and they heard “the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosannah to the Son of David.’ They became angry and said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes, have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself”?’ (Matthew 21:15, 16)

Out of the mouths of babes… Even though she isn’t speaking much yet, Olivia has joined her sister and brother in singing praises. We often hear her from her crib belting out the melody of “Jesus Loves Me” using the “Ba Ba” sound (she’s surprisingly–mostly– on-key–you can listen below).

In the car, one of our favorite things is to hear the kids all singing worship songs together.

Out of the mouths of babes… we are constantly surprised by the quips and insights of our children. Sometimes their unorthodox or even outlandish comments bring us back to truths that we have become too adult, too rational to recognize. That rhythmical beauty in the droning of the cicadas – perhaps if I learn to listen better –to children and to nature- I too, will be more likely to hear the praise that rings and sings throughout creation.

Postscript: I came home today, shortly after writing this blogpost, and this was the scene that greeted me. Our friends Bobby and Claire had been watching the children for us this morning so I could study and Eric could help our friends with some yardwork:

The avocado seed that we planted several months ago is alive…and quite well! Last week, I realized that it was dry and has started needing much more water than it previously did. I thought maybe it was from the crazy heat we have been having the past few weeks…and Eric said that the water evaporates from the leaves, so since the leaves have increased and grown big, it makes sense that the plant would be needing a lot more water.

The past two weeks I felt a lot like this avocado plant…pretty dried up. The heat was on us this summer, with our leaves spread pretty far out… a good deal of excitement with a great team here — daily ministry activities, lots of people in and out of our home, a lot of driving and coordination of details…Juggling ministry, family, marriage, and not always doing a good job of it. We spread ourselves too thin and had no reserve left to give.

I started thinking about what I need to replenish my dryness. When the heat is on…and I’m weary – water for my soul includes:
**processing – Eric’s been good at talking through things; I’ve been committed this year to journaling a little bit each night…and blogging!
**perspective – preparing for the seminary course that I am teaching has helped bring perspective…see my areas of weakness… seek to grow from the challenges.
**quality time with good friends – I still feel like I need some more of this…
**Coffee shops–I’ve visited the five coffee shops in Sanda while preparing for my class — these renew me! (Though it is disappointing that only one has wireless internet access and only one has easy outlet access). Korea has prayer mountains; Japan’s most interesting coffee shop is God Mountain….good, strong coffee.

**affirmation — a strange one to include here….but a foundational leadership principle is that we all need affirmation from time to time. We can receive divine affirmation (falling stars!), ministry affirmation (George’s decision on Sunday), and/or affirmation from others.

On Sunday when our house church had a non-surprising surprise party for me, they went around as an ice breaker and all shared something about me. I rolled my eyes and thought, please no! I really really don’t like this kind of thing… But as they shared stories and reflections, I felt the Lord encouraging me to accept those words as a means of replenishing my heart. To know that despite my many weaknesses, mess-ups, and times of not trusting God enough — that God is with me; God is for me; God is continuing to use us in this place. I can keep growing.

My roots, and leaves, are feeling less dry. What about you – what do you need to replenish your roots?

This morning our house church had a “surprise” birthday party for me (one day early). I sort of figured it out when it was our turn to host house church but they changed the venue without a reason. But it was still so touching as we walked in and one of the junior high girls put a homemade lei on me, and then one of the women pulled out a beautiful fruit birthday cake that she had made, and everyone joined in to sing Happy Birthday. I really felt loved.

This was all really special. But there was something that made the celebration absolutely unforgettable. Today, during worship, our Japanese friend “George” prayed to enter the Christian life (read more about George in posts Learning and Loving and Transformers)!

We had broken up into small groups to discuss the Bible passage for the morning. Eric was teaching the kids in another room, two women’s groups, and then George and two Christian men from the group were meeting together. Suddenly Hiroshi announced what had happened…There was such a sense of peace in George’s heart and joy across his face. We all shouted and cried and rejoiced together.

Then his wife Aiko said, “we need to sing a worship song!” So we sang a simple, fun song from English camp, “Deep Down.” During the verse, we all sing, “Do you love your Jesus, deep down in your heart?” and then one person’s name is called to sing the next part: “Yes, I love my Jesus, deep down in my heart!” George’s name was called first and he sang it out. Then he called Eric’s name, following which George’s name was called again. Someone later apologized for him being called twice and he said, “I’ll sing it over and over — yes I love my Jesus!”

I read John 3:3-7 to George and the group… Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needs to be born again- its not enough to be born once. Today we celebrated my original birth into the world. That was nice. But there was such an amazing sense of rejoicing as we celebrated George’s re-birth, entering into the eternal Kingdom of God (Below: Aiko and Olivia, rejoicing).

George’s salvation is a wonderful reminder of the effectiveness of short-term mission teams. Last year, a mother-and daughter from our New Jersey team stayed with George and Aiko, and had a direct impact on Aiko’s becoming a Christian shortly after they left Japan. Last week, a father-and son team from California stayed with them, and really made a difference in George’s decision to follow Christ. Short-term teams: bring ’em on!

Tonight we found out about some close Japanese friends who are questioning our motives and vocations as missionaries here in Japan. It felt painful. And yet we are reminded that there will be opposition when God is at work. And He is –tonight, in a suburban home in Sanda, Japan, there is a new Christian couple praying together and putting God first. This is worth celebrating. Happy, happy birthday, George.

For the leadership course that I will be teaching at a seminary in Tokyo the last week of August (27-31), I would like to use a few video clips to help illustrate some of the significant points. One of the things I will be hopefully teaching these Japanese pastors and church leaders is that we need to be teaching in a style that is relevant to today’s culture with a goal of transformation rather than passing along information. I am trying to make my own teaching style as interesting and relevant as possible.

Since I am terrible at remembering scenes in movies, I’m wondering if a few of you might have some ideas that you could pass onto me (either by a comment or an email). The following are some of the topics that could be helpful to have an illustration from a video: (note that I will need to find the video in Japanese, so it can’t be too obscure):

1. Servant Leadership (ie a clip that shows a leader who is really serving his/her people)
2. The power of encouragement and praise
3. Teaching that was inspirational and transformational
4. A leader who goes through a paradigm shift
5. A leader or coach who goes the extra mile in encouraging/day-to-day training
6. A person who goes through a major transition and through that undergoes transformation.
7. The power of synergy/collaboration.

Any of these examples would be really helpful. If you could tell me what the actual scene is (and about where it is in the movie) that would be great. Thanks for your help, and your prayers as I continue to work away at the lesson plans!