Balance

So, my mom's visit went well! It was really nice to have her around, and meeting all the people I know, seeing places I go, how things are done, etc. It went really, really fast though. The trip that I had been so looking forward to was over and I was seeing her off at the bus stop before I knew it.

My thoughts the last few days have been on balance. Balance in everything from diet, since I've been lacking in protein and I'm starting to see some consequences of that. I'm not the hugest fan of tofu, but I've decided that that's just too bad. I'm getting over it.

Also, I've been looking for balance in the two priorities I have-- language learning and ministry. Of course, I'm here for ministry, but language learning is part of that, and really crucial to long term successfulness here. The longer I'm here, the more I see the truth of that. But, when you have two full time priorities, it's challenging to find balance between the two.

And another thing I've been looking at is the ugly word- finances. So far, since I've been in Japan, I don't know it's worked, but God has provided. When I arrived, I wasn't able to go to Japanese school, but God worked it out. This morning, looking at numbers, I said- God, You put me here for a reason. I trust You to keep me here (I'm getting better at this each month), but I don't understand how this is going to work...

I heard back, Janine, you don't have to understand it logically...

I remembered all the times and ways God has provided when I had no means of providing for myself. I've never been left hanging. But, boy, I'd like to look at it and say, ok, God, it makes sense.

Though I suppose it's a bit arrogant to demand explanations from God, huh?

Well, I need to leave in an hour for the FUSE Retreat we're having this weekend. I'm expecting God to do big things in the lives of many people. PS> I have exciting news coming up soon!

Behind Schedule

Sorry about being a week late everyone! It's been a tad busy around here, and my schedule has been a bit off since I have a momma visitin' me. (me, thinking of blog ideas... Just kidding. Today's adventure in Kamakura, home to the largest Buddha statue in the world, I believe)


I feel like I've had a whole bunch of things to blog about, but at the moment my mind is blank. Let's do highlights tonight:






-Saki (right), a girl in my lifegroup, is getting baptized!!! (I wish there were more signs to interject into those exclamation points so you could hear my enthusiasm... but imagine wide eyes, a big smile and waving of the arms, and you might get close). I'm excited, she's excited, everyone's excited.

-My mom came (again, let loose your imagination). I love showing off my Japanese friends who are super awesome! So, we've done a lot from meeting people in street band, to having a party at my home for birthday girls, to walking our church area that's a major shopping area with my Japanese little brother to today-- walking a million hours seeing "traditional Japan" til we were both exhausted beyond expression. And there's more to come! (at the above-mentioned location)


-I finished 3rd level kanji!! Yay! That's a total of 284 now, and I took 5 tests in one day to finish before my mom came (no worries while she's here is my only reasoning for starting all those tests at 8am). Now, only 1716 left to go! (and that's not all of them!)

Well, for now that's all. I have school early in the a.m., and I've already got coffee in preparation for it. Here we go! (this week after FUSE, we all paused for a picture!)

Janinja

Well, as some of you might have heard, last week, one of my teachers chose kanji for my name. Kanji have meaning and readings/pronunciations (yes, plural. Some kanji have multiple readings depending on how they're used/combined, etc.). I tried to talk Kengo into picking out kanji for my name a while ago, but he had a hard time finding some... as "Ja" kanji tend to have not so many good meanings. Anyway, Mori-sensei comes in last Thursday morning and goes,

Does anyone know what this means? 忍者

Ninja, some answered.

And flipped around? 者忍 Ja-nin. There ya go, Janine, kanji for your name. (Ok, not an exact translation from Japanese...)

者 is a kanji for someone/person and is usually pronounced sha, but can be ja. And 忍 means endure, bear, put up with and can also mean spy, sneak, etc. So, there ya go. I'm a person who puts up with a lot. :)

Sunday I had another opportunity to speak at FUSE. Mark asked me to speak once a month, and this time, since we're doing a series on leadership, he asked me to speak on humility/servant leadership. I was really surprised how the message came together as I gathered all my random notes I had been taking...

But, once again, while speaking, it was SO hard to read people. I wasn't sure if they were upset, angry, bored to death or what. I felt a bit like "ehh.." afterward, but I ended up getting a lot of good feedback that had provoked people to thought. Mark later said it went well too, and I was like really? I wasn't very sure. But he said he heard a lot of good feedback too from the people he talked to. All I know is that I was praying while I was giving the message, "Oh Lord, help me..."

Maybe that's my cry everyday...