9/22/11: Trip to Gifu

Trip to Gifu

On Monday, we (Tom, Nea, Mom, and I) left for Narita Airport (成田国際空港) so that we could drop Tom off and pick Amy up. Due to Tom's superior navigation skills we arrived in amazing time and were able to take it easy at the airport. Amy and Enoch arrived safely and Amy said that Enoch was very good during the flight. From Narita Airport we drove all the way to Gifu (岐阜県）We got lost on the Shuto Expressway（首都高速) joined the Chuo Expressway (中央自動車道) then the Tomei Expressway (東名高速道路) arrived in Gifu city (岐阜市) Tuesday morning at 12:30AM.

Caleb had ALT work on Tuesday so he couldn't spend time with us but we were able to unload some of Caleb and Amy's things into their apartment and do some organizing in their apartment. We also enjoyed spending time with Enoch and Amy, did some shopping, took some walks in the rain, and did some reading.

On Tuesday evening I joined Caleb for his English classes at the church plant and I was even able to help with 4 of the students along with Mrs. Masuda (she and her husband help at the church and have been so helpful to Caleb & Amy). It was so much fun to teach some English!

On Wednesday we went to a mall and did some shopping for staples to put in the kitchen, Caleb was able to get the afternoon free so that he could spend time with us and later that evening Caleb, Amy, Linnea, and I went to an udon restaurant (うどん レストラン) in the area that Caleb recommended.

Back in Tokyo
After arriving in Tokyo, I took a walk (visited some recycle shops and did some photography), tutored Minoru in reading, ate dinner, watched some of the Lord of the Rings DVDs, and played guitar. Mrs. Reasoner and Eliot Reasoner stopped by and I was able to talk with Eliot Reasoner for awhile as well which was a real blessing.

Some Photos

My udon (うどん) at the restaurant. The tempura (天ぷら）was of carrots, sweet potato,burdock root, and onion. （にんじん、さつまいも、ごぼう、たまねぎ）

Linnea with baby Enoch

The caramel macchiato that mom got for me!

Caleb & Amy's apartment in Gifu. Their apartment is on the 4th floor on the farthest left.

The bibinbap (비빔밥) mealthat I had at Royal Host when we ate together before Ethan's Memorial in Tokyo.

The big breakfast that we had as an Eby family in Tokyo!

9/10/11 A Royal Priesthood

Hello Readers!
Allow me to begin by sharing something from my journaling. (1 Peter 2:9)
"you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." We are not only priests but also sons and daughters of the King since we have been adopted into his family. It is as though his royal status/name has legally been trasferred to us. I know of a family at the school where Dad teaches who decided to name their son Prince ______ and their two daughters Princess _____ and Princess ______. Their names, when on legal documents begins with Prince/Princess. The father in this family is one of the best I have ever seen. He loves his children and always wears a smile. Even on their backpacks and belongings their names are evident. Similarly, our lives as believers and children of the King become a testimony to those that hear. "Who are you?" I am my Father's child"

Be encouraged and know that your worth is found in the fact that your Father is the great King!

Maintenance Work at CAJ
At CAJ I've continued helping out with various jobs around campus such as sweeping, taking care of trash, weeding, uprooting some dead tree roots, digging, and power spraying the school courtyard. As I walk around and do my work there are a number of students that know me from having attended Joy Bible Camp during the summer. I have been greeted in a number of different ways including:
Mr. Eby
Mr. Victor
Mr. Victor Eby
Mr. Coach Eby
Coach Eby
Cheerio (my JBC nickname)

....one little girl even said, "Hello Joy Bible Camp!" :)

Tutoring
I am now tutoring 4 times per week and am enjoying it thoroughly. I especially have enjoyed working with a little 1st grade boy named Minoru. Some of the things that I have done to help him with reading have been using scrabble pieces to form words, taking a sentence strip and cutting it apart into separate words and then glueing it back together as a sentence, recording his reading into a tape player, reading some simple Dr. Seuss books and continuing to review phonics. One day that we were recording some reading Minoru had to sneeze so afterward we played the tape back and got to hear his sneeze all over again and we both got a good laugh out of that.

ALT at UTSS
This last Thursday and Friday was my first time to actually assist in teaching. I will be helping with about 4 different classes. Two classes will be with Kudo-sensei, one class will be with Kawakami-sensei, and the other class will be with Ozawa-sensei. In total I figure that I will be assisting about 40 different high school students in oral and written communication.

I have to commute one hour to get to the school so I often will read on the train and I have been able to read a lot of the Psalms in those commuting times. On Thursday I tried bringing an iPod touch so that I could listen to music/sermon/audiobook and see if that was something I could do while commuting. However I discovered two things:

1. I don't like how people in this 21st century are always 'plugged in' so I am loathe to join the multitudes because it seems to cut down opportunities to talk with people.
2. I got so focused on what I was listening to that I almost missed my train station!
   

Family Time
As a family we have been taking walks in the evening along the 東久留米　river and I have enjoyed it immensely. There is a group of about 40 ducks down river that are an obnoxious bunch of fowl and I am inclined to think that it was these kinds of ducks that Walt Disney got his idea for Donald Ducks voice. They are quite amusing. The carp or 濃い are also very entertaining in that they are so spoiled they assume that any person who leans over the edge of the railing is undoubtedly going to feed them.

For movies we have been watching Hogan's Heroes

I have been amazed at how clean and how truly humorous this movie series has been. Many humorous movies tend to be funny because of the slapstick humor or because they make fun of something else in society but much of Hogan's Heroes is genuinely funny and it has been a real blessing to be able to sit down for a few good laughs as a family after dinner.

Books I've Read
I've been reading in Psalms, Proverbs, and a little bit in 1 Peter but I have also picked up few other books lately.













Boy by Roald Dahl (A collection of stories from Roald Dahl's growing up years)

The Friendship by Mildred D. Taylor (Historical fiction about life for blacks in the south; same author as Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry)

Noah's Ark: I Touched It by Fernand Navarra (A 1974 publication of Fernand Navarra who was a French industrialist but also had a passion for archaelogical research and conducted 4 expeditions up Mt. Ararat in search of Noah's Ark and was able to bring back wood samples from the ark which is located at a height of about 17,000 ft. His initial expedition was in 1955 not too many years after WWII)

Hero Tales by Dave & Neta Jackson (Tells short stories of missionaries lives ranging from Amy Carmichael to Hudson Taylor)

Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan (Tells the stories behind the hymns. For example, did you know that Be Thou My Vision dates back to the time of St. Patrick in A.D. 400s!?!

Some Interesting Discoveries & Funny Stories

• The other day I was walking through the train station in Kita-Asaka and I saw a picture of a young lady modeling for a wedding hall where young couples can get Christian weddings. It was strange because I thought I recognized her and then I realized that it was a classmate of mine from CAJ...Nastasha Self. It is so strange to see people you know on advertisements or TV.....
  
• When Mom and I were at the store yesterday we found some whole milk and I mean whole! It wasn't skim, it wasn't 3.6...it was 4.5! It tasted like cream!
  

• The students at UTSS are supposed to write diaries and I am supposed to grade them. One of the students had written, "Dairy" and then used arrows to show that the 'a' and 'i' were supposed to be switched. I got a good chuckle out of that.

• One of the best laughs of the week came from a question that a student asked me at UTSS. Taizo-sensei had set aside time for the students to ask me questions so that they could get to know me better. They had asked what my name was and where I was from and also what my hobbies were. Then a girl asked, "Do you have a...garden?" (she had poor pronunciation but I thought she said garden so I proceeded to answer. "No, not really because I'm not a very good gardener but recently I did try planting an avocado. If you put the avocado pit into water it will start growing and I have an avocado plant that is about...oh...30 cm tall." .....She was looking at me very quizzically and so was Taizo-sensei. That's when I found out that she had actually asked, "Do you have a...garfren [girlfriend]?"

....they must've been wondering where I was going with this avocado story... :)

2011 Summer and Future Plans

Typical Scenes at Nojiri



Ethan's Death
Lots has happened since July 16th. As many of you know, Ethan died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage on the morning of July 16th. After I found Ethan in bed that morning, Dad and I tried to revive him and it wasn't until we arrived at the hospital and the doctors had done a brain scan that we realized he had no brain activity. Looking back on it all, I now realize that he was already with the Lord when I found him.
There is so much that I could say but I want to share some of the things that I shared in an email to my brother and sister, Caleb and Linnea the afternoon following Ethan's death.

"I want to tell you some of the good things that I am thankful to the Lord for:

1. I am thankful Ethan knew Jesus
2. I am thankful mom and dad had me come back every Christmas and summer so I could spend time with family
3. I am thankful Ethan didn't go swimming this morning because this all might have happened in the water
4. I am thankful Ethan died in his sleep and it was so quick
5. I am thankful that Dad and Mom were here and it wasn't Ethan and I alone in the house
6. I am thankful that I wasn't in the U.S. with a job but was here with mom and dad
7. I am thankful that we are so near Grandpa and the Benedicts for comfort during this time
8. For Ted Skillman (who is not a believer) but was so willing to help and I pray that he will accept Christ through this
9. For Akane Jansen who from 11AM was doing all the communication with the yakuba (city office)
10. For all those who extended a helping hand and support and encouragement
11. For the good talk I had with Ethan last night and to be able to pray with and for him
12. For the time I was able to spend with Ethan at JBC counseling
13. For the time I had to go camping with him and spend some quality time with him
14. For my lifeguard training and being able to do our best to help him
15. For checking his room at 8AM and not waiting till later in the day

...Miriam and Matthew have been doing Bible reading in the evenings and have been reading 1 chapter of Psalms together before they went to bed. I told Ethan that it would be neat to do the same thing this summer. Last night he said, instead of reading a chapter in Psalms he said we should read through the book of 1 John since that was the PTA memorization project for this year. Ethan read chapter 1, 3, 5. I read 2 and 4...the last words I remember him speaking was the reading of 1 John 5. Do you know what it speaks of? "This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" Ethan had the Son of God and he had eternal life. I prayed for him after we read, "Lord, I thank you for who You are. I thank you for Ethan and for his hard work guarding today. I pray that you would help him to stay strong and to keep his eyes focused on you." His eyes are truly focused on Him now. Praise the Lord."

Waterfront Lifeguarding Course (July 25-29)
From July 25-29 Mom, Meg Kanazawa, and I taught a intensive 37 hour lifeguarding course which trained the students in CPR/AED, First Aid, and basic lifeguard saves. Of the 12 students that took the course, we certified 7 students.

Swimming Lessons 2011 (August 1-12)
This was our Level 6 Learn-to-Swim class which lasted for 2 weeks at Nojiri.

Sitting: Sakura, Helena
Front row: Claire, Leah, Tina
Back row: Mrs. Eby, Mary Grace

Lifeguard CPR/AED Re-certification (August 8)
Meg Kanazawa and I recertified 6 students in CPR/AED by giving them a 4 hour course in the evening.

Lifeguard Re-certification (August 9)
Meg Kanazawa and I recertified 8 students in lifeguarding by giving them a 4 hour course in the afternoon/evening.

Lifeguarding 2011

In-Service training and practicing saves.

Part of our 23 member lifeguard team. From left...
Front row: Meg, Deanne, Andrew, Takuma
Middle row: Kendra, Kimi, Alex, Sara, Victor
Back row: Eli, Bridge, Kendrick, Sam, Amos, Noa, Jonathan

My 23rd Birthday
We went to El Capitan to have pizza and I was able to have blueberry sherbert

Front row (left to right): Leah, Esther, Miriam
Back row: Dad, Victor, Grandpa Swanson, Anna

Note:Mom took the picture

Climbing Myoko -August 28th from midnight to 11AM 2454 meters high

Sunrise from the top of Mt. Myoko at 4:30AM

Exploring the rocks on top of Myoko

From left: Matthew, Leah, Victor, Tim, Esther, Miriam

The mist that started coming in.

An exhausted climber

Some of the flora

Reminiscent of Lord of the Rings type scenes

Beautiful 100ft waterfall

The soles of my shoes fell off towards the end of the trip and I had to tie them together. I ended up going moccasin footed by the end. Tim joked, "Well, you lost your shoes but at least you saved your 'soul!'"

After hiking for roughly 10 hours we gave our weary feet a rest in the hot spring foot bath

Some of My Cooking Endeavors

Steak with a marinade of 1/4C Worcestershire sauce, 1/4C soy sauce, 1/4C Olive oil, 1/4C Malt Vinegar, minced garlic, and salt and pepper to taste

Mediterranean pasta salad

A different steak with basil pesto for flavoring

Miscellaneous Photos

Sorting Ethan's electronics drawer. He had so much stuff in there!

Meals People have Provided for Us
People in the CAJ community have provided meals for us every weekday for the past 2 weeks and it has allowed time for Mom, Dad, and I to spend more time together in the evenings including having a regular afternoon/evening walk which we'd like to continue.

Mexican dinner of burritos

Lasagna, salad, french bread, and dessert

ALT at UTSS
Every Thursday and Friday until March I will be holding an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) position at University of Tsukuba senior high School of Sakado. I will be helping with the oral and written communication classes and working with three different teachers. One of the teachers, Kawakami-san saw me reading my Bible while I was waiting for the staff meeting to be done and he told me that his father is a pastor in Chiba and that he himself is a Christian and goes to church in the area. The Lord is amazing! Unfortunately, my first two days of teaching were canceled due to the typoon that is sweeping through Honshu but I am looking forward to teaching.

Maintenance Work at CAJ
For the beginning three weeks of school or so I will be helping the maintenance crew by keeping track of the school's electricity usage. I have worked with Steve Willson before and have enjoyed working under him because I get to learn on the job all the time. Maintenance work requires that you do the mundane but you also get to learn new things every day. In my time working with maintenance I have: unpackaged 54 brand-new Macbook computers, cleaned up a child's vomit, swept leaves, raked leaves, taken out trash, de-assembled and trashed about 10 desks, help the tech guys with the job of remastering the computers (I don't understand how it works but they told me what to do!) etc.

Tutoring
I am currently tutoring a 1st grade boy in reading and am using the skills that I acquired from college when I got my reading endorsement. I have been doing preliminary testing for him using the Basic Reading Inventory (BRI) by Jerry Johns and have found it to be amazingly helpful! I will also be tutoring an 8th grade girl in math starting next week.