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.