5/6/12: God only does wondrous things! Psalm 72:18

God is good! And He does wondrous things! A lot has happened since March when I last posted on this blog and my goal is to summarize (for my own sake and for those who are interested) all that has happened in the last 2 months or so :)

Top 10 (In no particular order):

1. Linnea visited from the U.S. for 1 week (we celebrated Mom and Linnea's April birthdays)
2. Caleb, Amy, and Enoch visited for Golden week
3. I am now able to recognize 500 kanji!
4. Met a guy named Brock Kreitsburg at a ramen shop...he's an Olympic Bobsledder!
   • • http://www.brockbobsled.com/home/brock_kreitzburg-faith.php
5. Met up with Phil Ellison, a classmate of mine
6. Grandpa spent several weeks with us in Tokyo
7. Thrift Shop...a bought a children's book for ¥100 which was selling for $260 on Amazon!
8. らめん (ramen) museum in Yokohama and 三渓園　Sankeien in Yokohama
9. I will officially be working at CAJ next year as a full-time teacher
10. I was very impressed with the updated American Red Cross Lifeguard program

Ethan

Please pray for my family as it is still hard without Ethan. It has been 294 days since Ethan died and in 71 days it will be the 1 year anniversary of his death. There is not a day that goes by in which I do not think about Ethan. This entire year I have spent in what used to be his room and many things in his room continually remind me of him. Last summer we were both counselors at JBC and this year I will not be able to counsel at JBC because of my language studies and neither will Ethan. In previous years Ethan and I lifeguarded together. In fact, I was the one that trained him to be a certified lifeguard and I had hopes that he would be a good head lifeguard in the future but I won't be lifeguarding this summer and neither will he. In June his former classmates will be graduating from CAJ and I know a number of them fairly well but when they graduate and move on to college and elsewhere Ethan won't and so please pray for my family as it is difficult especially during this first year. I know that my brother lives more abundantly than I can imagine and that it was God's perfect timing to take him as He did but I miss him as a brother misses his brother.

Trip to Yokohama

Linnea came for 1 week to visit with our family and we had a whirlwind of activity that week which now seems so very long ago. One of the biggest highlights was going to Yokohama to visit Sankeien which is the garden where my dad proposed to my mom, we also went to Scandia which is a fancy restaurant that holds many memories for my mom (and now does for me), and we visited the ramen museum in Shin-Yohohama which is AMAZING! Here are a few pictures of our trip:

Linnea enjoying her おでん at a コンビニ near 三渓園（sankeien)

三渓園 (Sankeien, Yokohama)

Old Japanese style building

The New Grand Hotel where MacArthur met after WWII. My mom sang in one of the 2nd floor rooms when she was a child.

Yokohama Kaigan Church founded in 1872. Supposedly the 1st Protestant church in Japan.

A cannon in Japan. 

Took a picture of the sign but it was closed that day so I'll have to go another day.

The Scandia where Mom and Linnea and I ate our lunch. Good memories.

A typical boat scene at Yokohama

A beautiful part of Yokohama to hang out

Language Study

I started my language study in February and am now more than half-way through my time at the Tokyo Academy of Communication (TAC). There are 2 teachers: Mr. Takahashi and Miss Yamamoto. Both are amazing teachers. Besides me there are 5 other students: Justin, Grant, Holly, Vicrant, and John.

One of my main goals was to be able to recognize 1000 kanji by the time I finished my time at TAC. I don't think I will be able to reach that goal at the rate I am going currently, however, kanji is something I can work on at my own pace in the future as needed. What I really need to focus on in the next 2 months is the spoken language since I have the opportunity to ask questions of my teachers at this time. However, I am glad to say that having been through 2 of my texts I can now recognize roughly 500 of the basic kanji. The typical student is able to recognize 1,850 so I have quite a ways to go but considering that I only knew about 150 before I am doing much better. For those of you who are studying kanji I learned of a great website from my sister-in-law called speedanki.com

More to come....

Ochanomizu Station where I go for my language studies. This is a typical scene on the platform.

My Pictures from Elementary

While Linnea was visiting we went through all of our elementary drawings and so I took pictures of all of mine. Here are just a few that I'd like to share:

My family: Dad, Mom, Linnea, Caleb, myself, and Ethan.

I think it is supposed to be of my parents and I. My legs have amazing flexibility in this picture!

My fascination with castles is evident from a young age.

I remember studying Native Americans and enjoying this piece.

This is my renaissance picture. 

Elementary Artwork with Hands 

My love for water and sea creatures is also evident here.

Tutoring

I am still tutoring Minoru who is a 1st grader at CAJ and he is doing great! We have been working on reading and spelling and just recently finished an Amelia Bedelia book.

Me tutoring Minoru who is a 1st grader. Amazing student!

UTSS (English Teaching)

In case you didn't know, I am all done with my English teaching at the Japanese high school in Wakaba called UTSS. However, I will be going to a faculty party in May in which they'll say bye to those who are leaving (like me) and welcome those who are new teachers. On my last day I gave letters to all the teachers that I worked with and I even received some gifts from the teachers there in my work room. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and am thankful for the experience that God provided. I am still in contact with one of my students from there who goes by the nickname of Shin-chan. He wants to be a teacher someday and he is a gifted individual. Please pray for his salvation and that I would continue to be able to stay in contact with him.

The example that I gave of the essay topic "The most important thing in my life" which I assigned to the UTSS high school students.

My shoe locker at UTSS. If you look closely it even has my name on it!

Things People Do on a Nice Golden Week Day

On the weekend Dad, Caleb, and I went on a bike ride down the river in Higashi Kurume. It was a lovely day and it was also still Golden Week holiday. Here is a list of some of the things we saw people doing on such an amazing day in Higashi Kurume.

• Practicing a golf swing
• Baseball
• Practice boxing in a park
• Soccer
• Basketball
• Skateboarding
• Walking
• Running 
• Biking
• Fishing
• Picnic
• Play Guitar
• Text on cellphone
• Play DS
• Walk Dog
• Take pictures
• Go on a stroll with a loved one
• Play in the park
• The local gentlemen who get together to talk in the park about everyday matters

ICCS

I have been so glad to be able to help out a little bit more at ICCS recently. I have been helping out with playing guitar for the music time and once I even got to help lead the adult's Sunday school which was a real pleasure for me. One time in church we had a prayer time that I was helping lead and I asked that everyone split up into groups of 2s and 3s to pray so that we could focus better on praying for each other and it was such a blessing to be able to share with each other. After all scripture says "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed." (James 5:16)

Books I've Read Recently

I've read picture books, Josephus, G.K. Chesterton, WWII novels, and Newberry Award winners...and I love them all!

• The Kids Guide to Money By Steve Otfinoski
• Josephus: Thrones of Blood
• The Westing Game By Ellen Raskin (Newberry Medal)
• Two Tickets to Freedom: The True Story of William and Ellen Craft, Fugitive Slaves By Florence B. Freedman
• Make Way for the Ducklings By Robert McCloskey (Caldecott Award)
• Basil of Baker Street By Eve Titus
• Island Boy By Barbara Cooney
• Humility By Andrew Murray
• The Best of Father Brown By G.K. Chesterton
• The Not-so-Jolly Roger By Jon Scieszka (The Time Warp Trio)
• The Road to Arnhem: A Screaming Eagle in Holland By Donald R. Burgett
• Currahee!: A Screaming Eagle At Normandy By Donald R. Burgett
• Klutz book on Smoothies by Anne Akers Johnson

Restaurants Visited

1. PopolaMama's
2. Lamp
3. Manshu Ramen
4. Kisaten with mom
5. Jonathan's 
6. Scandia
7. Reno's Bistro
8. Curry Restaurant in Ochanomizu

Best Purchases from 2012 Spring Thrift Shop (107 books)

• Bible Stories Hidden in Chinese Characters
• Spiritual Discipline for the Christian Life
• Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary
• Houses that Change the World
• Venus by Seymour Simon 
• Mercury by Seymour Simon 
• Destination: Jupiter by Seymour Simon
• Destination: Mars by Seymour Simon
• Magic Tree House books
• Journey to Ellis Island
• The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald Illustrated by Alan Parry
• The Merchant and the Thief By Ravi Zacharias
• The Tale of the Three Trees
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
• Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
• Officer Buckle and Gloria
• ...If you lived at the time of the American Revolution
• To Root, to Toot, to Parachute
• Hairy, Scary, Ordinary
• Heckedy Peg
• Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins
• Mirette on the High Wire
• Buried in Ice
• So You Want to Be President
• 
  

Moving to a New Apartment

We did a lot of spring cleaning and tried to sell a lot at Thrift Shop since we knew we would be downsizing soon to a smaller apartment in Matsukawa Place. We'll probably make our move in June so please be praying in that regard as well as it will be just another transition for the family.

CDs I purchased at Thrift Shop

1. Andrew Peterson
2. Fernando Ortega
3. Nat King Cole
4. Jack Johnson
5. Michael Buble
6. Latin Jazz (Bossa Nova)
7. Bebo Norman
8. Michael Card
9. Steven Curtis Chapman

Cooking

I've enjoyed trying out some new recipes and improving on some others that I've been doing more regularly. I'm getting pretty good at making pizzas and pastas but have yet to try out my Asian cooking. I am thankful for the time to be able to work on these skills and hope to be able to use them still even when I am busier with teaching :)

Pasta, bacon, green peppers

Rice, vegetable mix, and amazing meat!

My special breakfast...complete with tea and Bible!

Hungarian Mushroom soup (A Victor Special*)

Couscous and grilled chicken

Chinese food from the おしかわさん's restaurant

Mom's delicious chilled udon

Fresh strawberries and reuben sandwich

The HUGE かつカレthat I had in 御茶ノ水 (Ochanomizu)

My first try at spring rolls and egg drop soup. The soup is amazing!

Miscellaneous Photos

Dad taking out the hard drive of our very old eMac

AED in Japan. I love the term for CPR in Japanese by the way... "heart massage"

Things to Be Praying for:

1. Time to spend in prayer and in Bible reading 
2. Diligence in my study of Japanese
3. That the move to a new apartment in June would be a smooth one
4. My visit with Caleb in Gifu would be well spent in July
5. That God would prepare me for full-time teaching at CAJ next year
6. For my tutoring and my student Minoru
7. For ICCS and wisdom in leading the music
8. For my family as we continue to struggle with the loss of Ethan and learn to trust in the Lord's provision

Praises!

1. The Lord has been blessing my time in language study and I have been improving!
2. I am thankful to be here to support my parents
3. I am thankful for financial provision for my language studies
4. For the opportunities I've had to get to know Minoru and his family. Please pray for them and there little baby Ryoma.
5. I am thankful for the job that God has provided for me with CAJ next year!