Reflecting on God's Goodness

I am now into my second week of teaching 3rd grade and following a 6-hour long car ride (full of great conversation!) I was challenged by my brother Caleb to dedicate more time to the Lord and to set that time aside "non-negotiable" regardless of the busyness of my work. Since that conversation I've been waking up early going for a morning run and then spending ample time in the Word and in prayer. Not only have I spent spiritually energized but it has been tremendously rewarding physically as well since I am more rested on the whole. Please pray that I will continue to dedicate myself to the Lord's work as I teach and that he will be glorified through my teaching.

JBC
This past summer I co-directed Joy Bible Camp with my dad and we had a good turnout of kids and excellent staff this summer. We have been thrilled to see the growth in both the kids and the counselors and look forward to this coming summer of 2016 to see what the Lord has in store.

Summer Europe Trip
Following JBC I visited Tom and Linnea in Heidelberg, Germany and then visited a number of other countries while there. My travels took me from Tokyo to United Arab Emirates (a layover), Germany, Norway, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Italy and Vatican City. So, in all I was able to visit 8 countries and was blessed to be able to spend about ten days of my 3-week trip with Tom and Linnea.

Arc de Triomphe

At a monastery restaurant

Helping the Ellisons after JBC

Visiting the Aronsens in Drammen, Norway

Eating with Tom and Linnea's dorm

Eating dessert with our Swedish host Carl-Magnus

Visiting a museum with our French friend Tommy

At the Cluny Museum

Overlooking the Roman forum

Serious museum tourist

Traveling through the Swiss Alps

The Colosseum

Versaille gardens

Some places I visited:

• Heidelberg Castle
• the Oslo ski jump
• Vigeland Park
• Viking Museum
• Norwegian Holocaust Museum
• Palace of the King of Norway
• Norwegian Opera House
• Rosendal (Sweden)
• Berlin Wall
• Topography of Terror (Berlin)
• Jewish Museum (Berlin)
• Bodes Museum
• Pergamum Museum
• Checkpoint Charlie
• Versailles
• Arc de Triomphe
• Eiffel Tower
• Louvre
• Colosseum
• Ostia Antica (Rome)
• St. Peters

Teaching
In a span of four years I have now taught in three different divisions. I started at CAJ teaching high school Bible and then taught 6th grade, and now am teaching 3rd grade. The joke within our family has been that I have two options: 1) pre-K 2) administration! I have 25 students and it has already been a tremendous blessing (and BIG learning curve!)

KCC
Tomorrow is the first day of the KCC youth group and we look forward to another great year together in fellowship and learning God's word. I have also committed to preaching at KCC on December 13th and am excited for that upcoming opportunity.

Summer Reading
This summer I didn't do a lot of reading because I was traveling Europe and teaching a lifeguard course however I did manage to find time for three books:

1) The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad by Harrison E. Salisbury
A book that tells the fascinating true account of what later became known of as the "Leningrad Affair." The author spent 25 years researching and interviewing eyewitnesses before writing the book.

2) How to Read a Person Like a Book by Gerard I. Nierenberg & Henry H. Calero
A book originally written for businessmen to discuss nonverbal communication which could be helpful in knowing whether a business transaction will go through or not and how to make an effective impression on your clients.

3) Man of All Passions by Robert Hicks
A book I picked up in college in the college library book sale 5-6 years ago. I brought it all the way to Japan and happened upon it this summer. Excellent read and tells the life story of an Israeli IDF officer who felt like he could relate to King David very well.

Prayer Requests:
- Continued rich devotional times
- for wisdom in classroom management
- to get used to teaching 3rd graders and communicating effectively with the parents
- as I continue graduate coursework (which is sort of on the 'back burner' right now until I can get on top of my new position
- for the KCC youth group to thrive

OBC Soccer Camp Day #1

As some of you may know I have been blessed with the opportunity to speak at this year's OBC Soccer Camp. 3 day and 2 night camp with about 19 kids up in the beautiful mountains of Okutama. OBC is situated on the side of a mountain, in a space of about 1 acre many amazing memories have been formed over the years for countless programs and camps. 

We have about 10 staff in total and this morning after breakfast I led a very condensed staff training for those who have never worked at a camp before. We then had some time for prayer, a briefing on camp logistics and some time for worship. We then had a wonderful lunch of hot Japanese curry and coleslaw with fruit jelly for dessert.

Below are some photos of the camp at this time of year which is still early spring. The name 青梅　has to do with the plum blossom and since I've never been to Okutama at this time of year it has been a pleasant surprise to see all the plum blossoms coming into full bloom!

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for camper safety as they learn about soccer
• Please pray for receptive hearts during the message times
• Please pray for me as I share the gospel with the kids and staff

Our work space until Friday's camp was done.

The nearby hills in the back;
swimming pool in the foreground
(the pool isn't used during the colder months)

The Ome house in the left, Sawai building in the center and on the far end is Mitake house

OBC in panorama

Construction being done on the road side of the camp

Flowers in bloom

Signs of spring!

Staff having fun with masks!

More staff fun….

My own accommodations

My OBC workspace

March 2015

Spring seems to be in the air and with it the plum blossoms are coming out here in Tokyo. I am writing this from the quiet of my classroom at CAJ after having spent a long and eventful day out at Yokota Air Base for a track meet. On the wall of my classroom near my desk two verses are visible:

"Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened 

and I will give you rest" 

Matthew 11:28

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, 

and all these things will be given to you as well" 

Matthew 6:33

In both cases the command precedes the promise. He says come! And He says seek! And in both cases what God has to offer is far more satisfying and fulfilling than anything the world has to offer. I covet your prayers as I strive to fulfill these commands and hope that you also will find your rest and satisfaction in Him today.

Speaking Opportunities

CAJ Chapel March 18th

This next week I will be sharing in CAJ HS and MS chapel on the passage of Jesus' triumphal entry. Please pray that God would speak through me as I share with the students and staff.

OBC Soccer Camp March 21-23

I will be a speaker for 3 sessions at this year's OBC soccer camp up in the Okutama mountains. Please pray that the Lord would bring the staff that is needed and also that God would prepare the hearts of the campers as they come.

KCC Preaching April 19th

Following spring break I will be speaking at Kurume Christ Church. This is has been a tremendous blessing to be able to share with the body of Christ from the word of God and I am thankful for the opportunities that have been given me.

Graduate Coursework

Due to the busyness of teaching and coaching I have put my graduate coursework on the proverbial 'back burner' for a bit but I do hope to continue with my studies through Buffalo State University, New York.

Coaching

This year was my 4th year of coaching HS girls' field hockey and we had 25 girls on the team. We have only two other schools which we currently compete with and we placed 3rd this year both in league and in tournament. 

Track & Field has now begun and we have roughly 60 MS and HS athletes involved. My dad is the head coach and I am helping out along with two other coaches. We had some good results today which was our first meet of the season and it has been a joy to work with the kids in a capacity outside of the classroom.

Teaching at CAJ

This year has been a lot of fun working with 6th graders. The past two years have been spent teaching Bible to grades 9-12 but I've really enjoyed this upper elementary/middle school age. My subjects have been Bible, Math and Science and we recently had a class field trip to the Tamarokuto Science Center which had some displays related to astronomy which was our unit of study in the winter months.

Class photo at Tamarokuto Science Center

Learning about thrust

Creating rockets

Math class: Dodecahedrons!

A presentation on our Sun 

Meteor Presentation

Our class expert on stars

Currently the middle school student body is doing a food drive for the organization 2nd Harvest Japan partly to raise awareness of the needy in Japan but also to meet some of those needs in a physical way.

It's Official - 3rd grade next year!

Transition…Flexibility…these two characteristics have been part of my learning curve these last couple years and apparently I'm still learning! -

2011: Student teaching in 3rd grade classroom

2011-2012: CAJ substitute teacher & ALT for Japanese HS students

2012-2014: HS Bible teacher for grades 9-12 at CAJ.

2014-2015: 6th grade Bible, Science, Math

2015-2016: 3rd grade core teacher….

The joke in my family is that CAJ will need to open a preschool if I continue in the direction I've been going :) Please pray as I finish this year's teaching and make the transition to being a teacher in the elementary division at Christian Academy in Japan. I'm very excited but also aware of the tremendous change that this will be.

Joy Bible Camp - Summer

This summer of 2015 my dad and I will be co-directing the international Joy Bible Camp. We have already found speakers for both camps but we are currently looking for a qualified nurse. Our camps will run from June 13-25 and includes staff training as well. We have already received applications from a number qualified staff which is quite exciting Our theme for the camp will be "Accepted" coming from the passage in Romans 15:7 which says, "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."

Europe Trip - Summer

As some of you may know my sister Linnea and her husband Tom have spent this last year in Heidelberg, Germany as a part of Tom's doctoral studies. So, I've decided to visit them in Germany and while at it I would like do some traveling in Europe so that I can 'kill two birds with one stone.' I will be flying to Europe the day after Joy Bible Camps finish and then will stay there from June 26-July 23. My hope is to visit with Tom and Linnea, do some traveling to historical sites and museums, and get a taste of European culture as well. 

Recent Reads

• Louis L'Amour western novels
• Clive Cussler novels
• Agatha Christy murder mysteries
• "A Child in Japan During WWII: Memories of a German Missionary's Son" by Ehrhardt Imanuel Lang

I'm still working my way through a book called "The German Genius" by Peter Watson and also a book on prayer by Andrew Murray

Other Fun Stories

Trip to Gifu

I took a quick trip to Gifu during a 3-day weekend to spend time with Caleb and his family there. The nephews were recovering from the flu and thankfully I didn't catch whatever they had! It was a great time of fellowship with my brother and his family and also with the church that meets there in Grace Chapel.

Trip to Nagano

The snow was piling up on our roof enough that my uncle asked me to come up and help shovel our cabin since it was being weighed down quite a bit. I took a bus from Shinjuku to Nagano and then spent 6 hours on Saturday shoveling snow from the roof. By the end of the day I had shoveling a good portion of it and the snow was hard-packed up to roof level in the back of the house. Amazing! It was a good break from teaching and coaching and was also fun to be with cousins.

The heavy snows on our Nojiri cabin

January 2015

Alumni Basketball Game 
It was a pleasure to be able to play in both CAJ alumni basketball games for JV and Varsity and good to see several alumni especially Eliot Reasoner and Philip Ellison.

Sermons
Recently I've had more opportunities to preach and it has been a growing experience for me to speak at both Nojiri Lake Association (NLA) and also at Kurume Christ Church (KCC) where I am currently attending and helping with the youth group. Today I shared on John 21 how Jesus' original call of "Follow me" to Peter is once again given. He had called Peter to be a fisher of men. Jesus wanted Peter to continue that vocation even when He went back to His Father. "Do you love Me?" he asked Peter. The same question could be directed towards us. Do you love Him? And are you following the command that He initially gave when He first called you to Himself.

Below is the link to the audio for my message last Sunday:

1/11/2015 KCC Sermon: Christ who Satisfies 「キリストに満たされる」

Teaching
I have been teaching 6th grade Bible, Science and Math this year and it has been quite the change from teaching high school Bible which I had been doing the last two years. At this point I intend to continue at CAJ but what that looks like often varies year by year so I would appreciate continued prayers for flexibility.

Recent Reads

I recently finished a book entitled From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions by Ruth A. Tucker. It was required reading for my brother Caleb when he was in his Intercultural Studies major but I never had a chance to read it until this last Christmas. An excellent read and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in having a comprehensive (and readable) history of Christian missions.

Soccer Camp

This coming spring I will be a speaker at the OBC Soccer Camp from March 21-23. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom in what to share with the kids who come and also with the counselors so that I can encourage them in their walk with the Lord as well. 

Homeless Outreach

This coming Thursday my homeroom will be going on a homeless outreach as a part of our MS program. We will be traveling down to Ikebukuro to feed the homeless that are there in the early morning hours. Please pray for safety and also that my 13 students will understand better what it means to show love in action.

Summer Plans

As some of you may know my sister Linnea is currently in Heidelberg, Germany with her husband Tom and I recently purchased tickets so that I could go and visit them both this summer and hopefully do some travel as well. 

Coaching

This is now my 3rd year of teaching at CAJ and my 4th year of coaching the HS girl's field hockey team. This year we have 25 players on the team and what a privilege it has been to be a part of the students' lives in this capacity. Recently we lost to ASIJ in a 2-0 match and also lost to YIS in a 1-0 match but the girls' playing ability is much improved from what it was at the start of the season. 

Christmas spirit with some field hockey players

Field hockey alumni game

Prayer Requests:

• Soccer Camp speaking preparation March 21-23
• Planning for Joy Bible Camps this summer (this year's theme is 'Accepted' Romans 15:7)
• Wisdom as a teach my 6th grade students (and for those who are not yet saved)
• For daily time in God's word and in prayer
• For diligence in studying Japanese
• For Grandma Eby who has had some heart problems recently
• For more opportunities to preach and to share the gospel
• For wisdom as a plan for this summer's trip to Europe

Enoch looking professional

Wednesday night basketball group

Snowboarding at Suginohara slopes

Pre-Christmas get together with friends

Me and my nephew

Gorgeous view from Mt. Myoko, Nagano Prefecture

The traditional 'Eby tea' spread.