This is one of a series of emails I sent while preparing and living overseas in Japan, from April 2008 to April 2009.  They are mostly for my own benefit, but also for anyone who may care to read them.  Enjoy 🙂

Hey everyone!!

I just wanted to give a quick update and let you know how things are going for me so far this week in Japan.  Let’s see, I last updated by email on Saturday, so I’ll tell you about Sunday.

Sunday, Samantha and I both went up to the Kawanaka Church, which is the main church building.  It’s called Kawanaka, because that’s the street name on which it’s located.  For the most part, everyone here refers to it as Kawanaka…so I think I’m going to do that same and try to save on some confusion.  🙂  We went to Kawanaka, where I got to meet most of the church membership.  It’s not a huge church, but the building is small and makes it feel like there are many more people.  They are so nice though.  I felt like I was breaking every cultural rule out there, and yet they all smiled and bowed and nodded to me just the same.  Pastor Tony had me get up and sing a solo.  I was going to sing How Great Thou Art…thinking it a pretty easy one to have music for…but we couldn’t find a hymnal anywhere!  So, I had to go through a book real fast and pick out O the Wonderful Cross.  It all worked out, but the communication difficulties were amusing.  One good thing is that music speaks beyond language, which is probably why it’s the only thing other than ourselves that we’ll take to heaven with us.

After church, Samantha showed me another grocery store near Kawanaka, and when we got back to the church to wait for the train, the Broaddus’ came in and invited us to come have lunch with them.  Brian and Yoko have two very energetic daughters, Naomi (6) and Sara (3).  Sara follows Samantha around like a shadow, and it seems that Naomi and I are going to be very good friends.  After lunch, Yoko helped Samantha prepare for her Japanese exam and I babysat the girls.  The first picture link at the bottom of this email will show you the fruit of that time spent.  They are fun.  🙂

Monday was pretty busy as I signed my contract of service at Kawanaka in front of the church leadership.  So, I am now permanently stuck for a year!  It’s so much fun though…but I was intimidated being in front of the Japanese membership and trying to answer their questions through Taka, the Christian Ministries Director, and Tony.  Tony has a wry sense of humor too, that is going to take some getting used to, and he sprinkles puns in whenever he can.  Most are groaners.  🙂  It’s going to be a great year…hah.  On Monday, I also took the train by myself twice!  Samantha and I had dinner at the Haug’s (Pastor’s family) that night…real Japanese food that I kind of liked.  🙂  I’m getting used to it.  Tony’s daughter, Tiffany, is up on spring break from high school in Chang Mai, Thailand.  She is so much fun…a goofball.  During the silence after one of Tony’s jokes, she pulled out the “awkward turtle” (those of you in Connect should know what this is…the others, just ask someone in Connect…hah)…and I knew that we’d get along just fine!

Today, we had our teacher’s meeting, and then Brian and I went through the teaching material and methods.  We also discussed my students and the lives they lead.  As I learn more about them, I’ll share with you all.  Right now, I’m still learning names.  I had two classes today that I observed.  The first, Brian taught…and they were 2nd/3rd grade girls, three of them.  They are so adorable!  Rinka, is one of them and she has some attention problems.  Despite that, she is an avid learner and picks up English so quickly!  She probably understands the English better than either of the other girls, and she’s younger than them.  The other girls are Ayumi and Mizuho.  Ayumi came late to the material, so she’s still behind a little from the other girls.  Mizuho is so sweet and quiet…I’m so excited to get to teach these little ones.

The second class I observed was taught by Samantha.  It includes Nakayama-san, who lives here at the Center with us.  She’s one of the church leadership and so sweet.  Brian calls her Anna, and she laughs whenever she hears it.  The other ladies are older as well, and they are Reiko-san and Tomoko-san.  We had a visitor too, a 21 yr old girl named Mika.  I’m not 100% sure, but I think she might be a Christian.  She brought a Bible with her, and she seemed to already know the story of the Good Samaritan.  It’s hard to tell who are believers or not here.  Anyways, she liked class a lot and is going to come back.  I’m hoping that I can spend a lot of time getting to know her.  She seems like a lot of fun. 

Well, that’s all for tonight.  I’ve included links to photo albums for you all to check out.  The second one has pictures of the Center here and some other things so you can see where I am living.  It’s not anything like the conditions in CN…much more clean and organized.  🙂  Also, I want to remind you, I will make sure that I send out, at least, weekly updates by email…but so that I don’t weigh down your mailboxes, I am keeping a daily blog.  The web address is:  Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement and wonderful emails.  I really appreciate them.  Much love in Him,

Sarah ><>

Links to photo albums have expired and been removed.

This is one of a series of emails I sent while preparing and living overseas in Japan, from April 2008 to April 2009.  They are mostly for my own benefit, but also for anyone who may care to read them.  Enjoy 🙂

So, I’ve been in Japan for my third full day.  It’s pretty amazing…I still don’t feel like I am here…it’s starting to sink in slowly, but it hasn’t hit me that I’m here for a year!  Maybe once I start teaching my classes I’ll realize the full brunt of it…or the first big event back home that I have to miss out on.  I’m not sure, but right now I’m having a great time.  We have been walking everywhere, and I’m not very acquainted with walking this much, but I’m getting there.  I’ll get better used to it, but according to Samantha (the other teacher), we’ve been doing more than is usual…but I really am glad that I’m strengthening my muscles.

Let’s see…from my point of arrival, I was picked up at the airport by Brian, Taka and Samantha.  Though I was pretty wiped out from the plane transit, I was able to stay awake and talk with them and get to know them kind of superficially.  Since then, I’ve spent a ton of time with Samantha walking around and getting familiar with the areas and customs.  On my second day, Sam made me pancakes (here known as hotcakes…and the maple syrup is called “cake syrup, the maple kind”).  Then Brian came and took us to City Hall to have me registered as an alien.  I’ll go back in a few days to get my actual registration card.  Afterwards, Sam and I met up with Hanae and Takashi, a couple of students here, and had lunch with them.  We ate udon (soup noodles) with tempura (vegetables).  Some of the Japanese food is right up my alley, since I’m already familiar with real Chinese food…but then again, some of it is so weird to me.  We had a great time, and even had some pictures taken called puri-kura, which you take yourself in a photobooth.  Then, you decorate them afterwards and they are printed out as stickers for you.  We had some really good shots.  It was a lot of fun.

After that, I came back to Shimonoseki Christian Center for a meeting with Pastor Tony.  He was an hour late…so I unpacked and got everything put into a place.  It was nice to have everything in one location.  I feel so much better about my room now that my suitcases aren’t strewn all over the floor.  After that, I just kind of hung out at the Center, getting myself settled in, having some instant curry and rice, which is very popular here.  There’s supposed to be an Indian restaurant nearby, which I loooove Indian food, so I’m going to have to find out where and get out to it!

Yesterday (Friday), I had a meeting with Taka first thing in the morning.  Taka is the Ministry Director here at the Center and also the English Ministry “Principal”.  Basically, along with Pastor Tony, he’s my boss…but he’s pretty cool.  His wife, Aki, is three months pregnant, and really nice.  I got to meet her at the start of our meeting too.  We didn’t get very far through it, before I had to take the train to the Kawanaka site with Samantha.  We met Pastor Tony and the two secretaries of Shimonoseki Christ Bible Church for lunch.  We went to Joyfull, which seems kind of like a Ponderosa…it’s a popular Japanese Family Restaurant chain…not very traditional food, as I had Italian chicken, with potato and corn, and of course, a side of white rice.  Samantha and I then met with a church member, Eri, who is 19, at the train station and took it to Kokura for some shopping and to see the cherry blossoms.  Apparently, I have come just at the right time.  The blossoms bloomed not too long before I got here, and then, it’s supposed to rain tomorrow night, and that will be the end of them – they will fall off mostly in the rain.  We spent a lot of time in Kokura, even having dinner there.  It was a lot of fun.  Kokura was a Dutch settlement, so there are some remnants of that influence, but not too much.  One great feature of Kokura is a great castle, with cherry blossoms and parks.  It was beautiful.  We also found a novelty store with a lot of random things…a more tame Spencers, I would say, that provided many moments of laughter. 

Today, I had a video call with my mom, oldest sister Bronlyn, and my nephew J, and two nieces A and A.  It was really nice to talk with them and see them on camera.  It takes getting used to, but it is such a blessing to be able to communicate so easily with everyone back home…it helps cut down on homesickness (which I haven’t had yet…but I remember it from CN).  After the phone call, Samantha and I walked around and she showed me the grocery stores and Sea Mall.  I’m so glad to know where things are now and where I can find my things, since Samantha will eventually have to delve back into her studies (she’s taking distance learning classes through Liberty).  When we got back to the Center, we had our lunch and then decided to go on a hike with Sakura, a woman from China who comes to International Cafe.  It was so neat to hang out with her because I could speak my Mandarin with her and she understood (for the most part).  For the past few days, everything on the tip of my brain has been Chinese…and I’ve had to stop myself in mid-speech because I’m speaking Chinese and not even English…and definitely not Japanese.  It’s to the point where I’m even throwing Hindi out there…doesn’t make any sense at all!!  OOoo, one thing is that there is a ton of French around the town and in the shopping centers.  It’s really nice and helps me feel a little more comfortable.  Reading through these last few sentences makes me realize how much of a nut I am.  I’m sure you all have known it for some time now…thanks for waiting for me to realize it on my own.  🙂

So, Sam, Sakura, and I walked over to an area called Hikoshima, which is like a suburb of Shimonoseki.  We then walked up a mountain to a park called Oinoyama.  It’s free and is at the summit, overlooking the region, and full of cherry blossoms.  It was so beautiful, and though exhausting to walk up the incline, it was amazing!  I have a ton of pictures.  We met a class of girls, all on their school’s tennis team.  They insisted on taking a picture with us.  Ha!  It was fun.  The Japanese aren’t as ostentatious as the Chinese, so it’s been weird to be approached by people…although they all still do stare at us, at me.  I’m going to have a lot to get used to about the Japanese culture that is so different from the Chinese.  We were walking up and saw a car called “Midget 2” and we were trying to explain the meaning of “midget.”  Sakura proudly said, “Oh, short people…travel-sized!”  That was one of the most amazing moments of the past few days for me.  It’s so awful, but so hilarious.  We then explained that that expression is used only for objects…not for people.  She got it, but it’s going to be a joke with us for a very long time.  Please pray for her as she is not saved.  She was given a Chinese Bible, but I’m not sure if she reads it.  She’s not very fond of her heritage…maybe I have been brought here to encourage her and bring her closer to God.  I am so excited to know her.  She has such a great personality.  I already have her affection because I appreciate Chinese…I don’t look down on her because she’s Chinese.  She faces a lot of discrimination here in Japan for it.

I think that’s all for today.  This is a long update, I’m sorry I didn’t blog as things were happening, but it’s been a settling time for me.  I’m so glad that I have you to share this with.  Much love and prayers,

Sarah ><>

PS.  By the way, Tksh and Hne are not believers either…Hne is close, but Tksh is pretty agnostic.  Eri is a believer and a great sister to talk with. 🙂  Pray for them, and for Eri to be encouraged in her faith.  Thanks!

I’ll still send updates by email, but if you want the most up-to-date info and happenings, check out my blog.  I’m going to force myself to use it.  Later!!

This is one of a series of emails I sent while preparing and living overseas in Japan, from April 2008 to April 2009.  They are mostly for my own benefit, but also for anyone who may care to read them.  Enjoy 🙂

This email is to inform you that I have received my visa from the Japanese Embassy in Detroit!  Praise God it finally came!  Despite how long it might feel, the process went really quick for the government…God definitely had His hand in the whole process! 

Not just that, but I am just about there with my finances.  I had settled on $10,000 as being the amount I needed for the time I am in Japan, to take care of school bills and such that I have here, and through gifts already received and then, gifts promised, I have that amount.  I pray that those who are going to give monthly will be faithful in that.  It’s amazing how God has worked everything out.  (Be advised that I will not turn down any extra support that comes in…just in case you were wondering.)  🙂

My flight out will be on April 1st (not a Fools’ Day joke) at 11:10a from Dayton.  I will send an itinerary out for those interested in following my flight over to Japan…I will have layovers in Chicago and Seoul, South Korea before finally landing in Fukuoka, Japan at 7:35p on April 2nd.  I’ll be in transit for almost 20 hours, which really isn’t all that bad, considering what it could be (some itineraries I found had me in transit for a full day and then some).  I appreciate all your prayers and encouragement and support as God leads me out to serve Him in Japan. 

Another thing that some of you will be very pleased about…I am taking my violin with me afterall.  They seem to think that I can use it in the praise and worship!  🙂  Go figure!  I’m really excited to get over and get started.  I’ve been having some pain at saying goodbye to so many of the people I am close with.  If I had any doubts of God blessing me with some great relationships and friendships, I don’t have them now.  At this point I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world for friends.  It is going to be hard to be separated from everyone for the next year, but God wouldn’t do it unless He had my (our) good in thought. 

Thanks for everything and for your continued support! 

Until next edition…this is Sarah signing out!