February! I’ve been living in Japan for half a year. What a brilliant half a year it’s been!
God has been kind, giving me a great church family to be part of and friends to share life with. Friends have been very generous towards me, and I’ve enjoyed some fantastic experiences as a result of their hard work. Thank you. I also want to pay tribute to folks back in England, who have been kind enough to pray for me, write to me, skype with me.
Of course, this half year has been challenging too and continues to be. Living in an unfamiliar culture, trying to understand what’s going on, daily commute, work, church planting, making new friends... it’s fair to say that I often feel overwhelmed and tired!
As for recent news, things are going well at GraceCity. We’re all feeling excited about the increasing numbers of friends of ours who have suddenly started coming on Sundays. We had a successful Christmas service and wonderfully, we’ve seen a number of guests and friends decide to continue to come in subsequent weeks. We are praying for breakthrough.
Personally, I can’t wait for the weather to warm up so I can go for long walks round Tsurumai park again, where I love to lay out all my thoughts before God and hear what He has to say. Sometimes I hear him and sometimes I don’t. I always come away refreshed. Somehow, walking outside in the freezing wind just doesn’t hold the same appeal.
Work is going okay. I have got to know some of the japanese english teachers better and we are working together better. I decided yesterday to compare my formula for planning a literacy lesson when I was at Stoke Heath, and my formula for planning a lesson here, teaching English in Japanese state schools. This experience is definitely adding something to me as a teacher.
Japanese study is moving along… slowly. The kids at school are great to try out new sentences on and I’ve recently started making more use of them. Today, in between classes, I learnt how to make “I have A so I have to / must do B” type sentences. For example, “Sorry I have to go now. Tomorrow, I catch the train from 7:00 so I have to get up early”, which I think is…あの、すみませんがもう行かなくちゃ。明日は７時から電車が乗るので早くおきなくちゃいけないんです. Japanese speakers, what do you think?
Keep well everyone. I’ll try and write again in March. God bless.
