Good News

Today Yoshie told us that this year has been the best year for English Lessons that she can remember. We put out between 500 and 700 flyers and so far we've received 6 replies. She said that a long time ago (to tell would be to show her age so I won't say how long) she put out 1,000 flyers and only got one reply so this was pretty good news :). The lessons are going well so far. We have only gotten good replies from the students. God is really working here.

Random thoughts:

Yesterday I was listening to a song called Even When by Seven Places (really good song) and part of it really stuck out to me so I thought I'd share it:

"Its not about how I feel, Lord I am here for you cause you are here for me, this is what I was made to do. I exist for you."

Today I finished a book by Francine Rivers called "Unshaken" a story of Ruth and Boaz. (Its now my favorite book.) Anyway, at the end there's a little bible study and one question was "What life changing events have you experienced? As I pondered the question...yes I do ponder sometimes :)....I thought about all the things in the past that have brought me to this point in my life....here in Japan. The one thing that I can think of that brought me to a transition in my life was my view on missions. Up until that point I had my mind set on being a wife and mother and that was it. I didn't what other plans could come up, if that wasn't part of my plans then I wouldn't do them, especially missions. (Most of you have heard this before but what's better than being able to read it? :-p) So in 2003 the opportunity to go on a missions trip came. I was in a new bible study at church for teens (not "youth group" but Teen Bible Study) and the leader had a big emphasis on living your life for God no matter what He had you do. I was scared to death of the thought of giving over control of my life (as if I had any to begin with right?). This trip was in the following December and I prayed a lot about it. I figured it was only a week and I could just see what would happen. So I went, and my life changed. One week. Sometimes it doesn't take very long for God to show you things...so after I got home I decided I wanted to go to Romania. (I was kind of exaggerating...I mean Romania? Come on..lets be serious) So a couple years go by and I had been in this "Teen Bible Study" (now called Youth Group....go figure) and an opportunity came up to go to Romania....I was surprised and half scared that I would have to go since I had made a big deal about it years before and up until it came...i'm a big talker. So....summer of 2005 came and I went to Romania....God has slowly worked on me and changed my heart for missions over the years. Now I still am a little scared at the idea but so much more open to it than I used to be thanks to my mom, youth leader, and of course God. So....all that to say...in a very round about way I guess I was just trying to say thank you to everyone who has supported me in my life....you all know who you are :)...it would take an hour or more to name all of you....(i don't have that kind of time and I'm sure neither do you.) My mom especially. You have never let me down! I love you! So....yeah.....hope this made sense...i need to help someone so i'll post some more later. God Bless!