Back to my Japanese studies at Mister Donut's
We’ve had a warmer week here in Nagano City. It has snowed four days of the past week, but the temperatures have been above freezing most of the time, so we didn’t have any accumulation downtown. Once you get out of downtown though, there is snow on the ground. Today is probably going to be our last warmer day for the next week as colder weather with more snow is forecast. I took my first kanji test of 2012 last week. I did well, and now have 10 new kanji to study for my test this week.
Book, cards, pictures, and Kindle reader for my birthday.
This week I got two packages in the mail for my birthday, one from my parents and one from my daughters. My parents sent me Joe Gibbs’ book titled Game Plan for Life. I’ve started reading it and think it will be a good book. My daughters sent me a Kindle reader with a nice cover. They also sent some pictures. I’m having fun figuring out how to use the Kindle and I’ve already downloaded some free books. I found the version of the Bible that I’ve been using for my morning reading and downloaded it for free. I used it today and really enjoyed it. I got to Skype with my parents in Louisiana, Sara and Bill in India, and Shelly and Garrett in Seattle on my birthday.
Me and Shinichi meeting this week for coffee.
This past week, I was able to get together for coffee with Koji and Saiki one morning. Also, I had coffee with Shinichi one afternoon. We had planned to study Jesus’ parable of The Barren Fig Tree, but just visited instead and will study that one another day. I also went to the Denny’s men’s breakfast on Tuesday. This was our first one of the new year and it was encouraging hearing from everyone about what Jesus is doing in their lives.
Io and Liz in front of the snow in Iiyama, the piles are high in places
Friday evening we went with Io to meet Bob at Iiyama for dinner. We had a good time with them. The last time we went to Iiyama it was snowing hard and Io did a great job of driving us there. It didn’t snow this time, but there was a lot of snow piled up next to the road. I took a picture of Io and Liz with the snow piled in front of the Gusto restaurant where we were about to eat.
Liz sharing her testimony with Jon translating at Seisen College
Wednesday afternoon we were invited to speak at Seisen College about why we came to Japan. We had six ladies show up and it was an enjoyable time. My friend Jon, who teaches at the college, translated for us. I talked about how Jesus had led us to Japan and Liz shared her testimony of how Jesus changed her life. One of the students there, Miyabi, also shared her testimony. It was encouraging listening to her.
This past week I finished reading Genesis and now have started in Exodus. I’m also still reading Psalm, John, and Romans. I finished the book The Intelligent Investor this past week. It was very good and hopefully I’ll be a more intelligent investor.
Me, Mana, Aya, Miyabi, Hiromi, Liz and Yoko (Sari had left) at Seisen.
Liz and I were talking this past week about maturity in following Jesus. We have a tendency to think that because we have been a follower of Jesus for a long time, or have special training that we are mature. But really maturity is not based on what you know or for how long you have followed Jesus. Maturity is based on whether you obey what you do know. Jesus wants us to obey Him. Training and time are great things to have on your side and can help you mature, but don’t confuse it with maturity. Even two of the great followers of Jesus, Peter and John, were called uneducated and untrained men by the learned leaders, but they had been with Jesus and obeyed Him. Remember that your life matters, and Jesus loves you passionately. Well, that’s about it from here in Nagano on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
