Hello, blog world. I am popping in for a visit.
Many things have taken place since my last post – the annual Chi Alpha Training Seminar happened and was amazing, then there was a bit of break before the Spring/Summer semester started up again in April. Since then, we have been back at the campuses weekly for outreach and Bible study! We have also had several outings in the last few months, most recently we went to Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi prefecture during Golden Week to see the ancient Japanese wisteria. It was so beautiful!
At all three of the Bible studies I currently attend, we are working through a series of studies based on The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. We have been having some really good discussions about God’s purpose for our lives. We are also looking forward to opening up a new Bible study on another campus soon. God is so amazing! I have been so blessed through my discipleship groups as well these past two months. His promises are so true – when we draw close to God, He draws closer to us!
I was faithful to my bento life until these last few weeks, but I am going to try to get back to it this week! I was making a bento once a week for Kohei as well, but the way his work schedule is these days – he is too busy in the morning to mess with packing/remembering the bento and too hurried through lunch to enjoy it. Sad. Please pray for him this week if you get a chance, he needs God’s favor at his workplace!
The exciting news right now is that the summer teams are coming soon. Yay! We have two summer missions teams coming in June this year and I cannot wait to meet them and see what God is going to do in and through them all this summer in Japan. Both are Chi Alpha teams, from Texas and Arizona. I am so ready for them to be here! The amount of activities and events in the schedule book will certainly double, but I love this time of year and the opportunities for outreach and for lives to be changed that it provides. Again, I ask for your prayers, please remember these teams and our team and all the students that we will have the chance to meet and minister to in June!
Amidst all of the excitement, I am also beginning to prepare my heart for returning to the States. With the teams here, June is going to fly by and I will be on a plane only a week after the last one leaves. This year has been hard in many ways with so many things happening in my family back home and the little things that come with living in a foreign culture. Even so, I can’t believe it has already been another full year. I am really ready to see my family, but it will be hard to leave the Chi Alpha team, our beautiful students, my friends, my church, and, of course, Kohei here in Japan while I go back to Oklahoma for a while.
But, God has good plans and I can’t wait to know what find out what they are! And, as I said, I am certainly ready to spend a little time at home with my family.
If you have been supporting me this year in prayer or financially, thank you so much! As I noted in my monthly newsletter for April, May is the final month to send in support pledges. After May 24, any funds you send in will remain in an emergency fund used for missionaries in crisis and will not be received by me. If you would like to donate to that missionary fund, by all means, feel free and be blessed! Thank you so much for your encouragement and your support throughout this year!
Until soon(…ish)
Amanda
