水曜日・Wednesday

Hello! It is another cold day in Tokyo.  The wind is so strong today, it is rattling the office windows.

It has been a fairly quiet week since my last post, but it has been a lot of fun.  The Chi Alpha Valentine’s Day party was last Saturday – almost 30 people participated! I was kind of nervous about sharing during Joyce’s message, but it went okay and I have had a few people talk to me about how what I shared touched them since then.  Lately, I feel like a lot of what I talk about comes from a vulnerable or personal place, which I don’t usually believe is always appropriate, but if God is using these sensitive areas of my life or my past to show others that He loves them – I think it is worth it.  People need to know that God knows and loves them as they really are. Anyway, it went well I think and we made some delicious treats!

On Sunday and Monday, I was blessed to minister to the homeless in Tokyo again with International Christian Assembly.  We made 150 care packs this time, and over 20 people were involved in packing and distribution! God provided financially for the whole project, there was even leftover funds for the next outreach. Praise God! Some of those sweet people even remembered us from when we went to Ueno Park on Christmas morning, it was good to reconnect with them.  The next day, we were happy to have the YWAM team from Wisconsin with us once more at Todai’s LOGOS Bible study before they left for ministry in the disaster areas for the remainder of their time in Japan.  It has been great getting to know them and I know the things they shared have really touched the hearts of many of the students they met on campus. Both of my discipleship girls are studying hard for their exams this month, so I don’t get to see them as much, but I pray that I can be a good a friend to them during this stressful time.  I, too, am prepping for changes and getting to work on things that have just been waiting to get started in order to get ready for the summer teams and future interns. Also, yesterday, Kohei started his new job. So far, so good! He thinks he will like it there. Thank you again for your prayers for Chi Alpha’s events, for me, and for Kohei as he has been preparing for this new phase of his life.

In other news, I have started a new personal project! I thought I would let you know, because it will probably involve some blogging because it is part of the online course I am taking in bento making. What is obento? It is basically packing a reasonably healthy, balanced lunch in a compact way – the Japanese lunchbox. Here is one I packed recently, wrapped in a Japanese furoshiki cloth:

Kohei bought me my first obento box for my birthday last year and I have only used it a few times so far because I was a bit unsure where to start…but…you have to start sometime I guess!  When I read about the Bento 101 Course on justbento.com, I knew my time had come. Although I have already packed obento a few times, I think the planning and habit developing information from this course will help me make it a part of my weekly routine here in Japan.  Eating out can get quite expensive, not to mention that eating on the go is not necessarily the healthiest option for city life.  Honestly, it is an attempt to get into the habit of cooking again since I rarely have the chance in the evening. So…がんばります!　I will try my best!

The first assignment was to make a list of “good the next day” bento friendly foods , or foods you actually like that would be good (and safe!) to pack for lunch.  I am just getting to it this week, but I made my list today at the office while I wasn’t busy.  The first part of the second assignment was to practice packing a bento using foods you might eat usually eat on a plate, “packing in the third dimension.”

Since I made a bento recently to take to church, I will share my pictures of that. I made a simple pork and cabbage stir-fry with fried kabocha and rice.  Here is it:

   

 

 

 

 

 

I am looking forward to the next part of assignment 2! I invested (okay, it was a small investment…only about $3) in some silicone food cups yesterday since the top part of my box doesn’t have dividers. We will see how it goes from here! If you are interested in embarking on  your own obento adventure, you can visit justbento.com for more information.

Until soon.
Amanda

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