Eternity in our hearts - Ecclesiastes 3:9-14

I've just reached what is probably one of the most important parts of the book of Ecclesiastes (in my opinion) and so i would really like to share it as i do think it is probably the main point of the whole book! Here's a section of the notes i took as i read from this passage this morning:

The author of this book explains that in the set time that God has put us here to live in this world, He has also provided for us things to enjoy. But He has also made these things temporary so that we may not seek these things but seek the hand hat provides them - the Almighty Himself, who has given us our lives and everything we have. We were made with a longing for something so much more than just the temporary things of this life. Although He does allow us to enjoy the things of this life, the transient nature of such things makes us crave the eternal (as the author says, "He has set eternity in the hearts of man, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end" - v 11). So, just as He is the giver of all that is temporary, He is also the only one who can give us what our hearts crave - the eternal. Our hearts' desires confirm this longing because nothing in this world can satisfy.

Thus it makes sense that the things in this world are, as the author makes clear in the first few chapters, "meaningless" (or in the original language, a "mist" - i.e. transient and impossible to grasp). It makes sense that the author finds no fulfillment in the things of this world - in toil, wisdom and riches - for we were created so that our only possible way of finding fulfillment is through the God who created us. Nothing that God has created can be taken from this world - all of it is His. Nothing can be added to His creation, for He alone is the Creator. All these things are there so that we can find enjoyment - although temporary - and that enjoyment is there to remind us of the one who lets us enjoy such things; to remind us that we need Him. The world is made in such a way that we might fear Him and seek Him.

It's a shame that the world has gone so far astray - seeking and serving created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25). How can we not see that we are so utterly dependent on Him? How is it that we put our trust in temporary things when we know that such things will fade just as we will? Why is it that we get so caught up in temporary pleasures that we fail to seek the one who gives us these things for our enjoyment?

The world and its order is indeed frustrated, but God is still the one that is in control. He will make all things beautiful in its time, so we must wait patiently, knowing that He who provides things for our enjoyment will also quench our desire for the eternal. Who else can we put our trust in?

I hope you can take some time to read up on this passage, and perhaps all of Ecclesiastes, and i pray that it can bless you as much as it has blessed me :)

(On another note, photos of yesterday's hike are up on facebook :D)

Beautiful day part 2

As you can see i have a lot of free time today :) We were gonna watch a movie tonight but someone else has occupied the tv and lounge room so it looks like we can't :( Oh well! I realised i forgot to add prayer points at the end of the last post so i'll do it this time.

Haikingu!!

So a few of us went hiking today in the nearby mountains - and i gotta say it was quite beautiful up there :) Not just up there but the area is also very nice. The Takeda Shrine area is also very very nice. We were around that area around 6 so it was rather dark but that added to the effect. My camera can't really take good night photos though so bummer, but it was awesome anyways. I've got the pictures in my head, i just wish i could show them! Anyways i guess there are just some things you really just gotta see yourself! It was like being in an adventure movie, or some awesome rpg :)

All in all it's been an awesome day :D I look forward to future adventures too :) We've got golden week coming up (a week full of public holidays) so i hope to be able to go to tokyo for a bit, then to an amusement park near mount fuji called "fuji-kyuu". I've heard the rides there are pretty insane! Looks like it's gonna be one expensive trip!

As for photos, i shall upload them on facebook soon hopefully! (My camera's battery is charging)

Praise God for:

- Safe adventures

- Awesome foooooood :)

- Beautiful weather

- Great company

- His amazing creation

- Allowing me to finally meet the KGK and church people :D

- The warm and friendly atmosphere of the church i'll be attending

- Just being an awesome God :)

Please pray for:

- The growth of the churches and KGK

- That i learn how to spend my money wisely

- That i may learn the language quickly

- That i may be humble and loving to everyone i meet

Thanks guys :D

Beautiful day

Today i woke up to a beautiful sun and sweet mountain air :) Today's probably the first time i've been able to wear shorts and thongs! (I need to make sure i stop using the word "thongs" here, coz the british and americans here use that word for something else...so "flip flops" is what i need to get used to, otherwise it becomes sorta awkward turtle...) Anyways, now that i have a bit of time, i decided to blog a bit about the last few days! I'll include some photos so i don't have to use as many words :)

Grocery shopping

Living on my own, shopping for my own groceries and learning to cook has been a rather fun experience. I suck at cooking but the ingredients they have here certainly do make things easier sometimes! So i look forward to experimenting with food throughout this year and teach myself to cook :D Groceries have been rather expensive, but it's all worth it :) Here's a little simple meal that i cooked up on my own :D

It was a tad bit plain, but i'll learn for next time :)

KGK

Yesterday i was finally able to meet some of the KGK (Kirisutokyou Gakusei Kai - Christian Student Gathering) people :) So we had a little Bible study session all in Japanese... i was able to make out some of what they were saying, and i sorta understood the questions and all, and i had my english Bible at hand so that was okay :) Often it was hard to express myself but i think i'll get used to it eventually, God willing! The Bible study was conducted pretty much the same way as we do it in Australia - no big differences really! I was able to learn some very important vocab for Christian use :)

Seirei - The spirit, but also used for the Holy Spirit Himself

Reihai - Worship

Dendou - Mission

Shitagau - To obey

Mikotoba - The word of God

Tetteiteki ni - fully / completely

Saidan - Altar

Saidan wo kizuku - To build an altar

Gutaiteki ni - Concretely

Senrei - Baptism (the characters used for this word are 洗 - to wash, and 礼 - ceremony)

So you may be wondering which passage i learnt these new words from. It was really interesting that my first Bible study here was from this passage - Genesis 12 - where Abraham is sent out to a country not his own - away from all the things he's accumulated - a foreign land (almost exactly the same situation i'm in right now!). So it was the perfect passage for me to be studying, as it reminded me that i needed to fully trust in God despite the hardships that were to come, and have trust in God despite uncertainty, just as Abraham did :) Amazing hey? :D

A few of the KGK members! I'm not sure how big KGK is here, but i think it's not very big...they were very very surprised to hear that Credo had 200 members!

The guy on the left is our Bible study leader Hajime Ito, then the girl on the left is Nemoto Kae (the girl i got in contact with before i came to KGK - she's my host (Kaori)'s cousin's friend :D) The girl in front of me is Kana, and the girl in the middle is Maki (these two girls go to my new church)

Yay for church!! :D

So today was my first time at a Japanese church (apart from the time i went with my host family in Tokyo about 5 years ago!), and for part of it it was a bit of a shocking experience. When i arrived i was greeted very warmly by the welcomers. I took off my shoes and was given slippers and was directed to the church hall upstairs. As i walked in, the room was already packed (although quite small) and i was there about a minute late! Back at my own church in Sydney, there would barely be anyone there a 9am when the service is meant to start. So i guess that was quite encouraging (although i guess it's also part of Japanese culture not to be late). I guess it's something i'll need to get used to. I mean living in Australia certainly isn't good preparation for the strictness of the culture in Japan! When i walked into the church hall, i was directed to some of the vacant seats near the front, and admittedly i was kinda scared coz the service leader looked like a very strict, old fashioned man. I felt he was giving me a glare as i walked in (about a minute late!). The guy next to me (Shinya) noticed i was new, but he thought i was Japanese (as with most people here do -_-")! He noticed that i was very lost so he helped me find the songs we were singing in the worship book (yeah, they don't have a projector or anything - every song they sing is in the worship book). Also, the names of the books in the Japanese Bible aren't exactly easy to read, so i was quite lost when they were flipping around the Bible. After settling down into this new environment a little, i was struck by the differences in how the service was run. Indeed it was interesting - although very traditional in the way it was run, the church was also quite warm and friendly. They started off with one song (i recognised this song! - a traditional hymn - Holy, holy, holy! I also noticed that at the end of EVERY song, they all sang "Amen" - pretty interesting i thought!) , then turned to a Psalm. After one verse of the Psalm was read by the service leader, the rest of the congregation read the verse after that, and that continued for the whole Psalm. You can imagine how hard it was for me to follow when everyone else was reading at native language pace! Then there was another song, and then a prayer. The prayer went on for quite a while, and i didn't really understand so much of what he was saying, but i could tell that here was a man who regarded prayer very highly. One thing to note however, is that the Japanese pray to God with very very formal language, which is appropriate in their culture because even with anyone older than you, you are meant to use formal language. The super formal language that is used in prayers is similar to that used in business contexts. Anyways, i was thankful that the service leader wasn't also the preacher, because he seemed a tad scary (sorry to say!). The preacher was a younger, friendly man named matsumura san (im guessing that was his last name). He was quite an interesting, energetic speaker (rather unexpectedly actually), and i managed to understand about half of what he was preaching (assisted by my english Bible of course!). The passage that was read from was Mark 7 - one of the instances when Jesus addresses the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The main point of his sermon then was that we should be worshiping God with our hearts, not with traditions. I'm glad he preached on this, as i can now be at ease knowing that the church will not be run in a very strict way. The sermon was followed by another song, and then a prayer. The way the prayer was done was a little bit different in that the person who prayed stood out the front, but his back was turned to the congregation, and he faced the front instead. I thought about it and it made sense - he was bringing to God our prayers, on behalf of the congregation. The service then ended with another song, offertory, church news and the benediction. Afterwards i was a little shocked when the pastor decided to give me and the other new people a warm welcome from the pulpit. The welcomers noted that i was an exchange student from Australia and relayed this to the pastor. So i received a warm welcome from the whole congregation :) If you ask me, i think that is what churches should be like - warm and welcoming. After all this, i was warmly welcomed by other individuals slightly older than me (workers) - a primary school english teacher (Megumi), another male worker named...oh crap i forgot his name :( Japanese names are quite hard to remember unfortunately...well for me anyways! After these introductions i received a free bento (boxed lunch) and was joined by these new people i met and the pastor himself for lunch. I left the church feeling very warm and welcome - it's gonna be a very interesting year indeed :)

My beautiful new church :D

Anyways, since the weather is so beautiful today, i decided i wanted to be out. So i'm gonna head to the nearby mountains and do a bit of hiking with the two french guys and one of the german girls :D Wooh! fun fun!

Oh yeah, here's a little picture of some of the new flowers that have been blooming recently. The sakura have mostly fallen now, so those trees are mostly green now. But yeah, these other trees aren't as numerous but the flowers are quite the awesome :D

Peace out! Love and miss you guys :)

Song of the moment - Unashamed by starfield

I've been listening to this song quite a lot recently, and i'm in love with it :)

I have not much
To offer You
Not near what You deserve
But still I come
Because Your cross
Has placed in me my worth

Oh, Christ my King
Of sympathy
Whose wounds secure my peace
Your grace extends
To call me friend
Your mercy sets me free

And I know I'm weak
I know I'm unworthy
To call upon Your name
But because of grace
Because of Your mercy
I stand here unashamed

I can't explain
This kind of love
I'm humbled and amazed
That You'd come down
From heavens heights
And greet me face to face

Here I am at Your feet
In my brokenness complete

The lyrics are a great reminder of how amazing God's grace is, and how unworthy we are - and yet He chose to save us and call us His friends, despite all our wrongs against Him.

Please have a listen to it if you can, and the korean twin girls also did their own version of it (look up Jayesslee on youtube!)

"so what's been happening?" i hear you ask!

I know it's been about a week since my last blog entry, and a whole lot has happened, so forgive me if this is too long for you to read, but i'll see if i can cut it down a bit :) If you want photos, check out my facebook! There are plenty there :D If you just wanna pray for me, scroll all the way down to the bottom for the list of prayer points, and thank you!

The following are not necessarily in chronological order, but that should be fine right? :)

Heaps of things to organise

So the last week has been slightly stressful, but still enjoyable. I've had to do my alien registration, get medical insurance, register for my classes, open a bank account, learn how to do international money transfers and get a phone. Of course, being in a foreign country and not knowing the language well has proven to be quite difficult, but thankfully my tutor (fujimoto tomoki - a 1st year masters student in Education) helped me heaps in all these things (they're paid to help us do all these things really!). So now most of these things are done, just still gotta work out how best to transfer money, and i gotta work out a few things with rent and all. It's been a bit crazy, learning to be more independent, but it's been heaps of fun at the same time! Living out on your own in a foreign country obviously presents heaps of challenges, but i'm up for whatever God might wanna throw at me, as i know that He'll be there to guide me through it all no matter what happens :) Anyways, it's an amazing opportunity to learn and to grow, so i'm grateful that things are the way they are. I trust that the good and the bad will be used to shape me.

Class starts!

So classes just started this week and i feel that there's gonna be a whole lot of work to do. I've come to realise how terrible my language skills are, as i have struggled so much with expressing myself clearly. My vocabulary doesn't extend very far, and although i can string sentences together without many problems, i'm very limited in what i can say. But anyways, i guess that's one of the reasons i'm here, and although it'll be a slow process, i'm reminded that God is using this to build me up as well (thanks for the encouragement shirley kwan!). So i'm now taking 7 subjects for this semester. Now that might sound like a lot, but it actually means that i've only got 10.5 hours of class each week :) That's 1.5 hours per lesson, and only one lesson per subject per week. We have to attend most classes, and so there may be a bit of a problem with me going on mission in june and july :( Well i'm sure these things will work out in the end though :D Anyways, it's been really interesting joining some of these classes. So far the classes i've taken were: Japanese expressions, a culture class conducted completely in English (with Japanese students as well) and a similar culture class conducted completely in Japanese. The other subjects i have yet to start are a few language classes and a calligraphy class :) This is gonna get pretty crazy but i'm looking forward to it nonetheless. Still, forgive me if i don't have time to blog!

One thing they do here that they don't do in Australia is a health test thing they have at the beginning of every year at uni (actually, i think they do it at school too). I don't think i had to do it (it seems that the other international students didn't have to do it anyways), but my tutor said i had to, so i did. It was interesting anyways :) They do a few medical check ups - ask you things about your medical history, check your height and weight, take x-rays, urine tests etc. The whole thing took about 2 hours :(

Japanese mobile phones are...AWESOME :D

So last week i went to get my phone (photos are up on facebook - the phone i got is really nice and sleeeek :D), and in comparison to australia, the rates here are awesome! I pretty much get free emails to any mobile here in Japan, and to any other email around the world :D I think there is a limit but it's pretty hard to reach anyways :P Since i don't make many calls, i chose this plan, and i get a discount too. I pay about 10-15 bucks a month for almost unlimited free emails :) Love it! I also use the phone for its bilingual dictionary function. I mean it's a bit limited but it does the job in a lot of cases. Still i should probably get an electronic dictionary anyways.

It's nice being here and being able to get in touch with Kaori and Nagisa again though :) It also seems that Hanna and Alen are having heaps of fun over in Yokohama and Tokyo :D

Takeda Shingen samurai parade, matsuri, taiko drums

Over the weekend they held a festival in commemoration of one of history's notable warlords (i think) and so we spent most of saturday out at this festival. So we walked to the castle, where there were heaps of stalls, and although the food was kind of expensive in some places, it was quite an awesome experience :) The day did turn out to be kinda boring though, as we spent a whole lot of time watching this parade where thousands of people dressed up as samurai, all so that we could see this famous actor dress up as takeda shingen lol... but it was still kinda cool to see anyways. While we were waiting (we waited at one spot for several hours) this old lady came up to us randomly and started talking to us (that actually happens quite a lot here - the old people are really friendly!). When i told her that i was Chinese she started going on about...i have NO idea what, and that continued for like 10 minutes. Victor and i were just like "what the heck is this lady talking about!?" and by the end of it we were just like "haha....okaaay then". I mean she was nice, but i just had no idea what she was talking about...

Anyways, the next day a few of us went over to the castle again to check out a taiko drums stage performance. I've got a few videos of some of their performances (i'm actually quite surprised, but my ipod nano shoots videos in unexpectedly good quality for something so small!) but i was pretty sad when the memory on my camera died out at the climax of the first performance we saw :( Yeah, epic fail lol... i should have just taken all of the videos with my nano! I'll know better next time :)

No contact with any Christians yet :(

So i guess you can say this is epic fail organisation on my part, but i haven't been able to visit any churches or join the Christian group KGK here yet. No one's replying me with any details :( I feel quite deprived right now but i'm praying that i'll be able to meet some Christians soon! Actually, i heard about a KGK dinner / prayer meeting that was on last night, so i went to the place they were meeting at the right time but i couldn't find them :( I didn't have the organiser's number either so that was a bit of an epic fail :(

A Jap dude curious about Christianity?

In one of my classes yesterday we had to form groups and introduce ourselves. There were 5 questions, and the last one (this was a God-send!) was "what is the one thing you hold most dear to you". So of course i was then able to tell them all that i am a Christian :D After class, a friendly first year (Kentarou) from my group started asking me about why i held that so dear to me, coz everyone else was saying how they held family and friends dearest to them. Turns out i then had an awesome opportunity to explain my faith to him, and although i explained it quite badly in broken Japanese, i feel that it may have gotten through to him, and he seems quite curious about Christianity, as i would be the first Christian he has ever met. Indeed it seems there is a huge need here. I mean this guy is 18 years old and all he sees Christmas as is a time to have fun! He told me he sort of followed the buddhist beliefs of his parents, but he never followed it strictly. He doesn't know what to believe, so this may be a great opportunity for me! It's amazing how God works to bring people closer to Him. I'm hoping and praying that God will use me to make a difference here, however small that might be. It's not by my strength that i can do any of this, it's all by His providence.

Movie nights!

It's fairly cheap to rent movies here, and we've got one TV in the lobby of the dorms. It's been nice having movie nights there :) So we borrowed 3 movies - pretty old movies but quite enjoyable - Stardust, Narnia 1 and 2. Stardust was quite an enjoyable movie :) It didn't get very good ratings but i quite liked it anyways. I haven't seen narnia 2 yet, but it was really nice watching narnia 1 again, and looking at how C.S. Lewis adapted the Gospel in such a great way. It was a beautiful reminder that God is both our King and our Redeemer, the Lion of Judah - ruler of all. In the story - Lucy, the youngest, is the most innocent - the "child" of whom Jesus speaks - as He welcomes children into His kingdom - those who are meek and innocent. Then there's Edmund - the prodigal son who goes out to get whatever he wants, caring little for those around him, until he realises that what's on the other side cannot give him what he needs. Seeing Edmund repent brought tears to my eyes - and although it's not meant to be a sad movie or anything, it was very moving to see how he was forgiven - how God welcomed him back despite all his wrongdoing. Then there's the Lion Aslan's sacrifice to break the "Deep Magic" that binds us all - the only way we can possibly be saved from the death we all deserve. It's a great comfort is it not?

Ecclesiastes

It's been quite the awesome reading Ecclesiastes. It's given me great encouragement to study these words of Solomon - a man who's been to the top - a king with everything you could ever want - a man known to be one of the wisest kings in history. Even after gaining all these things he realises that none of these things mean a thing - they'll all be gone when we die. No matter how much we accumulate, no matter how hard we work, no matter how many friends we make - none of it means a thing, because death frustrates it all. Death makes everything a "mist" - everything in life is a "mist" - a mystery - impossible to get a hold of, impossible to understand. So i think we can all empathise with Solomon as he cries over our helplessness. But we can rejoice with him as he reminds us that there is something much more worth it than living life to seek gain - that is to live to seek and please the one who created us the way we are. To live in such a way that we rely on His grace in our lives. Just as we accept His grace when we accept His salvation, so we accept His grace for everything He provides us in our daily lives. Our lot is to enjoy the things He has given us and be thankful - to praise Him for the works of His hands. This is one of the passages that struck me the hardest:

"People can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their toil. This too, i see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner He gives the task of storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind."

The only thing we can do is rely on His grace in our lives, and accept that we need Him. Then the blessings will flow. There is no point in seeking gain in our own lives, because there is nothing to be gained - we brought nothing into the world, and so we can take nothing out of it. None of it is ours to own - the things we have are simply possessions - transient and soon to disappear - like a mist. Solomon isn't being pessimistic about life - he is simply facing the facts. And he knows that the only way to live in such a world as this is to acknowledge the one who put us here and has allowed us to enjoy these things. We can rest easy, knowing that there is only one thing we should be striving for - God's glory.

It brings me great comfort then, in a land abounding in materialism, to be reminded that the things in life are simply transient, and that there is no point chasing after the things that a lot of people will chase after. Thus i shall give my life to honour the one from whom the blessings flow, rather than give my life up for the blessings themselves - the material, transient things of this life. I only have one direction in life, and God has put me here for His purposes!

Prayer points

Praise God for:

- the book of Ecclesiastes and the things He has taught me through it

- all the help i have received from kind people here

- Kentarou - the guy who's curious about Christianity

- allowing me to settle in, and get most the important things done

- the great experiences i've had so far

- the new friends i've made

- His amazing love and mercy, saving even a sinner as wretched as myself

- writers like C.S. Lewis, those who use their talents to convey God's word to the world

Please pray:

- that i can soon get in contact with the Christians here

- that i may be a good witness to the people here

- that i may grow daily in my walk with Him

- that i may grow in love for those who are lost

- that i may understand His will for me in my life

- for Kentarou and others like him, who are curious about Christianity

- that i will be attentive in class and motivated to study hard, and that i may quickly get a hang of communicating in Japanese

- that i will be humble, and looking to God for His providence, and trusting in His amazing grace

Thanks so much for being patient with me :)

Oh and did i mention the weather here is awesome? :D

Here are some photos - not very good since my camera's kinda noob, but hey they're still photos :)

Oh and did i mention how awesome cherry blossoms are? xD

This photo's for those of you who know how to count in mando, and can read Jap :)

Well here's what it says: "I, er, san, shi, woo, long, cha" :D

These are the super expensive rockmelons oO"

And watermelons ><

My awesome compact bathroom :)

The beautiful sakura blossom trees lining the streets :)

A little snippet of my uni (notice how the uni logo looks like this tree :D If you can't see the logo, it's basically Y shaped!)

Annndddd the holy Sakura blossom tree :D

Enjoy!!!

Love from Japan!

Goodbye Sydney...HelloooOO to a new beginning :)

So my epic 5 month holiday came to an end on the 4th of April when i finally flew off for Japan...sad and exciting at the same time. It was really nice to be able to go to ETC and catch up with all the awesome Credo people :) Still really sad that i couldn’t make it for the whole thing though :( And sad that i won’t be seeing any of you Credo peeps for like a year (except for the awesome Japan mission team! Thanks Kat, J, Fi, Kev and Masaki for coming to see us off at the airport, that was really awesome :D). So after saying our goodbyes, it was time for us to jet! Praise God that we were all able to arrive safely here on Japanese soil :)

5/4/10 - Day 1

I've only just realised upon arriving in Japan that i probably won't be able to blog very much...things are probably gonna be quite busy (with awesome stuff of course :D), and i feel that i'm going to find it really hard to find time for everything...so for those of you who are concerned, please please pray that i can get settled in and get everything important done (like alien registration, setting up a bank account, getting necessities, learning how to live independently)! On top of all that, it appears that the courses provided here at this university are very intensive, and so it won't be the holiday that i once thought it would be. I'm actually going to have to put a whole lot of effort into study as well as building strong relationships with the people here. It's an amazing opportunity to learn and grow, so please pray with me as i grasp every opportunity and make the most of them!

Anyways, so negatives aside...I'M IN JAPAN! xD Sure, i wasn't very excited before i left, but once i got here i realised how awesome this year was gonna be :) Yeah it's been a long time coming, and some of you are probably thinking "about bloody time...your farewell was like 50 years ago", and so i say to you, just be quiet :P So before the excitement dies down i decided i should blog about my very first day here in the lovely city of Kofu (and Alen, if you happen to be reading this, this place is NOT rural!).

The plane trip sucked...the food wasn't too bad but the trip sucked! It's just i'm not a very big fan of planes :( So i tried to watch hurt locker (coz apparently it's an awesome movie) and my eyes started failing about 60% through the movie so i stopped and attempted to sleep but couldn't :( This is exactly why i hate planes :( Anyways, upon arriving at narita airport, the excitement gradually settled in (as the air-sickness died down slowly). The 3 hour bus trip down to kofu city was a pretty drowsy one, but although i drifted in and out of sleep throughout the trip, i could not help but marvel at some of the amazing views along the way. Can i just say firstly that cherry blossom trees are friggin awesome and i wish i could grow one in my backyard :) Seriously though, so many of the streets of Japan, from Narita airport, through Tokyo, and on the way to Kofu City throguh Yamanashi streets, the streets were just lined with these amazing trees. If you watch dramas or anime and your idea of cherry blossom trees comes from those, then you should actually try and come to see it for yourself. It's quite amazing :) Also, our international students guide was telling us that the weather here is unusually wet as compared to normal. Although it was gloomy, the weather actually added to the effect, in that the mountains were much more misty and awesome looking. My camera aint so great, and i didn't get to take many pictures coz i was on the bus when the awesome scenery was about, so forgive me for not showing you what i'm talking about! Some things you just gotta see with your own two eyes :) Anyways, going through these parts of this country like that made me think of God's presence in all of creation, and His amazing creative power. I just can't imagine how any of this could have just popped into existence without some sort of awesome power behind it - and not just some awesome power, but a loving power - a loving creator who wants His people to enjoy His creation :)

So i was told before coming to this uni that the place was a hole, but those were the words of a city lover, so i wasn’t convinced. When we arrived at the city centre, i was amazed! The city looked about as city-like as Sydney, but much nicer and less busy :) Now this is my kind of city! When we arrived at the bus stop in front of Kofu Station, and we were wondering if the person who was coming to pick us up would know that we were the studentsfrom UTS. Turns out we stood out like sore thumbs (sore ASIAN thumbs that is :P), so it wasn’t hard for Ono-sensei (our supervisor, who is very nice :)) to find us as we hopped off the bus. So she gave us some instructions to wait somewhere while she ran off somewhere else, and we were like “what the heck why is this little jap woman moving so fast?”, so we lost her for a bit. So we waited where she left us, and after about 5 minutes she pops up again outta nowhere...with a mini-truck of some sort. We all looked at each other and were like “wait...are we getting onto the back of this thing? o_O”. That would have been pretty funny :) But unfortunately it was just for our luggage lolllll...true story :D

Didn’t take us very long to settle in at all. The dorm mum Yamamoto san greeted us warmly and gave us a quick room tour and uploaded some rules into our heads...if only the rules were in English! So yeah...if i break any rules, it’s not my fault at all *angelface* :D So the rooms are kinda small and cramped but man the Japs are efficient with space! A 2m x 1m bathroom with a toilet, sink AND shower! Now “how is that even possible?” i hear you ask. Basically, the toilet is tiny, the sink is moveable and so’s the shower :D

Anyways so it seems like this is gonna be an awesome place to practice my speaking, coz the people here can barely speak any english! Of course, the other international students can speak english though, so that should be fun and relaxing :) And by the way, the other international students are awesome :) We’ve got some from Britain, Germany, America, France, China, Malaysia...and others too that i haven’t really met yet, but i’ll get round to it :) So the first person we met was a nice German girl called Susie. When she saw us she was like “oh are you the guys from Australia? we’re having a party tonight at 8pm to welcome you guys!” Yeah i know, how awesome is that :D It’s gonna be an awesome year :) The British girl (Jo) and guy (Mark) are also very friendly - they were some of the first we met. And Jo’s Jap is pretty amazing :0

Before the party, us Aussies went hyaku-en shop (hundred yen shops - similar to our bargain stores, but a hundred times better and probably cheaper too :D) hunting :) We bought HEAPS of stuff from that store, and although it was quite far to walk there and back, it was fun and worth it :) Never thought living on your own and going out to buy necessities could be so fun :D Anyways so when we returned we dropped everything in our rooms and were welcomed by the others with dinner :) The french guys coordinated the dinner with some frenchish food, so that was nice! It was awesome spending time talking to and getting to know the other people in our dorms :) These are definitely relationships i’m going to need to build on!

6/4/10 - Day 2

I started my day off with a bit of prayer and Bible reading, something i was unable to do the day before due to tiredness and trying to settle in. So i’ve decided to go with intensive study of Ecclesiastes for much of my trip, since the Credo peeps are doing that in small group, and also coz i’m fascinated by it :) It’s gonna be pretty awesome methinks! I also need to start reading “A call to spiritual reformation” soon. I mean i’ve had it for ages and i’ve been wanting to read it coz i hear about how awesome it is - apparently the best book EVER on prayer, so i should get started soon coz prayer is certainly something i need heaps of over here for the duration of my stay.

So the UTS students from last year left us a bunch of stuff to use...if only we had known that BEFORE we went to buy heaps of stuff :( But anyways there was still heaps of stuff there that we could use :) We’ve yet to get our bikes but it looks like we have a bike each xD Hopefully we can get them tomorrow! Yay for biking everywhere! Praise God for wheels :D

A few of us needed to grab passport photos for some applications, and man oh man the passport photo booths are amazing :) 700yen (about 8 bucks) for 14 passport photos (which is actually much cheaper than it is in Sydney) coming in 4 different sizes, and they can be stuck onto anything like sticker photos (this is something not done in Sydney) :D trust the Japs to be efficient hey?

Anyways, it seems everytime i walk into stores here there is always something i wanna buy. It’s not that i need any of these things, but the layout of the stores, the packaging of everything and just the aesthetics in general were so enticing compared to how they are in Australia - i was fascinated! I mean this isn’t my first time in Japan but it’s been a while!

At 1pm we were due for our placement test, and none of us really studied for it, so we were really unprepared, but we managed to get through. But man the test was insanely difficult - stuff i’ve never learnt before at all! I’m just happy that i wasn’t put into the intensive jap learning course :) I actually get to do jap and also pick electives :D I gotta choose 2 more subjects (or more if i’m feeling awesome), one which will probably be sport and the other maybe something bludgy :) I’m really thankful that my Jap speaking ability has not really gone down as well :D

After meeting with my tutor and supervisor (who both seem quite nice...i’ve forgotten my supervisor’s name though -_-“) i went back to our dorms to meet up with the other UTSers and Jo....and got lost on the way...and when i got back, Ben, one of the French dudes, told me that the others were waiting for me at uni :0 This is what happens when you don’t have a phone lol. We really do rely on phones and technology too much though hey? Just like how i’m typing up this blog entry instead of writing it down! I mean technology is a great gift from God too, but we probably shouldn’t use it so much that we become heavily reliant on it. Anyways, so Jo decided to take us out to eat at Gusto, which was pretty nice and cheap for dinner (about 10 bucks each), then we went grocery shopping with her across the road from Gusto. You may have heard elsewhere before but DUDE the fruit and veg here is SO expensive! Also there’s a shortage of meat, so i might be craving food from home eventually :( We did see some pretty interesting stuff at the store though! Like a cute little watermelon about twice the size of an orange for 1280yen (about $14!) and rockmelons for 2280yen (about $25!). Once again i was intrigued by the layout and aesthetics of the store, especially by the very neatly packed...everything lol. Seriously everything was packaged so nicely, i couldn’t help but think that it was all very wasteful. Still, we Aussies can be very wasteful as well, and we don’t recycle nearly as much as the Japs do. they separate their garbage into like 6 different categories to be recycled :0 It’s probably something we need to learn, but Aussies are way too lazy to do anything like that...even if we call ourselves green lol.

Oh yeah, and Jo showed us a picture she took of “uma-sashimi” (horse sashimi i.e. raw meat from a horse!) and we were like “WHAT!?” Yeah...i don’t think i could ever bring myself to eat cooked horse meat, let alone raw...

Anyways, so it looks like it’s gonna be a very interesting year full of exciting experiences and new people, so i’m really really looking forward to it :) Before leaving i wasn’t excited at all, but now it’s finally hit me and i’m looking forward to each new day. I feel that God has given me a real appreciation of everything He has given me, and He is constantly teaching me more and more each day. I’m amazed at how He’s been working in me to change me. I feel like i’ve become more of an extrovert - something i never thought possible, but hey, everything is possible with God :) It’s actually been something i’ve been praying for - i.e. the ability to talk to people and associate with them better. That is gonna be the biggest part of my stay here - developing strong relationships with people - relationships that aren’t just shallow, but relationships in which God can be working. So please pray for me so i can be a good witness to those around me and shine Christ’s light out to everyone i meet :)

Prayer points:

- Praise God that we have arrived here safely!

- Praise God for His awesome creation and providence

- Thank God for allowing me to settle in so quickly

- Pray that i get the important hings done and get used to uni life (which starts next week!)

- Pray that i can build strong relationships with the people here

- Pray that i don’t get lazy and that i make the most of my time here

- Pray that God will continue to grow me through His Spirit and His word

- Pray that i will know how best to handle difficult situations in a strange culture

- Pray that my language ability improves

- Pray that i can settle into one of the local churches (i think i have two to choose from!) and KGK (the Christian group at Yamanashi University)

Thanks for reading my update! Dunno when the next will be, but please stay tuned :D

Love from Japan! :)