from teacher to...

...student...


...as many of you know, claire was an elementary school teacher for several years in los angeles and boston before coming out here to kobe...you may be surprised to know that my sweet, gentle wife was a hard-nosed general in the classroom...now, with the tables turned, claire and i are getting a taste of the bitter medicine she dished out as a teacher...


...in addition to a healthy schedule of ministry-related meetings and tasks, the past several days have been filled with focused hours of language study and lessons (for me, studying japanese in the bathtub has been awesome)...we thank God for the opportunity to study the basics of japanese grammar and vocabulary and cover what amounts to "step 1" of the y.m.c.a's well-regarded 6-step curriculum...

...as we discussed extensively with our asian access team and our church team, our shared goal for the past month has been to study the step1 materials with the private teacher who was generously funded by our church (with no drain whatsoever on our monthly support budget) so that we could enter the y's step 2 course, which starts this thursday...

...so today, in a room perfectly austere for an entrance exam, we put our best step forward...

...and praise God...we passed and made it into step 2!...yokatta!...what a relief!...while we smelled the roses for a brief moment today, we realize that there are many thorns waiting to poke us!...

...speaking of roses, guess what we were able to witness on our day off hanging out with our mentors, the takamotos...

...yep, the rose bowl...live no less!...hearing keith jackson's voice on the play-by-play was sweet music to eric's and annie's ears...

...while adorable owen was spelling out a victory for the trojans...

...cute annie and her longhorns had the last laugh...

...with the guys glued to the tube, claire and sue bonded in other ways...

...from roses on thursday (1/5) to apples on friday (1/6)...we met with fellow cpas (church planting associates) kari and nozomi for our bi-weekly grow group...this is an integral part of asian access' model of church planting, where those who are serving together on the field grow together and deeper in our faith...our inductive b.s. in 1 john has not only been spiritually nourishing, but also a pertinent framework for us to share prayer requests...how good it is to study the bible together...

...praise God that we've become such fast friends with kari and nozomi...they're such interesting and active christians whose zest for life and zeal for the gospel is what japan needs to see and experience...love for the good news of jesus and love for the unreached people of japan intersect beautifully in their lives...today friendship meant helping nozomi decide whether to get...

...an ipod (as you can see from her pearly whites, she likes her sleek black 'pod)...

...following grow group, we headed to downtown osaka and met with a man with whom i'm becoming quick friends...i first met him a couple weeks back (see "mover and shaker" posted dec. 31 2005)...as i posted earlier, this friend is a very successful businessman and "body designer" in osaka....he is also a spirited new christian who is hungry to learn the bible and grow in his faith...

...with our friendship deepening through blog and phone communications, it was only natural for our wives to meet for first time tonight...we praise Him for a good and extended opportunity tonight to express our interest in their lives, to just listen and learn from them, and to reflect our faith in Him...while we were a bit apprehensive about first impressions and language barriers, He cleared the way for us to pick up where my first meeting with takashi left off...

...over dinner and tea-time at his home, claire and i enjoyed the kind of immediate connection with his witty and talented wife that i had experienced with my friend in our first meeting...please join us in praising Him and praying BIG for this new vista of ministry...your prayers are not in vain!...we are praying for my friend's growing appetite for Truth, for his family's salvation, and for his expanding business and social influence to serve as an effective platform for the divine Message...