The whole week was fantastic! I am off to India today! Everyday ended up being full, even the days that were supposed to be my day off or few hours off, just a steady stream of people coming and coming and coming, but it was wonderful! I can't even remember everything now, but I had cancelled two tuesday night plans only to have another one appear!  In the morning someone dropped by unexpectedly and I had been wanting to talk to her and we  had a great talk and good time and only when I needed to leave for Umeda to meet someone did she have to leave too! Wednesday I spent had dinner and Yuji and Michikos and that was sooo fun! Yuji is one of the most inspiring people I know. He just does things in his heart and his heart is so big! Just listening to his plans was inspiring! I had a great time at their house and the food was fantastic. Got home and someone was already waiting for me! heheh! It was good to talk to Acchan and a pleasant surprise for both of us! Thursday was leadership training.  It just amazes me how God has changed everyone. By request, the topic was prophecy.  I haven't done that in a while, but it was great.  People really seemed to understand and I was able to share all these extra things not in my notes, but in my heart and it was sooo wonderful. Instead of having to convince anyone of anything, in terms of abuses I see, people were so accepting of the truth! I loved it! Afterwards a lady came.  She has changed so much and God has been growing her.  She now realizing that serving the church does not equal serving God.  And so she is wanting to serve God by reaching out to others! I am soooo happy! If every christian understood that, then this nation would change! Instead of making people come to us, we would go to them and God would change their lives! Friday I went to Nishinomiya.  I was supposed to go from there saturday morning and meet saki in mie (about 3 hours away) but she had to work, so i was wondering what in the world I was going to do.  I even tried to schedule with someone who really wanted to spend more time with me but the emails kept bouncing back.  I tried someone in mie and nothing. But God had something better.  On the way over i got a ride from someone and that was wonderful. i had been wanting to chat with him.  God to the linscotts and Sam was there! It was so weird, but good to see her in Japan.  The meeting was good. I loved it.  That morning I had shared at bible cafe and everything had just flowed and so I figured I would put my fretting aside and let God do His thing. hehe! And He did.  I thoroughly enjoyed my speaking time there. Then we broke into small groups and if someone wanted the HS they could come and receive.  There was another group that came that wanted to be "filled" and so I got the HS group started and was talking to this other group and found they were under the misconception that they needed to feel something or manifest in order to be filled.  So I was able to clarify their misconception and share with them that manifestations are not required at all (of course I dont even think most of them are from God - but didn't share that) and that they shouldn't seek them but keep their eyes on God.  They felt so relieved and happy.  The HS spirit people all got filled. There was a group that came all the way from Hiroshima! Sam's friend came and had lots of questions and it was fun.  And my favorite family came and we were able to spend time together on saturday! I even got to see Jeremy, which was a treat!

Got to Mie and I was so tired. We ate at home and the food was great and watched a movie. Then i was out.  Woke up early for church and after church went to lunch with Saki's friends and had a blast. i was thinking while lunch, wow, Saki is so lucky she gets to do this every week. Her friends were great! We were all making fun of each other like long lost friends. i felt like I was in america and not japan! One of the missionaries wants to come visit me with his family! Saki and I got all our talking in in the last 1 1/2 hours  hehe! and then I left.  i met up with chihiro at Osaka and we had indian food and got to talk a lot! It was wonderful. She looked great. Got home at 11 and watched a movie till 2! hehe! i almost wasn't going to go to morning prayer at the preschool, or go in my pajamas is what I was thinking. Praise God I didn't because as it turned out jasmin was sick and I needed to be the assistant teacher. Had a fabulous time doing it! I was shocked. Shima made a great teacher! Then translated with Ai till 7:30 and then was off to see Takahiro and Leilani and I am now their wedding coordinator! hehe! It was so fun planning eveyrthign with them! And i didn't think there was time, but I even got to do the shopping that I needed to.  Came home and watched a movie and woke up super dooper tired and the plan was to just pack, but hehe! like all my days here, it wasn't to be that easy. Ended up talkign to a lot of people, but having a lot of fun. Even at 12am I was talking to hitomi till 2am! But i am almost packed and almost ready to go and the amazing thing is that I got to see almost everyone I wanted to, even if it was for a 5 seconds, we got to hug! It was a wonderful wonderful trip!

Please pray for japan, God is really working in this nation! and pray for me. I got sick and I had being sick on plane rides and please pray for my trip to india. I leave for the airport in 1 hour! God bless!

God's so good! It's been almost a week since I last wrote, can't believe it! hehe! but I have been so busy and tired.  Today I didn't get out of bed till 9 and it was wonderful. Just spent time resting and God fixing my heart as I rested. hehe! Rest is an amazing thing to get your whole mind and self focussed and right again. hehe! I used to think rest was overrated, but now that I am old hehe! I appreciate it so much more! Of course maybe I thought it was overrated cause it was scheduled into my schedule. Sapna must get 8 hours of sleep or else she is cranky unless she is on a mission trip hehe! :)

So what has been happening. Tuesday we cooked indian food, aloo ki roti and Miho liked it so much that we made some for her friends as well. Had to get pretty creative since the right flour wasn't there, the cooking pans and utensils that I needed weren't there and there was no rolling pins. hehe! But God is good! Everything tasted not bad!  Then we tried to convince someone who was supposed to come to bible study to come, but she didn't come.  We tried to find a restaurant I could eat at and I gave up and decided to do Indian food and actually got excited about it and wanted it, but Miho really wanted Italian and as we were headed over the Indian restaurant we found stopped at one last italian restaurant and although it took over 5 minutes to figure out if I could eat there, God chose to answer Miho's request over mine.  At dinner we found out that one of the people who came becasue she was sick has prayed that the person who didn't come not come so that she wouldn't get sick.  hehe! so the questions comes: "When two christians pray, who does God listen to?" and the answer...... "He does what I best!" hehe! the pizza was so good and I was sooo happy we ate at that restaurant.  The next day we did indian and it was really bad.  it used to be my favorite indian restaurant and well, um... I dont know if I will be excited about going back in the future! So God certainly knows what He is doing.  Also they had a cool bathroom sink.  As for the other friend not coming, it was perfect cause we got to go on talking a whole 1 hour longer!  It was a great night. I had prepared a bible study, but since the other friend didn't come, I just shared stories and answered questions for 3 hours and it was great! we all had fun.  Miho cause she wasn't translating, me cause I was getting to share and the two of them because they were so encouraged to hear what  God does!  It was truly wonderful! Oh and Miho's mom gave me her jacket to borrow while I was in kyushu (it was so hot in osaka when I arrived I figured it would be hot in kyushu and left my jacket there) and it was wonderfully warm or at least not freezing! and we still managed to catch a bus!

We had planned to go to the zoo but miho's friend was sick so we came home at midnight and watched Indian movies.  We watched one (I translated) and then both of us wanted to watch this other one and we didn't realize it but it was 5:30am by the time we were done! hehe! That would explain why we were so tired! the next morning I woke up at 10ish and we went to the zoo for 2 hours and were hoping to meet a man we were going to meet tomorrow tonight but he wasn't answering his phone.  Just as we were getting ready to go home and make dinner he called and so we went out for Indian. He was so interested in God.  He is a friend of Miho's mom and has been asking her questions about God and was asking us those questions too and although my answers were very simple he was so impressed by what Miho usually says and what we talked about that night that he wants Miho to disciple him! hehe! I am so excited!

Since before coming I had wanted to go to Nagasaki. I don't know why, but it was on my heart.  I told Miho if nothing gets planned let's go there.  but it seemed like our schedule was too busy.  Well, with the man meeting us on wednesday we were able to go thursday and it was a great trip.  I wanted to cry while in the museum and I was pretty angry at the decision to bomb those innocent people, but it really gave me a bigger heart for the japanese.  What they suffered was horrendous and I hope nothing like that ever happens to anyone again.  Did you know that originally the bomb was supposed to fall on kokura and the cloud cover made them go to nagasaki and they almost didn't bomb that day but then for just enough time the clouds parted and the bomb could be dropped and 75,000 people were killed and 75,000 injured at the time.  The running death toll to date is 150,000.  It is rather sickening to think my country did this to these people.  War should never cost the lives of innocent civilians.  It is just wrong.  But what made it worse was a quote from Eisenhower stating the japanese are ready to surrender, they just need a way to save face and do it, and despite that, we still bombed them.  And although I still think there is no country better then America, it makes me wonder how the people involved in that decision went to sleep at night, knowing what they had done, of course God forgives, but did they ever even repent?  For their sakes, I hope they did because that is too great of a burden of guilt to carry.  60 scientists signed a petition saying the bomb should not be used, but it is said it never got into the right hands.  All that said and done, whatever the truth is we will never know, but the worst part is that there is controversy as to whether the people of nagasaki were even warned.  That is a crime.  When we see the people burned to a crisp it is awful, but really the ones who lived and all those burns and future cancers and other problems...  It reminded me so much of the killing fields, but this time I couldn't get mad at a distant figure like Pol Pot, I had to face the fact that my beloved country did that.  I really hope we never make a judgement error that huge again.

We came home and I cooked indian food with all the left overs we had! I couldn't believe it. i was so excited even though I was hungry and tired and everyone liked it.  Miho's mom always ate the Indian food I cooked, so I was happy!  I have to say though the food this day wasn't good, but wednesday's food was awesomely amazing - bengan ka burta - I was shocked it tasted like it should and everyone loved it.

We got home and found a movie miho has been wanting to watch with her favorite indian actor.  So we watched a little and then we couldn't stay up any longer! But I think now that she has the idea of what is going on she will figure out the rest no problem!

Friday we met Miho's best friend from elementary school. They just reconnected and she got filled with the Holy Spirit and was soo open to God. She is a member of a buddhist cult called Sokagakai, but in name only and so she was sooo ready! Miho has sooo many people to follow up with and disciple. I am sooo excited for her!!

I got on the train and just slept on the shinkansen ride back.  I was sooo out! Good thing the Japanese are not thieves! You can sleep without any worries at all!

Saturday was leadership training. I was going to do a recap of old stuff that people haven't heard before but last minute in the morning changed everything.  It was so good cause 1/2 the audience that showed up has heard what I was planning to talk about earlier! praise God! My favorite student who is 11 came! I was so happy! He is such a star!  At night I shared about God's sovereignty. 

I was so tired and had a lot of my mind about other stuff and God stuff and just asked him to fix my mind.  This morning was awesome! The two hours of snooze was awesome and the indian movie I saw reminded me of what I so needed to hear.

I miss being able to talk again, but what I do find interesting is that my hearing ability in japanese actually improved while I was gone instead of getting worse.  It was pretty scary the week before coming cause I was trying to remember stuff and my long last spanish kept coming to mind.  But since I got here, everything has come back and more! hehe! Now I jsut need to put time aside everyday to study and hehe! :)

You know what I find amazing about God, is that you ask for something and He listens and does it.  Like if I am not thinking about about something and I know it or I can't just let go of something when I know I should, all I have to do is ask and He does it.  It's so awesome! I think I just need to depend on Him more!

For all your Indians out there who want a good movie - Kurban is awesome :)

God bless you and pray for my meeting tomorrow! It is at the church I wrote about!!

Oh and today hehe! I shared for 5 minutes at our church and all these people wanted prayer or advice.  One lady feels like God calls her to intercede and she cries a lot and then she finds out the person needed prayer, but she gets so tired afterwards.  There was someone who told her to ask me what I thought.  So I told her God doesn't make you tired, you should feel happier and more excited after you are done praying.  I found out later the lady who told her to ask me was a 70+ lady who lays hands on people or can just sense what they are feeling and it weighs heavy on her.  I told her it wasn't God and she needs to stop ministering. I haven't seen her for over 1 1/2 years but I guess she must be happier with her life now that she isn't "ministering" in this way to have told this women to ask me.  Praise God! There are so many misconceptions about spiritual gifts.  I remember once in america someone telling me they had the gift of discerning spirits and many times at night they would stay up at night because all these spirits were all over them.  She was so deceived.  God doesn't give us junk like that.  Gifts from God edify, they don't destroy.  another guy had a cataract in his left eye and 1/2 of it got healed and the rest lefts see what happens by next week! hehe! A sweet old lady who got healed of PAD/peripheral artery disease the first time I stayed in japan now lives on the church property and she came over for prayer and God as usual healed her of whatever she was there for. She is quite the lady.  She is in her 70's or 80's and was telling me about how she recently got to share with two of her friends.  She was so excited to be telling me news.  I am kind of shocked by what high esteem she holds me in.  anyways she brought me cheese cause she knows I love it! hehe! I was just wanting some the other day (yesterday maybe). And today I said I wanted oranges and today a whole box came in of the mandarin oranges I was wanting. God is great/kamisamawa subarashi desu!

So God is wonderfully good hehe! He is there whenever you need Him and for me coming back to Japan is like being on a retreat and vacation with God. I feel like I am getting closer and closer to God each and everyday while here and I love it!

We met up with Shoko and it was amazing to see the transformation. She wasnt depressed at all. She was happy and so much more confident and we all had a great time discussing our lives and the japanese.  At the end we prayed and God healed her back.  I think Miho and her will be great friends! Maybe they can even start going to church together!

Then we went to the returnees meeting.  I was so tired when it started (jet lag), but worship was awesome. It was all these old songs from 15 years ago but it was sooo good! Then I got up and my whole message changed. hehe! Poor Miho, nothing we went over was used but she did great! There was a lady who was diagnosed with breast cancer and has been having a lot of anxiety because of differing doctors opinions and during the message God healed her headache and spoke to her and reminded her how He has been with her every step of the say through treatment and how He will continue to do that and she neednt worry.  Her husband who has been so worried too was so happy because a song God recently gave him for his wife was kind of the theme of what I talked about and I story a almost didnt share but decided to despite going over time.  The whole night was great and we were all so happy and blessed because of what God did in each of our hearts. I get to blessed everytime I share about God. 

We got home late and missed all the buses so got to walk at midnight to mihos house hehe! and it was nice.  On the train ride over I had seen someone who had beautiful flowers.  I particularly liked her velvety marroon roses and was asking her about them and telling her how much I liked them.  When Miho and I got off the train she came up to us and gave us each a dark maroon perfect rose! We couldnt believe it! We were so happy! Our flowers are currently dying in our room but we dont want to throw them away!

The next day we went to church.  It was a japanese church and my translator didnt translate till 1/2 way through the sermon, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. the pastor was awesome. Miho was yawning and stretching during the sermon and he just started laughing! hehe! I love the pastors here!

We came home and experimented with lunch and it turned out pretty good praise God! everything that I planned in my head during the service, worked out! ;)

Then we were tired and were going to sleep but the person we were supposed to meet for dinner asked if we could come to church at night.  We both said no and then she asked about tuesday and so miho explained it was cause they wanted me to share. hehe! well, of course we went. though anyone could have talked us out of it. we just didnt have an excuse not to go hehe! and boy are we glad we did.  We were so tired when we met ayumi for dinner neither of us could talk,but service was awesome.  The simple old songs with simple messages and made me want to cry and miho was crying.  Just showing us once again what it means to be saved. The guy who started this church is so awesome. So sweet and so loves God! the pastor of the church is fantastic. the people are great and happy! during testimony time I shared a lot cause you know me! :)

One lady wanted to get filled with the Holy Spirit and she did and later as we were cleaning up she was complaining of menstrual cramps and back pain so I prayed with her and she got healed and she was sooo amazed.  She grew up baptist and healing, speaking in tongues is sooo new for her.  She was so happy she was almost dancing!

we didnt get home till 2 but we were sooooo glad we went. hehe! it pays to do the right thing! and today we are off to see a couple that we met last time who got filled with the holy spirit.  They are also baptist. hehe!

God Bless! please pray for the people of japan. They are sooo wonderful and God loves them so much. please pray they will all see it and be filled with the joy He has for them. love you all!