On the road again...
Today we took Susan's sister, Merilee, to the airport so she can return to Korea where she is teaching in an English school. I think Susan enjoyed her visit but I was either gone or a vegetable while she was here. Sorry, Merilee...
Two hour drive to the airport and then down to Kagoshima to check on our visa. It expires on January 23rd so we need to get it renewed or go home. This was my second trip to the Immigration office. Apparently there is a problem with Cameron. I would have understood a problem with Chloe, but Cameron is a good kid...
Anyway, Immigration office is closed for the New Year Holiday, easily one of the biggest in Japan, but I thought they would be open today....wrong. They are probably closed all next week too so we draw closer to the 23rd and wonder if we could just ship Cameron home in a box, have him stamped, issued a new visa and returned to us....just kidding...I think.
We have 8 people considering coming to Japan next summer for GRIT. Haven't heard of GRIT yet? You will, heh, heh, heh, You will...
Or you can just check out the link on our home page, or email us, or write us a letter, or call us, or just yell really loud...
Returning to "normal"
It's wednesday. That means a morning prayer service at 10:30 and an evening prayer service at 7:30. I still haven't recovered from last week so it will be a long day. Pastor Kishimoto said he would like the group from Campus to return for Christmas next year, he thought of a few more things they could do in and around Nagashima. It's a testimony to the group's great attitude and willingness to work.
I received an email from another person interested in GRIT next summer. Susan's sister, currently teaching at a school in Korea, is also somewhat interested. Slowly but surely we are adding to the list of potentials. I will have a busy spring working on material for GRIT in addition to whatever preaching schedule Pastor Kishimoto puts me on. I start back the second Sunday in January. I am starting a series on I Peter, it seems particularly appropriate to a Japanese audience. As an interesting (to me) side note, wer recently received a set of tapes from Campus Baptist. Apparently Pastor Will is/was preaching through I Peter too. I think I will finish my series and then listen to his. If I listen to his first I might be tempted to try to say something my Japanese can't handle yet!
I took a pile of notes during the last week of traveling with the Campus group. I think I will be able to fix a few "glitches" before next summer. It was an interesting experience traveling wtih 14 people who don't speak Japanese. It made a few things more challenging and a few things easier. All in all, it was fun and I will be looking forward to doing it again.
Thanks to Campus Baptist Church group!
Monday morning the 26th, 14 very tired members of Campus Baptist church boarded a plane to return to the USA. They were the first group that we have had the joy to minister with in Japan and I must say they raised the bar very high! Singing 12 times in 10 days in: 3 nursing homes, 2 church services, 2 english class Christmas parties, 1 coffee house, 1 church Christmas party, 1 hotel lobby, 1 800 seat concert hall, and last but not least - the world's largest indoor water park! They sang right after "Surfing Santa" road a nice sized wave to the beach. I guess you had to be there...
All told more than 1000 people heard the message of Christmas proclaimed in song and testimony. Although Christmas is recognized in Japan it is not truly celebrated and most people don't know the true meaning of Christmas. What an opportunity!
During the week I had the opportunity to share with the group our ideas for a summer program we are calling G.R.I.T. --God's Recruits In Training. We were excited to hear that 2 college students are seriously thinking about returning next summer and a third is willing if God leads in that direction. I can't wait to see what God does next year!
Just testing.
I am trying to send this from my email so I will be able to update it
more often.
Hi
I'm going to try to do this, too! See you soon.
Welcome To SmithLife!
Well, I can't imagine that anyone is really interested in our daily lives when each of you has your own busy schedule to keep up with, but, after much prodding and many suggestions I am going to give it a try.
I will be attempting to give you a glimpse of the inner workings of the wonderful world of the Smiths - Norman, Susan , Chloe, Cameron and an unknown member to be named at a later date.
Tune in next time to hear Chloe say," oh, Dad, your just kidding!"
