Back in Japan

The holidays are over and a new year has begun! I enjoyed the time I could spend with friends and family during my 2 week vacation in Canada. It's always refreshing to reconnect with friends and I was especially excited to meet my friend Melanie's new baby! Like most babies, she is very cute. :)

I arrived back in Japan on Friday night, only to find that the gas in our apartment was not working. That meant no shower to clean up my stinky self after 24 hours on a plane, no stove to make a cup of hot tea, and no heat to warm up our chilly home. Thankfully, my roommate and I ended up coming home at the exact same time from the airport, so we were together to deal with the problem. God provided a Japanese friend of ours to come over and try to reset the gas, but that didn't work. Instead, she offered to phone the gas company for us in the morning. In the meantime, we pulled out electric heaters, electric blankets, made tea in the microwave, and heated water for a sponge bath in a tupperware container. I guess things weren't so bad after all. My roommate made the comment, "It oculd be worse...we might not have electricity," and that started my mind rolling with all the things we had to praise God for. "It could be worse...we might not have water." "It could be worse...we might not have 4 strong walls and a roof over our head." "It could be worse...we might not have been able to reach Nobuyo." "It could be worse...we might not ever have had the luxuries of hot water showers and gas heating in the first place. Through this whole situation, I felt God's gentle reminder that, yes, things will go wrong in this life, but when we keep an attitude of praise we will see Him come through for us! He did come through...a repairman came the next afternoon and replaced something. Now, we're warm, clean, and actually grateful for the blessings we have.