Easter Weekend

Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday are two of my favorite days of the whole year because of their significance to the Christian faith, and this year was especially beautiful. On Good Friday, I shared a quiet day with my roommate except for a brief picnic at the park with 2 other close friends. We sat under the sakura (cherry blossoms) and enjoyed good laughs and good talks, while we remembered together the sacrifice Christ made when He died for our sins. We celebrated life as we made a goofy exercise video by the pond (which I will probably be embarrassed about someday), and then biked home to relax until our church's Good Friday service began.

I've been playing piano on our church's worship team recently, and it has been a lot of fun playing for the last two weeks because there is a new electric guitar player who has joined the team. Before, our team had a really acoustic sound so it's been a fun challenge to adjust our sound and mesh as a group with a new instrument and different feel. The Good Friday and Easter services stick out in my mind for the musical challenge and the enjoyment of playing with a truly talented team.

Of course, there was also a much more “spiritual” side to the service, and on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday I was blown away to be reminded of the depth of God's love. He knows that I mess up, make mistakes, and throw sin in His face, but He STILL loves me. He STILL accepts me. I'm being reminded over and over again that Christianity is not about a list of You should... but a statement that He did...

As one of my friends on facebook said, Easter is “Remembering the immense.”
the immense love of God for sinners
the immense sacrifice that Christ made by laying down his life
the immense gift that I am given when I receive Christ as my Savior
the immense opportunity to share this love with a world that desperately needs a message of grace

Happy Birthday to Me!

I stumbled drearily out of my bedroom early Monday morning. I didn't remember it was my birthday until a few minutes later when my roommate walked out of her room with a gift bag. “Here – your mom left this for you,” she said. What a beautiful start to the day! And it only got better as I leafed through the cards later that night. I was crying happy tears as I read the notes from friends and family from home, so blessed that they would remember me and take the time to write to me on my birthday. Facebook was full of more sweet surprises, as friends that I haven't heard from in a while left birthday wishes on my wall.

I had a truly WONDERFUL 25th birthday! Whether it was going out for dinner with friends, sharing dessert with other April birthday buddies, or reading cards from family & friends far away, I was SO blessed to have people express their love and care for me. All I can say is a huge THANK YOU!

Back to School

After a full (and tiring) week of travelling more than I'm used to, I was ready for a return to routine. Our 4th quarter of school started the first week back and I was quickly overwhelmed as I looked to the future. This year has passed so quickly, and now there are only 10 weeks left before June. Last year, the 4th quarter felt very rushed because there are so many extra events on our school calendar – creating yearbook pages, Spirit Days, Spring Festival, dinners, graduations (Pre-school, Kindergarten & 8th grade) and trying to wrap everything up before the end of year. It's also when I start to feel pressure to make sure I cover all the information the students are supposed to learn, while keeping them motivated as the school year stretches out even as days brighten and beckon us outside. And then at the end of it all, there are final exams to create and final exams to grade (but praise the Lord I only have 9 students!). I quickly became overwhelmed when I focused on these lists of “things to do.” Then, I was reminded that “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” I was worrying about the future, instead of just looking to God for the strength I needed for each day. In my anxiousness, I was forgetting that 4th quarter is also dotted with Japanese and American holidays (one almost every 2 weeks), which somehow bring balance to an otherwise hectic season. I am writing this on April 17, almost four full weeks into the quarter, and I haven't felt overwhelmed since we started 3 weeks ago. So far, all those worries weren't worth worrying!

March Break (Yes, that is what I'm calling it!)

Despite numerous attempts by my American friends to get me to switch from saying "March Break" to "Spring Break," I continue to stand firm in my conviction that the two are not NECESSARILY synonymous. One can have a break in March before spring begins, according to the equinox or according to how the weather feels. In Japan, it happens to feel like Spring and this year our "March Break" qualifies as "Spring Break" because it comes after that. But it definitely didn't feel like spring. So, this is the story of my March Break! :)

What a spring! The official start of spring, March 21, is very important in Japan – so much so that there is a national holiday in honor of the day. This year, Spring Equinox was important to me because it marked the date my parents arrived to visit me. It was a huge blessing to have them here 10 days over our March Break! (Which happened to begin on Spring Equinox...conveniently.) It was fun to tour Nagoya and Kyoto, show them around my neighbourhood here, and take the bullet train (and then a really old train...and then a cablecar...and then a ropeway) to see Mount Fuji up close. I will treasure many of the memories that we shared, like

- Getting lost in Kyoto while looking for a restaurant, only to find a convenience store and eating on the windy steps of a tiny museum

- Changing plans in Kyoto because we got lost and ending up wandering into a garden of cherry trees in full bloom at the Imperial Palace – even though the trees weren't blooming like that anywhere else we went.

- Being reminded that God is guiding my life – even the little things that seem to go “wrong,” to work all things together for good.

- Sharing the thrill of seeing Mount Fuji with my dad, at the end of a long journey and when we had given up hope that we were going to see it at all (I thought we were in the middle of nowhere, and Dad thought it was too cloudy.)

- Being reminded not to give up too quickly, because God is big enough for faith to stand strong in Him even when doubts roll in

- Being able to share “daily life” with my parents – cooking, grocery shopping, doing laundry, cleaning, fixing things – and all the little quirks that come with living in Japan

- Seeing my dad give my friend Kelli a “Dad hug” at the airport, and being reminded of how blessed I am. :)

Thank God for Spring!