Do the Next Right Thing

We are delighted to still be serving here in Japan after all these years. There are times It's really exciting–when people are baptized or share what God is doing in their lives. Other times we just do the next right thing. Mission work is not like a business where a person can judge how a business is prospering by looking at a balance sheet. Even counting people who have committed themselves to Christ doesn't give the whole picture. So much of what we do is about listening to the Holy Spirit's prompting and doing or saying that thing.

I'm reminded of Zech. 4:6 (NIRV).
"Your strength will not get my temple rebuilt. Your power will not do it either. Only the power of my Spirit will do it," says the LORD who rules over all.

I'm learning more about depending on God's leading. Last night I got a call from a stranger. Ordinarily I would just hang up on an inappropriate caller, but for some reason God led me to keep talking to him. When I asked if he wanted to talk to my husband, he nervously hung up on me. I really couldn't understand everything he was saying, but it occurred to me that maybe God prompted him to call us so that I could pray for him. What if no one else is praying for him?

I can't see the whole picture of our lives or influence, but I know this–God wants me to do the next right thing.

Because my life is very full with school responsibilities, caring for my husband's needs,  and other ministry needs, I don't often go out with friends. But recently the "next right thing" to do was to go out to tea with friends from church. We had a delightful time at Rose Town Tea Garden. I was introduced to Angel Falls Mist tea and discovered that I love it.

Seaweed Sandbag Project

Three Eleven. What do those numbers mean to you? For those of us here in Japan, we immediately remember where we were when the big earthquake hit on March 11, 2011. Our church continues to help with the recovery effort. This weekend there's a group up north who went to prepare a meal for those still in temporary housing. Last weekend we made sandbags. I enjoyed helping prepare these sandbags for seaweed farmers who lost their total livelihood when their wakame plants were washed out to sea.

Wakame, an edible sea plant, plays an important part in the Japanese diet. While admittedly the slime factor bothers me just a tad, the nutritional value is hard to argue with. It's low in saturated fat, is very low in cholesterol, and is a good source of vitamins A, C, E, K, and other helpful nutrients. Japanese use it in many ways, particularly in miso soup and in salads.

Wakame is grown on lines in the ocean. These lines need to be weighted down with sandbags to keep them from floating away. Each farmer needs about 500 sandbags. Our church took up the challenge to help. We sewed the sandbags and decorated them with encouraging messages. I'm not very handy with a sewing machine, but we had good machines and a sandbag doesn't require any complicated stitching, so I made a few. However, most of the time I was on the decorating team. I enjoy writing Japanese and doing anything that even remotely resembles working on a scrapbook page. Thinking that it will help a farmer get on his feet again made the afternoon all that much more rewarding.

Working together with this diverse group of men, women, and children was great fun. Our group hailed from Japan, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Australia, Kenya, and the US. What do we have in common? We love Jesus and the Japanese. I didn't do much, but I was glad for the teeny part I could play in this project.

SSS Library Makeover

I've lived with messes this summer. Converting the School Support Services library from a somewhat traditional library to one where books are categorized into book packs has been an arduous task.

But it has been oh, so rewarding. Several things kept me going through the hot summer days. For one, my office is in the basement which made the temperature comfortable. I used the air conditioning moderately and emptied dehumidifiers every day!

I got to handle children's literature all day. The hardest part of that was not letting myself stop and read each book. It was motivating to know how much more useful the library will be for missionaries who live in Japan but are too far from Tokyo to come to our office. They'll be able to give me a topic or reading level and I'll be able to send them English books for their children easily.

Along the way God sent various people to help me with the project. What would I have done without them?! Each day Russ would ask me what specific thing I was working on and then prayed me through the busy, hot days of summer.

School began on Thursday. Friday I felt so overwhelmed. I had worked hard all summer, but hadn't been able to finish the job. There were book packs everywhere. Many high school students did not have all their class assignments yet. All day long the registrar sent me a steady stream of students to help get the book packs in place. Friday we moved a mountain! There's still plenty to be done, but the book packs are neatly organized and that makes me oh, so happy!

Tada! Now our new book packs are happily ensconced in their SSS library home.

Can you find the Dr. Seuss books? How about Clifford books? Arthur? I love color so the labels make me happy...and of course the color coding will help keep us organized.

Thank you, God, for a productive summer!