This past weekend I finished my first two-year term as a GP missionary in Japan. I had a good weekend spending time with friends:

Saturday morning, I went out for breakfast with a former classmate from Japanese school and then ran some errands. Then it was back to the church to hang out with some other friends. I had them help me move boxes, and then we did some preparation for Sunday, buying supplies and making some dessert for Sunday’s party. Really great excuse to hang out with 3 good friends. We ended the day with supper together at local Yoshinoya (Japanese fast food chain, and one of the things I’ll miss about Japan).

My last Sunday at the Nagoya church was, of course, bitter-sweet. I got to give some short farewell greetings in the AM service, but as I said to them, it’s “see you later”, not “goodbye”, because I do plan to be back. I had no ministry responsibilities this week, and it was nice to just hang out, chat, and eat together with my Church Family. The day ended with a young adults party; we ate nabe, followed by some great desserts.

Here are some photos from the weekend; click on any one of them for a close up and/or to flip through the gallery.

Monday morning, my pastor and one other friend drove me to the airport. We were early enough to have lunch together and spend some time chatting before I flew out in the afternoon. It was a good ending to my last weekend in Nagoya for the year.

Now I’m back in Canada, relaxing and waiting for the jet lag to wear off. Prayers for this period of transition are greatly appreciated. I’ll try to update you all soon on what’s next.

In the meantime, enjoy the holidays while you can!

This probably isn’t technically one of my best photos, but I really like it because of the candid moment of smiles and laughter that it captures. Also: sweet view from a 5th floor window. On the left is one of my church friends, Maiko. On the right is Eric, a new friend who was visiting me in Nagoya this weekend.

The interesting thing about having someone from back in North America visit is that it gives me a fresh perspective on my life here. I’ve been in Japan long enough now that what once seemed strange now seems normal. It’s easy to forget how much I’ve learned. It’s easy to take stuff for granted. So it’s always refreshing to see it all through a newcomer’s eyes again.

This time I was reminded of just how fortunate I am to be living in such a beautiful and interesting place, and to have such a great community of Believers as my Family here. I am blessed. And I am grateful.

This video was shot tonight at some friends’ house, and features the making of some delicious Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. Please excuse the low quality. It was shot on my cell phone, on the “economy” setting in order to fit it all. But I think it’s got some good entertainment value anyway.

It occurred to me today that It’s been quite a while since I blogged about my language studies. Actually, I haven’t blogged about much of anything; I’ve posted lots of pictures and stuff but haven’t shared many thoughts or stories lately. I’m going to try to get back to more regular blogging, especially now that I’m officially only updating one blog (this one) instead of two. By the way, if you’ve just joined us from JapanLog, welcome!

Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yeah — languages studies…

Studying Japanese has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Seriously. A linguist I am not. I was horrible at French back in high school, and remember practically nothing. My spelling’s also pretty bad, though it has improved with some help from a little thing computers do called “spell check”. So it should be no surprise that Japanese would be a challenge. Also, rote memorization is tough for me, and with language study there’s a lot of that.

People talk about “hitting the brick wall” in their studies. I feel like I’ve hit several of them over the past year and a half. But, the good news is, I am improving. Maybe not as quickly as I’d like to be; but improving nevertheless. I’m encouraged by those “a-ha” moments that happen once in a while, when something I didn’t for a long time get suddenly clicks.

I’m also encouraged in those the moments when I actually stop and think about where I am compared to a year ago; when I see how far I’ve come rather than just seeing how far I’ve got to go.

This morning in church, I had one of those moments. We were singing a song and I realized that I actually understood almost all of what I was singing. It helped that today was one of our less-traditional services. Usually we sing from a hymnbook; like English hymnbooks, Japanese ones use a lot of out-dated language and “churchy” language. Today’s songs were more modern and thus used more common language. And I realized all of the sudden during one of those songs that I knew just about ever word. I looked the one up that I couldn’t, and understood.

It was a nice moment. I find I’m having more of them lately. Sometimes it’s when I have a good conversation with a friend. Or when I’m sitting in a meeting and understand the gist, even if I don’t get every word.

Though I’ve got a really really long way to go before I’m even close to fluent, I’m thankful that I can look back and see some real progress.

It’s been a while since I posted a video, so since my friend captured these on the weekend, I thought I would go ahead and share them with you all. In these videos you get to meet some of my friends, hear my poor Japanese, and see me slowly figure out that I’m being videoed and not photographed. Taken last Saturday after a strawberry-picking expedition with some friends from my church. Enjoy.

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I just realized I could subtitle these on YouTube, so maybe I should do that some day… But not tonight.

I’ve been back in Japan for almost a year now. Crazy. I wish I could say I’ve made more progress in my Japanese than I have. But the biggest thing I’ve learned is how to learn. Actually I’m still learning. Hopefully the next year I can apply what I’ve already learned — both the “how to learn” and the actual language skills — and really see some measurable progress.

It’s Sunday afternoon, a rainy day, and with this cold I’ve caught, a great day to say inside. It’s a pretty good time to get sick, though. At school they’re having our annual health checks this week. Yes, my language school gives us health checks; I think it’s a law here. And actually kind of nice that they take responsibility for their students’ well-being like that.

I really don’t have much to say today. I just wanted an excuse to post a couple of photos. I’m thinking I’ll completely can the photoblog and instead just post more photos here. Maybe a re-design would help, though, something that lets me post them at a larger size and really let ‘em shine. What do you think?

The above photo, by the way, was taken at a Nagoya Station subway platform. Below, something a little more peaceful and traditional — yet another shot from the Nakamura Festival. These are dancers from the same group as the girl in my most recent Photo of the Week.

A while back, received a random email from some guy named Tim, who, the email went on to explain, found me through a mutual friend’s Facebook page. Tim’s a fellow-Canadian (woohoo!) and just moved to Japan. He lives about an hour from Nagoya and has been studying Japanese there for about a month now. Yesterday we finally met up in person and did some wandering around Nagoya. It was nice to have a fellow-Canadian to talk to for a change — we understood each other’s jokes. And speaking of jokes… here we are a with a couple of really cute Japanese chicks we met in Sakae:

Awful pun, I know. Couldn’t resist. Hope you all had a great weekend, too.

It’s Friday! The past couple of weeks of class of class have been busy and difficult, and I’m glad it’s the weekend again. I’m getting used to the extra work load, though, so I’m moving in the right direction. Here are some random thoughts and links to keep you entertained and informed for the weekend:

1. I recently learned that the kanji (Japanese character) for “busy” (isogashii, 忙しい) is made up of two parts, meaning “lose” and “heart”. I found this very interesting, since losing heart is exactly what happens to people who find themselves too busy. You can see it all over Japan, especially among those who have been living the salaryman life for several years.

2. Here’s an interesting and creative look at Japanese culture: 51 Japanese Characters. Each cartoon character tells us about an aspect of the culture, each wearing a different label that people here wear, from “hostess” to “salaryman” to “cosplay” to “ninja”… I learned some new things there myself, just skimming quickly through.

3. Another link, this one about missions: Tim Guptil’s Top 5 Reasons to Go on a Short-Term Missions Trip. Tim’s Wesleyan pastor in my hometown.

4. My friend and fellow missionary Laura is also an artist and is supporting her ministry by selling her art HERE. Great idea, and some really nice pieces there too. Now go do some Christmas shopping!

First of all, many thanks to all of you who have been praying for me. As I’d predicted, this has been a busy month. School is getting harder and I had a couple of ministry trips, too. Last weekend I was in Gifu city, where I preached on Sunday about the Prodigal Son. It went well, but I’m glad to not have anywhere to rush off to this weekend.

As things get busier with school, though, I’m learning again to become a better time manager. My friend AJ wrote a post on his blog recently about focus that offers some good tips, not the least of which is the idea of a “stop doing” list. We get so focused on organizing and working through our to-do’s sometimes that we miss the fact that there may actually be stuff on the we don’t actually need to do.

For me, right now, learning Japanese has to take top priority. I’ve been having trouble keeping up, and last week one of my teachers sat me down to give me some advice — including the suggestion that should be studying about FIVE HOURS a day! That’s outside of class, meaning about 8 or 9 hours total, in class and out. So, to avoid distractions and stay focused, I’m forced to make my own to-not-do list…

1. I’m going to try not to go online more than once a day. I tried it this week, and did pretty well. If it’s work-related email or research I have to do, that’s one thing, but it’s amazing how we can feel compelled to check email, Facebook, and blogs several times a day. Well, no more, for me anyway. I’ll make an exception for weekends and holidays, but limiting my time online during the week will keep me more focused on more important things.

2. On a related note, I’m limiting my blogging to weekends. You might see stuff show up during the week, but usually it’ll be pre-written on the weekend, unless it’s really pressing (which it never is).

3. I’m going to stop doing the photoblog. For now, at least. I was doing all my pre-loading over there on the weekend, anyway, so it hasn’t been a huge time-sink. But it hasn’t been as fun as I’d hoped and may be a bit redundant, since I can and do post photos here as well. I think the occasional gallery and the weekly photo here is better than the daily photoblog thing, though.

4. I’m going to stop renting movies. I find I have a bad habit of renting something and then never actually getting around to watching it before it’s time to take back anyway. So this’ll save me money too. Plus my computer has run out of region-code switches and has forced my hand; I can watch my Canandian-purchased DVDs but not Japanese ones, without hacking. So my hand is forced.

5. I’m going to stop eating out so much. I tried coming straight home most days this week, instead of eating out and then studying and the coffee shop as I often do, and I had some really productive days. This one hinges on keeping a well-stocked fridge and coffee supply, though.

6. I’m going to not feel obligated to show up at every event. My church has been good about not pressuring me to get overly involved or giving me too responsibility, and letting me focus on my studies. But I’ve stilled tried to be involved and show up as much as I could. As a guy I knew in college once said, though: “Use your skips wisely.” I’m going to that now.

7. The podcast. It’s gotten so little response it’s probably not worth my time. Maybe once in a while, but no promises.

Well, there’s a parade going past the building now, and since it’s Saturday, I think I’ll go out and enjoy it. Have a great weekend, wherever you are.

The above image comes from Ramone over at Art for Jesus – in Japan. This week I had a bit of a wake up call as I realized I was falling behind in my studies and that I need to double my efforts. I also need wisdom, and I when I saw this, I found it to be a beautiful reminder — built right into the very language I’m struggling to learn! — of where real wisdom comes from. As you can see, in Japanese, the word for “wisdom” comes from combining two kanji meaning “know” and “grace”. And if we want true wisdom, we need to know God’s grace.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” – James 1:5 (NIV)

I think it’s funny that I posted tons more content more frequently when I was away in August and not even online than I have since. Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately. Not much is going on, other than what I told you last week about finishing the semester successfully. But I’ll try to get back to posting more regularly when my schedule is more regular again.

In the meantime, here’s another video tour of my apartment. I’ve made some changes since the previous one, so I thought I’d show you around again. Enjoy.

A couple of months (or so) ago, I was interviewed, via email for GP’s newsletter/magazine GP Worldview. I thought I’d share it here on the blog for those of you who haven’t read it. It was edited for space in the mag, so I’ll include some of the stuff that was cut out.

Tell me about your call to missions, especially to Japan.

I was “finished school” and working full-time as a graphic designer when I first started sensing God call me into ministry. I didn’t know where that would lead me ultimately, but it started with going back to school, where I received my Youth Ministry degree from Bethany Bible College.

After Bible College I still had no plans to go overseas as a missionary. I was a youth major, after all, and had a passion for worship leading. So I pursued various potential opportunities in youth and music ministry. But in all my searching for just the right ministry position, nothing I pursued worked out. For months, it seemed like every door I tried was closed. Then, through the internet, an opportunity came my way completely unexpectedly: a one-year position teaching English and doing ministry in Japan, at a little place in Sayama City, Osaka, called Grace English School.

After a lot of prayer and thinking, I really sensed that God was leading me to accept the offer. So in the summer of 2002 I left Canada for a year in Japan. It will be a great experience — an adventure, I thought, and besides, it’s only for a year, right?

That year changed my life. It was an adventure, yes. But it changed me in ways I didn’t ever realize at the time. It changed the way I looked at the world, the way I looked at missions, the way I looked at life in general, and the way I looked at myself. I fell in love with Japan and, seeing the great spiritual need, have been carrying a burden for the Japanese ever since.

I know this isn’t your first time in Japan. Tell a little bit about your first or past times there.

As I mentioned, my first experience with Japan was the year I spent in Osaka. My day-to-day life consisted mainly of teaching English, but since the English school I worked at was owned and operated by Believers, there was quite a bit of opportunity for ministry as well. We did a weekly event called “International Fellowship”, which was a time of sharing about culture, and a time for people to practice their English, but also a time of worship and Bible study. I played guitar and lead worship almost every week, and had the opportunity to do the Bible study on several occasions as well.

One thing that stood out to me about Japanese society was their ability to embrace modern ideas and technology while at the same time holding on to their distinctive culture and traditions. It’s a fascinating mix of the ancient and ultra-modern. But what I came to love most about Japan was the people.

How is the language learning process coming along? Are you able to communicate in Japanese?

I suppose that depends on how you define “communicate”! For a native speaking, talking to me in Japanese is probably like talking to a two-year old! On the other hand, that’s better than a few months ago. I have certainly made a lot of progress in my first couple of months of formal studies, but language learning is a slow and difficult process.

What cultural practices are the most challenging to adjust to?

In Japan, everything matters. There’s a rule and a right way to do everything. When you’re not from here, that of course means a you face a huge learning curve. Also, communication is often indirect, so you need to learn to read between the lines. And the language barrier just makes all of this learning all the more slow.

I know you have only been in Japan since the end of December, but so far what has been your high point?

It’s been a few years coming, so for me just being back in Japan feels great. But recently I had the opportunity, along with a new Japanese friend, to sing and play a duet during a Sunday afternoon outreach service. We sang a bilingual version of “The Love of God”. I also gave a brief introduction in Japanese. It was an amazing experience to be able to minster in this way in Japanese — even if (to be honest) I didn’t understand every word I said, and had to read the whole thing! One of my dreams is to be able to lead worship completely in Japanese, and this was a small step in that direction.

What will your ministry be?

During this term, my main focus is on learning Japanese. However, I will be involved at Immanuel Nagoya Church by doing some English teaching and helping with their youth ministry. I also recently began giving one-on-one English lessons to a young Japanese guy in exchange for his help with my Japanese. He’s not a Christian, but is open to studying the Bible, so we’re going to be going through the book of Mark together.

Do the Japanese know anything about Jesus? How do you go about sharing the gospel with them?

Japan is basically 99% unreached. That means the average person not only isn’t a Believer, but probably doesn’t even know who Jesus really is. With this being a group-oriented culture, where indirect communication is the norm, aggressive or confrontational forms of evangelism aren’t the way to go. Which is fine by me, since I’m not aggressive or confrontational. I think relationships are the key. That’s one of the reasons English teaching is such a great ministry tool here. As a native English speaker, this is a service I can offer the church as a way to help them to connect with people outside the church. And this is something I can do even while the language barrier keeps me from other areas of service.

What is your vision for the Japanese people?

I think there’s a great openness to the Gospel among today’s youth. I think the opportunity and possibility of reaching Japan may be greater now than ever before. My dream is to see Japanese Believers of this generation seize the opportunity to reach their generation with the love of Christ.

What has God taught you personally on this journey so far?

Patience! Maybe I should say he’s teaching me patience. Learning another language takes a lot of discipline and hard work. And with or without language and cultural barriers, ministry in Japan is a slow process of building relationships, planting seeds and trusting God to bring the harvest.

Another vid from my trip to Tokyo a while back. After an all-day meeting, Zach and I unwound by walking around Shibuya for a while, navigating crowds, people watching and eating burgers. Mmm.

This’ll be the last video from July’s trip to Tokyo. I blame all zaniness on Zach. This is how missionaries doing language studies relieve stress. I guess.