Kindergarten Wisdom

One of the perks of babysitting is it keeps me young. Not that I'm particularly old, but it's so easy to get caught up in the details and forget wisdom and faith like a child's. I had some good conversations with a sweet kindergartner this week, and 2 of them went something like this:

Me: Are you sure you feel ok? Your stomach doesn't hurt? (she had been sick recently, and kept doing this little cough/hiccup...so this was probably the 3rd time I asked)
Her: (confident and matter-of-fact) I'm not sick. The other night, I kept throwing up, but I prayed not to throw up, so I'm not sick now. I won't throw up anymore.

Later...

Her: Whatcha working on?
Me: You know how I'm going to Japan? Other Christians pray for me and give me money so I can go, so I'm making a little flyer to tell them about what I need, and how things are going.
Her: Oh. Just say 'Give me $100 (a month), and I love you'. See? Noooow can we play hide-and-seek? :D

Shrine or temple? The beginnings of research.

I hear Shinto (they have the shrines- with the torii gates and often lion statues standing watch) and Buddhism (they have the temples- with incense and the Buddha statues), don't have much affect on day-to-day life, but since most in Japan apparently claim one (or both), I though I'd enjoy doing a little bit of research, just to see what I find. After all, a religion that's been ingrained in a society for, well, forever, has got to have some kind of impact on one's worldview, right?

By the way, the picture to the right is of me and my lovely mother at...a temple? If so, it may be the one they tried to visit, but I screamed my head off the moment they entered :)

I've been starting at the beginning: Shinto's creation story. So: here was this massive glob, which separated into heaven (light and clear) and earth (watery and muddy). A green plant sprouts grows, and tah-dah! There's god. Then he made a male god and a female god, and told them to finish making earth. They stand on a rainbow and stick a spear into the muck, and tah-dah! There's an island, which they live on (then create Japan). The female dies in childbirth, male is bummed, washes his eye- and there's the sun god; washes his other eye- there's the moon god; and washes his nose, and there's Susanoo. Sosono?...that god. And at a glance he has me really intrigued! Check it out: unlike the other gods, this one goes to earth, where he finds mourning parents who have lost all their daughters but one to the wicked serpent. So the god protects the remaining daughter, kills the wicked serpent, and takes the daughter as his wife. Anybody else find that theme vaguely familiar? ...I'll certainly be looking into this story for more details!

Healing, remembering

This has been a week of remembering for us here, with the 10th anniversary of 9-11, but in Japan, too. This year's 9-11 marks the 6 month anniversary for Japan since their 3-11 disaster. Just as we honor those who died, remembering right where we were on 9-11, for the rest of their lives they will remember precisely what they were doing on 3-11, and remember those they lost. It can be hard to grasp something huge like that, the thousands who died and the millions affected one way or another, and I find I can comprehend it best when I can just see one person's story. (And I must not be alone: our papers have been full not of statistics, but stories of individuals.) So if, like me, you sometimes have trouble remembering how real it is, what affect 3-11 still has not just on "Japan", but people today, here's the video of just one perspective, just 3 minutes of 1 girl's story.

Pray this week: for those who are hurting, still aching for lost friends and family, and just trying to stay busy in order to cope. Pray for all of us as Christians, but particularly those in Japan, to be filled to overflowing with God's hope, peace, and joy to comfort those around them as they remember, grieve together, and keep pressing on through Our Hope.

Confession time

Hi, My name is Ellie, and I like weird stuff. Phew. Glad to get that off my chest ;) But seriously, I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoy exploring odd things/places, like these Asian markets I found in NC the other day. (I should probably also confess half the fun was the looks of disbelief when I entered... something about shattering peoples' expectations [in a good way] is just enjoyable. Who knows, call it a God-complex, we'll discuss that later.)

Anyway, the other half of the fun was the rice paper wrappers, curry paste, chocolate koalas I'm currently munching on, and the two beverages to the left. Thai tea drink? Beautiful. What I thought was green tea? Um...let's just say it's true what it says: it will keep all sorts of awful diseases from killing you. But only because it tastes so bad it will kill you before they get the chance. (Turns out it's actually green colored gohyah, or "bitter melon" tea. yum.)

Consider this fair warning that amongst the updates, pictures, prayer requests, stories of what God is doing... more posts of the random and bizarre will make occasional appearances. (And probably more stories of me attempting adventurous things in cross-cultural settings, and then we can all laugh at me together)

On a more serious note...prayer request of the week: for more opportunities to share about God's work in Japan, expand the team of senders (supporting me in prayer and financially), and that my eyes would remain focused on Him and open to the opportunities He brings along. Thanks!

September Newsletter

Newsletter, September 2011