Change of scenery

This was my view last week.  While we live in Tokyo, it doesn't look like the big city most imagine.

Yesterday marked the end of the first week of my visit to the US in which I experience quite a different view (and language).   I am so glad to be able to have time to visit with the extended family that I have missed!  My fourth of July was full of joy as I spent it with my mother, all of my siblings, and their families. I have been blessed to spend much of my week with my grandmother ("Granny") who is currently in the hospital.
The below picture is my mother and my newest niece named Sofia.  Adorable!

On Monday mooring I heard an advertisement on the car radio.  It started, "Have you ever seen a mother and a young child at the bus stop in the rain?"  (Yes, I thought.  Everyday.  And, so?  There are umbrellas.)  The advertisement went on to talk about donating your car to charity.  Oh, because in America you have to be poor to take the bus.  Got it.  (I heard this while I was driving a car for the first time in two years.  I was a bit nervous!)

Did I tell you I have really missed biscuits? I love biscuits with gravy, biscuits with sausage, and biscuits with grape jelly.  Yummy!  I also ate some Lucky Charms for breakfast this week.

I am in the midst of taking an AP Physics 4-day class to prepare me for co-teaching the class next year.  On Friday, we are taking Drew to visit Baylor and on Monday we are taking him to visit UNT.   I hope to spend the rest of my time seeing family here until we head to San Antonio next week to see Jeremy's parents.

A day in the life - Language and Culture - When will I get it?

Last night we went to Tully's (which is a coffee place). It is not a normal place we go as a family but Jeremy and I both had gift certificates we had received from students at the end of the school year. Before we went in, our oldest son gave us a stern talk about being quiet. We tried our best but within a few minutes of sitting and speaking in our best quiet American voice, Drew tried to get us to leave.  We had evidentially embarrassed him. As we began to clean up our table, I noticed that there was only one person at each table and it was SO incredibly silent.  Sometimes it is hard to fit in.

Today, Emme and I went to the orthopedic doctor and the eye doctor without a translator. The orthopedic doctor visit was OK (I had memorized several sentences before we went in) but he said something about looking at the finger again on Monday.  (I was so excited about understanding him asking if I was going to America tomorrow that I forgot to listen to all his words.)  I am still not sure if I am supposed to return to the doctor or just stare at it myself.  I did notice that above each exam room that the wall is cut out and you  can actually hear the people talking while you are in the hallway.  So much for confidentiality.

The eye doctor was almost a disaster.  I went last weekend without my card and was sent away.  You get a card from every medical/dental/eye place you visit with you name and customer number on it.  Also, each person in the family gets their own card.  Needless to say, I have a bag of cards for each person in the family.  I went today to try to pick up my contacts that I had ordered a few months ago.  (Yes, I was negligent in picking them up.)  They took me in the next room to do the ENTIRE eye exam including the part where they blow air in your eyes.  Three times I tried to say that I just needed to pick up my contacts.  All I could say (in Japanese) were things like, " I came here three months ago but I didn't buy contacts.  I want to buy my contacts today."  What I really wanted to say was, "Please just let me buy the contacts that I ordered.  Are they still here?" but I didn't have the vocabulary for that.  After I had been to about 4 different stations including the eye doctor who just stares into your eyes and said something about kanji.  (When I got home I looked it up and it also means something like feeling/sense.) When it had been about an hour, my sense of humor began to wear thin.  I asked Emme to go home and get a phone so I could phone a friend (who spoke Japanese).  About 5 minutes after she left I was brought to the front for the contacts that I had placed an order for three months before.  Who knows why I needed an entire exam again?  I then had to pay 350 yen in cash but I could pay for the contacts with a bank card.  Anyway, at least I have contacts!  Success.  And nobody laughed at me THIS TIME while I was saying ue, shita, hidari, and migi to tell them which way the C was open during the eye exam. Oh, yeah!  I still didn't figure out the green and red areas with boxes in them at the bottom of the eye exam.  I usually just say the word for green.

After the eye exam, I took Luke to get his hair cut.  I asked him if he wanted to wait until we arrived in America but he said if he did that, he would be forced to have conversation with the person cutting his hair.  (We may need to work on his fear of strangers. By the way, he is almost 15.)  I made him practice reading little kid books while we were waiting.  (He is really getting good.)  The little girls next to us were staring.  I wonder what they were thinking!  Luke is also getting good at telling them how much he wants his hair cut in centimeters.  He was a bit shocked when he went once and they barely cut anything after he told them 2 centimeters (while he was thinking inches).  

2 years and counting

I thought I was going to write a blog when we moved to Japan but I found that my two sentence posts on Facebook were generally enough to share a few thoughts.  As we begin our third year in Japan, I think I am going to need more room to write.  Missing my family has increased rather than decrease and my oldest son will probably be an ocean apart from me a little over a year from now. In two months I will be co-teaching AP Physics along with teaching 9th grade physical science.  As science department chair, I am trying to continue to advance the already good science program at CAJ.  I hopefully will have a new commitment to learning Japanese as well.   It will be a busy year, but a year doing exactly what I think the Lord wants our family to be doing.

I remember thinking as I looked around during our last chapel of the school year that I was certainly blessed to be sitting there.  I was looking at all my students and coworkers actively listening to our Head of School speak and, if that wasn't enough, I could look around and see my husband and three children scattered around the auditorium.  Priceless.  I hope to be able to share with you a year in the life of a teacher at a school for missionary kids (and so many other kids) in Japan.

So, here goes... I just finished two weeks of summer school.  It was fun (9th grade EAL in the morning and elementary computers in the afternoon) but utterly exhausting.  It was necessary so I would have some money to buy next year's school clothes and shoes while we visit America.  (Size 14 shoes for my oldest son and size 9 1/2 for Emme and I are not easily found in Japan.  And I can only rarely find clothes (12 in women's) as a 3X or 4X.   OK, the money was also needed so I can eat lots of junk food in America and pack my luggage with packages of enchilada mix, fajita seasoning, and Rotel.  We take off on Tuesday for a one month visit-all-the-family you can month.  We will also be visiting a couple of colleges for Drew and I will take a 4 day course in AP Physics.  We hope to see some fireworks and I must hold my dear baby niece that I have not yet seen in person.  It is now time to do some spring cleaning that I didn't do during the spring.

I will end with a few pictures of Emme.  She just returned from 6 days at camp.

One month

We have now been in Japan for 1 month and 1 day.  There are days where I feel like I am in a hotel room in a strange city and other days where I feel like I have finally found a home for which I had been searching.  While I have posted many pictures on Facebook about differences I see here, it is certainly for other reasons than eating Japanese food that we have traveled half-way around the world.

My husband spent 3 years in a boarding school while his parents were missionaries.  I am thankful for those that cared for him so his parents could spread the gospel but also sad for times when he did not feel surrounded by those who cared.  Jeremy and I are working on building relationships with our students so they can know we care about them.  We have many students who are in Japan so that their parents can tell others about Jesus.  Several of the students travel an hour each way on the train to get to school.  We are to instruct them in science while telling them above the love of Jesus by showing them our love to them.  These students are so precious and I wish I could tell you about each one of them.  Many of them have hearts so full of God's love that their kindness is overflowing out of their lives.  There are others who are well-planted Christians but still growing as young adults and trying to find their place. 

We also have students who are at our school for a good American education.  I had one student write about how he just pretended Bible class was a fairytale and that he thought all the stories in the Bible were make-believe.  I had another student write about her Buddhist parents but how she is interested in knowing more about Jesus.  We are here to be a living example of Christ's love.  It is sometimes easy to tell someone quickly how to become a Christian but it is more difficult when they see you five days a week over many years.  We must be that example.

Our school is an amazing place! For those who have worked in a Christian environment, you might have an idea.  There is such love for others that permeates the lives of the staff that staff and students can't help but feel it.  What kind of school has students that don't seem to want to go home?  We do!

We are looking for ways to interact more in the Japanese community.  I joined a weekly Japanese lesson at City Hall last week.  We are still looking for other ways that we can begin to talk to those outside of the school about our faith. 

Our first month of transition has been made very smooth thanks to the staff here.  We hope we are now in a position where we can be of service to others.  Our one year in Singapore made us aware that we will become more "homesick" in months to come, but we are prepared to weather the storm because we are here for a purpose. 

Finally in Tokyo

The Erwin family in Tokyo

It is hard to believe that we have only been in Japan for two weeks! While we are lacking language skills, we know that we have been called to minister here. The theme at Christian Academy in Japan (where we will be teaching) is “Doing Hard Things”. Following God is rarely easy!

Praises:

· All 17 bags and 5 carry-ons made it to Japan and not one item was lost or delayed!

· Our apartment was beautifully decorated and ready to live in when we arrived.

· Staff have taken us to get our residence card, cell phones, and a bank account. We have been invited to various outings such as visiting parks, eating at staff houses, and beetle hunting.

· We have visited a church that meets at the school and have been blessed by it!

· We have bought a TV and scheduled to have it delivered, rented movies, asked for things in a store, went out to eat, and got a library card all without using English!

· The kids have seemed very excited about the move despite the fact that they left their friends in Texas.

Prayer Requests:

· We need to acquire more language skills to be able to communicate better in the community. Pray that we will be faithful students in our spare time.

· Our own children are starting school at CAJ with many children who will speak Japanese as their social language outside of class. Pray for friends for our kids.

· Jeremy and I will begin teaching our classes this week. We are here to bring these students closer to God while we teach science. Pray that we impact those students. I have a folder in which all my students wrote a letter to their new teacher. One of my students stated that Bible class was interesting but he just thought of it as a fairy tale. Another student talked about her Buddhist parents. God has brought us here to impact these students and their families for His kingdom!

While we receive a salary in Japan, it is only meant to be about 70% of our support. Please pray about supporting the ministry of caring for missionary children, witnessing to students in a country where less than 2% of the population is a Christian, and partnering with a local church to impact the community.

As God leads, you can support the ministry by sending a tax-deductible donation by:

· Setting up a monthly donation by emailing sponzani@caj.or.jp

· Using Paypal at:

       http://www.caj.or.jp/donations/

       Please find our name under “Make a quick online donation”.

· Mailing a check to:

Japan Christian Academy Association

P.O. Box 905, Wheaton IL 60187-0905

(Please write Jeremy and Sabrina Erwin

in the memo field.)

The Countdown

We are at T-16 days for blast-off to Japan. (Our plane leaves on August 6th at 7am to be precise.)  Most of the suitcases are packed but we still have a few more things to purchase and stuff in them.  While I have had a million questions (Sorry, CAJ staff!), we have a peace that passes all understanding about our upcoming journey.  We are ready!

This summer has flown past us!  Emme and I went went to children's church camp.  Jeremy, Drew, and Luke went to Glorietta in New Mexico for youth camp.  We have visited my mom in Oklahoma, my siblings in Texas and Oklahoma, my in-laws in San-Antonio, and drove to Houston twice to get visas.  We are almost ready (ready as we can be) for those last good-byes (at least until we come back to visit next summer).

Thank you to those of us who have prayed for us.  While we may be out of touch on Facebook for about a week during the beginning of August, we hope to be able to update you again once we get an internet connection in Japan.

Transitions

We are often asked, "Are you excited about moving to Japan?"  We, of course, answer a resounding YES!  How could I not be excited about a peace that comes from following God's will? I am excited about meeting new people, teaching and having our children in a mission school, and finding new ways to minister to others!  I am excited about having to put my faith into action.

But... as I finish up my last week of school here, I am also quite sad.  We will be having a lot of lasts coming up in the next few weeks.  The last day of working here, my kids last day of school here, the last Boy Scout and Girl Scout meeting, the last day at church.

I walked around my school today and thought about my last three years here.  I will miss those students who have sat in my classroom and those co-workers that I eat lunch with everyday.  I am sad about those people who I not be able to see on a regular basis. I will miss family and I will miss my dog!

So...I am also so thankful.  I am thankful for the gifts God has given us as he has prepared us for the next step in our journey.  I am thankful for those lives that have impacted me and have helped me grow to be a better mother, a better teacher, and a better Christ-follower.

We will be packing up our house and moving out in three weeks.  We will then have about 7 weeks to spend at  children's church camp, youth church camp, my in-laws in San Antonio, and my mother in Oklahoma.  I am excited about our summer and the transition that will come at the end of it but my heart still aches just a little bit!