Testing 1, 2, 3

Tap tap tap… is this thing on?

Hello friends. It has been quiet some time since I have updated you all on my life. I am sorry that I haven’t been blogging as much. I guess you can say I kinda got out of the swing of it.

Life is busy here in Japan. I’m working a lot and that is good… keeps me busy and my mind off of things. I don’t have hours to sit around and think. I have been told that this is not good. But, with working so much, I haven’t been able to talk to you all as much.

What is going on in your life? Anything new and exciting? Got any great trips planned? You know me.. I love a good vacation to any corner of the Earth.

Speaking of vacations… I have been on two and I need to tell all about it, in another post.

I hope you all are doing well. Please, leave me a comment to tell me about your life and what is going on.

I miss you!!!

Encouragement

I have taken a slight break from my blog. I think at times, it is good. We need to invest in peoples lives around us and love them for who they are no matter what they are going through.

I have had some really great conversations with some people that I deeply care about. Conversations about faith, fears, and memories.

My best friend, Hannah, is one of the most amazing people that I have ever known. She encourages me in ways that I didn’t think I needed to be encouraged in. She loves to send letters. I get one almost every month from her. She is amazing.

Today in the mail, I received a letter from her. I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing but I just wanted to show you how amazing her heart is.

Dearest Friend,
By the time you get this, it will have been one year since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. I wish I could be there with you to remember and mourn, and to celebrate your life. I am so thankful that the Lord protected you on that day and also thankful that he renewed your love and passion for Him. Your love for the Lord has increase so much this year. it is so sweet for me to watch His desires become your desires. it is beautiful. I think about you every day and though life moves on, here and in Japan, I think about March 11, 2011 very often too. I think about how earthquakes are still a common part of your life and how much your life changed. I remember how you trusted in the Lord and how you continue to trust the Lord with all of your heart. I don’t know what the earthquake had to happen, but I know the Lord uses everything for his good– and I have seen that in your life.
You are in Japan for a specific purpose. On the days when that’s hard to remember or when you’re homesick, remember the goodness of the Lord, despite the disaster, that prompted you to stay.
This year I have seen you Delight in the Lord, and I am confident that as you continue to delight in him, he will continue to be faithful and show you the desires of His heart.
I love you so much, dear friend, and I am so very thankful for our friendship. Continue to seek the Lord with all of your heart.
Love always,
Hannah Ruthie

She is my heart sister.

Trust

When I picked my word, trust, for 2012, I didn’t know what exactly I was getting myself into.

I didn’t know that it would bring up stuff from my past. I didn’t know that I would learn so much about who I am today because of my past. I didn’t know that it would rock my world just a month in.

Sharing part of your past with someone is scary. Especially if it is something that you haven’t told many people. Something that hurts. But, also something that you have pushed so far to the back of your mind that you forget about it.

The Lord has told me that it is time to start trusting people. People that I know that will protect my heart. These people  friends are people who I have come to trust with my heart. People that I know that love me and won’t bring harm to my life. People who will tell me that it is okay and that it will be alright.

I knew that trust was a super scary word but I didn’t know just how scary it is. Being a planner and a person who likes to have control over things, trust means that I have to rely on someone else.

I have to let people in. 

How do you deal with trust? How do you deal with telling people about the black clouds in your life?

200?

According to my lovely stats, this is my 200th post.

Holy.cow.

I honestly don’t have any idea what I have written about in 200 posts. I hope that people have come to this corner of the web and have read my heart. My heart for Jesus, for loving people, and for the Japanese. I’m sure I have rambled on and on about wanting to get married, my life in Japan, my crazy adventures around the world, and my cute students.

The only thing that I wish I could share with you all is how much I love to laugh. I seriously love it. I love laughing with people and at myself. I find a lot of things funny. I love people that make me laugh. I love animals that make me laugh. I love that the Lord makes me laugh.

One of my friends told me this year that the best way to describe my laugh would be “scream laughing”. He is right. When I laugh…. I slightly scream but I am laughing. It is loud. It can be slightly annoying. And it is a true cackle.

What is something that you love to laugh about? Do you have a video or story to tell me to make me laugh? Please share.

Keep on laughin’ friends.

Joy

This week has been nothing less than amazing.

My heart is so full of joy.

A type of joy that only comes from our Father.

This week, I have been showered with so much love and encouragement from all over. From friends here in Japan to friends back in America to friends in different parts of Africa.

I have been challenged by my friends to dig deeper into the word of God to understand what the scriptures really mean. I have been told by friends that the Lord is going to be doing something amazing in my life in the next month. I have spent time with wonderful friends who really care about my heart. I have cried with friends over Skype about the amazing things that the Lord is doing in our lives. I have laughed more than I have in a really long time. I have grieved because an amazing friend went home to be with Jesus. I have cried, literally, out to the Lord to let him know my hearts desires and that they would be not of my own flesh but a desire that He has placed in me.

This week has been a week of joy. Some people will think that these things aren’t all that you would be joyful over.

But, I am.

I am joyful and thankful that the Lord has placed these things in my life.

He is growing me.

He is molding me.

He is loving on me.

He is giving me joy.

How has your week been?

Best Friends

This past week has been a whirlwind of crazy.

I got to spend this past week with two of my dearest friends, Hannah and Saige.

They flew into Kansas City to spend a week with me. I feel blessed that they would do that.

We had so many fun times. Some of those great times are: shopping in random stores, painting our fingernails, spooning in bed, laughing at hilarious cat videos, playing with my Japanese nephews, sunning our selves, swimming, riding around in my dads truck and frequenting Sonic.

While they were here I also realized that I am turning into an old lady. Last Friday night Saige decided that she wanted to get her nose pierced and Hannah on a whim decided to get her belly button pierced. I on the other hand just sat there, with my dear friend Melanie, and though of all of the ways that I could use the money that they were spending on their piercings.

It was so much fun having those two here. I feel so blessed to call them some my best friends.

 

Community

I love the community that you can build via twitter and blogging these days.

You chat with people who you have never met in person, but you feel like you have known them for a really long time.

Through this blog, I have “met” people who are truly amazing. People who I would have dreamed to be years older than me but they are actually younger than me and have so much wisdom and faith in the Lord.

One of those people is Lexi Mackinnon.

She is fantastic. She is 22 years old and is moving to Uganda, Africa in September to start her own ministry, Muzunga Momma Ministries.

This ministry is a part of Uganda that is known for being rough. They have very high poverty rates and there are a lot of orphans.

This is a video that Lexi made to help people know more about what is going to be happening with MMM.

I would ask that after watching the video, that you would read this post that Lexi wrote breaking down all of the needs that need to be met over this next year.

If you know how much I love Africa and children, please consider giving to MMM. It would truly bless my heart and these children. These children need to know about the love that Jesus Christ has to offer and what it is like to live in a loving home.

Thanks friends!

BFF

I am currently at a loss for words on how marvelous it was to see my best friend for the first time in over a year.

She traveled all the way to Japan to hang out with me in this strange land.

We laughed and talked about our favorite memories together. We made new memories. She made some new friends.

I am so incredibly thankful for Hannah’s friendship. I feel refreshed and my heart feels fuller because of our time together.

I wish I could write about all of the awesome things that we did together, but I am seriously at a loss for words.

Maybe they will appear in a few days.

Grateful.

Community

Lately my heart has felt full. I cannot tell you the last time that my heart has felt this full.

Living in Japan it is hard to find a community of believers to lift you up and encourage you.

Thankfully I have a few girls here that encourage me.

But I have discovered a new sense of community…

blogging.

People that I have never met face to face  just by reading their blogs or reading their tweets, I am encouraged and I know that I am here in Japan for a reason.

I am still trying to figure out what the exact reason why I am here. Is it to get a kick start on my teaching career? Learn to live in a place with no community and have to find it else where? To tell my Japanese friends about Christ? To tell my students about Christ?

Personally, I know that it is a little of all of the above but I think that the one reason why God has me here is to try to find Him in the midst of the darkness of Japan.

And this has been my toughest challenge.