Hello Friends and Family,
We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the summer. We have August 2nd through the 13th as vacation time and we both go back on Monday, Aug. 16th. The students don't come back to school until Friday, Aug. 27th, so we'll have lots of planning and preparing time. And we have two more training days with the other AETs as well (18th and 19th).
Yesterday, we came back from a Bible camp in Hitachi. It's in a beautiful place - forest with tall trees, a stream, and cabins to stay in. It's a 10 minute hike from a parking lot to get out there. A team of Christians from Cordova, CA, came out and facilitated the lessons, which were themed "Vitamin C." Three C's - lessons: Created, Connected, and Chosen.
The camp lasted about 3 days. We enjoyed the people, the team work - like everyone making curry and rice together, and playing games. Now, they are working on some building projects for the rest of the week and also having some Bible studies with people. We had to come back right away though, because of my need to rest (Laura). I've had a viral infection for the past 3 weeks. It's my immune system attacking my joints, causing me to feel stiff and achy in most of my major joints. So, I might have to go to the doctor again soon if this pain continues. So, please pray for my body to heal. Thank you!!
Allen's pain in his lower back is slowly getting better and better. He has the pain from the surgery, and he was taking medicine 3 x a day, but now he's down to taking it once a day, so that shows improvement. Please also pray that he continues to improve to reach 100% (no pain).
We will start EBC training soon (English Bible Class). So, if you could also keep the Mito Church and AETs in your prayers as we prepare and start reading and discussing Scripture with Japanese people who are interested in practicing their English. Last spring, Allen and I finished up on a good note with our 3 readers and we've met up with them one time since then and we look forward to seeing what God is going to do through us to reach out to these three wonderful women. Two of our readers are Japanese women and one woman is Korean. They all are able to communicate in English, but this class gives them an opportunity to use their English and make relationships. Also, they know that we are Christians and that we want to share our faith with them, which they are perfectly ok with. They share their feelings and/or experiences with us and we all talk about that and relate it with the Bible characters' experiences and our own experiences. At times we've been able to get pretty deep and really enjoy talking with each other. And Allen or I always say a prayer at the end of each class.
So, please pray for our EBC class and for our health. God bless you all and take care.
With Love,
Allen and Laura
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Good News!
Yea!! Halleluya! Praise to God! Allen's tumor is benign! The operation to remove the tumor and supposedly leave him pain free is on May 7th from 1:00 or 1:30 to about 3:30 (one hour surgery but longer time with the anesthesia). So, Allen and I and our church family here and coworkers are very relieved about this news. Please pray that the surgery is successful and that Allen can live pain free after it's all over with.
Thank you for your friendship and prayers.
Hope you all are doing well.
Love,
Allen and Laura
Thank you for your friendship and prayers.
Hope you all are doing well.
Love,
Allen and Laura
Friday, April 16, 2010
Finally Getting Answers about Allen's Pain
Hello Everyone,
Sorry again that it's been a long time. Hope you all are having a good year so far. We're enjoying starting up a new school year, which starts in April for Japan. A lot of changes happen in March and April. People get switched to different positions in their jobs, including teachers. Teachers may not know if they'll be at a different school even until the beginning of April. It's kind of chaotic, but it's how they do things here. I've asked some teachers if they wish they could stay at the same school for many years with the same grade, but they replied, "no." They just have a different way.
So, we found out like a month ago that Allen has a tumor and that's what's been causing his pain in his lower back for the last 6 years or so. After the biopsy, we still haven't found out the final results. The doctor has even had a conference with other doctors. It's been a difficult thing to figure out. We have a lot of hope and confidence that it's benign. We'll find out hopefully next week. We'll update our blog again as soon as we find out what the doctor says.
Please pray for us and for the doctors.
Love you all.
Love,
Allen and Laura
P.S. We picked up the new AETs last night. Eleven AETs went back to America and now we have 10 new ones and 1 more coming in June. Laura's mom is still here until June to help cover for the AET who doesn't get here until then. Lots of changes happening, keeping us busy and on our toes, but God is good and things are working out well and we are staying positive. :)
Sorry again that it's been a long time. Hope you all are having a good year so far. We're enjoying starting up a new school year, which starts in April for Japan. A lot of changes happen in March and April. People get switched to different positions in their jobs, including teachers. Teachers may not know if they'll be at a different school even until the beginning of April. It's kind of chaotic, but it's how they do things here. I've asked some teachers if they wish they could stay at the same school for many years with the same grade, but they replied, "no." They just have a different way.
So, we found out like a month ago that Allen has a tumor and that's what's been causing his pain in his lower back for the last 6 years or so. After the biopsy, we still haven't found out the final results. The doctor has even had a conference with other doctors. It's been a difficult thing to figure out. We have a lot of hope and confidence that it's benign. We'll find out hopefully next week. We'll update our blog again as soon as we find out what the doctor says.
Please pray for us and for the doctors.
Love you all.
Love,
Allen and Laura
P.S. We picked up the new AETs last night. Eleven AETs went back to America and now we have 10 new ones and 1 more coming in June. Laura's mom is still here until June to help cover for the AET who doesn't get here until then. Lots of changes happening, keeping us busy and on our toes, but God is good and things are working out well and we are staying positive. :)
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Wow, it's already February!
Hello Friends and Family,
Thank you to friends Kent and Sammie for posting your comments - it was good to hear from you both. We miss you all too! And hope to stay in better contact this year. One of our goals this year is to keep better in touch with our friends and family back home. Skype is really helping us to do that! :)
Hope you all are doing well. Life here in Mito, Japan, is going just fine for us. The start of the new year has been pretty good so far. We enjoyed the holidays and hearing from friends and family. Laura's dad came and visited Japan for a month and that was really nice. Allen went to America to be in our friends' wedding and saw his family. Allen's birthday was December 4th and Laura's was January 31st, so now we're both 25! Wow, we're a quarter of a century old!!
Laura got her Japanese drivers license at the end of January and will be able to start driving to school in March when we get a car from an AET who's returning to America. That will be really nice that she won't have to ride her bike everywhere. Allen has more energy and doesn't mind riding his bicycle everyday. :)
Good news...Allen had a good observation at his school last week. He and one of his 6th grade teachers had worked hard to prepare for it and it turned out well. It was an all school observation, so the Mito educational board members were walking through each class and Allen was observed team teaching with one of his teachers in a class that he says is his most challenging class, because the students tend to act up a lot and they don't seem to care that much for English. They did skits covering different lessons they've learned over the past years in elementary school. Afterwards the educational board member who is in charge of us AETs spoke with Allen about his good and bad points. He said he was really glad to hear the good she had to say and was relieved that it went well.
We still have our challenges everyday and we're still adjusting, but it's almost been a year now and we'll be here at least another year. God is good and He's taking care of us even with the little things as we strive to put Him first everyday. We'll sure miss Mom when she leaves at the end of next month. She's looking forward to being back with Dad and Drew and she misses home, but we've sure had a good experience together here in Japan. God is so good to have blessed us with this special time together.
If you are reading this and want to pray for us, you can pray that in this new year we will be used by God to cultivate our relationships here in a way that we can share God's love and help meet people's needs. This past year we've focused so much on our own needs as foreigners in a strange land, but in this new year we need to start trying to focus more on the needs of the new AETs who will be coming and on the needs of the Japanese people and our friends here.
Thank you and may God bless you all!
Love,
Allen and Laura
Thank you to friends Kent and Sammie for posting your comments - it was good to hear from you both. We miss you all too! And hope to stay in better contact this year. One of our goals this year is to keep better in touch with our friends and family back home. Skype is really helping us to do that! :)
Hope you all are doing well. Life here in Mito, Japan, is going just fine for us. The start of the new year has been pretty good so far. We enjoyed the holidays and hearing from friends and family. Laura's dad came and visited Japan for a month and that was really nice. Allen went to America to be in our friends' wedding and saw his family. Allen's birthday was December 4th and Laura's was January 31st, so now we're both 25! Wow, we're a quarter of a century old!!
Laura got her Japanese drivers license at the end of January and will be able to start driving to school in March when we get a car from an AET who's returning to America. That will be really nice that she won't have to ride her bike everywhere. Allen has more energy and doesn't mind riding his bicycle everyday. :)
Good news...Allen had a good observation at his school last week. He and one of his 6th grade teachers had worked hard to prepare for it and it turned out well. It was an all school observation, so the Mito educational board members were walking through each class and Allen was observed team teaching with one of his teachers in a class that he says is his most challenging class, because the students tend to act up a lot and they don't seem to care that much for English. They did skits covering different lessons they've learned over the past years in elementary school. Afterwards the educational board member who is in charge of us AETs spoke with Allen about his good and bad points. He said he was really glad to hear the good she had to say and was relieved that it went well.
We still have our challenges everyday and we're still adjusting, but it's almost been a year now and we'll be here at least another year. God is good and He's taking care of us even with the little things as we strive to put Him first everyday. We'll sure miss Mom when she leaves at the end of next month. She's looking forward to being back with Dad and Drew and she misses home, but we've sure had a good experience together here in Japan. God is so good to have blessed us with this special time together.
If you are reading this and want to pray for us, you can pray that in this new year we will be used by God to cultivate our relationships here in a way that we can share God's love and help meet people's needs. This past year we've focused so much on our own needs as foreigners in a strange land, but in this new year we need to start trying to focus more on the needs of the new AETs who will be coming and on the needs of the Japanese people and our friends here.
Thank you and may God bless you all!
Love,
Allen and Laura
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