Memo from a child

I am trying to organize my home better, and found this “Memo from a Child” that I had been saving. It appeared in the newsletter of one of my supporting churches, and when I first read it I immediately wanted to share it with parents and teachers everywhere. So I offer it here for what it may be worth.

The newsletter gave the source as “author unknown.”

1. Don’t spoil me. I know quite well that I ought not to have all I ask for. When I demand everything I want, I’m just testing you.
2. Don’t be afraid to be firm with me. I really do prefer it, but don’t expect me to say so. When you’re firm, I feel secure.
3. Don’t let me form bad habits. I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.
4. Don’t mock me and make me feel smaller than I am. It only makes me act more stupid when I get big.
5. Don’t correct me in front of people if you can help it. I’ll take much better notice of what you say if you talk quietly to me in private.
6. Don’t protect me from consequences. I need to learn the painful way sometimes.
7. Don’t be too upset with me if I say things like “I hate you.” It’s not you… it’s the power you bear to thwart my will that I’m resisting.
8. Don’t pay too much attention to my small ailments. They’re really just designed to get you to notice me, which is all I really want anyway.
9. Don’t nag me about stuff. If you do, I shall have to protect myself by appearing to be deaf!
10. Don’t make rash promises. I can’t not remember when you fail to keep your word to me.
11. Don’t forget that I don’t talk as good as you do, and I can’t always explain myself as well as you would like. I’m not trying to be evasive with you… I just can’t say it right.
12. Don’t be inconsistent with me. It confuses me and makes me want to not trust you.
13. Don’t tell me that my fears are silly. They are terribly real and important to me. Please just try to understand me and calm my fears.
14. Don’t put me off or ignore me when I ask questions. If you do, you will find that I stop asking and begin to look elsewhere for my information.
15. Don’t ever suggest that you are perfect or have all the answers. It will be too shocking for me later when I discover the truth.
16. Don’t ever think it is below your dignity to apologize to me when you’re wrong. An honest apology makes me feel as warm toward you as I could possibly feel.
17. Don’t forget how quickly I am growing up. It must be hard for you to respond to my needs, wants and demands for all these years, but I’ll be gone sooner than you think.
18. Don’t forget that I need lots of understanding and love.
19. Don’t forget to tell me that you love me.
20. One final thing to remember… I love you very much, even when I don’t always show it.

Filed under: Uncategorized

How big is your church?

I am often asked how many worshippers we have in church here on a Sunday. Today I can give you an actual count of members, because we had our annual congregational meeting. There are 16 members of Megumi no Mori Kirisuto Kyokai (Forest of Grace Christ Church), in addition to 10 covenant children. There were also three observers today (non-members), three missionaries and two missionary children. Which makes a pretty good sized church for Japan!

Filed under: Church Stories

Yesssss!

Christmas gift mangas are being well read. This week in class a student was telling about how her daughter “devoured” the manga! Yeah! My instinct was right! Please continue to pray that family members as well as the students themselves will read the manga that is based on the book of Genesis.

(Manga – a comic-book novel, a very popular literary form in Japan)

Filed under: English class stories

Pray that Christmas gift mangas are well read!

09.12.08 I was so gratified today to see the joy on my students’ faces as they received their Christmas gift from the English program this year – a manga (comic book format) version of Genesis and Exodus (just through the defeat of Pharaoh’s army and the crossing of the Red Sea). We chose this gift because we have been studying “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” all year in Bible time, a series that goes from Genesis 12-33. One student commented that a child could read the manga, since the phonetic renderings of the Chinese characters are given. Please pray that not only my students, but also their children and other family members would be drawn to read this Manga Bible. Also, that it would give my students an opportunity to share, or be reminded of, the great themes they have been learning in Bible time, namely that God is a Promise-Keeper, and a Great Redeemer! (Manga is a very popular literary form in Japan.)

Filed under: English class stories

Organizing

Organizing is NOT my gift. I like organization. I don’t think you can aspire to be a master teacher without it. But, it just does not come easily to me AT ALL. Still, I was determined to organize the room at Kokubunjidai Christian Center where I keep my teaching materials, and which I have used as a classroom. The pastor had kindly brought a dresser from my house for me to use. So, after lunch on Sunday I started in on the organization, thinking to just do a bit because I had been planning to spend Monday doing it.

Left side - Before

But before long I was getting bogged down and then remembered a friend telling me that the way she did “deep cleaning” was to empty a room and then decide what belongs in the room and only put those things back. Ah, I thought, good idea. This should simplify the job and make it go much faster. So I carried the stuff from the bookcase and the piles on the floor and the cabinet into the next room. O my goodness (which I don’t have any of) was there a lot of stuff! At this point I became a little overwhelmed, and sat down to have tea. I could see at a glance that it was not going to be fast, and now I was stuck.

Then started the really excruciating part: deciding which things should go where. I know that it is my perfectionism that hinders me, but knowing it does not make the perfectionism go away.

Left side - After

So, for about the next seven hours I agonized and tossed and at the end not only did every single thing have a home, but the alphabet was tacked up, the archive notebook updated and there is one large and two small drawers to spare. (I will confess that I have one box on the large side that holds realia and other miscellany that I might use in the classroom. Some people might observe that “miscellany” is sometimes just a $64 word for “junk” . . .)

But that’s not really why I decided to write this post. During the long agonizing stretch there came a point when I decided that I would let my subconscious mind work on the organization problem while I simply tacked up the alphabet. And why not have some music? So I put on a Michael Card CD. WOW! I couldn’t believe how that moved me to worship in the midst of this highly unpleasant project. There is one cut I always have to dance to, and . . . well, anyway . . . But it was such a sweet gift from God, to have this fun worship time. I am tremendously aware that only His grace and help that got me through to the end.

RIght side - Before

And now that it’s done it looks so nice and I look forward to planning my lessons there! At one point I spilled some glitter from the snowflakes project on the floor, and I left it there because it looked all sparkly like the streets of heaven will . . .

Filed under: Uncategorized

“Sherry” – update

‘m sitting here trying to have a quiet time and I just can’t concentrate, so let me share with you what is on my mind.

I had the best conversation with a student yesterday! The same student that I have written about before, whom I call “Sherry.” She was raised in Sokka-Gakkai, which is a Buddhist sect that is very anti-Christian, some say militantly so. She told me that from a young age she was taken along to various meetings and activities, but she always felt resistant to it. Additionally, she senses a “darkness” in Japanese people, even her family, that she doesn’t sense in foreigners. She was careful to assure me that her family were good people, and I’m sure they are, but that there is a “darkness” there. Now, part of the not sensing “darkness” in foreigners is because our internal sensors are attuned to our own culture, and we should not assume that they will work with someone from a different culture. But in Sherry’s case, a big part of not sensing that “darkness” in foreigners is that the foreigners she knows are all Christians! They have been taken out of darkness into God’s marvelous light! For example, Sherry knows our pastor and his wife, who are Korean, and she knows me, among others.

She also told me how much she likes the Bible! She said her heart was very open to receive it, but prefaced that by saying that she is not ready to become a Christian. This conversation only took place because the other two students had to leave class early to pick up their children, and so I was left alone with Sherry. This is the second time this has happened! (God at work) I feel that I can see God at work in her so clearly that I am nearly in tears as I write this. Of course, she doesn’t see that, but she is like one in the womb, waiting to be born, and in fact, I felt led to tell her that I thought God was at work in her, and showed her John 3 about the new birth, and talked about how there is a long time in the womb before the birth. Just briefly.

I also shared with her my own experience with depression over the years, which is a kind of darkness, at least I didn’t want her to think that becoming a Christian removes all of life’s struggles! I shared that my faith in Christ gives me a hope that is great enough to help me endure depression.

Please pray that Sherry can be enfolded into fellowship and come to faith in Jesus! Pray that God will protect her from persecution by her family members!

I published this post, then went back to my quiet time. Here is the verse I couldn’t concentrate on: “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1st Corinthians 2:14, NIV. It would seem that this verse is confirmation that God’s spirit is with Sherry as she is reading the Bible!

Filed under: Answered Prayer, English class stories, Prayer Requests

Card games and snowflakes- update

We hold our team meetings in the same building as our international school, so during the last meeting I was able to borrow the school’s laminator and got all the little cards done. (I’ll know if “Nancy” played with her set, since hers is the one that got eaten by our machine . . . so she can’t make 18 perfect matches . . . )

As for the snowflakes – I didn’t have enough time to make more much less apply glitter and affix to the ceiling. So – no snowflakes! I’ll tuck that idea away for next year (and start earlier!) But the classroom looked very nice for the party, and everyone had a good time.

Filed under: English class stories

What do boys read?

I have 4 students who will be “graduating” into 7th grade in March of 2010. I am planning to give the book Love Comes Softly by Janet Oke to the three girls (in Japanese translation). But I don’t know what to give the boy that would be comparable. I don’t think Love Comes Softly would interest him, and there are no other Christian perspective books for a boy his age in Japanese. A pastor suggested “Mr. Incredible” because of the way the hero shows weakness (humility?) to his family (not a typical Japanese male thing to do).

So, I am asking for suggestions. What good Christian novels are your Jr. High boys avidly reading? I would like to compile a list, and although it won’t help me with my immediate problem, the list could provide some serious candidates for translation. Remember, Japan is one of the most, if not the most literate country in the world and it seems as though everyone reads! So please let me know what you recommend.

These kids have already received Manga Messiah, a comic-book rendering of the gospels, and the Jesus Storybook Bible in Japanese.

Filed under: English class stories, Japanese culture

Merry Christmas!

There are only 3 minutes left of Christmas day in Japan. Just another day here, in fact, a day to take the tree down in preparation for the Shinto New Year celebration. Every person I passed today is a sheep without a Shepherd, a sheep going astray, going their own way, unaware of the excellent name of Jesus! Please pray for God’s mercy and blessing to descend like the snow on Japan!

Filed under: Japanese culture

A very interesting meal . . .

09.10.24 I stopped in my favorite little Mom and Pop restaurant for lunch between a rehearsal and Japanese class. It was the first time I stopped in alone, which led to a conversation with the two older guys at the next table. Because we talked a bit about Christianity, I wanted to give them copies of the 64-page manga booklet about Jesus. They took them and left, and I finished eating a while later and got up to leave. As I was going towards the door, I was flabbergasted when another patron, who was unconnected to our conversation (although I suspected everyone was listening in – it’s a small restaurant) stopped me and asked if I had any more of the Jesus booklets! Unfortunately I didn’t, but I stopped back the next day, and that customer was there again, and I not only gave him one, but also the restaurant owner, who put it with the other reading materials that restaurants usually stock here, so that “other customers could read it too”! Praise God! Pray that this little booklet would be mightily used!!!

09.12.21 Update: Since then I have had a conversation with the owner, and have invited him and his wife to our Christmas candlelight service on Dec 23 (a Japanese national holiday, the Emperor’s birthday). Please pray that I have the delight of seeing them there!

“Manga” means comic book format, a literary form that Japanese people love and widely read at all ages.

Filed under: Japanese culture, Prayer Requests