Barefooting

Kyo wa samuii desu ne. It has definitely been chilly here and so Dana went out and bought me some socks. I feel a little like a Ninja Turtle, but other than that overwhelmingly cool feeling they are so functional here in Japan. I never thought I would come to appreciate being able to wear flip flops with socks.  Now, let me make it clear that I don't go to the store wearing socks and flip flops, but it comes in so handy when I'm wanting to just slip on shoes to step outside for a quick sec. 

This week Dana and I had a great experience 'barefooting'. Barefooting is us going out and using the little language we've learned for the week with native Japanese. We went out to a mall near us and decided to just window shop and see what would happen. We came to a shop that had amazing traditional decor and we decided to go in and check it out. We were greeted by the store owner and she was one of the nicest people. She was completely taken by Ashton and vice versa. We were amazed when she spoke her first sentence and we understood it. "Kyo wa samuii des ne." That means "It's cold today." That was a sentence Dana had just learned this week and we both got very excited to recognize something. So, we repeated it back to her in agreement and then were amazed again when we understood the questions she then asked. By the end of 5 minutes we had had a small conversation in Japanese! I wish I could say that it was more elaborate or longer, but I'm keeping it real so that our accomplishments in the future are still mind blowing :)

Please disregard that Ash looks frozen in time. He really did like her.

We had our neighbors, T-san and her family, over for dinner last night. We had such a fantastic time with them. The evening was filled with my favorite thing: laughter. At one point T-san told us that her daughter had gone to a Catholic school for kindergarten and had played Mary in their Christmas program. She said it was Catholic like us. We told her we weren't Catholic and she looked a little confused. She said that the Christmas program her daughter was in told the same story as the one in the New Testament we gave her. We couldn't believe that she had actually read what we gave her. We told her we read the same Bible but there were different beliefs. We were so encouraged to know that the Manga Bibles we had given our neighbors were actually being looked at.  Our neighbors told us they had a great evening and would like to have us over some time. We are looking forward to it!

Also, Dana went out for noodles with a man he met the first day we were here in Okayama. His name is Y-san and he is going to Okayama University that is only 5 minutes from our house. They had a great time and they also went to a festival at the university that Y-san was performing in. Afterward he and his girlfriend, M-san, came to our house and we got some Wii in. It was so much fun to just have a relaxing afternoon playing video games. We are hoping to get back together on Tuesday before M-san has to head back to Osaka. 

Caden had another good week at hoikuen. He is learning more Japanese though I think he's too shy to talk to Dana or me in it. We say things to him in Japanese though and he will respond to us as if we are speaking English to him. Aren't we tricky! Ashton is still sick. I wish I had better news when it came to him. Now I don't know if he's had the same thing for the past 4 weeks. His nasal congestion is completely clear but now he has a low grade fever, diarrhea, and is very lethargic at times and cranky. We are taking him to the doctor on Tuesday and I will be asking the doctor to run some tests to see if there is an infection somewhere. One of our supervisors has offered to go with me to be able to better explain my concern in his native language. 

Praises:

1. That Dana and I are picking up the language and actually enjoying the process.

2. That Caden is learning Japanese and enjoying his new friends.

3. That we are making friends with our neighbors. The Lord has really answered our prayers with our neighbors.

Prayer requests:

1. Language....as always.

2. For Ashton and his health.

3. For the Japanese people. That the Lord would prepare the hearts of those we will come in contact with. 

Thank you so much for your prayers. We definitely feel lifted up every day here and it has been such a blessing to see our prayers be answered right before our eyes.

Love and prayers,

Amy