Hana Sensei to Miss Hannah

"Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes!"
"Father Abraham had many sons... many sons had Father Abraham!"
"Old McDonald had a farm... and on that farm he had a DUCK!"

I feel 15 years younger as I've sung old songs, done finger paints, and played heads-up-7-up. I chuckle when I realized 3 weeks ago I was in Brazil being called "Hana Sensei," the Japanese way, and now I'm actually in Japan being called "Miss Hannah." I just began my second group of students today in the English in Action summer program here at Okinawa Christian School International (OCSI), and let's just say, I can't thank God enough for the weekend! OCSI has been doing this program for many many years now, but when it was struggling last year, an ESL company, DUO, asked if they could help out in advertising. So thanks to DUO, the program was promoted very well, flying in most of our students from Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto. But that required us to scramble around for harder lesson plans and academics over just crafts and songs! We had everything from kids who couldn't say "hello" to kids who went to American school! And why were they here? I don't know... but as I've learned in my TESOL classes... flexibility is key!!

You know how your always hear that Asian students are behaved respect their teacher? Well, I learned this week that I was very very wrong! This kids were insane! We had the ADHD kid, the group of four rascal boys who got time outs every hour, the smarty-pants girl, the angry chubby boy... you name it! Katie and I learned a lot of lessons last week about teaching, so today we started the week on a much more serious note with straight up English and rules. I think they're scared of us this week. Now, I miss the craziness!

Anyway, all said and done, I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for the Gospel being shared. It's been so cool having the opportunity to directly share the Gospel with these children and see a genuine interest in their faces. My favorite moments are after the Daniel video when the four rascal boys couldn't stop saying "Wow! God is awesome!!" or when the kids didn't want to stop reading the illustrated Bibles we gave them. 11 children gave their lives to Christ, so pray that that decision develop over their years. I know that they don't completely understand the concept, but Katie and I pray everyday that they would bring that interest into their homes and somehow begin the process of salvation in that house.

I'm reminded of Hiroko in Brasilia. She told me that when she as a little girl growing up in Ehime prefecture, she attended a Christin kindergarten held in an old Shinto temple. She said that she vividly remembers all the Christian principles that were taught by her teachers and she is confident that those are strong seeds that developed into her current self. Please pray that Katie and I would take every opportunity to mention Christ and the power of God, and that those small comments would stay vivid in these childrens' minds as they grow older. These 3 weeks could make a greater impact than I know!

Thanks to Ellysa, our great helper, here's a stack of shots of the 800 she took for me...

I'd like to give some awards to my students..


The princess award to Rena - so beautiful! Like a Japanese doll!

Mizuki gets the Smiley Award. She was the girl sobbing and hiding behind legs as she walked in for her first day, but was laughing and smiling an hour later.

"I'm a HE" award to Mitea: Considering "her" long flowy hair, girly name, and cute face, no one figured out that HE was a boy until Thursday. I didn't know what to do when I went to their beach party on Friday and watched all the kids point a Mitea in his swim trunks saying "You ARE a boy!!!"

The Cute-as-a-Button award to Taiga. Flowers from little boys are the best!

The ADHD award goes to Takumi. This is the kid that spins in circles while everyone else is singing Old McDonald. The crazy thing is he was one our best students. He was, surprisingly, my favorite!



Making salvation bracelets

Paint prints

The helpers judging the speech contests for the advanced students

Let's pray. Repeat after me.. "Dear God..." "Dia gud..."

Animal flash cards

Miss Katie doin' her thing

Miss Hannah doin' her thing

We attempted sugar cookies!

Family portraits

;-)

;-)

Week one!

OCSI - this is taken from the 4th floor of my apartment building! I know...

Please continue to keep Okinawa in your prayers. Compared to the main island, Okinawa is a completely different culture. In fact, the people don't like to be called "Japanese" but rather, specifically "Okinawan." If you know your American history, Okinawa was American property for a long time during the war, so today, there's military bases ALL OVER the island. Before that, China owned it. Therefore, Okinawa is rich in mixed culture. The generation speaks a completely different language and this goes for the religion also. The people here are much more aware of the spiritual realm as opposed to the main islands that are very materialistic. The picture above is good example: Those statues are Shi Shi dogs placed at the entrance of almost every household. They are supposed to be a protection from evil spirits and a welcome to good. Well.. I don't know if any of those spirits are good.. But the good thing is of all the prefectures in Japan, Okinawa is the most evangelized (20%), probably because of the great American influence. The people here are very very laid back, I think I would be too if the beach was right around the corner!



Miss you all! Have a great week!

Home is Where the Heart is: Okinawa, Japan

Hola friends! I'm back! But now from Japan!

I left my house in Cleveland on Thursday morning around 7am and after 24 hours of travel, landed in Okinawa last night, Friday, at 9pm. Do the math... I lost like 14 hours! That just shows how far ahead Japan is ;-) Jet lag has been brutal... woke up at 2 am this morning... and my goal is to stay awake until 10 tonight. Can't do it.



Okinawa, Japan has quite a history in my book! I came to this very island in July of 2003 with Teen Mania and have loved it ever since. The 3 weeks of intensive ministry I had that month was really a turning point in my life - it was on this very island that I dedicated my life to the Lord for the missions field, and I'm back! Being back has very quickly refreshed my love for the people of Japan and although the future is so so blurry, the mystery of it seems so exciting again like it was in 2003.

I'm coming back to Okinawa this year with very different connections and purposes. In 2003, it was through Teen Mania and Kadena Community Church. In 2008, I come because I was referred to Okinawa Christian Schools International's (OCSI) English in Action program by Nancy Geischen, the regional representative who came to TFC during our missions conference. The crazy thing is, I found out over dinner tonight, that those connections are also connected! I hope I don't lose you here.... Katie, an OCSI teacher I'm teaching with for the next 3 weeks is originally from Oregon. She worked as a Teen Mania intern for a year and was the girl who referred Diane and Keith (Okinawa military peeps who lead teams to Kenya through TM) to Kadena Community Church who organized the 2003 Teen Mania trip that I ended up going on! So tomorrow morning, I get to go to Kadena Community Church again to hopefully see a lot of my team mates from the 2003 Teen Mania trip that I haven't seen for 5 years! Either Okinawa is a really really small island... or God is huge!!

www.ocsi.org/

I spent the day today getting adjusted. Went to the bank... the grocery store... (I discovered that shopping for one person is extremely difficult and in the long run, expensive! In Japan too! Gotta love the single life..). My accomodations here are in the missionary apartments. I have a 3 bedroom for myself since all the missionaries are gone for the summer. I'm not complaining now, but I'm sure I'll get lonely very soon. Oh, and I might mention that I open my curtains to blue sky and ocean every morning with a 10 minute walk to it! I spent the afternoon today ruining my Old Navy flip flops walking on the coral reef observing see urchins and crabs. I frickin' love this island!!!

Starting Monday, everyday from 8-3 Katie and I begin the English in Action program. Every week, a new set of 20 kids (2nd-5th grade) are getting dropped off from the local area (some even from Tokyo). We have the same schedule each week and the objective is to teach English through the Gospel. So we're starting out with creation and teaching vocabulary out of that... Max Lucado's You Are Special with star crafts afterwards... games... games... and more games... pretty much, FUN. ALL of these kids come from non-Christian homes, so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that the Gospel would penetrate their hearts each week and somehow it would be taken back to their homes.

No photos this time.. my apologies. I soon will plaster this page with aqua blue shots of the ocean to smear it in your face. No worries. LOVE YOU!

Hannah

Goodbye Brazil...Good Morning America...

America welcomed me back this morning with the bright orange sun climbing up the silhouette of Manhattan, as I wandered off the overnight plane from Sao Paulo with the usual “I’m going to throw up any second” feeling. I’ve been flying my whole life, and my stomach has never gotten along with air travel. I touched American soil again today at 5:30am, and until my flight at 10:14, I sit here in Newark International beginning my very tardy blog.

It’s surreal to think that the 7 weeks that seems so long back in May has now come to a close, proving itself to be insufficient and brief considering the new Brazilian family I had to say goodbye to last night. I will miss Brazil so so much, of course for its food, beauty, and heritage, but above that, I will miss the people so much. Through my encounters with people of all demographics, backgrounds, and opinions, I have been given so many new perspectives on this life and world. I hope this new wisdom will not be forgotten by my comfortable life here in the States.

Let the many updates come! It’s been what… 2 weeks?? Stay tuned for the long-awaited speech contest, “crackland,” and Sao Paulo churches.

After the departure of the Swanton team on Tuesday, we had to crack down on preparing for the speech contest. Everything from cooking, shopping, crafting, and making giant paper cranes was squeezed in to every hour we had. Driving all over Brasilia with Fumiko taught me life-long lessons again about bargain shopping and somehow dragging your two kids along with you everywhere while doing it. As crazy of a week as it was, apparently it gets worse before Japanese camp and graduation, so I came at the right chaotic season. It was sad to share my last devotion and supervise my last game (never have I ever – never fails), but I’m confident that the seeds I sowed will be watered and nourished well by Fumiko, Yuri, and Hiroko.


From the right, Hiroko, Fumiko, and Yuri.

The big day on Sunday came after a shaky practice on Saturday. About 200 some showed up, not quite the aspired 300, but we were satisfied. It all went so so so well! Us teachers were sure that someone would completely wipe out and forget their entire speech seeing that that was the pattern in practices, but not one person forgot anything! It was cool to see all of or critiquing and drilling paid off big time. In between speech categories, we had the dance team from Paraiso Alliance in Sao Paulo perform, Okinawa drum squad, the old lady dance (again), and much more. I of course was put in charge of the rock-paper-scissors game. Toshi gave a brief Gospel message too. The whole thing ended up being 3.5 hours long, which was painful, but we couldn’t stop smiling at the end. After a sigh of relief, it was hard to believe that the event I had been working towards for my whole internship was now over…

Aline

Akemi - Speaking on her family and aspiration to get accepted into military school.

Paulo - Speaking on his interest in Okinawa drums.

Race to see which team could fold a giant paper crane first.

The dance team from Paraiso Alliance Church in Sao Paulo

Street Dance

A shout out to STORM's It's Not Us Drama team - I present to you the Model/Muscle Man skit Brazilian mime style! I couldn't contain myself...

Janken - Rock/Paper/Scissors game

Like so...

Rikyu Kokumatsuri Taiko

Giving out butt loads of presents and medals. To all the higher level students, we gave Japanese/Portuguese Bibles and Yuri is going to start a Bible study with the students on Sunday nights. Praise God! Be praying for that please!

Pastor Akira (Paraiso) asked me yesterday what I enjoyed the most during my internship. I would definitely have to say being called “Hana-Sensei.” At the Alliance Japanese School, it is evident how many seeds are being sown in these kids lives. Of all the Japanese schools in Brasilia, ours is known to be the most fun and light-hearted. Although the quality may not be the best, that is not what we are after. Thank you to the Nucleo Bandereinte Alliance Church for the life-changing experience that I will never forget and continue to pray for.

My Brasilia Family:


I invited my students for some interviews, games, and activities to get to know them all better, outside of the classroom!

Oh the many tears shed at the airport.. from the left Yuri, Miwa, me, Fumiko, Hiroko, Pastor Toshi, and Akira.

Marcos and Michelle!

Tuesday after the speech contest, I was off to Sao Paulo again, very very sad. Not only was it sad to leave the people, I had to pay R$100 ($50) for my 14kg over-weight suitcase. I think I bought one too many hammocks this trip… In Sao Paulo, I was put under the care of Lauro Uezono and his family. Yoko is his sweet wife, and they have 4 daughters, Yukari, Megumi, Chiemi, and Ayumi. When he asked me what I wanted to do, I answered “rest.’ So that is what I did, sleeping in as late as his teenage daughters did every morning. Well, not 1:00pm like Chiemi… haha.

Here are some fun non-ministry stuff I did in Sao Paulo..


Banco Real on Avenida Paulista was doing a special exhibit honoring the Japanese Immigration because of the heavy investments and contributions the Nikkeis have made in the financial realm of Brazil. In the photo, Hiroe just found her parents' information on what boat they came on, etc., a historical database on all immigrants.


The Brazilian Havaiana flip flops were inspired by the Japanese zori. If you're wearing flips at the moment, say "arigato" to their inventors.

The many, many, many products of Brazil by Japanese companies.

;-)

Oh art museums, how I love thee. MASP (Museo de Arte do Sao Paulo)

I can say I've seen the Brazilian ocean now!

My fourth and last Churrscaria.... I was forced to finally attempt the chicken heart...

The result: not so good.

Now for the ministry I did in Sao Paulo:

I LOVED the churches in Sao Paulo. Saturday night was the youth group/college/career group at Paraiso Alliance and Pastor Akira asked me to speak there. Paraiso is a very interesting church. The congregation, for some reason, is almost all made up of 20/30-something year olds, therefore, many young Christians whose parents are not saved. Therefore, the church is very fun, young, and cooool. The church consists of 4 pastors - Pastor Akira, Jurandir, Takashi, and Joseph - but all bi-vocational - as in they have their own professional jobs and work part-time as Pastors on top of that. The fruits of their hard, busy labor is so so evident there. It was so unbelievably easy to get to know the people of the church since we had so much to relate with and I was so touched by how welcoming and interested they were in my presence there.


I decided to speak on life's disasters and what to do when they hit, considering the demographics of the group. I started out with a fun "natural disaster" game involving a lot of running and screaming.

Hitting up Job, Joseph, and the parable of the house built on the rock. If you've been reading my blog, you may notice a theme in the spiritual lessons I've been learning - the beauty of struggle. My fear for this generation of young Christians is that they will believe what Christian culture tends to teach about how when you're good with God, life is good and perfect - no disaster or struggle. Well hey, I've been reading the Bible for a long time now, and it's FULL of disaster and God's sovereignty through it all. In the parable of the house on the rock, no where in the passage does it say that the storm never hit the house on the rock. It's our foundation and our reaction that matters most in those times of disaster.... that's that in a nutshell... It looked like the message was pretty well accepted, getting a lot of reaction and heart-to-hearts afterwards... yey!


Hellloooo Rudge Ramos Alliance (this would be the Grandma/Grandpa church ;-)

McCafe after church Sunday night with Paraiso

One last item that has really laid upon my heart another burden to bring back... Monday Lauro and Hiroe took me to CENA, a rehab center in the heart of Sao Paulo for drug addicts, alcoholics, homeless, gays, transexuals, you name it. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures for legal reasons, and part of me didn't want to for how horrified I was at times. We were given a tour of their building and I was so impressed by the developement of this place! They have everything from dental/medical equipment, showers, counselors, and soccer camps. We sat in Pastor Joao's office as he told us story after story of God's grace and provision in CENA. He also told us about the filthy things that go on right outside their doors... He told me of an apartment own the road designated specifically and only for prostitutes. When he offered to walk me there to see the husbands of these prostitutes waiting outside for their wives to get off work, I couldn't help but to burst into tears. I so badly needed to see that, but my heart ached so hard to imagine it.

We didn't get the chance to go the the apartment, but instead, we were taken down the street to "crackland." Imagine approaching a road with a crowd of about 200 kids, adults, and elderly, sitting on the curb openly smoking cocaine or stumbling toward their dealer, compulsively, for hours and hours. The smell was unbearable, but over the smell, I sensed this nasty chill of the devil's presence there binding these people... I've never so intently stared at the blank faces of people who desperately lit their pipes. Some people were literally crawling on the ground searching for any small piece of crack to fix up with. The crazy things is that the police station is right down the road, but the police force of Sao Paulo is so corrupt, that most of the cops use too... The only enforcement they would do was every 15 minutes, they'd drive down the road with the lights on and the crowd would simply hide their pipes in their coats, as if nothing was going on. The cops know, but choose to do nothing. How does that line up?

For about 30 minutes, I watched two evangelists talk to Renaudo. Here are his words, "I used to be a Christian, but I got into this. I want to get out and become a Christian again, but I'm just going to fall right back into this. Besides, God would never forgive me for what I do." This is the common thought of all those people in crackland. Renaudo said he would come to CENA for help. Please pray that Renaudo would actually come and believe in miracles, experiencing the Lord's grace so that he may share that same grace with the rest of his friends on that street.

Here's CENA's site if you're interested:
www.missaocena.com.br
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6046647653674698072

Well this blog entry has taken me long enough to write... and I'm sure you're thinking the same thing. Just to let you know, this is not the end of my blog. I leave for Okinawa next Thursday and go right back into ministry on the following Monday. Please continue to think of me!

Tchau Brazil, Konnichiwa Japan!

Long Time No Blog

Hey y`all-

Sorry for the super delay... I`ve been in Sao Paulo since last Tuesday, and I haven´t had any internet access. I don´t have much time now either. But I´ll update you when I get back to the states on Thursday about the awesome time I´ve had here in Sao Paulo! Keep me in your prayers.. I´m feeling a but burned out, but I don´t want to go home!! Can´t wait to see you all!

Hannah