Shrimp. Onion. Bell Pepper. Repeat.

Maybe it's because as a teenager I would have much rather read a Southern Living magazine than Seventeen. Or maybe because being home with my parents was much more appealing than a highschool football game. My cookbook collection, my love for Branson, Missouri and my bladder medication as well as the above can attest to the fact that I am (and have always been) an old lady living in the wrong body. I've always had a huge heart for the elderly (possibly because I feel as though I fit in best with them) so while in Japan I have been looking for some way in which I could specifically minister to this select group of people. I talked to Mrs. Teresa a little bit about the elderly in Japan and she said that they are often forgotten about. This didn't settle well with me in the least bit and unless the problem is solved, I hope it never does. I began sharing with her my desire to help and serve in this fashion. She immediately perked up and said ''Oh, well you need to go with the Southaven team to the Daycare Center!'' In Japan, nursing homes are called ''Daycare Centers''  and it just so happened that our volunteer team from Boulevard Baptist Church in Southaven was going to the center to host a barbecue, play bingo and sing for the residents. I was so excited, I could't wait. The building was small and quaint and I believe they have about eight or nine residents at the present time. James, a member of the Southaven team, is a master barbecue man so we were all in for a treat. He grilled chicken (with Rendevouz BBQ sauce) and shrimp shiskabobs. I helped him prepare the food in the kitchen, cutting bell peppers and putting the food on the skewers for the shishkabobs. Shrimp. Onion. Bell Pepper. Shrimp. Onion. Bell Pepper. Shrimp. Onion. Bell Pepper. Afterwards, I was able to spent time with the precious residents. Two of them had birthdays that day so we sang to them and celebrated with cake after lunch. I became especially close to a little lady named Kimi. She is about 4'6'' inches standing straight up, and I easily could have picked her up and taken her home. If I knew how to get back to the center by myself, I would. This is one case where Charlie probably rejoices in my lack of directional knowledge because I'd be camping out on the front steps of that place if I could figure out how to get there. Before I left, Kimi gave me a fan and a cell phone charm. We hugged five times and she had to pull her cute little handkerchief out to wipe her tears each time. Most people want to come back from Asia with babies, I want 86 year old Kimi and all her friends. After they pulled me away, I had a few minutes before I had to head to Sannomiya to meet the rest of the Interns for 5 minute english. I was partnered with Drew this time, and the first forty minutes were completely dead. I started getting real discouraged and honestly, a little mad. A little while later a man walked up to us and said ''Hello, do you know Charlie, I know Charlie.'' We were so excited, and we told him ''yes! we work with Charlie.'' He asked if we were all Christians and I asked if he was. He is and has been for five years. He told us that he knows evangelism is hard in Japan but that we should be encouraged because if we keep trying, the people will come. While he was talking, two girls came up and stood behind him. He saw them, smiled and said ''Go ahead, get to work'' as he walked away. Thank you Lord for encouragement from Japanese brothers and sisters in Christ. Friends, to God be the glory, great things he has done.

Overload.

Overload. This is what happens when you don`t blog for a week. Whew. Well, Tuesday Teresa took me to the hospital to get my ankle checked out. They took a lot of x-rays and determined that i had a pulled ligament or something like that. I never really liked to play outside as a child so all of this swollen ankle and skinned knee business is new for me. I`d much rather have surgery, I know how to do that. Elevate your leg while you sleep, what is that? Weird. At the least, the hospital trip was a great cultural experience. Teresa of course had to fill out all of my paperwork, I was amazed to see that we had to draw a family tree using Japanese Kanji. I`ve never had an x-ray before so it was a little exciting that my first one was in Japan. Wednesdays are rest/personal ministry days which worked out well because I was able to stay off my foot Wednesday as well. Thursday, we all went to Konan University to our friend Sono Sensay`s English classes. I helped lead a less complicated version of the game ``Ships and Sailors.`` Thank you USM Luckyday for all of your icebreaker tricks you have taught me the last few years. I never thought I would need them on the other side of the world. :) At lunch I went to meet my new friend Yuko for an English lesson and Ariel came with me. We went to a coffee shop and had lunch. Yuko is a Junior High School teacher and I`m telling you, it took all of five minutes of talking to her before I just became crazy about her. She is simply precious. Both of her children are in college now so I think being around Ariel and I was refreshing for her. Plus, she had a good time laughing at my attempted Japanese. At one point she bursted laughing and said ``Your Japanese is terrible, but you are very cute.``  Next week she wants to take us to Harborland (not sure what it is) for a picnic. She knows a good bit of English but wants more help and practice. Please pray as we are forming a relationship with this sweet lady. Friday we went back to my favorite campus and I had lunch with my dear friends Shiori and Tsumugi (Smoogy) :) This time, they had a table full of friends who wanted to meet me as well. I think they are all planning to come to our July 4th beach party. In a few weeks I am planning to go home with Shiori and meet her sister and grandmother. I am so excited about that, I just love this girl.

I would now like to interrupt this post with a quick joke:
Knock knock.
Who`s there?
LEE ALLRED!

Yes, this was the week that Tupelo came. Hooray! A hug from Christine and Mrs. Martha is not the same as one from my Momma, but it sure did help. We did five minute english with them a couple of times and today, we held a ``Children`s English Festival`` with them. They have been a great encouragement for all of us but it has been especially nice to spend time with people who have been an influence in your life for as long as you can remember. This week it has been a blessing to come together and do Kingdom work with new friends as well as those familiar faces you`ve known forever. Added to that, Boulevard Baptist Church from Southaven is also here. They have been a great team full of energy and excitement as well. I just love coming together with a group of believers, putting our differences aside, and doing work. You prefer this, I prefer that, well it really don`t matter. There are less than 1% believers in this country. ``It don`t matter`` what we like, let`s be the church, let`s get busy, let`s go.  This makes me so excited that I am almost standing up at the keyboard typing it. Sweet mercy.
As far as struggles and satan`s attacks go, he`s still at it. Which in a way is exciting because it simply means he`s scared. Which, he should be. Good things are happening all around friends, this we know for sure. The enemy has got a stronghold on these people but we can rest assured in the truth that our God is in control. After sharing with my friend Nathan Door (he was an intern last year) some of the struggles that have been facing our team, he sent me this in an email yesterday which really helped boost our spirits.
``All of this can only mean one thing. The enemy is fighting back. And he only fights back when he`s afraid. The fact that he`s so desperate to get you out of there means one thing only: you are meant to be there, and you are needed.`` Amen, brother.
Keep praying to our Father, the Creator God. Be excited about what is happening! Thank you all for being a part. Love you all. No, really.
VBL

Oh, Sunday.

Sundays are a favorite day all around the world. While doing five minute english when we get to the question about their favorite day of the week, 9 times out of 10 they will say Sunday. This Sunday has been a little different though for several reasons. First of all, I am typing this while I sit at a table with my foot soaking in a pot of hot water. Sound odd? I thought so too. It's actually a typical Japanese tradition to  spend Sunday afternoons soaking your right foot in a kitchen pot full of hot water. Okay, okay. I fell and twisted my ankle and now it's the size of  Rhode Island. This morning, I decided to go for a quick little run. On the road there were little dirt piles about every few feet. I thought I would be real cool and jump over them. After jumping the first one, I did in fact feel cool. So, I tried again. Mistake. I tripped on a rock, banged my left knee and rolled my right ankle. I've always kind of felt like a little old woman, so I'm actually okay with walking like one. :) What's funny is that satan is trying so hard to discourage me (and our entire team in every way imaginable) and he's just not going to. Because of this "injury" sweet Mrs. Teresa, recently re-named by me as "Mama T" will not let me leave the house so I have had more time to rest, read and study the Word. Good try, satan. The second odd occurrence of the day (it just took me four tries to correctly spell "occurrence") was that we didn't have house church this morning. Four people were supposed to be baptized at the beach but because of the rain, it was moved to a small cafe. We ate Japanese curry, then they just rolled out the little baptism bath and went at it. Two men, one woman, and a little boy were baptized. One of the men baptized was married to the woman who was baptized and their son was the boy who was also baptized. To top it off, the man is in a wheelchair so the woman baptized her son AND today is her birthday and her and her husband's wedding anniversary. Take a moment to soak that in.
After church we took one of our Japanese friends and her two precious babies home. Then we went to a pharmacy to get some things for my ankle and knee. I have now progressed from the soaking pot to the elevation stage where I am lying on the floor with my foot hiked up on the couch. I am glad two of my team members are nursing majors. I had just planned to throw a bandaid on it and go so my mother would be proud to know they are taking great care of me. Pray for our team. There are a few of us suffering from minor sicknesses/injuries. Also, there are like 12 or so girls living in this house making it an estrogen filled pit of doom at times. We do love each other but sweet mercy, it is only because of the Holy Spirit within us. One time I heard Beth Moore say that you can tell the Spirit is working in your life when you look at someone and think "you know what last year I couldn't stand you, and now you're not too bad." Haha please pray that we have the patience to make it past the frustration. Together we are the Body and we are to work together as one. This is something we all know, though at times it is hard to see each other as a valuable part of the Body instead of a hangnail or a kidney stone.
The California Baptist volunteer team leaves on Wednesday and my boy Lee Allred and the Tupelo crew come in tomorrow night! Woo hoo! One of our teams was asked not to return to Kobe University. God was really working through the contacts that we had made there so we are not too surprised that satan has thrown a hurdle in the way. My team is scheduled to go there tomorrow. Charlie knows a Christian professor there so he is going with us to try to mend the broken relationship and see if we can return to the campus. Please pray. Thank you for remembering us and know that your prayers are being heard and answered by our all powerful Creator God.

Leaving you with lyrics from the song stuck in my head today : "There are tears from the Saints, for the lost and unsaved. We're crying for them come back home, we're crying for them, come back home. Father we will lead them home, Father we will lead them home."

Love you all,
VBL

Never Alone.

This is the end of week two, and we are beginning to really feel the darkness of this beloved country. You know you're doing something right when satan begins attacking you left and right. (Excuse the grammatical error but I cannot stand to capitalize his name. satan is many things but a proper noun is not one of them in my book.) Because this is my first post about Japan, let me give you some basic information about specifics we are doing here for those who may not know. In the mornings, we disperse and go to varying college campuses. We prayer walk for a while, then have lunch in the cafeterias. We separate from one another in an effort to meet Japanese. I know that some of you have been praying specifically that we make many friends and I would just like you to know that our God is answering that prayer more than you could imagine. Because learning English is so desired among these people, many of them are automatically attracted to us. I now know countless Yukis, Yukas, Rikas, and Shioris. A good problem to have. :) At somewhere around 2 o clock, we leave the campus and go Hope Walking. This consists of going throughout neighborhoods and placing "Hope Tracks" in mailboxes. Yes, this is legal here. We pray for the houses as we pass them. The Hope track contains a small mail-in portion where people can receive a free DVD of the Gospel. Within the first few days of our being here, we already received some orders back! Charlie said he has never seen a response so quick. God is moving. At the end of the first week, we hosted and "International Friendship Party" inviting all of our new Japanese friends. Charlie said that for our first party, he honestly was expecting 5-10 Japanese to show, based on his prior experience of hosting this type of event. There were over 30 Japanese. They outnumbered us! Never has this happened before. Don't tell me God is not here. The last event in our typical day is "Five Minute English." We spread out throughout different cities with signs that say in English and Japanese "Five Minute English Lessons." On the back of the sign are basic questions about culture and customs. The goal is to have the person read and answer the questions in English in an effort to have a spiritual conversation if the Holy Spirit leads. Though it may not sound like it, this is usually a fairly successful tool. On the first day of doing this, I met a man whom I later had two one-hour conversations with. He is searching for peace after a close family death and though he thinks he has the answer, he does not. The day before I left, my mom bought me a little book of Scripture by title at Allred's. I had this in my purse while talking with the man, and began using it as a tool to help him "learn English" with hopes that he'd learn a whole lot more (heh heh heh.) He took the book home and met me and Charlie the next week. They began speaking Japanese like crazy so I just sat back and prayed. My friend became very uncomfortable in the conversation as Charlie began to bring the Truth. That was last week, and I have not heard back from him yet. I ask that you pray for this man, that he has been totally miserable since our last encounter and that he would begin to realize what he is missing. Pray that all of satan's efforts to keep him away are bound and that we see this man again. Pray that he receives the peace he has been searching for, the Peace that comes from knowing our Jesus. Yesterday was an especially dark day on the campus as well as doing 5 minute English. When we gathered as a team, I just began to cry for the countless lost in this country. Like He always does, the Spirit comforted me and assured me (because I'm so stinkin' stubborn and constantly need assurance) that I am not alone. "Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." To God be the Glory.