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