Going through open windows

The past few days, God has been very faithful in providing opportunities, for both practicing Japanese AND sharing my faith :-D

最近神様が日本語を練習すると自分の信仰について話機会を与えてくれました　：D

The first opportunity occurred last Sunday night.  I was riding the train home from church, when suddenly I heard someone say, "ah, Jeremy-sensei!" (i.e. "Oh, Mr. Jeremy!").  Typically, no one outside of my English classes (or work) refer to me as "Jeremy-sensei", so I thought it was strange to hear someone saying it on the train.  So I turned around, and to my surprise, there stood one of the (Japanese) teachers from my school!  I saw that she was surrounded by several young girls, so my initial thought was that maybe she was a girl's badminton coach or something...nope, they were her DAUGHTERS!!  All of them!  There were six girls in all, I couldn't believe it!  In America, such large families are becoming rare, but in Japan they're nearly unheard of.  Anyways, a couple of them were in JH, so they attempted to ask me some questions in English (w/ some success), including the wonderful testimony-opener: why did you come to Japan?  Unfortunately, at that point I had less than 5min to tell my story, so I gave the most abridged version EVER (essentially, "God told me to come") and hoped that was enough for them to understand.

一番目の機会が日曜日の夜に来た。電車に乗ってで、突然「ああ、ジェレミー先生！」って誰かを言われたんですけど、あまり仕事以外誰も僕に「ジェレミー先生」っていうことを言われないんだから、「何それ？誰言ったん？」と思った。 それで、僕は振り向いてで、僕の仕事の先生いた！彼女は六人の女の子に囲まれただから、あの先生は女の子のバドミントンチームを連れてもらってると思ったけど、実はあの子は先生の娘さんでした！全部！ロク人の娘、信じられなかった！アメリカの家族でも、そういう多い子どもがいる状態は珍しいだけど、日本は殆どないです！とにかく、あの子の中の二人か３人の子は中学生だから、英語で質問を聞いてみて、このすごい自分の証を言う機会込み：どうして日本に来ましたか。あいにく、その時に僕の日本に来た話を教えられるように５分以下あったんだから、本当に一番の短い簡略版を言った。でも、その話の意味理解できるかどうかわからないんだ。

My second opportunity came in a way that I least expected, but has been becoming more common recently: during one of my lessons!  I asked my student what she had done the previous week, and she told me about "setsubun" (a festival where they drive away evil spirits by throwing beans at them) and some of the traditions surrounding that.  When I asked her what the purpose of it all was, she said it was to "get rid of bad spirits, and to let in good spirits; to have a happy life!"  she then asked me if I was a Christian, which opened the door for me to talk about my faith, how Christianity is more about a relationship w/ God and not simply asking him for things at the temple a few times/year.  To my surprise, she used to attend a Catholic church (in Kobe) when she was younger, and even attended a Protestant highschool!  She said that, though she is Buddhist (which nearly every Japanese will say just by virtue of being Japanese), Christianity was actually much easier to understand than Buddhism!  She said she loved how Christians always sang songs, and prayed everyday as opposed to most (Japanese) Buddhists who only prayed at special occassions, and even then only to ask for something :-/

二番目の機会は思いがけなく来た：僕のレッスン中！僕の生徒に「先週何をしましたか」って聞いた時に、彼女は節分の伝統について教えてくれた。その伝統の意思は何って聞いた時に、彼女はいい人生ができるようにいいこと来て、悪いこと出て！」って言った。そして、彼女は僕に「あなたはクリスチャンですか」って聞いて、それで僕の信仰について言ってで、キリスト教は一年間一回か二回お寺に行って、神様に欲しいことしか聞かないっていうより、神様と愛の関係が欲しいっていうことですってた。実は彼女は子どもの時に教会に行った！高校生の時さえ、プロテスタント教の高等学校に行った、ビックリした！彼女は「

あたしは仏教家だても、 仏教よりキリスト教のほうがわかりやすい」って言った！クリスチャンはいつも歌を歌って、毎日祈るから大好きだって言われた。一方仏教家は特別な状態か何か欲しいことがある時しか祈らないって　：ー／

Father God, thank you so much for both of these wonderful opportunities!  Please continue to bless me w/ more such opportunities, and help me to faithfully take advantage of them as they come ^_^

天のお父さん、素晴らしい機会を与えてくれて感謝します。そういう祝福を与え続けて、来る時スッキリできるように助けてください。 アーメン！