My wonderful evening chat
In preparation for the talk I am giving on saturday night on Moses at the Family camp, I had my Japanese corrected tonight by a lovely girl called Aki, 28 years old. She had a beautiful face. She had never met me before (but we'd be introduced over text messages for this task through a mutual friend), but she came with such a willing attitude. She didn't even want me to buy her a cup of tea, whereas I'd wanted to buy her her dinner as a way of saying 'thanks'! She sat with me til 10.30pm (for 4 hours)!
After the long translation work, she asked me lots of questions about how I'd come to faith and how I decided to be a missionary here. She was kind of in awe - she literally had tears in her eyes at the thought of me learning Japanese and trying to give a message to the Japanese people. But (and maybe this is just me being Christian), actually I was overcome by her and her attitude of selflessness. She was sooo generous. I accept and expect some kind of drink or something for thanks for my time at times when I am in her position, but she didn't. In addition, she had genuiness in her questions to me, and honesty in her answers to my questions.
She is going to get married in November, to a man she met at uni CU (KGK) as a student, who wants to work for three more years in his company and then they will both go to seminary and he will become a church pastor. This was a big decision for her - could she be a pastor's wife? She really feels no adequacy in herself for this role, or even desire for it, plus she knows they will stick out in this country where the Christain church is such a minority and she wouldn't have chosen that. Therefore deciding to marry someone that wants to stick out like that was a tough decision. But he reassured her she could be herself, and she added that she 'appreicates' him. And I guess this is the Japanese way of talking about love; not the 'love love' (romantic) approach that is normally talked of here by all yong people - but a real appreication of a real person. So meeting with her tonight has just given me lots to think about.
I also realised she is the first Japanese Christian I've met in this city (apart from one lady in my church), and the first in my cohort - 28, single, working. It was a real pleasure to be blessed by her in such an incredble way, and there's likely more like her out there!
After the long translation work, she asked me lots of questions about how I'd come to faith and how I decided to be a missionary here. She was kind of in awe - she literally had tears in her eyes at the thought of me learning Japanese and trying to give a message to the Japanese people. But (and maybe this is just me being Christian), actually I was overcome by her and her attitude of selflessness. She was sooo generous. I accept and expect some kind of drink or something for thanks for my time at times when I am in her position, but she didn't. In addition, she had genuiness in her questions to me, and honesty in her answers to my questions.
She is going to get married in November, to a man she met at uni CU (KGK) as a student, who wants to work for three more years in his company and then they will both go to seminary and he will become a church pastor. This was a big decision for her - could she be a pastor's wife? She really feels no adequacy in herself for this role, or even desire for it, plus she knows they will stick out in this country where the Christain church is such a minority and she wouldn't have chosen that. Therefore deciding to marry someone that wants to stick out like that was a tough decision. But he reassured her she could be herself, and she added that she 'appreicates' him. And I guess this is the Japanese way of talking about love; not the 'love love' (romantic) approach that is normally talked of here by all yong people - but a real appreication of a real person. So meeting with her tonight has just given me lots to think about.
I also realised she is the first Japanese Christian I've met in this city (apart from one lady in my church), and the first in my cohort - 28, single, working. It was a real pleasure to be blessed by her in such an incredble way, and there's likely more like her out there!
posted by Henrietta at
11:19 pm
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