Three Months Later...

  Time is going so fast specially this last month. Christmas and New Year have already passed.
   School resumed on January sixth and seems like it was just yesterday. We only have six more weeks of school before the school year is over. Yes they start their academic year in the beginning of April, summer vacations from the middle of July and start back in the beginning of September. Only six weeks more with so many activities. The students are excited about spring break and to be honest so are the teachers. These past weeks, we have seen an amazing change in some students. We have been praying and working along with some of the parents to have a more productive time at school. It's such a great satisfaction to see their faces when they have accomplished so much and tried their best. We have also had some very stressful moments with some other students, but God has been helping and given us wisdom to work things out.  
   I also started with my private ESL lessons on Saturdays. I have five teenage students. It's been fun! I really enjoy private lessons. Last Saturday was our third Saturday and I have finally learned their names. We play games and sometimes I think I have as much fun as they do.
New friends you may ask...Yes actually I have a very interesting-funny story to tell...
   I met this old lady at the sports club last week. Since I'm the foreigner, everybody stares at me every time they see me. She didn't know a lot of English and my Japanese is still very poor. Somehow we had a short conversation where she asked me my name, age, occupation, nationality, etc. Little did I know, the following day she was going to tell her friends about me. So there I was the next day, being asked lot more questions. That day I met a seventy eight year old lady. She spoke more English and we could talk more. At the end of that evening, she had told me she was a widow, had had no children, and had travel all around the world. On our way home, she invited me to stop by her house and showed me many souvenirs she had bought during her trips. After that she walked me over to my house. I was surprised of how things worked out. She is my friend now, every time she sees me she comes over and we talked. She wants me to come over and visit her. When she walked me home, she saw that I lived in the church building and asked if I was a Christian. I am planning on inviting her to join us sometime, but I'm waiting for the right moment. I didn't know Japanese non-christian people could be so friendly and quick to make friends. Its not the first time a complete stranger approaches me and stars talking and asking question. I don' t know if its the fact that I smile a lot (for Japanese it's not common) or just that I'm not Japanese, but seems like I have a sing written on my face saying, "I want to be your friend!". I think its a nice spin to the daily routine.  
   
    "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly..." Prov. 18:24