by Whitey | Nov 29, 2008 | Life in Japan
I recently lost a friend.
Eddie was one of the men I prayed together with on a semi-regular basis when I lived in Osaka. I found out about his death last week, and have been putting off blogging about it because I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t super close to Ed, but he was a brother in Christ and a really great guy.
The photo above was taken back in early October when I visited Osaka. Ed was one of us grown-ups who tagged along with our friends’ kindergarten class when they went sweet potato picking. I saw him again that night when we had a concert/dinner at the school. I had no idea that would be the last time.
Ed had been under a lot of stress and concerned about many things. He went missing one day, and it was almost two weeks later that his body was found. This has left everyone with a lot of questions. But more importantly, he leaves behind a wife and son here in Japan who could really use our prayers at this time.
by Whitey | Nov 19, 2008 | Videos
I’m breaking my weekday blogging fast because I took a sick day from school on Monday (nothing too serious, just a nasty cold) and finally got around to watching a DVD that I received a while back. Before I tell you what I thought of it, why don’t you check out this trailer?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgkOxqroGT8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]
Mujo No Kaze is an award-winning short film that my friend Paul (from the Japan Christians in the Arts Network) was involved in the production of. What’s it about? The official site describes it like this:
After a Japanese exchange student is murdered while studying in the US, his best friend in Tokyo is thrown into a world of depression in which a series of hallucinations lead him to a divine encounter in the countryside. Mujo No Kaze is a short film about finding hope in the midst of depression, suicide, and the futility of life.
I found the film to be really well-produced, culturally relevant, and redemptive but not preachy. I’m looking forward to seeing what Studio Re comes up with in the future, and I’m excited to see them stepping out in faith with this ministry.
If you’re interested, you can view the entire film HERE. It’s pretty short, just over ten minutes, so it’s definitely worth your time.
by Whitey | Nov 16, 2008 | Life in Japan
I’ve been back in Japan for almost a year now. Crazy. I wish I could say I’ve made more progress in my Japanese than I have. But the biggest thing I’ve learned is how to learn. Actually I’m still learning. Hopefully the next year I can apply what I’ve already learned — both the “how to learn” and the actual language skills — and really see some measurable progress.
It’s Sunday afternoon, a rainy day, and with this cold I’ve caught, a great day to say inside. It’s a pretty good time to get sick, though. At school they’re having our annual health checks this week. Yes, my language school gives us health checks; I think it’s a law here. And actually kind of nice that they take responsibility for their students’ well-being like that.
I really don’t have much to say today. I just wanted an excuse to post a couple of photos. I’m thinking I’ll completely can the photoblog and instead just post more photos here. Maybe a re-design would help, though, something that lets me post them at a larger size and really let ’em shine. What do you think?
The above photo, by the way, was taken at a Nagoya Station subway platform. Below, something a little more peaceful and traditional — yet another shot from the Nakamura Festival. These are dancers from the same group as the girl in my most recent Photo of the Week.
by Whitey | Nov 9, 2008 | Life in Japan, Photos
A while back, received a random email from some guy named Tim, who, the email went on to explain, found me through a mutual friend’s Facebook page. Tim’s a fellow-Canadian (woohoo!) and just moved to Japan. He lives about an hour from Nagoya and has been studying Japanese there for about a month now. Yesterday we finally met up in person and did some wandering around Nagoya. It was nice to have a fellow-Canadian to talk to for a change — we understood each other’s jokes. And speaking of jokes… here we are a with a couple of really cute Japanese chicks we met in Sakae:
Awful pun, I know. Couldn’t resist. Hope you all had a great weekend, too.
by Whitey | Nov 1, 2008 | Ministry News
Hi everyone,
Is it November already? It’s hard to believe it’s already been 10 months since I came back to Japan!
October was a busy month: In Gifu, the Gospel was preached (I spoke on the story of the Prodigal Son). In Hamamatsu, a church was encouraged (I did a solo and played a part in a short drama) and our church had a great time of learning and fellowship with the people of the Hamamatsu church. I also started a new (level 2) course at the YWCA Japanese Language School here in Nagoya, which is proving to be a big step UP in workload and difficulty — a good challenge but also a bit of an adjustment.
Please continue to pray for my English/Bible student; we haven’t gotten together in a while but I’m trusting that when he’s less busy we’ll get back to studying the Word again. Pray that God will draw him to Himself. Also, please pray for my church as we come to the nearer to end of the year and into a time of planning for the busy holiday ministry season and the coming year’s goals.
I’m sure my fellow Global Partners missionary to Japan, Andrea Swartout, would appreciate your prayers as well. She is currently in the US on home ministries, and is hoping to be back in Japan by the end of the year. Pray that her support comes in. If you want to keep up with her progress, you can check out her blog (http://swartyinjapan.blogspot.com).
Last, but not least, please keep praying for my language studies; pray that I will use my time wisely, stay focused, rely on God’s wisdom, get better at memorizing, and make some real, noticeable progress in the coming months.
I hope this email finds you all well. Thank you as always for your continued prayers and financial support, which have helped me to get this far. Let’s keep dreaming and believing together for the Lord!
– robin
ロビンホワイト
Robin White, Global Partners Missionary to Japan
by Whitey | Oct 25, 2008 | Life in Japan, Ministry News
First of all, many thanks to all of you who have been praying for me. As I’d predicted, this has been a busy month. School is getting harder and I had a couple of ministry trips, too. Last weekend I was in Gifu city, where I preached on Sunday about the Prodigal Son. It went well, but I’m glad to not have anywhere to rush off to this weekend.
As things get busier with school, though, I’m learning again to become a better time manager. My friend AJ wrote a post on his blog recently about focus that offers some good tips, not the least of which is the idea of a “stop doing” list. We get so focused on organizing and working through our to-do’s sometimes that we miss the fact that there may actually be stuff on the we don’t actually need to do.
For me, right now, learning Japanese has to take top priority. I’ve been having trouble keeping up, and last week one of my teachers sat me down to give me some advice — including the suggestion that should be studying about FIVE HOURS a day! That’s outside of class, meaning about 8 or 9 hours total, in class and out. So, to avoid distractions and stay focused, I’m forced to make my own to-not-do list…
1. I’m going to try not to go online more than once a day. I tried it this week, and did pretty well. If it’s work-related email or research I have to do, that’s one thing, but it’s amazing how we can feel compelled to check email, Facebook, and blogs several times a day. Well, no more, for me anyway. I’ll make an exception for weekends and holidays, but limiting my time online during the week will keep me more focused on more important things.
2. On a related note, I’m limiting my blogging to weekends. You might see stuff show up during the week, but usually it’ll be pre-written on the weekend, unless it’s really pressing (which it never is).
3. I’m going to stop doing the photoblog. For now, at least. I was doing all my pre-loading over there on the weekend, anyway, so it hasn’t been a huge time-sink. But it hasn’t been as fun as I’d hoped and may be a bit redundant, since I can and do post photos here as well. I think the occasional gallery and the weekly photo here is better than the daily photoblog thing, though.
4. I’m going to stop renting movies. I find I have a bad habit of renting something and then never actually getting around to watching it before it’s time to take back anyway. So this’ll save me money too. Plus my computer has run out of region-code switches and has forced my hand; I can watch my Canandian-purchased DVDs but not Japanese ones, without hacking. So my hand is forced.
5. I’m going to stop eating out so much. I tried coming straight home most days this week, instead of eating out and then studying and the coffee shop as I often do, and I had some really productive days. This one hinges on keeping a well-stocked fridge and coffee supply, though.
6. I’m going to not feel obligated to show up at every event. My church has been good about not pressuring me to get overly involved or giving me too responsibility, and letting me focus on my studies. But I’ve stilled tried to be involved and show up as much as I could. As a guy I knew in college once said, though: “Use your skips wisely.” I’m going to that now.
7. The podcast. It’s gotten so little response it’s probably not worth my time. Maybe once in a while, but no promises.
Well, there’s a parade going past the building now, and since it’s Saturday, I think I’ll go out and enjoy it. Have a great weekend, wherever you are.
by Whitey | Oct 10, 2008 | Weekly Re-Cap
I’m going away on Sunday and Monday, to Hamamatsu. Hopefully I’ll have some fun stories or pictures or something to share. In the meantime, here’s a video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSKzouakm0w&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]
Ice Sculpting Contest in Nagoya, Japan. Specifically at Oasis 21. I came upon it after leaving Starbucks and shot some video on my cell phone. Probably the video quality doesn’t do it justice, but it was pretty impressive in person.
Thanks to those who commented on the previous post. Feel free to add your two cents if you haven’t already, and maybe I’ll come back to it with a follow-up sometime. For the record, I’m not worried about my future or anything; just curious to see how things will all pan out for us all, economically, and what that means for people like me.
I have been feeling a bit de-motivated, tired and distracted the past couple of days, though. I think I just need to re-adjust to school again and get back into a groove. Sometimes vacations don’t seem worth it. Anyway, prayers are appreciated; it’s going to be a busy next couple of weeks.
See you next week. That’s a wrap for now.
by Whitey | Oct 6, 2008 | Thoughts on Missions
This week Keith Drury talks about the current US economic turmoil and asks the question What will happen in the church if we enter a recession or depression? I thought he raised some really good points, and it brought to the front of my mind a lot of stuff I’ve been thinking about lately regarding how it might affect those of us in world missions. Here are the thoughts I posted in the comments section on Drury’s blog:
While it won’t be easy, if we go through a recession/depression, it might end up for the greater good. Would it hurt for us to learn to live below our means? Would it be a bad thing if we were less materialistic? Western culture (and some parts of the east, too, like here in Japan) has become way too consumeristic; we’re spoiled rotten. Maybe we need to learn the hard way…
On the other hand, as a missionary I wonder what it would mean for the future of missions. With less income, churches and individual Christians are less likely to support missionaries. Would we end up sending out less missionaries, or would we change the way we fund missions? Or would missionaries have to learn to live on a LOT less — like missionaries of past generations did, to the point of suffering?
This is so long I should just post it to my own blog… But one more thought: If any non-Americans (like me) reading this think that this won’t affect us if it happens, I disagree. With the world economy being what it is, and America being such a huge part of it, we are ALL in for a rough ride.
As Keith Drury would say, so what do you think?
And yes, I just block-quoted myself. I know.
by Whitey | Sep 30, 2008 | Ministry News
The following is a copy of my October Prayer Letter, as I just sent to my supporters via email. As an added bonus, I’m posting some photos with it here. If you’d like to be on the email list, you can sign up via my Support Info page. Thanks.
The guys.
Hi everyone,
First of all, thank you for your prayers during my recent end-of-term studies and testings. The good news is I passed the course and can go on to the next level, which starts next Monday.
Last night, I had a group of guys over to my place for a meal. A few guys from the church came, as well as my English student, who is not a Christian. It was a lot of fun, and a good chance for me to connect a non-Christian friend with some of his fellow-Japanese who are Christians. Please keep praying for my friend and for our English/Bible studies.
I’ve been enjoying a little bit of downtime since the first semester of full-time language studies ended. But as I said, next week I’m back to class. In addition, I’ve got a few additions to my schedule that will make for a busy month. Please pray for my studies and for each of these events. Pray that I’ll keep up with the studies and that God will bless and use the events I get to be a part of. Here are some dates…
Oct. 4 (this weekend) — I’ll be in Osaka visiting some friends, and I’ve been asked to provide some music for a charity dinner, where they’re raising funds to help build schools in Africa.
Oct. 12-13 — I’m planning on being a part of a team from my church going to Hamamatsu, where we’ll be doing some music, drama, etc, to help a partner church there do some outreach.
Oct. 19 — I’m scheduled to preach at the Immanuel Church in nearby Gifu. Pastor Oda will be interpreting again.
Thanks again for your prayers, support and encouragement! As always, you can check my blog for more information, news and thoughts on my life and ministry here in Japan.
God bless,
– robin
ロビンホワイト
We also played Jenga. Remember Jenga???
by Whitey | Sep 20, 2008 | Weekly Re-Cap
It’s Saturday evening at about 6:35 PM. I haven’t left my apartment all day. And it’s been great. I did some much-needed house-cleaning, some reading, watched some Lost, and generally just relaxed. I may do some drawing tonight, too. A good day of rest.
It’s much easier to relax now than it was about a week ago. This week was the last of the semester, so I’ve been pre-occupied with trying survive the big final exam. Took the exam Thursday. Found out yesterday that I — and everyone else — passed. Thanks, everyone who’s been praying for me!
So now I’ve got two weeks without any classes. This time I’m staying in Nagoya and getting some work done, as well as studying so I’ll be prepared for the next level when it starts after the break. I’m planning a long weekend trip to Osaka for the first weekend in October, but other than that, this is not vacation time, just a really nice change of pace and a chance to catch my breath a little.
October’s just around the corner. I think it’ll be a busy month. Not only do I start J-2 in Japanese school, but I’ve got a preaching opportunity in Gifu and a ministry trip to Hamamatsu (I think that’s the name) with a bunch of people from my church.
Should be fun times. Thanks for sharing the journey with me here on the blog.
