17 days already
Sunday, June 29, 2008
wow I can't believe it. I've been here for 17 days already! I feel like it's been going by really fast! I have been adjusting pretty well I think... it's been really fun. 

Kiwi's mom took me to the hair salon their family goes to in the middle of nowhere and I got a straight perm, dye pink/red, and trimmed/thinned out my hair XD. The hairdresser scared me at first because I didn't know she was going to trim my hair and she doesn't speak English. She pulled out the scissors and I was TERRIFIED. I am trying to grow out my hair XD but I told her "NO CUT!!!!" and she understood. PHEW. 

I taught my first bass lesson on Friday! It was only supposed to be one guy named Leon, but it turned out to be a party... 3 others joined. HAHA. It was funny. Then one of the guys went out and bought the same cheap bass that I have. 

Church was awesome!! 2 people saved! Worship practice was fun, it was great to see Kiwi on keys and Leon on bass. And of course Janice leading and Jam playing drums :-) There are only 6 inputs... ridiculous. haha

We watched Kung fu panda today. HAHA
posted by Miwa at 6:51 AM | 0 comments

I SAW MY FIRST WILD MONKEY!!!!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008

yes. It's true. One of my IMPORTANT mission is now accomplished. =D 
はい。そうです。私の一つの大事なミッションがやっと果たせました！＾＾

This week, I am going to all the lifegroups and teaching them how to journal! I'm really excited! I really love journaling because I learn soo much during that about what God's doing. 
今週はみんなのライフグルーブへ参加して、ジャーナルの仕方を教えます！楽しみです！私はジャーナルするの好きです・・だってたくさん神様から学べるから。

I went swimming with Kiwi's sister and mom this morning. I'm getting better at my nonverbal communication!
今日はキウイちゃんの妹とお母さんとプールで泳ぎに行きました。もっと言葉を使わないでコミュニケーションがとれました！

Today is Stage 3 of the Typhoon... 
今日はステージ３の台風のお知らせ・・

I got a call from my cousin today that lives in HK and he said he wants to take me wind-surfing sometime!
私の香港に住んでるいとこから電話がありました〜それでウィンドサーフィングへ誘われました！

I started planning out different outreaches to do on Sundays for all of July and August! I'm so excited! And I think we're going to start doing McD outreaches and Uni outreaches too. 
７月と８月中の日曜日に出来るアウトリーチの計画を立てました！楽しみ！マックと大学のアウトリーチもやり始めると思う！

I made some of the girls here cry from laughing with my horrible cantonese....
私の広東語で何人かの女の子達を泣くぐらい笑わせました．．
posted by Miwa at 6:07 AM | 0 comments

exciting!!
Sunday, June 22, 2008


Pastor Rod came on Friday! I got a chance to talk about things over coffee so that was encouraging =) It was fun. I hope he thought it was fun... haha
ロッド先生が金曜日に来たよ！！色々コーヒーを飲みながら話せたから励まされました！楽しかった〜彼もそう思ってくれたかな。（笑）

Saturday was crazy. We had a meeting left and right, and church! Peko is a very gifted translator... I don't know what she is saying, obviously, but she's so passionate when she translates! I love it. Pastor Rod talked about being a worshipper like David. I think that was a very good message that my church needed to hear. They all have such great hearts! 4 boys (Leon's friends) and 2 women made a decision!! Praise God!!
土曜日はすごかった。ミーティングがたくさん合ったし、チャーチも！ピコは通訳上手い！何言ってるかさっぱり分からないけど、情熱ありながら通訳してる！素晴らしい。ロッド先生がダビデみたいな賛美する人の事話したよ。家の教会で大事だったメッセージだと思う。みんな素晴らしい心も持ってるし。４人男の子達が救われて、２人女性！神様すごい！

I am excited for what God has for this church. I am soo honored that God has placed me here to help start a number of things. I'm soo excited just being here!!
ここの教会で神様が何をしてくれるか楽しみ。ここに神様に送られて、本当に嬉しい・・色々スタートする事もあるし！

Sunday, we went bike riding. Okay seriously... who in their right mind would go biking from 1 to 7 on a Sunny 34 degree weather day? well. us crazy JLH people. It was really fun! Except one of the girls got heat exhaustion. I was so touched because the 2 of the young guys (15 year olds) from church took both back to our starting point... that's crazy! They both rode one, and then with one of their hands, control the other bike. I wouldn't have been able to do it. JEESH! Crazy kids!
日曜日に自転車に乗った！どういう人達が１時から７時に暑い晴れの３４度に行くの！？私達、JLHね。楽しかった！でも一人暑すぎて調子狂ちゃった子がいた・・２台自転車を戻さないと行けなかったから、１５歳の男の子達、２人が同時に自分のと、余分のもう１台を乗って戻した．．すご！私じゃ無理。

I love Kiwi's family. I pick fights with Cecilia (Kiwi's 12 year old sister) and her parents want to feed me soo many different types of Chinese food. I've learned the word "full" and say it 20 minutes before I'm actually full... or else they keep putting food on my plate!! Her mom tells me I need to take care of my face because I have pimples. haha...
キウイちゃんの家族大好き！彼女の妹、シシリアちゃん（１２歳）を辛かったり、彼女の両親がいろんな中国料理を食べさせてくれるの！『お腹いっぱい』って言う言葉を学んで、食べ終わる２０分前に言うの．．じゃないともっとお皿にのせられるから！お母さんによく私の顔のニキビの関係でいろいろ言われる．．（笑）
posted by Miwa at 10:30 AM | 0 comments

taken up to heaven
Thursday, June 19, 2008


My grandmother passed away today at 3:20PM Japan time. She was 91 years old.
私のおばあちゃんが今日、午後の３時２０分（日本時間）に亡くなりました。９１歳でした。

One of the reasons why I am doing ministry now is because of her. She had a great servantful heart and she loved the Lord. She encouraged me soo many times, when no one around me understood why I was doing ministry in Japan.
今私がミニストリーをやってる理由は彼女のおかげです。彼女は素晴らしい心を持ってて、神様を愛していました。周りの人達が私がなんで日本でミニストリーをやってるか理解してくれてない時に、なんども励まされました。

I will miss her dearly, but I know that she is in heaven with God and now has been reunited with my grandfather.
おばあちゃんに会いたいけど、でも今天国で神様と私のおじいちゃんとともにいるから大丈夫！

Thank you, those of you who prayed for her =)
彼女の為に祈ってくれてありがとう！＾＾
posted by Miwa at 10:07 AM | 1 comments

cultural difference
Monday, June 16, 2008


I apologize for my inability to blog consistently...

This past Saturday was my first church service! yayee~! I played the piano. =) Monty played my acoustic and Dan played my electric. It was fun! I don't think I should sing for a while... singing those songs in Cantonese would be crazy... Dan spoke. He did very well! Both Dan and David (translating for the first time!!) were both nervous. But they did well! There were 41 people in church~

We went to a Chinese restaurant afterwards and apparently I will be going there every Saturday from here on out after church =P

I am excited to see what my life is really going to be like. The past few days was more of a "guest" status (and people here are soo giving... seriously) but now I can finally see what it's like to be living here and doing ministry.

I love the people here! I am excited to work with them!

I discovered one MAJOR cultural difference between Japanese and Chinese. what is it you may ask...

people in HK bump into you and step right in front of you with NO FEAR. haha. I probably got stepped on, bumped into, budged in front of countless times already. I need to be an aggressive walker. haha

I have a confession to make... I bought a puma bag. XD
posted by Miwa at 7:21 AM | 0 comments

red storm alert
Friday, June 13, 2008
hong kong!!!

I can't believe it. I'm here. where? here. haha. Dan, Monty and I had completely different seats on the plane... haha. Did you know that for Asian flights, you can only bring 20kg COMBINED with your 2 luggages? Yeah. I'm glad I only stuck with one suitcase. I carried my guitar on... and added 3 kg to my backpack...

We arrived and it was crazy raining!!! Peko and Kiwi (my roommate) met us at the airport =) They're so cute.

So I live in an apartment in New Territories in HK on the 29th floor. It's soo nice. It's like our own place. I have my own room! They decorated it with Donald Duck things for me (Kiwi's is Mickey Mouse all over) Another thing... we have a maid. WHAT? I know. Kiwi's mom lives in the next apartment building over... Kiwi doesn't cook. There's NO food in the house since she eats with her family. Kiwi is soo cute, I love her already =)

My breakfast this morning was chinese noodle soup with beef, 2 eggs and toast.
Lunch? Noodles. Dinner? a LOT OF CHINESE FOOD. Peko told me I'm going to get fat when I'm here. HAHA

I went shopping today. For shampoo, conditioner... soap.. I got nothing (considering I had only space to bring one suitcase)

My first public bathroom in Hong Kong was.... interesting. THEY DONT HAVE TOILET PAPER!!!!!! Like... they don't even have a toilet paper HOLDER. I'm sure they do in some nicer ones... but not at the McDonald's one!! Aiyah. haha

I have a window sill I can sit on at the 29th floor in my room, so it's a good place for me to sit and be with the Lord. So far, I have peace that I'm supposed to be here =)
posted by Miwa at 9:16 AM | 1 comments

forced out of comfort
Tuesday, June 10, 2008


I am so thankful for my new church family here. Seriously, they’ve welcomed me in like I have been attending there for a long time. I was actually quite worried how things would work out, but I gave it to God before I left for Japan. He answered my prayers!

Right when I start getting comfortable with anything, God pushes me out. Typical. Now after I’ve made new friends, I am going somewhere else. Haha. Don’t get me wrong, I am super excited to go to Hong Kong!!! I get to make more new friends!! I never would have thought that I would end up in Hong Kong, if you would have asked me this a little over 3 months ago…

I think the last time I will be able to see my grandma alive is today or tomorrow… especially because I don’t know how long God has for her…

On a happy note, I need to condense all my stuff into one backpack and one suitcase… oh dear. I am bringing 2 guitars… (I don’t think this is a happy note. I won’t be able to bring all my purses and shoes….. haha)

Random note… I never thought that I would meet anyone famous on the train. But I did. Couple weeks ago, I was waiting to get on the Marunouchi Line with my mom after church, and as the train stopped infront of me, we both say Seiji Ozawa. Who’s he? He’s one of the most famous Japanese conductors!! Yeah yeah classical music… But he knows my dad and my uncle. So we said hi to him and introduced ourselves to him. It was weird.

It’s actually sunny outside today! That makes me really happy!!
posted by Miwa at 1:44 AM | 0 comments

9 days...
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

until HONG KONG!!!! AHH!!! It’s like a building up moment. I am super excited. SUPER EXCITED!!

I had a meeting with Pastor Rod today to get the details of everything and it got me even more excited! I stink at memorizing songs, so hopefully I can learn 20+ songs before I leave for Hong Kong. Oh yeah. And guitar lines too. Haha. God, please give me STRENGTH!!!

I won’t really be singing in Cantonese. Pastor Rod assured me about that one. You know why? I don’t know how some of you guys do it, but seriously 6 to 9 tones?! I guess Lord could sound like pig or something, if you mispronounce it. Yeah. We worship you LORD could turn out bad. I’ll take some Cantonese learning course, so hopefully that will be good.

What else am I excited for?! I get to teach!!! I get to teach voice, guitar and keys!! (I only say keys because I stink at classical piano…) I haven’t seriously taught any of these, but I’ve always wanted to! I guess they’ll all be my guinea pigs.. haha.

On a different note, my sister and dad are here! Yay! My brother won’t be able to make it out here in Japan, which is a bummer. But I am glad that my grandma is able to see them. My sister was holding back tears. I think it’s a shock when you see someone you love, who used to be healthy, but in this physical stage. So how is my grandma doing? I can’t really say. But I don’t think she’s getting any better…

ending on a brighter note... I LOVE JESUS LIFEHOUSE!!!
posted by Miwa at 5:49 AM | 0 comments