Another test... Mark and I both did it. He hated it, I think it's fun! Anyway I am an...


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God has been teaching me about weakness. I hate to admit mine! I don't like feeling vulnerable or out of control. But the Word says God's strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9) In our Tuesday night bible study we are studying in the book of Joshua. In chapter 5, just after the Israelites crossed the Jordan and just before they go into Jericho, God commands all the men to be circumcised. They are to cut away the flesh, making them weak and vulnerable. But after they do, God gives them a great victory! God doesn't want our victory to come from our flesh (our own strength or ability). Instead when we admit we are weak, vulnerable and helpless, then He can and will be our strength, and He will also get the glory in the victory.

A YWAM (Youth With A Mission) team from Switzerland has been staying at our church for the last week. Some are Japanese, some Korean, and some American... not a Swiss in the bunch! We have been having a great time cleaning, painting, and cleaning some more, getting the church ready for our Thanksgving Outreach this Sunday. One of the reasons these teams do outreaches is to learn to serve. So I started thinking about the best way I could help this team learn to serve. I was reminded of Jesus on the night before His betrayel as He washed the feet of His disciples. (John 13) In verse 15 Jesus said "For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you." I realized Jesus taught his disciples about service, by serving them. I also realized I cannot just say to the YWAM team, "You are here to serve, so serve". Instead, I need to follow the example that Jesus set, and teach them about serving, by being a servant.

One of the mom's who came to our Children's Festival with her children, also came to church this morning. She just happened to be playing in a nearby park when one of the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) kids gave her a flyer inviting her to the festival. She was excited because she is a Christian and she was looking for a church closer to her home. I was chatting with her this morning and I asked her how she became a Christian. It turns out she became a Christian 3 years ago, when she attended a drama that we were doing at our old church. Sometimes we do an outreach and we don't get to immediately see fruit from it, but there is always fruit. I was so blessed and encouraged that God brought Naoko into my life 3 years later and gave me the opportunity to see fruit from that ministry.

Today we went to a fall festival at a preschool (Japanese word is yochien) at a church near the base. Katie's dance group performed 2 songs. On the occasions that I have met Japanese people with any Christian knowledge at all, it is usually because they had a connection to one of these "Christian based" preschools, or some other Christian private school.

I am having way too much fun! Took my first ever inkblot test and did you know that my "subconcious mind is driven most by LOVE". I suppose that is a good thing... Oh and my emotional IQ is 125 (almost exactly the same is my real IQ). I can't believe I took an inkblot test... it's like having a shrink in my computer.. HAH!

I found this website that has all kinds of personality and intelligence tests. So far I've learned that I am ESTP (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving) and only 6% of the population is like me! (That's a relief!)I am good at written communication, I'm a visionary mathematician (whatever that means!) and I have a knack for knowing when things "aren't quite right". Anyway, they have a test for everything, check it out! www.emode.com and click on premium tests. (It's free)

Yesterday we held in our hands the official paper that says we are staying in Japan until Aug. of 2007!! This is a huge answer to prayer.

Tonight at church we had the first Annual Grace Christian Fellowship Kids Harvest Festival. It was a smashing sucess. I don't know how many kids came (TONS and TONS) including about a dozen girls that I met through the soccer outreach that we did in June. It was great fun to see them all again. I invited them to my Sunday School class but their soccer practices are on Sundays. I am praying for more opportunities to reach these girls!!

I feel like continuing the glasses analogy... I've noticed after 5 days with my glasses that surfing the internet, working on the computer, or reading my small print Bible is quite uncomfortable without them. It is the same when the Holy Spirit changes you, you can't go back to your old way of seeing things... or if you try, you find it is quite uncomfortable. Over the past year or so, the Holy Spirit has changed my way of thinking about many, many things and I know I will never be the same; I can never go back to where I was before, and moreover, I wouldn't want to! (However, I wouldn't mind at all, going back to my younger years when I could see just fine without these pesky glasses!)

Tomorrow Katie and Luke go on a school field trip, called an "ensoku" in Japanese. Tomorrow morning, all the Japanese mom's will be getting up much earlier to prepare cute little lunch boxes for their children called "O bento". But, this mom, will get up 5 or 10 minutes early and make a ham sandwich for Katie and PB and J for Luke! I won't win any o bento contests, but I will get my beauty rest. (and I need all I can get) :-)

I'm almost 33. Last week, I found out that I need glasses. I have to admit that even when the eye Dr. told me, I wasn't convinced. I was pretty sure that I could see just fine. Even as I went to pick up the glasses I really didn't think they would do much for me. But, much to my surprise, I can't believe how clear everything looks to me now. And doesn't this happen to us spiritually too? We are going along just fine, thinking we are seeing pretty well, when the Holy Spirit decides it's time to clear up our vision a bit. Gently show us this sin, or that selfish habit. When it happens to me, I wonder, how it is that, what is so clear to me now, I never even saw before. Thank you Lord for clearer vision, physically and spiritually!!

My Pastor wrote a poem this week.

I have got a secret.
I'm not the man I seem to be.
When my strength has reached its limit,
That is when He strengthens me.

When my wisdom is confounded,
Shipwrecked, lost at sea,
From greater depths I hear Him,
Calling "Follow me."

When my love can last no longer,
His love takes control.
When my faith is weak and faltering,
His faithfulness is all.

When I've lost all hope of man's approval,
That is when I truly see
The reason for my hope of glory,
Is Jesus Christ in me.


I love this poem, the truth is if there was a window looking into my heart this is what you would see. So many times and in so many different situations in the past couple of weeks, I have come to the end of myself. The end of my strength, the end of my wisdom, the end of my love, the end of my faith. Isn't it wonderful to realize there is no end to God's strength, God's wisdom, God's love, and God's faithfulness? I am so incredibly thankful that my "hope of glory" does not depend on me!

Katie and Luke have been back in school for a week now, they seem to be enjoying themselves. Katie has two friends that are twins named Shiori and Kotomi and when she first started school 2 years ago she was only slightly taller than them. I was looking the other day and I noticed that she now has several inches on them. I can't believe how grown up our little 11 year old is getting.

We just finished a busy but fun week. The Koreans that stayed at our church were a real blessing. They passed out a couple thousand papers telling about our church, visited the handicapped school in Ome, and put on a wonderful Korean Food Festival at our church. I didn't know kimchee Pizza could taste so good!

It is good to be back in Japan! We had a great time in the states, but it is always nice to be HOME.

Today Mark, a friend from church, Katie and Luke climbed Mt. Fuji. It took them nearly 7 hours to reach the top and Katie threw up twice along the way. She didn't give up though and was determined to make it. What a trooper!

This weekend is our church summer retreat in the Mts. and next week we have a Korean team of 26 people staying at the church all week. Never a dull moment!

Just two more days and we will be on our way home. It is a good thing too, as I don't think our wallets or our suitcases can handle to many more trips to Wal Mart!!

Sunday was really fun, we went to our old church in North Carolina. We used to be Youth Leaders there. We had an upstairs room in an old barn that we had finished off and called "The Upper Room". This past week the kids worked real hard to repaint it and fix it up so we could see it when we came. It is amazing that we were gone for three years but when we went back it felt like we had never left.

We arrived at my house around 8:30pm. Mom made chocolate peanut butter balls...YUM. On the way up we had dinner at a Subway that was in a place called Reptile Land. We ate outside where there was a peacock roaming around waiting for us to drop him a few crumbs. While taking his picture I had the great honor of stepping in peacock poop. (I think I prefer to stick to traditional Subways from now on.)

Some things I have missed about my hometown... seeing green fields and trees in every direction, lots of stars in the sky and no city lights to block them out. Some things I haven't missed...roadkill everywhere, and the smell of cow manure!

One week of our vacation is already over! The last 3 days we have spent with our good friends Roger and Jennifer Tipton. We went to Washington DC yesterday and toured the Air and Space museum and the Natural History museum. Then we walked up to the Washington Monument and on to the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans memorial. Imagine our shock when we ran into an entire group of Navy men from Aomori in Japan at the Lincoln Memorial. We tried to get Katie to chat (in Japanese) with one of them, but she was shy, so I had to do all the talking. They are apparently doing some work in San Diego and just came out to DC on a good will tour. He said they have another month in the States before going back home.

Last night Jen and I watched The Wedding Planner which I bought at BJ's for $8.99 (DVD!), almost as cheap as renting... ($4.29 at Blockbuster)... it was funny and cute. Tonight will be Maid in Manhattan which Jen assures me is just as good.

Tomorrow we head to NY, but first we stop by the hospital to welcome our new nephew into the world. (Mark's sister Kimberly is having a C section) Saturday is my family reunion which is always fun!

We arrived in Maryland yesterday evening after a very long day. Our flights went well, but as we were pulling away from the Baltimore airport, I discovered that my wallet wasn't in my bag. I had it at Narita, but it could have gotten lost anywhere along the way after that. I keep thinking how many times I had to lay my bag on its side to go through an x-ray machine and how easy it would be for my wallet to fall out! (The things we think about when it is too late!) I was carrying quite a lot of cash, not to mention Driver's licenses (States and Japan), credit and debit cards, and my military ID. We have been praying hard and making lots of phone calls trying to locate it, but so far we haven't heard anything. I love what one of my Japanese friends said... "I am praying that your wallet will find you", at this point this seems a lot more likely than me finding my wallet. I love that I can trust that the Lord knows exactly what He is doing even when it doesn't make a bit of sense to my human reasoning!

It is nearly midnight, tomorrow we take the 9am shuttle for Narita Airport. Mark and the kids are in bed and I am just picking up the house a bit and waiting for the washing machine to finish so I can put the last minute things in the dryer. Just over 24 hours and we will be landing in Baltimore!

I just added a link to our churches website... it is in the upper right of this page and it says Grace Christian Fellowship. Check it out!

Yesterday, Pastor Jonathan taught from Galatians chapter 6:1-5. You know it was a good message when you can still remember most of it the next day! Ha. Actually it was so good I wanted to post what I learned...

If I discover a brother in sin, I should restore (fix, repair, put back together) (not accuse, condemn, or judge) him in a spirit of gentleness (being careful not to add any more damage to that that has already been done). I wonder why is it so much easier to accuse, condemn and judge?

Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ . God designed my load to be light enough that I can help other’s with theirs.

The law of Christ is to love God and love one another. Helping to bear another’s burden is love. Accusing, condemning, and judging actually makes a person's burden heavier, not lighter!

If there is anything good in me it comes from having Jesus Christ in my life. If I compare the good in my life to the good in someone elses I am just comparing Christ to Christ… in the same way my sin is not any different, better, or worse than someone elses sin. Sin is sin. It all leads to death. There is no sense in comparing myself with others. I need to examine my own life and my own relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord help me to do more restoring and more burden bearing, and a lot less accusing, condemning and judging!

It didn't really feel like we were going home until today. Mark pulled the suitcases down and I started packing. I am a pretty light packer so it isn't really a big deal for me. I also went to Mapquest and printed out some driving directions. We are going to be doing a LOT of driving. We start out in Maryland, go to DC, then to New York, then to 2 different places in Virginia, a day trip to North Carolina, back to Virginia, then back to Maryland. Some things we are really looking forward to ... (besides spending time with our wonderful families!)

Mark's sister Kim will have her second baby boy while we are home,
Meeting our niece Carissa (2 1/2) and our nephew Trey (1 1/2) for the very first time
Visiting our old church in North Carolina and seeing the kids that were in our youth group (who are now young adults!!)
Seeing our dear friends and old neighbors Roger and Jennifer Tipton (oh how we miss them!!)

One thing that is so fun about being in Japan is seeing new believers learn and grow in their faith. Everything is so new and fresh to them. Unlike many Americans, they haven't "heard it all before". They are like sponges, wanting to soak up everything they can. When the Holy Spirit teaches them something new their excitement is contagious. Someone said it is like watching your child learn to walk. We walk ourselves all the time and walking is no big deal to us, but watching your baby do it for the first time is wonderful and exciting. Watching new believers grow up in the Lord is also wonderful and exciting.

Yesterday and today we have been doing construction work on the upstairs of the church. We had a back room that wasn't being used because it needed a floor. So Mark, Paul, Jonathan, a new single guy named Michael and I built a floor. It is really incredible how God has given us the privelege of building the church, both physically and spiritually.

Yesterday we took two vanloads of people to a water park called Summerland. Even though it wasn't very "summer like" we had a great time. (It helped that we had free tickets, so we couldn't really complain about the weather!) After we were all plenty waterlogged we left the park, stopped by base bought 3 Pizzas and some pop and took it back to the church for dinner. We ate and played some games and laughed so much my jaw hurt. Then our friends Carlos and Ikumi let Katie and Luke sleep over at their apartment. The kids love Carlos, he makes them laugh.

Today Jonathan talked about walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5). One thing in particular that he said, really made sense to me. There are two ways to look at "being good" (righteous). We can spend all of our time and energy trying to avoid "the lusts of the flesh" (sin) or instead we can concentrate on drawing close to God, following Jesus' example, and walking in the Spirit. The closer we are to God, the farther we will be from sin. The situation is the same but our focus is different. Lord help me to focus on You, to follow You, to walk with You.

I can hardly believe that in August we will have been in Japan for 3 years. Our reason for coming Japan was because the money was good, and we could save a lot. We always planned to do mission work once Mark retires and we had a goal of being able to largely support ourselves. (Mom and Dad Van had to raise support for more than two years before they could go to Africa, and we didn't want to have to do that.) But now I can see that God's reason (or at least one of them) for bringing us to Japan was to open our eyes to the great need for the Gospel in Japan; to give us a love for the country and the people.

Our original tour was to stay here for four years, and now we have to let the Air Force know what we want to do next. Mark and I want to stay in Japan for another 3 year tour and we have submitted the paperwork requesting that. Now, it is up to the people with power, whether or not our request is approved. But ultimately it isn't up to them, but to our Lord who holds the hearts of kings (and colonels) in His hand and like rivers of water turns it wherever He wishes (Prov. 21:1).

If you will... please pray with us concerning this request... and our future here in Japan.

I finally figured out how to post in the right time zone! Up until now, all my posts were reading Pacific time which is actually 16 hours behind us here in Japan.

Today was a good day. I got an email from one of the ladies I met while the soccer team was here. She plays on a housewives team in Ome and had come by to help with the elementary school girls soccer clinic last Saturday. Then on Sunday when I played in a game she was there to watch and even let me borrow her shin guards for the game. We exchanged email addresses. I invited her to come to church sometime. She wrote me back saying that she went to a Catholic school from preschool all the way through graduation, she always goes to church at Christmas time, and she would love to come to our church when there is an opportunity! I love watching God turn seeds into seedlings and eventually plants that bear fruit. I cannot wait to see what He will do with this seed and also many others that were planted during the soccer ministry.

Last night after the guys finished fighting World War II, Mark and I stopped by to see some friends. Carlos is Columbian and his wife Ikumi is Japanese. They came to our church and accepted Jesus on Good Friday. It has been such a privilege to watch God work in their lives over the last two months. They were living 2 hours away from the church with Ikumi's parents, and they didn't have jobs. Now God has given them both a job and also an apartment that is only 10 minutes from the church by car (20 by bicycle).

We watched a movie with them called Bruce Almighty which was pretty interesting. It is about this guy who gets God's job for a while, and what a mess he makes of everything.

Well, we got a new car and it isn't a Honda. But it is a cute little black Toyota Starlett Turbo GT. Mark's happy cuz it has POWER... what is it with guys and cars and power anyway?

Some of the guys from church are having a party at our house tonight. It is Pastor Jonathan's birthday tomorrow, so they are celebrating by playing a war game called Axis and Allies. It will probably take them all night to finish. What is it with guys and bonding and wargames anyway?

The Van Druff disease. It seems nearly impossible that we keep a car for more than a year or two. I think the longest was 3 years. WOW! Actually, our van gets really bad gas mileage but we can't live without a van, so Mark decided to sell his truck. He is looking for some very special little Honda. It has to be a Honda, and a stick shift, and sporty, and... and.... :-) I will use this car instead of the van to run back and forth to church. We should save a good bit of money on gas!

Well, the soccer team has gone, the dust has settled a little bit, and I have had a few naps to help me recuperate. Saturday and Sunday were whirlwinds with the girls doing a soccer clinic at a local elementary school on Saturday and playing a match between morning and evening service on Sunday. The girls at the clinic were 6-12 years old and they really bonded with the team. Many of the girls even came out to watch the team play on Sunday and then came back to the church for a grand finale reception. It was really neat to see all those people having a good time in church and also hearing one girls testimony about who Jesus is to her. What a blast. Then immediately following the reception Mark preached for evening service. He did a great job! Tomorrow Jonathan comes back... and all I can say is....Thank God.

I am officially old! Yesterday we took the soccer team to a "Christian" school to do some outreach. We shared testimonies, sang songs, did skits, and played soccer. Since several girls on the team are sick with colds, they asked me to play. They even gave me a uniform. It was fun, but today I can hardly move! I think many people at the school were really blessed by the teams ministry and they are looking forward to the next time we can come.

The Dr. called today to confirm that Katie does have strep, and now Mark who has been wrestling with a cold for over a week, says his throat is sore! With the soccer team coming in, there is a lot for me to think about, and I know the devil is trying to get me to worry about all the little details. I realized today (after stressing for a few hours) that I was looking at the wind and the waves (circumstances) instead of keeping my focus on the Lord, and in the midst of that I started sinking. (Stressing!). The Lord has been gracious to remind me that He is in control and that I am not suppose to add tomorrow's worries onto today's. Next week I will look back and be able to see how God wonderfully worked out all of those little details that I have decided to stop worrying about! Thank you Lord!

This week is going to be busy and fun for me. We have a soccer team coming to stay at our church from Southern California. They are called the Seahorses and they are Christians here to minister through the game of soccer. With Pastor Jonathan gone, it makes for a lot of work for me, but God has already shown that He will provide the energy and the resources I need!

Katie is sick today. Some kids at our church have been passing around strep throat, and it looks like it might have caught Katie. She has a fever,sore throat and is also throwing up. She was sick with a cold all last week. Praying that she gets better quickly.

CONGRATULATIONS to Katie! She did great at her recital and even won the "Student of the Year" award.

Today Katie is having a piano recital. Mark and I actually slept in until 8:15! Can't remember the last time that happened. We are going to go to Showa Park after the recital and ride our bikes through the park. It is a beautiful huge park with lots of flowers and pretty spots to stop and rest, but it also has some really cool playground stuff that the kids enjoy. One thing is this huge mountain of white trampoline like things. We call it marshmallow hills. Hope it doesn't rain!

Wow, I shouldn't have got so excited about the online booking. It seems they want a copy of our credit card, but the copy I sent them wasn't clear enough. So I sent them a brightened copy and that wasn't good enough either. By this time I was frustrated that it wasn't good enough that they had a credit card with the name Renee Van Druff, an address to verify the card, and I was trying to purchase tickets for the Van Druff family who could not possibly use the tickets unless we had valid passports with the name Van Druff on them!! I can't figure out how we could possibly be trying to scam them! AAARGH. Anyway, I took a black marker and colored the numbers on my card, took it to work and copied it on the brightest setting, and sent it again. I sure hope it is good enough! If it weren't for the fact that these are the cheapest tickets I have seen, I would have given up a long time ago.

Hey everyone... today I went online and booked our airline tickets to come home this summer. We will fly into Baltimore on July 17th! Yeah. Can't wait to see our family and friends. Some of you we haven't seen in years and others it has been only months or weeks. Either way it will be great to be together again!

I am going to try this blog thing to keep our family and friends up to date about our life in Japan.