Our Annie Has Gone....

 ..But God teaches through change. We must not forget God's blessings He showers upon us all the time as He teaches us so many things!!

Morning before departure... sniff, sniff  :(

Last time passing out tracts together...for a while. :) 

  We miss Ann a lot! So many times I've thought for a second, "When is Ann coming home from work?" Or easily imagine her about to come out of her room... I miss just visiting with her and being a part of her life. Now we each here have to sort of 'give over' that privilege to those she's around right now, that God has placed in her life instead of us. God is using this time in our lives here to help build relationships differently and stronger with each still remaining here. God always knows what He is doing, and it is definitely for the best!

Had some special time with Gpa and Gma Peterson before heading off to BCM!

  I am very happy for Ann, where she is. She has gone to be where God has her in this time of life, she has gone to learn more of God's Word, seeking to become more spiritually mature, and grow in the talents with which God has blessed her. I'm so happy that the Lord has allowed Ann to be at Baptist College of Ministry! Dad and Mom have come back from 3 1/2 weeks in the States (more like close to 4 for us here!) with hearts full of gratefulness and encouragement after hearing many good challenging messages, at the college, at our home church special meetings, and at other churches. I'm so thankful to the Lord for allowing them to be able to go with Ann. They needed this time to be refreshed and challenged in a new way. God is so good!

The church foyer where Dad, Mom, and Ann first came in at the college.

Welcomed with friendly faces and juice which was nice after the long ride in the un-airconditioned car.  :)

This is the table for the Taylor Fellowship that Ann ended up on. 

  They were very encouraged to see the stand BCM takes in godly, holy, uplifting music as well as in dress and standards. Because of such high standards, the young men and ladies can enjoy fellowshipping with each other, giving testimonies, and encouraging each other's spiritual growth as they interact together, without pressure of dating or pairing off. It's is such a relief to Ann, and the focus is where it needs to be, on learning from God's Word, serving, and pleasing the Lord! :)  Praise the Lord!

The Heritage Center - the girls's dorm and some classrooms.  It was opened early this year! :)
Very pretty, I think!

  Ann is extremely busy now with studying as you would assume a college student would be! :) She has had block classes for the first three weeks, about the Methods of Basic Bible Study, Net-casters (Personal Evangelism and Soul winning), and Prayer. Now she is doing New Testament Survey, English, and Music Theory. She has thoroughly enjoyed them she says, and is "learning so much"! :)  Ann is on the Taylor Twister Fellowship (named for Hudson Taylor), which is a group of students from all grades making a team to compete against the other three fellowships in softball and volleyball. She gets ecstatic when cheering for Taylor! She bruises her hands, and goes hoarse from clapping and screaming! She's funny! But the team is happy for her, sounds like. Believe it or not, she says, all though everyone knows she can out-scream them, she is still considered one of the quiet ones. :)

Taylor girls cheering!

  I'm sure Ann would love to write about it all if she had time, but she barely squeezes time in to write us or Skype occasionally. We all appreciate prayers for her as she continues to adjust to America and life without family, and as we adjust to not having her here. The Lord has helped already a great deal, as we know He always does when we let Him. :)

This is what arrived here to our house the Friday after they were gone!  Ann ordered them to have 5 separate big flowers to represent each of us girls. :) How sweet of her!!

Kristen was having fun with the camera... :)

  We four girls got along well, I'd say, while our parents were gone. We did our best to help each other, and made a special schedule for daily jobs while Mom was gone. Had lots of vegetables to pick from the garden, and beans to can, corn and peppers to freeze, tomatoes to make into salsa, etc. Then several English classes, along with our own studying or other jobs. We were blessed with several salmon to be cut up. Thankfully, Bro. Kiguchi gutted them all for us before delivering them - because Dad was gone. :D We could have done it, but I'm glad we didn't need to!

Now, doesn't she look like a guilty puppy! Cocoa never comes upstairs because she knows
she's not supposed to, but here she was one morning, as I walked around my bed to go out the door!
Must've been lonely or something...pretty funny. :) But... unfortunately for her she had to be sent back down the stairs. Who knows how long she had been there! 

 We had fun together too, and a few adventures.... ;) I'm writing a separate post about one we had.
  Also, Sundays were definitely interesting without Dad here as the preacher. The first Sunday the members here didn't stay for lunch, so it was just us four girls, Mr. Honbo (the special speaker for us) and his little girl, and two Sunday School girls whom we were very glad stayed through lunch! :)
  Each Sunday, Rachel and I do Sunday School for the children, each month switching our responsibilities for the Bible verse memorization and the Bible story. We are enjoying the opportunities we've had to teach the Bible to the young 6th graders that have been coming off and on. It is such a privilege to give them the gospel! Iroha and Keiko, my English students, are both very sweet and tender girls. Since VBS they have been coming to Sunday School when they can, and we've encouraged them to bring friends, and they have!
  Please pray for them and for me! Each week in their English class, I go over a Bible verse I picked out for that month. We learn the English words, and then I once show them the verse in Japanese, and then make sure they understand the meaning each time. God has promised, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." So I am trusting and believing in His Word that He WILL use what they have heard and seen from God's Word, and by God's grace and mercy, I trust they will be saved soon! I truly desire for God's wisdom and help as I work with them, and that the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts. I know He can save them at their age! Praise the Lord that so far, they are very open and their parents have not showed any opposition. :)
  The second Sunday morning, I taught the story of Cain and Abel in Sunday School. Just before we arrived at church, we heard that the Kuroda family (Bro. Kuroda was preaching for us) were on their way from Asahikawa and would arrive soon, just a little late for Sunday School! We were happy, but I was a little nervous that they would all be watching me teach Sunday School. (We only have one room in our church building. :) ) But the Kurodas are such a sweet family. Both Bro. Kuroda and Mrs. Kuroda were very encouraging. :) Bro. Kuroda said that he enjoyed listening to my Bible lesson for the kids! I was very thankful for the Lord helping me. It was good for me to have them there. Mrs. Kuroda told me her testimony how that the Lord worked in her heart as a 6th grader, and all though she didn't go to church most all her teenage years or have much interest in spiritual things, God brought it back to her at college and after being invited to church by her future husband she was brought to salvation. God is so good! I hope that Iroha and Keiko will not wait that long to trust Christ, especially because we know not "what a day may bring forth", and because I believe it may not be long before the Lord returns. But I was very thankful for what Mrs. Kuroda said, and for the encouragement God gave me that day. :) Thank you Lord!

  The services were blessings to us, and God brought out passages that coincided with either the special verses read that day, or the verse I was doing in English class, etc. :) It's neat to see God do things!

The Kuroda family

  Each day we girls looked forward to new pictures we could see on Photo Stream from what Mom and Dad were doing in the States. Because of the way we have Dad and Mom's phone connected with our computer, whenever they were online in the States, the pictures they took automatically came into our computer here! :) So that was always fun to look at, wonder about, and talk about later. :) 

Sunday dinner with our home church pastor and family.

A game with Dad's little niece, Katelyn. :)

God blessed with some special time with Preston and Abi, too!

 Leaving Ann was the hardest part of being in the States for Mom and Dad, I think. But as they had tears, prayer, and then drove away seeing Ann behind them waving both hands, Dad said, "If we don't go, we don't grow." 

  Ann had a hard time trying to regain her composer to go back into the church service. But met a kind lady inside that consoled her, and told her how that she hadn't seen her parents for some 17 years or so!

 We are very blessed! 

Difficult moment..

  A couple days before Dad and Mom returned, it was Miho's 1st spiritual birthday! We are so happy for her! She is very special to us, and so we took her a balloon and little Oreo cheesecake cupcakes to celebrate with her at her apartment. :)  Had fun just visiting and reflecting again on that wonderful evening last year when Pastor Maekawa (here for our special 20th year anniversary services) had led her to the Lord! She, with simple childlike faith trusted Christ as her Saviour, and was sooo happy!

 Nothing compares to this joy!!!

Praise the Lord!!!

  After 3 1/2 weeks it was so nice to give Mom and Dad hugs again!  There is nothing like having your parents back to keep things going more smoothly! 

Yeah! Mom's home!

Our Daddy's back!

Even Cocoa got a hug! ;)

Kristen's photography :)

Just before the harvest - rice fields just behind our house :)

  Thank you for taking the time to look at the post! Takes a while to post it all, but I think it's worth it! It's special memories to reflect on! There are so many other things we could tell you about... but some more next time! :)

~ by Emilie ~