My Address Here

I know there were some of you who were wanting to send letters or care packages. Here is the address to send items to me:

Amy Sauder
c/o Tim and Christine Huber
2582 Noborito, Tamaku Kawasaki-shi
214-0014 Japan




In the near future me and Hannah will attempt to figure out how to put our pictures on her computer and then on here, so be checking back for pictures. There are pictures of our first out-to-eat experience here, some of the "Life Square" as we call it (where we do all of our shopping and much of our outreach as well), our apartment here, and hopefully tonight I'll also get some pictures of the other missionaries at supper.

Yesterday, we had our first shopping experience in Japan. It was quite fun. Better yet, today me and Hannah found our way back to the grocery store and the 100-yen store (dollar store) and purchased items on our own. Yay for us! We were quite excited with our first step of managing "on our own" since we got here. Made us realize that maybe, just maybe, we can do this.

Tomorrow, we have a breakfast planning meeting with the other missionaries, where we will figure out our general schedule. Thursday we have language lessons and Friday we have our first worship practice. I will be singing on the praise team and Hannah will be playing keyboards. So that is all we know of our schedule so far, but we will find out more tomorrow.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
-- Hannah and I will adjust to the foods here quickly (both our taste buds and our stomachs.) We have not been feeling so well lately from the food we're eating. Also for us to be over jetlag quickly.

-- Wisdom in strategy for the planning meeting tomorrow morning (which will be at 6:30pm on monday evening your time.) We will be bouncing back and forth different ideas about outreach, prayer walking, schedules, and everything inbetween.

PRAISE:
-- We're having grilled cheese tonight...yay for American food :)

-- We are already picking up on the basics of Japanese. I wouldn't say we're learning quickly necessarily, but it's encouraging that we are learning even without any lessons yet. Maybe me and Hannah can actually learn this stuff before we return home :)
***Random fact about learning Japanese: it is a very nice atmosphere here for learning the language. The Japanese are very encouraging, if you know even one word. They will be excited over any little bit you know. They actually feel bad that they don't know English well. Also, we do not have to worry about tone or exact pronunciation or anything...oddly enough, the Japanese love the American "accent" in their language. So us making mistakes is actually "cool" to them. Weird, but true.

First Day in Japan

Me and Hannah arrived in Japan safely (though she was having allergy problems and I was plane-sick) and met up with Mark (who is the head of this youth-church plant) and two other missionary short-termers, Becky and Brad. From there we drove through Tokyo for 2 hours to the church. Talk about culture shock! But it was awesome. Pics will be up later for that.

We ate supper at the Noborito church with Tim and Christine, Mark and Yuiko and their baby Hana, plus some other short-termers. Now we are settled into our cozy, but not too tiny apartment ready for bed. Had an interesting time figuring out the electrical devices with Japanese letters on them (ex: microwave, sink, shower, etc.) but it was an adventure.

Tomorrow, we will sleep in (Yay!) and then go to lunch with Mark and Yuiko and shop for some necessities. Our neighbor, Ron, may show us around the neighborhood tomorrow. Then at 5pm is the bilingual church service at Noborito, which should be awesome.

That's about it for now. Just settling in.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
-- Get settled in quickly
-- Jet-lag doesn't last too long
-- God will continue to work hunger into the hearts of the Japanese youth

PRAISE:
-- All 4 of us made it safely to Japan
-- Already God is working in the lives of Japanese young people, making them hungry for Him

KEEP POSTED FOR PICTURES AND MORE UPDATES COMING SOON!!!!

Arrived in Tokyo

Arrived in Tokyo, stay tuned