2012 Winter Staff

Nonetheless, God promises His presence – which is more than enough.  We are called to find our confidence in Him who made the world, who set the stars in the sky, and formed us in His image.  That is enough for me.

We can move forward into 2012 knowing that God’s promises will continue to be true; He will still be the Potter and we will be the clay.  May you find God’s molding hand at work in your life this year.  May you see His promises come true as you pray for His will and His glory to be seen in your life.

Dancing On Ice at the Nagano Olympic Skate Center

Best of 2011

Here is just a short list of the best things of 2011.

• Getting engaged to an amazing woman – Michie!
• Spending six months studying at a language school.
• Being able to help when and where possible with ministry and recovery efforts in the northeast.
• Leading a week of backpacking with boys from our local church in the Northern Japan Alps.
• Visiting friends and family for my brother’s wedding in September.
• Spending two months with one of my best friends, Cole,  from Nebraska here at NORTHSTAR.
• Being able to share deep spiritual things with some of my local friends here in Nagano.

Hitting the powder with Michie

I am very pleased to announce that after many months of conversations about financial partnerships, my missions organization is applying to work with Steer Inc. as a means of supporting full time workers like me.  I am truly excited for the possibilities this brings to my farmer and rancher friends who do not operate on the twelve months a year program.  If you are not familiar with the Steer Inc. organization and how it works, I would suggest checking out their website first for a briefing.

As my family has been a part of this organization for many years, it only made sense that I take advantage of the services offered through partnering with Steer Inc.  As my organization (formerly GBIM, newly renamed Encompass World Partners) is a new face to Steer Inc., a few prerequisites are necessary to begin a partnership.  Encompass will need a minimum commitment of five ‘units’ in order to complete the process with Steer as part of the application.  Once Encompass has these minimum five commitments with the application, Steer can begin processing support.

If you are interested in financial support through the Steer program or to be one of these original five to help Encompass complete the application process, please either contact me or my Grandfather, Dale Waters, at 605.879.2248.  My Grandfather is a regional representative, and can therefore answer more questions about how Steer Inc. operates.

Sanzoku Cook - the Norikura mascot.

Prayer

• Pray for our snowboard kids club called NAK (Norikura/NORTHSTAR Adventure Kids).  Every weekend, a group of 10+ kids join our staff for the club activities.
• Next weekend will be the first official meeting of our newly formed board.  Please pray that their time together will be well spent.  We are very thankful that these men are willing to take time off to travel from such distances as New York, Thailand, and from across Japan.
• Local English winter class is going once again.  I am teaching another staff how to lead a class this winter for future potential English classes in the community.
• Pray that we can open the park in our front yard next weekend for further local ministry opportunities with friends we meet on the mountain.
• Pray for Michie and I as we try to do wedding planning and marriage counseling all in the middle of one of our busiest season.  We do not usually have a lot of energy left at the end of a day to start discussing marriage concepts before one of us is half asleep.  I find counseling turns out best when I take a nap on the car ride to meet with our local pastor.

Michie and I have known each other for over three years now since we first met at NORTHSTAR.  Ironically, we both came for a short time during the same season during the fall of ’07.  After that, I began to see God’s direction to live in Japan serving at NORTHSTAR full time as the staff care supervisor, guide/instructor, and sometimes an English teacher.  Whereas Michie, who had spent some time living in Hawaii attending a missions training school and serving in Southeast Asia, was also realizing God’s direction in her life.  After her time abroad from Japan, she began to sense that God was leading her to be a “missionary” right here at home.  She began to sense that while there are many needs and opportunities to serve elsewhere, she could not abandon her home which is just as spiritually needy.

It took me longer than Michie to realize we were both going in the same direction, with the same desire to reach a new generation in Japan.  And although I began to sense this a couple years ago, maybe part of me was just a little stubborn.  I did not know at the time what life was going to be like in Japan.  Maybe I was a bit afraid of making any strong commitment.  But the longer I have been here, the more I hear God asking, “Why not?”

So now that we are engaged, I am starting to realize how many more “To-Do’s” I need to add to my list.  Thankfully, we are coming up to an extended vacation period during late November ~ early December during which we can sit down and start making some decisions together.

Fall

You would not even believe how gorgeous the colors of autumn in the mountains can be!  Although fall is probably the most striking season in Japan, I must honestly admit that it is not actually my favorite – in terms of seasons that is to say.  With winter on the way, I cannot help but think about shoveling snow, frozen toilets [yes, two years in a row], and broken heaters.  My list of items to repair before winter sets in has been growing and not getting smaller.

This fall started out great and just got busier.  After attending my brother’s wedding in Nebraska over Labor Day weekend, we started off with an outdoor film festival, followed by weekday camps with schools and weekend mountain bike tours and events.  This year, we held our third Norikura Century ride.  It is a road cycling event that journeys over 100 miles over the top of Mount Norikura and back to NORTHSTAR.  As this event is charity based, we were able to support two youth focused organizations – one which works with youth cancer patients and another which is involved in mental healthcare for youth affected by the triple disasters in Northeastern Japan.

10th Year Anniversary

Things will gradually begin to slow down now that most of our fall schools have come and gone, but we still have a couple events for our last weeks of autumn.  This weekend, we are excited to begin the 10th anniversary of NORTHSTAR outdoor adventures.  We will kick everything off tomorrow with our fall event.  This will include a big celebration Saturday night with friends new and old.  We will be sharing the story of NORTHSTAR’s beginnings and where our theme “real life, real adventure” comes from – John 10:10 which says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

What an incredible journey this has been, and we all look forward to another 10 years of Aloha with God at the wheel.

UPCOMING

After our celebration, we plan on heading to Tokyo for an event staff have attended several times now.  Every year The Global Leadership Summit, which was started by Bill Hybels and the Willow Creek Association, is held somewhere around Tokyo.  It has been a great processing time for all of us as staff together, and I hope that this year will be no exception.  We will be getting together with many other ministry leaders across Japan to be challenged in our walks with God.

PRAYER

• Please be in prayer as we share deeply with our friends during our 10th Anniversary celebration weekend.
• Next week, as we attend the leadership conference, that we might be challenged to think deeply about ministry here in Norikura.
• That as Michie and I begin planning, God would direct us and be honored through our decisions.

Typical weekends are mountain bike tours or events of some kind.  For example, this weekend will be the annual road bike hill climb from the center of the village to the top of the mountain.  This is one of the foremost hill climbs in all of Japan with a maximum occupancy of 3,000 riders climbing 21 kilometers up 6~15% grade roads!  The streets, lodges, and facilities of every kind are packed to the brim and probably then some.  We are all looking forward to this year’s competition, although only one staff, the director, will be participating in the event.  We will be cheering everyone on.

Norikura Hill Climb

Wedding Visit

The following week I am excited to be returning to America for a short week for my older brother’s wedding over the Labor Day weekend.  Looking forward to sharing in his special day and welcoming his fiance into the family.  They will be moving back to my family’s place in rural South Dakota to farm with my father, uncle, and grandpa.  Praying for their new life together as one.

Fall

This summer, we have had incredible difficulty finding fall season staff.  For whatever reason, we have not been able to find good contacts who would be able to come on an adventure to Japan for several months to serve alongside us.  God has continually brought quality interns every year, so we do not doubt His supply for this year.  But we will continue to pray and search for the right persons to be at NORTHSTAR this fall.

The opening of our fall season will be the Banff Film Festival World Tour, held right here in beautiful Norikura Highlands.  If the skies are clear, the films will be shown at an outdoor stage near us with activities the whole day through.  This is one of my favorite events of the year because of not only the atmosphere of the adventure films, but because it is a reminder of the adventure of living life with God.  Living a Spirit-filled life is not only about learning doctrine but about living the kind of trust filled life that Jesus speaks of in Matthew chapter six.  Many of my favorite portions of Scripture are from that very chapter.

Backpacking Camp

I just came back from a backpacking trip last week in the Northern Japanese Alps during which we looked at a few different examples from King David’s life – a time before he was king while living in fear and a time of rejoicing in God’s abounding blessings.  It was good to remember the promises given to David in relationship to his previous fears and unbelief.  Remembering that God’s promises to us do not come because of our own making and the fruits of our own labors, but because He loves us despite our faults since He made us.

Sunrise Silhouette

Walking in that kind of path is true freedom.  Along the way during our trip over mountain peaks and beside lively rivers we were able to discuss what kind of path we are on – the paths of our own making or the path that God has prepared for each and every one of us.  Do we really understand what the path of God really looks like?  Sometimes our own perceptions are actually quite different from the ways of God.

Despite much rain during our trip and strong winds on the major peak ascent and descent, everyone survived the challenge.  It is good to have a healthy respect for the natural world, and I think some of that was learned this week.  We made a lot of fun stories together, many of which will be retold countless times I’m sure.

Picture Perfect

So excited to meet some of you during the week in America.  See you soon.

Prayer Requests:
• Thanksgiving for a great backpacking expedition.
• Thanksgiving for acceptance and renewal of my three year visa!  All my paperwork was processed and I am ready to go.
• Thanksgiving for a strong summer despite all of the challenges after the triple disasters in Japan.
• Please pray for our urgent need for fall staff!
• Please pray for staff as we wrap up the summer this weekend and prepare for the fall.

Second Trip to Tohoku

In mid April, I once again traveled with my ministry partner Ralph to revisit most of the evacuation centers, families, and locations we had visited on our first trip to the northeast.  We again helped coordinate efforts with the Japan relief agency known as CRASH Japan (Christian Relief, Assistance, Support and Hope) as well as visited and shared intel with friends from Samaritan’s Purse.  This time we drove even further north to yet another devastated city, Rikuzentakata.

Rikuzentakata was once the home of some 23,300 people, but as we visited it became clear that not much remained to be seen there.  As you drive into the town from the south along the coast, what once was a beech lined by a forest guarding the city from the ocean is now but one solitary pine tree which has been hailed as “The Miracle Tree.”  People have been driving through the town just to see the lone tree as it stands in solidarity representing a sign of hope for Japan.  It distinctly reminds me of the bronze snake on the pole Moses was commanded to place among the people of Israel so that anyone who was bitten by a serpent could look upon it and be healed [Numbers 21:4~8].

While driving along the only remaining roads in the hillsides, we had been praying and asking God to show us where we needed to be that day.  As we drove around a hill, we saw several houses standing together tucked into a small valley.  We knew we should stop in an instant and pulled into the driveway dividing three families.  Several of the residents were around the homes cleaning as we saw tatami [Japanese style flooring mats made from straw] sitting out in the sun to be dried.

Upon asking if there was anything we could do, two women began to ask us for a sizable list of items as they had been living off of what little food survived in their homes over the past month since the tsunami.  We listened as they described to us the story of their climb into the hills behind their homes as they watched the tsunami waters inundate the valley, their farming land, and their homes several miles from the coast.  No one had been to visit them or bring them any supplies, stuck without any vehicles, as they waited picking up their lives.  When we returned the next day bringing a host of supplies and hot meals we were able to share lunch and a conversation with the families.  What a miracle it was to meet these precious families and share from the abundance of life God gives.

Language School

As the winter became spring, I pressed on in language school.  With a new quarter brought new students, although the school was suddenly half empty as the telltale sign of foreigners who had gone to greener pastures.  But in a good way only the serious students remained, and I made several new study partners with German, Spanish, and Taiwanese students.  Tests became more complicated, so I spent many more hours preparing for classes over cups of stovetop espresso and Spanish lessons with my classmates family.

Class was only too soon finished, but I made considerable progress since January.  Now I knew I had reached intermediate level Japanese, having finished all of the conjugative forms and at least getting a sampling of the very polite, polite, and casual levels in the language.  Since the culture is a top-down society, it also requires a unique level of politeness based on your relationship to the person whom you are speaking with.  It was a revelation the day I learned there were multiple words for the same verbs that sound nothing like the other.  So many things made more sense.  It was a little bittersweet leaving my friends in school, but the summer was awaiting.

Moving

Now at the end of June, the family that had so generously hosted my stay in Tokyo was preparing to return to the states for the next six months.  We were all moving together, one a bit farther than the other.  The timing was nearly perfect as my classes finished and I was able to help pack up the house and move everything into a storage unit for the time being.  That was the end of my short, commuter life on the morning smash trains of Tokyo.  But I don’t think anyone could look forward to the summer heat and humidity smashed against a strangers body on the trains of Tokyo.  I always laugh to myself when I see a face smudged against the windows remembering exactly what your parents tell you not to do as a child on the freshly cleaned glass.

Into Summer

After my move back to Norikura Kougen and the mountain life, I was able to treasure the fresh mountain air and my walk to and from work for the day.  No more hour and half commutes, no more expenses just to have a seat to sit down.  Tokyo can take quite the hefty toll on your budget even if you are trying to be thrifty!  I began moving back into the routine of life and ministry, although things have changed for us as well since the earthquake.  Soon after being back, a large quake in the area closed schools, sent about a dozen people to the hospital, and caused a good amount of damage to our city, Matsumoto.  But at least it is no longer the constant swaying of coastal cities from the daily quakes.

Looking forward to our busy month of August, I am most excited about the ALTITUDE [Adventure Leadership Training and Discipleship] program I will be leading next week with the youth from our local church.  I am ready to spend some quality time with God backpacking through the Northern Japanese Alps over four days with the guys.  Looking forward to a beautiful August.

Prayer

• That as I help with another lodge’s small summer camps for kids I can be a good testimony to our neighbors.
• That in the business of summer we will be true and bold in our God-given place of ministry, life, and work.
• That as I hike with the boys during the ALTITUDE program, God will bring truth and conviction to our lives.