pardoned.net

I’m trying to think of what I would like to do with this site. Recently I have been too busy with classes at Wheaton College and ministry obligations to spend my time typing up old sermons or filling up the internet with my wisdom.

Recently I’ve been offered an internship with my denomination to start a campus group to encourage undergraduates to get involved in missions here in Chicago and abroad. I’m also serving as an intern at an East Asian Baptist church and teaching an English language Sunday School class, and for the summer I am teaching at another East Asian church’s youth ministry. A lot of doors have been opening up for me to do cross-cultural ministry, I might even be preaching at an Eastern-European church some time soon. Maybe I should consider changing this into more of a site about the teaching that I do -not that I am particularly wise or talented and speaking.

Right now I’m listening to the Brave Saint Saturn Anti-Meridian album which I just got in the mail today! I’m thoroughly enjoying it! I also just had tacos with my good friend John and he totally helped me with my Contextualizating homework, thanks John!

Well I am on my way back to Tokyo for another three months, right now I am at Seoul Incheon International Airport enjoying the free Wifi. You know, you can’t get free Wifi barely anywhere in Tokyo, but Seoul is ultra connected, I fell very comfortable here!

My fight takes off in about an hour, hopefully I’ll be able to get some rest on the connecting flight, I spent the entire flight here watching movies -Iron Man, Indiana Jones, Run Fatboy Run, Kung Fu Panda… I’m definitely more impressed with the entertainment options on Asiana than on my previous Korean Airlines flights to Japan! Unfortunately I was hoping to get some reading done, but that barely happened at all!

When I get to Tokyo I am going to be so tired! I should be arriving around 9:30PM, so here’s hoping that I get some sleep soon after landing. Over the next few days I’m supposed to help move the Myogadani Apartment… excitement and anticipation! Here’s hoping (praying) that there are no issues with getting a new tourist visa!

I am currently in Seattle. I’ll be here for the next couple of weeks until I return to Tokyo on the 25th of September. I’ll be spending three more months in Tokyo before heading off to Wheaton, and I hope they will be more positive than the last three; I really feel like I dropped the ball somewhere along the way.

It has been good to see friends and family, although I’m realizing more and more that this is no longer my home. I’ve been living at a friend’s house during the week and at my parent’s house on weekends, but I definitely felt like I had more stability living in the apartment on the mission field. Seattle is no longer my home. I still haven’t come to terms with the knowledge that I don’t have much more time here. The road ahead is a mystery, but I don’t know if it will lead back to the great Northwest.

Things have been so busy the last couple of months here in Tokyo. I could probably write an entire book on the adventures that I have had. However I don’t know who would read it -since no one really ever read this blog either, it would be kind of a waste to go into any kind of detail here.

Instead of writing about the past two months, I’ll write about the future. I was originally only planning to be in Tokyo for a little over two months, I was scheduled to leave on August 14th; just three days from now. However shortly after getting here I approached Joshua JDSN about the prospect of me staying on an additional three and a half months. He heartily agreed granted that I get permission from Pastor Stephen in Seattle.

After getting said permission then came the tricky part -rescheduling plane tickets. A quick google search for Expedia customer service will reveal the epic adventure I was preparing for. After a lot of wrangling I finally got my ticket situation sorted out. I will be heading back to Seattle on the 27th of August and returning on a new round trip ticket for an additional three months on another tourist visa.

Of course, the reason that I could stay longer was because I pushed up my enrollment date for Wheaton College. Instead of attending on August 25th as I had previously stated, I bumped up the date a full semester to January, which freed me up to stay here in Tokyo. The reason I decided to wait to attend Wheaton was so that I could apply for the Billy Graham Scholarship -it would definitely help with the expense of attending Wheaton.

If I do end up getting the scholarship for Wheaton it will mean that I will have to serve as a missionary for four years after I graduate, which is what I intended and hoped to do anyways, but since it is obligatory it gives me a little less freedom to explore other doors which God might open -I’m still single, but who knows, I might meet a nice girl at Wheaton… but since most major missions agencies frown on newlyweds as missionaries (at least they did traditionally) then I might have to wait until after the four years of service in order to pursue a bride. Unfortunately that will add another problematic issue to my already lengthy list of character flaws which have detracted from the pursuit of a suitable wife -namely my receding hairline, frumpiness, wobbly teeth, bad eyesight, fur coat and shrill voice -put on top of that ‘over 30′ and I’ll definitely be an underdog worth cheering for.

Since the next seven years of my life are pretty much starting to appear upon the horizon, albiet a mere shadow of what is to come, there is a little anxiousness about it and excitement as well. Today I caught myself watching youtube videos regarding Wheaton College and reading about all the wonderful perks and benefits of being a graduate student. Gotta love perks and benefits.

I also sent out some emails making inquiry into a possible church to attend while studying at Wheaton; it may be a little ways off, but there’s never being too prepared.

I still have to fill out my scholarship application for the Billy Graham Center Scholarship so I don’t want to count all of my ducks before they hatch, maybe God has some radically different plan for me after attending Wheaton, or maybe He’ll show me some other path once I get there -that is where the anticipation is, I serve a God who is faithfully unpredictable in his faithfulness to love me.

The graduate school applications to Wheaton and Fuller Northwest are finished. A claim for unemployment insurance has been filed. Sold some used things on eBay for over a hundred dollars. Attended a blessed wedding for one of my roommates and re-learned the importance of personal relationships. This week has not been a total waste.

There is a possibility that I might be able to go to China for a couple of months to teach English, I don’t know the details yet, but I’m going to look into it more. I also have to start applying to more job opportunities here in Seattle.