5th Anniversary in Japan

Wow! It's been a while since I last blogged.. Been drafting a series of reports from my big adventure in Egypt and Israel.. but it seems that there were just too many things I wanna write and thus I could never manage to finish them :( someday soon I hope..

Meanwhile, I guess I just wanna write something short to mark my 5th year in Japan. I think the exact date should be 30th August or somewhere very near the end of August..
5 years ago.. I got here.. in the land of sushi, sashimi, sumo and samurai.. still remember the first impression on the way from the airport.. everywhere I saw were factories, industrial areas and buildings.. all white, clean and somewhat cold.. certainly that first impression wasn't that impressive.

Then my supposingly 3 week trip was stretched to 3 months and then 1 year, and somehow going up to 5 years now..
During that first trip, I experienced 2 big earthquakes in a row on the same evening that made me prayed my earnest prayer and ran down 22 floors in about 5 minutes. Also that year it just so happened that we had many big typhoons.. one after another. What funny is I actually haven't had such big earthquake and so many typhoons anymore since then. If that was a way to welcome me to Japan, I certainly would prefer not to be welcomed at all :p

Looking back these past 5 years, I am just so overwhelmed.. seeing what great things God has done in my life, I could not help but feel humbled. Never in my wildest imagination I would think about going through all the experiences and to be where I am today.. and boy! how I grew through them all.. From a (not-so) innocent 27 year-old-girl.. to a (not-so) innocent 32-year-girl.. hmm.. that doesn't really sound like a big contrast :p Well, I guess I have come a long way to know more about God.. about myself.. and about the world.

The past 5 years of adventure with God has been awesome.. it wasn't always sweet.. but always.. He makes everything beautiful in its time. He never promises only sunshine days and no rain, but He does promise, when the rain comes, He would provide the shelter for us to carry on till the sun shines again.


"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him" [1 Cor 2:9]