On to Japan!

  I leave the Philippines with mixed emotions!  The Filipino's have got to be one of the kindest people that I've ever met.  I was welcomed every place that I went, even by those that disagreed with our position on the Bible!

  One story to illustrate the spirit of the folks there.  I asked one of our waitresses if I could pray for her.  Karen was her name.  She said yes after thinking about it for a minute.  I asked how and she said for her family.  Almost everyone asked for prayers for their families.  I asked her if her family had been impacted by the flooding.  She was quick to respond with, "Oh no, the water only came up to our knees.  Our neighbors had water over their heads.  We were blessed!"  That's her actual response.  I was blown away.

  The folks that I run into in the United States would have been complaining like crazy if they had a small leak in their roof, much less water up to their knees!  We'd have been trying to find someone to sue!  She was still smiling and laughing.  I saw this over and over again.

  There truly is great beauty there as well.  The flowers above are just a
few of the native plants that they would place blossums in water for
decoration.  Truly stunning!

  I really enjoyed the food as
well.  I did NOT try the Balute!  A fertilized duck egg that's boiled
and then you eat the half formed chick along with the egg!  Other than
that, I really enjoyed the rest of what was offered to me.

  The speaking was very successful.  The last ACSI convention that I did I did two of the Keynote addresses.  One of the science teachers spent about 30 minutes with me after that and we had a great conversation.  He reminded me of me!  He told me he'd never heard any of this and taught evolution because that was all he knew.  After our conversation he was EXCITED about the Bible and his faith.  He told me he's taking this back to his class and reteaching them.  He was very sincere.  As a matter of fact he's working with me to have me Skype into his classroom to speak with the children.

  I saw some things I've never seen before that's for sure.  One is the picture below of the Jackfruit.  It's huge!

  I didn't get to try it so I don't know what it tastes like.  It's very impressive though to look at.  I can only imagine what the tree must look like to hold such a huge fruit.

  All of the other fruit was fantastic, I've never had such sweet Mango's in my life.  I LOVE Mango.

  I had another thing that I don't even know what it was.  It looked like a Passion Fruit except, when you opened the casing it the fruit looked like a white mandarin orange.  Weird, I know, but that is what it looked like.  The taste was AWESOME!

  The downside!  The poorness of the country will break your heart.  When your car is waiting at stoplights or signs the children and/or beggars come asking for money.

  The river was filthy!  You just can't believe the trash that is strewn everywhere along the banks or in the river.

  Please don't think I'm being disrespectful, I really learned a lot  while there and am not trying to speak poorly of the people.  These are  just my observations.

  The other thing is that it is just way too HOT for me.  I'm just not built for that kind of heat.  I counted it a privilege to be able to minster here and do look forward to doing whatever I'm able to in the future.

  When I left for Japan it was in the middle of a Typhoon, not good!  I don't ever wish to do that again.  We were the only flight to make it out that day.  They cancelled over 180 flights.  God wanted me in Japan for some reason.  I was very happy to get here as well because I met my wife, whom I hadn't seen in two weeks, in the airport in Tokyo.  We made it to Japan and are in Okinawa at the moment.  It's hot here as well!  The only problem is that we go the entire length of the island and end up in Hokkaido where it is SNOWING!!!  We didn't bring any warm cloths.  This will be an experience for sure.

  I spoke twice today along with Horikoshi-sensei.  He is a man that is near and dear to my heart.  In 1997 when my boss wasn't able to get into Japan I had to fill in and speak for him.  That was my first time speaking for the ministry.  I did terrible!

  The second place we went to was Horikoshi-sensei's church.  He asked me to speak again and I told him that I didn't want to.  They had brought in other speakers from around Japan to fill in since I had done such a poor job at the first place.  He insisted.  Well, to make a long story short, you are only as good as your translator!  At Horikoshi-sensei's church they had an excellent translator and he made me look good!  Horikoshi-sensei came up to me after the talk and told me he was sorry he didn't give me more time, he didn't know I was a speaker!  He also gave me his lazer pointer!  You know your an official speaker when you have a laser pointer!

  SInce then he's been a dear man and a big encouragement.  He's brought me to Japan 3 times to speak now and truly blessed me.  He's 84 and had 3 heart attacks and is still going strong.  After hearing me speak last year on the importance of Genesis he's written a new series of books connecting the Bible to Astronomy, Geologiy, Biology etc.  It's very encouraging to see him ministering.  He wants to build a Creation Museum here in Japan.  They've got the land and the permit now.  Please pray for them.

  Anyway, stay bold!  Share the Lord with someone this week.

Carl k.