Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A couple videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUGT8w68D60

This is the link for I'll Go, the song I wrote the lyrics for in my last blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGmtXNWhcNc

This is the link for Serve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awVXZhSJ1eM

This is the link for Your Fire.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

More Random Pictures from Japan!

Me and my beautiful roomie, Amy!!!!
Stephen, Debbie, and Nessa being weird!
This is typical of Amy and I. I ask if I can dropkick the little dogs and she always stops me and tells me how cute they are.
Me, Nessa, Caren, Debbie, and Amy. My amazing, beautiful sisters, and friends from Japan.
Nessa and Caren (and Debbie's fingers) goofing off on the train.
Tim, Amy, Nessa, and I....we get bored on the train sometimes.
My Japanese parents, Tim and Christine Huber, also the directors of PAZ Japan.
Nessa and I....she's one of my best friends now
Caren and Debbie
Joe being weird.....he stole my camera for that pic I think.
All 5 of us girls walking arm in arm down a beautiful path.
Going from youngest to oldest....Amy, myself, Debbie, Nessa, and Caren.
Some Japanese scenery.
Debbie stole my camera.....Love you Debs!
The whole team in November 2009....Kengo, Tim, Ben, Joe, Nessa, Amy, Debbie, Caren, Benny, myself, Christine, and Tim Huber.
Mt. Fuji
That's Mt. Fuji sitting across the lake.
Snorts and Giggles time at our house.
The beach where we had the team retreat in September.
Again goofing off on the train....yea we get bored...
Fuse Jesus Community.....all are welcome....even the weirdos! Just kidding! This is my family and I'm proud of them and I love them all so much!!!!

Writings

Well, I've already stated that I'm not the best at writing in my blog frequently but one thing I have grown to love writing while being here is songs.
It all started this past summer. I wrote my first song EVER! called "I'll Go". The lyrics say:
Lord, I'll Go. Send me where you want me to be. Send me where you need me to be. O Lord, Yes I'll go.
To the ends of the earth, Lord, there is no where I won't go. To the lost and the weary, Lord, tell me where they are. Send me there. Lord, send me there. Lord, send me where they are.
I was lost, Lord, and you found me. You took me as I was. You paid the price for me. Lived and died for me. Thanks is not enough.
It took me almost 3 months to really show that song to anyone. And it wasn't until the beginning of this year that any large amount of people heard it. (I played it at a prayer meeting one day in February.)
I wrote 4 more songs last fall. Two of which have music to go with them and two of which do not. Although, the two that have music no one's really heard, mainly just cause I still want to tweak, them a bit.
In January I was faced with a semi-serious decision about what I would do with the rest of my time in Japan and the day I made the decision about what I was going to do I wrote one of my favorite songs called "Serve". It's lyrics say:
I will serve you, O Lord, for you alone are God. I will love you until the end of time.
For You are my Rock and Redeemer. For You are my Maker and Creator. For You alone are God.
For You set me free from darkness. You wrapped me in Your arms. You loved me and cared for me and told me I am Yours.
Then this past week I wrote two more songs. One of which doesn't have music to it, but the other does and it's become one of my favorites as well. This one is called "Your Fire" and it says:
Your fire burns deep inside. A passion that can't be tamed. Nothing and no one can ever take it away.
Your passion fills me, gives em strength to live every day. Your desires become mine, to do what you have for me, do what you will for me.
Your fire burns deep, kindling my heart every day. Your fire burns bold, giving me passion, giving me joy.
Your fire burns deep inside. Your fire it fills me up.
I'm not sure why I'm writing this as a blog this time, because for quite awhile I've been pretty nervous about showing people my songs. But I came the conclusion while writing my last song that God gave me these songs not just for me to sing them by myself but so that others can hear them. I want others to be able to sing these songs and have the words become the passions, promises, and desires of their hearts as they are mine.

Oh Brother!

So obviously I have seriously fallen behind in writing a blog every day. Well, let me fill everyone in on what all has been happening around here the past couple weeks.
The beginning of March we had a surprise birthday party for Mark. It turned out great! In New Zealand it's a big event for your 30th birthday, and since Mark couldn't be with his family this for his birthday this year we decided to throw him a huge party. His birthday isn't actually until March 18th, but we had the party on March 6th because we wanted to celebrate it with Joe G. here still.
We had it planned for after the Fuse. During Super Small Group time Debbie and I went in the back and frosted one of the cakes we had for him and then right when he thought we had to all start cleaning up we shut off the lights and came in with candles lit on the cake singing Happy Birthday! It was so much fun! He was totally surprised!!!!
The rest of the party included dinner at the LiveZone, games, a couple videos that Joe and I worked on, presents, and a great speech from Mark at the end of the evening. Joe and I created a video from people from the Fuse all wishing him a Happy Birthday and we received a couple videos from his family in NZ and Joe edited them into a shorter video so we could show that as well. It was the best surprise party ever!!!
The next week, on the 11th, Joe left for the States. That was a sad day for everyone. He is seriously missed here in Japan. On the 12th, Jeff and Becky Hrubik (Debbie's parents) came for a couple weeks. They came for the inauguration of the Noborito church which was on the 14th. On the 15th, Joey and Kirk Yamaguchi left, they were also here for the inauguration. They came from Grand Junction, CO, and stayed about two weeks.
Our newest missionary arrived on the 17th. Her name is Janine and she's planning on staying at least 3-5 years. We're so glad she got here safely. She'll be taking over a lot of the administrative jobs that I do for the Fuse. Such as the team online schedule, planning meetings, taking notes during meetings, things like that.
On the 24th, Joe Motter (Mochi) is heading to the States for 2 weeks and the next day (the 25th) Kengo is also going to the States for two weeks. He's going to see a friend's wedding and to spend some time with Joe G. So for the next two weeks we are down one guitar player and one drummer.
This week for Fuse it'll be more of an acoustic feel and next week we have a special group coming in to sing so the entire band will have a week off. It'll be nice.
Amy and I bought our tickets home. We will arrive back in the States on May 4th. We land in Chicago at 4pm and then my parents are driving me home (Amy's are driving her I'm assuming). I'm starting to get excited about coming home, but at the same time I'm not. I love Japan! In a way I can't hardly remember what it's like to live in the States anymore. It'll be so weird to drive places again and not have to ride my bike, walk, or take the train. It'll be weird living in a house with more than one other person. (I have grown to love the quiet and peacefulness....well when my bird isn't being a chatter box) It'll be weird being in rooms that are as big as my entire house. It'll be weird to not have my own house anymore. It'll be weird to understand everything everyone is saying.
But I'm excited about seeing my parents again, about seeing my brothers and sisters and all my friends. I'm excited to play on the worship team again. I'm excited to go to church where there is no need for a translation. I'm excited to be able to walk 10 minutes from my house and be in the woods.
There are so many things I'm excited for that sometimes I can't decide whether I want to stay here or go home. But the most exciting thing for me is to see where God is going to use me next. I have grown to have a deep love and passion for planting churches and helping churches raise up new leaders in the church. To see people grow in their walks with God and to see how God works.