Roller coasters

It's been an interesting week or so since my last update. I've had a few ups and downs, but that's all part of the roller coaster ride of life with God. Life isn't always rosy and run, but I know that when I've got God by my side it will be worth it. I got a little frustrated at my inability to communicate the other day at Aichi Gakuin University (AGU), where the English level is very low and I was with Takeshi, the staff guy who doesn't speak English. I've always had an inner frustration that I still can't hold conversations, and I still can't understand what people are saying, but it hadn't affected me this much before. I think I'd started to realise that this wasn't a short term thing that would end soon, but I had another 9 months or struggling with language. But I've been reminded time and time again that its not all about language, but its all about love - just as Christ loved us, so too we are called to love. So I can build relationships and serve students I meet without completely understanding or being able to communicate with them 100%.
And then there's the ups where we have amazing conversations with people we meet. We met a first year guy the other week at Gaidai and when George, my teammate, gave this first year guy his phone number and email, the guy commented with a big smile that this was the first gaijin (foreign) friend who's info he had. Then there was the guy at AGU who upon introducing us to his friends who'd just arrived, told them that we were his friends that he'd met today. Its times like these that make the struggles worthwhile - when we can see God slowly drawing people to Himself.