Finding Joy

This past week has been kind of hard. The constant humidity is frustrating, and the fact that the a/c is set at 28 inside my school doesn't help either. I don't like feeling so effected by the weather, so after a nice skype chat with my mom and my bf I felt a bit better and decided that a mini break was needed. A friend was heading into a nearby prefecture to take the JLPT so I decided to go with her, for the break. It was so relaxing! We trained into Matsue and enjoyed chatting and relaxing for about 2 and a half hours. Then we wandered over to the nearby movie theater and watched Malificent. It was a cute movie and such a nice way to feel like I was back home! There is a cinema here but it has played two English movies in 11 months. Yes, I am serious! After the cinema we shopped, ate a delicious curry dinner and got Starbucks. My train ride back was even longer but it was so relaxing to spend half my day on a train listening to music. I completely relaxed! Today I decided to go to church too. Some weeks it is hard to be motivated to go, as no one in my building goes. However every time I get to church I am welcomed in and the sweetest woman translates for me. It is always a blessing! There are two foreigners- myself and a lady from Finland who is a missionary. It is nice to have found a home church here, even though it is sometimes lonely to go by myself it is also important. At home a big part of going to church was the social aspect and here if i go to church it is truly because I want that to be a part of my week. I want to fellowship with other believers and learn something. So as hard as it is to get out of bed I know that without this Christian connection I would probably feel even more down.
God always walks with us, even when we feel alone. Even when I feel upset about my life here God is there. He is there in skype dates with my family, conversations with friends here. He is in the setting sun as I run along the river and he is present as I share cute moments with students. He cares about me, even when I don't deserve it. 
I have a lot of good things to look forward to. In two weeks Dan comes to visit and in a month I will be in England celebrating my best friend getting married and visiting my old YWAM base! I can't wait to be drinking a beer again at the Jolly Tanner!