How's it going?*

Here are six interesting things from my today:

1. I have a new team member helping me edit Japan Harvest from next month. That's exciting! It isn't always easy to find volunteers for new jobs. She's an answer to prayer . . . and an Australian too. They're even rarer here than new volunteers!

We're in the process of spitting up the job of editing the magazine into smaller parts so that its easier for a bunch of volunteers, who have lots of other things going on in their lives, to achieve. One of the positions has been filled and another has someone considering it. That leaves the News Editor position to fill. Any one know someone who might be interested in gathering news throughout Japan that is relevant to missionaries in Japan?

2. This afternoon I met my best Japanese friend and she helped me buy Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets that will get me to the Writer's Workshop that in leading in Kansai (down near Osaka) in a couple of weeks.

3. Then we went and had hair cuts, an interesting activity to do together. After which we had a leisurely coffee together. I had a lot of things weighing on my mind and in my To Do list, but it was wonderful to take a step back and spend time with a friend. We even talked about some of our dreams for the future. It's not every friend who will volunteer their dreams. And certainly not many cross-cultural friendships!

Bjorn and Mary ten years ago.

4. We heard that a friend, Bjorn Gustafsson, died. I blogged here about him and his wife, when his wife died last year. They visited us in our second year in Japan. Beautiful people. Mission minded. Full of love for God and others.

We saw Bjorn in August just after our Uluru trip. He was lively of mind, but his body was riddled with cancer. The boys remember him because he allowed all of them to drive his scooter. The on-road scooter with a fake car muffler he'd welded onto it. That plus his leather jacket made him a pretty cool dude, even in his 70s! Typical Bjorn humour! Living life to its fullest, but still looking forward to being in heaven (and not because his wife was there waiting for him, either, as he told us quite plainly, he was looking forward to being with his Heavenly Father). What a wonderful example of a life well lived.

5. My son starting his own blog today. Or at least he's exploring what a blog might look like for him. He's been interested in computer programming for some time, so I suggested a blog might be a good place to try out some of the things he's learnt.

Also one of his favourite blogs (the only blog he ever reads?) is shutting down this month. It's a Lego challenge blog that used to put out a Lego challenge every month and kids could send in photos of their creations for that topic for example "maze".

So I suggested he could do something of his own Lego challenge blog for other missionary kids. So two blog suggestions in one week tipped him over the edge and he's been playing around this afternoon with Blogger. I'm not sure what the end result will be, but it is fun to see him trying out different ideas.

6. We've started a new tradition with the boys. Each night we're sharing up to three highlights and one low light of the day. It has produced some interesting results.

• Listening challenge. It has been a challenge for the boys to listen to other people's highlights. A good challenge, I'm thinking!
• I've received some "pats on the back" for my cooking. Pats that no one would usually give me. It's pretty cool when someone says that the food they are eating, that you've prepared, is a highlight of their day!

So how was your day?

* For an explanation of this common Aussie greeting, check out this post.