I’m sitting at my computer. I’m reading my 10th graders’ essays. An American student writes, “The US is not my home because I have barely lived there.”
 
A Japanese student writes, “Growing up in a Japanese society and attending an American school, I was too outspoken for a Japanese but too timid for an American.” And a Korean student writes, “I was an American in school, a Japanese outside of school, and a Korean at home.”
 
How would you feel if you read these essays? My heart goes out to my students. They’re wrestling with who they are and where they belong. How will my American students deal with living in the foreign land of America? How do my Japanese students slip back into using honorific language with their elders at home after being at an American-style school all day?
 
I keep reading, hoping my students will move beyond who they are culturally to whose they are spiritually. And they do! A Korean students writes, “I am the loved one of my God, and therefore I can overcome the cultural problems I face.”
 
An American student writes, “Although I had found my own ways to define myself in a Japanese culture, God was behind all my confidence in being proud of who I was.” And a Japanese student writes, “Knowing that I am precious in the eyes of the Almighty then allows me to serve my neighbors in humility.”

Please keep praying:

• Praise God that Kim’s students are focusing on the security found in belonging to God.
• Praise God for travel safety from MI to OH, TN, GA, IN, IL, and AK.
• Praise God that our family is together again.
• Ask God to help CAJ staff and students to finish the school year well. Classes end on June 8, and staff meetings end on June 11.

Thanks for your prayers, gifts, and friendship.
—Kim