Hope for Japan

We are already in full swing with school, as orientation started on Monday. I feel like I’m in a totally new environment, being at a world-class university. I found out that over 50,000 students applied for less than 5,000 spots. I feel very honored to be here and around so many international students. We met a Japanese student who is doing biblical studies that attended Moody after me and also knows some of our mutual friends, including Gary Carlson, a fellow ECC missionary in Japan. Small world! I also met a guy from Wichita, Kansas that knows mutual friends (the Busenitz family). One other student worked at Ozark Christian College and knows my friend Matt Spiel. We have also been in touch with a French girl who just moved here that I knew from a church in Paris. Sure there will be more connections to come.

Tomorrow will be my chance to interact with my supervisor and discuss my research ideas and get feedback and direction. That evening will be a ceilidh (pronounced Kay-lee), which is the Scottish dance. Since I don’t have a kilt, not sure what I will wear 🙂 We’ll be sure to give more details and photos of the event later.

I am also fortunate for the location of the Divinity school. It is basically right next to the castle. Edinburgh has been voted as one of the best cities in the UK, and we now know why. It is charming, historic, vibrant, and not overwhelmingly large for a capitol. My school is also just a few blocks away from the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book; it’s called the Elephant Walk. Hopefully the city will inspire us to write a bestseller one day; but I won’t count on that since a book on preaching, youth ministry, or missions is highly unlikely to make it on the NY Times list 🙂