Byouki ni narimashita =.="

Two months before coming to Japan, I developed a phlegmy cough. It was of light to moderate intensity, and remained much the same throughout the whole time. Prior to coming to Japan, it appeared to go away, so I didn't think much of it. However, it's getting close to one month in Japan now, and as of last Friday, my cough got significantly worse. In other words, byouki ni narimashita.

I visited the hospital on campus yesterday afternoon to get a checkup, but the results were enigmatic. My temperature was normal at 36.5oC, the doctor didn't hear anything abnormal using the stethoscope, and the chest x-ray showed no abnormalities either. My three-month-long persistent symptoms, however, definitely say that something is wrong. The doctor could conclude that it isn't a typical cold, flu, or hayfever, but beyond that he could merely speculate. He told me that at my age, the most likely possibilities are either Tb (tuberculosis - I actually studied that for a whole semester in Australia), or sports-induced asthma (He called it 咳喘息). Why the second diagnosis? Well upon arriving here, in my best efforts to remain fit and active, three weeks ago I began jogging every morning. Unfortunately two weeks later, my symptoms aggravated. Of course, there are also other possible explanations to my worsening condition, such as change of diet (or merely not eating enough fruit & veg) or sleeping too late, but again, as of now they are merely possibilities. Truly enigmatic, though.

I've been given a reference to see a cardiologist in a neighbouring city, and I've received permission from my class teacher to be excused from class this Friday to visit. I'll give an update on my cough thing when I learn more. Until then, please don't concern too much for me, as might happen when one mentions they've had the same sickness for three months. That was merely background story to the main reason I published this post, which was to document my first visit to the hospital in Japan, on this scholarship.

These masks are very fashionable during the colder months of Japan.

That's what a foreigner might think, looking at how many people wear them on the streets. Well I get to be fashionable as well for a period of time.

I've already had Christian friends here offering to pray that I'd get better, and I appreciate their concern. Some who read this may also share similar desires, but if you are to pray for me (please do!), you don't need to pray that I might get better. In a nutshell, there are much greater things worth praying for. When we pray for things to be a certain way, we're saying that that other situation is better. We pray for love and patience, because it's better to be so, we pray for peace (both individually and globally) because it's the better way, we pray for Jesus' return because we want to be with Him in heaven, and we pray that everyone might come to know Christ and see His great love for us because that's what we were made for. Praying for better health is certainly wishing that a person's quality of life will improve, but I can't agree that being in a poor state of health is necessarily a bad thing. For one, being sick reminds us that we are physically vulnerable and fragile creatures, limited by time and space. Sickness also serves to make us grateful for good health. And even whilst sick people are commonly disadvantaged in some way against healthy people, it teaches us patience, perseverance, and empathy. For me, my persistent cough has also stood to bring me closer to God over time, in firstly being reminded that He is able to make me well whenever He would like, and that He knows better what is best for me at this given time. Not only that, it also makes me thankful toward God for meeting my greatest need for healing through Christ, for my sin to be forgiven and my relationship with Him restored, as Christ came to Earth to accomplish (Lk 5:31-32). In my sickness, pray not merely that I might get better, but that in my time of weakness, that Christ's strength would be seen and Jesus' name be glorified (2Co 12:9).

On the topic of making God a priority in my life, I have set aside half an hour to one hour each morning for quiet time with God. Each day of the week I base my prayers off a certain theme, from personal to mission to my church, etc., and learn to read the Bible in Japanese a bit at a time. I'm only four chapters into Matthew, and I've already accumulated 108 words (most of them in new kanji) in my list of new Bible vocabulary. I have motivation to keep going, though, because even just comparing my experience of church here on the first Sunday and the second Sunday, through my personal Bible reading the number of words I could understand in the worship songs and the sermon was markedly different. Pray that I'd persevere in the difficulty of learning to read the Bible in a new language, reminded of the reward that I will reap in being able to understand and articulate the gospel in Japanese. I've had many opportunities to have gospel conversations in Japanese over the past three weeks already (praise God!), both with local Japanese people as well as fellow scholarship recipients whose Japanese language ability surpasses mine, but undoubtedly it's still a huge struggle to communicate ideas, when my fellow conversants don't speak English well, so pray that as I gain better Japanese ability, that I'd be able to utilise it in conversation well. じゃ、またね！