Well, summer in Japan is when everything "grows like topsy"*(1), while the rest of the year the growth seems slow. So over the summer of 2010, since my D700 was still quite new then, at every opportunity I went out to photograph the growth of things. The rice field near by my house was particularly interesting as every week it was different. Then there were the summer flowers which seemed to spring up everywhere. Another thing “growing” was the new expressway, and actually it still is.
Observing the growth can also be said of what we do as God's witnesses. Since only God makes things grow. Sure we might sow seeds and add a bit of water, so also in our time in Japan, we observed amazing growth in people's spiritual lives as they've trusted Jesus. Ritsuko is writing down many of the observations in a new book called "It was Him" and from time to time I'll post observations about what God is doing here to this PBLOG.
*(1) A saying a manager of mine in when I worked in Australia would say.
Note 23/07/2012: It's been over six months since I last posted to PBase and a lot has happened. I've been all the way up North to Sapporo for the Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival) and even further South all the way to Singapore and Johor Bahru to visit some Japanese believers there. We were kept busy in February with a couple of visitors from Perth. I was struck down with a dangerous foot infection in late April, it pretty much immobilised me for the Golden Week holiday. While I'm better now, I'm still treating the foot with ointment everyday and I'm not planning to start my running again until well into the autumn. I've lost a little of the fitness I once had and it's slowed me down a little, but I'm determined to get completely well again. At the same time I feel the experience has humbled me and helped me to feel empathy with other peoples suffering. A lot of positive lessons learned out of it. One day I'll write more about it... When? I not sure yet. - James.