Let it snow!

Well, we had our first snow in Japan and it lasted for two days! If this is any indication of what the Winter will be like in Hirosaki we are not looking forward to it! After our first day in the snow we realized there are a few interesting things about Japan when it snows..

.. . it really snows! For the first snow of the season we had at least 8 inches, maybe more!

Everyone uses umbrellas to keep from getting all wet!

and, they do not plow the roads! The paths are made by the cars and the people.. . really quite dangerous for walkers since there also aren't many sidewalks so you are walking on the path made by the car. When a car comes you are in danger of your life and getting splashed with all sorts of slush from the snow! Needless to say this will be an interesting winter!!!

couldn't do it without Him

So, one Monday night every month a church in Hirosaki (Zion Church) has a pizza party for gaijins (foreigners) and young people in their 20's. We eat lots of yummy pizza, do worship, and listen to someone's testimony. Both, Travis and I have given our testimony at the pizza party and have enjoyed hearing other fellow-believers' testimonies. We had the pizza party this Monday, and while we were worshiping I couldn't help but be in awe of where I was. When we do worship at the pizza party we sing the song in English and then in Japanese, and then back in English. I really enjoy this because it's amazing to be able to sing in a different language to the God that I love and to know that He understands me even though sometimes I have no idea what I am singing! For some reason this time though it really hit me that I am in Japan, and 5 years ago there is no way I would be here. I was way too selfish back then to move this far away and be so far away from my family and friends.

"And, everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life."- Matthew 19:29

We really enjoy it here, we love our students and enjoy spending time with them, but it is also very very difficult living here. We still do not speak Japanese very well. Even though we get to talk to our family through skype, it's very hard being so far away from home. We don't get to actually hug our parents or see our nephews growing up. We very seldomly get to talk with our friends, and we are missing out on weddings and babies, and all sorts of things that make it really hard to be here.

"If anyone would come after me, he msut deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."- Luke 9:23-24

But, we know that our purpose is here. We know that God made it possible for us to come here, and we see how He is reaching our students through us, and that makes it worthwhile to be here. I am just amazed everyday at the joy and peace that He gives me to be here so far away from home and the comfortable life we lived in the U.S. On Monday night I just really realized how I never would have imagined doing this before I was a Christian, and sometimes I can't believe that I am actually doing this and just how much God has changed who I am and has enabled me to be here.

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them int he name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"- Matthew 28:18-20


All glory be to God, who has changed my life to do His work and the Holy Spirit that enables me to do ALL things through Christ.

Fall Goodies

Well, we are well into the school year and well into the fall season! It has been getting much colder here, we've been pulling out the hats and scarfs! We are waiting still for the first snow fall and to the time when we can no longer ride our bikes :( Although we don't enjoy the cold weather so much, we do enjoy the beautiful changes in the leaves' colors! There was a fall festival for about 2 weeks, and Hirosaki celebrates by growing Chrysanthemum flowers in a way we have never seen before! Words cannot describe.. .

These puppies are huge!!!

Yes, their clothes are made out of Chrysanthemums!

And of course you can't have a Chrysanthemum festival without some Chrysanthemum animals!

Other than the fall festival we have been busy helping our 3rd year students prepare for college interviews, our 1st and 2nd years prepare for the Eiken (an english proefficiency test), and have English club dinners at our apartment! It is just over a month before we come home, and we are getting ansy!!! We love and miss American food, I mean, our family and friends :)