Fruit of two varieties...
We're back...
Happy fourth of July...
Our trip was amazing... We travelled an amazing distance in a very short time riding the Shinkansen (Bullet) trains. Hiroshima was very sobering...Kyoto was very historically/culturally interesting. We also saw some of Tokyo including Asakasa. I think we saw about as much as is humanly possible in two days. :) It was unbelievable. And...We did not miss any of our trains, or get lost!
Today we were all drained...We woke up early for church. I gave my testimony/Christian story for one of the Sunday school classes this morning. They seemed very interested. We then went out to lunch at Woody's. They had Italian style pasta and specialty drinks. Kristina got melon soda with ice cream, and I got a Super Banana (Banana juice, ice cream, and whipped cream.) It was wonderful to get American sized portions for once...
After lunch we had readers. My session with Shunji (a self-proclaimed Buddhist) went very well today. He is becoming more curious about the stories we are reading. We are becoming friends. Another session was more difficult. Toshiyuki speaks very little English, but with the help of a dictionary, we made it through our lesson today. We all helped get the party stuff ready after that. Today's theme was game/craft night. We played uno, made cooperative finger paintings, and painted small bags. They seemed to enjoy it (even the smaller children). After the party we had had an invitation to eat dinner at Tomoko Ishido's house (one of our readers). She made vegetable tempura, salad, and a form of sushi which did not involve raw fish (more like a rice casserole). It was all delicious. We gave her one of the books about Texas that we had bought as gifts. She and her husband thouroughly enjoyed looking at it! Her husband goes surfing every morning, and he owns a surf shop. He said that he could teach me, so I am going to try that when the waves get a little smaller. There is a typhoon pretty close by, so there are very big waves right now. He's still going surfing in the morning though. After dinner about twelve of us headed for the beach to light a bunch of fireworks to celebrate the fourth of July. It was great! Every one enjoyed it...and one of the highlights was when Kristina lit a large firework upside down (since we couldn't read the instructions) and it exploded on the beach, and then sent sparks flying all around...(you should have seen everybody's faces) :)
We are still tired, but we are still excited to be here and to have the opportunity to share our faith and love with these people. A few of the readers have shown interest in becoming Christians and have been meeting with Sugao to discuss their decisions. God is making wonderful things happen here through your support, our work, and everyone's prayers. (Both of the girls that have been meeting with Sugao came tonight to shoot fireworks with us)...they are becoming good friends with each other, with us, and with the church members. It is wonderful to be able to see the fruit grow from seeds planted long before we arrived, and to know that we are planting seeds and nurturing growth in others. God can do anything...
Tomorrow may hold many and new exciting adventures for us all,
Tune in then...Same time... Same Channel
Tsuyoshi
Happy fourth of July...
Our trip was amazing... We travelled an amazing distance in a very short time riding the Shinkansen (Bullet) trains. Hiroshima was very sobering...Kyoto was very historically/culturally interesting. We also saw some of Tokyo including Asakasa. I think we saw about as much as is humanly possible in two days. :) It was unbelievable. And...We did not miss any of our trains, or get lost!
Today we were all drained...We woke up early for church. I gave my testimony/Christian story for one of the Sunday school classes this morning. They seemed very interested. We then went out to lunch at Woody's. They had Italian style pasta and specialty drinks. Kristina got melon soda with ice cream, and I got a Super Banana (Banana juice, ice cream, and whipped cream.) It was wonderful to get American sized portions for once...
After lunch we had readers. My session with Shunji (a self-proclaimed Buddhist) went very well today. He is becoming more curious about the stories we are reading. We are becoming friends. Another session was more difficult. Toshiyuki speaks very little English, but with the help of a dictionary, we made it through our lesson today. We all helped get the party stuff ready after that. Today's theme was game/craft night. We played uno, made cooperative finger paintings, and painted small bags. They seemed to enjoy it (even the smaller children). After the party we had had an invitation to eat dinner at Tomoko Ishido's house (one of our readers). She made vegetable tempura, salad, and a form of sushi which did not involve raw fish (more like a rice casserole). It was all delicious. We gave her one of the books about Texas that we had bought as gifts. She and her husband thouroughly enjoyed looking at it! Her husband goes surfing every morning, and he owns a surf shop. He said that he could teach me, so I am going to try that when the waves get a little smaller. There is a typhoon pretty close by, so there are very big waves right now. He's still going surfing in the morning though. After dinner about twelve of us headed for the beach to light a bunch of fireworks to celebrate the fourth of July. It was great! Every one enjoyed it...and one of the highlights was when Kristina lit a large firework upside down (since we couldn't read the instructions) and it exploded on the beach, and then sent sparks flying all around...(you should have seen everybody's faces) :)
We are still tired, but we are still excited to be here and to have the opportunity to share our faith and love with these people. A few of the readers have shown interest in becoming Christians and have been meeting with Sugao to discuss their decisions. God is making wonderful things happen here through your support, our work, and everyone's prayers. (Both of the girls that have been meeting with Sugao came tonight to shoot fireworks with us)...they are becoming good friends with each other, with us, and with the church members. It is wonderful to be able to see the fruit grow from seeds planted long before we arrived, and to know that we are planting seeds and nurturing growth in others. God can do anything...
Tomorrow may hold many and new exciting adventures for us all,
Tune in then...Same time... Same Channel
Tsuyoshi
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