Japan Update 2

Last Monday four teens from Lighthouse and I flew to Okinawa, Japan, for camp. I counseled nine girls (the entire blue team!) and we had a great time. I was sick the first day and threw up as the plane touched down, but after that I recovered and we had a good week of camp. Jim Ogle was the speaker and the Lord really worked in hearts. It was so neat to see the change in the kids from Monday throughout the week. One guy really seemed to change, Josh. He's about fourteen; he was the biggest camper on my team. By the middle of the week, he was making the other guys let the girls go first and just being a gentleman in general...hmm, I think some of the guys at school could take lessons! Anyway at the end of the week we had a bonfire and some testimonies and he gave a really sweet one. One of my girls also gave a testimony. She was so sweet and a blessing to have in the cabin. The Lord really worked in her heart.I'm loving Okinawa...swimming in the ocean, getting that tan! Once the rain finally stopped, the sun came out and we bonded! :) I'm kind of surprized that I haven't peeled...I think the burn is just going to turn to a tan! Yeah!Today after church (no evening service; we had an afternoon service instead), we went shopping at China Pete's...but I got no china! Some of the other girls got loads, but I just got an Okinawa banner. It's really cool. Then we went to this jade shop and I got a freshwater pearl ring (that fits!), two jade rings and a pair of freshwater pearl earrings...and also some little jade donut things that can be used for making jewelry. All of it was the real deal and I paid twelve dollars! Wow. The other girls all got some necklaces and other stuff too, but I didn't. Then we went to the 100\ store...love that store! Way better than the dollar store! I got a ton of stuff...and I'm slowly beginning to feel the haichu fetish hit. They're pretty good! (Chewy candy...flavored all different kinds).So I brought my flute to Japan and I think I'll return to the States having played it once...My last Sunday in Sasebo the Callahans (missionaries up north) were in town, and the oldest two are really musical, Nathan plays piano, Heather sings, and I played for a song she sang in church, and Nathan and I played the offertory...and haven't broken it out since. I was playing piano for the singing at camp this past week, and I forgot to bring my flute to church this morning...Kierstyn and Ty are playing silly with some strange glasses and fake teeth. They are so funny!

I made it to Japan!

So I finally made it to Japan! I missed my first flight out...so I stayed in WI an extra day, and my mom drove me to Chicago the next day. The flight to Japan was approximately 12 hours and 3 minutes long. The flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka was about an hour and a half, and I had a 5 hour layover in Tokyo.I spent the first two nights with Pete and Jean Heath, the missionaries I'm working with here. On Sunday, I jumped right in to play piano, as the church's pianist is in the States for the summer. They were glad to here some "live" music! So I played an impromptu offertory during the morning service as well as a prelude and congregational singing, and then I practiced up a song that I've played before for the Sunday evening offertory.Monday I packed a bag and came to Eric and Maran's house. Eric was a single guy in our church when I lived in Japan ten years ago. Since then he got married and had a kid, so I am staying with them for a week. Maran and Nathan are coming to the States in the next month, and Eric will be joining them as soon as he gets his orders.Today several families of the church started distributing Japanese gospel tracts in several neighborhoods. The church is doing a tract blitz all summer, trying to get a tract in each home in the area surrounding the church. The little kids were excited to help pass the tracts out, and I made a new friend, Luke. He is three, and I would open the mail box and he would put the tract in. Japanese mailboxes are not like ones you find in America. Most of the time, the mailbox is built into the outer stone gate that surrounds the house. It's a rectangle about six inches high and a foot wide. Sometimes they will have a flap at the top where the mail goes in, sometimes it is open; and there is a "catching box" on the other side of the fence that will have a cover so the mail won't get wet. On the mailbox is also a doorbell and intercom system to call to the house.After we blitzed two small neighborhoods it was time to eat, so we all went to CoCo Curry and had a good Japanese meal. I was so full after the Chicken Cutlet Curry!

More pictures of my buddy!

William decorating his face with birthday cake. He wasn't asleep...just had his eyes closed.William opening birthday presents...the lion's mane tickled his face!
We went to the Madison Zoo where we saw this cutout for a baby polar bear, so I held William up to the hole. He was the littlest polar bear, cuz he couldn't even reach standing on the stool behind it.
I think William wanted to ride the buffalo in this area...but maybe he just liked the feel of the rough twine on his fingers.

Delayed

So the Lord didn't want me to leave on the seventh! I got the MKE airport at about 8:45am Thursday morning, checked in, and waited to board my plane. We boarded and started for the runway, but the tower in Chicago wouldn't let us takeoff yet because of the wind. So we waited for 45 minutes and then found out it would be another hour and a half. So I deboarded the plane and started talking to this family of three that were also traveling to Tokyo, so I was listening in on their questions to the ticket agent. They were headed ultimately to Thailand, so I had to speak with another agent to get my situation figured out. So she got me on a different flight, leaving Chicago Friday just after noon. So I will be getting in at my final destination around 10:00 Saturday (Japan time).