Our 1st Typhoon - "Great Wind"

We experienced our first typhoon (literally "great wind" in Japanese) this week. I didn't realize what we were dealing with until I found out that it is the same thing we call a hurricane in the north Atlantic (technically a tropical cyclone)! The red triangle in the middle of the storm is just about where Karuizawa is. We had so much rain over 3 days that it apparently set a record in Karuizawa.


The normal trickle of water down the nearby stream became a rushing river and many many trees fell down all over town - including on this nearby house! We were fine, but lost our water and electricity for a day. We actually couldn't even leave town if we wanted to because the access road and the nearby highway were closed due to fallen trees and mudslides!

Before

After

From Seaweed to Ice Cream

Annabella is never one to hold back, and proudly "wears" her menu selections for all to see. Both girls love to eat NORI (seaweed) whenever we have rice, but still enjoy good old chocolate ice cream when given the option. :)

Sarah's Belated Birthday Celebration

Olivia & Annabella helped Sarah make the cake in the morning. After I got home from my classes Olivia and I decorated the cake during Annabella's naptime. Since both girls are really into the alphabet, it was a simple decision for Olivia to want to make an "M Cake" for Momma. :)
It actually was quite an adventure to find M&Ms in Karuizawa! I went to 7 different stores before finally finding them - but I just couldn't imagine making an "M Cake" without them. The Snickers bars were a lavish embellishment, but it said Sarah all over it. :)

Visit from Chiba University Student

Ikumi-chan (one of the Chiba University Students we met when we were in Chiba back in April) came to stay with us in Karuizawa for a few days this week during her summer vacation.We had a lot of fun and our girls loved having Ikumi-chan around. Though we had a bit of a language barrier (we each did our best using the other's native language) we sure laughed a lot! She is only a sophomore, so she will be around when we move to Chiba early next year.

She is not particularly interested in Christianity, but she will actually be going to the Philippines later this summer to volunteer at a Christian orphanage for a week. Pray that God uses these experiences to challenge her with the truth and life transforming power of the gospel! Pray that God will continue to us in her life in the months and years to come.

We attended a local festival and enjoyed watching the traditional Japanese dancing.

July Prayer Letter

To download our most recent prayer letter, click here: July 07 Prayer Letter PDF.

Dinner with our close friends

We had dinner the other day with the two familes we feel closest to in Karuizawa. Both ladies are in Sarah's Bible study, and Jon has had good spiritual discussions with both men. They are very excited to be eating Sarah's chocolate Texas sheet cake. (Sarah is getting rather famous for her desserts around here!) They are also very excited about our new baby, and Sarah had lots to talk about. :)

Please continue to pray for our relationships with them, and that God would continue to show Himself to them.

Trip to Lake Nojiri

Here we are at a visit up to Lake Nojiri in Nagano Prefecture. We joined the Iversons (our MTW team leader) and the Dingles for some fun in the water. The girls loved it!
Annabella had fun swimming, and became quite independent with her little "swimmies" on.
Olivia got to ride in a sailboat for the first time. She was so brave. :)

PCJ Summer Conference in Chichibu

I had the privilege of attending the PCJ (Presbyterian Church in Japan) Summer Conference this month. Sarah and the girls stayed home, and sent me off to join ~150 Japanese Christians from the 4 greater Tokyo presbyteries.

I roomed with 3 Japanese pastors and an old friend, Shinya, from 2001 who is now in seminary. It was a great opportunity to "test out" my Japanese. It really went well, although I felt like there were lots of words on the tip of my tongue that I couldn't get out!

We had worship starting everyday at 6am(!) then breakfast, and then various sessions and worship times. On the last day of the conference, the drummer (who I had become friends with the night before at the ofuro) invited me to fill in for the bass player who had to leave early. It was fun to play, and contribute to the worship time. I didn't have anytime to practice, so I was very thankful that they were all songs I had heard before!

It was also a great time to connect with many people we will be partnering with in the gospel after we move to Chiba early next year. The picture below shows Ishido-Sensei, a professor of economics at Chiba University, and elder at one of the churches planted by our MTW team. We had a good time talking and sharing ideas and vision for how to reach students at his university. What a blessing to have a Christian faculty member as an advocate for us!


Here is a photo with a new friend I made named Kazu. He recently graduated from Chiba University and is now working in Tokyo.

Friends with a new baby

We had some new Japanese friends come over for dinner the other day. They have a brand new baby, and it was fun to hold her. Compared to Annabella, we couldn't believe how small she was! Good practice for the future. :)

Hoshino-san is my (Jon's) age, and grew up playing Ice hockey in Karuizawa. His wife was a champion figure skater in Hokkaido as a high school student. They had some fun stories to tell.

They also have a 3 year old daughter who had fun playing with the girls. They were so cute together, siting at the "little table" for dinner.

Please pray that God continues to grow our relationship with them.

Sausage never tasted so good!

Yes, pregnancy cravings have hit! Over the last week or so, I have craved sausage. I haven't found it anywhere. All they sell is the sausage links, which wouldn't quite quench the craving. So, this morning I decided to go to the one place that I could get this sausage....McDonalds! I ordered a sausage egg mcmuffin from the drive-thru (which is a big accomplishment....only even attempted in the last couple weeks!). Let me just say, that was the best sausage egg mcmuffin I have ever had!!! Wow!