Tseven Weeks In Tsugaru - 4

We bid farewell to the Brisbane team at the start of the Christmas week... before going into top gear for the Christmas Eve service. Many joined the service that night and we had a special time.

 








A Ghent family Christmas tradition is to go to their winter hideaway straight after service for a much welcomed break with the family. And short-termers have the privilege of going along! No pictures here though, it's a secret hideaway. You'll have to go yourself and ask the Ghents to take you. Contrary to popular belief the Ruth and Martin do take time to rest and relax! I wouldn't have believed it until I saw it myself.

I also got to meet Ruth's sister and her family who are also serving Jesus in Aomori - a little further west in Aijigasawa.

- Sharon

Cold Ice / Hot Water

Never let it be said that Short Term Missions are all work and no play - thus far I seem to be managing to incorporate both rather well! Some of the church members held an impromptu get-together at the ice skating rink in Aomori for a couple of hours on Saturday. We shared the fun and laughter of a good skating session (or in my case, a good learning-to-skate session). The rink is a large and impressive building, with a very high ceiling and two divisions of ice: the inner rink, a simple rectangle with a roped-off area for little learners; and the large oval that surrounds it. There was a good mix of skill levels on display, from the speedy teenagers zipping past (often going backwards) to the women practicing their figure-skating spins, and the toddlers just learning to find their balance with the guiding hands of their parents. Oh, yeah, and then there was me - the (comparatively) tall Westerner who could barely stand to begin with, but who eventually found his balance and even a little bit of pace! This was achieved via a handful of really quite spectacular falls; the sight of me laughing aloud while sliding across the ice on my back no doubt offered some amusement to my fellow skaters... All in all, it was a great time to spend with friends, and everyone who attended seemed to enjoy themselves.

Of course, all of those falls did result in a few sharp aches and pains, and so I decided that a soothing visit to the onsen was the best course of action on my day off. There are many to choose from, but as I already intended to have a look around the Furosato Centre, I didn't have to think much about it. Usually I'm not the basking-in-the-heat type; I always avoided the sauna at my local gym, for example. I was just in the right mood for it that day, though, and so sinking into that steaming bath was bliss! I no longer noticed my ice skating pains, or much of anything else either - I was entirely relaxed. It took me about an hour to finally muster the will to leave, and my relaxed, care-free feeling followed me out the door. (In fact, that almost proved to be a problem. Every time I tried to make a decision about what to do with my day, I couldn't help thinking "Whatever, doesn't matter, it's all good...")

Something tells me I'm going to miss the opportunity to go to the bathhouse when I leave here.

- Jonathan