"Together forever and never to part." -Rick Astley

It's been 2 ½ weeks that I've been living with the Japan team. This isn't my first time on a mission trip, so I'm not unfamiliar in living with a bunch of non-relatives under the same roof – biggest team I've been with was 10 other people! (That's not including my brother.) Anyway, living with the Tyndale team has been fine so far – no big issues... unless I'm the cause of trouble and nobody has told me yet! But yeah, I feel that the team has good cooperation just with living together – grocery shopping, shower schedules, washing dishes – everyone's open to do whatever needs to be done. Night times can be crazy – it gets to the point where everyone laughs at the most insignificant things, but it's hilarious. Yeah... I think that's about all I've got to say for now. Good times.

-Job

Amazed and Excited.

Japan has been such an experience and has not fell short of the expectations I had coming here. One of the most surprising things for me is how much I felt at home the moment we touched down. A lot of the residential housing and things looked very similar to when I going visit family in Trinidad and most of the other things were very similar to Toronto. It is so awesome to see what God is doing in Tsugaru Church and related Chapels. I can't wait to see what God is going to do next and the anticipation only builds as we participate in some of the activities that have helped the church get to its point today. I always doubted the effect of street playing and handing out tracks until I heard some of the Testimonies of some of the people here. We had our first concert on Saturday Night and we had a blast. The Ghents told us after how many new people and old church goers came that night. I can't explain the awe and excitement that comes along with seen a lot of what God has done, knowing that your currently a part of his work, and knowing that he's going to do so much more here.

Nick.

New Team

Check out the new team that arrives Saturday May 16. We look forward to all God is going to do through and in them.
Their blog ad is on the right.

Tseven Weeks In Tsugaru - 5

In Japan people normally go to the shrine for NYE and New Year's Day, but the church runs Mochitsuki (rice pounding ceremony) as an alternative for people to attend. People from all the different chapels came along. We had a great time pounding the rice and feasting on all things mochi as we welcomed in 2009... and it was also an opportunity to give thanks for God's goodness over the year.

Two of the ladies from the English class came along dressed in their kimonos, but even more exciting was that Martin was able to speak to one of them and ask some challenging questions.

It was so much fun to celebrate the New Year with the church family - very different to how I've celebrated in the past. All in all a great start to the year (except when the mochis expanded in my stomach and I realised I had defintely eaten one too many...)

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

Tseven Weeks In Tsugaru - 3

Christmas time presents unique opportunities for events for short-termers to take part in. We had a fantastic time visiting pre-schools around the area each morning - singing songs with them, teaching them an Aussie Christmas song and presenting a Nativity play before Martin or Ruth gave a short talk and closing with "Silent Night" - a song everyone knows. Little faces welcoming us with smiles at each pre-school made getting up a lot easier! To finish off the week we had a YoungLife sleepover, a special kids club on Saturday afternoon then Harvest Chapel Christmas party.

Monday...
Tuesday...
We baked hundreds of cookies to give out.
We also ate tray loads which were accidentally burnt! (or were they ;) ??)

Wednesday...

We also visited a local nursing home.
We ran the same program as we did for the little ones!

Thursday...
For a musical break, we went to the concert the accappella group invited us to at Hirosaki University.

Friday...

No sleep for us, it was the beginning of the YoungLife sleepover!

Saturday...

YoungLife sleepover finished... and then it was straight to Kodomokai. We had handed flyers out at the local elementary schools to invite them along to kids club at church. A great turn-out!

And last, but not least, the Harvest Christmas party!
Yes, that's right, we slept well that night!


It was a busy week, but don't worry we still had time to play!
There was definitely something in the tea.

- Sharon.